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NBA = La Liga

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I'd really like to understand this reference, but I don't speak Spanish.

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It means that there's going to be no competition. Real Madrid or Barcelona win that league literally every year.

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Well, Kansas wins the Big 12 literally every year, and Kentucky wins the SEC most years, so it isn't like college basketball is much different in many of the college basketball conferences for example. There are 1-2 'big boys' and then everybody else trying to catch up.

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And its terrible from a competitive standpoint.

Every year in CFB and CBB you can select 4 to 8 teams and pretty much know 100% the national champ is going to be from that list. The same thing is happening to the NBA except the list is going to be about 2.

MLB, NFL, and NHL at least remain competitive.

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I disagree. MLB and NFL are just as noncompetitive. Its just that they have poor sample sized playoffs which increase the random chance and therefore we see a greater variety of champions.

If the NBA's 7 game series went to a single game series, then many different teams can win the title. There are plenty of 100 win and 14 win teams in the NFL and MLB. They just don't help their best teams actually win the title. They force "parity" by increasing the random chance.

Every year there are 83-79 and 9-7 type teams in the NBA playoffs. Often times they lose their first round series 4-1. Many times they win game 1. They can't win the NBA title because the NBA playoffs are too good at finding the best team.

They can win the World Series and Superbowl because the playoff formats favor the lucky more than the good.

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Sorry, I don't think the Spurs even belong in that category at this point. I know, I'm biased and the Spur fans will crucify me for it, but they just don't have a team that matches well against either of the other two teams. This while admitting they're a far superior team to my preferred Rockets right now.

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The Spurs have two elite perimeter defenders and two great post players. Warriors don't have anyone that can guard LaMarcus or Gasol. Green is the closest thing they have, and he gives up a lot of size and strength to LMA/Gasol. Spurs match up well with the Cavs and Warriors right now.

Now the Heat are reportedly offering D-Wade 2 yrs 40 million after that initial 9 mill/yr offer

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Sorry, I don't think the Spurs even belong in that category at this point. I know, I'm biased and the Spur fans will crucify me for it, but they just don't have a team that matches well against either of the other two teams. This while admitting they're a far superior team to my preferred Rockets right now.

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The Spurs have two elite perimeter defenders and two great post players. Warriors don't have anyone that can guard LaMarcus or Gasol. Green is the closest thing they have, and he gives up a lot of size and strength to LMA/Gasol. Spurs match up well with the Cavs and Warriors right now.

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too bad the Spurs can't seem to get out of the first/second round so I doubt we'll ever see this happen

Shaun Livingston's option picked up by Warriors.

Matt Barnes rejoining Joerger and the Sac Kings (2/$12 mm), which is almost as much as he made in his first 11 years in the league.

I like the Pau move, but it still puts the Spurs behind the Warriors by a considerable margin.

Best hope for Spurs is to hope the depth outplays the Warriors tired spurts in a series.

There is going to be an adjustment for the Warriors due to lack of depth. They have had the luxury of taking 3rd and 4th quarters off during the regular season because of how deep they were. They could get a 15-20 point lead and let the bench come in and close it out.

I will be interested to see how it works out.

That sounds awfully Cuban-y

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It at least makes for an interesting contrast of styles. Post grind vs run and gun. The warriors have the most talented possible roster for the game they play, so I'm glad that the spurs are at least set up to exploit the one weakness GS has, which is jacks*** for posts. Over on the Spurs thread, we're hoping to find a third wing defender in our fairly large crop of euro and draft guards and forwards. And also for one or more Warriors to break a foot or start hanging out with Johnny Football.

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From my viewings...it gets real hard to beat the Warriors on the inside when Draymond and whomever else is allowed to play maul ball, and on the perimeter the whistles fly if you get too close to Curry (or Durant's) buffer space.


Yes...Cleveland showed that you can beat the Warriors by being physical, but they were also allowed to bump Curry.

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Sorry, I don't think the Spurs even belong in that category at this point. I know, I'm biased and the Spur fans will crucify me for it, but they just don't have a team that matches well against either of the other two teams. This while admitting they're a far superior team to my preferred Rockets right now.

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Eh, the Spurs could easily beat the Cavs and matchup very well, but not so much with GS.

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There is going to be an adjustment for the Warriors due to lack of depth. They have had the luxury of taking 3rd and 4th quarters off during the regular season because of how deep they were. They could get a 15-20 point lead and let the bench come in and close it out.

I will be interested to see how it works out.

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For the NBA PLAYOFFS (not talking regular season) I think player depth is mostly overrated in terms of actually advancing through the playoffs and winning the NBA Finals. There is always at least 1 game between games and often two games in the playoffs. Superstars ultimately win you championships, not the guys 9th, 10th, 11th on your bench.

The Warriors will have 5 All-Stars in Durant, Curry, Thompson, Green, Iguodala plus Livingston, the rookie 7-footer Damian Jones they just drafted, etc. They will add a few more pieces.

I agree they are a bit weak at center right now with only that Jones kid they just drafted (let's see what they do), but they can coast through the regular season getting say 60 wins (I don't see them bothering to go for 73 anymore) without running anybody into the ground and then they are absolutely loaded for the NBA playoffs.

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It at least makes for an interesting contrast of styles. Post grind vs run and gun. The warriors have the most talented possible roster for the game they play, so I'm glad that the spurs are at least set up to exploit the one weakness GS has, which is jacks*** for posts. Over on the Spurs thread, we're hoping to find a third wing defender in our fairly large crop of euro and draft guards and forwards. And also for one or more Warriors to break a foot or start hanging out with Johnny Football.

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From my viewings...it gets real hard to beat the Warriors on the inside when Draymond and whomever else is allowed to play maul ball, and on the perimeter the whistles fly if you get too close to Curry (or Durant's) buffer space.


Yes...Cleveland showed that you can beat the Warriors by being physical, but they were also allowed to bump Curry.

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The Cavs frequently aggressively double teamed Curry. And they partly got away with it a bunch because Harrison Barnes could not hit wide open shots (he played terrible). But now if they do that and Curry gets the ball to Green with 4 on 3 advantage (with two of those guys being Thompson and Durant) that is just sick. I really think teams will have an almost impossible time double teaming the Warriors now. As it is, they were up 3-1 on the Cavs and in that Game 5 there was no Green...and even then had Harrison Barnes been able to hit ANYTHING (the Cavs basically said okay Barnes you try to beat us) then it still without Green may have been Warriors in Five.

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Sorry, I don't think the Spurs even belong in that category at this point. I know, I'm biased and the Spur fans will crucify me for it, but they just don't have a team that matches well against either of the other two teams. This while admitting they're a far superior team to my preferred Rockets right now.

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Eh, the Spurs could easily beat the Cavs and matchup very well, but not so much with GS.

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Of course they could

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There is going to be an adjustment for the Warriors due to lack of depth. They have had the luxury of taking 3rd and 4th quarters off during the regular season because of how deep they were. They could get a 15-20 point lead and let the bench come in and close it out.

I will be interested to see how it works out.

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For the NBA PLAYOFFS (not talking regular season) I think player depth is mostly overrated in terms of actually advancing through the playoffs and winning the NBA Finals. There is always at least 1 game between games and often two games in the playoffs. Superstars ultimately win you championships, not the guys 9th, 10th, 11th on your bench.

The Warriors will have 5 All-Stars in Durant, Curry, Thompson, Green, Iguodala plus Livingston, the rookie 7-footer Damian Jones they just drafted, etc. They will add a few more pieces.

I agree they are a bit weak at center right now with only that Jones kid they just drafted (let's see what they do), but they can coast through the regular season getting say 60 wins (I don't see them bothering to go for 73 anymore) without running anybody into the ground and then they are absolutely loaded for the NBA playoffs.

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Depth overrated? The only reason the Warriors got to the Finals, nevertheless pushed it to 7 games, was because of their depth. Without their bench the Warriors are no better than the Clippers.

NBA Finals:
Game 1:
Warriors bench - 45 pts, 16 reb, 10 ast
Cavs bench - 10 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast

Game 2:
Warriors bench - 40 pts, 17 reb, 11 ast
Cavs bench - 30 pts, 13 reb, 3 ast

Game 3:
Warriors bench - 33 pts, 12 reb, 7 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast

Game 4:
Warriors bench - 22 pts, 13 reb, 9 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast

Game 5:
Warriors bench - 15 pts, 14 reb, 6 ast
Cavs bench - 12 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast

Game 6:
Warriors bench - 33 pts, 14 reb, 8 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast

Game 7:
Warriors bench - 16 pts, 14 reb, 7 ast
Cavs bench - 10 pts, 10 reb, 0 ast

So over the course of the series the Warriors bench was +97 points, +39 rebounds, +47 assists. Come on. Take that away and it's a 5 game series or a sweep for the Cavs.

There's no doubt adding Kevin Durant gives Golden State a lineup that is impossible to match up to, but they also just traded away/released the biggest advantage they had over every other team in the NBA.

Edit: You're right though that superstars ultimately win you championships. Good thing the Cavs still have the 2nd best player to ever don a basketball uniform. The Warriors should still be among the odds-on favorites to win the title, and they very well could cruise to it like you said, but let's not pretend like they just added a piece. They're losing at least 6 total players, 2 of which were starters, while the team that beat them lost only 2 backups.

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They're losing at least 6 total players, 2 of which were starters, while the team that beat them lost only 2 backups.

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They are losing Harrison Barnes, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and (nobody cares whoever else because they were not main guys in the rotation). Apparently word is that they are trying to resign Marreese Speights.

Okay...so let's look at losing Barnes, Bogut, and Ezeli. Barnes basically just got replaced by KEVIN DURANT. So nobody gives a flip about losing Barnes. UPGRADE. Barnes can now be overpaid by the Mavs.

So basically it comes down to losing Bogut and Ezeli. Losing their rotation at center. They did draft that 7-footer Vanderbilt kid Damion Jones probably in anticipation but they also need to somehow get a serviceable big who can maybe be a starter for them.

Do that and their main rotation is going to be

C - A guy they still need to sign who can start and protect the rim and doesn't need have much offensive skill but does need to be able to make dunks and layups
PF - Green
SF- Durant
SG - Thompson
PG - Curry

And then their bench will have Livingston, Iguodala, Marreese Speights, the rookie Damian Jones, plus whoever else (probably doesn't really matter much at that point).

They have work to do but this talk about their 'depth' going to be a major liability seems a bit premature. They need to go out and find a serviceable starting quality center who can replace some of the rim protection (and then that guy can be backed up by the rookie Jones) and they will STILL have an All-Star Iguodala coming off the bench not to mention Livingston and Speights. Plus they now have Kevin Durant.

Won't a serviceable starting center command $10 mil a year?

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NBA Finals:
Game 1:
Warriors bench - 45 pts, 16 reb, 10 ast
Cavs bench - 10 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast

Game 2:
Warriors bench - 40 pts, 17 reb, 11 ast
Cavs bench - 30 pts, 13 reb, 3 ast

Game 3:
Warriors bench - 33 pts, 12 reb, 7 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 12 reb, 4 ast

Game 4:
Warriors bench - 22 pts, 13 reb, 9 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 8 reb, 1 ast

Game 5:
Warriors bench - 15 pts, 14 reb, 6 ast
Cavs bench - 12 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast

Game 6:
Warriors bench - 33 pts, 14 reb, 8 ast
Cavs bench - 15 pts, 10 reb, 2 ast

Game 7:
Warriors bench - 16 pts, 14 reb, 7 ast
Cavs bench - 10 pts, 10 reb, 0 ast

So over the course of the series the Warriors bench was +97 points, +39 rebounds, +47 assists. Come on. Take that away and it's a 5 game series or a sweep for the Cavs.

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You make very good points here, but as a counterpoint, the Warriors are definitely going to keep Livingston, Igoudala, and apparently trying to resign Speights. So all those three guys may still be on the bench next year, and weren't they a huge part of the above bench production that you listed?

It really seems like losing Bogut and Ezeli (their rim protection) is the main issue. If they can find a guy who can start at center (not as good as Bogut but at least serviceable) and resign Speights and then just continue to bring Iguodala, Livingston, and Speights off the bench, plus that rookie Vandy kid Jones and whoever else (pu pu platter guys for garbage time) seems like they will be fine.

This solves their problem at Center.

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@WojVerticalNBA: RT @ShamsCharania: Vertical Sources: Free agent center Zaza Pachulia has agreed to a one-year, $2.9M deal to sign with the Golden State Warriors.

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This solves their problem at Center.

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@WojVerticalNBA: RT @ShamsCharania: Vertical Sources: Free agent center Zaza Pachulia has agreed to a one-year, $2.9M deal to sign with the Golden State Warriors.

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Yep. Looks like that is who they targeted as their veteran starting center replacing Bogut. Started 69 games for the Mavs last season.

Pachulia
Green
Durant
Thompson
Curry

and then Iguodala, Livingston, Speights, Damian Jones, and pu-pu platter off the bench.

One year 2.9?!?! What a bargain in this market

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Pachulia, who is 32 years old, spent the 2015-16 season with the Dallas Mavericks, after being traded there by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was Dallas' consolation prize after being spurned by DeAndre Jordan but early in the season he looked like an absolute steal. Before the All-Star game Pachulia averaged a double-double in 30 minutes a game and provided a solid inside presence on both ends. With his help, the Mavericks hovered above .500 and looked like a threat to get homecourt advantage in the playoffs.

As the months went by, however, Pachulia's performance started to waver. He had never logged over 2,000 minutes since the 2006-07 season when he was 22 years old and he started to break down. After the All-Star game Pachulia averaged just six points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes per game. He simply couldn't handle the minutes in such a big role.
Dallas' chances of being a threat in the first round of the postseason disappeared as its starting center declined.

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Sounds like GSW will be able to start him, but then just make sure to manage his minutes and not overwork him. Bogut played about 1500 minutes last season while Pachulia played 2004 minutes, so even if Pachulia just replaces Bogut's minutes then he is already going to have 25% less minutes than the Mavs were forcing him to play. So that doesn't seem like that will be a problem for GSW who can trot out the 'Death Lineup' or the rookie Jones or Speights etc. as alternatives. This looks like a GREAT pickup for the Warriors on paper. For 2.9 million you couldn't ask probably for a better get than they just got here.

I'm sure there will be a couple of more serviceable guys willing to play for the vet min and get a ring.

mavsfan4ever
adept

Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 864
Re: NBA Offseason 2016: Free Agency Begins
I agree the zaza signing seems like a huge bargain. He's a good passer and sets good off ball screens. He also hustles nonstop. But he's awful on offense in pick and roll and will get blocked multiple times a game down low. So I'm not sure how the fit will be.

Sorry, posted that from a nba site I post on so ignore the top part

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Mavs have signed Seth Curry. Now if they sign Jason Thompson and Gerald Green, they can start Bogut, Green, Barnes, Thompson and Curry.


(from Reddit)

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Even though Wade has shown the willingness to take less money, certainly not this much unless the Cavs jettisoned some players. I don't think the Cavs can afford it.

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Even though Wade has shown the willingness to take less money, certainly not this much unless the Cavs jettisoned some players. I don't think the Cavs can afford it.

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Only way to make it possible for anybody besides the Warriors to win the championship so I could see it