2014-2015 Random NBA Thread

• Laley23

  

  While most detest Blake Griffin, and I am one of them, I won't discount the player he has become.
  
  LBJ, Durant, Gasol and Curry are for sure top 4 for me. Anthony Davis is #5, but is hesitate with hit cause he still hasn't figured out winning in the nba.
  
  After that, and right in Davis' heels I'd have Griffin, John Wall and Noah for his versatility (but admit this is a very personal spot for him, numbers and metrics probably call me crazy lol).
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Kings owner is crazy. What is this, cousins 4/5th hc? Really want them to play 4 on 5 on defense though. Be great for teh lulz
• Commander of Awesome

  

  After 6 is tough for me. Griffin isn't even in consideration for top 10 though. He might not make top 5 big for me. Not a fan of his game at all and clippers won't win anything with him as their top 1/2 option.
• lhslep134

  

  Griffin has really become an all around force. But the spacing issues with him and DeAndre are why I have no idea what the Clippers are going to do this postseason. The whole West is just....wow. Laley, I'm really high on Noah too but I recognize it's an uncommon position.
  
  
  Good Zach Lowe article on the Western bloodbath http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-nbas-western-conference-power-rankings/.
• lhslep134

  

  I should clarify Griffin has become a force but he's still not near my top 10. Maybe around 14-15.
  
  That's also due to his inability to hit 3's/spread the D. If he could, it significantly changes his value IMO. Same reason I'm not a Rondo fan when it comes to comparing him to other PGs. I actually would love Rondo on a team like the Celtics with the 3 other scorers they had but Rondo's inability to shoot is too much of a dealbreaker.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Noah is def a great player. I'd have him much higher than griffin.
  
  Top bigs:
  Brow
  Cousins
  Gasol
  Noah
  Ibaka
  Duncan
  Bogut (when healthy)
  Love
• Commander of Awesome

  

  lhslep134;1689243 wrote:I should clarify Griffin has become a force but he's still not near my top 10. Maybe around 14-15.
  
  That's also due to his inability to hit 3's/spread the D. If he could, it significantly changes his value IMO

  You forgot whining about every call, not a lot of post moves, and an not elite rebounder. Hes a 4 that loves 12 footers. Without CP3 he'd be josh smith with more whining.
  
  (I'm aware I'm being skip Bayless here, but I'm not a griffin fan)
• Commander of Awesome

  

  I'm curious to see if rondo picks up his defense now that he's on a good team again. He still gambles on the passing lanes too much for my liking, but he used to be an elite pg defender. Haven't seen that from him past 2 seasons.
• lhslep134

  

  Commander of Awesome;1689247 wrote: not a lot of post moves

  IMO from watching this past year and a half it seems he's really upped his repertoire, he's got moves and counters to those moves now. He's no Professor Al, but he's improved.
• lhslep134

  

  Commander of Awesome;1689248 wrote:I'm curious to see if rondo picks up his defense now that he's on a good team again. He still gambles on the passing lanes too much for my liking, but he used to be an elite pg defender. Haven't seen that from him past 2 seasons.

  They need him to be: at some point they're going to have to go through Curry, Westbrook, Lillard, Conley, and/or CP3.
• gerb131

  

  Rondo is a triple double machine but he has slipped a bit since his acl.
  Rounding out my list would be dragic, wall, conley
• gerb131

  

  In the game right now
  lbj
  KD
  cp
  westbrook
  brow
  Timmy
  dwight howard
  curry
  aldridge
  melo
• Heretic

  

  gerb131;1689261 wrote:Rondo is a triple double machine but he has slipped a bit since his acl.
  Rounding out my list would be dragic, wall, conley

  The thing about Rondo to me is that he's just not efficient. He can fill up the stat sheet in a number of ways, but he only was a real offensive threat when he was surrounded by championship-tier talent. As Boston's stars fell off due to age, his shooting numbers plummeted. He's also poor at the line, which kind of sucks when you consider he's a point guard and, therefore, is supposed to be in possession of the ball a lot.
  
  To me, he's the BB equal of those football players who get the "athlete" title coming out of high school. Great basketball body, extremely athletic and has done a great job using those attributes to carve out a very nice career. But things like the ACL injury you mentioned has more of an effect on guys like him than a guard who would be less athletic but better at things like hitting long jump shots. On the other hand, going from a poor team like Boston is now to a Dallas team that is already pretty good, should help him a lot simply by putting him in a position where he can be more of a distributor and play to his strengths.
• Ironman92

  

  Commander of Awesome;1689222 wrote:Top 5.
  
  Lbj
  Durrant
  The Brow (though I think he needs to take games over more. Wish he had a better pg to give him the ball.)
  Curry

  So Curry behind CP and RW in PG but ahead of them overall....I agree but just wasn't sure where to rank Curry among PG
  
  I really like Conley's game
• lhslep134

  

  gerb131;1689264 wrote:In the game right now
  lbj
  KD
  cp
  westbrook
  brow
  Timmy
  dwight howard
  curry
  aldridge
  melo

  Apologize in advance for the douchiness of this post but if you have Melo over Marc Gasol you don't watch the NBA at all.
• lhslep134

  

  Ironman92;1689268 wrote:So Curry behind CP and RW in PG but ahead of them overall....I agree but just wasn't sure where to rank Curry among PG
  
  I really like Conley's game

  Yeah I think you have to separate the positional-relevant skills when ranking players across multiple positions so sometimes you have something kooky like this where Curry might be ahead of them as basketball players but I would rank the others ahead of him as point guards.
• Ironman92

  

  lhslep134;1689270 wrote:Apologize in advance for the douchiness of this post but if you have Melo over Marc Gasol you don't watch the NBA at all.

  I don't have any knowledge of who is where amongst metrics but understand the people that have Melo over Gasol. Everyone likes to cram points down your throat but little speak of FG%, assists, rb and defense. There's a reason Melo is always starting the ASG and people often forget about Gasol as Memphis is the epitome of the forgotten about team every year.
  
  I love watching Gasol and Conley.
  
  I would wager more than 1/2 of NBA fans wouldn't even have Marc as the best Gasol. I just don't think metrics have mainstreamed their way into the NBA's average fan like it has MLB.
• Commander of Awesome

  

  Ironman92;1689268 wrote:So Curry behind CP and RW in PG but ahead of them overall....I agree but just wasn't sure where to rank Curry among PG
  
  I really like Conley's game

  No. My top pg wasnt a rank in order.
• lhslep134

  

  Ironman92;1689273 wrote:
  I would wager more than 1/2 of NBA fans wouldn't even have Marc as the best Gasol.

  That means:
  
  1) Those people don't watch or pay attention to the NBA at all outside of nominal attention for their team which means IDGAF about their opinion; or
  2) Those people do watch the NBA and they're incredibly dumb.
  
  Look, it doesn't matter how MANY fans use metrics alongside the games, as long as people do. I don't particular care to have legitimate debate with an ignoramus.
  
  If you want to have a reasonable debate? Fine by me. But Pau over Marc is just unreasonable
• lhslep134

  

  I edited my post because I suppose Melo over Gasol isn't unreasonable but it shows complete ignorance to what's happened this season and since Gasol got back from him injury last year.
• Ironman92

  

  lhslep134;1689280 wrote:That means:
  
  1) Those people don't watch or pay attention to the NBA at all outside of nominal attention for their team which means IDGAF about their opinion; or
  2) Those people do watch the NBA and they're incredibly dumb.
  
  Look, it doesn't matter how MANY fans use metrics alongside the games, as long as people do. I don't particular care to have legitimate debate with an ignoramus.
  
  If you want to have a reasonable debate? Fine by me. But Melo over Gasol and Pau over Marc are just unreasonable

  You are clear that I am not one of those people...correct? I don't even think Melo can be a piece of a championship team as his need for ridiculous number of shots (many poor) and lazy defense.
• Ironman92

  

  lhslep134;1689284 wrote:I edited my post because I suppose Melo over Gasol isn't unreasonable but it shows complete ignorance to what's happened this season and since Gasol got back from him injury last year.

  Athletes dropping 20 lbs is becoming a bit popular.
  
  I'm interested in how LeBron does late in the season and playoffs.
• gerb131

  

  lhslep134;1689270 wrote:Apologize in advance for the douchiness of this post but if you have Melo over Marc Gasol you don't watch the NBA at all.

  No apologies. Maybe I should apologize to you?
  He doesn't make my list. Maybe top 25 but in term of importance to his team top 5.
• wildcats20

  

  Josh Smith to the Rockets
• Ironman92

  

  wildcats20;1689292 wrote:Josh Smith to the Rockets

  I still don't see that team getting it done in the postseason.