Official 2017-18 NBA Season Thread

[raybies]

Well guess I was wrong about Bell. I just have never been high on him but the kid does a lot with the little he has been given. He's a playmaker and while I doubt he'd be the difference maker with the Spurs he is with the Warriors, He's a solid player and he'll get better. Guess we'll have to wait and see how White turns out to see if that was a real miss or not.

With that said about Bell, I'm still not ready to give up on Joff. He still has excuses... the finger, the injuries... So I'm gonna wait to see if he can put it together.

[daslicer]

Well guess I was wrong about Bell. I just have never been high on him but the kid does a lot with the little he has been given. He's a playmaker and while I doubt he'd be the difference maker with the Spurs he is with the Warriors, He's a solid player and he'll get better. Guess we'll have to wait and see how White turns out to see if that was a real miss or not.

With that said about Bell, I'm still not ready to give up on Joff. He still has excuses... the finger, the injuries... So I'm gonna wait to see if he can put it together.

Spurs have had some hits with the draft and some misses in the past. They were very close to getting Kuzma which shows me that they are still good at scouting. Missing out on Kuzma reminds me of how way back in '08 draft the Spurs planned to draft Batum but the Blazers stole him before the Spurs could get him and they ended up with George Hill. Hill turned out to be a good pick but I think Batum would have been a star in the spurs system. It sucked to miss out on Batum but a few years later the Spurs ended up with Kawhi. I have faith eventually the FO will hit a another home run in the draft again. It takes some luck to land a good player when your constantly drafting around the mid to high 20's in the draft.

[Ice009]

Well guess I was wrong about Bell. I just have never been high on him but the kid does a lot with the little he has been given. He's a playmaker and while I doubt he'd be the difference maker with the Spurs he is with the Warriors, He's a solid player and he'll get better. Guess we'll have to wait and see how White turns out to see if that was a real miss or not.

With that said about Bell, I'm still not ready to give up on Joff. He still has excuses... the finger, the injuries... So I'm gonna wait to see if he can put it together.

A french poster here gave a little bit of an analysis about him during the preseason, and he said at best his ceiling is that of an 8th or 9th man. I thought he might be wrong as Joffery was tearing it up in the preseason prior to when the person said that. I can't remember who it was, I think it was Brazil, but yeah, they were spot on about him. He's just not that good from the looks of it. I was hoping that he was wrong about him and that he may have turned a corner on becoming a better player.

I would have easily have preferred David Lee or even Dedmon (Dedmon was my first choice for most of last season, but his lack of offense made him almost unplayable in the playoffs, so I cooled on Dedmon by the end of the season for his lack of production on offense). As for Lee, I really wonder why he retired. I think it could be the injuries, especially since he was getting them in the playoffs when his teams really needed him. Maybe that bothered him that he couldn't help his teams in the playoffs as the timing of his injuries seemed to come at bad moments for his team/s. Maybe he was also pissed off with Pop ripping into him when Pop was the one putting him in positions to fail defensively.

Was Kuzma off the board when the Spurs picked? I assume he was?

[daslicer]

A french poster here gave a little bit of an analysis about him during the preseason, and he said at best his ceiling is that of an 8th or 9th man. I thought he might be wrong as Joffery was tearing it up in the preseason prior to when the person said that. I can't remember who it was, I think it was Brazil, but yeah, they were spot on about him. He's just not that good from the looks of it. I was hoping that he was wrong about him and that he may have turned a corner on becoming a better player.

I would have easily have preferred David Lee or even Dedmon (Dedmon was my first choice for most of last season, but his lack of offense made him almost unplayable in the playoffs, so I cooled on Dedmon by the end of the season for his lack of production on offense). As for Lee, I really wonder why he retired. I think it could be the injuries, especially since he was getting them in the playoffs when his teams really needed him. Maybe that bothered him that he couldn't help his teams in the playoffs as the timing of his injuries seemed to come at bad moments for his team/s. Maybe he was also pissed off with Pop ripping into him when Pop was the one putting him in positions to fail defensively.

Was Kuzma off the board when the Spurs picked? I assume he was?

He was picked at number 27. He was the spurs top target but they were 2 slots off at 29. Lakers made a deal with the Nets to acquire their 27th pick which was part of the Russel for Lopez trade. The Lakers also had the 28 the pick and drafted Tony Bradley who was the Spurs second target and traded him to the Jazz. Bradley is a 7ft center out of UNC. I had watched Bradley play at UNC and thought he would have be en a solid prospect for the Spurs to work with. It sucks the Lakers were able to over the spurs twice in the draft. Spurs were just very unlucky in the draft but the FO did try to address the bigman problem.

[SAGirl]

This warriors team is so y is disgusting. Durant fouled LeBron on a drive but there’s no call for LeBron. Cavs have made a ton of mistakes specially rebounds though.

[daslicer]

This warriors team is so y is disgusting. Durant fouled LeBron on a drive but there’s no call for LeBron. Cavs have made a ton of mistakes specially rebounds though.

They are getting early '00s Lakers like treatment with the refs. A team that is already stacked with talent still needs more blatant favoritism.

[Emperor]

Let's just hope OKC can do the Spurs a solid and beat the Rockets later.

[spurs10]

They are getting early '00s Lakers like treatment with the refs. A team that is already stacked with talent still needs more blatant favoritism.

Yeah it's pretty damn transparent. Both of those calls were fouls by anyone's measure. As I said earlier, at least the announcers were calling them out for those bull 'no-calls.'

[spursistan]

If Lebron of all people can't get these calls, let everybody pack it in....The NBA has decided to ride them to a dynasty no matter what..

[timtonymanu]

I hope Adam Silver gets AIDS tbh. Bahumbug.

[sasaint]

If Lebron of all people can't get these calls, let everybody pack it in....The NBA has decided to ride them to a dynasty no matter what..

Certainly Kawhi would never get them.

[daslicer]

I hope Adam Silver gets AIDS tbh. Bahumbug.

He would just get replaced with another wannabe Stern Jew Bot.

[spursistan]

Rockets have lost 3 in a row and will have next a B2B on the road vs Boston and Washington without CP3..

Unless Kawhi is never recovering from this injury this year, the top 2 seeding race hasn't yet been lost for the Spurs by any mean..

[Robz4000]

Rockets have lost 3 in a row and will have next a B2B on the road vs Boston and Washington without CP3..

Unless Kawhi is never recovering from this injury this year, the top 2 seeding race hasn't yet been lost for the Spurs by any mean..

Eh, they're still 4 games back in the loss column with a couple really tough ones coming up. At this point I want them to avoid falling to 6/7 and getting a 2015-type scenario.

[boutons_deux]

Eh, they're still 4 games back in the loss column with a couple really tough ones coming up. At this point I want them to avoid falling to 6/7 and getting a 2015-type scenario.

the losing road record is the truest indication of Spurs' weakness. Look at RRs of GSW and HOU, and the RRs of Spurs in championship years.

[Ice009]

the losing road record is the truest indication of Spurs' weakness. Look at RRs of GSW and HOU, and the RRs of Spurs in championship years.

Very true man. That's usually the sign of a pretender. If you've got a very bad road record, that usually indicates that you're not likely to do well in the playoffs, especially if you don't have home court.

The glimmer of hope that the Spurs have is that if they can get Kawhi healthy for the rest of the season, and also if all the other key players stay healthy, then they might be able to turn that road record around. However, as it stands, if this team were to enter the playoffs right now even though they're currently the 3rd seed, the abysmal road record is a likely indicator that they wouldn't go very far.

[daslicer]

Very true man. That's usually the sign of a pretender. If you've got a very bad road record, that usually indicates that you're not likely to do well in the playoffs, especially if you don't have home court.

The glimmer of hope that the Spurs have is that if they can get Kawhi healthy for the rest of the season, and also if all the other key players stay healthy, then they might be able to turn that road record around. However, as it stands, if this team were to enter the playoffs right now even though they're currently the 3rd seed, the abysmal road record is a likely indicator that they wouldn't go very far.

It has nothing to do with the road record and has everything to do with the Spurs not having a healthy Kawhi. Obviously the spurs are not going beyond the second round without Kawhi playing at a high level.

[Ice009]

It has nothing to do with the road record and has everything to do with the Spurs not having a healthy Kawhi. Obviously the spurs are not going beyond the second round without Kawhi playing at a high level.

Isn't that what I just said in the second paragraph. I said if Kawhi gets back healthy and stays healthy, the road record should improve, but that's also if the other key players are healthy too.

I was also saying that if the playoffs started today with the current roster as is, the Spurs would be going in as one of the pretenders as they can't seem to win many games on the road.

Pretenders get the majority of their wins at home and also against the weaker teams in the league. This is what the Spurs are currently, but this can all change if all the key players on the team get fully healthy and stay healthy.

Contenders win at home, on the road, and also have a decent record against the other top teams (although I have seen teams not have a great regular season record against some of the contenders and still do well in the playoffs - the Spurs being one of those teams).

[YGWHI]

LBJ on if Durant poses the greatest challenge:

"He's right up there, if not the best. Kawhi Leonard is up there. Russell Westbrook, it's a pretty long list. We do a great job of going at it."

[YGWHI]

2015 was an unfortunate season

[diego]

2015 had an insane December schedule (something like 19 games in 31 days), half the team got injured that month

[cd021]

2015 had an insane December schedule (something like 19 games in 31 days), half the team got injured that month

We lost back to back home 3OT games during that month, IIRC

[Ice009]

LBJ on if Durant poses the greatest challenge:

"He's right up there, if not the best. Kawhi Leonard is up there. Russell Westbrook, it's a pretty long list. We do a great job of going at it."

Interesting that he mentioned Kawhi in such high regard (even though he hasn't played much this season, Lebron still has him on his mind). Come on down to San Antonio next off-season. Team up.

2015 was an unfortunate season

I know Kawhi hasn't played and that record would be better if he did, but as it is, it's the second worst record in that span. I hope we don't have a season similar to that 2014-2015 one.

[TheCultOfPersonality]

@ Tyson Chandler dunking on that fragile scrub Brandon Wright for the game winner.

[Seventyniner]

Isn't that what I just said in the second paragraph. I said if Kawhi gets back healthy and stays healthy, the road record should improve, but that's also if the other key players are healthy too.

I was also saying that if the playoffs started today with the current roster as is, the Spurs would be going in as one of the pretenders as they can't seem to win many games on the road.

Pretenders get the majority of their wins at home and also against the weaker teams in the league. This is what the Spurs are currently, but this can all change if all the key players on the team get fully healthy and stay healthy.

Contenders win at home, on the road, and also have a decent record against the other top teams (although I have seen teams not have a great regular season record against some of the contenders and still do well in the playoffs - the Spurs being one of those teams).

The point is that you can't use the Spurs' non-Kawhi road record to gauge whether or not they are contenders. We don't have enough information about the team with Kawhi to see how good they are, last year's results notwithstanding.