Kings 116, Clippers 94

The rings thing don’t bother me because you have to have that one team to win it all. Easier said than done really. If we were judging a guy by whether he has rings, Jerry Sloan and Rick Adelman would be considered complete failures.

I think the Nelly ring point though does have some sense to it in how he deals with teams and they tend to be more dysfunctional when he’s around. I don’t think there’s a secret as to why.

“the only good coaches are ones with rings”. As I noted in another thread, only 6 coaches won rings in the last 20 years. By that criteria, Jerry Sloan’s a bad coach. Talent wins rings in the NBA, coaches enable that talent to work at its highest level.

That said, ya, Nellie’s win total feels hollow to me, “Nellieball” is synonymous with “no big guys on the floor” in my eyes, and just doesn’t seem like a winning path forward.

Reke would need 31 assists over 3 games (essentially 10 each game) and 67 boards (22.3 a game). So yeah its unlikely.

most games where he scores a lot, (25+) he is knocking down jumpers early. More consistency in his shooting would only increase his un-guardable-ness.

And to think, we have turned you loose on an unsuspecting public.

This year they didn’t really start having problems until they were really exhausted, if they can manage to keep the tempo from the beginning to the end, they can easily improve their record

because they have a superstar in KD. Superstars take up so much attention that decent to skilled players around them can flourish and benefit from commanding less attention. We have a young superstar in Tyreke. Thats the reason to be excited. As fans there is more reason for hope than there has been in 3 to 5 years. I don’t understand the hopelessness and confusion.

But I don’t know how you can be forecasting 35-40 wins for next year not knowing what will happen in the off-season. I think you are predicting linear improvement and it rarely works that way. I think after trading K-Mart, Geoff is open to turning over the roster fairly aggressively with Tyreke as the center piece. We need a new young star type SG / backcourt mate to pair with Tyreke, and remodel the front court with 1-2 new pieces. That could precipitate OODLES of personnel maneuvering. ;)

When A) you have 2 high impact studs like Westbrook & Durant B) have rookies that fit their games very well (Maynor Harden & Ibaka do that), and C those young players work with a coaching staff instead of fighting them at every turn.

The Thunder have a lot of things go their way in terms of luck, but they’re a smart organization. Clay Bennett is, rightfully so, reviled in Seattle for moving the Sonics out of town. But as a basketball owner he’s very smart and has allowed his basketball people to make good decisions for the franchise. Hiring Sam Presti was a brilliant move in 2007, and it’s only gotten better for that franchise since. It’s a shame that so much of the talk around that team still revolved around the ignominious decision to move.

He doesn’t look bulky enough to play in the NBA. D-Blair & elder Millsap aren’t tall but physically big. He also seems like more of a slasher than a back to the basket low post scorer. I know we have enough small forwards but if it’s a second rounder I’d say just take bpa. I don’t know if he will be bpa but he seems interesting.