2015-16 NBA Thread (feat. the Wives)

Agreed. And I really like how those two teams have brought back the primacy of passing and off ball movement. I never much liked Phil Jackson's triangle offense with its emphasis on iso-ball where so many possessions resulted in four guys watching one superstar (usually Jordan or Kobe) pound the ball and take on the world. But the problem is you couldn't really knock it because Jackson kept winning championships with that approach.

But with these Warriors and Spurs the ball's constantly zipping around from one player to another, everyone's moving without the ball and looking for their teammates, all five guys are touching it on the same possession. It's a joy to watch. By far the two best passing teams are now also by far the two best teams, just like it was back in the 80s with the Celts/Lakers.

 

Luke Walton and David Blatt should receive some votes for coach of the year.

Did the Cavs add an assistant coach when Leu was promoted? They only have 5 assistant coaches now.

 

Red Holzman's Knicks, everyone could shoot, everyone could score, everyone could pass, everyone could rebound and everyone could play defense. And everyone did.

 

How long ago was it that golden state fired their successful coach?

 

Or when Shaq made Van Gundy want to spend time with his family?

 

Not by player demands. That was an ownership call all the way. They had to go out of their way to smooth things over with players afterward, in fact.

I would think the Warriors' 125-24 record, with the exact same roster, would justify that move. Your opinion may vary.

 

Mark Jackson was a bible-thumping hypocrite who was sending dick pics to strippers.

Hoops star extorted over pics: Feds

 

Bob Ryan got suspended by ESPN for calling Jackson a "Bible-pounding phony." Too close to the truth, I guess.

 

The Rockets shot 31 free throws in the first half and trailed by 20.

 

Other thing about last night's Spurs-Rockets game, the Rockets have an awful shot at the line -- Capela -- so after a Spurs make Green runs out of bounds to foul Capela with 7.1 seconds to go in the 1st quarter. Never saw that before, where a player goes out of bounds to foul the inbounder. Van Gundy's aghast hit record levels.

 

The Spurs were intentionally fouling shitty free thrower Clint Capela.

 

While it's true that there is more of an emphasis on passing with the Warriors and Spurs than some other teams, ultimately, they're still teams with uniquely talented guys like Curry, Green, Thompson, Aldridge and Leonard. Just like the 1980s Lakers and Celtics had players who were great passers. (Also: Lebron is a pretty damn good passer.) I think the best-run teams do their best to accentuate their strengths, as opposed to obsessing over their weaknesses, which is probably why the Warriors didn't trade for Love last year to be more "conventional."