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.

[kcxiv]

im very pleased with the Progress of the Lakers, they might not win many, but they are competing and hanging close with even the elite teams. Another year or 2, and we right back in this!

[KC_Connection]

LeBron's offensive performance is better in his 15th season than it has ever been. Just remarkable.

The greatest that anybody here has ever and will ever see.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Yep they have been pretty impressive so far. My main concern is that Harden likes to have the ball in his hands as a point-forward but it seems to be working well so far.



How many games do you give them before you try to get something for George and Melo? I would think they would have to give it at least until late January. I think they are more built for the playoffs but they have to get there first.

I don’t think there’s much value they can get back in a trade. They made a gamble they had to make and the results haven’t been good. However, I’ve seen a few signs the last few games they are trying to make it work. Adams getting more offensive touches than Melo is a start. I don’t feel like anyone has given up or had an attitude problem, but they are struggling to find a balance. We’ll see where they are when it matters.


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[KC_Connection]

OKC will make the playoffs and probably lose once they get there to the Warriors, Spurs, or Rockets. Things haven't really changed at all after a month and a half.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

LeBron's offensive performance is better in his 15th season than it has ever been. Just remarkable.

The greatest that anybody here has ever and will ever see.

If you feel he is better than MJ, fine, you are entitled to your opinion but to say best 'ever will see' how the hell do you know?

Lol.... LeBronies...

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

LeBron's offensive performance is better in his 15th season than it has ever been. Just remarkable.

The greatest that anybody here has ever and will ever see.

Its amazing how good you can be when you are a physical player who only takes efficient shots & gets better at shooting late in your career.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by okcchief

I don’t think there’s much value they can get back in a trade. They made a gamble they had to make and the results haven’t been good. However, I’ve seen a few signs the last few games they are trying to make it work. Adams getting more offensive touches than Melo is a start. I don’t feel like anyone has given up or had an attitude problem, but they are struggling to find a balance. We’ll see where they are when it matters.


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I still can't figure out why they would pay Melo and not Harden. The Thunder would have been pretty close to a dynasty.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I still can't figure out why they would pay Melo and not Harden. The Thunder would have been pretty close to a dynasty.

Different era; different parts.

The Thunder thought they needed to save the $$$ to pay Ibaka, who was an ascending presence underneath at the time. With Ibaka, Durant and Westbrook, you had three very good complementary pieces.

Well Ibaka plateaued and Durant...well you know. The Harden ship sailed long ago so they still had money to spend.

Melo went from being an elite scorer and overrated player to just being an overrated player. He's always been a ball-stopper but he could put the ball in the cylinder with the best of them. The knee injury in 2015 cost him just enough explosion that he's simply not that kind of scorer anymore but he hasn't developed any other parts of his game enough to make up for it.

He was a bad fit in Oklahoma from the jump. I'm not sure he's a particularly good fit anywhere. Maybe Brooklyn where he can just hang out and take bad shots in relative anonymity.

[RobBlake]

Memo is basically a more lethal joe Johnson

[dls6501]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Different era; different parts.

The Thunder thought they needed to save the $$$ to pay Ibaka, who was an ascending presence underneath at the time. With Ibaka, Durant and Westbrook, you had three very good complementary pieces.

Well Ibaka plateaued and Durant...well you know. The Harden ship sailed long ago so they still had money to spend.

Melo went from being an elite scorer and overrated player to just being an overrated player. He's always been a ball-stopper but he could put the ball in the cylinder with the best of them. The knee injury in 2015 cost him just enough explosion that he's simply not that kind of scorer anymore but he hasn't developed any other parts of his game enough to make up for it.

He was a bad fit in Oklahoma from the jump. I'm not sure he's a particularly good fit anywhere. Maybe Brooklyn where he can just hang out and take bad shots in relative anonymity.

Couldnt disagree with this post any more than I do.

Specifically:

-They didnt choose to let Harden go to make room for Ibaka's contract. You are rewriting history. They chose to let Harden go to make room for Kendrick Perkins' contract. This is a fact.

-Harden was a bad fit in OKC? LOL. Just because he has been able to expand his game since he left doesnt mean he was a bad fit. He was a perfect fit on that team. He led the 2nd unit and was one of the best 6th men in basketball. OKC hasnt had a real 6th man since.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by dls6501

Couldnt disagree with this post any more than I do.

Specifically:

-They didnt choose to let Harden go to make room for Ibaka's contract. You are rewriting history. They chose to let Harden go to make room for Kendrick Perkins' contract. This is a fact.

-Harden was a bad fit in OKC? LOL. Just because he has been able to expand his game since he left doesnt mean he was a bad fit. He was a perfect fit on that team. He led the 2nd unit and was one of the best 6th men in basketball. OKC hasnt had a real 6th man since.

I don't think he was a bad fit. I believe Sam Presti did. Again - that wasn't the era of 'positionless basketball' that Golden State made so popular just a few years later.

Teams were still very ensconsed in the 1-5 'positions' and in many ways Harden/Westbrook seemed redundant.

If that exact team existed 4 years later, there's no way Presti breaks it up. He puts all those guys on the court and plays a whole lot of stretch basketball.

But the fact that he felt he needed Perkins and Ibaka clearly establishes what kind of team he felt would win games at the time - a more traditional model with a defensively oriented 5, a powerful 4, a PG and a swing man.

As for Perkins vs. Ibaka - my memory was they had just extended Ibaka and were refusing to fall into the repeat luxury tax problem so they moved Harden. Perkins signed his extension a year before Ibaka - he was on the books either way. So in the summer of 2012, they had a choice to make as to who got extended and who got traded.

Given Presti's view of the world as evidenced by the Perkins trade, it's not surprising that they chose to move Harden and extend Ibaka in that off-season. Had they wanted to let Ibaka walk and sign Harden instead, they could have. I fail to see how you've contradicted anything I said.

[New World Order]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

LeBron's offensive performance is better in his 15th season than it has ever been. Just remarkable.

The greatest that anybody here has ever and will ever see.

If you're 19 or younger, sure.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I don't think he was a bad fit. I believe Sam Presti did. Again - that wasn't the era of 'positionless basketball' that Golden State made so popular just a few years later.

Teams were still very ensconsed in the 1-5 'positions' and in many ways Harden/Westbrook seemed redundant.

If that exact team existed 4 years later, there's no way Presti breaks it up. He puts all those guys on the court and plays a whole lot of stretch basketball.

But the fact that he felt he needed Perkins and Ibaka clearly establishes what kind of team he felt would win games at the time - a more traditional model with a defensively oriented 5, a powerful 4, a PG and a swing man.

As for Perkins vs. Ibaka - my memory was they had just extended Ibaka and were refusing to fall into the repeat luxury tax problem so they moved Harden. Perkins signed his extension a year before Ibaka - he was on the books either way. So in the summer of 2012, they had a choice to make as to who got extended and who got traded.

Given Presti's view of the world as evidenced by the Perkins trade, it's not surprising that they chose to move Harden and extend Ibaka in that off-season. Had they wanted to let Ibaka walk and sign Harden instead, they could have. I fail to see how you've contradicted anything I said.

That young team went to the Finals, different era or not. The nucleus was Durant, Harden, Westbrook, and Ibaka. The Thunder certainly wouldn't have made it that far without Harden (who carried the team at times during those playoffs), and, of course, didn't again after trading him. Presti decided to blow it up by trading Harden for pennies on the dollar to save a few million. He had to have known that wouldn't sit well with Durant; he simply thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room.

Presti trades away Durant's guys and then wonders why he would want to leave.

[okcchief]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I still can't figure out why they would pay Melo and not Harden. The Thunder would have been pretty close to a dynasty.

They were always ready to go over but didn’t think it was time. The Harden partying episode in Miami during the Finals didn’t help. Obviously they should have done it then and built the brand. They still were in a good position honestly, but just snake bitten after that. I think the biggest factor was Harden was a buffer between KD and Westbrook. It will be a great 30 for 30 some day, but they’d all do it over if they could I would bet. It was still amazing watching those guys grow up together despite not winning a ring. I’ll always look back and remember how special they were.


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[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by New World Order

If you're 19 or younger, sure.

Or 19 or older.