NBA 2014 - 2015 Season Thread

Djay_sl said:

The Over/Under was 15.5 wins for Philly. Apparently it was 31.5 for the Lakers. Really wish I had been paying attention...I would have put a lot of money on the Under for that one.

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I'll take the under for Philly. I think they beat the Knicks in their 13th game.

The Knicks are underrated as a dumpster fire.

Adam Silver says the Knicks suck.

Araysar_sl said:

Love is looking to bail after this season hahaha

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Partly true I believe.

He will DEFINITELY opt out of his contract after this season. He would be stupid not to because it means a lot more money for him doing so. I'm willing to bet that he resigns with the Cavs though. The Lakers are a terrible team right now and if he wants a combination of money + a chance at a ring, Cleveland is his best shot. Now maybe he's nostalgic like Lebron was and wants to go home, but I'm not so sure.

As a Cavs fan, the one thing that does worry me is salary issues and keeping the core together. Kyrie already took this year's max contract and Lebron and Love are going to want more money next year. We locked in Varejao for a couple more years. I'm worried about Tristan Thompson since he failed to reach a deal before the deadline so he's up in the air right now. He's a solid player when he wants to be and is a rebounding machine so I'd really hate to lose him (the one bright spot is that his agent is the same as Lebron's so I think they can get something worked out).

Overall though, Kevin Love has really grown on me. He's definitely worth the money in my opinion. 6 3-pointers last night is tough to argue against.

Slaythe_sl said:

LeBron probably has 5 or 6 more years of 'best player on the planet' status.

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2 or 3 tops imo before Durant or AD pass him. Lebron has a lot of miles on that big body, just not sure how much longer he can keep up the pace he's always gone at.

If Durant had put up a similar season to last season, you could have made the argument this year that LeBron was no longer best in the world. He'll still be Top 3 for the next several years, for sure, though. Also, I'm not ready to crown Anthony Davis as the next MVP like everyone else in the media, though. He's quickly going from underrated to possibly overrated because everyone wanted to jump on the hype train. There's no doubt that he's great, but there's still a tier between him and the LeBron/Durant/Paul level.

It's entirely possible we skip the Durant era entirely and go straight to the Anthony Davis era. He is fucking absurd. KG with a better jumpshot who blocks 4 shots a game and can actually drive to the basket.

Anyone comparing CP3 to Anthony Davis is an utterly crazy person. Davis, purely as a basketball player and not as a future asset, is a million times more valuable RIGHT NOW. Apparently you guys are just tired of the hype and don't watch him play basketball. Anthony Davis is the best big man to come into the league since Duncan and he's putting up 24-13-2-2-4 as a 21 year old. He's a freak and a half athlete who is actually skilled at basketball.

You are a psychotic person. Do you know how many 20 year olds have average 20-10-3, while shooting over 50% from the field and 79% from the line? He's averaging 25-13-4 with the same percentages as a 21 year old, after leading a team full of freshmen to the NCAA title as a freshman. He was fourth in PER and 11th in win shares as a twenty year old, despite being hurt all the fucking time. Now he's healthy and he's going to destroy the league. Anyone who thinks a declining CP3 is even on the same planet as Davis is a literal crazy person. I refuse to believe anyone who follows the sport could watch him play one single basketball game and realistically think that.

If Eric Gordon wasn't playing like he was on bath salts the Pelicans would probably win 52 games and he would be a legitimate MVP candidate this year. Instead they'll win 45 and he won't win it til next year. Boo hoo. Find me one single basketball person who follows the league and says he's overrated. They do not exist, because when you watch him it's blatantly obvious he's going to be the next big thing. It's just as obvious as it was with Lebron and even more obvious than it was with Durant.

There's not a single legitimate argument about who the most valuable asset in the league is, because a trade does not exist that the Pelicans would accept for him. Period. He is as valuable as season three Lebron was if not more so, because he's 6'10 and he protects the rim and he has the freakish athleticism no one else his size has.

And no, I am not swayed by sample size arguments, because this is exactly the sort of growth most people predicted for him this year and he's only going to get better. He's going to average 24-12-3.5 for the next decade. Why do you think I spent 45% of my auction budget on him in fantasy? This is who he is.

Here. go read. There is no historical comparison. Or just watch him play and accept the obvious.
The Fundamentals: Examining Anthony Davis, the most unique star in the NBA - Point Forward - SI.com
Building the Brow

It's telling that the comparisons have mostly stopped. When Anthony Davis came into the league, with ridiculous arms and guard skills honed before a late growth spurt, everyone rushed to find his NBA analogue.

Kevin Garnett was a popular choice. Comparisons with Tim Duncan dominated the lead-up to Davis's regular-season debut against San Antonio, even though Duncan as a rookie was older and stouter and he had a back-to-the-basket game that was historically great almost from the moment he entered the league.

Davis has murdered this parlor game. People around the league don't know what to make of him anymore. They are just terrified, especially after having watched Davis average 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, and three blocks per game on 55 percent shooting over a 10-game stretch in March - a period during which he turned 21 freaking years old. He's already fourth overall in Player Efficiency Rating, behind only LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Love. His game has so many elements on both ends of the floor, it's going to take years for the Pelicans to figure out the optimal uses and roster construction for him. It's hard to decide what someone is best at when the answer might be "everything."

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Looking forward to the Raptor's/Bulls game tomorrow night. Should be really good.

Point guard is the most fungible position in the NBA(think RB in the NFL), and no team has won a title "led" by a point guard in 25 years. Even if you think he is an all-time pantheon level point guard(I disagree), that still isn't as valuable as a super efficient big man averaging 20-10-3 and providing rim protection, much less what Davis is actually going to do this year(a whole lot more than 20-10-3). My argument is that not only is Anthony Davis, right now, in the same discussion as Lebron and Durant, but that the idea of anyone else(not Durant and Lebron) in the league even being in the discussion with him is utterly and completely laughable. He doesn't turn the ball over, he scores in a ruthless and efficient manner without having to be catered to, he provides rim protection and rebounds at an extremely high rate, and yes, he's 21. You watch them play and he ends up with three or four jaw dropping plays per night and scores 25 without even trying. He just does it, and it doesn't look like he's gunning for it like it does with Carmelo or even Durant. It just kind of occurs.

No point arguing it anyway. If you aren't convinced yet you will be by the end of the season.

Slaythe has a super hardon for CP3. He thinks CP3 is on the LeBron and Durant tier, which is hilarious. Westbrook is better than CP3.

I completely agree with Slaythe on this topic. Look, I had the 2nd pick in one of my fantasy drafts and took Anthony Davis. So, statistically, I expect him to be a lot better than other PF/C's in the league right now, but stats don't tell the whole story when evaluating players in this type of context. There are a lot more quality PGs than bigs, but that doesn't mean that we should be crowning AD as the next MVP already like everyone seems to want to. I don't hate the guy and will be happy if he can be the best big since Hakeem, but I'm going to wait until it actually happens.

Also, CP3 is one of the best PGs in the history of the league and it makes me sad that it's not painfully obvious to everyone.

Slaythe_sl said:

I know right?!? Westbrook scores 10 more points a game! And it only takes him 8 shots to do it! Of course Russell is better.

Foggy, I bet you thought Antoine Walker was really good back in the day too. Probably really think highly of Kobe too. (These aren't fair comparisons. Westbrook is really good. If he would improve his shot selection he'd be great.)

Gilg, we can just stop calling each other names because neither of us are far from the same place. AD is great. He's on his way to being transcendent. You say he's there already. I say he's not far. CP3 is great. I put him in that all time list. You don't. You'll at least admit he's really good, right? Considering him outside of this whole AD discussion.

Paul doesn't belong in the KD/James tier because he misses 20 games a year. If he didn't he absolutely would. His efficiency and stats are off the charts and while I agree there are a lot of serviceable point guards in the NBA, Paul is one of those floor generals that don't come along very often. And he's that in addition to being an incredibly gifted and efficient offensive player and a remarkably good defender for his size.

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If CP3 was such a special floor general, he would have made at least one conference title series by now.

Also, Westbrook completely dismantled CP3 last year to the point CP3 melted down and basically lost the series by himself.