The Official 2013-14 Around The NBA Thread......

They won the game. That's all that matters.

 

I'm on NOP/DAL right now...Eric Gordon looks a lot more fluid than I would've thought for a guy perpetually about to break down.

 

Dirk is looking old, though, and DeJuan Blair is back to being a starting "center".

Speaking of "old", Matrix just blew a fastbreak layup that a couple years ago would've been a facial on someone.

 

Today's looking like a "revenge of the East" day. ATL, CLE, and if IND can somehow overcome a single-digit deficit to UTH...

 

They dug a big hole for themselves, and I don't see them as a .600 club going forward, which is about what they'll need to get into it.

 

Right now I wouldn't say that they are because they haven't proven it yet. However this is a pivotal season in determining whether they're legit or not. Last year they were a mid-tier playoff team, but beat the 3rd seeded Nuggets and were the only WCF team that was competitive with the Spurs. Still, they lost in 6 to SA and did not make the WCF. Does that make them a contender? I say not quite. In my opinion you have to prove you're a contender and while they did have some nice success they didn't do enough to make me think they have similar odds of winning the whole thing as Miami, SA, Indy, healthy Chicago, healthy OKC, etc.

But this season's team is a bit different. There was a roster shakeup which a lot of NBA fans did not agree with. I personally think the roster is better than last year's team. Even ignoring the fact that Jack and Landry have both been FA busts thus far, I said many times last year that Curry developed his PG/floor general skills over the course of last season to the point where the team is worse when Jack runs the point with Curry off the ball. That was not the case the first couple of months of last season. Curry eclipsed him as a floor general and all of a sudden Jack's positives start to fade and his negative qualities become glaring (terrible defense, shoot first PG, kills ball movement, doesn't feed Curry nor the hot hand, etc.). You can just check Curry's month by month stats last year and see how much of a force he became. At this point you want the ball in his hands a LOT and there's no reason to have a backup who demands significant minutes.

Additionally, Klay and Barnes really made strides from last season to this season. I can't believe how much stronger Klay seems mentally. His efficiency and production is way up but hes mostly got the same skillset as before, hes just so much more confident and showing some killer instinct. Definitely a top 10 SG now, and perhaps top 5 given the crappy talent pool at the position. Barnes' mid-range game is really coming around the way his pre-draft scouting reports said that it could. Oh and hes also shooting the highest 3 pt FG% on the team. Guy doesn't make his teammates better but hes a poor man's Melo as far as being a nightmare isolation player in the mid-post area, and he really kills opposing reserves. Offensively he kind of reminds me of a young Ron Artest in that hes mechanical but just so fugging big, strong, and athletic that in mid-post iso's he's either going to get a pretty good shot going toward the rim or a patented mid-range fade that the defender can't come close to blocking. His defense is also much better than last season, but hes just kind of slow laterally and thay may always hamper him.

I think Curry, Klay, and Barnes' development have been huge. I love Iggy for a variety of reasons but with Jack and Landry leaving we lost two guys who can create a good look for themselves at any time and Iggy is really a pass-first player who's least favorite thing to do on the court is shoot the ball. Curry is still tearing it up, Klay has gone from solid two way starting SG to one of the best two way players in the league IMO, Barnes punishes the opposition's bench unit. The fact that they are better at creating shots makes me like the Jack-Iggy swap all the more, as we added a real pass first playmaker who loves nothing more than to set these guys up, and on the other end he can D up on anyone.

I could go on and on, but this post is already getting really lengthy...in summary I think that if healthy the team is better. The bench is concerning but if the team is healthy that means Harrison comes off the bench. I love Draymond Green and JO is coming around. Also Festus Ezeli hasn't played yet and the W's could sorely use his strength/quickness/defense against Blake Griffin/LMA/Gasol/Dwight/Cousins/ets. Oh by the way Festus coming back may mean we can permanently bench Marreese Speights, who does not belong in the NBA.

One last point; I love the defensive weapons that the Warriors have. Klay/Iggy as a defensive combo is reminiscent of Danny Green/Kawhi Leonard IMO. Gives you so much flexibility when you have two tall, long, strong defenders in the starting lineup. With Bogut you don't have to double team Duncan, Cousins, etc. (certain guys who can shoot and are sort of quick really torch him though). Festus is an underrated defender and gives you an answer to strong, quick bigs. Toney Douglas can come in and harrass the hell out of any PG in the league for 10 mpg. JO aint chopped liver as a rim protector at least and I'm interested to see if a 4/5 combo of JO/Festus will work out. And Draymond Green is a great defensive player you can throw at the great SFs of the league, but he can also shut down stretch 4's and the Warriors lose no rebounding. The team just has so many looks and so many types of defenders, I feel pretty good about them defensively in a 7 game series.

tl;dr they haven't proven enough to call them contenders, and they have health concerns. But they have the talent to possibly be in that group but they'll need to earn it and they'll need some good fortune to make it to the playoffs healthy.

 

Perhaps the bench is weaker, but is their 9 man rotation weaker? Curry/Klay/Barnes/Lee/Bogut/Landry/Jack/Green/Festus vs. Curry/Klay/Iggy/Lee/Bogut/Barnes/JO/Festus/Douglas/Green

The top 6 in the rotation is certainly better this season, but that quality 7th rotation guy is a big question mark. Dunno if JO can sustain his recent play.

Also I was reading an interesting article the other day comparing Curry to a dominant big man. He does command doubles, but they're all the way out at the 3 pt line. Given his ability to hit a high volume of 3's at a ridiculously high %, hes pretty damn efficient and effective. I'm not sure I buy that he's that good, and especially not when you factor in defensive impact, but its an interesting thought and a different way of looking at the game.

I didn't mean that November and December don't matter. Obviously when you get off to a 15-3 start that matters. What I meant is that SA, OKC, Miami, etc. are coasting this time of year. They can coast and still maintain a great record before cranking it up down the stretch. Can't take anything away from Portland, but they're going balls to the wall every game as an up and coming team should.