OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD- February 2021

He is learning that if he wants to stay on the court a guy his size needs to alter his game a bit. I have these same questions about Zion. To be fair Zion is built like a tank so he might be able to handle the pounding a bit longer?

 

Their SOS is has been average so far. Portland SOS has been tougher so far as Denver's.

 

And he does it every night; never takes a night or a possession off.

 

***********************************************************************




*****************************************************************************************




**************************************************************************************



*********************************************************************************************






******************************************************

basically, Utah has had a tougher schedule so far, and will have a far tougher sshedule in the remaining 10-13 games before the season reboots. And they've been the best team in the league with that tougher schedule

 

So if the Jazz’s SOS and SRS are both tougher than average, I assume that they mainly play bottom feeders on the second part of the schedule that hasn’t been released yet? They’re looking good if they remain healthy.

 

could be....but the make-up games might change the equation a little. I believe the Blazers have a B2B at home against Memphis to make up

you'd have to go thru each team's schedule.

from what I know, in the 2nd half of the season, the Blazers have

1 against the Lakers;
2 against the Clippers;
2 against Phoenix;
2 against the Spurs;
3 against Memphis;
2 against Denver;
1 against Milwaukee
1 against Indiana
2 against Brooklyn
2 against Boston

that's 18 games against teams with winning records (4 even), and so far, other than Philly, Portland hasn't done well against teams with winning records. They'll also have 8 games against Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, and Miami, and those are all dangerous teams

looks like a pretty tough schedule for the 2nd half

 

2020-21 NBA RPI Rankings
RK TEAM RPI W L PCT SOS PWR PF PA EWL EWP
1 Detroit .457 6 19 .240 .530 0 2710 2836 8-17 .321
2 Denver .531 13 11 .542 .528 0 2784 2686 15-9 .644
3 Sacramento .518 12 12 .500 .525 0 2727 2838 8-16 .341
4 Memphis .513 10 10 .500 .517 0 2219 2218 10-10 .502
5 Dallas .502 12 14 .462 .516 0 2899 2958 11-15 .418
6 Golden State .519 14 12 .538 .513 0 2959 2928 14-12 .543
New Orleans .499 11 13 .458 .513 0 2700 2701 12-12 .498
8 Oklahoma City .487 10 14 .417 .510 0 2589 2738 7-17 .284
9 Portland .527 14 10 .583 .509 0 2752 2767 11-13 .478
New York .487 11 15 .423 .509 0 2664 2701 12-14 .443
11 San Antonio .521 14 11 .560 .508 0 2754 2786 11-14 .452
12 Boston .516 13 11 .542 .507 0 2669 2631 13-11 .559
13 LA .551 18 8 .692 .504 0 2989 2808 19-7 .737
14 Indiana .502 13 13 .500 .503 0 2919 2885 14-12 .548
15 LA Lakers .568 20 6 .769 .502 0 2941 2736 20-6 .767
16 Utah .575 20 5 .800 .499 0 2864 2645 20-5 .788
Minnesota .434 6 19 .240 .499 0 2692 2892 6-19 .235
Phoenix .530 15 9 .625 .499 0 2651 2586 14-10 .601
19 Houston .484 11 14 .440 .498 0 2731 2746 12-13 .477
20 Atlanta .484 11 13 .458 .493 0 2706 2673 13-11 .550
Cleveland .466 10 16 .385 .493 0 2694 2891 6-20 .238
22 Toronto .484 12 14 .462 .492 0 2963 2910 15-11 .574
23 Milwaukee .525 16 9 .640 .487 0 3036 2798 20-5 .794
24 Chicago .469 10 14 .417 .486 0 2762 2778 11-13 .476
Charlotte .480 12 14 .462 .486 0 2885 2891 13-13 .491
26 Brooklyn .501 15 12 .556 .483 0 3252 3172 16-11 .601
27 Philadelphia .531 18 8 .692 .477 0 2971 2872 17-9 .636
28 Miami .465 11 14 .440 .474 0 2667 2737 10-15 .395
29 Washington .420 6 16 .273 .470 0 2505 2659 6-16 .272
30 Orlando .438 9 17 .346 .469 0 2723 2910 7-19 .251

 

Lillard keeping on pace. If the wins keep coming and he continues to bring 30+ a game he should at least stay in the conversation right?

 

The Jazz are looking scary. That beatdown they gave us in the 1st game isn’t looking too bad right now. They absolutely dominated Milwaukee tonight. They are ranked 4th in offense and 4th in defense, only team ranked in the top 5 in both.

 

The Jazz aren't winning it all this year and neither are we without some humdinger of trade.

 

If we get lucky, maybe. We get healthy and some other teams have an injury to a major part of their team, like when Durant went down. Can easily see Blazers getting a middle seed and getting through the 4-5 matchup, but then yeah it would need to be like LBJ going down, and then Embiid or something.

 

I'm going to disagree here.
The Championship will be won by the team that is healthy and playing well at the end of the season. Right now the Jazz are playing well and are healthy. The Lakers are healthy and playing well.
Here is my side point. The Jazz have won 7 straight and are putting pressure on the Lakers to keep winning. Both teams are trying to stay in front of the Clippers who are only 2 games back.
Way too early to say things like "The Jazz or Blazers aren't winning a championship without a trade."
I personally don't think the Blazers need a trade. They need to get healthy in time to gel and start playing well. They also need to continue to stay afloat using their depth.
The one thing people said going into this season was the Blazers had more depth and a bench. Well guess what??? It's happening and yes they are staying afloat due to some depth.

 

No way the Warriors win their first Championship without a bunch of help from teams dealing with injuries.

 

I say Lillard Hands Down.

 

Zion shot 14/15 from the field last night and the 1 miss was a 3. That’s incredible. I think he’s top 10 in PER.

 

Obviously he is very gifted. He might as well be learning fast? I hope so for his sake. Blake Griffin was a High Flying dunker and he has paid a price. Now he has a shot from the top of the key that is money. Another guy we will see injured again this year is Jones. You can bet in it.

 

But SOS is based on the opponents’ records which should also be based on THEIR SOS. In other words, it’s a meaningless inaccurate stat. As Toronto continues to rise up the standings, does our SOS go up? Makes no sense. And it rarely makes a difference. Pelicans had the “easiest” schedule in the bubble. How’d that work out?

 

Memphis and Indiana don’t have winning records.