2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread

DannyDarwinism

DannyDarwinism

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Deathofthebambino said:
Where does KAT land on your list?

I also want to point out that a lot of folks giving a ton of credit to Draymond for what he means to Golden State, but for my money, the unsung hero of that team is Klay Thompson. Guy is an assassin from deep, and he may very well be the best defender in the NBA. If I already had a Curry or a Durant or Giannis, and had to pick a #2 outside the top 15-20 players in the league, Klay would be very, very high on that list, if not at the top.
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Woah. I know Klay has a rep as a good defender, but this sounds crazy to me. His steal and block rates are pedestrian at best and he doesn't rebound particularly well, so unsurprisingly he has a pretty bad DBPM over his career (-1.5), but his on/off numbers don't show a great defender either- this is the fifth season in a row he'll have a negative DRPM. I don't think there's any chance he's a better defender than Draymond or Durant, and I think he's behind Iggy and Zaza too. Klay's a helluva offensive player, but if Bell was getting more minutes, I don't think Klay would be a top 5 defender on his own team.
 
Sam Ray Not

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Klay's a fantastic man defender — he can be switched onto LeBron, Love, JR, or Kyrie and he's big, rugged and quick-footed enough to hang with them all, with the crazy stamina to chase after them all day. I'd put him in the convo for most useful, fundamentally sound, and versatile "man defender" in the NBA.

Where he typically fails is in team defense and off-ball awareness — that's where his SoCal stoner absent-mindedness often comes into play — and in defensive rebounding, where he's well below average for his size. I'd guess those are the two biggest reasons for his slightly subpar DRPM. But on a key possession, there are very few guys I'd rather see man-to-man on a stud scorer like Kyrie or Harden than Klay.
 
DannyDarwinism

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Sam Ray Not said:
Klay's a fantastic man defender — he can be switched onto LeBron, Love, JR, or Kyrie and he's big, rugged and quick-footed enough to hang with them all, with the crazy stamina to chase after them all day. I'd put him in the convo for most useful, fundamentally sound, and versatile "man defender" in the NBA.

Where he typically fails is in team defense and off-ball awareness — that's where his SoCal stoner absent-mindedness often comes into play — and in defensive rebounding, where he's well below average for his size. I'd guess those are the two biggest reasons for his slightly subpar DRPM. But on a key possession, there are very few guys I'd rather see man-to-man on a stud scorer like Kyrie or Harden than Klay.
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This makes sense. He has definitely impressed me when watching him on the ball, but it's hard to get an overall sense of him off-ball since I'm only catching a couple of games of his per year. I was pretty surprised by the DRPM numbers when I looked them up.
 
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Bad teams gonna be bad...

Kings put up a good fight in Cleveland, but lost the 4th quarter by 11, the game by 6
Bulls put up a good fight in Indiana, but lost the 4th quarter by 16, the game by 2
Hawks still putting up a good fight in Orlando, but lost the 4th quarter by 5, including giving up a 3 to tie with 6 seconds to go, sending it to OT...lose

EDIT--and Dallas putting up a good fight in Boston...lose
 
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Swedgin

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Contract year Boogie is something to behold.. 39 and 22 with 4 blocks with a minute left.
 
Kliq

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I think Thompson inherently is an overrated player. He did not do a good job on Kyrie in the playoffs and Iggy is usually the go-to defender against bigger wings, then Draymond and then maybe Klay. I think, depending on how you feel about Durant, he is at least the third or fourth best defender on his own team.

I don’t really like doing Top 10 lists because guy’s role and value heavily depends on their team. Klay is the absolute best player in the league for his designated role in GS, a third-option that can get hot and carry a team for a win and a good defender who can competently guard players 6” to 6’9”. If he was tasked with being the sole creator and leading scorer on his own team, how well would he fare? Would he be better than Kemba Walker? Jimmy Butler? We have no idea of knowing.
 
luckiestman

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Kliq said:
I think Thompson inherently is an overrated player. He did not do a good job on Kyrie in the playoffs and Iggy is usually the go-to defender against bigger wings, then Draymond and then maybe Klay. I think, depending on how you feel about Durant, he is at least the third or fourth best defender on his own team.

I don’t really like doing Top 10 lists because guy’s role and value heavily depends on their team. Klay is the absolute best player in the league for his designated role in GS, a third-option that can get hot and carry a team for a win and a good defender who can competently guard players 6” to 6’9”. If he was tasked with being the sole creator and leading scorer on his own team, how well would he fare? Would he be better than Kemba Walker? Jimmy Butler? We have no idea of knowing.
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Shit man, I would break the bank for Klay. I love that kids game and I love his demeanor.

My non Celtics super team (guys I like to watch)

Lillard, Klay, Leonard, Giannis, Gobert
 
HomeRunBaker

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Swedgin said:
Contract year Boogie is something to behold.. 39 and 22 with 4 blocks with a minute left.
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This was SacTown Boogie for years even in non-contract years. Two seasons ago he had back-to-back games of 48 and 58.....I'm pretty sure they were on consecutive nights too. It's too bad he's such a......unique....individual, because we haven't seen many like him with the ability to put a ball in a basket.
 
Reverend

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slamminsammya said:
This was me, or if it wasn't I would have agreed. I absolutely stand by that assessment given what he had done throughout his career up to that point. His offense this season is basically his career average. But the defense going from very bad to maybe even above average makes a huge difference.

Top 10 is an arbitrary cutoff. I clearer way to think is that in my mind Curry, Westbrook, and Paul in their own elite echelon, and then you have a big ish group of point who are a bit harder to distinguish but certainly a cut below the first group (in no order, Wall, Lowry, Walker, Lillard, Irving, Dragic, Conley etc. etc.)
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Not a response to this but it gave me a thought...

Kyrie could be the “same player” he was before, but also more effective now on a different team, yes?
 
Kliq

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Per Synergy LeBron is shooting 82 percent at the rim in the fourth quarter this season and 60 percent on jump shots. Yikes.
 
slamminsammya

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Reverend said:
Not a response to this but it gave me a thought...

Kyrie could be the “same player” he was before, but also more effective now on a different team, yes?
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What is a Platonic basketball player? Like objects in categories, they only make sense in relation to the things around them and their interactions.
 
Kliq

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Posted in the Brooklyn thread but Zach Lowe just tweeted that Philly will be sending Okafor, Stauskas and a second round pick to Brooklyn for Trevor Booker.
 
Sam Ray Not

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Welcome to Kings County, Sauce Castillo!

Not a huge fan of either Okafor or Stauskas, but seems like a great trade for the Nyets given that Booker is on the wrong side of 30 (by a couple weeks) and they already get what most of what he brings from Quincy Acy, DeMarre Carroll, and RHJ.

Given their only real Cs are Glass-Jaw Mozgov, T-Rex Tyler Zeller and 12 year-old Jarrett Allen, I'd think Okafor slots in pretty well there.
 
benhogan

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Booker is a useful piece for 76ers this season, contract expires, and get out of $5MM+ owed to Stauskas next season. More $$$ for Lebron.

But can see it from the Nets perspective. It's going to be fun watching a motivated Okafor go after the 76ers when they play (and Embid abusing him)

win/win for both teams
 
mcpickl

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benhogan said:
Booker is a useful piece for 76ers this season, contract expires, and get out of $5MM+ owed to Stauskas next season. More $$$ for Lebron.

But can see it from the Nets perspective. It's going to be fun watching a motivated Okafor go after the 76ers when they play (and Embid abusing him)

win/win for both teams
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Stauskas is a RFA this summer, he's not owed anything.

It makes sense for both sides though. Philly gets a veteran who'll actually play for them, Brooklyn takes a long shot on trying to bring out Okafors' talent, and at worst gets a 2nd rounder for a guy not in their longterm plans.
 
Sam Ray Not

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Do the Sixers have a single bench player who doesn’t suck? Two total points from their bench through three quarters. Now I see why they wanted Booker.
 
Manzivino

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Philly got the ball down 5 with 18 seconds left in the 3rd and ended up down 9 by the end of the quarter. Brutal sequence. You can see how good they’re going to be when Simmons/Embiid/Covington get more experience together and they add Fultz and the Lakers/Kings pick but right now the inconsistency can lead to some rough stretches.
 
DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Sam Ray Not said:
Do the Sixers have a single bench player who doesn’t suck? Two total points from their bench through three quarters. Now I see why they wanted Booker.
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Holmes doesn't suck but like most bigs he still has a way to go to figuring out how to play against experienced guys down low.

As a side note, this game is pretty damn entertaining if not aesthetically pleasing.
 
DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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This game is fun as hell. I have two windows open with this and the Saints/Falcons game and this is far, far more entertaining.
 
DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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My God I love Joel Embiid so, so much. He bullies Randle and then tells him about it all the way back down the court.

Randle looks great offensively btw. He just cannot hang with Embiid but there is no shame in that. Very few NBA players can when Joel is rolling.
 
Manzivino

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Simmons was the only Sixer that didn’t simply stop cold when Redick lost that ball. Embiid just stared at KCP as he ran by.
 
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