2018-2019 NBA Season Thread [Archived] Basketball • Page 329

Raptors are 11-1 and no one trusts them in the playoffs. It's kinda funny. They could not lose another game all year and I'd still be like "oh yeah, they're gonna collapse at the worst time."

 

this time to giannis’ hand instead of lebron’s.

 

Ariza has been really bad this season. Rockets issues aren’t cus he’s gone or Luc. Everyone not named Harden, Pj, or Clint has been verrrry bad

 

The argument is that he was perfect for what the Rockets needed. I think that's baring itself out.

(Those three haven't been very good either. Overpaayyyyyyyddddd.)

 

Clint has been better than what he started off the year doing, Harden and Pj have been good.

It don’t get much easier for them coming up either, Spurs, Pacers, Nugs, Warriors are the next few games so they could go into full panic mode very soon

 

Ariza being “bad” is a bit of a shallow take. Ariza’s value, as has been consistently argued, is that he is the ideal player for a really good team.

He is a very good spot up shooter, who is fine operating with low usage. And he is a versatile and willing defender.

That combination is almost invaluable for teams wanting to compete in the playoffs.

Of course his numbers are down a bit playing for a bad team. Ariza isn’t a shot creator by any stretch of the imagination. But he is asked to do that when playing for a bad team who has no true PG on the roster.

And honestly, his numbers aren’t even down that much. He is shooting just fine from 3. But his 2P % is down. Well guess what, he isn’t shooting 2’s on the Rox! That isn’t a part of what makes him valuable!

Replacing a player like that with Melo has produced predictable results. The team is demonstrably worse with him on the court.

And i still fully expect Ariza to be bought out in due time and be back with the Rox.

 

Melo isn’t replacing Ariza, Melo is doing the Anderson role with a little more minutes. Ennis is our Ariza replacement.

 

Trevor could play hella minutes which is what was very good and very helpful but now we have to throw in like 3 guys to cover those cus non of them can consistently play 35-37 minutes.

 

Apparently Paul has an elbow injury?

Didn’t catch the game, what was the big problem last night? It’s pretty sad they got blown out when OKC was on a B2B

 

Morey will make a move soon. Whether or not it'll be a good one is something we'll have to see.

But he will at least try.

 

How's that working out?

 

Wouldn’t say Ennis has been bad, he just fouls a fucking ton

 

I'm just ready for Chris Paul to turn on the team and start openly throwing tantrums at his own players.

We're a 4 game losing streak away from pure basketball bliss.

 

Also the west just feels weird right now.

Denver looks great. Portland looks great. Memphis is hanging around. The Kings look like they're ready to compete for a low seed now. OKC is doing great without Russ.

Utah still hasn't hit their stride. The Pels look great one game and then bad the next.

 

Sooooo he didn't replace Ariza very well and Melo's been the predictable trainwreck we all said was coming.

 

He won’t do that cus he’s acknowledging that he’s got to be better. He’s been awful.

 

Saving this post.

 

I find it a crazy that Derrick Rose, a dude with an insane amount of injuries and off court issues, has been playing way better than Melo, a guy with no major injuries or off the court issues aside from the media pooping on his shitty basketball playing.

The Rockets suck.

 

It will always be Fuck Rose but he has been playing pretty inspired basketball. It would be a great story if he wasn't a piece of shit.

 

This also strikes me as a lazy argument seeing as Anderson barely played in the playoffs. And the makeup of this team in the playoffs has been what everyone has been raising flags about.

The point has always been that you could have had Ariza and Ennis on your team. This would have allowed the Rox to run 8 deep with:

Harden, CP, EG, Clint, PJ, GG, Ennis, and Ariza. And then you have Nene if you need him.

That would allow for maximize versatility on both ends.

Morey sacrificed that for Melo and MCW. It was dumb. Everyone knew it was dumb. It’s proving to have been dumb.

And the only explanation for why it happened is your owner is scared of too much luxury tax. And that sucks for Rox fans, who should be pissed that their team was knocking on the door to a finals and instead of paying a slightly larger tax bill to make the team

 

Yeah it just makes me sad bc of what that dude meant to Chicago. I’m glad Rachel Nichols kept it real when talking about his b-ball resurgence though. She was literally like the only one to raise the flag and got shit for it.

 

Didn't even hear about this. He'll probably dominate Geneva since it's crazy rural and an economy based on wineries.

 

Have you ever seen anyone less mad? He's laughing actually

 

Melo had knee surgery and that’s when it all went downhill for his playing was after he had that.