Casey started Ibaka at center. That's when I knew I chose the wrong coach.
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Official NBA '17-18 Season Thread
- Thread starter trikx_insane
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CP3 in his first WCF. Dis gon b gud
Imma just let y'all know right now: the wcf is impossible to figure out on like, anything. Coaching. Matchups. Don't care what anyone says.
What are the chances that Brad Stevens can locate Delonte West before mothers day?
Dammit man I don't appreciate your saltiness in my still open wound. Unless someone ties David stern and Dan Gilbert buck naked in Times square, I will NEVER get over being robbed of a CP3-Kobe back court.
Rumors suggest Casey won coach of the year and that Stevens didn't get a single vote.
That's only the Coaches Association award where the coaches vote among themselves, not the one by the media that people actually care about.
That's still friggin' dumb unless Stevens like, is just an annoying guy to hang with lol
Celtics in 6
Cavs in 6 unless someone smacks Smart's stupid thumb. Then Cavs in 5
Unless Brad Stevens comes up with a game plan that includes keeping LeBron's teammates out of the game; like what Nate McMillan did in the Pacers series. As well as the fact they have to find a way to slow down the man himself. And given the history with LeBron and the Celtics; that's really gonna be hard since he usually plays really well against them.
Cavs in 6.
Cavs in 6.
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Celtics have similar physicality and schemes like the Pacers.
Celtics rely a lot more on young, lanky guys that will get bulldozed by LeBron/Love. The main problem in the Pacers series was their bigs were playing awesome and dominating the Cavs in the paint (and of course the role players couldn't knock down open 3s to save their life). Booker/Thad Young/Sabonis/Turner are a lot more physically imposing than Boston's bigs, like Horford is more of a finesse player than a bully-you-in-the-post kind of guy. I mean I didn't watch all 82 Celtics games by any means but those young skinny guys like Tatum and Brown don't appear to play anything like the bulkier Pacers wings like Stephenson and Bogdanovic. Don't see the comparison.
I have literally no idea how they're going to defend LeBron. Marcus Smart is too small, but he's ferocious and might be their best option honestly lol. Brown or Tatum will get absolutely trucked. Horford isn't quick enough to stay in front of him. They don't really have anyone that can match up well with Love either. The Celtics' best shot most likely is to try and shut down Korver/Smith open 3s, try and double Love in the post, and make it as hard as they can on LeBron to put up his big points every night.
https://stats.nba.com/player/201567/matchups/?Season=2017-18&SeasonType=Regular Season
Horford guarded Love for 32 possessions throughout the most recent regular season and held him to a mere 5 points, although generated 37 team points. Still some bad differentials going on there.
Brown on LeBron: 28.5 possessions, 9.5 points, 28 team points
Morris on LeBron: 27.5 possessions, 7 points, 32 team points.
Judging from this, Love could potentially be guarded individually, LeBron is more likely to pass out and make his team score and be better (at least in the regular season against Boston).
I'm not really trying to argue any specific point with this but rather just saying Boston at least has the capability to play similar to Indiana defensively. Playoff history between Horford/Brown dating back to last year could say otherwise, but that was also a different Cleveland team.
You are right that Indiana is certainly more imposing but their regular season defense still pales in comparison to Boston's and that might be more scheme than physicality. I suppose we'll see how it exactly plays out.
If I'm Stevens.. and based on how he's strategized against both Milwaukee and Philadelphia... I'm going to let LeBron be LeBron (whether that's him averaging 40 or 15 assists to open threes) and focus on getting rid of Love. Morris and Horford are my best bets against Love (for whatever reason... he's struggled against Baynes too?).
... dammit I'm analyzing the match-up without even starting the actual post. w/e. This discussion is y'all preview.
edit: One concern I'd have for Cleveland is Kyle Korver's individual defense being a big target. Stevens is going to go at him like he did Redick and Marco.
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Sheesh, Casey got fired...not that I disagree, but damn.
Raptors fan here. Casey was kind of a polarizing coach in Toronto for years. I have mixed feelings about the firing, but I'm really surprised at how much criticism it's getting from other places.
People are talking about them maybe breaking the roster up, but I'm not really sure what that looks like. I'd want some present-day value back in a trade, and it's hard to say what they can get for Lowry/DeRozan/whoever unless someone like Kawhi is actually available. Clearing some of those guys out to make room for free agents doesn't seem like much of a solution either. Toronto is rarely in the conversation for big-name free agents (for reasons not 100% clear to me, there's a lot that should be appealing about it, but whatever). Someone here earlier was critical of "loyalty deals" for Lowry and DeRozan, but (1) it was hard to see what the alternative was at the time, and (2) I'm not sure non-Raptors fans fully get what an achievement it felt like just to get players as good as them to re-sign. And the team still seems too good to just blow up for future assets, especially when it's still the best team this franchise has ever had, and there's some solid young talent already on it. Beyond the Kyle/DeMar/Serge/JV core, there's some room for optimism, as a lot of the bench mob (plus OG) are young and should get better. Those guys might have some decent trade value too.
Also the "fire Masai" takes are starting to come out again, and that still seems like an insane idea to me. The guy has almost always made good moves, and very rarely done anything that looks like a bad idea at the time. What better executive is there to get?
Anyway, I guess at this point I'm actually rooting for another Warriors/Cavs finals. Warriors because it often seems like the next best thing when my favourite team is out is to watch an all-time-great team keep making history. Cavs because a friend who's a Celtics fan talked a lot of shit when the Raptors were being swept, and I hope he gets the same experience.
People are talking about them maybe breaking the roster up, but I'm not really sure what that looks like. I'd want some present-day value back in a trade, and it's hard to say what they can get for Lowry/DeRozan/whoever unless someone like Kawhi is actually available. Clearing some of those guys out to make room for free agents doesn't seem like much of a solution either. Toronto is rarely in the conversation for big-name free agents (for reasons not 100% clear to me, there's a lot that should be appealing about it, but whatever). Someone here earlier was critical of "loyalty deals" for Lowry and DeRozan, but (1) it was hard to see what the alternative was at the time, and (2) I'm not sure non-Raptors fans fully get what an achievement it felt like just to get players as good as them to re-sign. And the team still seems too good to just blow up for future assets, especially when it's still the best team this franchise has ever had, and there's some solid young talent already on it. Beyond the Kyle/DeMar/Serge/JV core, there's some room for optimism, as a lot of the bench mob (plus OG) are young and should get better. Those guys might have some decent trade value too.
Also the "fire Masai" takes are starting to come out again, and that still seems like an insane idea to me. The guy has almost always made good moves, and very rarely done anything that looks like a bad idea at the time. What better executive is there to get?
Anyway, I guess at this point I'm actually rooting for another Warriors/Cavs finals. Warriors because it often seems like the next best thing when my favourite team is out is to watch an all-time-great team keep making history. Cavs because a friend who's a Celtics fan talked a lot of shit when the Raptors were being swept, and I hope he gets the same experience.
I'm the one who talked about loyalty deals. I get it, it's the best team you guys ever assembled, and you guys had something going with Lowry and DeRozan, but the fact of the matter remains (I believe) that nobody else was going to give them those deals, and now they look horrible. I mean, the PG market dried up before Lowry announced he was re-signing and DeMar didn't even talk to any other team.
As for the rest of the team, I think they've peaked, including with Casey. He was a good motivator and brought the team together, but he isn't at that championship level. If you want to win a title, it won't be with Casey. It's a good move to fire him now and bring in someone who can really develop your young players like OG.
I don't think there will be many takers for Lowry and DeRozan given the money owed to them and that I don't believe they'll make any playoff team/contender any better for the price it'd cost, and tanking teams don't want them. Your best bet now is to just ride it out and hopefully ship them out for assets when they become expiring deals to a team that might be looking to clear long-term salary. If not, let their deals expire and use the cap space to either sign free agents (not that I think Toronto is a desirable destination), or use that space to absorb salary with picks/prospects like Brooklyn did with D'Angelo, Mozgov, and DeMarre.
Well, he did almost trade Lowry for Felton, MWP, and Shumpert/THJR/2018 first rounder (which would actually look good now), draft Bruno Caboclo and kept him for three years (his first choice Tyler Ennis was taken by Phoenix), and honestly handed out those deals to Lowry and DeRozan... But every executive makes mistakes and I don't believe there's someone better out there right now, unless you want to get David Griffin in an attempt to lure LeBron lmao.
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It isn't that hard to figure out is it? I guess being Canadian might make it harder to see from their perspective.
I mean, I mostly get it. But players have gone to worse teams to chase rings. Toronto has a strong culture and a one of the more stable locker rooms. As I mentioned, there’s potential for the team to still be good in a few years. It’s a team with a lot of fan support, in one of the bigger local markets. Toronto is also just a good place to live. There was a bit of local media hype about the new Biosteel Centre training facility appealing to free agents, but okay, that part was probably a stretch in hindsight.
I just wonder how much more the Raptors have to do to get something even a little better than, say, a meeting with LaMarcus when we know he’s going to the Spurs. Do they have to be the Warriors?
The thing with Casey is that he was a really good player development coach but lacked that tactical aptitude. He struggled to make in-game adjustments and draw up good plays in crunch time. For example, in the Cavs series he failed to adjust to the glaring mismatch between Love and Miles in Game 2 before it was too late, didn't create enough plays for JV when the Cavs had no answer for him, and couldn't close out on open shooters to cut off Lebron's help.
People credit Casey with our new style of offense, and of course he played a key role in executing that throughout the season, but it was really our assistant coach Nick Nurse who was responsible for developing that new playstyle. To be honest I think Casey took this team as far as he could and we've reached our peak with him at the helm. Now we need someone else to step in and take us to the next level in terms of in-game execution. I see comparisons drawn between Mark Jackson's role in developing the Warriors before Steve Kerr took over and pushed them over the top with a new offensive style (not saying we can become the next Dubs obviously). Regardless, getting swept in back to back seasons calls for some type of change, and sure the coach may be the easiest scapegoat, but I think a new voice could be a good thing for the players and maybe help them get over that mental barrier they seem to have at times in the postseason.
People credit Casey with our new style of offense, and of course he played a key role in executing that throughout the season, but it was really our assistant coach Nick Nurse who was responsible for developing that new playstyle. To be honest I think Casey took this team as far as he could and we've reached our peak with him at the helm. Now we need someone else to step in and take us to the next level in terms of in-game execution. I see comparisons drawn between Mark Jackson's role in developing the Warriors before Steve Kerr took over and pushed them over the top with a new offensive style (not saying we can become the next Dubs obviously). Regardless, getting swept in back to back seasons calls for some type of change, and sure the coach may be the easiest scapegoat, but I think a new voice could be a good thing for the players and maybe help them get over that mental barrier they seem to have at times in the postseason.
Green gonna win the ship this year, it's a lock at this point
May the best Green (Draymond) win.
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