The Real 2014-15 NBA Regular Season Thread

[jonathanlambert33]

AD missed last nights game because he sprained his ankle in shootaround yesterday morning, Asik left yesterday's game after playing 18 minutes (6 points and 14 rebounds), even Tyreke went down with an injury but later returned (wasn't the same after).

#catchingbreaks

 

[CameronCrazy06]

 
Maybe having their entire team injured for the better part of two seasons.

So if both teams are healthy which is better?

 

[CameronCrazy06]

That's the fucking dumbest thing I've ever heard

You really don't believe that the lottery is rigged? Come on man don't be naive. So the Cavs just coincidentally won in 3 out of 4 years after LeBron left? And the one year they didn't it went to the only NBA-owned team. It's rigged.

 

[elcheato]

Asik missed nearly 34 games last year. Jrue missed 48 last year. Tyreke missed 10 last year, 17 the year before, 25 in '10-'11, 9 his rookie year, Ryan Anderson missed 16 his rookie year, 19 the year after, 18 the year after that, 60 last year. Gordon's injury history speaks for itself. Davis missed 18 his rookie year, 15 last year. 
 
They'd had bad luck, but at the same time they knew going in that these guys had a serious chance of going down. They're playing with fire. 

 

[elcheato]

You really don't believe that the lottery is rigged? Come on man don't be naive. So the Cavs just coincidentally won in 3 out of 4 years after LeBron left? And the one year they didn't it went to the only NBA-owned team. It's rigged.

It's impossible for them to rig it. They draw the balls in front of the media, and the media is aware of the combinations each team needs to win.. 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

It's not at all impossible for them to rig it. If they wanted to erase all doubt they would draw it out in the open but they do it behind closed doors.

 

[elcheato]

It's not at all impossible for them to rig it. If they wanted to erase all doubt they would draw it out in the open but they do it behind closed doors.

A) It would take too long, as you're going to continue to draw combinations from the team with the most chances, B) it kills suspense. 
 
The idea that the NBA would rig the lottery for the Cavs last year instead of the Lakers or Celtics is absurd. If the lottery was rigged the Knicks would have won one sometime within the last 10 years. The NBA doesn't pander to smaller markets. 
 
People love to say games are rigged or the scales are tipped in the playoffs to advance teams that will draw more ratings, but apparently they're tipping the scales to smaller markets in the draft? That's dumb 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

A) It would take too long, as you're going to continue to draw combinations from the team with the most chances, B) it kills suspense. 
 
The idea that the NBA would rig the lottery for the Cavs last year instead of the Lakers or Celtics is absurd. If the lottery was rigged the Knicks would have won one sometime within the last 10 years. The NBA doesn't pander to smaller markets. 

They do when they need the pieces for LeBron to go back to Cleveland and contend.

And they only actually draw three teams in the lottery right? After pick three it's just by record IIRC.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

You really don't believe that the lottery is rigged? Come on man don't be naive. So the Cavs just coincidentally won in 3 out of 4 years after LeBron left? And the one year they didn't it went to the only NBA-owned team. It's rigged.

Go ahead and keep telling yourself that, but you sound like a fool.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

And I'm sure you're probably thinking "it wasn't certain that he was going back!!"

Worst case scenario, he doesn't, and then the Cavs still have good talent to potentially build the Cavs/Heat rivalry that the NBA desperately wanted.

 

[elcheato]

And I'm sure you're probably thinking "it wasn't certain that he was going back!!"

Worst case scenario, he doesn't, and then the Cavs still have good talent to potentially build the Cavs/Heat rivalry that the NBA desperately wanted.

Cavs/Heat still wouldn't draw as much as a larger market with the Heat.. People in Cleveland would watch anyway to root against LeBron, and the rest of the country doesn't care about Cavs/Heat.
 
And yea, it definitely wasn't certain. If it was certain John Calipari would be the Cavs head coach and president of basketball operations right now. 
 
LeBron in a different market than Cleveland would be better for the NBA as a whole. 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Saying people wouldn't care just simply isn't true. When LeBron was with Miami, everyone cared because everyone had an opinion on him. Then throw in the built-in story that writes itself.

The NBA wanted desperately for Cleveland to be competitive without LeBron. Wasn't that first game back in Cleveland one of the most viewed games that year despite Miami winning by 100?

 

[elcheato]

The return obviously was going to draw. That had intrigue. After the return though? There isn't a story anymore. Everyone who had played on the Cavs teams (players, front office, coaching) with LeBron was gone by the third year aside from Anderson and Dan Gilbert. Why would newer players on the team care? There is nothing there other than that a city hates LeBron. 

 

[elcheato]

If LeBron had spurned the Cavs again this past free agency, then there might be a story if the Cavs were good enough to compete with the Heat (spoiler alert: they wouldn't have been good enough), but it's not as if the NBA drew out a scenario where LeBron would have made it seem like he was returning then didn't. 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

So compare that built in storyline vs. the rivals LeBron had while he was in Miami in the East:

Boston (the first two years)
Indiana
New York?

A competitive Cleveland team vs. Miami would've drawn more national attention than any of those.

 

[elcheato]

So compare that built in storyline vs. the rivals LeBron had while he was in Miami in the East:

Boston (the first two years)
Indiana
New York?

A competitive Cleveland team vs. Miami would've drawn more national attention than any of those.

The Cavs had no chance of being a competitive team until this season, and that's still a big maybe. New York would have been bigger if they were better and it was an ECF.
 
If they wanted to make a Cavs/Heat rivalry they would have given us Anthony Davis. 

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Obviously the Cavs roster wasn't up to par, but that doesn't mean the NBA didn't want it.

And then best case scenario LeBron comes back and they have a talented roster around him

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Asik missed nearly 34 games last year. Jrue missed 48 last year. Tyreke missed 10 last year, 17 the year before, 25 in '10-'11, 9 his rookie year, Ryan Anderson missed 16 his rookie year, 19 the year after, 18 the year after that, 60 last year. Gordon's injury history speaks for itself. Davis missed 18 his rookie year, 15 last year. 
 
They'd had bad luck, but at the same time they knew going in that these guys had a serious chance of going down. They're playing with fire. 

Id say Gordon and Ryno are the only two that really qualify. Jrue had exceptional health before he came here, whether Asik was actually injured (or atleast the severity) last season is dependent on who you ask. I'd say Reke has been fine in his two years.

But it's about the kind of injuries, when they happen, etc. Ryno colliding with Gerald Wallace last season for example, that injury didn't happen because he's injury prone, Wallace literally hit him perfectly in the small area that causes that sort of injury. How AD and Ryno both go down two games before the All-Star break, both recover, then both go down in Miami. Last night is similar. Then something that is often discussed is when guys go down, we lose AD and Jrue right before we play New York, Boston, Philly, and one other bad team in a four game stretch. It's the timing that kills us.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Harden 4 MVP

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Jrue Holiday- OUT
Ryan Anderson- OUT
Anthony Davis- DOUBTFUL
Omer Asik- QUESTIONABLE
Tyreke Evans- QUESTIONABLE

#catchingbreaks