NBA Season 2016-2017

[green_bballers13]

Does anyone feel like they might have undervalued Dwight Howard in free agency?  His early season play in Atlanta deserves more credit than he's probably going to get.  23 points and 20 rebounds tonight.

He's def. undervalued. I prefer Horford, but Dwight is still a good player.

I wonder if teams are reticent to pay a guy (not named Shaq) a ton of $ that they cannot rely upon at the charity stripe in crunch situations.

[trickybilly]

Does anyone feel like they might have undervalued Dwight Howard in free agency?  His early season play in Atlanta deserves more credit than he's probably going to get.  23 points and 20 rebounds tonight.

He's def. undervalued. I prefer Horford, but Dwight is still a good player.

I wonder if teams are reticent to pay a guy (not named Shaq) a ton of $ that they cannot rely upon at the charity stripe in crunch situations.

Huge factor. I would guess that over 50% of games are decided by 2 possessions or less..

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

Miami Heat proving that sometimes the tank chooses you.

[LarBrd33]

Miami Heat proving that sometimes the tank chooses you.

Lol Tp.   It was interesting that some people thought the Heat would actually be kind of good this year.  Dwayawayane Wade will look pretty vindicated if the Bulls continue their strong play and the Heat bottom out.

[LarBrd33]

Jamal Murray with another great game.  We finally have an early standout prospect from this dud of a draft class.

And the team down 23 points. How about winning actual games? Utah isn't exactly title contenders.

Well Murray has shot the ball extremely well the past few games. Typically top drafted rookies play for bad teams.  Hence why they were drafted so high...   We were off to a pretty shocking start to this season... none of the 2016 draftees were doing crap.  The #3 pick played 4 minutes tonight, for instance.  It was looking pathetic.  Looks like Murray might be the first 2016 draftee to start stepping up.

All of our rookies sans KO and Smart got the same treatment. Last year, it was Rozier. It's hard to have consistent playing minutes for rookies on this team. I doubt Brad would play Murray more minutes here if he was drafted by the team. Defense and versatility is the primary requirements in order to play for Brad.

If Jaylen is playing for these lottery teams, he would have the green light to be aggressive and average 5x the numbers he have here. In this team, he needs to be more aware of the flow of both offense and defense.

I'm not even specifically talking about Jaylen.  Boston's a strong team.  Playing our #3 pick 4 minutes tonight was something I pretty much anticipated.  He was one of the younger players in the draft.  He looked very raw before entering the league.  He was a project that most expected to see go 8th in the draft.  He's going to take time developing.  Our team is in a unique situation in that we landed a high pick despite being a playoff team.  Most teams with top picks have plenty of minutes to feed to their rookies... our team is concerned with making the playoffs.   I still wouldnt' be shocked to see Jaylen spend time in D-league.

I'm not pinpointing Jaylen.  I'm talking about the entire draft.  In previous years, there's always a handful of rookies who get 30+ minutes out of the gate.  This year, there were zero.  Even the 4 year College vets labelled "NBA-Ready" like Hield and Dunn were doing jack squat.   Part of it is because Ben Simmons was seen as head and shoulders above the rest of the draft and he's not playing.  I've been waiting to see if any rookie would step up and show some signs of life.  Jamal Murray looks like the first one to get it going.

[LarBrd33]

Interesting discussion on the NBA subreddit comparing Marcus Smart to Julius Randle.  As I expected, most casual fans seem to think of Julius Randle as a superior prospect:  https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/5em114/julius_randle_or_marcus_smart/

I still have Smart over Randle.

BTW, Lakers lost by 43 points to the Warriors tonight.  Guess the Warriors made up for the game they lost to them earlier this season.   Looks like the Warriors are gonna be ok this year.

[LooseCannon]

Does anyone feel like they might have undervalued Dwight Howard in free agency?  His early season play in Atlanta deserves more credit than he's probably going to get.  23 points and 20 rebounds tonight.

Howard is fine when healthy.  The concern was always about the value towards the back end of a longer deal.

[apc]

Does anyone feel like they might have undervalued Dwight Howard in free agency?  His early season play in Atlanta deserves more credit than he's probably going to get.  23 points and 20 rebounds tonight.

Howard is fine when healthy.  The concern was always about the value towards the back end of a longer deal.

I am happy with Horford , but if he hadn't sign I wanted us to go after Howard .

[GC003332]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/11/24/rumor-tom-thibodeau-expected-to-trade-young-timberwolves-player-for-established-veteran/

[tazzmaniac]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/11/24/rumor-tom-thibodeau-expected-to-trade-young-timberwolves-player-for-established-veteran/

During the Pelicans game, it was mentioned that the TWolves were 3rd in scoring in the 1st half but dead last in the 2nd half.  I'd thought their main issue was defense but it may actually be clutch offense.  They've lost all 6 games they've played that were decided by single digits. 
If they actually move one of their young players, LaVine would seem the most likely choice. 

[trickybilly]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/11/24/rumor-tom-thibodeau-expected-to-trade-young-timberwolves-player-for-established-veteran/

During the Pelicans game, it was mentioned that the TWolves were 3rd in scoring in the 1st half but dead last in the 2nd half.  I'd thought their main issue was defense but it may actually be clutch offense.  They've lost all 6 games they've played that were decided by single digits. 
If they actually move one of their young players, LaVine would seem the most likely choice.

They lost some historic amount of games by less than 5 in KLove's last year aswell I vaguely remember..

[hpantazo]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/11/24/rumor-tom-thibodeau-expected-to-trade-young-timberwolves-player-for-established-veteran/

During the Pelicans game, it was mentioned that the TWolves were 3rd in scoring in the 1st half but dead last in the 2nd half.  I'd thought their main issue was defense but it may actually be clutch offense.  They've lost all 6 games they've played that were decided by single digits. 
If they actually move one of their young players, LaVine would seem the most likely choice.

They lost some historic amount of games by less than 5 in KLove's last year aswell I vaguely remember..

Lavine or Dunn is my guess. The Bulls were after Dunn on draft night. I wonder if they still have any interest now or if that ship has sailed.

[green_bballers13]

Jamal Murray with another great game.  We finally have an early standout prospect from this dud of a draft class.

And the team down 23 points. How about winning actual games? Utah isn't exactly title contenders.

Well Murray has shot the ball extremely well the past few games. Typically top drafted rookies play for bad teams.  Hence why they were drafted so high...   We were off to a pretty shocking start to this season... none of the 2016 draftees were doing crap.  The #3 pick played 4 minutes tonight, for instance.  It was looking pathetic.  Looks like Murray might be the first 2016 draftee to start stepping up.

All of our rookies sans KO and Smart got the same treatment. Last year, it was Rozier. It's hard to have consistent playing minutes for rookies on this team. I doubt Brad would play Murray more minutes here if he was drafted by the team. Defense and versatility is the primary requirements in order to play for Brad.

If Jaylen is playing for these lottery teams, he would have the green light to be aggressive and average 5x the numbers he have here. In this team, he needs to be more aware of the flow of both offense and defense.

I'm not even specifically talking about Jaylen.  Boston's a strong team.  Playing our #3 pick 4 minutes tonight was something I pretty much anticipated.  He was one of the younger players in the draft.  He looked very raw before entering the league.  He was a project that most expected to see go 8th in the draft.  He's going to take time developing.  Our team is in a unique situation in that we landed a high pick despite being a playoff team.  Most teams with top picks have plenty of minutes to feed to their rookies... our team is concerned with making the playoffs.  I still wouldnt' be shocked to see Jaylen spend time in D-league.

I'm not pinpointing Jaylen.  I'm talking about the entire draft.  In previous years, there's always a handful of rookies who get 30+ minutes out of the gate.  This year, there were zero.  Even the 4 year College vets labelled "NBA-Ready" like Hield and Dunn were doing jack squat.   Part of it is because Ben Simmons was seen as head and shoulders above the rest of the draft and he's not playing.  I've been waiting to see if any rookie would step up and show some signs of life.  Jamal Murray looks like the first one to get it going.

Phew. Thanksgiving with the fam is over. I don't have to nod at in laws anymore when they say bat-stuff crazy things.

Your statement in bold may have been one of your top crazy statements. Jaylen Brown in the D-league? Please, oh please, defend this statement.

Also happy thanksgiving. I love your interesting takes and how you get everyone's green blood pumping. Not everyone has to be a Celtics ball washer.

[LarBrd33]

So the Golden State Globetrotters have won 10 in a row, have the best record in the league, and have a +13.2 point differential which is like the highest I can remember ever seeing.  They are straight up murdering teams and just getting better.   Seems they are who we thought they were.

[green_bballers13]

I would say they underachieved if they don't win multiple championships w Durant.