NBA Thread

Cousins looks energized to be back on the court: fifteen points already, with four minutes left in the first quarter, including a pretty deep three.
 
It's amazing how bad the Pelicans defense is, considering Davis' big minutes and Asik's solid minutes—but if one of those two guys doesn't block the shot, they've basically got nothing.
 
jpx7 said:
It's amazing how bad the Pelicans defense is, considering Davis' big minutes and Asik's solid minutes—but if one of those two guys doesn't block the shot, they've basically got nothing.
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Is Jimmy Butler worth a max?
 
Heyward said:
Is Jimmy Butler worth a max?
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Yes, and the Bulls will give it to him—but they could have avoided it if they'd upped their offer just a little bit more before the 31 October extension deadline. They're going to keep Butler, regardless of how rich a contract it requires; I just hope a consequence isn't trading Taj Gibson for salary relief—but Reinsdorf has said he'll pay the tax for a contender, and I believe this current team is that, and will be for the next couple years.
 
jpx7 said:
Yes, and the Bulls will give it to him—but they could have avoided it if they'd upped their offer just a little bit more before the 31 October extension deadline. They're going to keep Butler, regardless of how rich a contract it requires; I just hope a consequence isn't trading Taj Gibson for salary relief—but Reinsdorf has said he'll pay the tax for a contender, and I believe this current team is that, and will be for the next couple years.
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I guess they needed to see more but i also dont know what he wanted and what they offered.

Trading Taj would hurt, crazy underrated.
 
Heyward said:
I guess they needed to see more but i also dont know what he wanted and what they offered.
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Reports had the two sides being ~$2.0-2.5 million apart; the Bulls were apparently willing to pay about $11 million annually, and Jimmy's camp were pitching circa $13 million annually:

There have been some reports on the negotiations between Butler and the Bulls, but according to Sporting News sources, the Bulls’ offer went as high as $11 million per year for four years. Butler was asking for $14 million per year, but would have been willing to negotiate downward to the $12.5-$13 million range.
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Now they'll like be paying him $16 million per season—but he wants to stay, and they're not letting him go, so we'll see if he gets the max, or just something very close to it. Still, it hurts that he could have been extented for maybe $3 million less per season.

Heyward said:
Trading Taj would hurt, crazy underrated.
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I don't think it'll happen, but it's sort of a worst-case-scenario, sinking fear amongst Bulls fans who have watched ownership operate with an eye towards the tax rather than talent in the past.
 
Seems like every single team is avoiding the tax and these are big markets as well. Will be interesting to see what happens because you absolutely have to keep Butler. Considering everything he brings on both sides of the ball he is close to being a top 20 player if he isn't there already.
 
The league has to eliminate conferences at this point. A team like the Kings if healthy would finish in the top 6 of the east. In the West? No better than 9th.
 
thethe said:
The league has to eliminate conferences at this point. A team like the Kings if healthy would finish in the top 6 of the east. In the West? No better than 9th.
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(a) These things are cyclical; I think it'd be rash to rush to a solution like eliminating conferences just because the East hasn't been as good for a decade.

(b) The Kings have been very uneven (letting the Knicks back in last night's game, for instance), so I'm not convinced they're coherent enough as a team to be top-six in the East; even if they were, sixth is the best they'd be.
 
Also: as I've said, I think the top-four in the East is being a little underrated as a result of the first month or so of the season. The Raptors have been playing well all season, but the Hawks, Wizards, and Bulls have really gelled in December, after finding health and familiarity with some new parts—and the East's overall record against Western conference teams has improved as a result.

The West has the depth—the East's 6–8 and worse than the West's 9–11—but I think the East's top-four are all legitimate, and there's also a pretty talented wildcard just on the outside of that top-four.
 
jpx7 said:
(a) These things are cyclical; I think it'd be rash to rush to a solution like eliminating conferences just because the East hasn't been as good for a decade.

(b) The Kings have been very uneven (letting the Knicks back in last night's game, for instance), so I'm not convinced they're coherent enough as a team to be top-six in the East; even if they were, sixth is the best they'd be.
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With Cousins they would be. He is the most dominating big man since Shaq. He is almost unstoppable. When is it going to chnange? It's been like this for almost 15 years since Jordan left and even then the West was better top to bottom.
 
jpx7 said:
Also: as I've said, I think the top-four in the East is being a little underrated as a result of the first month or so of the season. The Raptors have been playing well all season, but the Hawks, Wizards, and Bulls have really gelled in December, after finding health and familiarity with some new parts—and the East's overall record against Western conference teams has improved as a result.

The West has the depth—the East's 6–8 and worse than the West's 9–11—but I think the East's top-four are all legitimate, and there's also a pretty talented wildcard just on the outside of that top-four.
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I think the Bulls are the only legit title contender though.
 
thethe said:
With Cousins they would be. He is the most dominating big man since Shaq. He is almost unstoppable. When is it going to chnange?
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I'm still very skeptical of what they have around him, though—especially the coaching staff. Gay's playing smarter than he did in Memphis/Toronto, but he's too prone to low-percentage chucking (eg the "play" they ran to try to win the game in regulation last night), and the rest of the roster is either young, fringy, or both. Meanwhile, following his explosive first-quarter, they went away from Cousins for long stretches of the game, and their collective defense leaves a lot to be desired.

thethe said:
It's been like this for almost 15 years since Jordan left and even then the West was better top to bottom.
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I'm not sure when, but I'm also far from sure that eliminating conferences is the answer.
 
thethe said:
Legitimately the only one in basketball. That's why the best 16 teams against similar schedules should go.
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Those, too, are cyclical. Bulls / Heat was great for the past few seasons, as well as Bulls / Pistons in the latter's mid-2000s peak, with Bulls / Celtics in between those two, before the Garnett/Pierce/Allen trio slipped (and likewise Celtics / Heat); Bulls / Cavs was also a solid rivalry before LeBron left, and could become great again; Bulls / Pacers would have been superb, if not for the injuries derailing one team whenever the other is healthy.

Lakers / Kings was awesome in the early-2000s; Lakers / Suns had a good run as rivals during the SSoL seasons when Nash was in full ascendance; Spurs / Mavericks in the mid-2000s as well.
 
So then wouldn't that imply there would be cyclical rivalries even after eliminating conferences? I just don't get why teams should be rewarded because of the region of the country they play in. Doesn't make much sense to me.
 
The Cavs look awful and their team is a perfect case study in what happens when you have no rim protection. A team like the Bulls would destroy them in a seven game series.
 
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