there was a lot of talk of the woyas lacking energy and what not-- not sure this is quite what you mean by dialed in-- but i don't think it was that. just a lot of bad execution on both ends and a lot of missed shots by people (excluding curry/durant). green shot ok overall i guess, but a lot of his buckets came when the deficit was large. irregular flow on the offensive end, esp when curry was out. think they got pretty good looks though, just shot poorly from 3. initial shot d was ok maybe, but the rebounding was terrible. duncan/leroux pointed out that even when they had #s in the rebounding area aldridge still got the board due to failed box outs.


ultimately the starters being out of sync was not surprising, but it was obv not the reason for that kind of margin. bench got run and then some. don't remember the lineups specifically at this point but i think the livingston/clark combo may never appear again


regardless can be a lot of fun if you like watching high level bball played, which won't happen exclusively among the top few teams. there are at least a dozen bona fide studs in the league right now plus a number of players on the come up


edit: if kerr is really willing to experiment as he says he will play mcgee and see if they can make him somewhat useful. he'll prob just roll out varejao though

I don't see the results as a mere formality, I think there are a few teams that can take out the Warriors. They have less depth and are going to miss Bogut. The KD addition clearly looks ridiculous on paper, but it took the Heat a year to gel and in a 7 game series weird **** can happen. Only a handful of teams really have a chance at the title every year so it doesn't really change anything for me that one team is more of a favorite than in past years.

As far as watching random games between mid/low tier teams the league is in a truly awesome place. Boston, Utah, Knicks, Bulls, Pacers, Magic, Hawks, Rockets and the Bucks all made huge changes that I'm excited to see play out and most of the worst teams in the league have genuinely exciting young cores that makes watching their terrible games entertaining too.

I'm sincere, I'm really excited for the season.

The only huge change the Bucks made was losing a top player to injury

MCW subtraction was a huge addition. I think Delly is a good player.

TZ has 3 or more people actually working in front offices and I think Zialum is our best asset.

Bucks home opener bros! Own the future! Let's goooooooo!

i think it's fair to say they did lack energy/focus on d, i think they just won't be good defensively unless they are executing and trying hard since they now have to make up for the fact that all their bigs aren't deterrents at the rim anymore. i see it as being an ongoing issue that usually won't matter because a) it won't hurt them that much vs many teams and b) they'll just outscore ppl anyway

durant can be awesome on d when he's executing and focused, but can often zones out and loses guys when he's not. he's probably going to be a decent bellweather for how the woyas are playing on d this season imo

i don't think anyone is or should be worried about the offense

LOLHocks give Schroeder a max extension for some reason

+1

Welcome back Zialum!

I've seen win expectancy % tracking before but mainly in baseball and football where there was a discrete event w/ a clock stoppage where applicable. Is it measurable in basketball on the half-second scale where for example (going off memory so not accurate but mainly for illustration):

Mavs had x% w Pacers up 2 w possession with 32.50 s left
Mavs had x% w Teague TO and D-Will taking possession with 32.49 s left
Mavs had x% w D-Will TO and Pacers taking possession with 32.00 s left

http://stats.inpredictable.com/nba/wpBox.php

That what you're after?

I'd say they looked slow on d not because they lacked effort or focus, but because they are not playing instinctively and were against a pretty polished offense

The Rockets bench is Sam Dekker, Corey Brewer, Tyler Ennis, Nene, and KJ McDaniels?

@beef, although if you are talking about focus on the glass then yeah I agree. Not in general on d though

Excellent answers lads! Believe me, I'll happily sit down and watch the 76ers play the Nets - the level of athleticism on show is ridiculous all across the league.

Conley wouldn't have got 4/93 on the open market and Chandler Parsons isn't worth 1/2 of 4/93.
There is no mystery with the Grizz, they are drawing dead to be a .500 team

Lakers are back in deal?!

The 30 for 30 in 8 years about the would-be Warriors dynasty falling apart by them choosing Kerr over Walton is going to be must watch TV.

Nice to see 'Antoni continue his tradition of excellence in a new city.

Drawing dead? Grizz o/u was 43.5

Correct. Back in deal

Do people think Durant will win the MVP or just deserve it but not get it?

Derozan for MVP

If the NBA blacklisted lebron from winning it after he took his talents to South Beach, Durant should be for taking his tears to the Bay Area.

I mean he's not gonna win it regardless. Joining a 73 win team and turning them into a 60 win frumpster doesn't really invoke a lot of praise.