2016-17 NBA Regular Season (not Duke-specific)

[Troublemaker]

Put commentary on the NBA season that is not Duke related or only tangentially Duke related in here.

Last season's thread became sort of a Steph Curry Appreciation thread, from what I recall. We'll see what captures our imagination this season. (I wouldn't be surprised if it's the Warriors again now that they've added Durant.)

Anyway, the NBA regular season starts tonight on TNT with Ring Night for Lebron, Kyrie, and the rest of the Cavs before they battle the Knicks. (I suspect Game 1 of the World Series will have higher ratings.) Then, the second game on TNT will have the new-look Warriors facing the Spurs. (There is also a third game that's not on TNT pitting Quin Snyder's Jazz against the Trail Blazers.)

[Ichabod Drain]

There is also a third game that's not on TNT pitting Quin Snyder's Jazz against the Mason "Triple Double Threat" Plumlee's Trail Blazers.

FIFY

[JNort]

Mason would have terrific numbers if he was given the minutes he deserves. Not sure why they limit his pt so much, from what I've seen he doesn't foul that badly. He also fits their team much better with his passing and leaping ability.

[JNort]

If you haven't seen this video about the Warriors being villains you are missing out.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...rriors-musical

Love em or hate em that video is very entertaining.

[duke4ever19]

The Spurs are taking it to the Warriors in Oracle. Simmons with a 3 in Durant's face to give them an 18-point lead.

[mr. synellinden]

If you haven't seen this video about the Warriors being villains you are missing out.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles...rriors-musical

Love em or hate em that video is very entertaining.

The villains are getting scorched at home right now by the best team in the West.

[luburch]

Geez, what happened to the Warriors last night? Everyone, myself included, expected the Spurs to take a step back this season. To be fair, I still expect that, but pretty impressive first performance.

Cavs looked pretty solid against a crappy Knicks team in the bits that I saw. Portland took down the Hayward-less Jazz.

[YmoBeThere]

Geez, what happened to the Warriors last night? Everyone, myself included, expected the Spurs to take a step back this season. To be fair, I still expect that, but pretty impressive first performance.

Cavs looked pretty solid against a crappy Knicks team in the bits that I saw. Portland took down the Hayward-less Jazz.

Well, the Spurs did drop that dead weight from Wake Forest.

[Ichabod Drain]

Geez, what happened to the Warriors last night? Everyone, myself included, expected the Spurs to take a step back this season. To be fair, I still expect that, but pretty impressive first performance.

Cavs looked pretty solid against a crappy Knicks team in the bits that I saw. Portland took down the Hayward-less Jazz.

Two stats:

Spurs Bench-54 points Warriors Bench-16 points
Spurs Rebs-55 Warriors Rebs-35

[elvis14]

I'm not too surprised to see the Spurs outplay the Warriors. GS has some new pieces that it's going to have to properly fit. Dropping the dead weight in Barnes (poor Dallas) will help but playing a Spurs team that's obviously got their roles figured out didn't do GS any favors last night.

GS is one of the few teams that I really like that doesn't have any Duke players. The last couple of years they have been great to watch except for the cheater. Now that he's gone I really hope GS gets their ish together and makes another great run.

[gurufrisbee]

The Warriors did say that this season would be different than last season and they were not going to be focused on any silly regular season record for wins. I guess they meant it.

[elvis14]

The Warriors did say that this season would be different than last season and they were not going to be focused on any silly regular season record for wins. I guess they meant it.

It has crossed my mind that a few early losses like this might take any record breaking win counts out of play and make it more sensible for them to rest some guys later in the season. Of course, last year quite a few guys got lots of rest during games because they didn't have to play the starters in the 4th quarter.

[ChillinDuke]

It has crossed my mind that a few early losses like this might take any record breaking win counts out of play and make it more sensible for them to rest some guys later in the season. Of course, last year quite a few guys got lots of rest during games because they didn't have to play the starters in the 4th quarter.

In instances like the above quote, I really find myself disagree with the state of sports these days. The whole notion of resting players and taking games off (etc) is disagreeable to me. Not from a logic standpoint, I get why teams do it. But from a structure standpoint, I don't like how the importance of games has been watered down. I take exception to the structure of regular season/playoff mechanics that leagues generally have (but in this case, the NBA) that allow these sorts of things to occur.

And I also appreciate that, to some degree, this will be unavoidable no matter how you structure it. But there are ways to tighten it up - one example being by reducing the number of games thus compacting teams records and creating less separation in seeding.

It won't happen, for monetary reasons. But when players take random games off (like the Spurs traditionally have), it makes the sport less appealing. At least to me.

Man, I sound old.

- Chillin

[elvis14]

In instances like the above quote, I really find myself disagree with the state of sports these days. The whole notion of resting players and taking games off (etc) is disagreeable to me. Not from a logic standpoint, I get why teams do it. But from a structure standpoint, I don't like how the importance of games has been watered down. I take exception to the structure of regular season/playoff mechanics that leagues generally have (but in this case, the NBA) that allow these sorts of things to occur.

And I also appreciate that, to some degree, this will be unavoidable no matter how you structure it. But there are ways to tighten it up - one example being by reducing the number of games thus compacting teams records and creating less separation in seeding.

It won't happen, for monetary reasons. But when players take random games off (like the Spurs traditionally have), it makes the sport less appealing. At least to me.

Man, I sound old.

- Chillin

I hear you. I used to be pretty unhappy with the notion of resting players and now I post about it without thinking because it's become the norm. Reducing the number of games would make the regular season games more important and reduce the need to rest players for the playoffs. It'll never happen because nobody wants to give up the revenue from those games. I think that teams could 'rest' players by simply reducing their practice time and limiting their minutes in games. At the same time as I've gotten older, I look back and think about how I was playing sports 5 or 6 days a week in my 20's and 30's and wonder how I did it. So I can understand older players (like Tim Duncan) taking some games off to rejuvenate.

I know that even at the college level that some fans feel as though their team might do better in end of year tournaments if their players played fewer minutes in games :-)

[GGLC]

Mason would have terrific numbers if he was given the minutes he deserves. Not sure why they limit his pt so much, from what I've seen he doesn't foul that badly. He also fits their team much better with his passing and leaping ability.

Mason fouled out in the first half of a preseason game and had four fouls in the first half last night, so you may want to reexamine your premises.

He also really needs a reliable jumpshot to be effective with spacing (which is a familiar refrain).

[Ichabod Drain]

Mason fouled out in the first half of a preseason game and had four fouls in the first half last night, so you may want to reexamine your premises.

He also really needs a reliable jumpshot to be effective with spacing (which is a familiar refrain).

His fourth foul actually came early into the third quarter. But to add to your narrative Mason was 0-3 on shots where he didn't dunk it. Including two 14' jumpers.

[JNort]

Geez, what happened to the Warriors last night? Everyone, myself included, expected the Spurs to take a step back this season. To be fair, I still expect that, but pretty impressive first performance.

Cavs looked pretty solid against a crappy Knicks team in the bits that I saw. Portland took down the Hayward-less Jazz.

Quick hits:
Knicks will make the playoffs
Warriors win the NBA championship fairly easily

[duke4ever19]

Quick hits:
Knicks will make the playoffs
Warriors win the NBA championship fairly easily

I'm hoping the Warriors and Cavs meet in the Finals again because this board was very entertaining.

[luburch]

Quick hits:
Knicks will make the playoffs
Warriors win the NBA championship fairly easily

Say what now?

Cavs, Raptors, Celtics, Pacers, Hornets, Hawks, Wizards, Bucks, Pistons, Bulls. That's ten teams with a shot at the playoffs. Who are the Knicks going to knock out of that group?

[flyingdutchdevil]

Say what now?

Cavs, Raptors, Celtics, Pacers, Hornets, Hawks, Wizards, Bucks, Pistons, Bulls. That's ten teams with a shot at the playoffs. Who are the Knicks going to knock out of that group?

The Bulls. Worst shooting team in the NBA. Bucks aren't great either, although Jabari and Giannis are awesome.

I think the Knicks will make the playoffs as an 8-seed, but get bounced faster than you can say, "Derrick Rose was a former MVP?"