2014-2015 NBA Ramblings

[Kingdom]

Orlando Magic

Vucevic - Frye - Harris - Oladipo - Payton
O'Quinn/Nicholson/Harkless/A.Gordon/Marble/Fournier/Ridnour (and I suppose B.Gordon and Green too)

In my world, Gordon and Green don't exist. In fact, Frye barely exists, but since he's a good shooter, he's a nice change of pace to mix in with all the tweener/stretch forward athletes they have accrued. More importantly, who doesn't want to see Harris-Oladipo-Payton running amok? Swap out Frye with one of the tweeners, and it's going to be a crazy race of athletes around Vucevic. I'm just thinking of the havoc that backcourt will wreck. I know it's a work in progress offensively, but at the very least, two relentless guys who I think were born of the same work ethic mentality, I can only imagine how much fun it will be to watch them. But I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the very under-appreciated Nikola Vucevic, aka the forgotten man in the Bynum/Iguoudala 3 teamer. 13/12 and 14/11 in his two years with Orlando. The man even improved his foul shooting to over 76%. He's not a shot blocker, he's a classic below the rim mammoth. He's a better version of Pekovic from Minnesota. Orlando is loaded with a lot of fun looking projects, but he stands out with his consistency and sturdy play. At some point things are going to start clicking, there's a lot of talent, untapped potential on this team to continuously be one of the worst teams. They have an exciting nucleus to build around. They stupidly spent money to wisely add capable shooters (look, there's no defending signing Ben Gordon. He's been a lost soul since he left the Bulls. But Ridnour and Frye make some sense). Time for the Harkless/Nicholson platter to step up. Fournier is due to make a splash too. I'd suspect they'll be a lottery team again, though. But I won't be shocked if they are a far more competitive team this season.

[Kingdom]

Chicago Bulls

Noah - Gasol - Dunleavy - Butler - Rose
Gibson/Bairstow/Mirotic/McDermott/Snell/Hinrich/Brooks

They've added shooting in Mirotic and McDermott. Which means, I will be shocked if Dunleavy holds on to the starting spot at the 3. If he even truly wins it.. They then added a very good scoring big in Gasol. While Gibson has improved every year, his impact is on defense. Gasol can score and feed to open guys. Combined with a fairly underrated drafting of Tony Snell, the Bulls have assembled adequate pieces to boost the offense. Noah and Butler (and Gibson) will wreck havoc on defense. They've assembled a group of shooters, and possibly an impact scorer in McDermott, and didn't unload all of their assets for a Melo or Love guy. So all that means is, Derrick Rose, come on down. It really is all on his shoulders. The Bulls are a marginal playoff team without Rose thanks to great coaching and relentless play by the few guys mentioned previously. If you combine those two things with a healthy Rose and premiere shooters, this will truly be Cleveland's great adversary this season. It's really hard to say what to expect from Rose though. I think people are raving about his explosiveness at the FIBA camps. And they're monitoring his minutes so he's not being pushed too far. Best case scenario: because of the defense and coaching, they automatically have two things Cleveland doesn't have/hasn't proven to have. Rose legitimately won an MVP once, there's no question how great he can be. He is the difference from being a 6-8 seed and being a 1-2 seed, and making it to the finals. Furthermore, since they can be so good on D, they can match up with the Spurms and Thunder of the world, perhaps more than the Cavs.

[Hammer]

[Kingdom]

I think that gif sums up the Lakers well.

[Kingdom]

Rockets looking to acquire Jason Terry and a couple of second rounders for Alonzo GEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Kingdom]

And for some reason the Heat signed Shannon Brown, cause 3 PGs are not enough

[Hammer]

Rockets looking to acquire Jason Terry and a couple of second rounders for Alonzo GEEEEEEEEEEEE

the two second rounders being the most valuable things in that trade.

[Hammer]

am i the only one who notices how insanely valuable kenny faried is on the usa teams, yet denver still hasnt figured out how to use him correctly. after seeing faried this international tournament, i cant help but feel awful we didnt jump at that rumored shump/faried deal a couple years back.

[Kingdom]

I don't suspect that'll change. But good for Faried, he's the next to receive the Coach K boost.

[Hammer]

ty lawson is a fucking genius

[Hammer]

so after all the shit about the us being a little weak and susceptible, and the us not being the best team in this tournament... spain, and then france, both getting eliminated before getting to face the us has to be the most disappointing thing thats happened, right? when france knocked off spain, i said... meh, at least france has batum and diaw, lauvergne is probably gonna come over soon, and gobert and fournier might or might not become players. but theyre all pros.

the serbs? nenad krstic pops out as a former pro.. he probably could still play, based on the lack of centers in the nba, but he was nothing special even when he was around. bogdanovic is a prospect, bjelica got drafted in 2010 and still hasnt come over, and then raduljica is floating around the nba somewhere, but i forget where. [i just checked, he got traded to the clippers, but the clippers cut him about 2 weeks ago]

i cant help but feel the us, led by the immortal KENNETH FARIED [that anthony davis guy is pretty good too though], are gonna run the serbs off the floor. it may be a game for a half... but meh.

[Kingdom]

They won't be able to stop Unibrow and Faried but the guards have been erratic. That'll be their best hope. If Curry and Klay rain on them, major blow out

[Kingdom]

Kyrie 6/6 from 3. He and Harden have nearly 50 points. Blow out city

[Hammer]

Grantland Exclusive: Redacted NBA Scouting Reports «

some of these are funny. mike betting jannero pargo that hed never start a game cracked me up.

[Kingdom]

T'Pups offered Eric Bledsoe a max deal