NBA and WNBA thread

Oh my god Rockets

*pulls duvet back over head and closes NBA Game Pass*

The Rockets let Ariza and Mbah a moute go and they were both key to how they played.
Its a shame but Melo seems to have expired as a useful player. He is a terrible defender and his offensive talents seem out of step with the modern NBA; particularly the one dimensional Rockets (which is a shame as in a more flexible scheme I could still see him being a useful scoring option off the bench).

Derrick Rose... 50pts... Did that really just happen?!

You have to love Rose's big night. I wonder if this is the start of a return to something near his best? The same thing happened to Grant Hill and it was years but he was able to play at a high level again after getting past the injury issues. It would be great to see Rose do that, and still be able to stand at his son's graduation (which by now must only be about 15 years away!)

Quite agree - this isn't the first time someone has moaned about a player shooting in the final seconds, but it is the most extreme occasion. Seriously, doesn't Irving have bigger things to worry about? The player was being egged on by the fans to go for 50 so he let it fly, if it had gone in it would have put the cherry on the cake for the fans so why not? Its about entertainment, right? TBH this is nothing new though - remember when Iverson was playing meaningless minutes in games already decided just to keep his streak of 50 point games going (think he got 5 in a row in the end). The sixers sucked and lost most of them so I could understand that, but someone taking a shot at the end is (or shouldn't be) no big deal. I remember Gary Payton doing it to the Jazz in a playoff win way back in the day, and the commentators pointing out that he did it intentionally to pi$$ them off because the series wasn't over yet. You didn't see Johnny Hoops or Karl Elbows respond by crying about it and throwing the ball into the stands! They played like men back then, not petulant teenagers.

On another note though, how good are Denver?! I've sat up and am taking notice now!

I didn't even have Denver in my top 8 prediction! Oops...

I know what you mean about GS but last season they were a Chris Paul injury away from being eliminated. Denver have already beaten them this season so who knows, perhaps they'll emerge as a serious threat this season?

I learned around 2013 never to doubt the Spurs ever again, so I wasn't among those counting them out of even making the playoffs this year. Pop is just too good at getting the best out of everyone and getting them buying in to the team philosophy. Also you replaced a bench sitting Leonard with a 35 minute playing Derozan - why would the team go backwards based on that?

The Kings have been surprising too but I don't see it holding up. Orlando did this last year before losing the plot.

That’s true, but for me both Parker and Ginobili were pretty washed up and often injured – and this team has plenty of veterans so really, how much leadership value do they add? Their on court contributions are easily replaceable as they weren’t putting up big numbers. And yes losing your starting point guard isn’t great but this is the Spurs remember – it’s a machine, playing as one unit. I reckon they are built to withstand an injury/missing player better than any other team in the league (except GS but that’s purely because of how much talent they have). No one player makes the Spurs great, which is why they still did well all those years when Duncan and Parker would be sidelined for extended periods of time.

Having said all that they’ll probably go on a losing rally now!

A great trade for Philly as long as Jimmy settles and is happy. They look very strong now and in many ways he is just what they are missing. For all his skills Simmons is not a dominant scorer yet and sometimes you need a wing who you can throw the ball to to get a bucket.

Meanwhile an even bigger shock in the west 😂

www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/id/25238014/houston-rockets-talks-carmelo-anthony-role-team

So last year's mvp should be decided on performances in the first month of this season, interesting

Serious question

Over the last few years some stars have been traded and the teams giving the players away have been slaughtered for not getting a big enough return for there stars but would you say that in fact the bulls and the kings won in the DeMarcus Cousins and Jimmy butler trade

As the kings got Ultimately buddy Hield and Justin Jackson where as new orleans got 12 months basically of cousins

And the bulls got LaVine Markenan and Dunn all good if not spectacular building blocks for the future where as Minasota got one play off series and a one year rental

Just curious as normally the wisdom is the teams with the better players normally win the trade!!

So Carmelo and the Rockets are officially parting ways. Rockets really downgraded this offseason. Lost two key role players, replaced them with ill fitting declining star and now have nothing but a poorer than expected record to show for it. Shame.

...and one L