Can Anyone Beat San Antonio?

HeretoBeatmyChest said:

Will they get tired later in the playoffs? Ironically, Memphis in the first round could give them the most trouble.

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

More cock doesn't know shit about it but still participates.

Says the moron who openly loved the Pelicans draft day trade of Jrue Holiday when anyone with half a brain(Bill Simmons even) knew it was garbage.

But yes I'm the guy who doesn't know shit.

RoadDawg55 said:

allpurpleallgold said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

More cock doesn't know shit about it but still participates.

Says the moron who openly loved the Pelicans draft day trade of Jrue Holiday when anyone with half a brain(Bill Simmons even) knew it was garbage.

But yes I'm the guy who doesn't know shit.

I still love it. Considering the big coo in that trade was a 2014 pick because it was going to be the greatest draft of all time and now everyone is luke warm on the draft. Nerlens Noel hasn't played a minute of NBA basketball. Holiday is 23 years old. The draft is a crap shoot. Holiday is a very good player who's not even entering his prime yet.

It was a shitty trade. Holiday isn't worth 10 million per season. Getting Holiday also made the Pelicans go into win now mode and they picked up Evans for over 10 million a season as well. Those are bad moves even if Noel is a bust. I honestly thought it was a pretty good trade for both teams, but in hindsight, it was really bad. You're just being stubborn if you don't admit it sucked.

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

RoadDawg55 said:

allpurpleallgold said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

More cock doesn't know shit about it but still participates.

Says the moron who openly loved the Pelicans draft day trade of Jrue Holiday when anyone with half a brain(Bill Simmons even) knew it was garbage.

But yes I'm the guy who doesn't know shit.

I still love it. Considering the big coo in that trade was a 2014 pick because it was going to be the greatest draft of all time and now everyone is luke warm on the draft. Nerlens Noel hasn't played a minute of NBA basketball. Holiday is 23 years old. The draft is a crap shoot. Holiday is a very good player who's not even entering his prime yet.

It was a shitty trade. Holiday isn't worth 10 million per season. Getting Holiday also made the Pelicans go into win now mode and they picked up Evans for over 10 million a season as well. Those are bad moves even if Noel is a bust. I honestly thought it was a pretty good trade for both teams, but in hindsight, it was really bad. You're just being stubborn if you don't admit it sucked.

I read your post in the Tug as well but I'll just combine my answer here.

I think the first thing to note is that the owner forced the GMs hand and did not want to bottom out. He probably should be fired for Gordon and Evans though.

It's not fair to mix the Evans signing and the trade together. They're individual moves. The Holiday trade and the owners mandate did put them in win now mode but that doesn't excuse the Evans signing. I actually like Evans but he's a sixth man and probably not someone you want on the court at the end of games. They overpaid by a lot.

Somewhat in my defense I was thinking they were the East. Bad to be misinformed but if they were and had stayed relatively healthy they'd be in the mix for the 3 seed there.

I mostly don't agree with the Anthony Davis and a bunch of D leaguers theory though. The being horrible route worked for the Thunder but they were incredibly fortunate. Drafting as well as they did is nearly impossible. I think building a winning culture is more important. Bottoming out is great in theory but look at all the contenders (and fringe contenders) this season. Wade is the only player Miami got with a high draft pick. Indiana never bottomed out. Duncan is the only player SA got with a high pick. Griffin is the only player the Clippers got with a high pick. Houston never bottomed out. The Thunder are the only team built that way.

I think once you get that franchise player you look to put real players around him immediately. I'm going to let the trade play out until next year. I want to see them healthy. If they can't make the playoffs I'll back off my stance. But I think a playoff appearence next season is more valuable than being terrible again with a bunch of young players.

Houston actually did attempt to bottom out.They had a team that just barely missed the playoffs and then blew it up. Released guys like Scola, let Dragic walk, traded players away for picks to "tank" last year. Heading into the year most picked them to win like 21 games. Then with all those assets and cap space they pulled off trading for Harden and then signing Howard.

Miami also bottomed out as well. Leading up to the decision they made sure their roster was set up to take on two max guys and basically punted the two-three seasons leading up to that point.

The Spurs aren't the Spurs without Duncan. That was a huge bottom out. With David Robinson they were a nice franchise who couldn't get over the hump(2 WCF finals losses spread out with many 2nd round exits). With Duncan they immediately became a title contender but tanking once Robinson was hurt.

The Clippers were rather lucky in that David Stern used his dictator power to veto the Chris Paul trade. They were going nowhere before that trade.

As for the Pacers well they are just remarkable. No top 10 picks at all. This is why Larry Bird is the next Jerry West. Great player who became a great NBA front office guy.

The common theme in most of these great teams is those players albeit not with that particular team were top 10 picks if not top 5 picks. You want to collect those instead of Jrue Holiday's who you can't win titles with as the main guy.

A roster with Gordon, Evans and Holiday is NBA purgatory where you are just good enough to avoid getting good picks but not good enough to matter. Basically like the Sonics in the Ray Allen-Rashard Lewis years.

I'd rather be Philly going forward with Michael Carter Williams, Noel, a top 4 pick guaranteed and another top 10 picks than New Orleans even though Davis is already a proven superstar.

allpurpleallgold said:

RoadDawg55 said:

allpurpleallgold said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

More cock doesn't know shit about it but still participates.

Says the moron who openly loved the Pelicans draft day trade of Jrue Holiday when anyone with half a brain(Bill Simmons even) knew it was garbage.

But yes I'm the guy who doesn't know shit.

I still love it. Considering the big coo in that trade was a 2014 pick because it was going to be the greatest draft of all time and now everyone is luke warm on the draft. Nerlens Noel hasn't played a minute of NBA basketball. Holiday is 23 years old. The draft is a crap shoot. Holiday is a very good player who's not even entering his prime yet.

It was a shitty trade. Holiday isn't worth 10 million per season. Getting Holiday also made the Pelicans go into win now mode and they picked up Evans for over 10 million a season as well. Those are bad moves even if Noel is a bust. I honestly thought it was a pretty good trade for both teams, but in hindsight, it was really bad. You're just being stubborn if you don't admit it sucked.

I read your post in the Tug as well but I'll just combine my answer here.

I think the first thing to note is that the owner forced the GMs hand and did not want to bottom out. He probably should be fired for Gordon and Evans though.

It's not fair to mix the Evans signing and the trade together. They're individual moves. The Holiday trade and the owners mandate did put them in win now mode but that doesn't excuse the Evans signing. I actually like Evans but he's a sixth man and probably not someone you want on the court at the end of games. They overpaid by a lot.

Somewhat in my defense I was thinking they were the East. Bad to be misinformed but if they were and had stayed relatively healthy they'd be in the mix for the 3 seed there.

I mostly don't agree with the Anthony Davis and a bunch of D leaguers theory though. The being horrible route worked for the Thunder but they were incredibly fortunate. Drafting as well as they did is nearly impossible. I think building a winning culture is more important. Bottoming out is great in theory but look at all the contenders (and fringe contenders) this season. Wade is the only player Miami got with a high draft pick. Indiana never bottomed out. Duncan is the only player SA got with a high pick. Griffin is the only player the Clippers got with a high pick. Houston never bottomed out. The Thunder are the only team built that way.

I think once you get that franchise player you look to put real players around him immediately. I'm going to let the trade play out until next year. I want to see them healthy. If they can't make the playoffs I'll back off my stance. But I think a playoff appearence next season is more valuable than being terrible again with a bunch of young players.

TierbsHsotBoobs said:

RoadDawg55 said:

allpurpleallgold said:

RoadDawg55 said:

allpurpleallgold said:

He_Needs_More_Time said:

allpurpleallgold said:

Swaye said:

I wish I knew something about the NBA so I could participate in this bored. Go Mavericks!

More cock doesn't know shit about it but still participates.

Says the moron who openly loved the Pelicans draft day trade of Jrue Holiday when anyone with half a brain(Bill Simmons even) knew it was garbage.

But yes I'm the guy who doesn't know shit.

I still love it. Considering the big coo in that trade was a 2014 pick because it was going to be the greatest draft of all time and now everyone is luke warm on the draft. Nerlens Noel hasn't played a minute of NBA basketball. Holiday is 23 years old. The draft is a crap shoot. Holiday is a very good player who's not even entering his prime yet.

It was a shitty trade. Holiday isn't worth 10 million per season. Getting Holiday also made the Pelicans go into win now mode and they picked up Evans for over 10 million a season as well. Those are bad moves even if Noel is a bust. I honestly thought it was a pretty good trade for both teams, but in hindsight, it was really bad. You're just being stubborn if you don't admit it sucked.

I read your post in the Tug as well but I'll just combine my answer here.

I think the first thing to note is that the owner forced the GMs hand and did not want to bottom out. He probably should be fired for Gordon and Evans though.

It's not fair to mix the Evans signing and the trade together. They're individual moves. The Holiday trade and the owners mandate did put them in win now mode but that doesn't excuse the Evans signing. I actually like Evans but he's a sixth man and probably not someone you want on the court at the end of games. They overpaid by a lot.

Somewhat in my defense I was thinking they were the East. Bad to be misinformed but if they were and had stayed relatively healthy they'd be in the mix for the 3 seed there.

I mostly don't agree with the Anthony Davis and a bunch of D leaguers theory though. The being horrible route worked for the Thunder but they were incredibly fortunate. Drafting as well as they did is nearly impossible. I think building a winning culture is more important. Bottoming out is great in theory but look at all the contenders (and fringe contenders) this season. Wade is the only player Miami got with a high draft pick. Indiana never bottomed out. Duncan is the only player SA got with a high pick. Griffin is the only player the Clippers got with a high pick. Houston never bottomed out. The Thunder are the only team built that way.

I think once you get that franchise player you look to put real players around him immediately. I'm going to let the trade play out until next year. I want to see them healthy. If they can't make the playoffs I'll back off my stance. But I think a playoff appearence next season is more valuable than being terrible again with a bunch of young players.

A lot of what you say I agree with. Bottoming out is not always a sound move and most of the time you aren't going to get another franchise player.

I do disagree with the part in bold. It's better to make deliberate, calculated moves instead of being reckless and signing Tyreke Evans and the trade for Jrue Holliday for a run at the 8 seed. I won't blame them too much for Eric Gordan because the NBA made them do that deal. The Thunder got somewhat lucky (along with good scouting) to get Durant, Westbrook, Harden, and Ibaka in three straight drafts, but they were smart not to use their cap space to overpay for guys.

Noel was predicted to be the #1 pick. Having the chance to pair two bug guys like Noel and Davis is a special opportunity. Davis is going to be a top 5 player as soon as next year, and Noel at the least will be an athletic shot blocker. It's hindsight, but how much better would they be if they traded for Kyle Lowry instead of Holliday and signed Marco Bellinelli for a fraction of what Evans cost? The Evans signing was incredibly stupid. Anyone with a clue know he will never be a winning player in the NBA.

The good news is with the way the bargaining agreement is set up, Anthony Davis isn't going anywhere for another 7 years. Holliday, Evans, Gordan, and Anderson's deals will be long gone by then and they will have more chances to put together a contender.

Totally disagree.

Tanking for the lottery >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> going for the 8 seed.