Minnesota Sports Forum

I figured we could have a thread at least to start the year for some of the interesting-ish stuff around the league.

Has anyone else been paying attention to what a currently healthy Embiid has been doing in preseason? I watched some highlights...looks pretty good. I'm skeptical about him staying healthy but if he does he could end up being very good.

Interesting deal the Bucks trading Michael Carter Williams for Tony Snell. Man MCW really went down fast. The Bucks needed another wing option and the Bulls...well MCW can't shoot but he is likely an upgrade behind Rondo at PG and clearly is the more talented player in the trade. Even though the deal hurts their 3 point shooting it seems like a no-brainer for them for Snell who it sounds like wasn't going to play much.

Ty Lawson missed a shoot around and a team flight and soon will be meeting with the Kings to explain. His vet min deal has zero guarantees. I was hoping he had turned things around but it doesn't look good right now.

Monster I'm hoping for a Ron Artest-esque incident from Boogie Cousins this year in Sactown where he attacks a Nets fan.

BizarroJerry wrote:Monster I'm hoping for a Ron Artest-esque incident from Boogie Cousins this year in Sactown where he attacks a Nets fan.

Haven't the Nets fans suffered enough already?

Philly is going to be a train wreck again. Embiid could eventually be a monster, but they are so unbalanced as a squad. Their five best talents play C and PF - Embiid, Okafor, Noel, Saric, and Simmons. Simmons of course is hurt now, so a ton of pressure has been put on Saric to make plays from the starting PF position (imagine Bjelly being our starting 4 last year). They need to do something to get some talent in the back court.

One thing I'm surprised no one has brought up is the Golden State Warriors. This is literally the greatest team on paper ever assembled - and it's not even close in my opinion. They basically took the greatest regular season team in history and added a top 5 player to it. It will take a dose of bad luck for these guys not to win multiple titles.

The only minor consolation is that Curry and Durant are about 4-7 years older than our core group of guys. Hopefully they will slow down by the time we are peaking.....

Q12543 wrote:Philly is going to be a train wreck again. Embiid could eventually be a monster, but they are so unbalanced as a squad. Their five best talents play C and PF - Embiid, Okafor, Noel, Saric, and Simmons. Simmons of course is hurt now, so a ton of pressure has been put on Saric to make plays from the starting PF position (imagine Bjelly being our starting 4 last year). They need to do something to get some talent in the back court.

Saric projects as a 3point shooter and they need shooting so there could be a benefit there he is sort of an X factor. Adding Gerald Henderson is sadly a pretty massive upgrade for them. Another X factor is what level of effectiveness Sergio can have as the starting PG. I'm certainly not suggesting the Sixers are gonna be good or even win say 30 games but they may actually look like a real NBA team more nights.

Q12543 wrote:One thing I'm surprised no one has brought up is the Golden State Warriors. This is literally the greatest team on paper ever assembled - and it's not even close in my opinion. They basically took the greatest regular season team in history and added a top 5 player to it. It will take a dose of bad luck for these guys not to win multiple titles.

The only minor consolation is that Curry and Durant are about 4-7 years older than our core group of guys. Hopefully they will slow down by the time we are peaking.....

At the start of most NBA seasons, you can count the number of teams capable of making the Finals on one hand. This season... you need only two fingers.

Golden State is loaded and barring key injury should cruise to the Finals. The thing is... I think Cleveland is even more destined to make the Finals in the East because there just aren't any teams ready to challenge them in the weaker East. In fact, all 29* GMs predict a Cle vs. GSW Finals. Again. Boston has a chance to push Cleveland for the #1 seed like Toronto did last year. But come playoff time... that's when Cleveland picks up the pace and you could see just how far ahead they were last season.

Boston needs one major trade to get close enough to make it competitive.


[Note: For the (xth) straight year, I'm thinking the Clippers have a fighting chance in the West.]

Prince still wants to play. My guess is at some point a playoff team will pick him up.

http://theundefeated.com/features/tayshaun-prince-is-not-ready-to-unlace-his-sneakers/

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Q12543 wrote:One thing I'm surprised no one has brought up is the Golden State Warriors. This is literally the greatest team on paper ever assembled - and it's not even close in my opinion. They basically took the greatest regular season team in history and added a top 5 player to it. It will take a dose of bad luck for these guys not to win multiple titles.

The only minor consolation is that Curry and Durant are about 4-7 years older than our core group of guys. Hopefully they will slow down by the time we are peaking.....

At the start of most NBA seasons, you can count the number of teams capable of making the Finals on one hand. This season... you need only two fingers.

Golden State is loaded and barring key injury should cruise to the Finals. The thing is... I think Cleveland is even more destined to make the Finals in the East because there just aren't any teams ready to challenge them in the weaker East. In fact, all 29* GMs predict a Cle vs. GSW Finals. Again. Boston has a chance to push Cleveland for the #1 seed like Toronto did last year. But come playoff time... that's when Cleveland picks up the pace and you could see just how far ahead they were last season.

Boston needs one major trade to get close enough to make it competitive.


[Note: For the (xth) straight year, I'm thinking the Clippers have a fighting chance in the West.]

Yes, I agree that Cleveland has a pretty clear path to the Finals, but their depth seems a bit shaky. They absolutely can't afford to lose LeBron or Irving.

However, even if totally healthy, I just can't see them taking a series against Golden State this time around. Last year they were able to wear Curry down, but now he has one of the greatest scorers in NBA history to take on a big part of the load in crunch time. I just have no clue how to defend these guys. Last year, the "switch everything" scheme worked pretty good, but now Durant presents a real problem as the screener because he'll end up with a little guy that he can very easily shoot over. Durant/Curry pick and rolls are going to be nightmares to defend.