The NBA Thread

[Sine]

anyone have predictions for the playoffs

This is what i'm gonna go with
First round winners:
West: Houston/OKC/Portland/Spurs
East: Toronto/Cleveland/Philly/Boston

Second round winners:
West: Houston/Spurs
East: Cleveland/Philly

West winner:Houston
East winner:Cleveland

NBA finals:Cleveland (however obvious underdog against basically every team in the west)

[Mada438]

I agree with the 1st round picks, except i believe Indiana has a chance to top Cleveland and Milwaukie has a small chance of beating Boston. The Spurs/Warriors series is a 7 gamer i reckon. So much top heavy talent vs the most solidly reliable and disciplined team of the last 20 years

Since my fave team is OKC I'm gonna say their second round match up will go the distance i reckon.
If the Spurs edge the warriors, then i reckon they'll face another 7 game series against a hot Portland team, and they'll eventually lose
So Houston vs Portland in the conf finals with Houston winning.

Philly's gonna beat either Boston or Milwaukie and advance to the east finals.
If Cleveland wins round 1, they'll beat Toronto, but if Indy wins, i reckon Toronto goes through.
I'm gonna make a bold prediction and say Philly makes the finals 

In the end, Houston comes out on top.

[DBA-144]

I think the warriors will win. No way lebron gets knocked out in the first round.

[Sine]

-snip-

agreed with DBA-144 I definitely don't see lebron losing a first round - he hasn't lost a first round GAME in 6 years.

Houston obviously look the strongest and would like to see them in the finals but definitely still some questions on a D'Antoni team with Harden/CP3 which historically do well in the regular season but go missing in the playoffs.

[deepshika1]

Any NBA discussion is welcome here! or any basketball discussion for that matter

Thoughts on this offseasons, trades, free agent signings and the draft?

Ohh awesome!!
I have been searching for this thread for so long now!

[TylerD9]

What does everyone think Lebron will do with his free agency?
Some of the more popular options seem like he'll move to Philly, LA, GSW or resign with Clevland.
Tbh I don't think he'll go to Philly, they're too young of a team and even though they have a heck of a lot of talent, I feel like Lebron knows how much mentoring he'll be expected to do.
Lakers seem like a big option for him, but I think he'll only go there if another star like PG or Kawhi sign with him.
GSW is definitely an option, although they have A LOT of bench they need to unload to make room for him, and tbh probably isn't feasible when they already have a stacked team.

I think he'll resign with Clevland. The only major issues they have is with GM and the coaching staff, and tbh are probably the most talented team in the East. They still have the first round draft pick, so could pick up a decent rookie at the draft, and have a lot of bench players they can unload. I reckon if they trade off TT and JR for someone cheap, they will then have enough room for another star like PG or Kawhi. Cedi has a lot of potential, and a lot of coaches know that so if Cavs traded him, a center/forward like J Green, Ante or Perkins they would probably get a decent shooting guard or point guard as well as someone else in return. I also think everyone forgets the fact that Lebron is one of the, if not the, best player currently in the league, and no matter where he is he has the influence to convince players to come to his team to build a super team. If he leaves he will get a lot of hate like he did at Miami, and considering the free agencies coming up and the possibility for trades, I think the best option for Lebron would be to resign and work with GM to build a stronger team.

Honestly though as a Cavs fan I feel this might be a little bias lol, but what do you guys all think?

[Sine]

-snip-

as a current cavs fan (only for Lebron though I don't care much for the organisation -which is pretty dodgy)
As for lebrons free agency I'd say
Cavaliers: only chance would be if they win the title then he would most likely do a 1 year deal with another 1 year as a player option. A lot of the roster's contracts are horrendous so very hard to get any good trades through.

Philadelphia: imo the best destination for him he would be able to lead them for maybe 2-3 years and then play behind Embiid/Simmons once they get closer to their potential.

Houston: good short term option but CP3 is old for a short point guard and don't know how long he will be at a top level

GSW: unlikely since it would destroy his legacy

LA: does lebron want to deal with ball family circus? so I would feel he would only come if they get either Kawhi/PG13 and also ship lonzo.

San Antonio: Probably would've been the best fit (outside of marketing) given the coaching and organisation but Kawhi will probably force a trade.

[TylerD9]

as a current cavs fan (only for Lebron though I don't care much for the organisation -which is pretty dodgy)
As for lebrons free agency I'd say
Cavaliers: only chance would be if they win the title then he would most likely do a 1 year deal with another 1 year as a player option. A lot of the roster's contracts are horrendous so very hard to get any good trades through.

Philadelphia: imo the best destination for him he would be able to lead them for maybe 2-3 years and then play behind Embiid/Simmons once they get closer to their potential.

Houston: good short term option but CP3 is old for a short point guard and don't know how long he will be at a top level

GSW: unlikely since it would destroy his legacy

LA: does lebron want to deal with ball family circus? so I would feel he would only come if they get either Kawhi/PG13 and also ship lonzo.

San Antonio: Probably would've been the best fit (outside of marketing) given the coaching and organisation but Kawhi will probably force a trade.

Haha don't worry that's the original reason I started following Cavs but tbh they've grown on me and I can't see myself supporting anyone else unless Clevland really gets in the crap.

Philadelphia: Would be a good option for him however, even though Simmons plays point guard, he's very similar to Lebron and it would be difficult to run plays with them both together.

Houston: Have a lot of contracts to unload before they have room for Lebron and probably isn't worth it, especially when they already have Harden and a lot of potential in their other players.

GSW: Yeah would destroy him, and they have sooo much bench to get rid of before they have room for him and would probably be close to not having enough players to play, and would need to get rid of one of Curry/KD/Draymond/Klay

LA: Nah Lebron loves Lonzo, but yeah probably wont go unless another star comes however there is a lot of young talent for him to play with + a max salary + another star like PG + being coached by Magic and having Kobe there as a mentor would be very very tempting for him.

SA: Nah, way too many issues going on around them, would probably be another repeat of Clevland.

Hopefully he resigns though

[Sine]

Haha don't worry that's the original reason I started following Cavs but tbh they've grown on me and I can't see myself supporting anyone else unless Clevland really gets in the crap.

Philadelphia: Would be a good option for him however, even though Simmons plays point guard, he's very similar to Lebron and it would be difficult to run plays with them both together.

Houston: Have a lot of contracts to unload before they have room for Lebron and probably isn't worth it, especially when they already have Harden and a lot of potential in their other players.

GSW: Yeah would destroy him, and they have sooo much bench to get rid of before they have room for him and would probably be close to not having enough players to play, and would need to get rid of one of Curry/KD/Draymond/Klay

LA: Nah Lebron loves Lonzo, but yeah probably wont go unless another star comes however there is a lot of young talent for him to play with + a max salary + another star like PG + being coached by Magic and having Kobe there as a mentor would be very very tempting for him.

SA: Nah, way too many issues going on around them, would probably be another repeat of Clevland.

Hopefully he resigns though

Well lebron "officially" plays SF but it's really a point-forward, personally I want him to go to Philadelphia, simmons would be the main ball handler and maybe lebron would actually play as a regular SF and bring the ball up when simmons is resting.

[TylerD9]

Well lebron "officially" plays SF but it's really a point-forward, personally I want him to go to Philadelphia, simmons would be the main ball handler and maybe lebron would actually play as a regular SF and bring the ball up when simmons is resting.

Yeah but then if they were going to play Markell in the pg that would take away Simmon's role as ball handler, so it'd be more like Joel C, LBJ Sf, SImmons Pf, JJ Sg and Markell Pg

[Sine]

Finally the playoffs have come after a long (somewhat redundant) regular season.

Any predictions?

Pretty happy with how the WEST standings turned out - now GSW will most likely have to play both houston and denver.

Since Lebron didn't make the playoffs I'll be hoping Toronto get far  - didn't start too well though.