The NBA Thread (57 Viewers)

[JuveJay]

How good is Dennis Schröder?

Is he actually good, or just a german in the NBA and that's why he gets some coverage over here?

He's playing for a high-profile, winning team this year, so I can understand the coverage. Luol Deng was, along with Lebron James, pretty much the only basketball player who got coverage in the UK through the 10s just by virtue of being a good GB player, and he played for the Bulls who were shit.

Germany was a little spoiled by having Dirk Nowitzki for so long. GB basketball sucks because they receive hardly any funding. They are relying on players getting out to colleges or teams in North American or Europe as soon as possible.

To answer your question, yeah, Schröder is a good player, a 4th or 5th man on a strong team.

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[ALC]

Yeah shroeder is pretty good, I hate the bastard

 

[Enron]

Yeah shroeder is pretty good, I hate the bastard

the German van fleet

 

[Osman]

Dennis the menace is top 2-3 best bench scorers in the league when he is focused. Like he was last season for Thunder. Done well for Lakers so far too. He is worth the coverage for sure.



Its nice he came around from his Hawks days when he was just a bad boy getting headlines for partying and fighting off court.

 

[JuelzSantana]

Regarding the Lakers, I don't know what the hell they were thinking getting rid of both Mcgee and Dwight, especially the latter.

They have no rim protector outside of AD. Gasol is an ok playmake on the offensive end, but he's just too old and slow now defensively. Watched their game against Hawks the other day and 6'1 Trae Young was killing them in the paint lol. Come playoff time they're really gonna get exploited.

 

[Post Ironic]

Regarding the Lakers, I don't know what the hell they were thinking getting rid of both Mcgee and Dwight, especially the latter.

They have no rim protector outside of AD. Gasol is an ok playmake on the offensive end, but he's just too old and slow now defensively. Watched their game against Hawks the other day and 6'1 Trae Young was killing them in the paint lol. Come playoff time they're really gonna get exploited.

AD becomes the paint protector in the playoffs. And he’s a dominant one when switched on. Javale didn’t play almost at all in the playoffs and Dwight hardly played in the Houston and Miami series.

The big threats according to analysts, Brooklyn and Clippers don’t have anyone that is going to punish the Lakers inside. Doesn’t mean they won’t be tough teams for us, or that they won’t be able to beat us, but it won’t be by punishing us inside lol. The only contending team that I think will feast against the Lakers in the paint is the 76ers. Embiid is beasting this year.

Gasol easily handled Jokic last night. Him and Harrell held Jokic to his worst game of the season and the Lakers destroyed the Nuggets as soon as they switched on in the second half. Jokic, who is having an MVP caliber season scored 13 pts on 6-16 shooting.

Lakers and Heat came off gruelling bubble runs to the championship with little time to recover before the new season started. Heat have struggled a ton because of it and are 7-14 right now. The fact the Lakers are 17-6 right now, while half-assing a ton of games and with AD having his worst season thus far since his rookie year... well, I’d say that bodes well.

PS. also beat the Hawks and held them to 99 pts lol. And have the best defensive rating in the league right now.

 

[ALC]

I do agree that the Lakers need more depth in the center position because Gasol is old af and I don’t see him being effective in the playoffs. But they also have enough threats where they can get away with it against almost every team and AD can play there for periods of time.

I think the Nuggets, the Sixers, and probably Jazz would be their toughest matchups and defeat them over 7 games. The rest of the teams they should beat easily.

 

[Post Ironic]

I do agree that the Lakers need more depth in the center position because Gasol is old af and I don’t see him being effective in the playoffs. But they also have enough threats where they can get away with it against almost every team and AD can play there for periods of time.

I think the Nuggets, the Sixers, and probably Jazz would be their toughest matchups and defeat them over 7 games. The rest of the teams they should beat easily.

I’m curious to see what route they go in the buyout market. A Center or Wing defender. It shall be one of the two imo. Seeing Gasol last night, I think he can offer 10-20 effective minutes/night against anyone but Embiid. He was always effective against Embiid in the past couple years, but Embiid had levelled up this year.

I don’t see him being unable to hold his own and at least make life somewhat difficult for Jokic and Gobert. Enough that the AD-Bron combo will likely be able to overcome those teams. Hard to say though. Jazz look really good and Denver hard to get a read on so far as most of that team seems to have the bubble hangover too, outside Jokic.

Gasol isn’t unplayable against teams like Miami, Brooklyn, Clippers, etc like Javale was always and Dwight was sometimes. So that should help a bit.

But it certainly would be nice to have another C for depth at the very least, and battling in the paint with Embiid, Jokic, Gobert, etc.

 

[ALC]

I’m curious to see what route they go in the buyout market. A Center or Wing defender. It shall be one of the two imo. Seeing Gasol last night, I think he can offer 10-20 effective minutes/night against anyone but Embiid. He was always effective against Embiid in the past couple years, but Embiid had levelled up this year.

I don’t see him being unable to hold his own and at least make life somewhat difficult for Jokic and Gobert. Enough that the AD-Bron combo will likely be able to overcome those teams. Hard to say though. Jazz look really good and Denver hard to get a read on so far as most of that team seems to have the bubble hangover too, outside Jokic.

Gasol isn’t unplayable against teams like Miami, Brooklyn, Clippers, etc like Javale was always and Dwight was sometimes. So that should help a bit.

But it certainly would be nice to have another C for depth at the very least, and battling in the paint with Embiid, Jokic, Gobert, etc.

i agree. It’s literally three teams that would prove difficult and the rest they can steamroll.

 

[Osman]

I do agree that the Lakers need more depth in the center position because Gasol is old af and I don’t see him being effective in the playoffs. But they also have enough threats where they can get away with it against almost every team and AD can play there for periods of time.

I think the Nuggets, the Sixers, and probably Jazz would be their toughest matchups and defeat them over 7 games. The rest of the teams they should beat easily.

Nuggets this season has zero chance beating any of the contenders in a whole series, they lost ALOT of quality defensive depth over the off season. Its insane how much worse they are in that regard, and Millsap finally fully declined. So Jokic heroics aside, they are in real trouble team shape and fit wise to go for blow for blow like they could last season.


Unless the pick up quality D oriented guys in trade deadline/buyout market, I forsee a lowkey post season for them.

- - - Updated - - -

Jaden McDaniel vs OKC Thunders.

 

[JuelzSantana]

AD becomes the paint protector in the playoffs. And he’s a dominant one when switched on. Javale didn’t play almost at all in the playoffs and Dwight hardly played in the Houston and Miami series.

The big threats according to analysts, Brooklyn and Clippers don’t have anyone that is going to punish the Lakers inside. Doesn’t mean they won’t be tough teams for us, or that they won’t be able to beat us, but it won’t be by punishing us inside lol. The only contending team that I think will feast against the Lakers in the paint is the 76ers. Embiid is beasting this year.

Gasol easily handled Jokic last night. Him and Harrell held Jokic to his worst game of the season and the Lakers destroyed the Nuggets as soon as they switched on in the second half. Jokic, who is having an MVP caliber season scored 13 pts on 6-16 shooting.

Lakers and Heat came off gruelling bubble runs to the championship with little time to recover before the new season started. Heat have struggled a ton because of it and are 7-14 right now. The fact the Lakers are 17-6 right now, while half-assing a ton of games and with AD having his worst season thus far since his rookie year... well, I’d say that bodes well.

PS. also beat the Hawks and held them to 99 pts lol. And have the best defensive rating in the league right now.

I gotta disagree bro, I think another athletic rim protector is a must. Against the Hawks they were down going into the fourth, Lebron and them just got hot in the 4th and got the W. Hawks found a loophole and stuck to it all night, making AD guard the 3 with an easy pick´n roll for Trae just driving at Gasol faking the floater and throwing the lob. Just too easy. Dwight got length and bounce which makes him able to guard both, so it keeps guards from driving to the paint. Gasol doesn´t scare guards which gives the opposition a whole new set of plays.

Against the Nuggets yesterday it´s true that Jokic struggled but they got killed on the offensive glass which gave Denver a big lead, but the Lakers 2nd unit got hot and brought them back. That´s not sustainable basketball IMO.

As you mentioned, it might not be needed every night. But Gasol is not cutting it for me defensively at all. Trez has struggled to guard the pick´n roll his whole career. They´ll get away with it in the regular season, but I feel the lack of another reliable rim protector next to AD just gives opponents too many options to score over a 7 game series in the playoffs this year.

 

[Post Ironic]

I gotta disagree bro, I think another athletic rim protector is a must. Against the Hawks they were down going into the fourth, Lebron and them just got hot in the 4th and got the W. Hawks found a loophole and stuck to it all night, making AD guard the 3 with an easy pick´n roll for Trae just driving at Gasol faking the floater and throwing the lob. Just too easy. Dwight got length and bounce which makes him able to guard both, so it keeps guards from driving to the paint. Gasol doesn´t scare guards which gives the opposition a whole new set of plays.

Against the Nuggets yesterday it´s true that Jokic struggled but they got killed on the offensive glass which gave Denver a big lead, but the Lakers 2nd unit got hot and brought them back. That´s not sustainable basketball IMO.

As you mentioned, it might not be needed every night. But Gasol is not cutting it for me defensively at all. Trez has struggled to guard the pick´n roll his whole career. They´ll get away with it in the regular season, but I feel the lack of another reliable rim protector next to AD just gives opponents too many options to score over a 7 game series in the playoffs this year.

Dude, Dwight and Javale played a combined 45 minutes in the Houston series. And Dwight played 71 minutes in the Miami series. Including 7 minutes in our game 4 win and 1 minute in our game 6 win to close out the championship. They were unplayable in the playoffs against 2 of the 4 teams we faced.

It was the Lakers secondary unit with Harrell and Lebron that got hot last night. That seems pretty sustainable to me.

AD still looks like he is in preseason mode at this point, he’s been half-assing it most nights. Until he decides to turn it on, we won’t really know what this team is gonna look like.

But even with that you’re ignoring that we have the second best record in the league after very little break for an offseason and have the best defensive rating. We’re hardly struggling there. Gasol is also averaging more blocks/game and more steals than Howard did last year on similar minutes. Vogel is fantastic defensive coach and his system has been funnelling players attacking the rim into Gasol to contest.

Same thing with Harrell. When Gasol was off the floor, he combined with AD to shut down Jokic, the guy who killed him in the postseason last year. Vogel is a far better defensive coach than Doc Rivers, so I have no doubt that he is going to adjust and help Harrell far more than Doc who just left him stranded on an island with no plan.

Anyways, as I said above, I hope we do sign a big. But mostly just for spot duty in certain match-ups. This team looks like they’re gonna be fine.

 

[JuelzSantana]

Dude, Dwight and Javale played a combined 45 minutes in the Houston series. And Dwight played 71 minutes in the Miami series. Including 7 minutes in our game 4 win and 1 minute in our game 6 win to close out the championship. They were unplayable in the playoffs against 2 of the 4 teams we faced.

It was the Lakers secondary unit with Harrell and Lebron that got hot last night. That seems pretty sustainable to me.

AD still looks like he is in preseason mode at this point, he’s been half-assing it most nights. Until he decides to turn it on, we won’t really know what this team is gonna look like.

But even with that you’re ignoring that we have the second best record in the league after very little break for an offseason and have the best defensive rating. We’re hardly struggling there. Gasol is also averaging more blocks/game and more steals than Howard did last year on similar minutes. Vogel is fantastic defensive coach and his system has been funnelling players attacking the rim into Gasol to contest.

Same thing with Harrell. When Gasol was off the floor, he combined with AD to shut down Jokic, the guy who killed him in the postseason last year. Vogel is a far better defensive coach than Doc Rivers, so I have no doubt that he is going to adjust and help Harrell far more than Doc who just left him stranded on an island with no plan.

Anyways, as I said above, I hope we do sign a big. But mostly just for spot duty in certain match-ups. This team looks like they’re gonna be fine.

We can agree to disagree, I don´t really put too much into the regular season other than the potential schemes teams try out. The Bucks had the best defensive rating last year and we know how that ended.

I look for potential matchups late in the playoffs. Denver with Jokic (it was a regular season game and he missed some great looks yesterday btw), Clips added Ibaka and have Zubac. Utah obviously with Gobert. Even potentially early matchups where Mavs with Porzingis and Powell can cause issues f.ex.

In the east, against the Nets I reckon AD will have to guard KD most of the time. DJ will feast on the boards and they might add another big. You already mentioned Embiid.
Vogel for sure is a great defensive mind, but I wouldn´t go into those matchups trusting Gasol as the only pure center. He´s got great defensive IQ but just not the legs anymore. So many more schemes you can throw at him. We´ll see if they´ll add someone, I think it´s vital.

 

[Post Ironic]

We can agree to disagree, I don´t really put too much into the regular season other than the potential schemes teams try out. The Bucks had the best defensive rating last year and we know how that ended.

I look for potential matchups late in the playoffs. Denver with Jokic (it was a regular season game and he missed some great looks yesterday btw), Clips added Ibaka and have Zubac. Utah obviously with Gobert. Even potentially early matchups where Mavs with Porzingis and Powell can cause issues f.ex.

In the east, against the Nets I reckon AD will have to guard KD most of the time. DJ will feast on the boards and they might add another big. You already mentioned Embiid.
Vogel for sure is a great defensive mind, but I wouldn´t go into those matchups trusting Gasol as the only pure center. He´s got great defensive IQ but just not the legs anymore. So many more schemes you can throw at him. We´ll see if they´ll add someone, I think it´s vital.

Oh for sure, we clearly gonna agree to disagree here. I see adding a depth big as something we should do, but not the end of the world if instead we get someone instead to defend wing forwards like Kawhi and PG, and even KD, taking some of the burden off Lebron and freeing up AD to guard C’s when needed.

 

[ALC]

Can we talk about how much better Lamelo is than Lonzo?

 

[Cerval]

Discuss

 

[Enron]

James is fat

 

[Strickland]

James is fat

Dark blue would've been a better choice for him But it's the start of the season in Covid times, plenty of players have started this year on the chubby side, even ultra professionals like AD

 

[duranfj]

Discuss

The beard knows best

 

[JuveJay]

Damn, Jordan Clarkson