The 2013/2014 NBA Thread (LBJ is a Cav)

CaseyRyback said:
Bennett has had a lot of bad luck going into the season too. No Summer League and health issues set him back big time.
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Perhaps, but everyone knew coming out of college that he was too small to play in the paint in the NBA level, and that he was too slow and unskilled to play the perimeter. Add to that his conditioning issues and lack of elite athleticism, and there's no way he should have even been a lottery pick, let alone first overall.

 
Feeding the Abscess said:
Tristan Thompson's DRtg is worse than the Cavs' as a whole. As a frontcourt player, that's inexcusable. He's averaging 0.4 blocks a game in 33 minutes. He's not offsetting that with steals, either, only getting 0.4 a game on that front. He's shooting 45.8% from the field. You can get away with being deficient in one of those areas as a frontcourt player, but you can't be bad in all of them and still be effective.

He's improved in exactly one area in his career: free throw shooting. Everything else has either stayed static or regressed. In both PER and WS/48, he's been slightly below average in his career. There's no shame in that - being a slightly below average big in the NBA should translate into a fairly long career. However, as the 4th pick in a draft, and part of a pattern of similar misses by the team, that's a terrible outcome.
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Okay. I'm going off of actually watching him play for most of the season. Tristan's still working on his shot after the shooting hand switch, which takes some time to really nail it.

As for stats, playing alongside Andrew Bynum was sort of a black hole of stats, as this article about Andy and Tristan's improvement after his suspension shows:

Tristan Thompson appears to have benefited from Bynum's departure as well. At the time of Bynum's suspension, Thompson was averaging 12 points and 9.7 rebounds a game. Opponents were scoring 7.5 points per 100 possessions more than the Cavaliers with him on the floor. In the 13 games without Bynum, though, the Cavaliers are actually .3 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents with Thompson on the floor. In other words, the difference between being awful and average.

Thompson's true shooting percentage of 54.3% in the 13 games is a full four points higher than his career percentage, and despite sharing the court more with Varejao, his rebounding totals have remained stable. With a slight bump in minutes, he is up to 13 points and 10.2 rebounds since Bynum's suspension.

Next to Varejao, Thompson's uptick in efficiency and production feels a little more understated. Thompson remains maddeningly inconsistent. For the year, his blocks, rebounding, assists and field goal percentage are down from last season. And yet, he remains capable of stringing together impressive stretches of play. Where the 22 year old's career is going, I don't know. If he can sustain the uptick in true shooting and field goal percentage while continuing to improve his range, his value to the Cavs will increase.
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Gotta suck to be a Pistons fan. All Dumars had to do was tank 1 more season and hope to get Parker, Wiggins, Exum, Embiid, or Smart but he went out and got two of the most inefficient chuckers in the NBA for a shot at the 8th seed. 

 
Lionel Hollins should be expecting a phone call, no? I remember he was fired after a great season...I'd be thrilled to gain him if I were that Pistons front office.

 
kdiddy1989 said:
Lionel Hollins should be expecting a phone call, no? I remember he was fired after a great season...I'd be thrilled to gain him if I were that Pistons front office.
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Pistons said one of the assistant coaches will be interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

 
renique46 said:
Wolves lose again, Klove is as good as gone and I don't blame him.
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It's really depressing that we're likely going to lose him. I would rather just trade him for a package similar to the one the Nuggets received for Carmelo, a few picks and some prospects. We also need to hire a new coach, Adelman is killing our young players by benching them, and Rubio's confidence is at an all time low playing for him. So long as we can keep Rubio, and Pek I think we still have a very solid foundation to build a playoff team on. God, after this recent string of stinkers, I sincerely hope we tank the rest of the year so we have a chance at one of the blue chip prospects. I would be drooling if Wiggins falls to us or if we can move up enough in the lottery to pick him.

 
Going into the All-Star break, the Cavs have really made a big improvement with a four-game winning streak and Anthony Bennett's big game against Sacramento. The Detroit win especially was nice to see since they were down the whole night and rose up in the fourth to overcome a ten point deficit, which has not been a thing they've been able to do most of this season. This looks like a team that has had a weight taken off of their shoulders, though now they've got to keep it up after the break and not let this be a fluke.

As an interesting stat, this is their first four-game winning streak since March 2010.

 
My god James Harden. And Trevor Ariza, you go 10/14 from the 3-point line, and then you cost your team the game. Thanks!

The Beard in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH84M05LPyY

 
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lol @ the free throw stat line for Harden.

Curry on fire again.

EDIT: And stupid shit like that is exactly why the Warriors won't ever get over the hump.

 
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At least try to send the double team and let someone else beat you. If they drain it then so be it congratulate them and move on, not let lebron jr smith you with a chuck.

 
Any of you guys watching the All Star events? I thought the dunk contest was garbage...and then John Wall happened. The other highlight would be Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dion Waiters going at each other on Friday.

 
It would have been nice to have more than one individual dunk from each player.  I did like the 90 second freestyle session but most of the dunks didn't have too high of a degree of difficulty.  It seemed Wall and McLemore were the only guys with any lift in their legs.

 
That Wall dunk wasn't all that great, but people get hyped over anything these days. I mean Ross literally won by garbage rapper assist.

Still lolworthy seeing Joe Johnson, Wade, derozan in the all star game but yet Affalo and Stephenson get the shaft.

 
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The sleeves kind of ruin the game for me. It looks more like a lackadaisical practice than a game, though it being an All Star Game probably doesn't help it either.

 
renique46 said:
That Wall dunk wasn't all that great, but people get hyped over anything these days.
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It was easily one of the best dunks of the last 5+ years. He jumped completely over the mascot, pumps it between his legs, and then dunks it in reverse. It shits all over that dunk Blake Griffin did over the Kia hood a couple years ago that people went crazy for.

The new format of the dunk contest however, was confusing and pretty pointless IMO.

 
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PimpLimp said:
Any of you guys watching the All Star events? I thought the dunk contest was garbage...and then John Wall happened. The other highlight would be Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dion Waiters going at each other on Friday.
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Good lord, that dunk contest was hard to watch. I haven't enjoyed a dunk contest since middle school. Ever since I realized guys I knew in the area could do some of the same dunks, the dunk contest lost it's luster. It also doesn't help that I used to watch Team Flight Brothers, and Hoop Mixtape a lot, so I think I've been overexposed to dunks :p

 
Rumor is that Sacramento and Brooklyn are very close to making a trade where the Nets get Marcus Thornton and the Kings get Jason Terry and Reggie Evans.

There's also another rumor floating around that the Clippers and Knicks are discussing a swap between Darren Collison and Iman Shumpert.

We'll see what happens. The trade deadline is tomorrow.

 
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Also Lolknicks

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I'm enjoying watching Dwight feed off all this hate. I expected him to have a big game with Gasol being out, but it's halftime and he already has a double double and three blocks.

 
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Once again, one would hope anyone would have a big game against this team that even though they wont admit it, half the players aren't even trying. Kaman not giving no fucks was so funny that even Van Gundy started getting pissed. Don't even know why this prime time slot on espn was even wasted on this game and not just air the Portland Spurs game instead

 
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renique46 said:
Once again, one would hope anyone would have a big game against this team that even though they wont admit it, half the players aren't even trying. Kaman not giving no fucks was so funny that even Van Gundy started getting pissed. Don't even know why this prime time slot on espn was even wasted on this game and not just air the Portland Spurs game instead
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Haha yeah Kaman was pretty terrible tonight. And I actually agree with you. The Portland/Spurs game was way more competitive, but you and I both know it's based on how many viewers they can get. It was Dwight's first game back in LA, and both LA and Houston are two of the biggest cities in the country.

 
Houston better figure out what the hell they wanna do with Asik, got less than 24 hours. They better not even entertain that Rondo deal.

 
renique46 said:
Houston better figure out what the hell they wanna do with Asik, got less than 24 hours. They better not even entertain that Rondo deal.
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Morey has already told season ticket holders that he plans to keep Asik through to rest of his contract. And the rumor is that the Celtics would want Parsons in return for Rondo, which just isn't going to happen.

I honestly don't want Rondo. Harden is already a ball dominant guard and I don't think they'd work that well together.

Asik just needs to get in shape and bite his lip. He had his best game tonight since his injuries. He needs to realize how valuable he'll be come playoff time.

 
pitfallharry219 said:
Wow. Pacers dealt Granger to the Sixers for Evan Turner.
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Not sure what to make of that, everyone knew Granger was going to walk at the end of the season but he was expected to be on the roster for the playoff run. Granger has struggled off the bench and had become a black hole on offense.

Speaking of which, maybe Turner can kick start the offense on second unit. The only guy on the team that can push the tempo and create his own shot is Stephenson. This may also be an insurance policy in case Stephenson walks in free agency since Turner will not command anywhere near as much.

The Pacers have reverted back to their style of play from last year; too many isolations, dribbling, and absolutely no offensive movement. The past three weeks have been difficult to watch. On top of that their defense is slipping, it's as if the effort has dropped down a few notches.

 
Invicta 61 said:
Not sure what to make of that, everyone knew Granger was going to walk at the end of the season but he was expected to be on the roster for the playoff run. Granger has struggled off the bench and had become a black hole on offense.

Speaking of which, maybe Turner can kick start the offense on second unit. The only guy on the team that can push the tempo and create his own shot is Stephenson. This may also be an insurance policy in case Stephenson walks in free agency since Turner will not command anywhere near as much.

The Pacers have reverted back to their style of play from last year; too many isolations, dribbling, and absolutely no offensive movement. The past three weeks have been difficult to watch. On top of that their defense is slipping, it's as if the effort has dropped down a few notches.
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Turner's a lesser version of Stephenson, and he makes everything you mentioned in your last paragraph worse.

 
Gotta feel bad for Granger, injuries messed up his career and he tried so hard to adapt to a new role and got dumped in the end. 

Gotta wait and see how Turner fits with the Pacers, this could really go either way.

 
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renique46 said:
Once again, one would hope anyone would have a big game against this team that even though they wont admit it, half the players aren't even trying. Kaman not giving no fucks was so funny that even Van Gundy started getting pissed. Don't even know why this prime time slot on espn was even wasted on this game and not just air the Portland Spurs game instead
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They pick the games before the season and I don't think there is anyway to flex out of bad games. Marc Cuban was talking about this on Colin Cowherd the other day when Colin brought up the decline in league interest.

As far as the Granger swap, I don't know how much better it makes either team. Granger has a shot to reestablish a market for himself, and it does give Indiana another guy who can help out. I don't know how well he will mesh with the second unit though since Lance loves having the ability to run that unit.

Turner and Stephenson are both going to be restricted FA and both are getting paid. Bill Simmons said that some dumb team is going to give Turned 4/40 and I don't think he is wrong.

 
Isn't Turner having his best season?

Spoelstra with his terrible rotations again.

 
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Turner was benefiting from playing on a bad team. He has his moments, but from what I've seen he's extremely streaky, doesn't really shoot that well, and meh defense. He might benefit being a 6th man on a contending team, so its probably best to wait and see.

Hawes is alright. He can stretch the floor pretty well and he's a decent rebounder. But defensively, besides being a decent shot blocker, Cavs won't get much from him.

 
wwe101 said:
How is Hawes? not a big fan of the trade for the Cavs...
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Hawes is an underrated center. You'll learn to like him. He's got a very nice offensive game. Defensively he's nothing special but can rebound with the best of them. He's also in the middle of his best season so not a bad time to grab him.

In other big man news...Big Baby and Orlando agreed on a buyout.

 
Vinyl said:
Turner was benefiting from playing on a bad team. He has his moments, but from what I've seen he's extremely streaky, doesn't really shoot that well, and meh defense. He might benefit being a 6th man on a contending team, so its probably best to wait and see.

Hawes is alright. He can stretch the floor pretty well and he's a decent rebounder. But defensively, besides being a decent shot blocker, Cavs won't get much from him.
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Love how we responded basically same time with same things to say on Hawes. High five? :speaktothehand:

 
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