***2012-13 NBA THREAD!!! New Season/New Thread - LET'S GO!!!!!***

[MLSKINS]

I've been down on them all year.

They can still be fun to watch because Durant and Westbrook are fun to watch. And they are going to annihilate a bunch of teams simply because they have two superduper stars.

But they were amazing last year because they were a team. Now it's two guys trying to pull a wagon up the hill.

At the end of the game, they had Durant, Westbrook, Thabeet, Sefalosha, and Ibaka on the floor. I wonder where the offense is going to come from. That's three guys in crunch time who you literally do not have to guard. You could double Durant and/or Westbrook away from the ball and have no worries. It's ridiculous.

I know you were down on them from the trade, I aint mad at that. But could we give them some time to gel. If I can recall, they were having some of the same problems last year in the beginning of the season. I am not worried about them....

What I am worried about is the Clippers. They look good to me. The worst thing that could have happened to the rest of the NBA was Deandre Jordan developing an offensive game. Yeah it could use some more work, but the fact is that it exists where as last year it didn't. And it looks like Jamal Crawford is back in his Rucker Park mode. Dude is scoring buckets at a crazy rate.

---------- Post added November-15th-2012 at 11:11 AM ----------

http://i.minus.com/ibrNVC2NIJqHVG.gif

absurd

[RonArtest15]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=94EqxSBDHdI

Nasty.........

[Shabby]

What I should have said was that they were middle of the pack - as high as 13 in his tenure there. They weren't bad...just average.



I noticed you said nothing about Melo. HE is the guy who dogged it. Maybe i shouldn't have said "players," but the Knicks go as Melo does. He admitted it...but hey, you're ready to crown them after 4 games tho.

Tyson Chandler is not Dwight Howard, so stop. In addition (maybe another thread for another day), but Chandler winning DPOY over D12 is laughable.

Not to mention, tyson chandler winning defensive player of the year... but not in the first team all defense? whaaaaat? They gave it to chandler cause hes in new york and they didnt want howard winning it again.

[nuposse87]

Not to mention, tyson chandler winning defensive player of the year... but not in the first team all defense? whaaaaat? They gave it to chandler cause hes in new york and they didnt want howard winning it again.

tony allen deserved it over both of them. Blocks are an atrociously overrated stat. Outside of the no effort season opener they had against flop city, they've clearly been beating teams down.

[Destino]

OKC screwed up by first deciding to keep Ibaka over Harder and then in trading Harden and not getting a PF or C with an offensive game. They were an easy out for the Heat in the finals and they got worse. I don't expect them to make it to the finals and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped their first series in the playoffs. When teams game plan against them they'll be, as LKB noted, easier to defend than they seem to realize.

In the west I think the Clippers look strong. They are a much better team now than they are last season and they've reached a point now where they don't even need a big game from Blake Griffin to win. He put up 11 in their win over Memphis and 7 in their win over Portland and they won comfortably. If they can stay healthy and have Hill and Billups for the post season they are going to be a nightmare to deal with in the post season.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

In the west I think the Clippers look strong. They are a much better team now than they are last season and they've reached a point now where they don't even need a big game from Blake Griffin to win. He put up 11 in their win over Memphis and 7 in their win over Portland and they won comfortably. If they can stay healthy and have Hill and Billups for the post season they are going to be a nightmare to deal with in the post season.

What is shocking about the Clippers is that their players are getting better.

Clippers NEVER get better. It's not something they do.

Blake was shooting that wide-open 16 footer with confidence last night. If he can even be a slightly below average shooter, he will become almost unguardable. More importantly, Deandre Jordan has a post game. It's entirely possible that he might be considered the best center in the league by the end of the year.

I don't trust them because Vinny Del Negro is their coach, but - like Memphis - they are deep and versatile now. Both those teams can deal with the Lakers when they go big and with Miami when they go small. That's a rare ability.

[MLSKINS]

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

OKC screwed up by first deciding to keep Ibaka over Harder and then in trading Harden and not getting a PF or C with an offensive game. They were an easy out for the Heat in the finals and they got worse. I don't expect them to make it to the finals and frankly I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped their first series in the playoffs. When teams game plan against them they'll be, as LKB noted, easier to defend than they seem to realize.

In the west I think the Clippers look strong. They are a much better team now than they are last season and they've reached a point now where they don't even need a big game from Blake Griffin to win. He put up 11 in their win over Memphis and 7 in their win over Portland and they won comfortably. If they can stay healthy and have Hill and Billups for the post season they are going to be a nightmare to deal with in the post season.

OKC screwed up by signing that bum Perkins. THAT was the error, not Ibaka.

[Destino]

OKC screwed up by signing that bum Perkins. THAT was the error, not Ibaka.

Perkins supposedly can defend a real NBA center when the playoffs get here. Dwight Howard just showed up in the Western conference. Perhaps he'll be worth the 8-9 million a year if he can deliver and that's not on the high side for a starting NBA center.

Ibaka on the other hand just signed a 4 year 49 million dollar extrension. 12.25 million a year. What do you think his production has to be to earn that? Best case scenario is that Ibaka develops into a much better player and I think the Thunder are betting on exactly that. You don't pay that kind of money for help defense, which right now is the best thing Ibaka can offer.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

Perkins supposedly can defend a real NBA center when the playoffs get here.

thats fine and all, but most teams in the NBA dont have centers anymore and the Lakers got scorers around Howard now.

Him trying to guard Bosh in the Finals last year was embarrassing. OKC could have made a better series by playing Collison at the 5 more, or moving Ibaka over to guard Bosh. It cost OKC a few games, imo.

And his defense against centers, which is overrated since the knee injury, is not enough to make up for the negative impact he has on offense.


The mistake was giving Perkins that contract, not Ibaka.

[Fight4RGIII]

KNEEL BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY BROOKLYN KNIGHT!

[ixcuincle]

[Destino]

The Heat have an amazing ability to create open shots. I dont think ive ever seen anything like it. The additions of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis are going to drive coaches insane in the post season.

[Bubble Screen]

OKC screwed up by signing that bum Perkins. THAT was the error, not Ibaka.

Exactly. Ibaka is beasting this year.

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 02:33 AM ----------

Perkins supposedly can defend a real NBA center when the playoffs get here. Dwight Howard just showed up in the Western conference. Perhaps he'll be worth the 8-9 million a year if he can deliver and that's not on the high side for a starting NBA center.

Ibaka on the other hand just signed a 4 year 49 million dollar extrension. 12.25 million a year. What do you think his production has to be to earn that? Best case scenario is that Ibaka develops into a much better player and I think the Thunder are betting on exactly that. You don't pay that kind of money for help defense, which right now is the best thing Ibaka can offer.

Help defense? The man is averaging 14.4 ppg and 6.8 reb. And he leads the NBA in blocks with nearly 4 a game.

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 02:36 AM ----------

Perkins supposedly can defend a real NBA center when the playoffs get here. Dwight Howard just showed up in the Western conference. Perhaps he'll be worth the 8-9 million a year if he can deliver and that's not on the high side for a starting NBA center.

Ibaka on the other hand just signed a 4 year 49 million dollar extrension. 12.25 million a year. What do you think his production has to be to earn that? Best case scenario is that Ibaka develops into a much better player and I think the Thunder are betting on exactly that. You don't pay that kind of money for help defense, which right now is the best thing Ibaka can offer.

Help defense? The man is averaging 14.4 ppg and 6.8 reb. And he leads the NBA in blocks with nearly 4 a game.

[stevemcqueen1]

On another note, Memphis is loaded. They may have 8 guys who all do at least one thing at an elite level.

The problem with Memphis is they don't have go to scoring. They've got plenty of capable scorers and they are unselfish. But I see them struggling offensively in the playoff format.

Really really good team though. But the no star construction is pretty untenable IMO. Gives them no margin for error.

---------- Post added November-16th-2012 at 08:11 AM ----------

It was stupid for OKC to value both Perkins and Ibaka over Harden.

When you've got a star player, you keep him if you can. Stars are the biggest and rarest commodity for any team in the NBA. Harden is a star player right?