2017-2018 Official NBA Regular season

[Al Bundy]

Let's start it... Warriors going for a back to back and 3 out of 4. Yikes for Gordon Hayward.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by O.city

The NBA does suck this year knowing how it's gonna end

Eh... It's been great so far. Just cause we know GSW is the best team doesn't change anything. It's not like the NBA has ever had a lot of parity anyway.
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[staylor26]

Originally Posted by O.city

The NBA does suck this year knowing how it's gonna end

The saving grace for me has been all of the young talent.

Guys like Simmons, Porzingis, Embid, Tatum, Smith, Markannen, Fox etc. have been fun to watch.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by -King-

Eh... It's been great so far. Just cause we know GSW is the best team doesn't change anything. It's not like the NBA has ever had a lot of parity anyway.
Posted via Mobile Device

There's normally a few teams that could legit win the thing though

Unless there's an injury, who's beating the warriors in a series!

[O.city]

Originally Posted by staylor26

The saving grace for me has been all of the young talent.

Guys like Simmons, Porzingis, Embid, Tatum, Smith, Markannen, Fox etc. have been fun to watch.

Yeah that's true. The next wave should be fun.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by -King-

He makes everyone around him better how?

By creating space and generating open shots for everyone around him.

James has been remarkable this season, even by his standards. He’s shooting 65.7 percent on 2-pointers, including 80 percent within 3 feet of the rim. That’s enough to give him a career-best true shooting percentage of 67.3 percent even though he’s drawing fouls at a career-worst rate. And not only is James scoring efficiently himself, but he’s assisting on 45.8 percent of his teammates’ field goals when he’s on the floor, another career high.

Over the past three seasons, James has improved his teammates’ shots at a tremendous rate by leveraging his practically unstoppable drive-and-kick game into high-value opportunities for himself and others. According to data from Second Spectrum, the average shot off of a LeBron pass from 2014-15 to 2016-17 would have been converted at a rate of 55.9 effective field goal percent by an average player. The Cavs had a 60 percent eFG on those shots, meaning they turned good shots into great ones.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-it-all-alone/

None of this is new. LeBron is extraordinarily good at making those around him better, but there's only so much he or anybody else can do against the unstoppable force that is the Golden State Warriors with Durant.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by O.city

Unless there's an injury, who's beating the warriors in a series!

There is no such team and everyone knows this.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by staylor26

KC_Connection is clearly Nick Wright

Who is the greatest basketball player ever? That question, you can almost turn it into a tautology, who is better at basketball than anyone ever? The answer to that question is LeBron James, and I'll go over why in a moment.

That is a separate question to who is the most accomplished player ever. The most accomplished champion ever is Bill Russell. The most accomplished individual player ever is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. So it is not an accomplishments discussion. Jordan wins that argument. Now, as Cris would say, Jordan's cement is dry.

- It is.

- LeBron's is not. So we'll see if LeBron can catch him in MVPs. Lebron's at four, Jordan's at five. In rings, LeBron's at three, Jordan's at six. But the question is, who's better at the sport?

Who is-- aliens come down to earth, they say you got first overall pick for the fate of humanity, who's the number one pick in world history? And the answer's LeBron James. And to be totally honest, you can pick the year.

You want year three LeBron James, when he led the League in scoring. You want year 15 LeBron James, when he's averaging a career high in assists and field goal percentage. You pick the year, because not only is he the best player ever, he's had the longest prime ever.

But now that we're at game 1,072, let's just do a tale the tape. LeBron has more assists. LeBron has more rebounds. LeBron has a higher field goal percentage. LeBron has a higher 3-point percentage. LeBron has a higher box score plus minus. LeBron has a higher value over a replacement player. LeBron's been to more NBA finals. LeBron has more everything in the playoffs.

So statistically, here's what Jordan's got. He scored more. Yeah, inefficiently, compared to LeBron, because he shot more. Like, the--

- He was a scorer.

- He was-- he was a scorer. Lebron's not a natural scorer.

- No.

- And is probably going to finish with more points than anyone in the history of the sport.

- Yes.

- Like that-- so, and the last point, and the reason why I think it's important to talk about today, is because CC, you make this point to me all the time. When we're talking about greatness, longevity matters.

- Yes.

- I think the thing you are most proud of in your career is how long you extended your prime for.

- Yes.

- You were still in your prime in year 14.

- Yes.

- Year 15 probably not, and year 16 doesn't really count. Like the--

- Right.

- That's what it was. You extended it a long time. The fact that LeBron, last night, what'd he do, 38 and 9?

JENNA WOLFE: And 9.

- That-- Jordan's final game in the League, he went 15, 4 and 4, quietly into the night with a Wizards team. So, and people were like oh, well Jordan-- Jordan retired, so he was older.

Didn't nobody make him retire. Jordan went to college. Nobody made him go to college, by the way, either. Moses Malone made it clear. You can go straight out of high school.

CRIS CARTER: Yeah, Michael Jordan needed to go to college.

- Absolutely right. So they're-- we can glorify the nostalgia of Michael Jordan, the second greatest player ever. We can pretend that he didn't come back and lose to the Magic, badly. We can burn the tapes the way the NBA did. But when you're talking about who's better at basketball than anyone ever, it's the guy we watched last night in year 15.

https://www.foxsports.com/watch/firs.../1091175491831

[tk13]

LeBron has more everything in the playoffs.

Except titles.

[dirk digler]

I had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago and have been laid up so I ordered NBA League Pass for the first time ever. I have watched a shit ton of games especially Cav games because they start early and I can unequivocally say if you take Lebron off that team they are a lottery team. They already currently hold the worst defense in NBA history this season and that is with him playing 40 minutes a game and losing against shit teams.

They will win the East solely because of Lebron and because Hayward is out for the year but I would keep my eyes on the Bucks, adding Bledsoe makes that team a ton better and could push them to 6-7 games.

[New World Order]

Jordan is a better overall 1-on-1 player; better post-up player; better face up player; better scorer; better mid-range game, better finisher etc..

He also moved without the ball a lot better than Lebron. Jordan was able to get easy spot up jumpers simply because of the way he was able to rub off/read screens.

Jordan was just the better offensive player.

He's just, well... better.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by tk13

Except titles.

LeBron does have more finals loses.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

They are good, but James Harden and Chris Paul aren't going to beat the Warriors. Durant and Curry are the far better combination and they have way more help.

I actually think the Rockets are better without CP3 but we will see. OKC has to many ball hogs as well. They need to let Melo run the 2nd team only.

[lcarus]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

His shot was pretty wonky in college. It was slow and he had a lot of side to side motion. I’m sure he’s working on it and I’m sure it will improve but it isn’t fine.

Yeah plus he really doesn't have to be a lights out shooter to be a great player. The Lakers just need more scorers around him. I am not a Lakers fan so I really don't care but he'll be a good player to help them rebuild.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

I had knee surgery a couple of weeks ago and have been laid up so I ordered NBA League Pass for the first time ever. I have watched a shit ton of games especially Cav games because they start early and I can unequivocally say if you take Lebron off that team they are a lottery team. They already currently hold the worst defense in NBA history this season and that is with him playing 40 minutes a game and losing against shit teams.

They will win the East solely because of Lebron and because Hayward is out for the year but I would keep my eyes on the Bucks, adding Bledsoe makes that team a ton better and could push them to 6-7 games.

Well duh. The team is built 100% around one guy. Everyone else one that team was handpicked by that one guy including that coach. That coach literally has no idea what to do on offense, defense, rotations, etc. A good coach would have that team even without LeBron making the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed or at least coming close.

There's no reason they should be a bad team without LeBron much less with him. It's lack of effort and lack of accountability. Why should the other players play hard if LeBron is playing at 60%?
Posted via Mobile Device

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by lcarus

Yeah plus he really doesn't have to be a lights out shooter to be a great player. The Lakers just need more scorers around him. I am not a Lakers fan so I really don't care but he'll be a good player to help them rebuild.

You do not have to be a great shooter to be a great player, no.

But can a guard be an actively BAD shooter and be a great player? No, no they cannot. Not in the modern era of 'space and pace' basketball. Because Lonzo's presence on the court sabotages spacing. You just sag off him and wait for him to miss; his shooting keeps your offense from being genuinely good with him on the floor.

And if he doesn't make your offense truly outstanding, his defense is only adequate because he lacks first step quickness. The length and smarts keep him from being completely exposed but small, fast guards will eat his lunch out there. His value is exclusively in his ability to take your offense to the next level and right now he just makes it no worse than it is; his shooting cancels out his playmaking to the point that a guy like Clarkson at PG gives you a different offense, but no an appreciably worse one.

He needs to get his effective shooing percentage to around 53%; it's presently sitting under 37% - that's truly hideous. Of 245 players to have attempted more than 50 shots this year, he's 240th. The company he's keeping has maybe 1 guy in it that can be considered a good player and that's Marcus Smart. But Smart's in that discussion because he's an elite defender - Lonzo is not and never will be. The rest of the guys in that range probably won't be pros in 3 years.

But if he can get to that 53% range (roughly average), he can get to that sort of Goran Dragic level scorer and add better vision/defense to the equation to be a genuine All-Star caliber player. From there, every little percentage point he can add makes him more and more dangerous. Get it up to 56% and he's a bonafide star. Now he has Bradley Beal's scoring efficiency and unparalleled playmaking skills.

But holy crap man, 56% is a LOOOOOOONG way from 36%. He's gotta start hitting his 3s and getting to the stripe (then actually hitting his free throws). These tentative mid-range jumpers he's bricking are completely untenable.