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NBA thread 2017-18 v. I dub thee champions

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black_biff_stadler:
The NBA media and its fans seem fairly close to considering this team the champs for at least the next 2-3 years without any legit chance of anyone stopping them. Obviously injuries, the free agent market, and other teams' improvements can affect this but aside from the Cavs and Spurs, the rest of the NBA appears to be a serious step behind them.

The Celtics and Rockets are probably the next closest teams with a chance to contend but they don't scare me in the least at the moment. If Isaiah Thomas can stay healthy, the C's have a great chance to make it back to the ECF and possibly knock off the Cavs if they get complacent or for whatever other reason don't play up to their potential. I think that a full-strength Cavs playing to their full potential, however, easily dispatches of them next season no matter what they do unless they pull something crazy and get a huge name in free agency but I'm not even aware of anyone huge being up for grabs this offseason (didn't research that so fill me in if I'm wrong.)

As for the west, the Rockets are the only remote threat to the Warriors/Spurs stranglehold on the conference. If Kawhi stays healthy, you can almost bet the farm on them getting 60 wins and either a 1 or 2 seed. The Warriors show no signs of slowing down either and have validated their strength as a team to the point where people were pondering whether or not they were the greatest team ever despite being 6 games worse than their previous season. Kinda reminds me of the current Spurs and Doc Rivers era Celtics in that they were confident enough in their postseason experience to not stress racking up the highest possible win total (though tying the 7th best regular season record is by no means a disappointment) as long as they stayed healthy and could floor it come April.

The unfortunate thing is that this makes the conversation about the potential 3-8 seeds in each conference a far less interesting conversation since it seems like there's a very minute chance of any of them making their conference's finals round let alone appearing in the finals or dare I say winning that.

bosk1:

--- Quote from: black_floyd on June 15, 2017, 10:53:36 PM ---The NBA media and its fans seem fairly close to considering this team the champs for at least the next 2-3 years without any legit chance of anyone stopping them. Obviously injuries, the free agent market, and other teams' improvements can affect this but aside from the Cavs and Spurs, the rest of the NBA appears to be a serious step behind them.
--- End quote ---

That mindset is pretty typical after a championship, and that's pretty much true in every major sport.  Moreso when the team has had proven success over successive seasons like the Warriors have now had and are in a position to keep their key pieces in place like the Warriors now are.  Personally, I'd love to see them go on a three-peat run before this group starts to break up just because that is so rare and hard to do.  But I think they have the ability, talent, coaching, and playing style to do it. 

But as far as what other teams will do, hard to say.  The Spurs will be there because they have the players and coach that can make something happen.  I think the Celtics and Clippers will transform into completely different teams over the next few years, and they seem to have the will and the pieces in place to perhaps turn that into something successful.  And you never know when another team is going to put something together and rise up. 

All I can say for sure is, despite some SERIOUS organizational flaws at the highest levels, the NBA has become fun again over the last few years for the first time in a long time. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll also say, old thread here:  https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=47627.840

I locked it since Josh started this new one.  But some good discussion was still ongoing at the end on the last page.  If anyone wants to continue, feel free to copy/paste from that thread.

contest_sanity:
How could you possibly start a new thread when the 2017 NBA Awards on TNT have yet to air? I'm really not ready to move on until I've seen Drake announce "assist of the year."

Nekov:
If the Celtics can manage to lure Gordon Hayward they might have a chance, same thing for the Spurs if they can somehow get CP3. The rest of the league doesn't stand a chance.
As far as the Cavs, I think they can do better with the same team if they change the way they play. As I said in the last thread they were doing waaaaay too much ISO and not getting the bench involved properly and were not getting the warriors tired on defense. Lebron spent half the season complaining about how they needed another playmaker, they went ahead and got Deron Williams and during the playoffs he was basically a guy who stood in the corner waiting for a 3. They would be better off with a good coach but since Lebron likes Lue I don't think that will change.
So yeah, I think the Dubs are in for a couple more championships before anyone can really contest.

bosk1:

--- Quote from: Nekov on June 16, 2017, 09:12:37 AM ---If the Celtics can manage to lure Gordon Hayward they might have a chance, same thing for the Spurs if they can somehow get CP3. The rest of the league doesn't stand a chance.
As far as the Cavs, I think they can do better with the same team if they change the way they play. As I said in the last thread they were doing waaaaay too much ISO and not getting the bench involved properly and were not getting the warriors tired on defense. Lebron spent half the season complaining about how they needed another playmaker, they went ahead and got Deron Williams and during the playoffs he was basically a guy who stood in the corner waiting for a 3. They would be better off with a good coach but since Lebron likes Lue I don't think that will change.
So yeah, I think the Dubs are in for a couple more championships before anyone can really contest.

--- End quote ---
What was really interesting in the last 2 games is that the Warriors were playing GREAT defense, and the Cavs were STILL scoring out of their minds.  I can't count how many times I would say, for example, Klay on Kyrie, LeBron, or whoever like a blanket, and he would play near-perfect defense and force them into a crazy shot, and they would STILL make the bucket.  Or J.R. Smith covered on the perimeter to the point where, if your name isn't Curry, you do NOT launch that 3-pointer--and he would throw it up and have it go in anyway.  There was a lot of that in the last 2 games.  The question is, no matter what they do, can they sustain that in an entire series against the Warriors?  If they can, I would give them a shot against anybody.

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