NBA 2017-2018 Regular Season

[Steve Minkin]

Logging in from London, where tonight's game starts at 1:30 AM.

I can't seem to find the record for the most free throws without a miss at the beginning of a season, but Steph is 26-26 going into tonight's game, has to be a contender.

[The G Man]

Logging in from London, where tonight's game starts at 1:30 AM.

I can't seem to find the record for the most free throws without a miss at the beginning of a season, but Steph is 26-26 going into tonight's game, has to be a contender.

Allen Houston was 49-51, not quite perfect, at the beginning of 2002-3. The Knicks were 1-7 in those first eight games.

The Warriors are second to last in defensive efficiency after three games.

Cleveland and Milwaukee are probably both hot for Bledsoe right now. If the Cavs can get him without giving up Brooklyn's pick, it would be a coup.

[walto]

Saw half of Boston/NY today. The Knicks are pretty bad.

Also, Heinsohn hasn't fucking retired.

[The G Man]

I'm sure everybody remembers how impressed Steve was with Pat McCaw last year. Well, #38 pick Jordan Bell is already the first big off the bench and is playing like a raw Draymond. He is more athletic than Draymond and is a very good defender. He doesn't have a jump shot but is great around the rim.

Impressive Nets win over the Cavs last night. Sure, LeBron played PG with Rose hurt but the Nets PG was Spencer Dinwiddle! D'Angelo Russell was out with an injury.

The Harden rule is working! His FTA/100 is down from 14.3 to 7.9. Curry is getting to the line almost as much as Harden last year. I can't imagine that continuing but he's getting contact calls (both on his defenders and against him on defense).

[The G Man]

Giannis, on defense, got the loose ball at the top of the circle. How many dribbles did it take him to get to the rim on the opposite side?

Three!!!

[Steve Minkin]

Zaza wins the slowest fast break in NBA history:

[jon abbey]

normally nothing this early really matters, but Cleveland is a tire fire.

[The G Man]

Walto, I haven't been watching the Celtics at all. What are your observations?

In a redraft of 2015, KP would go #1, ahead of Towns. The latter is still very bad on d and Porzingis has taken the leap this year that Giannis took last year.

Jason Kidd is to Milwaukee what Mark Jackson is to GS. The owners should consider making a change after the season.

I love watching Embiid/Simmons more than any other duo in the league. Philly has a very bright future if those two stay healthy.

Sabonis may be the next most improved player in the league after KP. It has become apparent that he was misused by Donovan in OKC. His average shot was 12.7 ft from the basket last year, 6.8 ft this year. His PER has climbed from 6.9 to 21.1! The Pacers were right and everybody else was wrong when they traded PG for Sabonis and Oladipo. The latter is getting to the line for 8.4 ft/100 as opposed to 3.4 last year.

Lonzo Ball has been awful whereas Kuzma, the pick the Lakers got back in the Brooklyn trade, will probably make the all-rookie first team. He is starting now with Larry Nance Jr. injured.

In a re-draft, I think the Knicks would stay with Phil's decision and take Ntilikina over DSJ. Frank is already a very good defensive player and has potential on offense. DSJ got a lot of hype but he's struggling.

The Warriors are very dependent on Curry's health. They just aren't a good team when he's off the court. At a minimum, they should trade Looney for a backup PG.

Cleveland's three pg, including IT, are all worse defensively than Kyrie.

Teams I have been watching lately are Philly, NY, GS, Milwaukee(though they are hard to watch when Giannis is on the bench)

Jon, your seemingly intractable position that the NBA regular season isn't worth watching is costing you the chance to watch a guy who may already be better than Patrick Ewing in his prime, at least on offense.

[jon abbey]

nah, I'm definitely watching my man Porzingis, I skipped the first few games and I generally DVR them and only watch if they seem entertaining, but I watched the whole PHX game Friday and the end of the comeback last night. he is remarkable, and with him and Frank N on the court together last night, NY outscored IND 45-20.

[The G Man]

nah, I'm definitely watching my man Porzingis, I skipped the first few games and I generally DVR them and only watch if they seem entertaining, but I watched the whole PHX game Friday and the end of the comeback last night. he is remarkable, and with him and Frank N on the court together last night, NY outscored IND 45-20.

Glad to hear it. The first half defense was atrocious but Lance Thomas and Frankie both played virtually the entire fourth quarter together and the Knicks d was stellar.

[Steve Minkin]

The Warriors are very dependent on Curry's health. They just aren't a good team when he's off the court. At a minimum, they should trade Looney for a backup PG.

I don't disagree with the projected trade, but Curry is playing at such a high level this season they will never be AS good with him off the court. I don't think I would go so far as to say they aren't a good team w/o him on the floor -- replacing him with Livingston + and Zaza with West or Andre (who may have lost another step this year) is still a very good team. But Steph's floor-general abilities have increased this year, and they're clearly not as fluid generating plays w/o him (not to mention stretching the floor). They could use another skilled passing PG, a player who would never have to shoot to be effective. Anybody out there like that?

Bell, McCaw, and Caspi are still learning how to play with the others, and they need to go through that.

[walto]

Gordon, I've seen 3 Cs games and they've looked good. Tatum and Brown in particular. They're even rebounding this year.

[Steve Minkin]

Pelicans have three players in the top six in minutes played.
Harden, Cousins, and Westtbrook are averaging over 5 TOs/ game.

[The G Man]

Second consecutive Knicks comeback from a double digit fourth quarter deficit. The Garden was rocking tonight! McDermott was 7-8 off the bench. KP played the five down the stretch, forcing Dwight Howard away from the basket. The refs let Howard get away with very physical play on KP but the latter hit a huge three when Howard played off him to give the Knicks the lead for good with under two minutes left.

[Steve Minkin]

He's a streaky player, so I've held off from saying it, but I think it's clear by now that this is not a streak -- Klay Thompson has elevated his game more than anybody else on the Warriors this offseason. He is recording career highs in almost every category except scoring. Not sure of his current efficiency (Gordon?), but it must be off the charts.

Nic Young has dished out 7 assists in the last two games, which equals his total for some seasons

Can't wait for Thursday's game in Boston. If Boston gets Hayward back for the playoffs, they're likely to be an elite team getting a major bump up in talent when it matters. They could be a legitimate threat to The Team of Destiny.

Tonight there was a perfect behind-the-back arrow from Livingston to Klay and out of his hands in a nanosecond for a swish three, gotta make you grin to see something that hard made to look so easily doable.

[The G Man]

Steve Kerr somehow has gotten Swaggy P to play defense. That is no small accomplishment.

Klay's on a hot shooting streak and his true shooting % is better than any full season but that's probably just a hot streak. He's only been to the line eight times in 13 games this year, a little strange.

The three new Warriors are all better than they players they replaced- Young over Ian Clark, Casspi over Barnes, and Bell over McAdoo.

Steph isn't hitting threes (39.3%) but otherwise has been as good as he was in 2015-16. His turnover rate is at a career low. Looney is looking good but he will be in another team's rotation next season.

The one Warrior who has struggled badly and may be a big liability in the playoffs against teams without a big center is Pachulia. When the Warriors make the right play to an open Zaza five feet from the basket, it hasn't worked out for them. He's a turnover machine and is only hitting 50% from within three feet of the rim. Maybe he'll rebound but he's been awful.

LeBron made an unprofessional diss of Ntilikina, who's exceeded expectations for the Knicks. Frank is already very good on defense and will improve his offense. He's the second youngest player in the league. Somebody on Twitter got it right, Frank's opponents can't penetrate on him but he can't penetrate on them. Ntilikina has the best +/- of the Knicks, slightly edging KP.

[Steve Minkin]

12 in a row for the Celtics! Minus their two best weapons!! Assuming they handle Brooklyn on Tuesday, they'd have a thirteen game winning streak on the line playing the Dubs on Thursday.

>>Klay's on a hot shooting streak and his true shooting % is better than any full season but that's probably just a hot streak.<<
He's also currently posting career bests in rebounds, blocks, and 3 pt %. I'm seeing more here than a streak.

[The G Man]

12 in a row for the Celtics! Minus their two best weapons!! Assuming they handle Brooklyn on Tuesday, they'd have a thirteen game winning streak on the line playing the Dubs on Thursday.

>>Klay's on a hot shooting streak and his true shooting % is better than any full season but that's probably just a hot streak.<<
He's also currently posting career bests in rebounds, blocks, and 3 pt %. I'm seeing more here than a streak.

Klay's rebound rate (per 100 possessions) was equal two years ago and block rate was equal three years ago. He has had better # in PER, WIn Shares, Box Score Plus Minus and VORP in 1-3 previous seasons. Klay's OREB, Steals, and usage are down from last season and of course his FTA rate is at a career low. and is bottom 10 percent for the entire league.

Bottom line , IMO is that Klay's playing is in line with his Steve Kerr era performance. Two things are standing out over 13 games-- very high 3Pt% and very low FTA rate.

Question for you Steve- Klay's 3Pt% is above his recent career norms about the same as Steph's are below his. Do you think that Klay's represents real improvement whereas Steph's represent small sample size fluctuations?

[Steve Minkin]

I think Klay's improvement is real and Steph's decline is due to the increased physical attention he's getting.

Looney's been a beast the last few games. He's lost 20 pounds and Kerr named him the MVP of camp, but he got off to rocky start. Now among the league leaders in blocks per 48, looking fluid for the first time since they drafted him.

[The G Man]

I think Klay's improvement is real and Steph's decline is due to the increased physical attention he's getting.

Looney's been a beast the last few games. He's lost 20 pounds and Kerr named him the MVP of camp, but he got off to rocky start. Now among the league leaders in blocks per 48, looking fluid for the first time since they drafted him.

There's virtually no chance Looney will be a Warrior next year but as I said before he probably will be in the rotation of his new team. He may become a good player.

I think Steph is playing as well as he did in his second MVP year, just not getting open three's to fall at his normal rate. Klay I see as the opposite, getting threes to fall at a better than average rate. Let's revisit this at the end of the year.

I also believe that Steph is getting less physical attention this year because the refs are more prone to call fouls on overly aggressive defenders guarding him.