Westbrook is one of the best players in the league, and the Thunder didn't make the playoffs and he doesn't even have the worst supporting cast. If you combine the worst cast possible with one of those greats mentioned above, it doesn't matter who you are -46 wins in the WC is tough to do.

It's rare, but sometimes the greatest players in the league miss the playoffs. KG is def a great example of this. I would say the other greats would have trouble carrying those TWOLVES teams to the playoffs in a competitive WC as well.

I hate his ****ing guts, bu this is pretty much his standard line against anyone, which is why I got scared about the lineup change. They only have one offensive weapon, and if you're putting Iggy on that guy it's going to be tough to score.

Blatt really has some figuring out to do because 1v1 against Iguodala is just going to lead to a lot of bad shots.

Why did the Nuggets let Mozgov go for two late first round picks? I know they have Nurkic, but it still seems like they got robbed.

Not just saying this because of how he's playing in the finals. I thought he was really solid this year. Plus as a Warriors fan, it's mindblowing that Bogut does not have a single post move and can't score more than 3 feet from the hoop. Despite his traveling, which rarely gets called anyway, Mozgov has some basic moves and finishes decently, and also hits free throws and rim protects. That's a pretty rare thing.

Mozgov has one more year at 5 million and then will probably make ~14M (imo) a year after that. Denver would just be wasting his best contract years because they suck right now, and let's be honest they don't have the horses to use him effectively. Better to get the picks and gamble on Nurkic and I don't think the decision is close.

Although I do think it's cool that people are now going from "wow Cavs spent two firsts on him" to "why did Denver only get two firsts for him?". I'm a huge fanboy and it's great to see him getting that kind of love.

Yeah it's pretty amazing he's able to contribute as much as he has offensively while doing that too.

Well he's juiced to the gills.

Interesting, thanks.


I didn't follow any post-trade commentary so I didn't know that that's how it was initially perceived. Maybe I'm not correctly valuing late round firsts as well.

I think the best way to rest Lebron/Delly is to sit those guys together and play Moz/TT when they're sitting and just let JR/Shump/Jones/Miller jack up a bunch of low percentage threes and pray for the offensive rebounds. You have to figure those threes are worth approximately .9PPP (30%FG), and the offensive rebounding you'd get going against a small lineup would probably make up for the rest. Having Delly out there when Bron isn't just seems like a recipe for offensive disaster because you bring the possibility of turnovers into the fold...

I didn't watch the game but it looks as though the big vs. small lineup had it's way on the glass.

I agree with this. I would just tell SMIFF that that is his time to shine.

I mean I don't know if no PG and Smiff running the point would lead to turnovers, but he's been very careful with the ball for the last four years or so, and I think if anyone can get a shot off with a modicum of efficiency while heavily contested it's probably him... and that's all you'd need. Oh and get back on defense--I don't know what they were thinking but in the fourth quarter I saw JR/Shum doing a piss-poor job of getting back on those two Delly shots that missed.

I mean I'm cool with Delly being in there when Bron isn't, but he has to be very careful with the ball in those instances and they MUST have great court balance. Delly penetrating and TT/Moz in the lane makes it imperative for JR and Shump to stay in front of their men.

We'll see how Blatt adjusts.

those are two completely different sets of people, the first group is people who don't understand that late first round picks have a ton less value than earlier ones.

also the OKC pick (i think that was one of them?) has become much less valuable since the time of the trade when it had decent equity to convey in #18-20 range before Durant and Ibaka got shutdown with injuries and they missed the playoffs.

edit: having no real primary ball handler on the court seems like a recipe for disaster to me, you gotta at least have some kind of Iguodala type who won't get stripped and/or make terrible decisions if he is doubled.

When all you do is post up a guy who throws three forearm shivers a possession you aren't gonna get a lot of calls either

Iggy is being just as physical if not more defending LeBron. LeBron gets fouled and it goes uncalled on probably a majority of his post ups and moves inside. Part of that is because he's so strong, but still. But at this point it's established the refs won't call it so he needs to deal with it.

man. bay area slappies really are the WOAT aren't they?

even boston fans aren't this bad.

How can you hate Iggy? I feel like he is objectively one of the more likable guys in the league.

I feel like the people who complain constantly about the refs are really a bunch of whiny bitches. Lebron bringing a championship back to long-suffering Cleveland would be a pretty great story line for the NBA. I don't see any motive for riggage, much less direct evidence of it. There have been a lot of bad calls, but in both directions.

As for Lebron, he's a tough guy to officiate. When he goes into bully ball mode, he initiates and absorbs a lot of contact that is not called. Shaq had the same problem. He would initiate contact and create separation by dropping his shoulder into the chest of the defender. Then he would get hacked on the arm, and the ref wouldn't call a foul in either direction.

Agreed.

And as a Kobe fan I have to say I've never seen a player take a worse team to the playoffs in the West than when Kobe did it with this starting lineup:

Smush Parker
Kobe
Luke Walton
Odom
Chris Mihm

Bench: Devan George, Mark Madsen, and whatever other D- leaguer they had.

They had Phoenix, the best team in the league that year down 3-1, but couldn't secure one rebound in game 5 and lost the series.

That was the most dominating performance I've watched as a sports fan in my lifetime though, win or lose.

Agreed.

Lobbying to be a member of another team while in the middle of a playoff series against that team is pretty scummy imo. It's one thing to pray with them before the games, which I'm not against but think it's weird, but the fact that his relatives are tampering with the enemy's owner during the series is the reason for my hate. He also went to the Warriors bench and told them prior to game 5 that Denver was going to be physical with Steph. (LINK). The part that gets me is that GSW played MUCH closer to dirty in the series and have been the last few years, and at least the world is seeing it now. There were also issues with his religious homophobia causing friction with Kenneth Faried, who's mom(s) are lesbians.

There's a bunch more stuff the reporters and beat writers said about Iggy that I hate, but you have to dismiss much of it (and perhaps what I say) as sour grapes.

One thing he did do was bring it more than anyone in the playoffs, so you have to respect him for that.

Mmm... bad argument because Westbrook was out a lot of the season. Even so, wouldn't they have been a 5 seed or something in the Least?

Lakers lost that Phx series mainly because Kobe wanted to prove a point.

Feels inevitable that iggy is gonna get jobbed out of the Finals mvp, which is odd since he's basically repeating what Kiwi did last year.

Let's take a moment to reflect on the fact that for delly to play at an average nba level he had to exert an amount of effort that literally left him hospitalized

The thing is the foul call count isn't even. GS averages like 7 more fouls per game for the first 4 games.

And just so I can toot my own horn... I predicted the Warriors would win the championship this year before pre-season started (I'm not a fan of their team). I also predicted they'd start out slow in the championship, just based on their inexperience on this stage, and how they talked after winning the Western Conference championship. I think now they've kicked it into gear, and unless some miracle happens they'll finish off this series now.

The cavs just don't have enough weapons after losing Love and Irving.