2013-2014 NBA Thread - IND @ WAS and OKC @ LAC on ESPN

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CarltonJunior said:
 
Energy is too much of a factor in this discussion. These are professional athletes.
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I think energy is really important.  Yes, they're very well-conditioned professional athletes, but they have to guard other very well-conditioned professional athletes.  It is impossible for anyone to check Lebron all game or try to chase Durant around and get a hand on his shots without getting winded.  Anyone is going to get winded doing that, and in turn, his offense can suffer.  It's the reason teams will often put a not-so important player on a superstar.  The best example I can think of is Tyronn Lue.  He was obviously not a major offensive player for the Lakers, but he was quick on defense.  They had him follow Iverson around making AI's life difficult.  If Lue got exhausted and chilled a bit on offense, it didn't matter because they didn't need him to score.
Hand2HandKing said:
 
im most impressed with lamb he can potentially be the piece that puts them over the top i think a game like last night will be big come playoff time in terms of his confidence
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Yeah he was drilling shots.  If OKC has someone like him hitting the shots KD is creating, then they're impossible to stop.
 
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DatZNasty said:
17 KD fgs defended by Lebron vs 6 LeBron fgs defended by KD is just an issue of personel. I mean, the Thunder have a lineup of guys to throw at LeBron. It's just not necessary to put KD on LeBron full time when you can put Sef on him (who got cooked in the first half but did better in the 2nd and finished with 6 steals) who is a defensive specialist, in fact the lineup of Jackson, Sefolosha, Durant, Jones 3, Ibaka arguably has 4 guys who can switch onto him any given possession and at least matchup athletically. That said, Bron still finished with 34 on 12-20fg and 9-9fts. You do what you can, sometimes better offense > good defense. Both guys made a number of shots that couldn't have been defended any better than they were. The numbers no longer support the narrative that KD can't guard LeBron, he did more than fine in his limited possessions against him. His foul trouble in the 2012finals was less about the fact he was guarding LeBron and more him picking up dumb fouls reaching on other plays' drives and questionable charges on Battier/Haslem undercuts.
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Guarding a player short stretches is an entirley different store from guarding a player a whole game. Do you guys even play basketball? 

Lebron can shut down D-Rose for parts of the game. Have him check D-Rose all game and he probably get leg cramps to start the 4th. 

Lebron's sheer size and strength would put Durant in foul trouble with the quickness if he was the primary defender on Lebron all game. 
 
so let me get this straight.... Suddenly The heat have a better roster than OKC.... Lebron again doesn't have ENOUGH help... When he wins it's because he makes everyone such a great player... when he loses his supporting cast sucks?

Wade is trash he averages a cool 20, 5 & 5 on 50%+ shooting but he sucks??

Wade right now is still a top 20 player, Bosh is still all star caliber and they have GREAT role players... i don't want to hear a thing about lebron not having a good cast around him that ship sailed wit CLE
 
ColdCity said:
who has espn insider?

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10375249/will-carmelo-anthony-sign-chicago-bulls-nba
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With the NBA trade deadline just three weeks away, the rumor mill is about to go into overdrive. For the fans who live for scuttlebutt, it'll be a great time. For the players whose names are heard along the grapevine, it'll be an unsettling month.

In speaking with several league executives and agents this week, here are some of the things I was told:

• It's not unanimous, but most executives I spoke with think Chicago will go after Carmelo Anthony in free agency. Some are completely convinced of it. If the Bulls amnesty Carlos Boozer, they'll have the room to offer Melo the max.

One executive said the Bulls' decision on whether to chase Melo will be based on how soon they think they can bring Euro sensation Nikola Mirotic to the States and how good they believe he'll be once he gets here. "Do they think Mirotic is worth a $5 million to $6 million contract, or do they go after Melo?'' one GM said. "Mirotic is an above-average NBA starter right now. But at the end of the day, I think they'll go after Melo.''

• Toronto is in a quandary. While "tank'' is a strong word, the Raptors' new front office of Masai Ujiri and Jeff Weltman wasn't exactly thinking "playoffs or bust.'' This season was supposed to be about evaluating young talent, evaluating coach Dwane Casey, and positioning the club for the future by clearing cap space and gaining a high lottery pick. Then a strange thing happened: The Raptors started winning. Now the fans, who have been greatly supportive through some tough years, are excited about making the playoffs. The Raptors had talked with clubs about trading both Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, but their sudden surge after the Rudy Gay trade has the front office stuck.

Kyle Lowry, Nate Wolters
AP Photo/Morry GashCould Kyle Lowry be headed out of Toronto?

Word is they're not sold enough on Lowry, who will be a free agent after this season, to throw big, long-term money at him. But he's playing so well that trading him now could upset the fan base. One GM told me that if the Raptors start losing, they'll likely trade Lowry. But if they keep winning, they won't move him for fear of the PR hit. "For Masai, this is a horrible situation long-term because Lowry's playing himself into an All-Star position and you can't just let an All-Star walk away,'' another GM said. "I think Masai's thinking, 'It's never been about this year, so let's get what we can for Lowry.' But if I'm a team that needs a starting point guard, I'd wait until the summer to go after Lowry.'' Precisely. With Lowry hitting free agency this summer, no team is going to give the Raptors equal value for a three-month rental. As for DeRozan, I'm told the Raptors would trade him if presented with a terrific offer, but they're no longer looking to move him.

• Indiana is not looking to trade Danny Granger. The Pacers believe Granger is improving and will be playing at a high level come playoff time. Even though he may not be in their long-term plans, they don't want to take back long-term salaries in a trade for him. They would rather let his $14 million fall off their payroll and use the money to re-sign Lance Stephenson, who will be a free agent this summer. The Pacers will trade Granger only if someone blows them away with an offer.

• Though he is not looking to get out of Boston, Rajon Rondo was quick to kill talk of an extension when recently approached by Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. It didn't even get to the numbers stage. Rondo is looking forward to becoming an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career in the summer of 2015. It's not that he's dead set on leaving Boston, but he wants to keep his options open in terms of both winning and money. Ainge has to decide whether he wants to gamble on the possibility of re-signing Rondo or trade him around the 2014 draft or before next season's trade deadline.

Rondo could be taking a risk, too. If he doesn't play well over the remainder of this season, it could be prudent to take the security of a contract extension (if it's still on the table) in Boston. If Rondo does become a free agent in 2015, the Knicks think he'd be the perfect fit with Melo. As for the Kevin Love-to-New York rumors, most executives believe Love is destined for the Lakers when he becomes a free agent in 2015. "That's a 100 percent certainty,'' one GM told me. In other Celtics news, Ainge is looking to clear as much cap room as soon as he can, so if he can find takers for Gerald Wallace, Jeff Green and Avery Bradley, they're gone.

• The Josh Smith experiment in Detroit is not going well, and there's strong opinion around the league that the Pistons would trade him if they could -- and "could'' is the key word. Since Smith is in the first year of a four-year, $56 million deal, he is one of the most untradable players in the league.

• The Philadelphia 76ers are still looking to move Evan Turner, Thad Young and Spencer Hawes, but the team is asking for a lot in return. Like most of the "blow-it-up teams," as one GM called them, the Sixers want first-round draft picks. They'll even take back a little salary to accumulate more picks, but clubs are reluctant to part with draft picks.

• Like Toronto and Philly, Phoenix entered the season planning to finish in the lottery. But first-year coach Jeff Hornacek has been so good that some rival execs believe the Suns are considering changing their plan. The thinking is that the Suns may consider packaging some of their draft picks for a star-quality player who could help them win now.

• Speaking of the Suns, I was told the Los Angeles Lakers might go hard after Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe, who is out the rest of the season with a knee injury. Bledsoe will be a restricted free agent next summer, but I'm told the Lakers might be willing to overpay him to pry him away from Phoenix.

• Some executives thought Memphis would look to move Zach Randolph before the deadline, but the Grizzlies' recent surge has quieted that talk.

• Here's the holdup with the unsigned Andrew Bynum: He wants more than the veteran's minimum, and teams have sincere questions about his desire to play basketball. One executive told me that Miami is still interested in him, but not for more than the vet's minimum.

• Here are some other names GMs mentioned when asked who's likely to be traded before the Feb. 20 deadline: Andre Miller, Jameer Nelson, Emeka Okafor, Kenneth Faried (though his low contract number makes that difficult), Shawn Marion, Dion Waiters, Jarrett Jack, Francisco Garcia and Arron Afflalo.
 
tyisny said:
so let me get this straight.... Suddenly The heat have a better roster than OKC.... Lebron again doesn't have ENOUGH help... When he wins it's because he makes everyone such a great player... when he loses his supporting cast sucks?

Wade is trash he averages a cool 20, 5 & 5 on 50%+ shooting but he sucks??

Wade right now is still a top 20 player, Bosh is still all star caliber and they have GREAT role players... i don't want to hear a thing about lebron not having a good cast around him that ship sailed wit CLE
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The Heat have the best supporting cast of all time. The Thunder as a team has never been better than them. Problem is as a perimeter shooting team eventually those shots will not fall.
 
I remember when bron came into his own and me being a kobe fan was in denial and didn't wanna admit he was the best player in the L. Even tho I knew I aint wanna say it. That's how bron fans are right now. KD is the best player in the league right now and only can get better. Bron is def #2 but kd finally closed that gap and surpassed bron this season. I never seen someone make the game look so effortless smh. Dude is on his way if he stays on this path
 
Osh Kosh Bosh said:
To all the people questioning the Pacers championship credentials, to win a chip, you either have a generational talent or a generational defense.


The pacers have a generational defense.
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I was just trying to make this point yesterday, gonna use this. People love pictures
 
The Heat role players are old and inconsistent outside of Bosh, Rio, and Birdman brings it every night. Wade is no longer top 20 even when he does play. They could get knocked off this year by the West representative if Indiana doesn't do It first. I don't know why they gave Shard a 2 yr deal and James Jones the deal they gave him, those dudes had no leverage, they needed Miami. And they should have kept a spot open and bought in James Ennis who they instead wanted to send to the D League but he bolted to Australia so he could get the money
 
According to that graphic, The Clippers are actually better defensively than I would have thought. Seems like they're always giving up 30 point 1st quarters. But I guess they tighten things up as the games go on.
 
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