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

[Bubble Screen]

The Thunder are a little better this year because Ibaka and Durant got so much better IMO. And the dropoff from Harden to Martin hasn't been as large as it seemed like it would be. Collison got better too. Westbrook is playing at about the same level net-net but he's traded scoring for a big bump in his assists which has been good for the team overall.

They're winning more this year than they did last year. 77% vs. 71%.

I'm not so sure Ibaka has gotten better. His numbers, for the most part, are up, sure. But, like I said, he's inconsistent. And so is Martin. Harden was good for 20 5 5, pretty much each night. Plus he could defend. Martin can't stop anyone.

And that winning % means little to me, as I think they are built for the regular season. They're gonna have an awfully difficult road to the Finals in the West. I honestly don't think they are any better of a team than last year. I just don't.

[burgundyrush]

Look like this new pass happy Kobe is here to stay. Even when the Hornets cut it to a one score game in the final 3 minutes he was still looking for his man. Hate to say it, but if this trend stays the same then the Lakers may be the best team in the NBA. Lebron does a good finding his man as well, but Kobe has much more lethal weapons to work with. The Lake Show has officially arrived ladies and gentlemen. I will even go out on the limb and say they will go 6-1 this upcoming road trip.

[Bubble Screen]

Look like this new pass happy Kobe is here to stay. Even when the Hornets cut it to a one score game in the final 3 minutes he was still looking for his man. Hate to say it, but if this trend stays the same then the Lakers may be the best team in the NBA. Lebron does a good finding his man as well, but Kobe has much more lethal weapons to work with. The Lake Show has officially arrived ladies and gentlemen. I will even go out on the limb and say they will go 6-1 this upcoming road trip.

Ok, now you seem to drinking a little too much koolaid. NO WAY are they the best team now, or will they ever be as the season progresses.

I've acknowledged they are playing much better basketball since Kobe has taken less shots (sharing the basketball). But they are still a LONG way away from being the best team in the NBA. And there's no chance they go 6-1 on this road trip. And I haven't even bothered to look at their schedule. They just aren't.

[nuposse87]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...Rudy_Gay_Trade

So, I'm gonna say Memphis made out like bandits here. Prince isn't that bad a drop off, and Davis has excellent potential. Raptors are weird as hell at the wing position. DeMar, Ross, Gay...all elite dunkers...I suppose. Lob City east?

[DM72]

Look like this new pass happy Kobe is here to stay. Even when the Hornets cut it to a one score game in the final 3 minutes he was still looking for his man. Hate to say it, but if this trend stays the same then the Lakers may be the best team in the NBA. Lebron does a good finding his man as well, but Kobe has much more lethal weapons to work with. The Lake Show has officially arrived ladies and gentlemen. I will even go out on the limb and say they will go 6-1 this upcoming road trip.

Only the Lakers can be as bad as they've been the entire season and win a few games in a row and become the best team in the NBA.

[Destino]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...Rudy_Gay_Trade

So, I'm gonna say Memphis made out like bandits here. Prince isn't that bad a drop off, and Davis has excellent potential. Raptors are weird as hell at the wing position. DeMar, Ross, Gay...all elite dunkers...I suppose. Lob City east?

I disagree with you. It looks to me like Memphis lacked trade partners and took what they could get, which is very little.

---------- Post added January-30th-2013 at 06:55 PM ----------

Look like this new pass happy Kobe is here to stay. Even when the Hornets cut it to a one score game in the final 3 minutes he was still looking for his man. Hate to say it, but if this trend stays the same then the Lakers may be the best team in the NBA. Lebron does a good finding his man as well, but Kobe has much more lethal weapons to work with. The Lake Show has officially arrived ladies and gentlemen. I will even go out on the limb and say they will go 6-1 this upcoming road trip.

Once they climb into the 8th spot then we can have the "are they good" conversation. They aren't the best in the NBA by a long shot.

[stevemcqueen1]

I disagree with you. It looks to me like Memphis lacked trade partners and took what they could get, which is very little.

I don't think this deal really made sense for either Toronto or Memphis.

[skinfan2k]

john hollinger first move is to get a player with a better PER than Gay.

[nuposse87]

I disagree with you. It looks to me like Memphis lacked trade partners and took what they could get, which is very little.[COLOR="Gold"]

Got what they could is a way of looking at it...but...Would you rather pay nearly 20 mil a season who is shooting 41% from the field and 31% from the Three, whose also having his worst TS and eFG ever...or this:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...princta01.html

and

http://www.basketball-reference.com/...davised01.html

Memphis is a better team when the majority of their touches go to their bigs. Prince can knock down open threes and Davis will be a good backup to Randolph, and eventual replacement. I see the trade as, at worst, a lateral move right now, with the potential to pay big dividends down the line. I feel bad for raptors fans, BC might be the only GM in the league worse then EG...and that is saying A LOT.

[stevemcqueen1]

It's a backwards move right now, Ed Davis and Tayshaun Prince do not equal Rudy Gay--and I'm not a very big fan of Gay.

They broke up one of the better teams in the NBA and big changes will result. They'll probably take an immediate step back but it's nothing they can't recover from long term.

And it absolutely needed to be done. Gay's contract was horrible. I certainly understand why they accepted such a poor return back in moving him. You've got to get out from under that deal and avoid the luxury tax as much as possible moving forward, especially when he's not even close to making you a true contender.

I don't understand why Toronto was so hot to make the deal. He blocks DeRozan for one thing. You can't play two wings that shoot as poorly as they do for big minutes. Now they've gummed up their salary situation for several years with a huge bad contract which is almost never a good idea. They get marginal improvement, maybe they're a late seed playoff team now if you can get Lowry healthy and develop Valanciunas and figure out a way to get rid of Bargnani and figure out something to do with DeRozan now.

Seeing the pieces that actually ended up moving in the deal makes the talk of a Beal & other pieces for Gay swap from a couple of weeks ago sound laughable.

[Destino]

I think Memphis is making a mistake, dumping their perimeter talent is going to make things harder on Gasol and Z-Bo. They should have kept Mayo for relatively cheap, he's better than Gay and cheaper, and dumped Mayo in the offseason when his value was higher. He's having a bad year. Instead they lost both and don't have much else to speak of otherwise.

[nuposse87]

I think Memphis is making a mistake, dumping their perimeter talent is going to make things harder on Gasol and Z-Bo. They should have kept Mayo for relatively cheap, he's better than Gay and cheaper, and dumped Mayo in the offseason when his value was higher. He's having a bad year. Instead they lost both and don't have much else to speak of otherwise.

The thing they should have done from the beginning was just surround them with 3 pt shooters. The new guy they brought in...johnson I think has been shooting well for them. Bayless is a 3 pt shooter for them. Prince is better from distance than Gay. Wroten, their rookie is finally paying dividends. The real X-factor for them is Conely, who although doesn't get many assists cause of the nature of offense they run in Memphis, is an excellent tempo controller for them. You could argue that Gay was their "closer" but I think they're banking on Conley filling that void. I think the team will be better off in the long term, and I think it'll really show its dividends in the playoffs, where Gay's shotjacking will most definitely not be missed.

As for toronto, unless they plan to flip DeMar for something, I'm not quite sure what they're going for...

They would have probably the most athletic small ball line up ever i suppose,

Lowry
Demar
Ross
Gay
Val(when healthy)

[Bubble Screen]

I don't think Toronto's done yet. I can't see them holding on to both DeRozan and Gay. Just makes no sense.

[stevemcqueen1]

I don't think Toronto's done yet. I can't see them holding on to both DeRozan and Gay. Just makes no sense.

I agree. Nor do I think it makes a ton of sense to keep Bargnani.

They've got a couple bad contracts. Amir Johnson's contract sucks. Landry Fields's contract is nonsense. 47 million committed to 4 players in 2014/2015, none of them worth their contracts. They are pretty close to capping themselves off at sort of bad/mediocre.

---------- Post added January-31st-2013 at 08:13 AM ----------

I think Memphis is making a mistake, dumping their perimeter talent is going to make things harder on Gasol and Z-Bo. They should have kept Mayo for relatively cheap, he's better than Gay and cheaper, and dumped Mayo in the offseason when his value was higher. He's having a bad year. Instead they lost both and don't have much else to speak of otherwise.

They kind of scape-goated Mayo, but yeah, he's a better overall player than Gay IMO. The problem was that he might not be better than Tony Allen. Allen has a skill he's pretty much the best at in the NBA.

They're in a small fix now, but they'll be able to win enough games to get a good seed in the playoffs. The bottom line for them was they had to escape Gay's contract and they just had to hold their nose and take what they could get for him. He's an overall negative to a team with his deal IMO.

Zach Randolph's situation is the next one that needs to be looked at. This construction of the Grizzlies is incapable of getting out of the West. But you've got a PG that's good enough and a center who is pretty good. You've got your perimeter stopper. You have the foundation of role players in place for a star acquisition to put you over the top. Z-Bo is excellent but not totally reliable and he's probably making a little too much money and he does take some things off the table. That team is just waiting for a star forward to come in and take them to the next level. Or upgrade Conley with a big time PG.

[youngchew]

Denver Nuggets continue to quietly do their thing out west. 2nd best home record in the NBA (percentage wise), and are currently on a 5 game winning streak.

I love the team basketball concept that George Karl has implemented with these young guys. They like to get out and run, and they spread the ball around and share the wealth. Denver Nuggets average 7 players players in double digits per game, best in the league.

The Nuggets don't have any all-stars, and they're not a flashy team like Miami or NYK, so they're not on TNT's late game very often and they're NEVER on ABC on Sundays....but if any of you guys get a chance to watch a Nuggets game, you should do so. Fun team to watch. And Ty Lawson reps the city hard