****2018-2019 Official NBA Regular season thread****

[dirk digler]

Didn't see anybody starting this thread so I guess I will.

Anti climatic season starts tonight and my prediction is GS vs Boston in the NBA Finals.




First 2 Games tonight on TNT with Philly vs Boston and OKC vs GS. Westbrook is out tonight so that game will be a blowout most likely.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry

You morons who keep saying the guys in the 80s were loyal and wouldn't change teams is bullshit. Unrestricted free agency didn't start until 1988. The first major superstar wave of free agency came after the 1995-96, which Shaq took off to Los Angeles, Mourning got paid big and Juwan Howard got a monster deal. What those guys say for sound bites is bullshit as well. If they had the chance many of them would have done exactly what the guys of today are doing. Horace Grant left Chicago to ring chase in Orlando, which didn't work but it's same shit that is going on today.

This. Players weren't loyal back in the day out of choice or some sense of loyalty to the team.

[staylor26]

Nobody said anything about loyalty. At least most of us haven’t. We’re talking about the competitiveness. This is the AAU generation. They like playing on All-Star teams.

Bird, Magic, Barkley, Jordan, Reggie, Malone etc. were not teaming up together.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

SAS is saying there’s a strong possibility that Kawhi goes to LA (take that for what it’s worth).

I don’t see it happening, but if it does...

Is that the strongest Big 3 of all time? 3 top ten players in the league. LeBron or Kawhi can be the best player in the league at any time. It’s definitely up there.

Magic, Kareem, and Worthy?
Bird, McHale, Parish?
MJ, Pippen, Rodman?

Probably 3 of the top 6 with KD out next year unless you want to argue someone like Kyrie or Jokic is better than old LeBron.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

He was past his prime. Nice try though

I thought you were talking loyalty v. Chasing a title. My bad.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by staylor26

And when you continue to use your instead of you’re even after it being pointed out, you should probably just stop calling people morons.

Your and idiot.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Nobody said anything about loyalty. At least most of us haven’t. We’re talking about the competitiveness. This is the AAU generation. They like playing on All-Star teams.

Bird, Magic, Barkley, Jordan, Reggie, Malone etc. were not teaming up together.

Exactly.

When did a conversation about competitive fire turn into a debate over team loyalty?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Exactly.

When did a conversation about competitive fire turn into a debate over team loyalty?

When that idiot ChiefsCountry decided to pop in and call everybody morons without actually quoting anybody and address what they said specifically.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

I thought you were talking loyalty v. Chasing a title. My bad.

All good. A shame Malone got so beat up that season that Lakers team could have been epic.

[Sorry]

Originally Posted by staylor26

When that idiot ChiefsCountry decided to pop in and call everybody morons without actually quoting anybody and address what they said specifically.

That dude has no knowledge on ball. He prob thinks Elgin Baylor is too ten

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Miles

Just to keep the league interesting and competitive I’m hoping he stays in Toronto.

You think it will help Lebron’s legacy when the potential narrative if Kawhi joins the Lakers is Lebron was the 3rd best player on the team? Not saying he would be but the narrative is there.

Mostly I just don’t want more of what we’ve had after KD joining the Warriors where the season is fun but outcome inevitable. It still would have been this year if not for the injuries.

I’d prefer he stay in Toronto as well if only for the chance to win more championships. And I agree that the league definitely is more interesting when you don’t know who is going to win.

But to me, LeBron’s legacy as the greatest player ever is already secure and has been for a while now. He either has all the individual records right now or will have them by the time he ends his career. His numbers are unquestionably better than his only real competition for that title, Michael Jordan. The only argument against him is the championship count (an obviously fallacious argument with all kinds of issues but an argument nonetheless). If he adds more titles (and he will do so with Kawhi and AD at his side), that argument falls. And sure, the MJ fans might say that the titles don’t mean anything or mean less than they did when MJ won them, but that effectively shows just how silly the championship count argument was in the first place. Championships are a team accomplishment, not an individual accomplishment. They always have been. Some great individual players have never won one and yet they are still acknowledged as undeniably better than many who have. At this point, LeBron is the best basketball player ever regardless of how many titles that he racks up by the end but I’m certainly going to enjoy that one last argument being rendered as the nonsense it very obviously is.

And let’s be clear, LeBron would still be the best player on such a team until sufficiently proven otherwise. The guy was basically the same player he’s been for the past 4-5 years last season. That may not be the case for much longer, but he’s no #3 on the Lakers under any scenario right now.

[KC_Connection]

There’s certainly been a lot of Lakers-Kawhi momentum today in the media. They are really putting on a full court press in that regard.

If Kawhi really does leave, though, it’s hard to blame him. He helped bring a championship to an organization that never dreamed of such a thing for 25 years in a league that makes it virtually impossible for franchises like the Raptors to win a title. It was quite the thing to witness. Going home and playing with LeBron after accomplishing something like that as the #1 has to be pretty tempting. This comparison was made earlier but this is nothing at all like KD choking out to the Warriors after having never won a title with OKC and then joining that very same team he choked to. This would be going home and potentially creating the best big three the league has ever seen after winning a championship. I don’t see the shame in it.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I’d prefer he stay in Toronto as well if only for the chance to win more championships. And I agree that the league definitely is more interesting when you don’t know who is going to win.

But to me, LeBron’s legacy as the greatest player ever is already secure and has been for a while now. He either has all the individual records right now or will have them by the time he ends his career. His numbers are unquestionably better than his only real competition for that title, Michael Jordan. The only argument against him is the championship count (an obviously fallacious argument with all kinds of issues but an argument nonetheless). If he adds more titles (and he will do so with Kawhi and AD at his side), that argument falls. And sure, the MJ fans might say that the titles don’t mean anything or mean less than they did when MJ won them, but that effectively shows just how silly the championship count argument was in the first place. Championships are a team accomplishment, not an individual accomplishment. They always have been. Some great individual players have never won one and yet they are still acknowledged as undeniably better than many who have. At this point, LeBron is the best basketball player ever regardless of how many titles that he racks up by the end but I’m certainly going to enjoy that one last argument being rendered as the nonsense it very obviously is.

And let’s be clear, LeBron would still be the best player on such a team until sufficiently proven otherwise. The guy was basically the same player he’s been for the past 4-5 years last season. That may not be the case for much longer, but he’s no #3 on the Lakers under any scenario right now.

Would you stop trying to make every page in this thread about how LeBron is the greatest ever already?

[Miles]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

I’d prefer he stay in Toronto as well if only for the chance to win more championships. And I agree that the league definitely is more interesting when you don’t know who is going to win.

But to me, LeBron’s legacy as the greatest player ever is already secure and has been for a while now. He either has all the individual records right now or will have them by the time he ends his career. His numbers are unquestionably better than his only real competition for that title, Michael Jordan. The only argument against him is the championship count (an obviously fallacious argument with all kinds of issues but an argument nonetheless). If he adds more titles (and he will do so with Kawhi and AD at his side), that argument falls. And sure, the MJ fans might say that the titles don’t mean anything or mean less than they did when MJ won them, but that effectively shows just how silly the championship count argument was in the first place. Championships are a team accomplishment, not an individual accomplishment. They always have been. Some great individual players have never won one and yet they are still acknowledged as undeniably better than many who have. At this point, LeBron is the best basketball player ever regardless of how many titles that he racks up by the end but I’m certainly going to enjoy that one last argument being rendered as the nonsense it very obviously is.

And let’s be clear, LeBron would still be the best player on such a team until sufficiently proven otherwise. The guy was basically the same player he’s been for the past 4-5 years last season. That may not be the case for much longer, but he’s no #3 on the Lakers under any scenario right now.

Think it was proven otherwise last year. Would Lebron be the worst of the big three if that happens?

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Would you stop trying to make every page in this thread about how LeBron is the greatest ever already?

I was asked about his legacy, I gave an answer.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Miles

Think it was proven otherwise last year. Would Lebron be the worst of the big three if that happens?

I’m afraid a half season where he still averaged 27-8-8 (identical to what he’s been for years) while playing with the worst collection of scrubs in the league doesn’t prove much of anything about anything.