2016-17 Running NBA Thread

This is getting dangerously close to 93Devillian, "The Heat should trade LeBron after 10 games" territory.

 

No he does not. Nobody does.

 

They're 36-5. Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that it was no gimme that they were going to add Durant and start off 41-0, or win 76 games. It's not like they didn't lose anyone from last year's team. What would be satisfactory? We all saw how long it took the Heat stars to find their roles. It's perfectly reasonable to examine how the Warriors are gelling with this collection of players halfway into the season. The alarmist tones of the pieces are absolutely ridiculous, though. They are 36-5.

 

When playoff time comes, you are going to be a better team with Durant than Barnes and Bogut.

 

Sports writers establish that the Durant deal ruined the competitive balance of the league.

Then, when it didn't, sports writers get to write that it's a Big Story that it didn't.

Good work if you can get it.

 

Not compared to 2017 LeBron.

Compared to LeBron this early in his career? Absolutely.

 

Well, I will wait and see. That is awfully high praise.

 

I didn't take it as alarmist, at least not the Strauss piece you linked. (I guess I don't know what you mean by "pieces" then, because I'm only working off the one.) It's just factual though that they haven't taken the league by storm as many expected. although that was an unrealistic expectation. It's also factual that Curry's numbers are down. And anecdotally, there has been some confusion particularly at the end of games. One of those games featured Green screaming at Durant to get out of Curry's way.

 

It wasn't sportswriters. It was owners and front-office people throughout the league.

Silver: Impact of Durant joining GSW a concern

Lo and behold, the next CBA features something known as the Kevin Durant Rule to further incentivize stars to stay put.

 

What will be interesting to see is how his rebounding prowess is affected by him actually giving a shit about defending someone.

Also, how effective a point guard he will be once he finds his outside shot.

What made LeBron special is how seamlessly he integrated all of those improvements into his game.

 

What if they rampage through the playoffs? Will it matter that they only started 36-5?

 

35-6, but ... once the playoffs come around it really won't matter if they were 41-0 or 0-41. I did not realize that every story that goes up on the Internet must assess the historical impact. But the truth is there have been some bumps in the road and players don't quite fit together as smoothly as some people thought, or as smoothly as they most likely will eventually. It's a true story now.

You seem to be forgetting that except for one nut-tickle and the ensuing suspension, we'd be talking about a team coming off one of the two best two-season runs in NBA history.