2017 NBA Playoffs | James & The Giant Piece of Shit Conference

By reilo Go To PostPop didn't wanna trade Hill for Kawhi. Buford and the scouts had to convince him. He flat out cried when they traded Hill.

well then Buford saw it, the point is they felt the only way to get better was to move a solid player for a player at position they needed with...

of course great scouting and communication is needed and all that

yal trippin

i would feel nothing getting swept by GS

By DY_nasty Go To Postyal trippin

i would feel nothing getting swept by GS

you don't feel anything anyways

By reilo Go To PostLike, Memphis is old as dirt and been injury prone. I don't see how they compete next year.

Outside of Parsons we really didn't have a lot of significant injuries until this thing with Tony Allen which isn't really that bad just terrible timing. I mean Mike broke his back but he is kinda immune to things like that so I don't know if that counts.

By jjasper Go To PostOutside of Parsons we really didn't have a lot of significant injuries until this thing with Tony Allen which isn't really that bad just terrible timing. I mean Mike broke his back but he is kinda immune to things like that so I don't know if that counts.

Losing Mike was basically giving away games...

Marc was fairly healthy this year which was good tho

My stance on team building: compete for the playoffs every year without mortgaging the future.

had the wiz taking this in 7 and haven't really changed my mind much about it--been kind of bored with it all really, there's something kind off about this season for me--probably the sheer inevitability of a GS win

By Kibner Go To PostMy stance on team building: compete for the playoffs every year without mortgaging the future.

tank years > getting the 9th best record in the east

rooting for the tank and being invested in the draft can easily be more fun than a middling late lottery run for me at least

Rooting for the draft is absolutely not fun.

And y'all was talking about you would rather go against curry on an island than Kyrie

I dunno

Last night was some shit

Kyrie might have the better handle but fuking curry man. Curry hit you with enough and then just launch that shit from anywhere.

There is no "rooting for the tank/draft". That shit isn't fun.

Copped tickets to Rockets game tonight with wifey. Upper deck but right at mid court, which doesn't matter too much because of the huge screen in Toyota center.

$1 beer, nachos, soda, and candy let's gooooo

By Kibner Go To PostMy stance on team building: compete for the playoffs every year without mortgaging the future.

Sometimes you have to sell high and get that future

By rodeoclown Go To PostRooting for the draft is absolutely not fun.

By s y Go To PostThere is no "rooting for the tank/draft". That shit isn't fun.

Aye.

By blackace Go To PostSometimes you have to sell high and get that future

If you are at the point where that is necessary, you are looking at hoping you reach 50 wins over the course of three seasons.

Give me the Morey/Houston model. Compete while not over-committing to individual players and acquire assets of various value by hook or by crook.

By Smokey Go To PostCopped tickets to Rockets game tonight with wifey. Upper deck but right at mid court, which doesn't matter too much because of the huge screen in Toyota center.

$1 beer, nachos, soda, and candy let's gooooo

That's basically where I sit for season tickets. The only better seats are mid-court, lower level which are at least 3x more expensive.

From what I hear, the dollar stuff only lasts until 6:30, so get there early.

the morey model of pray a franchise is dumb enough to let a star player walk for kevin martin and a late lotto pick

By Dark PhaZe Go To Posttank years > getting the 9th best record in the east

rooting for the tank and being invested in the draft can easily be more fun than a middling late lottery run for me at least

I want to watch games that matter to me instead of spending more time analyzing games of random who-da-fucks in college, high-school, or overseas. I can handle that for a couple weeks but not years. Fuck that noise.

the morey model of sign guys who are never healthy and have them be healthy

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postthe morey model of pray a franchise is dumb enough to let a star player walk for kevin martin and a late lotto pick

As opposed to the model of praying for ping pong balls to fall your way?

Teams should be doing everything they can to put a good squad on the floor. Doing anything else is a disservice to the people that you ask to put money into your product.

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postthe morey model of pray a franchise is dumb enough to let a star player walk for kevin martin and a late lotto pick

As opposed to hope a top player suffers from poor ankles prior to signing his contract so you get him for cheap combined with getting another top player because the salary cap jumped up combined with getting two other great players to sign below market value?

Compared to having a potential GOAT being born close to your team's city and getting the #1 pick in 3/4 drafts?

And then there are the chances of drafting three MVP candidates in three consecutive drafts strategy. More people should try that.

Getting a HoF coach and front office seems easily to duplicate. Let's go with that.

Will always give credit to Morey for not completely letting the franchise sink. We haven't had a losing season under him, and he refused to tank at all. Props.

Also

Drake will help the NBA reveal who wins the highly anticipated Most Valuable Player race this season.

The NBA will officially announce Drake, the rapper/entertainer, on Tuesday as host of the first NBA Awards show on June 26.

The inaugural show will present the winners of Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, the Sixth Man Award, Defensive Player of the Year, the Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year.

By diehard Go To Postthe morey model of sign guys who are never healthy and have them be healthy

He learned from the Tyson Chandler deal(s) that a player's potential to stay healthy solely based off their time in NOLA can be used to target a market inefficiency.

Um ok

why didn't Kia spring for that COY award too?

I think some of the opinions on tanking here are informed by the teams you guys root for. Rooting for the tank in 2015 was some of the most enjoyable shit I've experienced as a Knicks fan in the last 15 years because the usually the Knicks either don't have a pick or they fuck up their pick by trying to win now with a cobbled together team of mercenaries. But if I'd spent the last 15 watching teams full of high lottery picks fail to develop into something then I'd probably feel differently.

Intelligent, occasional tanking is ok.

But if I had been a Sixers fan under Hinkie I would have eventually stormed the arena with a molotov.

They way I see it there's definitely two ends of the spectrum and neither of them are good.

By masud Go To PostI think some of the opinions on tanking here are informed by the teams you guys root for. Rooting for the tank in 2015 was some of the most enjoyable shit I've experienced as a Knicks fan in the last 15 years because the usually the Knicks either don't have a pick or they fuck up their pick by trying to win now with a cobbled together team of mercenaries. But if I'd spent the last 15 watching teams full of high lottery picks fail to develop into something then I'd probably feel differently.

The Javale, Gilbert, Wall, Young, Crawford tank year was so much fun. It led to Jan Vesely but dammit it should have been Kawhi Leonard--and that's what is so enticing about it, the fact that most times you *know*, you just know that a good player is going to be there if you can find him. Your GM fucking it up is another story. Kings fans complained for years about the tank and they had a core of Isaiah Thomas and Cousins and did nothing with it. The Wolves had every chance to put a stud core around Love and fucked it up because Khan.

Tanking is opportunity. People blame the tank when they should be blaming ownership and GM tandems for wasting a tank year by letting a guy who got rich on some e-commerce startup force a pick because they wanted to play high stakes fantasy basketball.

By masud Go To PostI think some of the opinions on tanking here are informed by the teams you guys root for. Rooting for the tank in 2015 was some of the most enjoyable shit I've experienced as a Knicks fan in the last 15 years because the usually the Knicks either don't have a pick or they fuck up their pick by trying to win now with a cobbled together team of mercenaries. But if I'd spent the last 15 watching teams full of high lottery picks fail to develop into something then I'd probably feel differently.

That's why part of my criteria was "don't mortgage the future". Compete, but don't make short-sighted moves that will have positive impact for a couple seasons, at most. Don't make long-term moves that have a good chance of hindering the team for multiple seasons.

wanted to go to wiz game today--starts at 6

that building will be empty until half time

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/dion-waiters-miami-heat-nba-is-lucky/

dion waiters a trip.

Wait, really? The Rox are doing $1 beers for an hour tonight?

What could go wrong?

By KingGondo Go To PostWait, really? The Rox are doing $1 beers for an hour tonight?

What could go wrong?

It ends a half hour before tip-off, so hopefully everything will end ok.

I'm sure that these already-drunk people won't continue to buy beer well into the game once their inhibition is lowered.

By KingGondo Go To PostI'm sure that these already-drunk people won't continue to buy beer well into the game once their inhibition is lowered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night

oh dear

By domino Go To Posthttps://www.theplayerstribune.com/dion-waiters-miami-heat-nba-is-lucky/

dion waiters a trip.

"Fourth quarter, 10 seconds left. Tie game. I got the ball in my hands with the game on the line, and I already knew what was gonna happen. F*** an overtime, let’s get up outta here.

What’s the analytics on that?

That’s a W.

Then I hit ’em with the pose."


This guy's okay by me.

as an expert let me tell you

tanking is not a good time

By knux-future Go To Postas an expert let me tell you

tanking is not a good time

the alternate reality of the iguodala and jrue holiday led sixers winning 35 games might not be cool either though

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postthe alternate reality of the iguodala and jrue holiday led sixers winning 35 games might not be cool either though

Or they could have traded Iggy for a decent return instead of getting locked into a long contract with him aging, kept Holiday, picked up young complimentary players, gambled on second rounders and guys other teams have given up on, and put out something people want to watch while still keeping enough flexibility to acquire a superstar.

Note: that team would still be bad and be getting lottery picks, but it would be entertaining to watch.

By knux-future Go To Postas an expert let me tell you

tanking is not a good time

Seriously. I'm not sure what the 100% proper path is to building a contender, but I do know the Spurs got lucky by landing Duncan. Congrats!

But, this current Warriors team had to work their way into a contender, too.

In 2013 with a core of Curry, Klay, Harrison Barnes, David Lee, and Bogut, they won 47 games and were ousted in the second round. Draymond Green was a rookie and not very good.
In 2014 with a core of Curry, Klay, Draymond, David Lee, Harrison Barnes, Iggy (fresh max contract that many people panned), and Bogut, they won 51 games and were ousted in the first round.

Then 2015 happened and they won 67 games and the chip. What changed? They fired Mark Jackson and hired Kerr. David Lee got hurt which pushed Draymond into a starting role and the dude came out of nowhere to be a swiss knife elite defensive playmaker. Klay became a better offensive weapon. Iggy played the ultimate bench role. Who honestly saw that ascension coming?

So if the conclusion from last night was, "well, you shouldn't want to be a treadmill team cause it'll lead you to nowhere", then I wholeheartedly disagree. The Warriors were a treadmill team before they weren't.

Don't forget the silly contract and salary cap things that happened that let them sign all the players in free agency that provide depth, in addition to KD.

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postthe alternate reality of the iguodala and jrue holiday led sixers winning 35 games might not be cool either though

True.

let me rephrase that then.

Tanking for long periods is not fun. Its fun to watch your young team gel and figure out things...there were two stretches of that...and then Hinkie doubled down and tanked even harder. Watching dudes with no chance play struggleball for 82 games for multiple years is not a good time...doubly so when you start to miss on guys (Okafor). This year was actaully pretty neat tbf until Embiid died again.

there are levels to it. Tanking is fine and a valid choice and better than being in the 7-10 range of get styled on by LeBron or draft another role player. But if you have to tank for more than 2 years then more than likely you are drafting poorly and are now stuck on another treadmill but worse because you now KNOW that your FO aint shit and can't get you out of it. Now mind you hopeflly our prolong stay in the dead zone is due to being "unlucky" w/ all of our draft picks being hurt...but still. The 10 win season sucked balls especially since Simmons was the only guy I wanted.... The end of the pre-Okafor year also sucked. This year was great because we actually finally started to try.

i hope we are done with it for sure. Of course if/when we cap out in a few years, I probably will be a hypocrite and ask for another tank. Grass aint always greener and all that

For real. Curry having bad ankles, signing a sweetheart deal, actually getting healthy (his career looked dire) and then turning into a two-time MVP? Yeah, sorry. Even the Warriors FO didn't predict that.

By Kibner Go To PostOr they could have traded Iggy for a decent return instead of getting locked into a long contract with him aging, kept Holiday, picked up young complimentary players, gambled on second rounders and guys other teams have given up on, and put out something people want to watch while still keeping enough flexibility to acquire a superstar.

jrue would have quit basketball if he had to be the face of the sixers with a losing record for multiple years

those fans would have ended him

Also, don't forget...

Curry: 7th pick
Klay: 11th pick
Draymond: 35th pick
Harrison Barnes: 7th pick
Iggy: 9th pick

Ideally, your roster should always be playing guys that, if they develop as expected, can be a main contributor to a championship team. Philly ain't really had that outside of Embiid. And he ain't really play all that much.

Fuck that noise.

By knux-future Go To PostTanking is fine and a valid choice and better than being in the 7-10 range of get styled on by LeBron or draft another role player.

Literally the entire Warriors core except Durant and Andrew Bogut fits that description. They won a chip and 73 games with a bunch of 7-11 picks and a second round pick.

By Dark PhaZe Go To Postjrue would have quit basketball if he had to be the face of the sixers with a losing record for multiple years

those fans would have ended him

lol nah

He's had to deal with that for years already and be blamed by local and national media as a reason why AD isn't in the playoffs every year.

You don't have to be bottom 4 to be a tanking team. When I say tank I mean just get to some position where moving up is possible. The Wiz jumped spots for the Porter and Wall picks at I think 5 and 7 or 8.

By Kibner Go To Postlol nah

He's had to deal with that for years already and be blamed by local and national media as a reason why AD isn't in the playoffs every year.

he was able to hide behind iggy for years--never got the franchise label for long in philly. Different environment than NO by a long shot.