Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:I'm out in Vegas and I made the mistake of betting against OKC twice. When they're on, they're on. I do NOT wanna play them in the playoffs.

We've handled them multiple times this season. I fear a team that can get hot shooting like Portland or a healthy Denver team much more than I do the Thunder.

To be fair, two of the wins were in October.
One of the hottest teams in basketball right now.

They're legit.

The Thunder's wins lately have been against not very good teams or teams that aren't playing well. Yeah they are talented and we knew they likely eventually would figure it out enough to be pretty good but I'm not sure about them being "legit" just yet especially losing a key starter in Roberson for the season.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Camden wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:I'm out in Vegas and I made the mistake of betting against OKC twice. When they're on, they're on. I do NOT wanna play them in the playoffs.

We've handled them multiple times this season. I fear a team that can get hot shooting like Portland or a healthy Denver team much more than I do the Thunder.

To be fair, two of the wins were in October.
One of the hottest teams in basketball right now.

They're legit.

The Thunder's wins lately have been against not very good teams or teams that aren't playing well. Yeah they are talented and we knew they likely eventually would figure it out enough to be pretty good but I'm not sure about them being "legit" just yet especially losing a key starter in Roberson for the season.

There's a rule of thumb in the NBA that you're legit if you have a top 10 offense and defensive rating.

OKC is borderline Top 5 in both. 6th Offensively... 4th Defensively.

Now 8 wins in a row... and 17 out of 23. Just like the Wolves and others... good teams beat teams they're supposed to beat. I feel like there's still a narrative around the Thunder from the slow start... but it's just not accurate anymore.

Westbrook is a big reason for that. He shot only 38% in November. He's back to his 28/10/10 stat lines for the past two months.



[Note: Roberson's injury really could affect a thin team. We don't know. And we don't know why OKC will find off the veteran buyout heap. But right now... that's a legit team and one that shouldn't be taken lightly.]

I rarely post, but figured it was only appropriate: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22268438/cleveland-cavaliers-kevin-love-leaves-game-vs-detroit-pistons-injured-hand

Apparently, the Pelicans' deal to acquire Mirotic from the Bulls fell through when the Pelicans refused to agree to pick up his option. That's good news for the Wolves because he would have helped the Pelicans and put them back in contention to challenge the Wolves for playoff position.

lipoli390 wrote:Apparently, the Pelicans' deal to acquire Mirotic from the Bulls fell through when the Pelicans refused to agree to pick up his option. That's good news for the Wolves because he would have helped the Pelicans and put them back in contention to challenge the Wolves for playoff position.

I want that trade to go through not just for this year but I don't want them to have the opportunity to add a wing in the draft. We don't want the pelicans to have the ability to build around cousins and Davis with young talent

More good news tonight to help take the sting away from our back-to-back losses at Atlanta and Toronto. The Thunder and Pelican both lost tonight. As a result, the Thunder remain just a half game behind us in the standings while the Pelicans remain 3 games back. Note that Portland is just 2.5 games back. We're in a position to challenge the Spurs for 3rd place in the West, but we're clearly vulnerable to falling back to 5th, 6th or even 7th.

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Apparently, the Pelicans' deal to acquire Mirotic from the Bulls fell through when the Pelicans refused to agree to pick up his option. That's good news for the Wolves because he would have helped the Pelicans and put them back in contention to challenge the Wolves for playoff position.

I want that trade to go through not just for this year but I don't want them to have the opportunity to add a wing in the draft. We don't want the pelicans to have the ability to build around cousins and Davis with young talent

I hadn't thought about it from that angle. What pick were the Pelicans going to give up and to what extent was it going to be protected?

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Apparently, the Pelicans' deal to acquire Mirotic from the Bulls fell through when the Pelicans refused to agree to pick up his option. That's good news for the Wolves because he would have helped the Pelicans and put them back in contention to challenge the Wolves for playoff position.

I want that trade to go through not just for this year but I don't want them to have the opportunity to add a wing in the draft. We don't want the pelicans to have the ability to build around cousins and Davis with young talent

I hadn't thought about it from that angle. What pick were the Pelicans going to give up and to what extent was it going to be protected?

There 1st and protections weren't named because it fell through

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Apparently, the Pelicans' deal to acquire Mirotic from the Bulls fell through when the Pelicans refused to agree to pick up his option. That's good news for the Wolves because he would have helped the Pelicans and put them back in contention to challenge the Wolves for playoff position.

I want that trade to go through not just for this year but I don't want them to have the opportunity to add a wing in the draft. We don't want the pelicans to have the ability to build around cousins and Davis with young talent

I hadn't thought about it from that angle. What pick were the Pelicans going to give up and to what extent was it going to be protected?

There 1st and protections weren't named because it fell through

Even if lottery protected, the Pelicans would probably lose the pick because I would think they'll end up with the 7th or 8th seed, especially after adding Mirotic. So your point still stands. I've been concerned about the Pelicans since the season started. But they're in some trouble now. Cousins will be out well into next season recovering from his torn Achilles. And Anthony Davis can't be counted on to stay healthy. Actually, Jrue Holiday has also had durability issues his entire career. If Davis stays healthy and Cousins comes back 100% then they could be a thorn on our side long term. But that team is hurting now.

Tonight, James Harden became the first player in NBA history to have a 60-point triple-double. He had 60 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds. Oh, and he also had 4 steals. That's a true MVP-level superstar. Almost every championship team in NBA history has had that caliber superstar on their roster. The Cavs had LeBron. The Warriors had Curry. The Heat had LeBron and before that they had both Shaq and Wade. The Lakers had Kobe and before than Magic Johnson. The Rockets had Hakeem. And of course the Bulls had MJ.

I love Jimmy Butler, but he's not at that level. I'm not sure I see KAT ever getting to that MVP level. I'm saying we can't become a championship contender with Jimmy, KAT and Wiggins as our core three. It's just an observation few teams win NBA championships without at least one MVP-caliber superstar. The few who do are generally very good top to bottom with a very good core three and an excellent head coach.