NBA Rank and Champ Predictions...RANT

[BOTSLAYER]

No love for Wade, Kobe or the Thunder?

AND WTF CURRY?!?!?! Ranked 6th? Come on man.


1st, the slight on OKC, not 1 vote to win it all and 6 votes of 35 voters to come out of the west. How does every one forget what a Buzz saw they were until Westbrook went down? They instantly became my favorites to come out of the west beating Clippers in the WCF.

Wade and Kobe, I am lumping them together because injuries have plagued them. Kobe looked great last year but had a horrendous (5 years ago career ending) injury and Wade played with 1 leg and looked terrible. They drop several spots. Ok, that is fair...but to 18th and 25th? Wow. If you are going to punish them for injuries how is Westbrook still 5th? Blake Griffin (who is also injured often in the playoffs) and Melo should both be behind those 2 if they were literally in wheel chairs. Probably Tony Parker as well.

Kyrie Irving gets 8th despite not being able to finish a season?

Ok I understand the are rewarding youth over injured vets, except Wade is not injured. I understand it will be more difficult for the older guys to come back from injuries (once again, even though Wade is no longer injured) but what in the history of Kyrie's career makes them think that his injuries are not an issue?

Also Curry doesn't play D, but judging by Melo's ranking that is not very important.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

ESPN is a joke, why did I bother writing all that even knowing that? Damn trolls...ah yes. Thoughts on where Kobe and Wade should actually be ranked. As well as Kyrie, Melo and Curry. And the % that if healthy OKC goes to the finals.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

Kobe top 20 or unranked. Either rank him like you expect him to come back or do not rank him.
Wade top 15...close to 10 if not higher. I still want him over Kyrie and Curry due to defense.
Melo behind Wade and healthy Kobe, so maybe 1 spot ahead

Kyrie and Curry should be ranked together...and I do not care if there are 8 players in the NBA they do not deserve to be considered top 10. They are good but 1 has never been healthy and the other can not play D. Those are both attributes to be top 10.

OKC Finals appearance...83% 10% to Clippers and 7% to Spurs.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

You just realized this ??

 

[BOTSLAYER]

no, but I got tricked today

 

[Hambombs]

I agree on Curry lol that's crazy but I rank him just outside the top10 maybe 11-13??? But saying curry doesn't play D comes from the media. Although he's not good on defense but he's not terrible like youre saying

 

[BOTSLAYER]

I can agree with all that.

 

[trojanfan12]

No love for Wade, Kobe or the Thunder?

AND WTF CURRY?!?!?! Ranked 6th? Come on man.


1st, the slight on OKC, not 1 vote to win it all and 6 votes of 35 voters to come out of the west. How does every one forget what a Buzz saw they were until Westbrook went down? They instantly became my favorites to come out of the west beating Clippers in the WCF.

Wade and Kobe, I am lumping them together because injuries have plagued them. Kobe looked great last year but had a horrendous (5 years ago career ending) injury and Wade played with 1 leg and looked terrible. They drop several spots. Ok, that is fair...but to 18th and 25th? Wow. If you are going to punish them for injuries how is Westbrook still 5th? Blake Griffin (who is also injured often in the playoffs) and Melo should both be behind those 2 if they were literally in wheel chairs. Probably Tony Parker as well.

Kyrie Irving gets 8th despite not being able to finish a season?

Ok I understand the are rewarding youth over injured vets, except Wade is not injured. I understand it will be more difficult for the older guys to come back from injuries (once again, even though Wade is no longer injured) but what in the history of Kyrie's career makes them think that his injuries are not an issue?

Also Curry doesn't play D, but judging by Melo's ranking that is not very important.

Agree with most of this rant. On OKC, though, I think it has to do with how important Harden was. While they were still a very formidable with Westbrook healthy, I think they were not as good as with Harden. If they had kept Harden and Westbrook was healthy, they may have been able to win the title last year based on what they learned losing the season before.

 

[Hambombs]

By the way curry played all game last season. Kyrie is the one that needs to prove health

 

[BOTSLAYER]

They had some kind of record differential average of over 9 points per game where every team who has ever had that high of a point differential has gone on to win until Westbrook went down.

 

[BOTSLAYER]

By the way curry played all game last season. Kyrie is the one that needs to prove health

I notice he played 80 games last season, I only mentioned his lack of D...I could also mention his general lack of athleticism though as what the Spurs used against him. Stopping him is very simple, apply contact.

 

[Hambombs]

I notice he played 80 games last season, I only mentioned his lack of D...I could also mention his general lack of athleticism though as what the Spurs used against him. Stopping him is very simple, apply contact.

I think during game 3 he hurt his ankle. That's why they may of stopped him. He was shooting off the foot that wasnt injured that's why it seemed like they stopped. You will see coach nick explain it on YouTube

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

The SPURS kind of figured Steph Curry out. (ankle or no ankle)

Early on they stuck with the guards, and Curry could shoot over them.

They simply switched to the bigger longer guys like Kawahi Leonard and the series completely turned into the Spurs favor.

He kept on having to run around Kawahi right into the shot blocking of Duncan.

That takes twice as much energy per possession.

Curry is not a great athlete.
He is not a slob, but he is an average athlete at best.
He doesn't have that unlimited endurance to keep doing it.

He is a shooter, and athletic long guys like Leonard can neutralize that shooting.

In fairness, that was last season.

He is a younger guy, so he can work on his overall athleticism to get around the longer guys.

If he develops that skill, he should be a top 10 guy.

But, he is not a top 10 guy right now.