NBA 2017 - 2018

Since we’re in the midst of free agency and Summer League, figure it’s time for a new thread!

As I write this, JJ Redick has just signed w/ the 76ers on a 1 year deal, to join Fultz, Embiid, and Simmons. A great vet to work w/ the young guys, and space the floor.

The '17-'18 landscape is still shaking out, but we have…

Chris Paul joining the Rockets.
Paul George w/ Westbrook on the Thunder.
Butler and Teague joining Wiggins and KAT on the T-Wolves.
Rubio on the Jazz

All in all… looks like another easy championship for the Dubs, but hey, there could be some fun moments along the way. And Phil Jackson is gone. Yay!

Yeah so far it is hard to see how anyone challenges the Warriors in the post season. Looking like Iguodala is back with GS. Yay…

West v East gap widens even more with PG going to OKC and Butler going to the Twolves. Shitty. They really need to seed the post-season 1-16. It would result in a way better post-season from the second round on.

Damn, Iggy used the Rockets so hard…

And Millsap is now with the Nuggets, so that’s another Eastern conference All-Star that’s made the move west.

It feels like we’re at the point where the West is the major and the East is the minor league.

What’s the eastern conference All Star team going to look like? Like, actually.

From last seasons all NBA teams and Eastern conference Representatives:
1st team: 1 (LeBron)
2nd team: 1 (Giannis)
3rd team: 3 (IT, Wall, DeRozan)

Yikes

I guess Lowery or Melo could make it again. Perhaps Porzingis could make a few strides this year. Beal, Whiteside…Embiid?

Yeah, a wide gap, and there will be quite a few all-star snubs out West next season.

Add in Irving and Love (assuming he doesn’t get traded out west). Kemba? Possibly Whiteside with the lack of big men

There are plenty of options for the All-Star team. They just won’t be top 15 players like everyone (but LeBron) in the West.

Kind of great.

ESPN argues that the West could field a second team of All-Stars that is stronger than the East’s All-Star team.

Umm… I wonder if this concerns Adam Silver.

If it does, he’ll just turn it into a US vs. the World game or something.

I don’t care about the all star game, but it’s going to pose a problem with the way the playoffs are structured. There’s going to be some trash teams making the playoffs in the East with some good teams being left out in the cold in the West.

I think they need to consider a 1-16 seeding.

Clearly the league needs to incentivize players to stop running to the West to get away from Lebron.

More seriously, any talks of 1-16 seeding need to begin with balancing the schedule (though credit the NBA for not being as bad as MLB in this regard). I’ve never really felt much in the way of division rivalries the way I do baseball and football so given that travel isn’t as much of a barrier these days it probably wouldn’t be a big deal?

East vs West…in the last 17 years the East has won more games vs the West exactly 1 time. The NBA needs to address this.

Just when you thought the Knicks were returning to sanity, they offered Tim Hardaway Jr, who they traded away to Atlanta two years ago, $71 million guaranteed, which is like $30 million more than what Atlanta was thinking of offering him. Remember, they flipped him for a player who they ended up trading (along with two others) to get Derek Rose. Now, to afford THJ, they’re going to get rid of Rose.

If they had simply kept him all this time, he’d still be on his rookie contract and they’d be able to extend him for (relatively) peanuts.

*and we’re not even touching on the drama that was Derek Fisher as Knicks coach. He was, seriously, hitting on (and sleeping with) the wives and girlfriends of his players, THJ’s included.

As an active Knicks fan of nigh 40 years, I can assure you, fans thought no such thing.

THJ missed every meaningful shot for NYK 2 years ago. Then, when the Knicks were a lock for the #1 lottery spot to get Towns, he hits two game winners in the last week of the season. Can’t even lose properly.

It’s beyond a joke at this point. If they’d traded KP, I’d have happily walked away. It would be such a relief!

As it is, I can’t care about this latest ridiculous move. Signing THJ to that contract is a sign of going full-on Hinkie & The Process, which I fully endorse!

Kyrie Irving told the Cavs that he wants to be traded and does not want to play with LeBron anymore.

Insanity. This league is crazy.

They should trade LeBron instead since he will probably leave.

He wants to be more of a focal point…

Cavs are atrocious without Lebron, and Kyrie is a bad defensive player, and a fairly inefficient scorer despite his dazzling moves. He’s not gonna be a better focal point than Carmelo has ever been. He can be the 2nd or 3rd best guy on a team.

Curious to see how this plays out!

I read this as Kyrie knows or at least feels strongly that Lebron is not going to re-up with the Cavs.

edit: I think Carmelo is a waste of a roster spot at his price and Kyrie is a much better player than him, especially now, but even at Carmelo’s peak. Carmelo has been awful in the NBA in terms of winning.