NBA Offseason

[pdub]

What will be interesting is if the Clips play the Rockets.
Two of my favorite players in the NBA today going against two of my least.

[Deleted User 276]

Russ shot under 30% from 3pt land last year.

Yup. That's bad. Unfortunately when your team only has 2 offensive threats there isn't much choice but to shoot a lot.

Thankfully for Houston they'll have 3 good outside shooters on the floor with him at nearly all times, so he hopefully won't have to (or choose to) shoot many 3s.

[PhDhawk]

[pdub]

He has a career 3 point % of 30.
He had Harden and Durant on his team for a while there.
And Paul George.

Keep piling the excuses though.

[ousdahl]

Well, if Russell cares about winning, there's no question that he has to stop taking so many catch and shoot jumpers.

Rockets got better from a regular season standpoint, and Russ helps a lot by being able to give Harden breathers, but Russell/Harden both have to understand that large individual stat lines aren't going to make them a tougher out in the Playoffs.

Rockets are better, but a lot of soul searching needs to happen.

A lot depends on this post. Russ needs to stop taking so many catch and shoot jumpers. And pull up jumpers. And 20 seconds left on the shot clock jumpers. and just generally a bulk of his jumpers, cuz so many of them are ill advised.

Can Russ and Harden both understand that large individual stat lines aren't going to make them a tougher out in the playoffs?

Soul searching is a big "but," and not an ideal term to be associated with a blockbuster trade.

[twocoach]

Did the Rockets improve or hurt their chances to win a title next year? It will he interesting to see how it plays out. And if Paul does indeed find his way to Miami and Miami can avoid giving up too much for him then does Miami join the list of EC contenders?

Jimmy and CP3 don't make that team anywhere close to as good as the Bucks or 76ers. That's probably a 2 horse race, unless KD is a miracle healer and comes back around January.

I agree that overall, the Bucks and 76ers are the top tier of the East but that Miami team, along with Boston, Toronto, Indy and eventually Brooklyn will be teams that will be tough outs in the playoffs.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Soul searching is a big "but," and not an ideal term to be associated with a blockbuster trade.

They're pot committed. This wasn't a FA signing.

There is absolutely no way you can evaluate the trade without mentioning Paul's contract.

If you're a Rockets fan, you love the move and you cross your fingers.

[Deleted User 276]

Did the Rockets improve or hurt their chances to win a title next year? It will he interesting to see how it plays out. And if Paul does indeed find his way to Miami and Miami can avoid giving up too much for him then does Miami join the list of EC contenders?

Jimmy and CP3 don't make that team anywhere close to as good as the Bucks or 76ers. That's probably a 2 horse race, unless KD is a miracle healer and comes back around January.

I agree that overall, the Bucks and 76ers are the top tier of the East but that Miami team, along with Boston, Toronto, Indy and eventually Brooklyn will be teams that will be tough outs in the playoffs.

Indy is sneaky. Especially if oladipo comes back as strong as we was before going down.

I'm not sold on Miami. They don't have much around Jimmy and hypothetically CP3. Lost JRich and Whiteside. Who knows what else they'll have to dump to make a CP3 salary work. They've got a hard cap due to the Butler trade.

[twocoach]

Saw a funny one today... looks like Dwyane Wade has himself a janky collection of jerseys. Some of the players who did a jersey swap with Dwyane Wade this season:

Jimmy Butler, 76ers. No longer with team
Devin Harris, Mavs. UFA, unsure of next team
Wayne Ellington, Pistons. No longer with team
Kemba Walker, Hornets. No longer with team
D'Angelo Russell, Nets. No longer with team
Chris Paul, Rockets. No longer with team
Frank Mason, Kings. No longer with team
Paul George, OKC. No longer with team
Tim Hardaway, Jr., Knicks. No longer with team
Marcus Morris, Celtics. No longer with team
Terry Rozier, Celtics. No longer with team
Isaiah Thomas, Nuggets. No longer with team
Delon Wright, Raptors. No longer with team
Jae Crowder, Jazz. No longer with team
LeBron James, Lakers. Same team, different number
Jamal Crawford, Suns. UFA, unsure of next team
Anthony Davis, Pelicans. No longer on team
Iman Shumpert, Kings. No longer with team

If Bradley Beal gets traded then he gets added to this list, too.

[Deleted User 266]

Did you know that James Harden was FIRST in the league in TURNOVERS?
Did you know that Russell Westbrook was SECOND?
Did you know that James Harden was FIRST in field goals ATTEMPTED?
Did you know that Russell Westbrook was FOURTH in field goals ATTEMPTED?
Did you know that Russell Westbrook was 130th in 3FG% at .290?
Did you know that Russell Westbrook was 38th in 3FGA?
Did you know that since Durant left OKC, Russell Westbrook has shot 38% from the field in the PLAYOFFS?
Did you know that since Durant left OKC, Russell Westbrook has averaged 5.25 TURNOVERS per GAME in the PLAYOFFS?

No, I didn't know all of that.
All negative things you can use against Harden and Westbrook.
Thank you for rightfully educating me.
Now can/will you or anyone else please tell my why all those things seemingly didn't have all that much of a bearing on those who voted feeling they were still two of the 5 most valuable players in the league 4 of the last 5 seasons - and why each one was voted the most valuable player in the league - two of the last 3 seasons.

[Deleted User 266]

[Deleted User 266]

Saw a funny one today... looks like Dwyane Wade has himself a janky collection of jerseys. Some of the players who did a jersey swap with Dwyane Wade this season:

Jimmy Butler, 76ers. No longer with team
Devin Harris, Mavs. UFA, unsure of next team
Wayne Ellington, Pistons. No longer with team
Kemba Walker, Hornets. No longer with team
D'Angelo Russell, Nets. No longer with team
Chris Paul, Rockets. No longer with team
Frank Mason, Kings. No longer with team
Paul George, OKC. No longer with team
Tim Hardaway, Jr., Knicks. No longer with team
Marcus Morris, Celtics. No longer with team
Terry Rozier, Celtics. No longer with team
Isaiah Thomas, Nuggets. No longer with team
Delon Wright, Raptors. No longer with team
Jae Crowder, Jazz. No longer with team
LeBron James, Lakers. Same team, different number
Jamal Crawford, Suns. UFA, unsure of next team
Anthony Davis, Pelicans. No longer on team
Iman Shumpert, Kings. No longer with team

If Bradley Beal gets traded then he gets added to this list, too.

[jfish26]

Are they though, really? I would think they would have traveled at least a few of the stages of grief with the news of the George deal (which any sane person knew was the end of the Westbrook era, too).

[ousdahl]

What were the criteria for switching jerseys?

[Geezer]

What were the criteria for switching jerseys?

When Dwade asks you.

[Deleted User 276]

[Deleted User 266]

So..... As we all pretty much knew, it's now been confirmed. It was about money more than anything else.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/271 ... nike-issue

[ousdahl]

the unused inventory of No. 23 James jerseys already produced would have led to a financial hit "well into the tens of millions of dollars," a source told ESPN.

James, per the Yahoo report, thus decided to postpone the jersey change out of what the website called consideration for fans who already purchased his No. 23 and a desire to keep the situation from becoming a distraction.

Lulz

[Deleted User 276]

Melo might be done.

[Deleted User 266]

Melo might be done.

Not sure if that's legit or not but I'm confident that Melo at 35 is as good if not a better basketball player than 25% of the players on NBA rosters.
If he really wants an opportunity to finally win a championship, and he's willing to play for peanuts, he and his agent should be meeting with Pelinka - today.