The Official Off-Season NBA Thread

[addict4sneakers]

Does anyone see the Cavs as a legit team in the playoffs? Or do we all expect it to go through the Bucks or Nets if healthy and all the games are road games?

Could be this years version of last years hawks

I don’t trust their wings though. Teams sagging in deep help and only garland can dribble

 

[earldagoat]

 

[storm2006]

All-Star starters incoming

I didn't realize this was so official


Do they do it like this every year? The announcement that E&Y tabulated the votes and will have a rep there after Bron's fishy gain as the vote leader

Ernie is the last hope to stop the steal

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Does anyone see the Cavs as a legit team in the playoffs? Or do we all expect it to go through the Bucks or Nets if healthy and all the games are road games?

They have the defense to compete with any team. But in a series their offense is worrisome, they add another shooter and would be a dark horse

It's also hard to depend on a rookie when you're making a real playoff run. Not to mention Garland is still young. Maybe they can be the Utah team that took out OKC

 

[lovehateself]

Does anyone see the Cavs as a legit team in the playoffs? Or do we all expect it to go through the Bucks or Nets if healthy and all the games are road games?

Could be this years version of last years hawks

I don’t trust their wings though. Teams sagging in deep help and only garland can dribble

they just got a 9.8 mil exemption due to the rubio's injury

they could shore that up if they choose to make a move

 

[earldagoat]

Does anyone see the Cavs as a legit team in the playoffs? Or do we all expect it to go through the Bucks or Nets if healthy and all the games are road games?

https://theathletic.com/3095901/202...cavaliers-are-a-team-to-be-feared-across-nba/

[…]

Cleveland is fourth in the league with a net rating of 5.1. Why does that matter? The past 10 NBA champions all ranked in the top five in net rating, which right now is the Warriors, Suns, Jazz, Cavs and Heat.

I like net rating because it standardizes a lot of factors into one digestible number: the difference between points a team scored and allowed per 100 possessions. It turns oranges into apples to make for even comparisons.

Now, no one is ready to declare the Cavs champions this season, but it certainly validates the leap we’re all witnessing.

The Cavs’ championship team in 2015-16 had a net rating of 6.3. This team isn’t far off that pace. Put another way, the Cavs were minus-8.3 last season in net rating, making their 13.4-point swing the largest year-over-year leap I could find over the past decade.

It’s larger than the Warriors’ when their dynasty emerged in 2015, larger than the Cavs’ in LeBron James’ first year back, larger than even the Heat’s when James and Chris Bosh went to Miami. No other team I could find made this type of dramatic transformation in net rating from one season to the next.

This sort of turnaround rarely happens in the NBA, at least not without mitigating circumstances such as a superstar changing teams. I wrote before the season that a leap to around 36 wins this season would be fairly dramatic and cause for celebration. The Cavs might surpass that by the All-Star break.

“They have no fear,” Bickerstaff said.

Nor should they. The Cavs have beaten every top contender in the East. They’re 5-4 against the Heat, Bulls, Bucks and Nets. They’re doing it despite losing Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio to season-ending injuries. They’re doing it without Lauri Markkanen, who could miss two to four weeks with an ankle injury. They’re doing it because Bickerstaff believes so strongly in his three-big-man lineup that he refuses to waver from it regardless of personnel losses — he started Dean Wade again in place of Markkanen against the Bucks.

The Cavs will go as far as Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen take them. That nucleus gives them the makings of a grass-roots big three. Though the draft selections of Garland and Mobley are attributed to good scouting, players such as Wade and Lamar Stevens are a testament to scouting and development.

Wade and Stevens were undrafted, ignored leftovers. The Cavs gave both a chance and developed them into important role players. Finding misfit leftovers and turning them into useful parts has gotten a little easier over the past few years, but it’s still an incredibly difficult challenge and something only the very best franchises seem to do well.

Miami is excellent at it. Same with the Toronto Raptors. Outside of Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavs have never really been able to unlock fringe talent and turn it into helpful components.

It’s an eye for talent, certainly, but it’s also an organization-wide commitment to playing youngsters even when it looks awful. It’s a commitment from coaches willing to stay late and work with prospects who might never make an impact or even a roster. That was Wade and Stevens a few years ago. Now, Wade is making four 3s against the defending champs and allowing the Cavs to stick with a versatile defensive identity that continues to give opponents fits.



Garland is crafty enough to flip no-look passes that make the home crowd swoon. Allen is nimble enough to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo in brief stretches, and Mobley is versatile enough to bring it all together. He has the potential to evolve into a legitimate star on a championship contender, and his selection in the draft last year changed the trajectory of the franchise for the next decade.

Koby Altman has to be the favorite for executive of the year, an award no Cavs general manager has won since Wayne Embry in 1998. Bickerstaff will receive heavy consideration alongside Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins for coach of the year, and Mobley is the runaway favorite at this point for rookie of the year.

The Cavs did it. They certainly made mistakes along the way, but they got back here faster than I ever thought possible. Four years after LeBron left (again), the Cavs are contenders (again) in the Eastern Conference.

They play hard and they play for one another. There is no silly Kyrie Irving/Dion Waiters battle to be the alpha dog. The Cavaliers are young enough that they don’t know what they don’t know and yet are still good enough to outwork and outplay the league’s elite.

Bickerstaff is right. They certainly have nothing to fear.

They are the danger.

 

[big j 33]

Happy for Tucker and yeah.. Spo is the man.

 

[pmatic]

LeBron is always on the reports for minor nagging injuries but typically plays.

 

[amitt5504]

LeBron, sitting a nationally televised game in Philly just says after the 2 year mark of Kobe passing away….

I definitely see it happening

 

[xxpizzo]

LeBron, sitting a nationally televised game in Philly just says after the 2 year mark of Kobe passing away….

I definitely see it happening

Bron just dont wanna get booed tonight

fans and embiid still remember that trash shove to the back on a dunk attempt.. he scared

but nah seriously i hope lebron does play

was no fans in the arena during that play last time

 

[Cashflow]

#MyCoach #MyCULTURE

 

[pmatic]

 

[sohi 23]

Most of the laughs weren't about cap concerns though , dudes were being flat out disrespectful comparing him to Patty Mills and ****

I think yo meant the on court part of it…Some folks acted like he wasn’t “good enough” to be a Laker, like THT or something could be better than Derozan

But then they ended up with Westbrook anyway so the jokes are too easy

Absolutely , dudes were sticking their noses up for years even at the thought of him being a 3rd option acting like they were better off with Green, Kuz etc

I remember

Ok I see the angle now. I agree with y’all. There were a lot of questions about fits and whether he could be that 3rd guy.

I never wanted Russ because he can’t shoot. The questions with DDR were related to the fact that he never shot 3s (until recently). I can only give DDR props, he’s completely juiced his game up and has gone to a level I didn’t think he’d ever get to. The Lakers would be in a much better spot with DDR over Russ. Even if it was the old DDR that never shot 3s lol. Derozen improved a lot in San Antonio, but nobody really cared because it was San Antonio and they kept missing the playoffs. Glad he’s getting his shine in a big market like Chicago now.

 

[addict4sneakers]

Draymond a part time player?

 

[king j]

Bron just dont wanna get booed tonight

fans and embiid still remember that trash shove to the back on a dunk attempt.. he scared

but nah seriously i hope lebron does play

was no fans in the arena during that play last time

You can’t be serious

 

[xxpizzo]

You can’t be serious

im serious about the fans and embiid remembering the shove. that i am serious about

obviously not about bron being scared, cmon now

you cant be serious can you ?

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Breh, I just seen LA and LA are #8 and #9

This is not how the 405 Series was supposed to go down

 

[coldcity]

 

[pmatic]

Draymond a part time player?

Golden State will be relying on Kevon Looney and Otto Porter for the foreseeable future...

 

[elpablo21]

 

[elpablo21]

 

[earldagoat]

 

[Based Jesus]

Calling out a 12 year old girl for caring more about her dance recital than a ball game is peak Kobe

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

God damb he should still be here. His daughter should be flourishing

God dambit

 

[HIM]

Does anyone see the Cavs as a legit team in the playoffs? Or do we all expect it to go through the Bucks or Nets if healthy and all the games are road games?

The Rubio injury hurt us but Mobley is just such a versatile defender, he’ll keep us in a lot of games. Once his offense catches up, we should be running the East. This year might be too soon though.