2014-2015 NBA Season

[Mitch Henessey]

The San Antonio Spurs are the defending champs, but with the trio of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love in Cleveland, the Cavaliers are the front-runners to win it all.

Paul George is expected to miss the entire season after a gruesome leg injury during Team USA's scrimmage in August, and Kevin Durant is expected to miss the first month of the regular season with a fracture is his right foot.

Use this thread to discuss pre-season games, the regular season, trades, playoffs, injuries, and other NBA related news.

 

[Alastor]

Missing Durant for 1/5 to a quarter of the season probably will slide the Thunder down a seed or two in the ultra competitive West.

Indiana will probably drop out of the playoffs even in the poor East. They were one of the worse offensive team last season and lost their starting wings that did almost everything for them offensively.

The Cavs are probably the favourites due to having the best player in Lebron and another top 10 calibre player in Love. Their roster is stacked and the only issue is how to put the pieces together.

Spurs will be spurs and be in the conversation but they probably lost the edge and focus they had last year from losing the previous finals. Duncan is still irreplaceable for what he brings to the team. Would love to see Duncan repeat before he retires.

The Heat is once again paper thin on the roster but I think they might surprise a few who think they are doomed without Lebron. They still have Bosh and Wade to build around that can carry them in the woeful East.

 

[Paul Bunyan's Axe]

Kevin Durrants injury will give Westbrook the chance to show why he's one of the most undervalued players in the league.

 

[Alastor]

Westbrook isn't undervalued though. He's rated as one of the top guards in the league. But his decision making as a PG is suspect. Now with him the only offensive threat with Durrant out it will be harder for him and he might end up chucking shots in half court sets.

 

[Cena Is A Punk Rocker]

Since OKC really only has Portland and Denver to contend with for the NW, I say if they can hover a couple games above .500 until Durant gets back, I can't honestly see then any lower than a three seed.

 

[Alastor]

Thoughts on this Kobe bashing article?

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/sto...obe-bryant-reason-los-angeles-lakers-downfall

 

[Mitch Henessey]

From the article:

"It's horrendous. It's evil. It's a hard drug to quit when you're winning," says a front office executive from a rival team who knows everyone involved well. "Kobe has cost the Lakers dearly in human capital. Kobe has hurt a lot of people. In some cases jeopardized careers."

Tossing the word "evil" around reeks of an overblown reaction, or it's coming from someone with an axe to grind. You can't blame Andrew Bynum's knee problems on Kobe. On top of that, Bynum has a history of a lousy attitude with his short tenure in Cleveland as a more recent example.

If we're talking about the finger pointing with the Shaq feud, O'Neal is not someone, who's completely innocent either, because Shaw has a history of finger pointing, without taking any heat, and unpleasant exits from his former teams. We're talking about a guy, who was booed out of the building damn near every time he returned to Orlando as one of the Lakers, because fans saw a guy, who took the money and ran without looking twice.

Also, before the trade to the Suns, O'Neal left the Heat on bad terms. O'Neal took shots at the organization for a poor supporting cast (I'm not 100% sure, but I vividly remember O'Neal taking a direct shot at Chris Quinn), and O'Neal almost came to blows with Pat Riley during a heated confrontation at a practice.

Today, Jeanie Buss made the rounds on ESPN to defend Kobe with appearances on Olbermann and First Take. Buss said "Any free agent that would be afraid to play with Kobe Bryant is probably a loser, and I'm glad they wouldn't come to the team."

As far insiders in the Lakers organization trashing Kobe goes, Buss said "I read the story. I don't agree with any of it. If there is somebody that's on our payroll who is saying things like that, I'll soon get to the bottom of it, and they won't be working for us anymore."

I don't agree with the "loser" stuff, and at some point you have to take Kobe's age into consideration. The injuries, he's 36, and Father Time is undefeated, so yo have to believe the clock is ticking on Bryant's box office appeal.

I'm not doubting Kobe Bryant has a massive ego, that he's hard to play with, or he's just an ass, but if all that's true, he's not the first superstar athlete with a big ego, and he won't be the last. That, and well, things are kind of slow in the world of sports news right now.

 

[Alastor]

I agree with you that the article is very biased and that Kobe is not someone that is easy to play alongside. Ego issues aside, I think Kobe is still in the old school alpha dog one-on-one mentality in how he approached the game. One of his idol growing up was Oscar Schmit, the ultimate chucker of basketball.

I don't think everything should be blamed on Kobe and the Lakers frontoffice actually did well but unfortunate events derailed their plans. They made a trade for Chris Paul that was vetoed by the NBA. Then they made the trade for Howard AND Nash but one left and the other was injured. Maybe the Nash deal wasn't the best idea since two ageing guards is suicide on defence and the cap hit + picks traded away were dumb. But they were in win-now mode 2 years ago. They even factored the trades so they don't miss a pick in this year's loaded draft.

I think there is no smoke without fire. While I think many of the stuff written is from sources that had a axe to grind with Kobe, I also think there are certain truths to it. Kobe is very demanding of himself and his teammates on and off the court, but he also tend to go off plays if he feels he can shoot his team to victory. This could rub star players off the wrong way since they might be thinking they are sacrificing their stats so Kobe can be the hero and get blamed if they lose while Kobe looks great even when losing. Players tolerate ego issues if the team is winning. When they are losing it just magnify the problems.

I think when the Lakers frontoffice offered Kobe his new contract, they knew they couldn't get big names anymore so might as well pay Kobe to keep him happy while fans pay to see Kobe's last years as a Lakers.

To be honest, I think the article is a ploy by Lakers and ESPN to get people interested to watch Lakers games in what will be a horrible season for them. Those televised rights are worth a lot of money and they need an angle to get fans wanting to watch a horrible Lakers team in games.

 

[SSJPhenom]

In the east Chicago and Cleveland are head and shoulders above the rest. Barring any injuries, it will be one of those two in the finals.

In the west the Spurs are of course back in the hunt and the Clippers, with another year of Doc, will also be a contender. With Durant being out for a while, I can see Houston moving up to the top 3 in the west. Also, I don't see a lot of people mentioning Dallas. They are worlds better than they were a year ago and they were the only team to take the Spurs to 7 games. I think they'll make a lot of noise this year.

 

[Alastor]

Cleveland has some teething issue. Lebron was really poor in his first game back. Those turnovers were killer.

The Lakers might just compete with Philly for the worst record to keep their pick from the Suns. No defence at all and Kobe shooting like Harden without the FTs. Things are going to be brutal for them competing in the West.

First Durant, now Westbrook is out. Not to mention Reggie Jackson and Anthony Morrow also being out. That's probably 4 out of 5 of their top scorers. OKC can't catch a break this season. They might even drop out of homecourt altogether and be the Grizzles/Dallas of this season.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

As far as Lebron's performance in the opener goes, I think it was just a case of nerves for him after all the hoopla surrounding the homecoming extravaganza.

Westbrook is expected to miss at least one month after surgery on a broken hand. It's still very early in a long season, but with Durant recovering, it's a blow to OKC, and you have to believe they're headed for a tough uphill game of catch-up, when both men return.

In other news, Derrick Rose is currently sidelined with a sprained ankle. It's nothing too serious, but when you put injury and Derrick Rose in the same sentence, you can understand a panicky reaction fro obvious reasons.

 

[Alastor]

OKC might drop out of the playoffs altogether if those two are out for more than 6 weeks together. Its crazy to think that in the first week of the season but that's how competitive the West is. There are probably 10 teams vieing for 8 spots in the playoffs and each of them can take games off each other in a series. Everyone in the SouthWest division is loaded that's insane.

An example of how tough the West is and how health of the best player can affect the seedings is last here's Grizzlies. They probably would have secured homecourt last season if Gasol didn't get hurt early on but dropped to 7th.

 

[JamJam]

So there was a pretty big 3-team trade that occurred today. The Knicks got a bunch of scrubs and some draft picks along with waiving Samuel Dalembert. The Cavs acquired JR Smith and Iman Shumpert while the Thunder acquired Dion Waiters.

So the Knicks obviously are building for the future. It'll be interesting to see Tim Hardaway Jr. get a shot at more minutes so that's a plus for them.

The Cavs got better for sure with Shumpert and Smith. Shumpert should definitely be getting the starting job and maybe he can improve his offense once LeBron starts playing again. Smith is an absolute beast when he's on. I think he may be a better shot maker than Waiters anyway. But still, the Cavs don't have a big man who can protect the rim so they'll still struggle.

Waiters going to the Thunder makes me think that either one of Jackson, Morrow, or Lamb are on their way out. There's no way for them to split minutes between those four. Should be interesting to see who the Thunder trade for. If they make the right trade, they could easily be back in the title picture. Rumor has it that they'll trade for Wilson Chandler. That would be a great acquisition for them. I'm thinking they'll trade Jackson and Perkins for him. If so, then a lineup of Westbrook, Morrow, Durant, Chandler, and Ibaka to close a game would be awesome to see.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It's safe to say the Knicks are planning for the future. They have the worst record in the league, and there's no way they're going to dig themselves out of a 5-34 wins/losses record hole. It's too much.

Speaking of conference standings, I'm kind of surprised the Cavaliers are in the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference. I know they need more time to work out the kinks, for the chemistry to really gel (especially with the new trades), and James' return should provide a boost, but the Cavs we're early front-runners to win it all.

 

[Khalifa]

First off as a Laker fan I am happy Rubio played today because now it means the Wolves will probably win more games than us. Only worry is Knicks having a worse record than us imo (and probably Philly) so hopefully Melo wins a lot of games before he sits out after the all star break.

As far as the championship goes I think this year is just so hard to call. As great as the Hawks have been I highly doubt they do it in a championship series. Lebrons cavs looking to be coming but if they go down in the series I really see Lebron thinking about his move back with Dwade, or Dwade getting their next season. Bulls are probably my favourite from the East. Just give Rose another couple months and he will look a lot better.

For the West it's so hard to tell. I still see OKC coming very close but with Warriors, Memphis, the obvious Spurs, Rockets and even Clippers having home court that could change everything. If Clippers can pick up atleast some one decent in the trade period that can score on the wing and defend then they are my favourites coming out of the West. I see Spurs as a potential first round exit but I have doubted them and been wrong before.

If Harden doesn't win MVP I hate this league. It'll be like Wade not getting it in 2010 I believe because Lebron had a slightly better record and rebound per game average. Dwade domianted that year and easily deserved his first MVP. So Harden please continue carrying your spud team and prove the world that Curry ain't getting it haha.

 

[JamJam]

First off as a Laker fan I am happy Rubio played today because now it means the Wolves will probably win more games than us. Only worry is Knicks having a worse record than us imo (and probably Philly) so hopefully Melo wins a lot of games before he sits out after the all star break.

Damn it Khalifa, I thought I was the only one rocking the Kobe sig. Welcome back btw the man. Hope to see you around the forums more often.

I have a good feeling that the Lakers end up with a Top 5 pick so I think we'll be fine. As much as I love Jordan Hill, I think it's time that they traded him for some assets. Not sure what deal they can do but Hill is pretty much the only player they'll get value from in a trade. Ship Jeremy Lin too to wherever. Whoever will send us a draft pick or something.

I want to talk about the Jeff Green trade to Memphis because I think this makes the Grizzlies an even scarier team. Right now, the Grizzlies are honestly the team in the West I think to look out for. They always level up their play in the playoffs and with Jeff Green to help them, I think they'll do much better. They were missing that wing player who could score and he's not too bad defensively either. I know the Warriors are on fire right now but you can't look past the Grizzlies.

 

[Khalifa]

Damn it Khalifa, I thought I was the only one rocking the Kobe sig. Welcome back btw the man. Hope to see you around the forums more often.

I have a good feeling that the Lakers end up with a Top 5 pick so I think we'll be fine. As much as I love Jordan Hill, I think it's time that they traded him for some assets. Not sure what deal they can do but Hill is pretty much the only player they'll get value from in a trade. Ship Jeremy Lin too to wherever. Whoever will send us a draft pick or something. .

I am hoping so hey! I can really only see the Knicks losing less games than us this year. Philly should even get some more wins being in that eastern conference.

As for Jordan Hill, I totally agree. Get a draft pick and just a guy that will play hard every night. For playoff teams that could use him, I think Toronto would be a good spot for him and he could possibly play the four there, Dallas need a big for insurance without Wright there anymore, Bucks could always use a big man if they don't think Sanders is coming back but Henson might be just as good and I don't think they get rid of their pick, Clippers could really use another big as well and to bolster their bench but doubt anything happens with that.

I want to talk about the Jeff Green trade to Memphis because I think this makes the Grizzlies an even scarier team. Right now, the Grizzlies are honestly the team in the West I think to look out for. They always level up their play in the playoffs and with Jeff Green to help them, I think they'll do much better. They were missing that wing player who could score and he's not too bad defensively either. I know the Warriors are on fire right now but you can't look past the Grizzlies

I think the Grizzlies got a steal! Green is a serious threat in the halfcourt offense now especially when you have so many good players around you. There defense becomes tougher and they now have the ability to play small ball effectively. I think matchups will determine a lot in this years Western Conference playoffs. I really don't think the best team is guaranteed out. I think warriors matchup well with the Grizzlies because once they get a 10 point lead it becomes hard for Grizzlies to get back into it. In saying that I think Warriors need to watch out for OKC and Spurs and even dallas if dallas can get one more bench player and it's very likely warriors play either OKC or Spurs in the first round. IMO I think either a Houston/Clippers vs Memphis is going to be the finals.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I think that the Clippers have become a real possibility to win the NBA Championship this year. They've been playing absolutely out of this world lately. Some might say that their last few games have been against bad teams, however, they're beating the shit out of those bad teams the way an elite team should beat a bad team. Also, they're doing all of this with Jamal Crawford out. Once he comes back and stabalizes the bench, the Clippers might damn well be unstoppable.

Finally, congratulations to Steve Nash who, in my opinion, is far and away the best Point Guard of the 2000's, on his retirement. He will definitely be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

 

[JamJam]

I think that the Clippers have become a real possibility to win the NBA Championship this year. They've been playing absolutely out of this world lately. Some might say that their last few games have been against bad teams, however, they're beating the shit out of those bad teams the way an elite team should beat a bad team. Also, they're doing all of this with Jamal Crawford out. Once he comes back and stabalizes the bench, the Clippers might damn well be unstoppable.

Finally, congratulations to Steve Nash who, in my opinion, is far and away the best Point Guard of the 2000's, on his retirement. He will definitely be a first ballot Hall of Famer.

I really have a hard time believing in the Clippers because they pretty much play 6 guys, 7 guys on a good day. There's no way that Deandre Jordan would be on the floor in a close game since they can foul him. For some reason, it seems like Chris Paul gets no help when they Clippers are in the playoffs though. JJ Reddick would need to score 20+ points a game consistently for me to really believe in the Clippers. Jamal Crawford is good but they don't have anyone else on that bench to help out the starting five. Spencer Hawes has been a bust. Austin Rivers is inconsistent. I think they get knocked out in the first round. They'll end up as a 4th-6th seed.

Anyone else see Steph Curry clown Chris Paul with that crossover though? May seem like I'm hating on the Clippers but really, I'm not. I enjoy watching them play actually. I just think they need some new players.

Let's say the Sixers get the #1 pick again this season. Who do you think they end up taking? They already have Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid. Then they may have the itch to draft either Jahlil Okafor or Karl Anthony-Towns. What a dilemma huh? Personally, it'll be tough because we've never seen Embiid in a NBA game yet so it's hard to gauge how well he could do. If I were the Sixers, I'd draft Okafor and Towns though then let them fight it out to see who should be their starting big men. That'll be fun to watch.

This playoff race has been fun to watch as well. It's either Curry or Harden right now, no one else. If the Rockets go far, Harden might win it because he's had to do a lot of heavy lifting without Dwight. But right now, Curry is frontrunner. Can't deny how good he and the Warriors have been.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Has any NBA team screwed themselves for the future as much as the Brooklyn Nets?

Before the start of last season, they send their first round draft picks for 2014, 2016 and 2018, plus Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries and three other guys to Boston.....and received Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry......none of whom play for the Nets anymore.

Isn't it obvious they got those three guards in an effort to win the championship now? They didn't come close in 2013-14 and they have a losing record this season, so isn't the experiment a total failure ......especially since they still have to fork over first round draft picks for '16 & '18? That's got to hurt them tremendously, no? Who's their general manager..... Meadowlark Lemon?

Why did they think a couple of old guys like Garnett and Pierce would bring them a title, especially at the cost of mortgaging their future?

Is this any way to run a basketball team? I'd really like to know what you guys think.

 

[JamJam]

Has any NBA team screwed themselves for the future as much as the Brooklyn Nets?

Before the start of last season, they send their first round draft picks for 2014, 2016 and 2018, plus Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries and three other guys to Boston.....and received Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry......none of whom play for the Nets anymore.

Isn't it obvious they got those three guards in an effort to win the championship now? They didn't come close in 2013-14 and they have a losing record this season, so isn't the experiment a total failure ......especially since they still have to fork over first round draft picks for '16 & '18? That's got to hurt them tremendously, no? Who's their general manager..... Meadowlark Lemon?

Why did they think a couple of old guys like Garnett and Pierce would bring them a title, especially at the cost of mortgaging their future?

Is this any way to run a basketball team? I'd really like to know what you guys think.

The Nets are definitely screwed. Their owner wants to sell them but there's no way he's getting the amount that he paid to own the team. I'm not sure how he thought bringing in KG, Pierce, and Terry would make the Nets championship contenders. The Celtics were smart to accept the offer and they'll be better off now.

I just can't see how the Nets recover. They have no one to build around. Sure Brook Lopez is a good player but he gets injured and misses a whole lot of games every season. Can't remember the last time he wasn't injured in a season. They have Thaddeus Young now too and he's pretty young but I don't think he's the person to build around. But if the Nets want to be decent, building around Lopez and Young might be the answer. Get rid of D-Will as well. Injuries have really hurt him. Injuries have hurt this team as a whole.