Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 2244. (Read 923164 times)

All Zion can do for now is play as best as he can, and lead his team to playoff, ROTY decision is out of his hands. As i said before, if we base his chances according to previous years, they are not very good, but surprises are  always possible.

In 2016/2017 Embiid played 31 game, averaging 20.2 points and 7.8 rebounds. On the other hand, winner was Brogdon, who had 10.2 points and  4.2 assists. ROTY winner with least games so far was Patrick Ewing, back in 1986, with 50 games played in regular season. Carter and Irving won with 50/51, but that was lockout season. So obviously, this is an important part when deciding the winner.

This year, Zion can play at maximum 37 games of the regular season. While his stats are great, main contender so far, Ja Morant, is pretty good too, averaging 17.5 points and 6.9 assists for Grizzlies. Another interesting thing about those two players is that their teams will fight against each other for that 8th spot, and maybe that could be a factor in the end. Whoever gets his team in the playoff (and keep playing at current of better level), gets ROTY. I think that would be fair.

If he will continue playing like this or if there are more coming from him that huge chance to advance and have a playoff appearance is really possible. Like what you have said it's not a big deal if he might not be able to receive the ROTY but bringing his team to the next round will add more hypes to his name.

Yeah, last years Celtics and this years are totally different two teams. I am not saying bucks will lose or even the result would be different, it could still be 4-1 at the end and nothing may change but that doesn't mean Celtics are the same team. When Irving was with the team he was trying to be the "leader" of the team but he had very young core there so he wasn't seen as a leader because both he wasn't leader type of person to begin with but also he wasn't really all that veteran neither.

With Kemba Walker he is not trying to be the leader there, he is just trying to play as well as he can and be healthy and make a difference. He also knows how hard it is to be in playoffs because he failed it with hornets so far so he knows he is getting a chance there as well.

ROTY is still a a bigger achievement for me, so he should go for that, however Rikafip has a point, Zion was not able to play many games due to injury and with that, he might loss his chance to compete in the ROTY competition, now he should focus on his team so they'll be in the playoffs.

It doesn't matter if he will not get the ROTY as long as he qualifies to the playoffs, not getting the award is understandable since he was injured during the pre season and he was advised to rest for quite some time, but this guy is now doing what we are expecting of him and it looks like the chance of the Pelicans to advance to the playoffs is more clear now.

While it's true that Bucks are not top team when it comes to 3 point shooting, they are not thrash either, and they  can be dangerous. Currently they are at 36.3 % (rank 12), with 38.5 attempts per game (rank 4). Giannis is the main threat of course, and key will be to stop him, but rest of the team is not afraid to shoot when he gets doubled, and they improved as team compared to last season, while Raptors, despite looking  very good this , will miss Kawhi in the playoff.


Considering all these injuries  and roster issues, somehow i doubt it. They could  eventually reach conference SF and that's about it. They might have been  contenders at the beginning of the season (if i remember correctly they were ranked 6th by the bookies) but they lost that "title" imho.

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Pelicans continue they run for the 8th spot, last night they beat Cavaliers 116-104. Since Zion joined them, they are 9-5. This is his 10th game in a row that he scored at least 20 points, and overall 12th with 20+ points. They are front runners at the moment  for that 8th spot race without the doubt, if Zion stays healthy.
Another thing that im curious about; whether Zion has chance to get ROTY, considering the amount of games he played.
I remember  when Brogdon got ROTY award back in 2017, despite Embiid having much better numbers, but he lacked the games.

I know people would think that Bucks are the superior team, of course they beat the Boston last playoffs but every playoffs is different.
Considering these two will qualify in the playoffs and would meet in a certain round, I would still give a chance on the Celtics as I believe they won't do the same mistake again. I am not sure what else the Sixers needs to improve their team, as far as I see it, they are already playing at their very best.

 I doubt that celtics have that "star" power that they need to beat the Bucks or any other team to move to finals. They are well designed and I would personally love to have a team like theirs because they are really built amazingly but they still need a bit of time. However that doesn't mean they are too bad. Specially against Bucks they are match up very well Celtics worst position is the center position and Bucks only have Lopez brothers right now. If these teams meet against Sixers that may cause some sort of trouble since they have Embiid and a healthy Sixers could create almost all teams a problem that doesn't have a decent star at center.

I have to agree with you on that, they have a new star now which is Tatum.
On their win against the Utah Jazz on the road, he just only scored 33 points with 11 rebounds and his stats are really improving.
That win happened without Walker so they are now a real dangerous team and they don't need Irving again to destroy their good chemistry now.

I bet Walker is liking his stay with the Celtic as he does not have to do it himself just for the team to win.

I'm not sure, but I guess Irving just messed up the Celtics chemistry because of his attitude. I remember when he was out during the 2018 ecf playoffs against the Cavaliers, the Celtics young core just played very impressive. Tatum, Brown, and Rozier just played very well throughout the whole series. Right now, the Celtics without Irving is a much better team.

There's a drama in Celtics last year that's why it turned out like that.

Want to see them matching up against the Bucks for the 3rd consecutive time in the playoffs.

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What do you mean here mate? Bucks is not a threat to just outside shooting or overall phase?

But honestly, either way, it's not easy to establish a 51-8 Win-Loss. It's already a quarter left for the season. It just proves that what we think as disadvantages about them isn't really the issue for them. Season games are really different but 51-8 record is not a joke. Meaning their current offensive phase, whether inside or outside is effective overall.

About Giannis, he is improving year by year. He knows what lacking every time they got eliminated. They are defeated by the Celtics in the 7 game series last 2017-2018, after that he worked to improve his athleticism and inside scoring. They got revenge a year after. But on that year, Raptors find a way to stop his athleticism and inside scoring, they eliminated again. He now works in his outside shooting while maintaining his strength inside and the result is effective.

Let's see then if they will now breach the ECF this time.

That I agree with.
But the Draymond fire is kind of losing too.
I don't see much of his defense anymore unlike when Curry and Thompson is around.
It's like, he is a different person with the splash brothers.

That team though is gone by now. It is a different Warriors team now.
They will need to improve first.
Perhaps by keeping players it can be done. They should stop trading now.
Draymond, Looney, Thompson, Curry, Paschall and Wiggins. Keep those guys and the young ones. Maybe they will find themselves in the playoffs again after a year.

Pelicans are 3 wins behind the 8th spot Memphis and teams have around 25 remaining games left. That will be tough for Pelicans to land on the playoffs. On that 25 games remaining, Pelicans should outmatch Memphis in terms of winnings but that's not all as while doing that, Blazers and teams on 9th to 10th spot will surely establish winnings along the way. This will be tough for Pelicans.

I don't see them in Playoffs for now. 60% chance for that tough situation, maybe 40%. Too much expectation for Zion's return. Maybe next season they will have a sure spot as we see Zion's impact when he came back playing for the Pelicans.

Pelicans is good but Blazers will fight for that spot too, 60% might be too much, that is correct because there are still 5 teams that are competing to enter in the playoffs, and that fact that there are still a lot of remaining games, this tells me that a team like Blazers might do better when Lillard returns.

Right point made.  60% when they sit in 10th position with 3 quarters of the season done is a bad bet.  3 test men, port, and pelicans fighting for 8th, you give memphis and portland only 20% chance?  People are betting on zion too early.  If anything I would think the vet laced portland team will make it over those other 2 based purely on experience.

And yeah, speaking of Bucks. They think that Harden is giving some jabs on the Greek Freak in an interview with the ESPN. They said they are not really good with each other but I think it is getting out now.

They certainly have to adjust to avoid exciting early when playing against the bucks.
IIRC, the last playoffs when these two teams met, the Bucks won the series by a good standing of 4-1, if you'll ask me that's not the Celtics who are competitive.

That's a fair trade imo. Just like what I have mentioned from my last comment, that the Celtics needs a dominant big man. Drummond can be a good starting center for the Celtics.
But, lets see what will be the future of the Celtics, because IMO it's very difficult for them to beat the Bucks team. The Bucks are too tall for them, and they'll get out-rebounded easily, but of course the chances for the Celtics is still there.

Bucks as what they are showing right now, it's bigger chance for them to advance in the next round and have a good chance as well to make it into the ECF, with a much matured Giannis and a deeper lineup sorounding him. Outside and inside scorers are there plus their interior defense is also getting a good better.

I know this will sound crazy and the trade deadline is over but I had an idea about the trades. What if Celtics somehow got Drummond? I mean they don't have to give too much in return as well, Drummond already wants to be out of Cavs so we know they are not really going to keep him, what is better for Cavs a team who is tanking right now to give away a player in return of some valuable picks?

Hayward is not really making a lot of noise in Celtics as well since they have Tatum and Brown so maybe Hayward + some picks in exchange for Drummond could be a really good one for them? I know it may not happen but this off season that type of trade would benefit both teams.