2018-19 NBA Thread

[33anda3rd]

is there a particular reason he doesn't like it there? are they not a good team? are KAT and wiggins not good teammates? contract reasons? apologies if this was made clear

KAT has all the tools and is Charmin soft. Houston series last year CP3 would get switched into KAT in the post and KAT was passing instead of taking the little guy to the rim. Gifted but no teeth.

[cardsfansince82]

is there a particular reason he doesn't like it there? are they not a good team? are KAT and wiggins not good teammates? contract reasons? apologies if this was made clear

Mostly saying that KAT and Wiggins don’t practice enough to get the most out of their talents and don’t play hard enough in games to win as much as they should. I haven’t watched KAT enough, but it’s definitely true for Wiggins. He has all the natural gifts in the world but won’t ever be a great player unless something changes.

[Tim]

Hornets are making the playoffs. Holla

Kemba in a contract year
New coach
Batum is due a good year
Bridges looks like a baller
Zeller will stay healthy

45-37

[lukethedrifter]

This year I’m gonna make an NBA game.

[33anda3rd]

Hornets are making the playoffs. Holla

Kemba in a contract year
New coach
Batum is due a good year
Bridges looks like a baller
Zeller will stay healthy

45-37

Much safer bet than this lone wager

The Charlotte Hornets have attracted the fewest bets to win the NBA title at the SuperBook, which, as of Monday, had accepted only one $50 wager on the Hornets at 300-1.

[Socnorb11]

Butler didn't get along with his teammates in Chicago either. His teams have never won, on an level, but it's always someone else's fault. Good player, but hasn't figured out how to make those around him better.

[33anda3rd]

Butler didn't get along with his teammates in Chicago either. His teams have never won, on an level, but it's always someone else's fault. Good player, but hasn't figured out how to make those around him better.

He's been in the league 7 years. His teams have gone to the playoffs 6 of them. He's never been on a team with a losing record and his teams have won 48 or more games (the equivalent of last year's Pacers/Thunder/Jazz) three of his 7 years in the league.

He missed 15 games in 2016 and the Bulls were 5-10 without him (.333) and they were 37-30 with him (.552.) That is the one time a Butler team missed the playoffs.
Last year the Wolves were 10-13 without him (.435) and 37-23 with him (.617). That was almost the 2nd time a Butler team missed the playoffs, and they only got in on the last day on the wins Jimmy racked up for them before he went down with that injury.

If by winning "on a level" you mean getting a ring, then I don't think that can be the yardstick. Almost every great non-Bulls player who peaked in the Jordan era didn't get a ring. Barkley, Malone, Stockton never got one. Guys like Drexler and David Robinson had to stay in the league well past their prime and win on teams in which they were not the best player. The great players of the current era who came into their peak during the LeBron/Dubs years are likely to go the Malone/Stockton route--Giannis looks unlikely to ever win a ring, ditto Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, James Harden, Westbrook, Lillard, Butler, Paul George, Jokic. Do Malone and Stockton get the designation of "not winners" and are they then not in the conversation of all-time Great-with-a-capital-G players? The Bucks record since Giannis came into the league is 175-235, do we discount his talent because his team is a loser? Can Giannis not win? Chris Bosh has a couple rings, is Chris Bosh > Jimmy Butler?

[Socnorb11]

Without looking, has Butler ever advanced beyond Round1 of the playoffs? He's a good player, so his teams will typically perform better with him than they will with a bench player in his place. He's getting paid to carry teams, and all he ever does is make excuses.

[33anda3rd]

Yes he's been out of the first round, twice, but again why does that matter for a player not on a mega-team in an era of mega-teams?

Giannis has never been out of the first round. Is Giannis not very good?

We can't say KD rigs the system, LeBron is a little b---h for going to Miami, or that it's not fair for the league that Boogie went to the Bay, and bemoan the state of an "unfair" league, then also say that Butler's not that good because he's only been out of the first round of the playoffs twice in seven years in that unfair/rigged league.

The NBA, with the exception of a few short spans here and there, has always been a league of mega-teams whether it's the old Russell Celtics/Wilt Lakers, the 80s Celtics/Lakers, the Bulls, the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, the Duncan/Kawhi/Manu Spurs, or the Dubs now. When we start measuring awesome players by their team success in a league that is defined by its mega-teams we're not doing justice to the discussion of player value.

[thrill]

It's not that we equate individual value with team playoff success, it's that Jimmy is talking mad [expletive] about how he's a "winner" and KAT and co are not. You could make a case for he has a "winner's mentality," whatever that means, but it's pretty hard to listen to him crow about how he's a winner when he's never won a single meaningful thing in the NBA.