2015 NBA 'OFFS

are the nets really going to look put the hawks down like how is that possible

can u imagine another series having to watch brooklyn play basketball it would be awful

Bucks/nets ECF

if aldridge leaves that afflalo trade is going to be catastrophic in retrospect

2015-16 is the year of meyers leonard btw

if aldridge leaves...

...it will mean he decided he wasn't appreciated enough by the organization, that they promoted lillard too much when he obviously is the pillar who holds that team up. if he does decide that, he'd have an honest case. Aldridge is THE MAN on these blazers and anyone who misses that stark fact is just blind or kidding himself. take him away and the team falls by 10 wins and lands squarely into irrelevance in one swoop.

MEYERS

if aldridge leaves...

...it will mean he decided he wasn't appreciated enough by the organization

or bc he wants to win and doesn't see portland trending up, or he's homesick and wants to go back to texas, or

tony allen is ingenious sometimes https://twitter.com/bballbreakdown/status/592892080323694592

ya that was cray

go blaze!

meyers leonard >>>>>> michael jordan

WOW that lillard 2 for 1

dame u guys

I support all underdogs now except for the nets man it's gonna be a long night

prime dame https://twitter.com/bballbreakdown/status/592897661965053952

shaq has thoroughly redeemed himself by praising the god meyers leonard

j/k i will still murder shaq

haha TA with the first emphatic possession arrow of the night

dame defense vines are the new harden defense youtubes https://vine.co/v/eWxQO5HmU6P

he's so bad at that shit

o damn getting close up in here

I honestly don't think LMA leaves regardless of what happens but I guess I could be wrong

WOW

cj is such a chucker but i guess sometimes it goes in

damian is defending p&rs competetently what in the world

really feels like this is LA's last game in rip city. he's been giving basically the most alarming quotes possible.

you cannot hack a gasol tho what the heck

wow how does TA go under that screen

jesus damian

xps I've heard some of them and I sorta understand the argument but idk where he goes & thinks he's more likely to stay v competitive?

daaaaaame

spurs courting him as the duncan replacement is intriguing even tho he'd basically have to completely alter his game

also houston maybe

that's a goaltend

really feels like this is LA's last game in rip city. he's been giving basically the most alarming quotes possible.

― J0rdan S., Monday, April 27, 2015 9:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i agree. tho in fairness he's never been a good talker and speaks ambivalently about everything

ah the quenching pride of not getting swept

spurs is certainly plausible although I don't think duncan is retiring just yet (he's playing better than most ppl 12 years younger why not give it one last go)

don't know why j0rdan thinks lamarcus won't be playing in game 6 tho

mavs would also be in play I imagine if they lose some cap space (which they prob will)

wow didn't realize dallas had 44m coming off the books this summer, but they'll have to resign chandler and idk how you play dirk and lamarcus together for 3 years

tru it would be a #toomanybigs sitch

dirk and lamarcus would set an unbreakable record for long 2's attempted in a season

I mean I'd be borderline shocked if he went to one of The Status Quo Big Destinations because ok let's say he wants a 5 year max...is LA gonna get a title by then? is NY? is miami? uhhh, lol. no.

ok actually I can't write off LA much as I want to, not in any full stop way, but the other two...yea sure. I would aggressively court if I'm any western contender with cap space tho.

well damnit now that the blazers won i am slightly emotionally invested in this series that they are def gonna win historically

i'm pretty sure that lamarcus wouldn't break portland's heart by leaving *and* going to the lakers, like that would be The Decision x 100, he would be the greatest villain in blazers history.

he's not gonna go to the lakers

he's from texas, the spurs need to set the franchise for the future, the rockets went all in for bosh last year, feel like the dots on this one are pretty easy to connect (if he leaves)

he seems like a perfect fit disposition wise for the spurs, wld be very interesting if a premiere free agent finally picked them right at their moment of need, dont think anyone wld have any doubt that they cld figure out how to fill out the roster around a aldridge/kawhi core

feel like this lowe fragment is relevant and basically otm to our ongoing discussion re green kawhi max contracts and so forth

WINNER: The Situational Superstar

We have one conception of a superstar max player — the guy who gets the ball, stops the offense, and gets you buckets. Michael Jordan, basically. Draymond Green is not that sort of player, and an astonishing number of fans seem to find him laughably unworthy of a max-level deal as a free agent this summer.

In the new NBA — the NBA of motion offenses and speeding defenses — Green is a max guy. There are still players who can produce baskets from nothing, and they are massively valuable. But rule changes have made one-on-one creation harder than it used to be, from the post and the perimeter.

Good offenses move the ball continuously, and to do that, you need as many players as possible who can shoot, dribble, and pass. Find one at the power forward spot, and you’ve really got something — a guy who can stretch the defense, suck one big-man defender away from the rim, and plug holes all over the court on defense. A guy who does everything at a B-plus level is relatively more valuable today, because the game requires everyone to do everything.

Paying anyone the max carries an opportunity cost; it might limit Golden State’s ability to snag another free agent down the road. You can scan the league and find guys who can replicate Green’s skill set at a fraction of the max salary: Patrick Patterson, Boris Diaw, Josh McRoberts, Markieff Morris, and others.

But they all lack something. None are near Green’s level as defenders or on the glass. Patterson is a better long-range shooter, but he can’t sniff Green’s passing, dribbling, or ability to push off a defensive rebound.

Green’s only major negative is an inability to hit contested jumpers, but that’s not a huge deal as long as he can hit open triples. Teams in the hothouse of the playoffs exploit every liability that goes unnoticed during the regular-season slog. If you can’t guard the post, teams will bully you. If you can’t hit open 3s, they’ll ignore you. If you can’t dribble or pass, they’ll run you off the arc, force you into the lane, and take the ball from you. Players without holes in their games become even more valuable in that environment.

You can’t run an offense through Draymond Green, but you also can’t exploit him in any way. He can keep the machine moving on offense, and he’s one of the half-dozen best defenders in the league. He’s a max player this summer, especially since any long-term max contract signed in July will only take up something like 15 percent of the cap once it leaps into the $100 million range in two years.

One thing Green can’t do: play center. The Warriors will always need a bigger guy next to him, and they’ll eventually have to pay Andrew Bogut’s successor. But their cap sheet is structured so that every time someone is due a raise, another big deal comes off the books. The Dubs can max out Green this summer, re-sign Stephen Curry to a $30 million mega-max deal in two years, and — if they play their cards right — still have enough money to nab a big free agent at some point during that process. It may cost them Harrison Barnes, but that’s a trade-off the Warriors will make if they have to.

Green just finished putting up 16 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, and 2.5 steals per game against New Orleans, with all-world defense and acceptable long-range shooting from a big-man position — a position that defines the spacing of the floor. Where do I sign the paperwork?

All of this applies to Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard as well. As wing players, they fit the traditional image of a max-level star. They can take the ball and create their own shot. But that isn’t quite their bread-and-butter, and it doesn’t matter. Pay ’em.