2014-2015 NBA season thread

[Dime_On_Flames]

LeBron has quietly taken his game to the next level. The Cavs without Verajo, Love and an injured Irving are on the verge of a sweep into the Finals.

He learned how to win in Miami and now that he's the clear cut leader of the team he's making everyone around him better.

The King is here!

[Senator Clay Davis]

5 Finals in a row for LeBron is a pretty remarkable run, even in the watered down East. Key to the Cavs season was trading for Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. And Tristan Thompson earning himself some big money with some big play. Amazing how this year almost everyone will be rooting for LeBron as opposed to the Miami years.

[kmart]

Thought Lebron and the Cavs had a good shot at the finals playing a weak Celtics team, a shadow of Rose's former self, and an injury riddled Atlanta team. They had an easy path with Lebron playing against middle rated defences. Still an impressive feat to make it to the finals for 5 years straight though.

I honestly think the finals will be a Warriors dominance, they are far and away the best team this year and also the best defensively (even Stephen Curry turned into an above average defender). Lebron won't have it quite as easy against the Warriors, they are deep and have multiple defenders that can guard him. I think it'll be Warriors in 5.

Hindsight the Cavs never should have traded Wiggins, with Love being a UFA. They were due to make it out of the East with or without Love.

[darklord700]

The East is weak and has no answer for LBJ. But it is still impressive to have won the last 7 games by the Cavs. No doubt the dubs will be favored in the Finals against the Cavs. But I think the injury to Love actually allowed TT to blossom to a player that the Cavs need.

If Kyrie's knee is healed, I wouldn't write off the Cavs so fast. The dubs and the Cavs play similar games and I think the gap between the two in the Finals would be smaller than it on paper.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

5 Finals in a row for LeBron is a pretty remarkable run, even in the watered down East. Key to the Cavs season was trading for Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. And Tristan Thompson earning himself some big money with some big play. Amazing how this year almost everyone will be rooting for LeBron as opposed to the Miami years.

If it is Houston they play then yes.

People tend to like Steph Curry a lot though and Golden State's style of play.

[darklord700]

I found the tender ages of the Dubs main players a little disconcerting. Steph is the oldest main player and he is only 26, Klay and Draymond are 24, and Barnes is 22. Has a team with it's main players this young ever won an NBA championship?

[kmart]

Originally Posted by darklord700

I found the tender ages of the Dubs main players a little disconcerting. Steph is the oldest main player and he is only 26, Klay and Draymond are 24, and Barnes is 22. Has a team with it's main players this young ever won an NBA championship?

I would put Bogut ahead of Barnes in terms of core and importance, so overall they aren't really that old.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by darklord700

The East is weak and has no answer for LBJ. But it is still impressive to have won the last 7 games by the Cavs. No doubt the dubs will be favored in the Finals against the Cavs. But I think the injury to Love actually allowed TT to blossom to a player that the Cavs need.

If Kyrie's knee is healed, I wouldn't write off the Cavs so fast. The dubs and the Cavs play similar games and I think the gap between the two in the Finals would be smaller than it on paper.

While Kyrie and TT are blossoming into players, they still lack the ability to play excellent defense, which means Lebron will have to chase Klay and they put Kyrie on Barnes, which isn't the best match up. TT won't have it as easy rebounding against the Dubs either.

The Cavs have major flaws were covered up playing against teams from the east with lack of depth; Atlanta with injuries, Chicago' and their lack of a SF who could play both sides of the ball, and a weak Celtics team overall. Playing the Dubs means no margin for error, their offense will expose any lapse in defence and the amount of two way players they have means the offence needs to be on point.

[Hockey_Ninja]

I saw this on Twitter. Take it however you want:

Spoiler!

[Senator Clay Davis]

I take it to mean LeBron played in the Eastern Conference between 2004 and 2016. It surprises me that we haven't seen more guys head East as free agents because it's so much easier. Only Cleveland and Chicago would have definitely made the playoffs out West, while Utah, OKC and Phoenix all probably make it playing in the East. That's part of why I think Durant to DC is very possible.

[darklord700]

Cleveland should just play LBJ 50% next year to save him for playoff. Between a healthy LBJ and home court, the former is more important.

[SuperMatt18]

Yeah stats like that are tough, hard to fault a guy for playing in the Eastern conference in a league with a salary cap.

The real argument against Lebron is that he has a losing record in the Finals, and if he loses this year that would really put a tarnish on his legacy.

Lebron: 2-3
Jordan: 6-0
Magic: 5 - 4
Bird: 3 - 2
Kobe: 5 - 2

I would think though that Lebron has never had a teammate as good as Pippen, Kareem, Worthy, Parish, Mchale, Walton or Shaq. All guys who are Hall of Famers and were named in the top 50 players of all time, Wade would be the closest but his knees were on borrowed time already.

[Imported_Aussie]

Originally Posted by kmart

While Kyrie and TT are blossoming into players, they still lack the ability to play excellent defense, which means Lebron will have to chase Klay and they put Kyrie on Barnes, which isn't the best match up. TT won't have it as easy rebounding against the Dubs either.

The Cavs have major flaws were covered up playing against teams from the east with lack of depth; Atlanta with injuries, Chicago' and their lack of a SF who could play both sides of the ball, and a weak Celtics team overall. Playing the Dubs means no margin for error, their offense will expose any lapse in defence and the amount of two way players they have means the offence needs to be on point.

I can see Shumpert playing at the 2 and guarding Curry to try to slow him down, throwing Dellavedova on in bursts too. Shumpert is also big enough to cover Thompson. LeBron will take the hot hand between Barnes and Thompson. That means Irving would have to mark up a bigger guy, or get cycled on/off the floor.
Inside, Bogut and Mozgov take each other, get a couple of fouls, then both teams go to a small ball game.
I can see Golden State sending Iguoudala out to defend LeBron, so it will be a good battle between coaches to get the best units out there at different times of the game.

What it comes down to for me is Curry - if Cleveland can even slow him up a but, they have a shot. But this guy will shoot lights out if you give him room, if you cover tight, he can make killer passes and he gets great screens set by his teammates to break open. He is kind of like Nash in his prime, but with a better shot, and Nash was a bit better passer.
LeBron will win at least 1 game all on his own, probably one of the home games. This series will go 6 games minimum IMO

[darklord700]

The question is why aren't more FA playing in the East like LBJ does?

The last few notable FAs, CP3, Harden and Dwight Howard all signed to Western terms. I guess the reason are they don't want to play for bad teams in the East so the better Western terms are getting better.

LBJ's losing records in the Finals are probably the testament of this strategy. You can get to the Finals easier in the East but winning against the better Western teams is still tough.

If not for the Ray Allen's miracle 3, LBJ's Finals record will be a putrid 1-4 so far.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by Imported_Aussie

I can see Shumpert playing at the 2 and guarding Curry to try to slow him down, throwing Dellavedova on in bursts too. Shumpert is also big enough to cover Thompson. LeBron will take the hot hand between Barnes and Thompson. That means Irving would have to mark up a bigger guy, or get cycled on/off the floor.
Inside, Bogut and Mozgov take each other, get a couple of fouls, then both teams go to a small ball game.
I can see Golden State sending Iguoudala out to defend LeBron, so it will be a good battle between coaches to get the best units out there at different times of the game.

What it comes down to for me is Curry - if Cleveland can even slow him up a but, they have a shot. But this guy will shoot lights out if you give him room, if you cover tight, he can make killer passes and he gets great screens set by his teammates to break open. He is kind of like Nash in his prime, but with a better shot, and Nash was a bit better passer.
LeBron will win at least 1 game all on his own, probably one of the home games. This series will go 6 games minimum IMO

Good points but the Warriors match up so well against the Cavs. If you have Kyrie guarding Barnes or Thompson its a nightmare. He's not a great defender or anything close to a good defender.

I think the key for me is Draymond Green, Green alone stops the Warriors to having to adjust for Lebron playing the 4 because he can guard all positions, a luxury that Altanta did not have forcing a Lebron Milsap matchup (easy triple doubles). Add Green to the amount of 6"7 two way wing players that the Warriors carry and you're looking at a nightmare for Kyrie and even Smith. You can also hide Curry on Shumpert and Delly keeping him fresh as well.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by darklord700

The question is why aren't more FA playing in the East like LBJ does?

The last few notable FAs, CP3, Harden and Dwight Howard all signed to Western terms. I guess the reason are they don't want to play for bad teams in the East so the better Western terms are getting better.

LBJ's losing records in the Finals are probably the testament of this strategy. You can get to the Finals easier in the East but winning against the better Western teams is still tough.

If not for the Ray Allen's miracle 3, LBJ's Finals record will be a putrid 1-4 so far.

There aren't enough formidable all stars on east teams for them to go to. Other than Lebron who else would you want to play with? The obvious one is the up and coming John Wall ( but it seems Durant may join them). After that there's the often injured Rose with a pretty good Jimmy Butler, and the recovering Pacer in Paul George. Atlanta so far is a one year wonder, and who really cares about Lowry and Derozan? That's without taking cap situations into consideration as well, so Chicago is definitely out of the equation.

Overall nothing really appealing

[bluejays]

I'm going for GS in 5. Lebron has been really good these playoffs, but if his past playoff performances are any indication, in big games when he's really needed he cowers. GS is just too fast and too deep.

Plus, I just can't root for Cleveland's ownership.

[OzSome]

Before the Cavs traded Wiggins and Bennett, I was going to be rooting for them even though I hated Lebron James(while playing for the Heat with Bosh and Wade). After those two got traded, I went back to hating the team Lebron is playing for. Anyways, I just love watching Stephen Curry plays and I have been rooting for Golden State Warriors since the playoff started. I think GS will win the series in 5 unless Irving and Kevin Love comes back. Cleveland do not have the depth GS have.

Go WARRIORS!!

[killer_carlson]

Call me crazy but I think Bogut has a huge series. I dont think there is anyone on Cleveland who can stop him

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

Call me crazy but I think Bogut has a huge series. I dont think there is anyone on Cleveland who can stop him

I think you are crazy my friend. Bogut is a shadow of his former self and Mazgof can guard him. I actually think the Cavs match up pretty well with GS's small ball and fast break attack. GS should still be favoured but if the Cavs can slow down GS's quick offense and force them into half court sets, it could be a tight series to watch.