By chandlerparsons Go To PostThe media have told me that Russ is surrounded by nothing but trash, while Harden is surrounded by a super team of borderline all-stars. Why wouldn't he be confident?
Be real. Is there anybody outside of Adams on that OKC roster you'd even trade Lou Will for?
By livefromkyoto Go To PostBe real. Is there anybody outside of Adams on that OKC roster you'd even trade Lou Will for?Taj, Kanter. Debate on Oladipo.
Fair enough. The roster was built with purpose around their star though, while we've had to rebuild on the fly.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/four-corners-inarguable-2016-17-nba-teams-awards-ballots-132633579.html]
not sure how anyone but Morey would be executive of the year
wtf @ iggy sixth man--what year is it again?
not sure how anyone but Morey would be executive of the year
wtf @ iggy sixth man--what year is it again?
Klay and Draymond should get GM of the year.
Klay for saving the Warriors in game 6, Dray for keeping that text hotline with KD alive and making him feel special.
Edit: and let's not forget Bron and Kyrie, who beat the Warriors and made it palatable for Durant to go to GS.
Klay for saving the Warriors in game 6, Dray for keeping that text hotline with KD alive and making him feel special.
Edit: and let's not forget Bron and Kyrie, who beat the Warriors and made it palatable for Durant to go to GS.
The way this season turned out makes KD look even worse. So many squads he could have went to without looking bitch made and ended up in the same spot
By jjasper Go To PostNot picking Embiid for ROTY seems dumbSaric had a good year and played 81 games
By Dark PhaZe Go To PostThe way this season turned out makes KD look even worse. So many squads he could have went to without looking bitch made and ended up in the same spot? His chances at chipping wouldn't be better anywhere else.
By jjasper Go To PostNot picking Embiid for ROTY seems dumbOnly played 30 games. Saric should get it.
By noonecares Go To Post? His chances at chipping wouldn't be better anywhere else.
He'd have rocked GS with OKC, probably the Celtics too, and would have made the finals with the Wiz at least.
Of course his absolute best chance of winning was with the Warriors--but my point is that there were a lot of roads to the finals that didn't include going straight to a 73 win team that just knocked you out of the playoffs
By KingGondo Go To PostFair enough. The roster was built with purpose around their star though, while we've had to rebuild on the fly.Do you think the synergies this roster has with Harden came out of nowhere or something? I'm so sick of the roster being used as a way to discount the value Harden has brought this season.
“It was probably one of the toughest decisions of my life, just to not go to Rio, but … I wanted to make a conscious effort to be here and be with Daryl and Mr. Alexander and Tad Brown on who we can get in this locker room to help me for this upcoming season,” said HardenHis commitment to recruit, his buying into D'Antoni's system, his change in lifestyle, his conscious effort to change the chemistry led to this team winning 14 more games than last season. But what value does 14 more wins have compared to 1.9 more rebounds per game, right?
“He was laser focused on making sure that he was able to assist the organization in any way he could,” Brown told USA TODAY Sports. “That was by focusing on himself, getting rest and getting in the best possible shape he could be in before he came into camp, and working with Les and Daryl on how he could improve the team. … We appreciate the opportunity of him having a voice and being a part of really going out and making an impact in free agency so we could get much better.”
By KingGondo Go To PostThe first part isn't true either but the guys surrounding Russ are proficient on one end at best.Houston has a top 5 offense and a top 20 defense. OKC has a top 10 defense and a top 20 offense. I've been told time and again Harden plays with more talent around him, when what they really mean is merely offensive talent, as if basketball is a one-sided game. There's no way Capela, Anderson and Gordon are better defensively than Adams, Sabonis and Oladipo, but for some reason, that doesn't seem to matter.
Not so much matter, as purposefully forgotten in order to fit a narrative. Case in point:
David Aldridge in April 2017:
This year, with only Westbrook, OKC has won 46 with two games remaining. Let’s say they split the last two. Is there anyone, honestly, who thought the Thunder would only be eight games off of last season’s pace without KD?
In the end, I give the nod to Westbrook, a player who has defied history and back-to-backs and 24 consecutive missed shots in one game (!) and led his team to the playoffs when we all thought the only place they were headed was the Lottery.
David Aldridge in October 2016:
By livefromkyoto Go To PostBe real. Is there anybody outside of Adams on that OKC roster you'd even trade Lou Will for?Considering we have Gordon and no back up 3/4 (besides Troy Williams from the d-league), I'd take any of their 1st/2nd unit forwards.
He might of only played 30 games but during that time Embiid was so far out in front of all other rookies it wasn't even a debate. I don't see how an injury changes the fact that he was way better than all other rookies.
Harden is great. But nobody is gonna remember his season this year, especially in light of Russ's.
Not only did he average a triple double, he has been ludicrous in the clutch. Add in the shock of losing Durant and working with a makeshift roster all year, and his decision to re-commit when he could have (justifiably) asked for a trade...
Post all the arguments you want, but Harden isn't getting opposing crowds to go apeshit for him and chant MVP.
Not only did he average a triple double, he has been ludicrous in the clutch. Add in the shock of losing Durant and working with a makeshift roster all year, and his decision to re-commit when he could have (justifiably) asked for a trade...
Post all the arguments you want, but Harden isn't getting opposing crowds to go apeshit for him and chant MVP.
By jjasper Go To PostHe might of only played 30 games but during that time Embiid was so far out in front of all other rookies it wasn't even a debate. I don't see how an injury changes the fact that he was way better than all other rookies.The least number of games a RoY winner has had in the history of the game is 50..
Matt Moore wrote a pretty good summary of the MVP race with arguments for each of the four candidates: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/even-in-maybe-the-tightest-nba-mvp-race-ever-one-man-does-stand-out-from-the-rest/
e: fyi, he looked at every possession for each of those players over the past month before making his decision. dude is kinda nuts
e: fyi, he looked at every possession for each of those players over the past month before making his decision. dude is kinda nuts
By KingGondo Go To PostHarden is great. But nobody is gonna remember his season this year, especially in light of Russ's.I agree that OKC until the trading deadline had a shitty roster.. really they didn't have a starting quality SF or PF.. but everything else you said might be the weakest argument I have seen for Russ winning..
Not only did he average a triple double, he has been ludicrous in the clutch. Add in the shock of losing Durant and working with a makeshift roster all year, and his decision to re-commit when he could have (justifiably) asked for a trade…
Post all the arguments you want, but Harden isn't getting opposing crowds to go apeshit for him and chant MVP.
By blackace Go To PostI agree that OKC until the trading deadline had a shitty roster.. really they didn't have a starting quality SF or PF.. but everything else you said might be the weakest argument I have seen for Russ winning..Well see if these arguments are to your liking (from Matt Moore):
- Thunder record when Westbrook has a triple-double: 33-9 (.786 win percentage).
- Ninth in rebounds per game.
- No. 1 in PER.
- No. 1 in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player).
- No. 1 in offensive box-score plus-minus.
- In "clutch time" (defined as a five-point game inside five minutes), Westbrook leads the league in points per 100 possessions (74.3), shooting 44.6 percent from the field and OKC is a plus-21.7 per 100 possessions with him on the court in such situations.
By KingGondo Go To PostWell see if these arguments are to your liking (from Matt Moore):by the way who did Matt Moore vote for?
- Thunder record when Westbrook has a triple-double: 33-9 (.786 win percentage).
- Ninth in rebounds per game.
- No. 1 in PER.
- No. 1 in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player).
- No. 1 in offensive box-score plus-minus.
- In "clutch time" (defined as a five-point game inside five minutes), Westbrook leads the league in points per 100 possessions (74.3), shooting 44.6 percent from the field and OKC is a plus-21.7 per 100 possessions with him on the court in such situations.
By Kibner Go To PostTaj, Kanter. Debate on Oladipo.
In terms of VORP, net effect and BOHrtg*, I genuinely don't think Kanter has ever been a better player than Lou Will. He's got too many fatal flaws in his game to be a guy I'd want to trust major minutes to. And then there's the political baggage.
Taj got traded for a handful of beans. He's got a rep as a decent defender but as a PF on the downside who can't shoot 3s, he's the definition of a spare part in today's NBA. He's also pretty dumb.
Lou is a guy who can start if need be and even carry a team for stretches. You can play him 25 minutes every night and he's guaranteed to make plays without hurting you. I would really way rather have him than those two right now, he's going to make a bigger impact night in night out.
*Breaking Own Hand rating
By KingGondo Go To PostEarly returns looking good for Russ
As an aside, how bullshit is it that 538 is getting tagged like that when they were the only legit outlet giving Trump a serious chance? The entire election every single 538 pronouncement was met with "Nate's just playing the pundit for clicks, only Sam Wang is legit, Hillary's got this."
Barring a Sam Wang-like collapse, Russ has got this in the bag.
Ben Falk wrote about the 2014 HOU-POR series and has some good stuff in here:
Offense is often described as being about talent, skill, and technique. Defense, by contrast, is talked about in terms of effort, toughness, and grit. While sometimes this gets pushed too far — of course offense requires effort and defense requires skill — that characterization comes from something real: defense is more about effort than offense is. One way to measure this is to see how play changes during back-to-backs, since fatigue should have a big impact on effort. And indeed, it turns out that being on a back-to-back impacts defense more than offense. While a team’s offensive efficiency declines by about 0.5 points per 100 possessions when they are on a back-to-back and their opponent is not, a team’s offensive efficiency increases by about 1.5 points per 100 possessions when they are rested and the defense is on a back-to-back.https://cleaningtheglass.com/why-are-these-games-different-from-all-other-games/
The intensity of the playoffs seems to have the same effect. Effort is ramped up and that means better defense: since 2003, when the NBA switched to a best-of-seven series for all rounds, teams have tended to score about 1 fewer point per 100 possessions in the playoffs than the regular season, after adjusting for the stronger defenses they face in the playoffs. That’s despite the fact that free throw rate has gone the opposite direction. The playoffs are so much more intense and physical than the regular season — the concept of “no layups in the playoffs” has been around for a long time — that even though the refs may allow more contact, free throw rates still have gone up.
By Kibner Go To PostMatt Moore wrote a pretty good summary of the MVP race with arguments for each of the four candidates: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/even-in-maybe-the-tightest-nba-mvp-race-ever-one-man-does-stand-out-from-the-rest/
e: fyi, he looked at every possession for each of those players over the past month before making his decision. dude is kinda nuts
This is really really really top notch stuff Kib. Thanks. I agree with him. Harden is my MVP.
This Wes Matthews quote from a few years ago is gold:
You reach a point where it’s like, ‘What am I gonna do?'” Matthews said. “It’s the fourth game in five nights. I’ve got to wake up, watch film again. I just had a bad game. My ankle hurts. I’m exhausted. My girlfriend’s blowing my damn phone up. My mom needs this. I’m late on my house payment. This charge didn’t go through. Someone else is hitting me up for money. On top of that, I’m sick, I can’t breathe, I’ve got snot coming out my nose — and I’m in Cleveland.”
My friend Turbozone is a RealGM legend and the most talented photoshop dude I know (he does movie posters & stuff in his day job). He just put out a ton of stuff (80 sigs & wallpapers) for the playoffs.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Keep in mind he just does all this stuff in his spare time when he's bored & high & his wife's not home. I wish I had that kind of skill.
(The "never pass to Jonas" one is almost too on point to be funny).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Keep in mind he just does all this stuff in his spare time when he's bored & high & his wife's not home. I wish I had that kind of skill.
(The "never pass to Jonas" one is almost too on point to be funny).
By reilo Go To PostThis Wes Matthews quote from a few years ago is gold:
How was he late on his mortgage lol
By Moris Go To PostHow was he late on his mortgage lolI hope he wasn't speaking about himself 😂
By Dark PhaZe Go To PostThis is really really really top notch stuff Kib. Thanks. I agree with him. Harden is my MVP.I don't always agree with Matt but he puts in work to create good support for his arguments and I respect that. He also retweets good articles by people from outlets other than CBS and his personal website. You can follow him at @HardwoodParoxysm.
By Moris Go To PostHow was he late on his mortgage lol
Forgot to transfer a couple G's to his checking from the millions he has in savings.
EDIT: reilo ... banish that garbage picture to the shitty food thread before it reflects poorly on the whole board.
By s y Go To PostSlaent.com and the s is for sanity
FTFY
By KingGondo Go To PostEarly returns looking good for Russ
beautiful.
By Moris Go To PostPsy….is that mustard?nah idk what that is, the sushi came with it on it. i don't fuck with mustard