hello friends it's the 2018 NBA Playoffs, a place where dreams GO 2 DIE

i've started kind of aggressively rooting for the rockets

what is this feeling should i go to the doctor

everyone is doing it

another issue with attacking steph or looney on every posession is that it lets kd save all his energy for offense

Warriors-Rockets was TNT’s most-watched Western Conference finals opener ever with 8.8 million viewers and most-watched West Game 1 on any network since Lakers/Kings in 2002.

— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) May 15, 2018

i've enjoyed the d'antoni rockets greatly, but i don't think i ever /rooted/ for them until these playoffs due to like, psychic scars from their last dwight year, when they were one of the most excruciating-to-watch constantly televised teams ever (and thus inescapable if you lacked league pass & watched national games to get yr fix)

i was even rooting for them against the underdog wolves bc i thought we might see jimmy butler's spine shatter on live tv if thibs played him longer

last year's Rockets were the best watch in the league

infinite harden drive and kicks into 30ft 3s

i really don't understand the problem with the warriors

incredibly talented team who plays a very exciting style of basketball?

my problem with them is kd taking a big pay cut to play with them, it breaks the purpose of the salary cap from a viewer's perspective. the team was already talented and exciting 2 years ago, now it just feels like they've subverted the rules

it’s that they’re unbeatable

I mean I like watching them play a lot too but it sort of makes the playoffs pointless

the durant signing was pathetic. im rooting against the rockets tho because i dislike cp3 and harden even more.

the problem is with the salary cap and not w KD's salary

it was a perfect storm of the players rejecting cap smoothing, curry signed to an absurdly cheap contract and durant soft af

the problem is with the salary cap and not w KD's salary

― YouTube_-_funy_cats.flv (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, May 15, 2018 5:57 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I’ve seen people say things like this but idgi — explain?

the absence of an unbeatable dynasty is an anomaly in nba history & as far as those go the warriors are pretty tight

I’ve seen people say things like this but idgi — explain?

― k3vin k., Tuesday, May 15, 2018 6:00 PM (thirty-two seconds ago) Bookmark

that KD was only forced to take less to sign w/ golden state bcuz of the cap?

a major purpose of the cap is to prevent all the best players from getting sucked up into a couple superteams but it also means that if a team manages to do that anyway there's literally no way to beat them

kd going full mercenery and signing w/ a team that won 73 games was definitely the least cool thing

but conversely, if there's no cap, then the team that sucks up all the best players is... still unbeatable?

like if mike quit on the bulls in 91 and joined the isaiah / dumars / rodman pistons idk how kind we'd be to him

the celtics have maybe accumulated enough talent to do it? but they're paying their max contract to gordon hayward instead of steph curry so their ceiling still isn't as high

but conversely, if there's no cap, then the team that sucks up all the best players is... still unbeatable?

― A is for (Aimless), Tuesday, May 15, 2018 6:07 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah the argument falls apart pretty quickly

i think it's important to remember that durant didn't join an unbeatable team. he made the team unbeatable. you could just as easily celebrate that!

the reasons people stopped liking the warriors are pretty obvious tho:
1) their minor heel turn in the 2016 offs w/ dray's nut hunting, steph throwing his mouthguard at the refs etc
2) KD signing with an already championship level team
3) the circumstances of the kawhi injury last year

also the bay area billionaires at oracle

that was part of #1

and all the owners are mostly gross but lacob can be particularly hard to take

also part of #1, the 'light-years ahead' quote or whatever was the moment when their PR started to fall apart

maybe the warriors should make a commercial to air during the finals where they all apologize to us and tell us how they understand our concerns but they've changed and are turning it around

He took a little less to sign with the dubs and he re-upped for a little less again to free up space for iggy/liv signings. There saying this year he’ll be taking the max or close to it. Klay taking way less than market value is a bigger story imo.

Also if they didn’t sign kd they woulda had to give that money to h Barnes who more or less single Handedly lost the 2016 finals. Kd wasn’t a fan of playing w russ and for Donovan. Everyone involved made the right move. Having said that, if it wasn’t my team I’d be rolling my eyes at is as well.

They’re*

It’s not like kd took the vets minimum. They paid him slightly more than what they would’ve offered hb.

my other issue with the kd signing is it ensured that 2015-2016 steph wouldn't happen again

I like the Warriors a lot and love the idea of Supergroups in general. Because even in the NBA, most teams that are loaded with 2+ AllStars are still one injury away from not making it. If the Celtics weren't missing two key players right now, the Warriors would look a lot more beatable. It's actually kind of cool that someone making $50MM is willing to "take a salary cut" to go get rings.

It's actually kind of surprising that there aren't more Supergroups in the NBA with guys willing to take salary cuts in order to go get rings. See also, people ditching LeBron at the height of his game to go join the Celtics.

it would be better if the difference between the cut salary and the max went somewhere else besides the ownership

Totally agree. And fewer games so players had longer careers.

my other issue with the kd signing is it ensured that 2015-2016 steph wouldn't happen again

― ciderpress, Tuesday, May 15, 2018 6:37 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark

he kinda lost a step anyway no?

did wade/bosh take cuts or did kg/allen way back when? i can't remember

xp idk he's definitely not as good now but hard to tell if that was the injury in the offs that year or just aging

iirc wade bosh james all took a small pay cut and got paid equally

supermaxs didn't exist back then iirc tho so it'd be different now

fewer games so players had longer careers.

― Joe Gargan (dandydonweiner), Wednesday, 16 May 2018 8:42 AM (eleven minutes ago)

i do wonder if going forward we will see more aggresive minute restrictions. like should the warriors put a hard 30 minutes cap on the death lineup and settle for 50 wins?

they'll win more than 50 regardless of how they play it

if thats the case cut their minutes to 20. that would effectively halve the risk of a crucial injury in the regular season.

it’s that they’re unbeatable

― k3vin k., Tuesday, May 15, 2018 5:55 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean I like watching them play a lot too but it sort of makes the playoffs pointless

― k3vin k., Tuesday, May 15, 2018 5:56 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

samesies

the one saving grace is ppl thinking hes a lil hoe for joining the dubs is quite visibly driving kd insane

its pretty a beautiful self own, something out of a fable, things of that nature

lebron should go to the thunder just to see what it does to kd

media: lebron why are you going to the thunder
lebron: well i am curious about kevin durant's reaction online