2017-2018 NBA Season

can't believe it was pulled off with matching the salaries and all...

I read they did this incase Lebron bolts to another team, they will still have a team after him.

 

Kobe Bryant wins an Oscar for Best Live Animated Short Film, which he narrated and wrote for DEAR BASKETBALL...

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/oscars-2018-kobe-bryant-adds-an-academy-award-to-his-trophy-case/

 

The season is coming to a close and the playoff matchups are still a toss up. Lots of shuffling for seeding and the field isn't set in the West yet.
Predictions:

East
1. Raptors (60-22) Win their last 3 vs sub-par competition to get to 60 wins. Could be big for home court in the Finals.
2. Celtics (56-26) Lose to the Wizards on the road.
3. Cavaliers (51-31) Beat the Knicks B2B and get the tiebreaker over Philly.
4. 76ers (51-31) Their winning streak doesn't quite reach 16. They slip once, likely to the Bucks who want to improve their seeding.
5. Pacers (48-34) They beat the Hornets 1st game since the 4 seed is still possible but then rest on final day when they are locked into the 5 seed.
6. Wizards (44-28) They get the resting Celtics at home and then beat Orlando to get the 6 seed via tiebreaker.
7. Bucks (44-28) They win 2 of their final 3 and avoid the bottom with some help.
8. Heat (43-29) They end the season with losses to the Thunder and Raptors.

West
1. Rockets (67-15) They could lose to the Thunder but they are going to win out.
2. Warriors (59-23) Lose to the Jazz to end the season.
3. Jazz (49-33) Win out and get the tiebreaker over the Blazers.
4. Trail Blazers (49-33) Lose 2 out of 3 including to the Jazz.
5. Spurs (48-34) Win out and can steal home court if things break right.
6. Thunder (47-35) Win 2 of 3 and the chaos in the west gets them up to a 6 seed. They may want the Warriors early though.
7. Timberwolves (46-36) Beat Memphis but lose to the Nuggets. Swept the Pelicans in the season series to earn the 3-way tiebreaker.
8. Nuggets (46-36) Lose to the Blazers and beat the Wolves but although they own the tiebreaker vs the Wolves, they don't own a 3-way tiebreaker with the Pelicans.

Pelicans (46-36) They fall short thanks to tiebreakers.

 

im just happy the Sixers are winning without Embiid and won for the majority of the season without Fultz. COmbined with Simmons for the postseason and the Sixers are a scary bunch.

 

I don't know who I'd want to avoid between the Sixers and Cavs. I am hoping the Pacers take whoever is the 4-seed down. The Pacers match up extremely well vs the Cavaliers and 76ers but not against the Raptors.

 

im happy to have playoff basketball. if the sixers didn't blow 11 double digits leads this year, they could be in first place or second place. that's scary.

 

UPDATE after tonights games.

East
1. Raptors (60-22) Win their last 3 vs sub-par competition to get to 60 wins. Could be big for home court in the Finals.
2. Celtics (56-26) Lose to the Wizards on the road.
3. Cavaliers (51-31) Beat the Knicks B2B and get the tiebreaker over Philly.
4. 76ers (51-31) Their winning streak doesn't quite reach 16. They slip once, likely to the Bucks who want to improve their seeding.
5. Pacers (48-34) They beat the Hornets 1st game since the 4 seed is still possible but then rest on final day when they are locked into the 5 seed.
6. Wizards (44-28) They get the resting Celtics at home and then beat Orlando to get the 6 seed via tiebreaker.
7. Bucks (44-28) They win 2 of their final 3 and avoid the bottom with some help.
8. Heat (43-29) They end the season with losses to the Thunder and Raptors.

West
1. Rockets (66-16) They could lose to the Thunder but they are going to win out.
2. Warriors (58-24) Lose to the Jazz to end the season.
3. Jazz (49-33) Win out and get the tiebreaker over the Blazers.
4. Trail Blazers (49-33) Lose 2 out of 3 including to the Jazz.
5. Spurs (48-34) Win out and can steal home court if things break right.
6. Thunder (48-34) Win out and the chaos in the west gets them up to a 6 seed. They may want the Warriors early though.
7. Pelicans (47-35) The win over the Warriors was huge.
8. Nuggets (46-36) Lose to the Blazers and beat the Wolves they own the tiebreaker vs the Wolves, they don't own a 3-way tiebreaker with the Pelicans.

Timberwolves (46-36) Beat Memphis but lose to the Nuggets. They need a 3-way tie if they don't beat the Nuggets.

 

i think the Sixers clinched home court advantage this weekend. nice.

 

The NBA playoffs - the greatest show on Earth!

 

the greatest traveling show on EARTH !

GO SIXERS!

 

I've got no horse in the race but I still love the NBA playoffs.

 

Sixers gotta win tonight ! Game 1 was fugly ugly.

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-sixers-interested-trading-kawhi-180007372.html

wow Sixers going all in this summer on Leonard and Lebron. I love it.

 

Playing with LeBron would ruin Simmons' development. And LeBron isn't going anywhere that he isn't calling the shots on roster construction and coaching.

 

well Simmonds didn't have a great series vs Boston and was non-existent in 1 of the games. No idea what getting Lebron does to him, but I don't care. Would love to see the NBA Title back in Philly.

 

Eh Simmons had a bad series, he's just a pup. He can learn and get better from it, but probably not while he's left without a role that suits is skill set in a LeBron-dominated offense. Not to mention you'd have to dump most of your good shooters that would fit well with LeBron to be able to afford him, and the others would have to go to SA to get Kawhi. So you'd have a Top 3 of LeBron, Kawhi, and Embiid which is awesome, an underdeveloped and redundant piece in Simmons, and the rest of your roster would be McConnell, Holmes, and a bunch of G leaguers. IMO your better off in the long run continuing to develop what you have with Embiid, Simmons, Fultz, Saric, Covington, the Laker pick, and the cap space you do have.

It was fun re-igniting the C's-Sixers rivalry, anyway. Would like to see these two young cores battling it out for the next few years.

 

?? afford him ? they got $30-35 under the cap. it's not if they can sign him, but WHEN ? the Sixers will lose some people, but it's not as drastic as you're making it out to be.

If the Sixers don't blow a 22 pt lead, that series is different and not for the 2 missed calls under 20 seconds against Embiid in game 5.

Danny Ainge is a genius. He has put Boston back to win the East for the next 5-7 yrs easily.

 

I've read around 31. Max contract for Lebron is going to be 35+ and he says he's not taking any more discounts, so yeah that's all your space and then some right there.

 

well I'm reading different things that are saying on CBS Sportsline, ESPN and Yahoo that the Sixers are going to try and sign Lebron and trade for K. Leonard. So cap room or not, they are going after them. And if Reddick goes elsewhere, that's $22 mil gone too they gave him for 1 year.

 

Redick's already accounted for in those numbers, though. Kawhi you'd have to trade for and the salaries have to match up which means you're looking at Fultz and Covington at a minimum just to get that started. Assuming SA would even consider those two and the Laker pick reasonable compensation for Kawhi (I'd be asking for Simmons and Saric instead of Fultz if I were them). Or that he wouldn't rather just bury the hatchet with Pop to get his super max deal in SA (remember Kawhi's only signed for 1 more year and then you're looking at a max deal for him, too). So if all you care about is blowing up the results of "the process" to push all-in for 1 shot at it next year and probably still losing to Golden State, then signing LeBron and trading for Kawhi is the way to go.