Around the league thread

[Lipoli390]

Where does a team like Miami go from here?

Great question. They have some good young players like Bam, Herro, Nunn amd Oladipo. But Herro and Nunn aren't superstars or even all-star level players. Oladipo is a great player, but there's reason to doubt whether he'll ever be healthy. Bam looked like a budding star last season, but he's take a step back this season, especially in the playoffs. Their best player by far, Butler, is 30 years old. So the Heat's future is unclear.

Nevertheless, Miami is a destination city and the Heat has become a destination franchise. Pat Riley is a really savvy head of basketball operation. Put all that together with the array of talent they have on their roster and I think they'll remain a contender. But I think Pat will make a pretty big roster move their offseason.

[Monster]

Where does a team like Miami go from here?

Great question. They have some good young players like Bam, Herro, Nunn amd Oladipo. But Herro and Nunn aren't superstars or even all-star level players. Oladipo is a great player, but there's reason to doubt whether he'll ever be healthy. Bam looked like a budding star last season, but he's take a step back this season, especially in the playoffs. Their best player by far, Butler, is 30 years old. So the Heat's future is unclear.

Nevertheless, Miami is a destination city and the Heat has become a destination franchise. Pat Riley is a really savvy head of basketball operation. Put all that together with the array of talent they have on their roster and I think they'll remain a contender. But I think Pat will make a pretty big roster move their offseason.

In what way did Bam take a step back this season? Other than a drop in rebounding it looks like to me it was the best year of his career statistically.

The playoff series numbers are underwhelming so I agree with you there.

What will Miami do this off-season? Well I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be paying Iggy and Dragic a combined 34 million. To actually get cap space they would have to renounce those 2 guys and Dipo so that's only going to happen of something pretty big comes along...if read there are some rumblings of Leonard to Miami. Regardless I think Miami is in a pretty decent spot with some young players and a path to rebuild in a couple years when Jimmy's contract ends. Right now they will just have Bam and some rookie contracts (cap holds) on the books so they may be able to land a bigtime player.

[Lipoli390]

Where does a team like Miami go from here?

Great question. They have some good young players like Bam, Herro, Nunn amd Oladipo. But Herro and Nunn aren't superstars or even all-star level players. Oladipo is a great player, but there's reason to doubt whether he'll ever be healthy. Bam looked like a budding star last season, but he's take a step back this season, especially in the playoffs. Their best player by far, Butler, is 30 years old. So the Heat's future is unclear.

Nevertheless, Miami is a destination city and the Heat has become a destination franchise. Pat Riley is a really savvy head of basketball operation. Put all that together with the array of talent they have on their roster and I think they'll remain a contender. But I think Pat will make a pretty big roster move their offseason.

In what way did Bam take a step back this season? Other than a drop in rebounding it looks like to me it was the best year of his career statistically.

The playoff series numbers are underwhelming so I agree with you there.

What will Miami do this off-season? Well I'm pretty sure they aren't going to be paying Iggy and Dragic a combined 34 million. To actually get cap space they would have to renounce those 2 guys and Dipo so that's only going to happen of something pretty big comes along...if read there are some rumblings of Leonard to Miami. Regardless I think Miami is in a pretty decent spot with some young players and a path to rebuild in a couple years when Jimmy's contract ends. Right now they will just have Bam and some rookie contracts (cap holds) on the books so they may be able to land a bigtime player.

I was thinking about Bam's regular season rebounding and shot-block stats. But you're right, Monster, it's mainly been a step back in the playoffs.

Like you, I have no doubt that Miami will bounce back and remain a team to be reckoned with in the East. Young talent + Miami + Pat Riley = Contender. I think Leonard to Miami is a distinct possibility, especially if the Clippers lose the Dallas series.

[thedoper]

Good Conley makes Utah really tough. His body must have been really messed last year.

[Lipoli390]

The importance of Embiid to the Sixers was readily apparent earlier today when he left with an apparent knee injury. The result was a Wizards win to stay alive in the series. I'm not a fan of Embiid's antics, but he's a superstar whose game I fully appreciate. He's going to have an MRI. I really hope he's OK and can get back at least after this series, which the Sixers will win even without Embiid. I hate to see any player get seriously injured and it's particularly unfortunate when he happens to a star in the playoffs.

The importance of Anthony Davis was apparent the other night when he left the game early with a groin injury, allowing the Suns to tie the series. Fortunately for the Lakers, AD's injury is apparently a groin strain. But it could keep him out for another game or two, which might be just enough to help the Suns win the series and advance to the second round.

Any player can get injured. But it's interesting that both Embiid and AD have had durability issues their entire respective careers to date. We sometimes undervalue durability when assessing player attributes. Stars whose teams won championships or at least made it to the NBA finals have largely been very durable. MJ, LeBron, Kobe, Tim Duncan, D Wade, Nowitski, KG, Magic Johnson, Kareem, Hakeem, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, John Stockton are some examples.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Yes, staying healthy is absolutely an important trait and critical to making a deep run. LeBron and Jordan aren't the two greatest ever without the durability and availability for all of those playoff games.

[Lipoli390]

The best players in the Portland-Denver series isn't Jokic; it's Lillard. That guy has such a great will to win. He's cut from the same competitive cloth as MJ, Kobe, Wade and LeBron. Denver looks like it will win tonight's fantastic OT game, but Lillard should get the game ball for nearly willing his team to victory.

[Monster]

The best players in the Portland-Denver series isn't Jokic; it's Lillard. That guy has such a great will to win. He's cut from the same competitive cloth as MJ, Kobe, Wade and LeBron. Denver looks like it will win tonight's fantastic OT game, but Lillard should get the game ball for nearly willing his team to victory.

Lilliard is a fun guy to watch and a guy I wish could at least reach a finals someday but it's going to be tough to see it happen unless the right things come together and Portland has done a nice job there.

I haven't been watching any of the playoffs till a few minutes of the Celtics Nets game this weekend Isn't Jokic averaging like 30ppg this series? His starting backcourt is bench guys. Is there a worse backcourt group in the playoffs than what Denver has out there? I mean I like their guys but not exactly high end dudes. So I see Jokic having to carry his team to a large extent. I'm not taking anything away fro Lilliard but just mentioning Jokic.

Also I know he has only played a few minutes but do you have any takeaways about RHJ. I read that he basically took Kanter's minutes at backup C because Jokic was killing Kanter even on the boards.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The best players in the Portland-Denver series isn't Jokic; it's Lillard. That guy has such a great will to win. He's cut from the same competitive cloth as MJ, Kobe, Wade and LeBron. Denver looks like it will win tonight's fantastic OT game, but Lillard should get the game ball for nearly willing his team to victory.

The craziest thing about that series is that Portland won by 20 with Lillard shooting 1 - 10 fg in the previous game. And then there's Austin Rivers. The guy was traded by the Knicks... cut by OKC. And then... had to take a 10-day contract with the Nuggets. He played 47 minutes last night.

For the series:

Lillard: 35.6 ppg / 4.4 reb / 9.6 ast / 47% fg / 48% 3fg
Jokic: 32.4 ppg / 11.0 reb / 4.2 ast / 52% fg / 42% 3fg

Two amazing talents... and unfortunately, millions weren't able to watch them last night. Obviously, the Lakers are getting the marquee tv game and Lillard and Jokic were pushed to NBATV.


[Note: Is there a guy in the league that you expect to make a big shot at the end of the game more than Lillard right now? The level of difficulty on those shots is off the charts, too.]

[BloopOracle]

I know it's been premature multiple times in the past, but LeBron is finally starting to look washed. It was also really pathetic watching him give up four on five breaks because he's pouting after a miss, as well as leaving with 6 minutes left in the game.