2013-2014 NBA Season

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

December games arent that important in the grand scheme. Indiana is really good but they are perhaps a bit enhanced by the Eastern Conference. The big question for Miami is going to be health as they have clearly been resting the older guys and Wade is already shaky though he has looked pretty good when he does actually play. I dont know that they have any assets or ability to add any help.

OKC is very dangerous as they have young guys who can play though I'd rather make a future book bet on them for next season. SA is still very good. I dont believe based on what I've seen this year the Clippers or Warriors can get through OKC or SA. Houston is a wild card but I'd still lean toward the others. Portland is playing great but they are lacking in front court depth and cant afford any injuries.

I agree on the CLippers. I think Golden St and Houston are both the big wild cards come playoff time. I dont believe in OKC. They get dumptrucked by Miami or Indiana if they somehow make it out of the west.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

I agree on the CLippers. I think Golden St and Houston are both the big wild cards come playoff time. I dont believe in OKC. They get dumptrucked by Miami or Indiana if they somehow make it out of the west.

OKC is really good. Jackson, Lamb and Adams are starting level players though short on experience. The key to the West may be who Houston gets for Asik. They are the one contender who in theory at least is going to add a big piece. Golden State is fun to watch but they arent getting out of 2nd round.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

OKC is really good. Jackson, Lamb and Adams are starting level players though short on experience. The key to the West may be who Houston gets for Asik. They are the one contender who in theory at least is going to add a big piece. Golden State is fun to watch but they arent getting out of 2nd round.

I disagree about Golden St. They are capable of getting hot at any time and in any playoff series winning all of the home games. Look at how well they played against the Spurs last year.
I agree about Houston. I think Harden is a top 5 player Howard a top 7 or 8 player and Parsons is the most underrated player in the entire NBA. Plus they will get something for the big guy like you said.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

I disagree about Golden St. They are capable of getting hot at any time and in any playoff series winning all of the home games. Look at how well they played against the Spurs last year.
I agree about Houston. I think Harden is a top 5 player Howard a top 7 or 8 player and Parsons is the most underrated player in the entire NBA. Plus they will get something for the big guy like you said.

They just dont have a good enough bench and dont get much at all from the front court. Bogut scored 7 pts a game. His backup is O'Neil who is 100 year old. That's pretty much it. Teams cant win playoff series soley in transition and with perimeter shooting. Of course the odds that the entire roster remains healthy is remote as well.

Pretty funny you kill Carmelo for being a selfish gunner who doesnt play defense then praise Harden.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

They just dont have a good enough bench and dont get much at all from the front court. Bogut scored 7 pts a game. His backup is O'Neil who is 100 year old. That's pretty much it. Teams cant win playoff series soley in transition and with perimeter shooting. Of course the odds that the entire roster remains healthy is remote as well.

Pretty funny you kill Carmelo for being a selfish gunner who doesnt play defense then praise Harden.

Carmelo is a total joke IMO.
Harden is passing the ball Chuck, you cant deny that. He is at a career high 6 assists a game this year. Carmelo is at 2.7
Harden has also improved his rebounding this year by a full rebound a game, I know Melo is rebounding the ball well this year. A huge part of that is CHandler being out.
I hate everything about Carmelo Anthony. I love Harden. They call Harden big game James for a reasson.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

Carmelo is a total joke IMO.
Harden is passing the ball Chuck, you cant deny that. He is at a career high 6 assists a year this year. Carmelo is at 2.7
Harden has also improved his rebounding this year by a full rebound a game, I know Melo is rebounding the ball well this year. A huge part of that is CHandler being out.
I hate everything about Carmelo Anthony. I love Harden. They call Harden big game James for a reasson.

Harden doesn't even try to defend. Melo has a completely dysfunctional team surrounding him. They are the same guy, one has a beard and the other is taller.

[Duvalier]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

They are the same guy, one has a beard and the other is taller.

Lol...you kill me Chuck.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Harden doesn't even try to defend. Melo has a completely dysfunctional team surrounding him. They are the same guy, one has a beard and the other is taller.

I have never disagreed with you more, EVER.
Harden is a stone cold NBA superstar. Melo is one of the most overrated players EVER.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

I agree on the CLippers. I think Golden St and Houston are both the big wild cards come playoff time. I dont believe in OKC. They get dumptrucked by Miami or Indiana if they somehow make it out of the west.

Miami, maybe, but they are getting older. Indiana, please. Thunder are their worst nightmare match up wise.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Miami, maybe, but they are getting older. Indiana, please. Thunder are their worst nightmare match up wise.

Westbrook would have to go off, and maybe he would? George and Durant, pretty comparable....
I think whoever wins the East is the favorite over anyone out of the West.
So the NBA finals will be either Indiana or Miamia vs OKC or Houston or Golden St or San Antonio or the CLippers. See a problem here also? Much harder to come out of the West. Indiana and Miami will steamroll everyone until playing each other.

[cmorioles]

Originally Posted by RockHardTen1985

Westbrook would have to go off, and maybe he would? George and Durant, pretty comparable....
I think whoever wins the East is the favorite over anyone out of the West.
So the NBA finals will be either Indiana or Miamia vs OKC or Houston or Golden St or San Antonio or the CLippers. See a problem here also? Much harder to come out of the West. Indiana and Miami will steamroll everyone until playing each other.

George and Durant are comparable? Come on...George is really good, but there is a pretty big gap between the two of them. I can tell you this much, no way will Indiana be favored over the Thunder. Like I said before, it is a terrible match up for them, a nightmare.

Obviously the West is much tougher. It doesn't exactly take Nostradamus to figure that out. But if you get through it will all be pretty irrelevant. Further about the West, I see no way in hell GS or LAC makes it out, and Hou is only slightly more likely. Portland is better than all of them.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

George and Durant are comparable? Come on...George is really good, but there is a pretty big gap between the two of them. I can tell you this much, no way will Indiana be favored over the Thunder. Like I said before, it is a terrible match up for them, a nightmare.

Obviously the West is much tougher. It doesn't exactly take Nostradamus to figure that out. But if you get through it will all be pretty irrelevant. Further about the West, I see no way in hell GS or LAC makes it out, and Hou is only slightly more likely. Portland is better than all of them.

The Rockets are a bad matchup for Portland. They've split so far this year and Sampson made a big mistake having Terrence Jones continue to guard Aldridge last Thursday when they played in Portland. He was significantly less effective with Howard guarding him.

I don't think Portland has a great deal of long-term viability. I've also been very surprised at home poorly the Warriors are playing so far.

[cmorioles]

Yeah, I just think the Rockets need something else. If they can find someone dumb enough to take Asik and get something worthwhile in return, that could move them up.

I think Portland will continue to surprise. The coach is very good, and they are much deeper than last year. But yeah, it can be about match ups. Portland pretty much let Howard have whatever he could get and shut down the 3 point guys. This is where Howard is lacking. If a guy like Shaq was guarded like Howard was, he would have scored 50.

[cmorioles]

...my only point about the Thunder, and obviously I'm a homer, is a lot of people seem to think this is the same team as the one from the finals, or one that took a step back without Harden. That is simply not the case. They are clearly better this year. Westbrook, Durant, and Ibaka are all better players than they were, and the bench is very deep, much better than when Harden was here.

Jackson alone isn't that far off of Harden's numbers. He is a magician in the paint. If Westbrook could finish like Jackson does he'd be hands down the top PG in the NBA.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Yeah, I just think the Rockets need something else. If they can find someone dumb enough to take Asik and get something worthwhile in return, that could move them up.

I think Portland will continue to surprise. The coach is very good, and they are much deeper than last year. But yeah, it can be about match ups. Portland pretty much let Howard have whatever he could get and shut down the 3 point guys. This is where Howard is lacking. If a guy like Shaq was guarded like Howard was, he would have scored 50.

I have read Varejo from Clevland is likely.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

Yeah, I just think the Rockets need something else. If they can find someone dumb enough to take Asik and get something worthwhile in return, that could move them up.

I think Portland will continue to surprise. The coach is very good, and they are much deeper than last year. But yeah, it can be about match ups. Portland pretty much let Howard have whatever he could get and shut down the 3 point guys. This is where Howard is lacking. If a guy like Shaq was guarded like Howard was, he would have scored 50.

Asik could be a great pickup for the right team like Dallas or Golden State. Problem is NBA trades are hard to make and Houston supposedly wants a lot and his contract has a balloon payment of $15 million next year. There was a rumor that the Sixers were interested in trading Thaddeus Young for Asik and the money works but who knows?

[Duvalier]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

I don't think Portland has a great deal of long-term viability.

Why is that?

[Duvalier]

Wow Joe Johnson was unconscious tonight in the 3rd quarter... eight 3-pointers and 29 points. Finished with 10 3's and 37 points on the night.

The Association may may need to start looking into some sort of mercy rule for the Sixers after the last few games.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

The Rockets are a bad matchup for Portland. They've split so far this year and Sampson made a big mistake having Terrence Jones continue to guard Aldridge last Thursday when they played in Portland. He was significantly less effective with Howard guarding him.

I don't think Portland has a great deal of long-term viability. I've also been very surprised at home poorly the Warriors are playing so far.

The Warriors have a lot of issues that people chose to ignore for whatever reason.
Portland is a good team that's playing well but has no real depth. They are a jump shooting team and later in the season when teams are tired they are more apt to struggle at times.
The Rockets have defensive issues.

[RockHardTen1985]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

George and Durant are comparable? Come on...George is really good, but there is a pretty big gap between the two of them. I can tell you this much, no way will Indiana be favored over the Thunder. Like I said before, it is a terrible match up for them, a nightmare.

Obviously the West is much tougher. It doesn't exactly take Nostradamus to figure that out. But if you get through it will all be pretty irrelevant. Further about the West, I see no way in hell GS or LAC makes it out, and Hou is only slightly more likely. Portland is better than all of them.

I prefer GS, Portland and Houston over LAC. Im not sold on LAC at all. I think Houston will be fine. And when the playoffs come around Im not sold on Portland being a real contender. GS has been a huge disapointment in my eyes. I had them as a top 2-3 team. Hopefully the get it going, they sure are fun to watch.
I dont think George is that far behind Durant and he is 2yrs younger. He took a huge step forward this year.
Durant is the better scorer right now, but if George is hungry and keeps getting better he will be as good by the time he is 25. George would be a rebounding machine if not for Hibbert and West. Durant is the 2nd best rebounder on his team, so the rebounding difference means nothing to me..... George plays better D.