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Official NBA Thread; need one since playoffs r over
Topic Started: Jun 23 2011, 12:32 AM (23,208 Views)
vodka!

lebron shitting on the warriors
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eager

He's been the MVP since returning from injury. Cavs look ridiculous right now.
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Don't worry. They'll lose tomorrow


;)
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eager
Feb 26 2015, 11:28 PM
He's been the MVP since returning from injury. Cavs look ridiculous right now.
I'd say Lebron and Harden are the leading candidates right now but westbrook is making a huge push as of late. Dude has been a menace.

And I agree, cavs look unstoppable right now. JR, Iman, and Mozgov have all fit in perfectly with that team. The only player who looks left out is Kevin Love. Even so, I don't see anyone in the east beating them in the playoffs.

As for the West who knows what is going to happen. It will likely come down to which team is healthiest and playing their best ball during that point of the season. I expect a strong push from OKC in the playoffs but KD's healthy concerns me. Houston has been extremely impressive this season, especially since the addition of Brewer and Smith. If they get Howard back healthy for the playoffs they could definitely do some damage. Then you got GSW, Spurs,Portland, Memphis...it's going to be insane.
Edited by Trapt, Feb 27 2015, 12:46 PM.
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eager

MEM CLE final, calling it now.
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eager
Feb 28 2015, 02:22 PM
MEM CLE final, calling it now.
I still think Memphis lacks the "super star" that is needed to make it to the finals. In the NBA, if you don't have a super star then you are not winning a championship..sadly.
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connybear

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Feb 28 2015, 03:24 PM
eager
Feb 28 2015, 02:22 PM
MEM CLE final, calling it now.
I still think Memphis lacks the "super star" that is needed to make it to the finals. In the NBA, if you don't have a super star then you are not winning a championship..sadly.
i disagree -- marc gasol has shown he can step in and be that player for memphis, as has conley at times. i say it won't do them in
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"i wanna fuck you like an Animal"
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when has he shown that? The regular season?
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eager

Trapt
Mar 1 2015, 06:52 PM
when has he shown that? The regular season?
They would have beat OKC last year if it wasn't for Zbo getting suspended. MEM has been pretty competitive in the playoffs the past 4 years. I think this is the year they put everything together. SA wasn't carried by a single player when they beat MIA last year. Gasol is arguably the best center in the league right now.

Also, the Harden trade is going to go down as the worst managerial decision in NBA history. OKC could have easily had 3 MVP level players right now, along with Ibaka. Can't wait for Durant to bolt.
Edited by eager, Mar 2 2015, 02:50 AM.
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eager
Mar 2 2015, 02:39 AM
Trapt
Mar 1 2015, 06:52 PM
when has he shown that? The regular season?
They would have beat OKC last year if it wasn't for Zbo getting suspended. MEM has been pretty competitive in the playoffs the past 4 years. I think this is the year they put everything together. SA wasn't carried by a single player when they beat MIA last year. Gasol is arguably the best center in the league right now.

Also, the Harden trade is going to go down as the worst managerial decision in NBA history. OKC could have easily had 3 MVP level players right now, along with Ibaka. Can't wait for Durant to bolt.
no but SA did have the best PF in history, two other core players that will end up hall of famers, an emerging allstar, and the best coach in nba history..not to mention some nba playoff experience..and finals experience. Kind of hard to compare that to Mem.

I'm not saying players like gasol and conely are not great players..they are. I just don't think they are good enough to win a championship. Look back at the recent teams who have been in the finals..I'll bet everyone had at least one elite superstar at the time. Once again this is thr NBA we are talking about. A league run by "superstars". Maybe I just don't view gasol at the same level as lebron, durant, harden, westbrook..etc.
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eager

I think you can have the same effect as a superstar if you have a group of players who are all above average at their position. The Mavs got to the finals in 2011 because Dirk went beastmode (another guy who people claimed was too soft, wasn't a true superstar, couldn't lead his team etc). Dirk went cold in the finals though, and it was the rest of the Mavs who lit the Heat up. The Mavs were just hitting crazy shots all around, getting big contributions from role players. Same thing for the Heat in 2012 with Miller, Battier, Chalmers all having big games. In 2013 Ray Allen hits the biggest shot of LeBrons career, while Danny Green goes ape shit for the Spurs. Duncan may be the greatest PF of all time, but he's no longer a superstar on the level of a LeBron or Durant in 2014. Ginobili had just come off his worst finals performance ever and was mulling retirement. The Spurs had the Duncan/Ginobili/Parker trio and Pop for 7 years before they finally won another ring in 2014. They got hot at the right time and some key role players had huge games.

I think the past 4 finals have shown that teams need role players to step up huge in the playoffs. The Heat were obliterated last year because the Spurs were firing on all cylinders from top to bottom. A Mavs team whose second leading scorer was Jason Terry dropped the Heat in 6. Coaching and role players are very, very under-appreciated.
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You bring up the point about role players. Obviously teams need role players. Role players are often the difference between winning or losing a key game in a series. However, none of those teams get to where they need to be without their superstars. Those are the guys who are going to carry your team on a nightly basis. They are the ones who are going to either take the big shots at the end of games or draw attention away from other players to step in and take a big shot. They are the ones who are going to allow your team to take it to the next level outside of just the regular season and bring you to the finals. Do you think miami wins a championship without lebron, spurs without tim duncan, boston without KG, lakers without kobe? I disagree with your Mavs example. I always viewed Dirk as one of the elite players in the league (when he was in his prime). So to me, that's just another example of a team being led by a superstar to an nba championship.

All this brings me back to the point that I am just not sold on Gasol as being the centerpiece of an NBA championship team. I don't feel that a team can win with a group of players who are all above average at their positions and the continuous track record of NBA championship teams proves that. I also don't think that Memphis qualifies as a team who has all above average players. Players like Gasol and conely could all be huge contributors to an NBA championship team but memphis still needs that one singular superstar who can take them over that hump of being a great team to the best team. I also don't feel that the Grizzlies have as much depth as the likes of say the Cavs, Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, Golden State, and possibly even the Blazers. Plus Jeff green is on the Grizzlies so you know he will cost them multiple playoff games.
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Louie

I don't think Center's in general have the impact they did in the past, when was the last time a team won with a HOF Center without another HOF player playing with them?
Edited by Louie, Mar 2 2015, 12:50 PM.
arcade
Jun 2 2010, 08:24 AM
blade you can post screenshots of you beating people like louie in 1v1s as much as you want (seriosly with your sound, set up, and stopwatch you shouldnt lose a 1v1) but it doesnt change the fact that he is 20x the player you are.
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Louie
Mar 2 2015, 12:50 PM
I don't think Center's in general have the impact they did in the past, when was the last time a team won with a HOF Center without another HOF player playing with them?
another valid point. Even shaq had kobe and dwade when he won his championships. Today's league is entirely guard oriented with the exception being players like lebron and durant who are more point forwards.
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Louie

But I think eager's point is you don't need a superstar to win a championship, just a group of above average players? I'm looking at the last 10 championship teams and they all had a superstar, minus maybe the 2004 Detroit Pistons. I think I'm siding with Trapt, even if your #1 player underperforms he's still going to draw the attention of the defense every time he touches the ball which frees up someone else.

Ultimately I think you need a superstar (but not a superstar center) and a good group of role players, one person cannot carry a team to a ring. Think Lebron and the Cavs or AI and the 76ers.
arcade
Jun 2 2010, 08:24 AM
blade you can post screenshots of you beating people like louie in 1v1s as much as you want (seriosly with your sound, set up, and stopwatch you shouldnt lose a 1v1) but it doesnt change the fact that he is 20x the player you are.
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eager

I'm honestly confused what everyone means when they are calling someone a superstar. A superstar to me is a top 5 player. Wade and Lebron were both top 5 arguably top 3 players when they joined forces in Miami, and Bosh wasn't far behind. If you want to open that up to something like top 10, then Marc Gasol is a superstar in the NBA right now. Duncan was 12th in MVP voting last year, Dirk was also 12th the year the Mavs won. Is the best player on an NBA championship team suddenly a superstar now?

Marc Gasol this year is a better player than Tim Duncan was last year. Gasol is the best center in the league, the best player on the second best team in the western conference. The Spurs had no superstar when they won in 2014. The Heat had the league MVP and another top 5 player when they lost to the lowly Mavs (Dirk was nowhere near the MVP discussion). The Heat had the two best players on the court, arguably 3 of the top 4 and they still lost in 6. The superstars=rangz logic fails when you consider that the Heat lost to less star packed teams in the finals, twice.

There's a reason that highly compartmentalized teams with talent spread up and down their roster suddenly have a chance in the playoffs. The defensive trend in the NBA has been to focus on stopping a team's #1 option, preventing hero-ball and forcing offenses to beat them with their other options. Teams have only recently begun to realize the potential of the defensive rule changes earlier in this past decade, which removed hand-checking but basically permitted zone-defenses. This manifested itself in 2008 when Tom Thibodeau's strong-side stack dismantled the Lakers and turned Kobe into AI. In 2011 the Mavs stacked the box against LeBron and dared the rest of his team to beat them. There's this phrase coaches around the league are telling their big men, called 2.9. They want their bigs to camp the paint for as long as possible without receiving a 3 second violation. Isolation ball is being used to open plays up and transition into other opportunities, instead of being used to finish. It can still get you pretty far, though. It's pretty much how OKC got to the finals, and MIA in their first year. Basically what I'm saying is of course it helps to have a top 5 player in the NBA, but it isn't necessary to win a championship anymore.
Edited by eager, Mar 2 2015, 09:07 PM.
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i completely disagree with every word in that post but im to lazy to respond again i said my peace
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trapt you think jeff green is a + player pls do not post
BaMbOo
May 5 2011, 12:35 PM
idk has the best forum trolls

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Remedy
Mar 2 2015, 10:17 PM
trapt you think jeff green is a + player pls do not post
yes thats why I'm talking so highly of Memphis. Jeff Green is the superstar they needed. championship bound.
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Who said anything about superstar? I said + player. That may be a difficult concept for you to wrap your mind around.
BaMbOo
May 5 2011, 12:35 PM
idk has the best forum trolls

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also gtfo if you are going to take up stupid unfounded views without backing it up
BaMbOo
May 5 2011, 12:35 PM
idk has the best forum trolls

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im fucking trolling you idiot. wrap your delusional brain around that. go crawl back into the hole you were in. coming out of no where and attacking. if i dont want to reply to a post i won't. I gave my opinion already and it hasn't changed. I'm not going to reitterate myself 100 timea.Who the fuck are you?
Edited by Trapt, Mar 2 2015, 10:43 PM.
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your opinion is baseless and without any semblance of intelligence. you haven't even represented what exactly your opinion is beyond U NEED A SUPASTA despite the mountain of evidence in the past few years that suggests otherwise.
BaMbOo
May 5 2011, 12:35 PM
idk has the best forum trolls

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ps who the fuq r u rly plz leave insite nerd
BaMbOo
May 5 2011, 12:35 PM
idk has the best forum trolls

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Trapt
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You're fucking drunk. go home.
Edited by Trapt, Mar 2 2015, 10:53 PM.
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