NBA 2014-15 General Discussion Thread

[pfrduke]

Other moderators more knowledgable than I can decide whether this belongs on the main board or the off-topic board (I start it on the main board on the theory that all basketball is on topic), but I thought it would be useful to have a general thread for commentary on the NBA season.

To start - yes, it was against Orlando, but Anthony Davis and Omer Asik combined for 38 points, 34 boards, and 14 blocks in their debut as a front line. I'm certain that I'm forgetting something obvious, but is there a better starting 4-5 combination in the league?

[NSDukeFan]

Other moderators more knowledgable than I can decide whether this belongs on the main board or the off-topic board (I start it on the main board on the theory that all basketball is on topic), but I thought it would be useful to have a general thread for commentary on the NBA season.

To start - yes, it was against Orlando, but Anthony Davis and Omer Asik combined for 38 points, 34 boards, and 14 blocks in their debut as a front line. I'm certain that I'm forgetting something obvious, but is there a better starting 4-5 combination in the league?

Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan might be. Lamarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez and Dirk Nowitzki/ Tyson Chandler are in the conversation. Those are the first groups I thought of. Kevin Love and LeBron if you want to cheat would be tops, but Love/ Varejao is pretty good.

[moonpie23]

Julius Randle breaks his leg in the lakers' first game...

lakers were needing him...

[tbyers11]

Julius Randle breaks his leg in the lakers' first game...

lakers were needing him...

I don't wish a serious injury on anyone, even Kentucky guys, but Randle's injury should mean more playing time for Ryan Kelly when he is healthy in a week or so.

[Troublemaker]

To start - yes, it was against Orlando, but Anthony Davis and Omer Asik combined for 38 points, 34 boards, and 14 blocks in their debut as a front line. I'm certain that I'm forgetting something obvious, but is there a better starting 4-5 combination in the league?

That's pretty sick.
26pts, 17rebs, 9 blks for Davis
14pts, 17rebs, 5 blks for Asik

Almost certainly the best defensive tandem at least.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Julius Randle breaks his leg in the lakers' first game...

lakers were needing him...

Yeah, this is awful. Randle is one of the few University of NBA players I liked. He's was one of the foundation pieces in the AK era (After Kobe).

The Lakers are going to be sooooo bad this year.

[luvdahops]

Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan might be. Lamarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez and Dirk Nowitzki/ Tyson Chandler are in the conversation. Those are the first groups I thought of. Kevin Love and LeBron if you want to cheat would be tops, but Love/ Varejao is pretty good.

Paul Gasol and Joakhim Noah are in the conversation, too, especially if you throw in Taj Gibson, who might be the top reserve post player in the league.

[theAlaskanBear]

Julius Randle breaks his leg in the lakers' first game...

lakers were needing him...

One of the more bizarre injuries I have seen. He broke his right leg when the momentum from his left leg kicked his planted right leg. Crazy.

[kAzE]

Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan might be. Lamarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez and Dirk Nowitzki/ Tyson Chandler are in the conversation. Those are the first groups I thought of. Kevin Love and LeBron if you want to cheat would be tops, but Love/ Varejao is pretty good.

Asik is nothing special, he had a good game, but I don't think this is something we'll see too often. Davis, on the other hand, is the best big man in the league, and it's not close.

[CDu]

Asik is nothing special, he had a good game, but I don't think this is something we'll see too often. Davis, on the other hand, is the best big man in the league, and it's not close.

I would say that Asik is nothing special on offense. But I think he's one of a handful of guys on the short list for best defensive big man in the game. If he had any semblance of an offensive game, he'd be discussed among the elite. But the dude makes Dwight Howard look like Kevin McHale, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Tim Duncan wrapped up into one person offensively.

[Li_Duke]

I don't wish a serious injury on anyone, even Kentucky guys, but Randle's injury should mean more playing time for Ryan Kelly when he is healthy in a week or so.

I wish this was true, but considering Scott says he wants to go old-school and shoot less threes, I think this mostly means extra playing time for former Tar-Heel Ed Davis.

[CDu]

I wish this was true, but considering Scott says he wants to go old-school and shoot less threes, I think this mostly means extra playing time for former Tar-Heel Ed Davis.

Yeah, I think you're right. Kelly was fighting a very uphill battle for PT with Boozer, Hill, Davis, and Randle in front of him. Now, instead of being the 5th big, he's the 4th big. That will mean some playing time, but likely not a lot of playing time.

[tommy]

Yeah, I think you're right. Kelly was fighting a very uphill battle for PT with Boozer, Hill, Davis, and Randle in front of him. Now, instead of being the 5th big, he's the 4th big. That will mean some playing time, but likely not a lot of playing time.

True, although on this sad sack Laker team, Jordan Hill is actually going to be playing a lot of center. Ryan's problem is that Ed Davis actually played pretty well in the pre-season, and has established himself as a guy who's going to get minutes. Ryan's other problem is that as a spot-up shooter he really needs to play off a strong low-post presence, a guy who can draw doubles which leads to the ball swinging ultimately to Ryan for whatever shots he's gonna get. The only guy the Lakers have who teams even need to begin to think about doubling in the post is Boozer -- not Hill and not Davis -- and Ryan will likely spend very little time on the court at the same time as 'Los.

Putting aside the terrible luck vis-a-vis Randle, this Laker team is just so poorly constructed. The pieces don't fit at all -- and they're not very good pieces to begin with. Kobe's absurd contract made it impossible to attract any quality players, and the ones they did bring in are others' unwanted spare parts. This team is not going to get to 30 wins IMO. Question is, when will the totally unrealistic sportstalk radio guys out here start their discussions of next year, with the assumption being that the Lakers will get Jahlil Okafor because, well, they're the Lakers?

[CDu]

True, although on this sad sack Laker team, Jordan Hill is actually going to be playing a lot of center. Ryan's problem is that Ed Davis actually played pretty well in the pre-season, and has established himself as a guy who's going to get minutes. Ryan's other problem is that as a spot-up shooter he really needs to play off a strong low-post presence, a guy who can draw doubles which leads to the ball swinging ultimately to Ryan for whatever shots he's gonna get. The only guy the Lakers have who teams even need to begin to think about doubling in the post is Boozer -- not Hill and not Davis -- and Ryan will likely spend very little time on the court at the same time as 'Los.

Putting aside the terrible luck vis-a-vis Randle, this Laker team is just so poorly constructed. The pieces don't fit at all -- and they're not very good pieces to begin with. Kobe's absurd contract made it impossible to attract any quality players, and the ones they did bring in are others' unwanted spare parts. This team is not going to get to 30 wins IMO. Question is, when will the totally unrealistic sportstalk radio guys out here start their discussions of next year, with the assumption being that the Lakers will get Jahlil Okafor because, well, they're the Lakers?

I generally think of NBA PF and C as somewhat interchangeable. Hence I said Kelly is the 4th big. I expect Boozer and Hill to eat up the C minutes and Hill/Boozer and Davis to play most of the PF minutes. There just aren't too many situations where the 4th big gets decent run, and I am not sure that LA is an exception here.

I won't be shocked if the Lakers fall short of 20 wins this year. No defense, Kobe is old, and there isn't enough help for him. And the West is GOOD too.

[MCFinARL]

One of the more bizarre injuries I have seen. He broke his right leg when the momentum from his left leg kicked his planted right leg. Crazy.

That is crazy, and a very tough break (oops, pun unintentional) for both the Lakers and Randle. Is it just familiarity bias (Randle, Paul George, Kevin Ware), or do leg breaks in basketball seem to be fairly flukey injuries?

[mr. synellinden]

Terrible and bizarre injury - and now Randle is out for the season. You have to feel terrible for him (I thought he was going to be one of the best rookies from this class - and he still may be) but maybe he can follow the path of another LA power forward - Blake Griffin - who missed all of his first season.

[AIRFORCEDUKIE]

First off the post Lebron Heat era began with a great win vs the Wizards who many believe can complete for the East this season. Bosh looked like the Raptors Bosh and was devastating with his combination of outside shooting and aggressive drives. Norris Cole started at point and played extremely well, while Chalmers came of the bench and was really good in his new role. Wade was Wade taking over the fourth quarter and bringing home the victory even after a sprain. Deng is still getting comfortable on his new team but he played well and looks more explosive than last year, McBob didnt play and Andre Dawkins didnt dress.

On a joyful side note the Bulls killed the Knicks by 24 Dunleavey was 0/5 with zero points while Gasol had 21 and 11.. Rose finished with 13 points and 5 assists. Melo only managed 13 points on the night

The Charlotte HORNETS won in OT on a Kemba walker 21 footer as time expired. Not a great start for Jabari as he only had 8 points and 4 boards. He only took 9 shots. Gerald Henderson only played 9 minutes and had zero points. Looks like his days with the Hornets may be coming to an end after this season.

Grizzlies beat the Wolves, while Wiggins only had 6 points on the night.

Portland beat the Thunder, big news here is that Lance Thomas racked starter minutes with 31 minutes and 14 points in KD's absence

The suns beat the Lakers, Ryan didnt play but Miles Plumlee had 10 points and 6 boards starting he was 5/7 from the field.

Raptors beat the Hawks, Elton Brand had 12 mins of playing time and scored 2 point with 1 board. G. Vasquez had a good game of the bench with 12 points and 3 assists

Finally Golden State defeated the Kings, nothing Duke related except Seth Currys brother dropped 24 points on 17 shots and also had 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Also A guy who chose to go to a school that doesn't give their athletes real classes and offers no educational benefits instead of going to Duke scored 9 and pulled down 6 boards. Its ok though he never graduated so doesn't have a sham degree.

[theAlaskanBear]

First off the post Lebron Heat era began with a great win vs the Wizards who many believe can complete for the East this season. Bosh looked like the Raptors Bosh and was devastating with his combination of outside shooting and aggressive drives. Norris Cole started at point and played extremely well, while Chalmers came of the bench and was really good in his new role. Wade was Wade taking over the fourth quarter and bringing home the victory even after a sprain. Deng is still getting comfortable on his new team but he played well and looks more explosive than last year, McBob didnt play and Andre Dawkins didnt dress.

On a joyful side note the Bulls killed the Knicks by 24 Dunleavey was 0/5 with zero points while Gasol had 21 and 11.. Rose finished with 13 points and 5 assists. Melo only managed 13 points on the night

The Charlotte HORNETS won in OT on a Kemba walker 21 footer as time expired. Not a great start for Jabari as he only had 8 points and 4 boards. He only took 9 shots. Gerald Henderson only played 9 minutes and had zero points. Looks like his days with the Hornets may be coming to an end after this season.

Grizzlies beat the Wolves, while Wiggins only had 6 points on the night.

Portland beat the Thunder, big news here is that Lance Thomas racked starter minutes with 31 minutes and 14 points in KD's absence

The suns beat the Lakers, Ryan didnt play but Miles Plumlee had 10 points and 6 boards starting he was 5/7 from the field.

Raptors beat the Hawks, Elton Brand had 12 mins of playing time and scored 2 point with 1 board. G. Vasquez had a good game of the bench with 12 points and 3 assists

Finally Golden State defeated the Kings, nothing Duke related except Seth Currys brother dropped 24 points on 17 shots and also had 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Also A guy who chose to go to a school that doesn't give their athletes real classes and offers no educational benefits instead of going to Duke scored 9 and pulled down 6 boards. Its ok though he never graduated so doesn't have a sham degree.

Nice summary. I want to add that in the Bulls-Knicks game Dunleavy defended Melo the entire time he was on the court and did a terrific job.

I watched pretty much the entire Hornets-Bucks game, and I was unimpressed with the Bucks offense. They built a large lead primarily due a hot shooting night from Middleton and Mayo, and when it started to disappear they had no answer except space the floor and let the guards shoot jumpshots. Parker in particular it seemed like in the half-court his role was to stand at the baseline 3 and let the guards do their thing. I was also not a fan of J Kidd's rotations. Parker played 36 minutes, while Ilyasova and Henson only played 10-12 minutes each. Marshall and Wolters didn't get off the bench (not a big fan of Wolters, but maybe Marshall could have generated some offense for the bigs).

I feel sorry for Boozer, but it is going to be fun to watch Kobe's head explode this year. Looking forward to seeing him take 25-30 shots a game in losing efforts. Also nice to see the Thunder struggle with Westbrook taking 27 shots and shooting 16 FT. The Thunder are down to just 9 players due to injury, so Lance should get some quality PT to start the year. To round out the Shooter's Ball, Kemba Walker wins the Chucker award with 26 shot attempts due to actually tying the game to send it to OT, and also hitting the winning shot in OT.

One game means nothing in the Rookie of the Year race, but I have to say, McDermott looks like a very nice fit on the Bulls. He played good defense, got 12 shots, overall looked quite comfortable, and he has maybe the best coach outside of Pop in the league. Another "rookie" to keep an eye on it Kosta Papanikolaou. Jabari has a great chance as he will get lots of PT with the Bucks, but I am not sure they will have an offense that puts him in good positions and seeks him out. He will have to be more assertive and aggressive if he ever wants to see the ball from Knight/Mayo/Giannis. He was at his best last night on the break and pushing the ball off the dribble. He had a nice break where he pushed it up the right side of the court and went behind the back dribble to get into the middle of the court and open up a passing lane for Knight who was under the basket, but Knight was fouled and couldn't finish the bucket.

I am looking forward to seeing Kyrie play tonight.

[MCFinARL]

First off the post Lebron Heat era began with a great win vs the Wizards who many believe can complete for the East this season. Bosh looked like the Raptors Bosh and was devastating with his combination of outside shooting and aggressive drives. Norris Cole started at point and played extremely well, while Chalmers came of the bench and was really good in his new role. Wade was Wade taking over the fourth quarter and bringing home the victory even after a sprain. Deng is still getting comfortable on his new team but he played well and looks more explosive than last year, McBob didnt play and Andre Dawkins didnt dress.

FWIW, the Wizards were missing two key players, as Bradley Beal is hurt and Nene was suspended (along with three other Wizards players--DeJuan Blair, Daniel Orton, and Xavier Silas) for a scuffle in a pre-season game. But the Heat looked good, and given the Wizards' history, I will believe they are good enough to compete for the East when I see it.

[CDu]

On a joyful side note the Bulls killed the Knicks by 24 Dunleavey was 0/5 with zero points while Gasol had 21 and 11.. Rose finished with 13 points and 5 assists. Melo only managed 13 points on the night.

This game was even less close than the 24 point score suggests. The Bulls didn't even have to play their starters for the last 16 minutes of the game. Rose and Noah got a lot of rest, playing just ~20 minutes. The Bulls' second unit (and beyond) got a LOT of run.

Dunleavy didn't score and was largely uninvolved on offense (he is basically playing the Trajan Langdon catch-and-shoot role for the Bulls), but he played really well defensively. With the Bulls' defensive ace Jimmy Butler sitting out with a sprained thumb, Dunleavy was assigned to Carmelo. He held Anthony to a very mediocre night. Dunleavy is certainly not known for his defense, so that was a pleasant surprise. There is a reasonable chance that Butler is out for the next game too, so life gets tougher for Dunleavy as the Bulls face the Cavs on Friday.

As for the non-Duke Bulls, it was a bit of a cakewalk after a shaky first 6 minutes. Gasol and Gibson absolutely dominated the Knicks' bigs, each topping 20 points and combining for nearly 20 rebounds. Noah was a big presence as well, blocking 3 shots in about 20 minutes of action.

Rose didn't have to play much, but he looked very solid, getting 13 points (on 3-7 from the field), 5 assists, and 2 steals in his 20ish minutes of play.

Hopefully Butler is back for the Cleveland game. The Bulls should have a big edge inside and should match up well at PG, but without Butler (who is generally terrific against James) they have very little in the way of defense against LeBron.

Hard to tell how much of this was the Knicks' futility (they looked really bad in their triangle debut) and how much was the Bulls looking great (probably a healthy amount of both). But it was a good look for the Bulls as nearly everything was working for them in their opener.