2011-2012 NBA Season

[SouthSideRyan]

Is Boston going to consider tanking the season so they can get a good lottery pick soon?

 

They're in 9th and have played 11 games. I'm not too worried about missing the playoffs because of the Cavs taking the spot.

[bukie]

Yeah, even if Boston is bad, there are at least 4 terrible teams in the East (WAS/NJ/CHA/DET), and the only other "competition" for a playoff spot is Toronto (who is probably at least decent offensively when Bargnani is healthy), Milwaukee (who is decent defensively and a black hole offensively), and Cleveland (how far can Irving take them?). Unless one of those three teams really overachieves all year or Boston really goes into the tank, they'd probably still make the playoffs at, say, 30-36.

[bcl412]

Yeah, but that scenario isn't as fun as mine.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah, but that scenario isn't as fun as mine.

 

You're going to drive yourself crazy if you spend all season worrying about Boston knocking the Bulls out in the first round.

[UMFan83]

I don't Boston is 'not make the playoffs' bad, and I think at some point they will be decent. It's not like they are losing to bad teams (yet). The combined record of the teams they've lost to on this 5 game losing streak is 41-13. That said if they were a good team they should have won at least a couple of those games.

[CubColtPacer]

I guess I just don't understand why Boston would want to try to push forward with the Big 3 one more time. Yes, they very likely will get in the playoffs and if they're lucky maybe win a round. But I really don't think they're just coasting right now, and their chances of winning a championship are pretty small. Why not trade Allen and/or Garnett (although I have no idea if Garnett is even tradeable right now) and combine that with your cap space for next year to quickly rebuild your team. I can understand if that was their plan before the season, but I'm not sure it's the best plan anymore to just go down with the ship.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's 12 games, 3 of which their best player was out for. Boston looked like a juggernaut for most of last year. Throwing in the towel after 12 games would be insane.

 

Boston's sole goal this season should be to be healthy by mid-April. With the NBA's salary cap structure, I have no idea how you could trade Garnett or Allen for anything of worth anyway.

[CubColtPacer]

It's 12 games, 3 of which their best player was out for. Boston looked like a juggernaut for most of last year. Throwing in the towel after 12 games would be insane.

 

Boston's sole goal this season should be to be healthy by mid-April. With the NBA's salary cap structure, I have no idea how you could trade Garnett or Allen for anything of worth anyway.

 

Allen's contract isn't bad. I think he could fetch a decent amount of talent without having to take on a bad contract in return (the only issue is how receptive teams are to a rental). They'd have a really hard time finding a Garnett deal that would work.

 

I'm not saying give up right now. But I think that should be a significant option by March. Limping into the playoffs as the 7 or 8 seed and hoping the very old roster can somehow turn it on in the playoffs and immediately beat one of the two favorites doesn't seem to me to be a great risk. Not being able to sign West in free agency and then immediately losing Green really hurt.

[SouthSideRyan]

It's 12 games, 3 of which their best player was out for. Boston looked like a juggernaut for most of last year. Throwing in the towel after 12 games would be insane.

 

Boston's sole goal this season should be to be healthy by mid-April. With the NBA's salary cap structure, I have no idea how you could trade Garnett or Allen for anything of worth anyway.

 

Allen's contract isn't bad. I think he could fetch a decent amount of talent without having to take on a bad contract in return (the only issue is how receptive teams are to a rental). They'd have a really hard time finding a Garnett deal that would work.

 

I'm not saying give up right now. But I think that should be a significant option by March. Limping into the playoffs as the 7 or 8 seed and hoping the very old roster can somehow turn it on in the playoffs and immediately beat one of the two favorites doesn't seem to me to be a great risk. Not being able to sign West in free agency and then immediately losing Green really hurt.

 

It depends if they're limping or coasting into the playoffs. I'll just have to trust that they know the difference.

[bukie]

The NBA West is just plain bad on the road so far this year. Only the Thunder have more road wins than the Nets.

[CubColtPacer]

The NBA West is just plain bad on the road so far this year. Only the Thunder have more road wins than the Nets.

 

You could also say the Western Conference is really good at defending their homecourt:

 

Eastern Conference: 51-38 at home, 44-69 on the road

Western Conference: 78-34 at home, 28-60 on the road

 

So the Western conference has a 12 game lead on the East so far, but has played 23 more home games!

[Banedon]

Teams are apparently asking about Pierce.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-wojnarowski_kendrick_perkins_thunder_celtics_nba_011712

 

Does ownership and general manager Danny Ainge go for the complete rebuild and trade Pierce before the March 15 deadline? Several contending teams have inquired about Pierce’s availability. As one Eastern Conference official said, there are “lots of calls asking if [boston] will blow it up.”

[UMFan83]

For the Bulls I'd rather go after Allen. Pierce kind of looked bad the 2-3 times I've seen him play this year.

[Banedon]

For the Bulls I'd rather go after Allen. Pierce kind of looked bad the 2-3 times I've seen him play this year.

 

I've only watched the one Boston game...the one against the Bulls, but Allen was hitting shot after shot in that one.

[SouthSideRyan]

For the Bulls I'd rather go after Allen. Pierce kind of looked bad the 2-3 times I've seen him play this year.

 

He missed the preseason and first 3 games with a heel injury. I'd put little to no stock in how he's looked those random 2-3 times. (Including one which was almost assuredly against one of the best defensive teams in the NBA

[UMFan83]

I gotta admit its really really enjoyable to watch the Knicks lose. Tonight they lost at home to the Suns, who last night lost by 20 to a Bulls team without Derrick Rose and were 4-9 overall.

 

Also, Washington randomly beat OKC.

[CubInOK]

The NBA West is just plain bad on the road so far this year. Only the Thunder have more road wins than the Nets.

 

You could also say the Western Conference is really good at defending their homecourt:

 

Eastern Conference: 51-38 at home, 44-69 on the road

Western Conference: 78-34 at home, 28-60 on the road

 

So the Western conference has a 12 game lead on the East so far, but has played 23 more home games!

Right on cue...

Washington randomly beat OKC.

[bukie]

The Clippers beat Dallas on a last-second Billups 3...when down one.

 

Still, the Lakers 9-1 at home and the Clippers are 7-1 at home, with the only team to beat either being the Bulls.

[SpongeWorthy]

Celtics score 71 at home against the Suns lmao

[bcl412]

Knicks about to go down too. To the Bucks at home. Awesome.

[UMFan83]

Mike D'Antoni's seat is getting warm all the sudden. Wouldn't be surprised if he was canned tomorrow. You can't lose back to back home games to the Suns and Bucks enroute to a 6-9 start.

 

Bulls fans ridiculed Pax for passing on D'Antoni when he wanted to come here because he wouldn't commit to putting an emphasis on D, but as time has passed it looks like Pax made the right decision.

[Theo]

LOL, Celtics lose to the Suns. Stick a fork in those old bastards.

[DivineBovine]

The Knicks losing is good for basketball.

 

All this talk about superstars moving to big markets so only big markets can compete. Funny. I guess that Amare and Carmelo just aren't as good as they think they are. Perhaps it is possible to build an instant winner with superstars, but I doubt anyone will be able to pull of what Miami did anytime soon. LeBron and DWade are 2 of just a handful of players in the league that actually deserve a max deal. Giving max deals to players that are just very good and not elite is going to bite a lot of teams in the ass.

 

Most championship teams are built with the right mix of players and depth, including role player and stars.

[bcl412]

The Knicks losing is good for basketball.

 

All this talk about superstars moving to big markets so only big markets can compete. Funny. I guess that Amare and Carmelo just aren't as good as they think they are. Perhaps it is possible to build an instant winner with superstars, but I doubt anyone will be able to pull of what Miami did anytime soon. LeBron and DWade are 2 of just a handful of players in the league that actually deserve a max deal. Giving max deals to players that are just very good and not elite is going to bite a lot of teams in the ass.

 

Most championship teams are built with the right mix of players and depth, including role player and stars.

 

Boston won one and you have to think Miami will though. Plus Amere and Anthony don't play defense that well.

[imb]

Carmelo doesn't even fit dantoni's system. I feel like you need a pg to make it work and instead, they have douglas or shumpert chucking the ball or carmelo on a 20-second iso.

 

ideally, they could get a PG like Lowry for Amare, but they don;t have any picks or anything to make that appealing.