NBA Season Thread 2014-15 (star, win, games, tickets)
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From what I have seen of Smith, his game is very immature and undisciplined. I know the Rockets got rid of Jeremy Lin, then Smith came and did his best Lin imitation by leaving his feet with no one to pass the ball to in the first couple of games.
They started him and put Motiejunas (DMo) on the bench just when DMo got his confidence and was producing. That lasted about 1 or 2 games and was a disaster.
Smith has got to understand his role on the team. He should be taking no three pointers. He should not be looking at himself as a top offensive option and should defer to others.
Tonight they lost to Chicago. Harden took 22 shots in 38 minutes. Smith took 20 shots (1-5 on 3pt sots) in 26 minutes. Howard took 13 shots in 41 minutes. That will not work long term.
First of all, the Cavs implosion continues as the Sixers (the Sixers!!!!!!!!!!!) beat them for Philly's first home win of the season!!!!!!!!!!! The Sixers previous 4 wins all came away from home.
Second of all, the Cavs finally got rid of Waiters but acquired J.R. "brick-layer" Smith in return (also got Iman Shumpert; Waiters went to OKC and a bunch of expirings are going to the Knicks as Phil has finally raised the white flag), so I'm not sure they actually got better in regards to Waiters vs. Smith. The one redeeming quality Waiters had over Smith was at least he came cheap. Shumpert will be a nice addition off the bench as he can give them defense on the wing and the permiter, but I have a feeling Smith will cause more headaches than usefulness.
I feel sorry for any Knicks fan that paid top dollar for tickets between now and April 15. They'll basically be seeing the Westchester Knicks (the Knicks new NBDL team) for NBA prices, Carmelo laughing all the way to bank as he shoots 5-35 every game (and will shoot enough bricks that he can actually build a new MSG with all of them) until the All Star game when he calls it quits....and then laughs it up on the bench when the team loses for the 40th time in 43 games and finished 10-72 this year.
I'll admit before anyone that the Cavs are playing bad right now. Two things though. One is that they were playing without LeBron and Kyrie. Two, even LeBron said that it was going to be a process of learning how to win. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving have never even been in the playoffs, and it definitely shows even in the regular season. In the game they lost against the Sixers, Love had 28 points and 19 rebounds. The thing is, he didn't take the game over in crunch time like you'd expect a superstar to do. The Cavs are not a championship team this year. A realistic goal at this point would be winning a playoff series. I know that would be a failure of a season in many people's eyes, but that's what my opinion is. It would be a good goal for Love and Kyrie too, considering they've never played in the playoffs, let alone on a over .500 team.
On the trade, I think all three teams came out winners. Speaking on only the Cavs, they basically only gave up Dion Waiters. Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk never even really played much. J.R. Smith is basically the same player as Waiters, probably better. At best, Waiters will probably put up the same numbers J.R. Smith did in his best season. Plus they got Shumpert who is a good defensive specialist guard, and area the Cavs were lacking in. They also got a first round draft pick from OKC. It's top 18 protected this year, so they might not get it. For 2016, it's top 15 protected, meaning they basically have a first round pick too out of the deal. So it's a good deal. They still need to get a defensive center through a trade, and add another from free agency or of waivers. Two names I'd look at off waivers or free agency would be Jermaine O'Neal or Samuel Dalembert. Trading for a big would be more difficult, but they have a $5.3 million dollar trade exception and they also have the Brendan Haywood contract. And below is a link to why Brendan Haywood's contract is so valuable.
I'll admit before anyone that the Cavs are playing bad right now. Two things though. One is that they were playing without LeBron and Kyrie. Two, even LeBron said that it was going to be a process of learning how to win. Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving have never even been in the playoffs, and it definitely shows even in the regular season. In the game they lost against the Sixers, Love had 28 points and 19 rebounds. The thing is, he didn't take the game over in crunch time like you'd expect a superstar to do. The Cavs are not a championship team this year. A realistic goal at this point would be winning a playoff series. I know that would be a failure of a season in many people's eyes, but that's what my opinion is. It would be a good goal for Love and Kyrie too, considering they've never played in the playoffs, let alone on a over .500 team.
On the trade, I think all three teams came out winners. Speaking on only the Cavs, they basically only gave up Dion Waiters. Lou Amundson and Alex Kirk never even really played much. J.R. Smith is basically the same player as Waiters, probably better. At best, Waiters will probably put up the same numbers J.R. Smith did in his best season. Plus they got Shumpert who is a good defensive specialist guard, and area the Cavs were lacking in. They also got a first round draft pick from OKC. It's top 18 protected this year, so they might not get it. For 2016, it's top 15 protected, meaning they basically have a first round pick too out of the deal. So it's a good deal. They still need to get a defensive center through a trade, and add another from free agency or of waivers. Two names I'd look at off waivers or free agency would be Jermaine O'Neal or Samuel Dalembert. Trading for a big would be more difficult, but they have a $5.3 million dollar trade exception and they also have the Brendan Haywood contract. And below is a link to why Brendan Haywood's contract is so valuable.
1) Trade was good but more needs to be done in getting defensive players and bigs but still time to trade and Cleveland has lots of trade bait still.
2) The 76ers loss was as much lack of defense as anything. They let them shoot 48% from the field. You know where 48% falls for opponents FG% is in the NBA right now? 2nd to last wedged between the Lakers and T-wolves.
Cleveland has the 4th worst opponents FG% in the league this year.
3) Cleveland was showing it had to make some moves even before losing Lebron\Varejao to injury it was clear they needed more defense and more bench to achieve their goal of a championship.
Top 4 in the east - Atl, Chi, Tor, Wash
Top 4 in the west - GS, Por, Mem, Dal
Don't think anyone predicted this.
Atlanta is legit. I've watched a lot of their games this season. Their ball movement is superb. Their defense is excellent as well. The mobility of Horford and Milsap upfront combined with the shooting of Korver and Carroll makes them a tough team to beat. And Jeff Teague is a handful for any opposing team.
I think the current top four seeds in each conference will most likely be the same at the end of the season. The order my change. But the teams will probably hold. The East is probably set. The West is more fluid.
The Clips could catch GS, but probably won't. Portland is a lock in the Northwest. The Southwest Division is the NBA's "group of death". Anything can happen there. I do think Memphis and Dallas will separate themselves from the pack.
Maybe Waiters knows more than we do about the inner workings of how all this went down. But it’s difficult to see this as anything other than a subtle shot at James, at least on the surface.
By reading things from my friends' social media pages, it seems a lot of people in Cleveland think Dion is a sociopath. I honestly think this is hilarious and endearing. I will be rooting for him to do well in OKC.
Any takers on whether the Rockets will finish over .500 ball during the Josh Smith era?
I'd like to think the Josh Smith era ends before the trade deadline and the Rockets dish him out to another team for someone else.
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