Official 2015-16 NBA Season Thread

[thePACisback]

Most Improved is a two horse race in my opinion - Will Barton and CJ McCollum with McCollum holding a comfortable lead. They had almost identical stats last season so it makes it easy to compare them head to head. Instead, I'd be looking at Barton in the 6th man race.

Will Barton
2014-15: 6.8ppg, 2.8rpg, 1.4apg, 0.3bpg, 0.8spg
2015-16: 16.8ppg, 6.2rpg, 2.6apg, 0.4bpg, 1.1spg

CJ McCollum
2014-15: 6.8ppg, 1.5rpg, 1.0apg, 0.1bpg, 0.7spg
2015-16: 21.0ppg, 3.7rpg, 4.3apg, 0.1bpg, 1.3spg

I personally think that Barton will be he better one of the two as the season ends.
Kanter is in All-Star calculations (13th in the rankings of the West frontcourt after the first voting update), which should almost certainly have him in the running, and Jeremy Lin for the same reasons as Enes; 8th in he running for the Eastern backcourt and he has improved so much at Charlotte from his horror days at the Lakers. Put them into calculations as well.

 

[nichj99]

Philly in the news for two reasons today...

The (i guess you can call it) good: With the roster spot opened up by waiving Tony Wroten (17ppg last season before a knee injury), the Sixers have signed Elton Brand out of retirement to mentor Jahlil Okafor. In his article written at The Cauldron announcing the move ,Brand is quoted as saying "Hell, if camera phones were around when Brad Miller, Ron Artest and I were Jahlil's age, we might've been banned from the league altogether, never mind suspended for a few games". He believes that for Okafor "I think I can be serviceable,'' and that he hopes to be a "positive influence" by repaying "what's owed.

The bad: Father of Kendall Marshall slams Brett Brown, Nik Stauskas on twitter.
"How are you a 'shooter' and shooting 27 percent from three?" Marshall tweeted. "Can't guard but play a lot. What do you think the reason is?" He then followed it up with "I always said there was racism in sports". Kendall is averaging 16 minutes per game in 9 appearances this season and has not seen the floor in 3 of the sixers last 4 games.

 

[exzibit3]

I like the Brand move, I think it can only do good but the young players will need to listen up and it's going to be difficult when he hasn't won a championship and has been on teams with losing backgrounds. I think Jahlil has got upside but he just looks lost on defence and he still lacks rebounding presence. Nerlens has been doing quite well of late but at the expense of Jahlil coming off the bench.

 

[peppermint420]

definitely has upside, his numbers (17/7) are near identical to his numbers at duke

he will be a very good player with some off court guidance and some defensive coaching

 

[thePACisback]

Magic Johnson reckons Ben Simmons is the best all-round player he's seen since LeBron when he was at high school...

Correct he is. Whoever wins the draft lottery will be extremely excited.

 

[exzibit3]

Who do you guys think would be leading the award races at the moment?
Here's my top 3 in all of them.

MVP
1. Curry
2. LBJ
3. PG13

Rookie of the Year
1. KAT
2. PorzinGOD
3. D'Angelo Russell

Most Improved
1. Will 'the Thrill' Barton
2. Enes Kanter (I know, but look at the guy's stats!)
3. Linsanity (Same as Enes)

Best 6th Man
1. Nicolas Batum (2K had this predicted from the start!)
2. Manu Ginobili
3. I can't think of anyone else!!!
Who do you think are in the running for these awards?

MVP is Curry's handsdown, won't even be close in 1st place voting..my prediction is that he'll get around 115 of the possible 130 votes. Best player on the best team and leading the league in scoring, that's almost a guaranteed win unless an injury happens.

MIP prediction is a landslide win for Mccollum.

ROY is going to come down to who finishes stronger in the last month of the season to sway the voters. Every analyst is saying KAT is leading followed by Porzingis but I think it's Jahlil who is a close second. Porzingis is inconsistent at best and his shooting has been pretty unspectacular.

Jahlil: 1st scoring, 2nd FG% (rookies with more than 10 shots per game average), 3rd BPG, 2nd RPG
KAT: 2nd scoring, 1st FG%, 1st BPG, 1st RPG

 

[Telfs Card Park]

MVP is Curry's handsdown, won't even be close in 1st place voting..my prediction is that he'll get around 115 of the possible 130 votes. Best player on the best team and leading the league in scoring, that's almost a guaranteed win unless an injury happens.

MIP prediction is a landslide win for Mccollum.

ROY is going to come down to who finishes stronger in the last month of the season to sway the voters. Every analyst is saying KAT is leading followed by Porzingis but I think it's Jahlil who is a close second. Porzingis is inconsistent at best and his shooting has been pretty unspectacular.

Jahlil: 1st scoring, 2nd FG% (rookies with more than 10 shots per game average), 3rd BPG, 2nd RPG
KAT: 2nd scoring, 1st FG%, 1st BPG, 1st RPG

Zinger was on fire today against a highly reputable Spurs line up full of quality big men. 28pts and 11 boards was very impressive and augurs well for ROY. What a game though, these Knicks gave my Spurs a run for their money from go to woe!

 

[nichj99]

Lou Williams career high 44 points today. 23 in the 4th qtr!

 

[Telfs Card Park]

Lou Williams career high 44 points today. 23 in the 4th qtr!

Stoked to have him in my fantasy team!

 

[exzibit3]

DeAndre Jordan shot over 70% from the field last season, and is on track to do so again this season and may break the current FG% season record set by Wilt. To put this into perspective, Wilt is the only player to have shot over 70% in a season and only did it once in his career, in his final year.

 

[nichj99]

DeAndre Jordan shot over 70% from the field last season, and is on track to do so again this season and may break the current FG% season record set by Wilt. To put this into perspective, Wilt is the only player to have shot over 70% in a season and only did it once in his career, in his final year.

I would say the types of shots each took are substantially different however

 

[exzibit3]

I would say the types of shots each took are substantially different however

Wilt certainly had a few more offensive moves in his repertoire. Deandre led the league in dunks last year with 252 (he made 379 fg) so a majority of his offense comes from dunks. Think it's a by product of the Clippers pick and roll game which allows him to throw down that many dunks. If he was asked to be the focal point of the offense and post up like Wilt or Shaq, he certainly wouldn't be shooting that high a percentage.

 

[drob50]

DeAndre Jordan shot over 70% from the field last season, and is on track to do so again this season and may break the current FG% season record set by Wilt. To put this into perspective, Wilt is the only player to have shot over 70% in a season and only did it once in his career, in his final year.

They need to start setting minimums on FG% stats.

They often talk about 3pt % needing to have a minimum number of attempts in the season to qualify. They need to have a minimum number of FG attempts from outside dunk range before they talk about FG% too imo.

It takes away from players who actually are good shooters.

 

[drobfan8]

They need to start setting minimums on FG% stats.

They often talk about 3pt % needing to have a minimum number of attempts in the season to qualify. They need to have a minimum number of FG attempts from outside dunk range before they talk about FG% too imo.

It takes away from players who actually are good shooters.

Adam, it's great to see you back. How have you been bud?

I hope you're not just hating on the Clips again? Ha ha

 

[exzibit3]

Quite quietly, the Spurs are now 34-6 and are only 2 wins behind the win total for the Warriors. They also sport a point differential which is higher than the Warriors. Are these 2015-16 Spurs the real deal?

 

[nichj99]

Don't forget that the clippers are starting to mesh winning 9 straight. I'd keep an eye on the Knicks too, their schedule gets much softer ahead so they could fly under the radar and jump a few spots in the standings.

 

[exzibit3]

Don't forget that the clippers are starting to mesh winning 9 straight. I'd keep an eye on the Knicks too, their schedule gets much softer ahead so they could fly under the radar and jump a few spots in the standings.

The Knicks are improved but at best they might get a 7th seeding in my opinion and even then, they aren't a real threat in the playoffs. First round exit.
The Clippers are well, the Clippers. Their 9 game win streak is more a function of weak opponents in their schedule (none of the teams they beat are above .500) than their play. Their 3 game loss streak before that to Spurs, Houston (!!!!!!) and OKC was more telling on their play.

 

[nichj99]

The Knicks are improved but at best they might get a 7th seeding in my opinion and even then, they aren't a real threat in the playoffs. First round exit.
The Clippers are well, the Clippers. Their 9 game win streak is more a function of weak opponents in their schedule (none of the teams they beat are above .500) than their play. Their 3 game loss streak before that to Spurs, Houston (!!!!!!) and OKC was more telling on their play.

I agree with everything you've said. I just felt like taking the spot light off the Spurs again. They're best when they are flying under the radar haha.

I read something a few weeks ago that not a teams point differential hasn't been so big this far in to the season since the show time lakers of the late 80's / early 90's. This season what ever that number was - we have two teams over that mark - the Spurs and warriors. So given this, I'd say yes they are the real deal. I know Aldridge was Key but I actually think David West puts them back over the top. Very under rated acquisition

 

[exzibit3]

West is a great pick up and I'm sure there must be a reason why Pop is only using him sparingly and averaging 16 minutes per game. Maybe we'll see him in full effect in the playoffs.

 

[peppermint420]

david west is the next robert horry for the spurs