NBA Thread

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Congrats to Eric "Ej"Gordon and the Houston Rockets. "6th Man Finalist"

[Hoosierfan2017]

Kyrie Irving is a bad man. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

2017 NBA Draft: Is Indiana’s OG Anunoby worth the risk for the Heat at No. 14?

http://heatzone.blog.palmbeachpost.com/2017/05/24/2017-nba-draft-is-indianas-og-anunoby-worth-the-risk-for-the-heat-at-no-14/

[Dalton26]

Pass on OG at 14.

[Hoosierfan2017]

LeBron is now 28 points away from breaking Michael Jordan's playoff scoring record. LeBron has played 211 playoff games to Jordan's 179, taken 4361 shots to Jordan's 4497, and 1933 free throws to Jordan's 1766. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

The big difference in games played comes largely from each of their first three years in the playoffs. Jordan played 10 total games during that span, while LeBron played 46. Since then LeBron has averaged 18.3 games per playoffs, compared to 16.9 for Jordan. Give Jordan an extra game per year due to the 1st round being best of 5 back then and the two have essentially played the same number of games in the playoffs each year after their first three.

There's not really any point to this lol, but I'm bored waiting for the game to start and was looking this up so I felt like sharing. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

James Jones makes it to his 7th straight NBA Finals!

[Brass Cannon]

3 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

James Jones makes it to his 7th straight NBA Finals!

Not saying he owes his career to the brawl but the guy probably should be sending a christmas card every year to the guy that threw the beer

[HoosierAloha]

What will the media talk and write about now that the series they've been talking and writing about is FINALLY here?!

[Hoosierfan2017]

7 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

Not saying he owes his career to the brawl but the guy probably should be sending a christmas card every year to the guy that threw the beer

I never knew that about him and the brawl, but I just looked it up and it's really interesting. I was only 10 at the time and my parents tried keeping me from watching anything brawl related after it happened. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

I'm curious to see if Boston continued their process of slow and steady improvement or if they trade this year's pick to try and get someone to compete for championships now. 

[HoosierAloha]

I'm curious to see if Boston continued their process of slow and steady improvement or if they trade this year's pick to try and get someone to compete for championships now. 

They seem to have options which is always a good thing. Smart and Bradley seem like solid bench/role players on a competing team. Crowder, Horford, and Olynik could do the same in the front court.

They could go after Heyward to pair with Thomas and Brown to give them a good 1-2-3 in the near future. Do they trade the 1 to go after a 4/5 or do they take Fultz and try to trade Thomas for that 4/5?

They have options that should have them competing for the East for the foreseeable future. The East is weak but Boston should be better after the next few years.

[Hoosierfan2017]

54 minutes ago, HoosierAloha said:

They seem to have options which is always a good thing. Smart and Bradley seem like solid bench/role players on a competing team. Crowder, Horford, and Olynik could do the same in the front court.

They could go after Heyward to pair with Thomas and Brown to give them a good 1-2-3 in the near future. Do they trade the 1 to go after a 4/5 or do they take Fultz and try to trade Thomas for that 4/5?

They have options that should have them competing for the East for the foreseeable future. The East is weak but Boston should be better after the next few years.

They're in a great position to take over the East as Cleveland declines, but sometimes crap happens and things don't always go according to plan so I could see them getting antsy and making moves to compete for championships now. They're a superstar and a quality rim protector away from that, imo. Right now they have a team that can win a ton of games in the regular season but come playoff time they're not there yet. 

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Thomas. He has a year left on his contract and I assume he's gonna want the max when he hits free agency. Personally if I was Boston I wouldn't give it to him. He's 28 and we've seen how little guys like him break down earlier than bigger players. I would try trading him now while his value is up coming off his great regular season. Draft Fultz, use the Brad Stevens connection to try and get Hayward, and then try trading Thomas for a big is what I would do.

[johnsoniu]

11 hours ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

I never knew that about him and the brawl, but I just looked it up and it's really interesting. I was only 10 at the time and my parents tried keeping me from watching anything brawl related after it happened. 

This is an excellent article on the brawl from Grantland  http://grantland.com/features/an-oral-history-malice-palace/

Why ESPN has not used that article as the framework for a 30 for 30 piece is baffling. And if it is because they are bowing to pressure from the boys in the NBA ivory tower, I have no respect for that network left.

[Hoosierfan2017]

Steve Kerr's status is still up in the air. Golden State is a well-oiled machine, but Mike Brown is a really bad coach. If any games come down to crunch time that could end up hurting them. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Maybe a change is finally coming. 

Adam Silver Tells Colin Cowherd The NBA Is Still Tackling One-And-Dones

NBA commissioner Adam Silver hinted at the possibility of substantial changes to the requirements for players to enter the NBA Draft that could have a significant impact on Indiana and other college basketball programs.

Appearing on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on FoxSports, Silver said he and other NBA executive leaders are looking to end the "one and done" era of college basketball.

The two schools of thought are either moving the minimum age to enter the draft up to 20 (which Silver has supported previously) or to move the minimum age down to 18 (which is what the NBA Players Union continues to support).

Cowherd called college one-and-done players a "charade of college basketball." He suggested to Stern that he expand the NBA D-League, which will soon be called the G-League for the Gatorade League.

And Silver didn't shoot it down.

"This may surprise you, but I'm rethinking my position," Silver said.

Silver took the conversation one level deeper and said that one-and-done players are, in some cases, not even attending college for one year. He said that some of the top players enroll into classes but then stop attending those classes as soon as they are eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.

Former LSU star Ben Simmons was his prime example en route to being a No. 1 overall pick.

"In essence, it's a half-and-done in a way," Silver said. "It's a half a school year and then go on."

Silver admitted he doesn't know Simmons well but said he doesn't blame him or LSU for what happened in his career. He simply followed the rules as best he could to get to where he wanted to go.

Silver also questioned whether or not college campuses were truly the best place for these young players to grow on the floor. saying their growth may be stunted in some cases.

"It's amazing. There's very little movement. If you look at the draft projections for these players going into their first years of college, it holds fairly true," Silver said. "Maybe there's a little bit of movement, but these young men, they're followed so closely from the time their 13 or 14 on. They're at the major shoe company summer camps. They're being watched closely by the league, by the college scouts...Their biggest concern, unfortunately, becomes not whether they win the NCAA Tournament but whether they drop in the NCAA Draft."

Silver said only a couple of players were true "one-and-dones" when the rules changed roughly a decade ago to move the minimum draft age from 18 to 19 year sold. This year, Silver said he expects to see about 20 drafted among the 60 picks.

Indiana hasn't had a one-and-done since Noah Vonleh who was drafted No. 9 overall by the Charlotte Hornets in 2014. Eric Gordon was a one-and-done having spent only the 2007-08 season at Indiana before being drafted No. 7 overall by the Los Angeles Clippers.

Sophomore OG Anunoby is expected to perhaps be a lottery pick this season. Fellow sophomore Thomas Bryant projects to be taken much later in the draft while junior James Blackmon Jr. is likely going to miss out on being selected altogether.

Bryant and Blackmon were both former five-star prospects as analyzed by Rivals.com, but former Hoosier head coach Tom Crean either didn't actively pursue or wasn't able to land players who clearly wanted to be one-and-done prospects.

Crean did, however, end up among the teams sitting empty handed in the race to land Thon Maker, who wound up never playing in college after a fairly wild recruitment.

Whatever Silver opts to do, it'll impact college basketball. If he truly wants to use the NBA G-League (formerly the D-League) the go-to place for player development, the college game would be crippled significantly. It would also change the way coaches recruit players and how scholarships are planned to be used.

If anything, Silver made one thing clear amid all the opinions surrounding how to deal with one-and-dones: he's listening to options.

"I think we've got to rethink it," Silver said.

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Something needs to change. It's ridiculous.


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[Hollywood Mike Miranda]

Agreed. I realize the age limit is an NBA rule, but the NCAA is obviously blinded by all the revenue and in no hurry to to put their foot down when it comes to 1-and-done kids pretending to be "student" athletes. I'm all in favor of an expanded D-League or no age requirement at all.

[Hoosierfan2017]

Golden State is getting away with everything. 

[Defenserocks28]

On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 11:15 PM, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Draymond played the last two games, both L's. 

Understood.  My point was that, if he played in Game 5, I have little doubt that Golden State would have won.  They had all the momentum and would have closed out the series.  It's crazy to think how different the league might have been right now if he hadn't done that kick.  Golden State wins game 5.  Durant doesn't go to GS (he said he went because GS lost).  LeBron probably forces a trade of Kevin Love and the Cleveland roster is changed dramatically. One little kick...superstars move.