Playoffs thread

[Monster]

Taking a step back.

114-75

The Spurs held the Rockets to 75 points without their best defender and best player. All things considered that has to be on of the biggest beat downs in sports history and on the road. Unbelievable.

Yeah, that was a dominating performance by a coach that totally "solved" the other team and executed its game plan to perfection.

Not to take away from the Spurs, but Harden and D'Antoni should be embarrassed. Zero adjustments from these guys. They made Pop's job just a little easier.

I agree they should be embarrassed. It felt like there was nothing. Like the guys said there was no fight. They never even went on a run. I don't even understand how that happened. L Williams was invisible. Eric Gordon did some stuff but wasn't a major factor for sure. The road/home splits for Ryan Anderson are super duper bizzare. It didn't even seem like Beverly was his usual pesky self but I am not gonna say he was dogging it or anything. They shouldn't have lost the previous game and then to come out and play like that at home in an elimination game to the Spurs playing without their best player? Yikes. And even without Nene (why didn't Houston play someone else other than Anderson when LA was crushing them idk) that's still a hell of a roster. Nene is their only significant FA. They can bring the whole team back and give it another go.

[Lipoli390]

Spurs are the best organization in the NBA and have the best head coach. No other team comes close, but here's my list of the four runners up to the Spurs organization as the best organizations in the NBA:

1. Golden State Warriors
2. Utah Jazz
3. OKC Thunder
4. Boston Celtics

These four organizations have distinguished themselves over a period of years with their selection of players via draft and free agency and head coaches.

I came close to including the Milwaukee Bucks organization as a 5th runner up, but they need to show a bit more over another year of two. The Trailblazer and Heat organizations have been pretty impressive over the years as well.

I'd rank the Nets, Knicks and Kings as the three worst organizations in the NBA.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Spurs are the best organization in the NBA and have the best head coach. No other team comes close, but here's my list of the four runners up to the Spurs organization as the best organizations in the NBA:

1. Golden State Warriors
2. Utah Jazz
3. OKC Thunder
4. Boston Celtics

These four organizations have distinguished themselves over a period of years with their selection of players via draft and free agency and head coaches.

I came close to including the Milwaukee Bucks organization as a 5th runner up, but they need to show a bit more over another year of two. The Trailblazer and Heat organizations have been pretty impressive over the years as well.

I'd rank the Nets, Knicks and Kings as the three worst organizations in the NBA.

Agree with most of those, and I'd put the Heat up there too. They sort of get forgotten because of the big three era, but Spo is a heck of a coach, and the front office has given him the patience to build a long term culture and respect. That team has a reputation among players for being very professional and demanding a lot from its players. When you have a good head coach, teams should resist the urge to fire a guy after one bad season. Just such a shame their fan base sucks so bad.

[Monster]

Spurs are the best organization in the NBA and have the best head coach. No other team comes close, but here's my list of the four runners up to the Spurs organization as the best organizations in the NBA:

1. Golden State Warriors
2. Utah Jazz
3. OKC Thunder
4. Boston Celtics

These four organizations have distinguished themselves over a period of years with their selection of players via draft and free agency and head coaches.

I came close to including the Milwaukee Bucks organization as a 5th runner up, but they need to show a bit more over another year of two. The Trailblazer and Heat organizations have been pretty impressive over the years as well.

I'd rank the Nets, Knicks and Kings as the three worst organizations in the NBA.

Agree with most of those, and I'd put the Heat up there too. They sort of get forgotten because of the big three era, but Spo is a heck of a coach, and the front office has given him the patience to build a long term culture and respect. That team has a reputation among players for being very professional and demanding a lot from its players. When you have a good head coach, teams should resist the urge to fire a guy after one bad season. Just such a shame their fan base sucks so bad.

Atlanta for years was terrible they never seemed to hit on draft picks and this last run they haven't really ever had a superstar but they have drafted a lot of pretty good players and added other good pieces. Memphis deserves love too.

I think the Nets might be on the rise (ok nowhere to go but up). Flip took over this franchise and took steps toward it not being one of the worst organizations. Hopefully we can move toward being in that upper third of the league at least.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Don't forget about Memphis, although their success is still based on the same core group of players.

To me, Miami, Portland, San Antonio, and Celtics are impressive because they have managed to cycle through a few different core sets of players and bounce back to find success again and again.

Frankly, Minnesota has to be at or near the bottom. I realize the current regime seems more promising but until they win some games it doesn't matter.

[Monster]

Houston has been a playoff team for years and a lot of that is due to them making various moves and finding not lottery pick talents. Dallas is a pretty good franchise also with one of the best coaches in the league in Carlisle it will be interesting to see if they can become relavent again post Dirk. Utah has been building up to what they are now for a while and they have had some bad luck along the way with injuries but that team has a nice roster of talent. oh and Toronto has done a nice job even if they may have topped out they built a pretty good team and made a lot of the right moves and seem to find a solid player every year that ends up being a bargain contract.

Jon K brought up recently that in this culture of Rings is what it's all about he hopes Grizzles fans appreciate the run that team is on. It sure would be nice to be one of these franchise that actually makes a lot of the right moves even if we don't ultimately end up as NBA champions. It's been so sad being one of the doormat franchises for so long.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Houston has been a playoff team for years and a lot of that is due to them making various moves and finding not lottery pick talents. Dallas is a pretty good franchise also with one of the best coaches in the league in Carlisle it will be interesting to see if they can become relavent again post Dirk. Utah has been building up to what they are now for a while and they have had some bad luck along the way with injuries but that team has a nice roster of talent. oh and Toronto has done a nice job even if they may have topped out they built a pretty good team and made a lot of the right moves and seem to find a solid player every year that ends up being a bargain contract.

Jon K brought up recently that in this culture of Rings is what it's all about he hopes Grizzles fans appreciate the run that team is on. It sure would be nice to be one of these franchise that actually makes a lot of the right moves even if we don't ultimately end up as NBA champions. It's been so sad being one of the doormat franchises for so long.

This is a subject that's been brewing in my head for awhile now. We're in an NBA world where the likes of the 76ers are heralded and perennial playoff teams like Toronto, Atlanta, Memphis and others are told to "blow it up" by talking heads, analysts and fans.

Time after time after time... we as fans cut off your own self interests. Maybe it's because I've been a Wolves fan since its inception, but dismissing a perennial playoff team as "irrelevant" or a "failure" in favor of the "promise of hope" is fucking stupid. Fans deserve franchises that try to win AND put out an entertaining product.

This came to a head this week on The Ringer's NBA podcast. The host, Chris Vernon... who's involved with the Memphis Grizzlies, told his guest, NBA writer Kevin O'Connor, that this NBA mentality of title or bust and anything less is a failure is "fucking stupid." He was so candid and confrontational with his regular guest... that I had to steal it. You could sense similar frustrations Vernon has with that mentality. Basically, O'Connor and his ilk are telling him that all those years of memories in Memphis are worse than what the Wolves and 76ers and Kings have been going through in recent years.

And yes... that's fucking stupid.

Nothing is a given in the NBA. Hoping and praying for the next big thing has a shelf life...

[Coolbreeze44]

It's not so much that you have to win a championship or bust. I can enjoy seasons where we don't win a title. But in my opinion your organization has to be focused on winning it all and your moves have to show that your building toward contender status. No one should be content with getting to Toronto's level and calling it a day well done. If you don't win it all one year, you should do whatever is possible to take the next step. As fans that's what we should expect.

[bleedspeed]

I will be happy getting back to playoffs.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I will be happy getting back to playoffs.

Heck, I'd be happy with a winning freakin' record, but yeah, the playoffs would be better. In fact, it's really hard to miss the playoffs as long as we have without actually purposely trying to be bad.....Just incredible ineptitude, starting with Taylor.