talking about them in terms of reg season wins doesn't make sense really, they could easily be a better team for the purposes of shipping rangz without having a better srs or whatever (cutting back minutes for example). yeah they were decently healthy but nobody they have is much of an injury risk, and russ/ibaka/durant have no major concerns next yr (russ' meniscus is probably fine since he got none of it removed and is clearly fine as of right now)

almost every relevant player is young young enough to expect improvement or the same

• russ in particular looked awesome this yr in a year where he had 3 knee surgeries. he could def play better/smarter
• ibaka has steadily improved every year of his career
• durant is pretty unlikely to actually regress imo. he might not have better stats because 30per is a level that nobody has really shown a consistent ability to surpass by much, but he obv works too hard to actually get worse. i'd be pretty shocked if he played worse in next yrs playoffs that this yr anyway, that's all they're judged on at this point
• adams/lamb/jackson call all improve, as can the deeper bench guys, adams' improvement is particularly important as he takes more of perk's minutes
• they have 21 and 29 in a pretty deep draft. given presti's record i think they're def live to nab a useful player (prob not this yr particularly but down the track)

every year they don't win a rang is kind of a disappointment obv, but there's really no reason to be down on them any more than this yr. lolbrooks and lolperk is a stain on the franchise obv but they're still from 1-3 in rang favouritism next year

They should make a move for Kevin Love imo

Coaching has to have a big part in it

Most apg this year: Spurs
Second place: Hawks, in first year coached by BUD, who was with spurs for 17 years


Not a coincidence, and he did it overnight with the Hawks, while they were missing their best player

And Antic, Brand, Ayon, Scott, Mack are not exactly world beaters

rustle for love, lets do it

lmao

glad you see Loves fraudulence

been saying this to my buddy's the last couple weeks. Ill take lance/westbrooke who i know want it more and will go harder than anyone else on the floor 99% of the time on my team any day

yea this



fuuuuuuuuckkk KEVIN DUUUUURRRRAAAAANNNNNTTTTT

A.) learn how to use a non - illegal screen
B. ) learn how to play with your back to the basket
C. ) learn how to cut w/o the ball

let the KD hate train begin imo

OMG YES PLEASE

damn it really is dreamtime round

Stephen Jackson was fine and even excelled in both Indy and GS (the 1st time after '03...SA really should've kept him)

Beno Udrih kept on same career trajectory

I think Derek Anderson felloff after they traded him but that might have been moreso injuries, don't recall

Obviously it isn't like the NFL where guys sometimes just totally underachieve and disappear after switching teams and/or defensive systems.

My grandmother would be a clear upgrade. Brooks is seriously the worst.

so this kevin love to boston thing seems pretty serious. he was there with his agent, posing for pics with rondo. c's might legit end up getting him

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...U7K/story.html

on one hand this would be obv ultrasick from an EV perspective. otoh i was kinda getting hyped up for an athlete who terrorizes fools on defense like smart or gordon and love can't really do that.

yeah i'm not reading any stuff about brooks being not that bad bc lol that. LOL BROOKS. maybe there are like 5 worse coaches in the league but either way he's a complete joke and if VDN is a downgrade I don't think he's a huge one. VDN won 56 games with the clippers who are less talented than the thunder, it's hard to hemorrhage too much value when the talent runs the offense for you.

woyas want corbin and hollins

lol woyas, i take back anything positive i said about their coaching choices if they hire those chumps

warriors FO seems fairly lol. don't wanna give up klay for love, wanna throw money at lol coaches. steph prob gonna skip town when it's just him and klay and washed up boges/iggy

Steph to the Knicks one day would be lovely.

mclovin, i hate to be the bearer of bad news but the knicks are massively lol and good things probably won't happen to them. steph can stay in GSW if he wants to resume playing for a lol franchise.

Thanks for dashing my hopes and dreams.

Maybe I should become a Celtic fan.

i'd pick one of boston/philly/toronto if you want to keep it atlantic. if you don't want to be perpetually disappointed as a fan, you gotta root for a team that is run by smart people. knacks and nets are still stuck in the stone age and i've got them having rough futures (esp the nets lol prok lol billy king)

100% agree with the points bankles makes. Having gifted creators is great, but not an excuse not to (work to) put them in maximally advantageous spots within the offense. The fact that KD and Westy are who they are just means some of Brooks' deficiencies are less fatal than they'd otherwise be; it doesn't make one-option sets that quickly devolve into 1v4 any better.

I think there are ways that teams can "buy in" to their coaches in meaningful ways (constant zoned-in effort on defense, a willingness to always choose the correct option over the individual one on offense, emotional levelheadedness), but it doesn't appear that any of those apply significantly to the Thunder.

I'll root for Philly I guess.

I'll take the Myers/the logo over pretty much anyone else for basketball ops.

Lee deal kinda sucks, but would have to look up when that deal was made and if the current FO was responsible. Dont think they were, but not positive.

Drafting Steph + klay + Barnes + udoh.

Monta plus udoh for boges highway robbery.

Trading relatively bad picks plus rjeff in a creative way to free up room for Iggy.

Signing Steph and boges when they did ended up being insane value.

They just don't really miss.

yeah i agree with this. i think seth is reaching really hard with his "brooks isn't THAT bad" arguments.

gave speights a multi-year deal

refusing to give up klay for love

giving kerr a big multi-year deal and looking to hire lol assistants

udoh was a horrible pick with monroe, hayward, and paul george on the board

they are at best a middle of the road FO

Will suspend judgment on the Warriors FO until we figure out how good Kerr actually is. fwiw, I think introducing some new ideas to the team might be a positive even if Kerr isn't an upgrade on the whole. Theoretically, he may be able to benefit from/maintain some of the defensive work MJax has already done while applying whatever polish he has to the offense and rotations.

eta: I think the fact that, in general, they seem to be willing to spend and make reasonable moves to roll the dice during their window of contention is a point in their favor

Well we don't really know if that is true regarding Klay/Love. Push comes to shove I'd think they would make that deal.

Right, I mean we are at the stage were everyone's greedy. Good negotiators don't start off by offering the most assets they are willing to part with, right off the bat.

Also don't think it's right or fair to criticize the coaching situation--at least yet. The assistant thing is worrisome, but everything we've heard from Kerr so far has been music to nba fan's ears. He wants to take some elements of the triangle, but have more ball movement. Also building an offense centered around Steph, so expect the pick and rolls to come a lot. Also likes more small lineups which is better for this team and makes me think he'll have a lot better rotations.

So ya, the fact that they gave speights a multi yr deal and using hindsight bias to suggest the WOYAS shoulda taken Paul George doesn't come close to negating what good they've done to be one of the best front offices in the game.

boston bringing out their big guns

GRONK recruiting love