NBA 2017-2018 Regular Season

[The G Man]

Annual poll of GM's. It's not clear how many voted before the Melo to OKC trade.

http://www.nba.com/gmsurvey/2017#/

[Steve Minkin]

I'm so hungry to watch basketball I've watched most of both of Warriors' pre-season games. This last one started at 11:30pm, from China, perfect timing for me to actually watch a game live. The T-Wolves will make the playoffs, even in the west, even with a suspect bench. That's a solid starting five.

Dubs starters look jet-lagged in their first game, at home; looked like champs in the China game. Caspi will be more valuable to this team than Young, I think. Bell is very active and slightly out of control, a little like McGee, but is clearly already better than Looney.

[Steve Minkin]

CONNIE HAWKINS, R.I.P.

I saw him play in high school, Boys High came to Brooklyn Tech and beat us like a drum.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... 742687001/

[The G Man]

I have been enjoying (40% read so far)Betaball: How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History,

As Steve knows, they were a terrible franchise, maybe the worst except for the Clippers for a long time before the current regime took over.

When the Dubs drafted Klay, the other two players they were considering with the pick were Kawhi Leonard and Chris Singleton. Milwaukee picked Jimmer Fredette right in front of them.

The year they drafted Draymond at #35, they picked Ezeli at #30, who they deemed the greater need.

They almost traded the rights to Steph Curry to Phoenix (GM Steve Kerr) but pulled out at the last minute over concerns about Amar'e's knees.

igoudala came to GS to ask them to sign him as a FA, not the other way around. The Warriors preferred to sign Dwight Howard and were actually finalists along with the LAL and Houston but once Howard picked Houston, Bob Myers went to work to clear cap space so they could sign Iggy. Andre thought the Warriors were on the rise but also wanted to get involved in the Silicon Valley world.

Harrison Barnes was supposed to go to Cleveland at #4 but the Cavs surprised by taking Dion Waiters. The Warriors had to finish bottom seven or they would have lost the pick. They tanked the last month + of the season to finish with the seventh worst record and survived the ping pong balls to stay at #7.

[walto]

Amazing.

[Steve Minkin]

One can't forget the change from Jackson's one-on-one offense to the pass-happy schemes of Kerr.

>>Jackson's Warriors had won 51 games the season before but had averaged just 247 passes per game -- not merely the worst mark in the NBA that season but 15 fewer than the next-closest team . . . The Warriors today claim the three highest assist-per-game averages of the past two decades. And all have come in the past three years. "I can't sit here and say we knew this was going to happen," Fraser says, "but if I go back and read Steve's thesis on what he wished for, it's very close to what happened."

. . . Since the start of the 1995-96 season, nine of the 10 best teams in offensive efficiency were either the mid-'90s Bulls (where Kerr played), the Nash-led Suns (where Kerr managed) or Kerr's modern-day Warriors. Kerr's basketball journey weaved through offensive greatness, and then he built his own.<<

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/ ... erie-board

[The G Man]

RJ and Felder traded to Atlanta for righths to two Euro players. RJ will be cut and become a FA. Classy guy.

[Steve Minkin]

Final preseason game, Bell starting for a resting Draymond and looking ready to contribute now. The other youngster who really impressed tonight was John Stockton's son, David, coming off the bench for the Kings. He got little playing time last year, but was impressive tonight.

My daughter got comped two tickets for opening night at Oracle from the owner the winery she works for, appreciation for her help in working on fire relief.

[Harold Baines]

Bobby Portis broke Mirotic's face at practice. Guess it had been building for several years. Don't know if it was a cheap shot. Concussion and fractures requiring surgery. The NBA, it's FANNN-tastic.

[Harold Baines]

That Hayward injury was just brutal. Couldn't look twice.

[Captain Hate]

Bobby Portis broke Mirotic's face at practice. Guess it had been building for several years. Don't know if it was a cheap shot. Concussion and fractures requiring surgery. The NBA, it's FANNN-tastic.

It doesn't sound like a cheap shot because the reports I read said Mirotic got in his face twice before Portis swung at him with semi Kermit Washington results. Mirotic has always been a streaky talent who has the unusual ability to get everyone pissed off at him. He's never been consistent enough to be more than a pesky role player but he's not worthless either.

[Steve Minkin]

Klay Thompson look-alike, sitting behind the Warrior bench.

[The G Man]

Jeremy Lin suffered a non-contact ruptured patella in the 4th quarter against Indiana last night. Sad.

Mozgov played like a cmplete stiff, just worthless. D'Angelo Russell may average 25 ppg as a talented offensive player on a bad team.

[Steve Minkin]

Gordon Hayward likely out for the whole season!

Houston looked terrific in their opener. The Dubs were minus both Dray and Andre in crunch time, and lost by a fraction of a second. But Houston is solid, and clearly savored the win on the Warriors' ring night.

[The G Man]

Excerpted from a Jason Lloyd Cavs piece (gated) in The Athletic.

"The last time the Cavs lost to the Magic before Saturday, their starting lineup consisted of Jeremy Pargo, Dion Waiters, Alonzo Gee, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao. What a team that was."

"Wade’s arrival on this team negatively impacted five other players. J.R. Smith lost his starting job, Kevin Love was pushed to center, which cost Tristan Thompson his starting job, which pushed Channing Frye out of the rotation, which pushed Richard Jefferson off the team."

"1. The moment that perfectly captured Dwyane Wade’s difficult transition to Cleveland occurred in the third quarter when Kevin Love grabbed a defensive rebound and fired one of his trademark outlet passes the length of the floor.

2. Love was aiming for Wade, who had no idea the ball was in the air. Wade was jogging up the floor with his head turned the wrong way as the ball sailed in front of him and out of bounds. An incredulous Love turned and looked at LeBron James after the turnover.

3. “I didn’t know. I was getting to the corner,” Wade said. “I wasn’t looking behind me, just ahead trying to get spacing and then I just seen something go over my head.”"

[The G Man]

This was the start of another Jason Lloyd story.

"ne day during the three years LeBron James and Kyrie Irving spent as teammates, Drederick Irving was exiting the Cavs’ locker room when Randy Mims was entering. Mims, one of James’ lifelong friends and an official Cavs employee, reached out his hand to slap Drederick five. But Dred, Irving’s father, pulled his own arm back and refused the gesture.

When James later asked Irving about the incident and if there was something wrong, Irving said his father believed they shouldn’t be “fraternizing with the enemy.” Three sources with knowledge of the exchange independently confirmed it to The Athletic, revealing just a glimmer of light into a fractured relationship that both men hid well during their time together."

The Athletic covers team sports in eight US cities and seven Canadian ones. NY is not one of them. The Bay Area, Cleveland and Chicago are included.

[jon abbey]

Excerpted from a Jason Lloyd Cavs piece (gated) in The Athletic.

"The last time the Cavs lost to the Magic before Saturday, their starting lineup consisted of Jeremy Pargo, Dion Waiters, Alonzo Gee, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao. What a team that was."

"Wade’s arrival on this team negatively impacted five other players. J.R. Smith lost his starting job, Kevin Love was pushed to center, which cost Tristan Thompson his starting job, which pushed Channing Frye out of the rotation, which pushed Richard Jefferson off the team."

"1. The moment that perfectly captured Dwyane Wade’s difficult transition to Cleveland occurred in the third quarter when Kevin Love grabbed a defensive rebound and fired one of his trademark outlet passes the length of the floor.

2. Love was aiming for Wade, who had no idea the ball was in the air. Wade was jogging up the floor with his head turned the wrong way as the ball sailed in front of him and out of bounds. An incredulous Love turned and looked at LeBron James after the turnover.

3. “I didn’t know. I was getting to the corner,” Wade said. “I wasn’t looking behind me, just ahead trying to get spacing and then I just seen something go over my head.”"

all good reasons to not pay attention to what is still essentially the preseason.

[The G Man]

Jazz are underrated team. Very good coach and Rubio and Sefelosha improve the defense. If Teodosic plays well Clippers might also be good. Houston may be overrated. Paul is already hurt and Harden will be hurt by rules changes.

[jon abbey]

If Teodosic plays well Clippers might also be good.

Adrian Wojnarowski‏Verified account @wojespn 2h2 hours ago

Clippers guard Milos Teodosic suffered a plantar fascia injury in left foot and will be out indefinitely, league source tells ESPN.

[The G Man]

If Teodosic plays well Clippers might also be good.

Adrian Wojnarowski‏Verified account @wojespn 2h2 hours ago

Clippers guard Milos Teodosic suffered a plantar fascia injury in left foot and will be out indefinitely, league source tells ESPN.

Saw that, unfortunate.

Last year's regular season was better than the playoffs and the same will probably be true this year. Unless there are key injuries, it's hard to see a finals other than GS-Cle IV.

My early season League Pass teams are the Sixers, Nets, Warriors, Jazz, Lakers in no particular order. The Clippers were there until tonight. I wish Thibs had kept Rubio, was is a better player than Teague.