2018-2019 NBA Regular Season Thread

[DJ Fieri]

I thought this deserved its own post.

So I help coach high school basketball as a hobby. Defintely not as into it as I used to be.

But, I coached at a powerhouse private school for 7 seasons from 2006 to 2014. We had dozens of college coaches from all levels coming through our gym to recruit players on a weekly basis. Over that time, I made quite a few connections in the basketball community.

The father of one of our players was a high level staffer with the Wolves during the Kevin Love era. Not going to say his name because the stories he told were not meant for public consumption. But he told me that Love was an awful teammate. The year he got hurt and missed most of the season, he would berate teammates behind the scenes whenever he got the opportunity. Calling his teammates "trash", saying they were "nothing without him". Things like that. On a daily basis.

While I am sure the team culture, and Love's desire to leave Minnesota had something to do with his attitude, Love sure didn't make things better from a leadership standpoint. It wasn't until they brought in vets like Kevin Martin, and until Rubio started to gain some traction in the locker room that they actually won a few games.

So while Love was certainly the best player on that 40 win team, he was no more their leader than Anthony Davis is leading the Pelicans team today.

This doesn't surprise me at all. He looks like he can be a pompous dick.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

I really like Love's game when he's on the floor with the right pieces. That's why him and TT are so good together because they compliment each other perfectly. Love on a team with a rangy defensive big and a creator is 3/5 of a very good lineup

 

[Stakesarehigh]

And the team struggled when Lue inexplicably sat TT against the Pacers. And when TT started playing well what do you know they end up in the finals.

 

[bksballer89]

Does DT ever come on here and not cause a fight?

 

[trojanfan12]

This doesn't surprise me at all. He looks like he can be a pompous dick.

Well, he did play at UCLA, sooooo...

 

[trojanfan12]

Does DT ever come on here and not cause a fight?

 

[DJ Fieri]

I really like Love's game when he's on the floor with the right pieces. That's why him and TT are so good together because they compliment each other perfectly. Love on a team with a rangy defensive big and a creator is 3/5 of a very good lineup

I don't think anybody on here would dispute that, nobody is calling him trash. He's just injury prone and got paid a crazy amount in that extension he signed.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

I don't think anybody on here would dispute that, nobody is calling him trash. He's just injury prone and got paid a crazy amount in that extension he signed.

I agree. Dt and I have been arguing Love for a few years now. And I was trashing Lue for his garbage lineups in the Pacers series and wanted him to play TT and go with a shorter bench. Imagine what happened when they played TT and went with a shorter bench

But it's not a good look when your team wins two straight in the ECF without you.

Therefore I wouldn't build any kind of team around him obviously.

 

[msgkings322]

which is why I started by saying Love is not Barkley nor Malone.

But come on, each of those guys considered defense to be a rumor and believe they would care less now.

You were just given statistical evidence that they did not consider defense to be just a rumor. Where do you get your opinion from?

 

[tlance]

Yea I was just thinking Barkley would've just kept his build leaner

In the old NBA his big body was needed for banging in the paint.

Or backing defenders down from the 3 point line. LOL.

It is kind of amazing to me that Houston Chuck was as effective as he was.

 

[msgkings322]

Admittedly was going by what I remember and I was wrong about his overall D it seems. I just recall him often being lazy and didn't care.

There we go, simple admission of error. Just like when you corrected me about Larry Bird's coaching success.

 

[DJ Fieri]

I agree. Dt and I have been arguing Love for a few years now. And I was trashing Lue for his garbage lineups in the Pacers series and wanted him to play TT and go with a shorter bench. Imagine what happened when they played TT and went with a shorter bench

But it's not a good look when your team wins two straight in the ECF without you.

Therefore I wouldn't build any kind of team around him obviously.

He's fine as a #3 option, but not a 1 or 2 IMO.

 

[OutlawImmortal]

I prayed to Jayson "Our Lord and Savior" Tatum asking him to help Ingram become better. It was good.

Seriously though, he's finishing through contact and hitting free throws far more consistently. That's where you see the bump in PPG, now if he starts getting his 3's to fall you'll start to see monster scoring games. The Grizzlies' announcers the other day were salivating and said any team would be lucky to have a guy like that. Quietly shooting 50% on the season.

 

[Wamu]

 

[WiggyRuss]

if the Lakers lose to Phoenix tonight does Walton get fired?

I mean, i fully expect the Lakerst o beat Phoenix...like 95%...but if they dont...

 

[Wamu]

if the Lakers lose to Phoenix tonight does Walton get fired?

I mean, i fully expect the Lakerst o beat Phoenix...like 95%...but if they dont...

How you been Rainbow Warrior?

 

[dtgold88]

I'm not diminishing anything. I'm stating fairly obvious facts that everyone but you seem to agree on.

Last year, Kevin Love was 11th in the league in defensive rebounds per 100 possessions. That's good. But that hardly makes up for his glaring weaknesses in other areas.

you get when you play with Thompson and Lebron you will get less rebounds? Never mind as much as you try to say otherwise you were trying to diminish his rebounding because he's tall.....like most top rebounders.

 

[dtgold88]

Yeah that's not how it happened. I'm sure you can find me melting down like Yosemite Sam if I did that...but of course you can't because I didn't. Also, the posts are all here showing what Wamu was trying to say, how you were twisting his words into meanings he obviously never intended and how right I was and you were wrong.

I mean, I don't even think you know who Yosemite Sam is. This is Yosemite Sam:


And this is me:


Easy mistake to make.

Posts were also there showing WAMU clearly did not think Love and Klay were near equals. Even posted them for you. Just not in you to man up and admit your gaffes. I get it.

 

[msgkings322]

Posts were also there showing WAMU clearly did not think Love and Klay were near equals. Even posted them for you. Just not in you to man up and admit your gaffes. I get it.

Compulsive repetition is also a sign of autism.

But moving goalposts is just being a bad faith arguer. You went from "Wamu's logic says he prefers Klay to AD and Embiid" to "Wamu thinks Klay is way better than Love". I never defended that position. All I said was the obvious truth, that you are twisting posts and taking them out of context to try to win some stupid point when in fact it just makes you look like more of an asshole.

In before you now post:

"Translation of msgkings: I was just defeated soundly by you and I got nothing so I will rage and splutter like Yosemite Sam"

Here's the deal, you are free to keep posting like you do, but like most you have trouble seeing how others perceive you. Take a break, chill out. I admitted error many times including with you. This is one where you are in error.

 

[dtgold88]

You're to lawyer-y for this place. Or maybe just have trouble with social nuance. Are you on the spetrum? Genuinely curious, not trying to insult, I have friends and family who are. You argue like that.

I have a sister who has taught this type for years, so if that's the route you'd rather take than man up and admit your gaffe so be it.