Also Warriors won 73 regular season games last season and were one game away from the championship , but they couldn't get the ring . What they got was just pure ridicule from all corners, fans and experts couldn't stop talking about how regular season records are irrelevant without the ring so I am pretty sure that they don't give a feck right now about pleasing people
NBA 2016-17
- Thread starter ArmchairCritic
- Start date
Oof! 
They shouldn't really like you say, only their fans matter and at the moment they seem happy.
Still need 1 more though. No fat ladies singing yet.
jogger-not
All of them.
Bandwagon fans are what make the sport grow and flourish. We should appreciate them.
NBA (and any other sport) diehards will always be diehards. The sport can always count on them for their money. But it is the bandwagon fans that are the variable of whether or not they increase more money coming into the league.... ticket sales, merchandise, tv ratings, etc. all of these things experience a huge upward spike when there is a team like the GSW that appeal to many different types of people.
There will always be bandwagon fans. I'm pretty sure Manchester United would not be the powerhouse brand that it is today without the bandwagon fans.
How old are you? The Miami years felt even worse than this because that was the first time in recent memory that a super team was fabricated by the players with the blatant intent to not be fair, and have an easy as possible route to the finals. Do you remember the TV special? How about the WWF style rally with all the stage production, "not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5...."?
or how about those few years in the mid 2000s when it was only the Spurs and Detroit? those were some un-entertaining, boring years. at least GSW play an exciting brand of basketball that is brilliant and entertaining
If you truly love basketball - this season had plenty of entertaining moments...
- Lakers starting strong and then sucking and then realizing they could get Lonzo so they sucked even more on purpose
- the emergence of Giannis
- the youth movement in Phoenix
- Harden's MVP candidacy
- Westbrook's triple double mission
- Utah coming into form as a playoff team
- the Wizards taking that next step
- Denver after the trade
- Miami's mid-season turnaround and Waiters Island
- whether or not the Minnesota core of KAT, Wiggins, and Lavine would start clicking and winning
- Isiah Thomas becoming a 4th quarter KING
- Whether or not Toronto could click enough as a team to challenge the Cavs
- all the love that Steph Curry gets from casual fans, some people are just jealous and envious
- People feel that Durant should have stayed (imprisoned himself) in OKC... because that is what they are used to, before Lebron going to Miami - superstars were supposed to stay with the team that drafted them for most of their careers. Lebron shattered this mindset when he went to Miami. If anything, people should hate on Lebron for pioneering this mindset
- people are annoyed of the bandwagon fans - this happens to any dominate team and this has existed for decades. People hated Miami because of their bandwagon fans, people hated the Lakers because of their bandwagon fans, etc.
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http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19581456/nba-lebron-james-said-meant-thursday-interview
Lebron James. What a guy. Very good interview where he doesn't just give generic answers. They show how smart he is. I am pretty sure he will be either a GM or own a team later on.
A great credit to the game. To live up to the insane expectations. At the same time plays the right way.
I actually want the Warriors to win. Love Kerr and their unselfish play. Luckily for me I am not a fan of any team and just love watching the game.
Lebron James. What a guy. Very good interview where he doesn't just give generic answers. They show how smart he is. I am pretty sure he will be either a GM or own a team later on.
A great credit to the game. To live up to the insane expectations. At the same time plays the right way.
I actually want the Warriors to win. Love Kerr and their unselfish play. Luckily for me I am not a fan of any team and just love watching the game.
Surely they wouldn't let go of a 3-0 lead...
I love Lebron but he really doesn't have the killer instinct when it is most needed.
The reference lines are for the league average of 108.8 points per 100 possessions.
Note that Porzingas and Millsap are the orange and purple dots on top of each other.
I am using the same axis for each position for reasons that will be obvious once you see the PG one.
Lee and Afflalo occupy the same spot.
One last quick one to show how insane Westbrook's usage rate was.
Is this regular season only? @Eboue
yes
I'm 29. Not sure if you want me to counter each point, But even when the Miami superteam were in power you had the Spurs who were very strong, The Pacers were had their best team since the Reggie Miller days, The Thunder who had the KD \ Russ \ Harden trio coming through and even my Knicks looked like a decent team. Also add in the prime Rose days in Chicago. At least you didn't know for sure who was going to win the title like you do now. The 'decision' as bad as it was in hindsight, was hilarious at the time and great entertainment.
The mid 2000s were dire and probably the worst few years overall. But if you are talking about a single year, This for me has been the worst. At least in those barren years of the mid 2000's you had the emergence of LeBron, Wade and Melo (which was a huge factor in bringing me back to basketball after a 2 year hiatus as a kid).
Regarding your list of 'high' points from this year:
- The Lakers this season were entertaining for about 15 games and then turned into crap. That wasn't entertaining.
- Giannis is a high point, I'll give you that. Probably one of the high points for me in this dire season.
- Aside from Booker, I still don't think the Suns have a good team and am not expecting that to change. They aren't exactly easy on the eye either.
- Toronto turned into a joke when it mattered in the playoffs, and some of those playoffs games of theirs were horrible.
The others are small points which some I did find quite entertaining and some I never, but that is not enough to make it a good season overall IMO. To question my love of Basketball is a joke quite frankly.
Cheers @Eboue. I miss your insights in this thread.
Westbrook's usage 
.
LeBron does have the 'killer instinct.' The guy dragged his team back from 3-1 against a 73 win team. That is a lazy criticism these days.
.LeBron does have the 'killer instinct.' The guy dragged his team back from 3-1 against a 73 win team. That is a lazy criticism these days.
I didn't expect them to give up a 3-1 lead last year either. If there's an injury or suspension anything could happen. I'll celebrate when they get their 4 games, not before.
What's lazy is assuming Lebron was solely the reason for the Cavs bouncing back from a 3-1 deficit last year. Green getting suspended and Kyrie putting in some great performances were equal factors.Westbrook's usage
LeBron does have the 'killer instinct.' The guy dragged his team back from 3-1 against a 73 win team. That is a lazy criticism these days.
He doesn't have the same killer instinct that someone like Kobe or Dwade naturally possess. His decision making during the last couple of mins was just really average.
Seems Steven A Smith agrees with me. Don't think that's a good thing though.
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Seems Steven A Smith agrees with me. Don't think that's a good thing though.
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you choose to focus on this year being "boring" because of lack of drama or suspense because of the lack of teams that can challenge for the title? I've watched the NBA for decades and there has always been a lack of parity - as the way you define it. Ever since Lebron left for Miami, we all know who is coming out of the East every single year as long as Lebron stays in that conference. No other Eastern team even comes close. How can you not find that boring? If you're advocating for true parity, you won't find it in basketball. Individual talent is too significant and influential in this sport.
What do you find entertaining about European football then? By your talking points, European football must be extremely boring for you.
European football is more top heavy than any other sport in the world. Most of the major leagues in Europe.... Spain, England, Italy, Germany, France... there are realistically only less than 1-2 clubs that challenge for the title each year. Bayern is a lock to win the Bundesliga almost every single year. La Liga is a flip flop between Real Madrid and Barca. etc etc Yeah sure, we will have an anomaly like Leicester every once in a while but the football universe reverts back to order as it always does
Not sure why you are trying to patronize me because my opinion is different to yours. I simply didn't enjoy this season and I have given some of my reasons why above. I'm not the only one to say how bad the season has been so it's not like it's a ludicrous comment. In fact alot of people agree with me in what I have said.
In the Lebron Miami years, yes you knew most likely his teams were coming out of the East. But it wasn't without a fight (some series lasted the full 7 games) and plus the Western conference teams were that strong there was always the possibility that Miami wouldn't win the finals (which 1 year they never, and another won it by one shot).
Not sure why you are bringing European football into it but apart from in Germany there is always the possibility that at least 2 teams can win the league. And some like EPL there is generally a different pattern of winners. The NBA had 1 team that was pretty much set to win the league from day 1 if you are trying to make that comparison.
Sports ebb and flow, sometimes there are several teams close in talent that fight for a title, sometimes one team dominates, sometimes even if two finalists are close in talent the finals are not exciting, there is nothing wrong with any of these scenarios, they are part of watching any sport. If this make up of Golden State goes on and wins the title for 3 or more seasons in a row, then enjoy the greatness you are witnessing. But who knows they might not be able to be win all those titles either, which then makes the coming story completely different.
Of course Smith is one of those ESPN talking heads who is employed to make bold statements in order to generate "controversy" I don't listen to him enough to know, has he been complaining all season long about the NBA or is this something new he just popped in with?Seems Steven A Smith agrees with me. Don't think that's a good thing though.
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My intent is not to patronize you
I'm just offering a different perspective that may or may not give you more insight and add more to your perception as an overall sports fan, is all.
This sounds more like a complaint that the skill shown by the Warriors is so good that no one will be able to replicate it. You wouldn’t say a great singer is boring for music because their voice is too good.
The issue of dominance being boring is borne out of the eye of the beholder: the Warriors play mesmerizing basketball and will therefore prevail, until they are completely found out and the next great team rises up. This narrative about them being boring, or making the league boring, is in my opinion ridiculous. Especially considering how this sort of thing has happened over and over again for the last 30 years: Lakers 87–88, Pistons 89–90, Bulls 91–93, Rockets 94–95, Bulls 96–98, Lakers 00–02, Lakers 09–10, Heat 12–13, and now the Warriors (or Cavs, if they somehow turn things around despite being 3–0 down). The worst part of this is that everybody complaining about it probably knows this, and yet they call Durant names for destroying the league or whatever. It’s sucking the fun out of appreciating greatness when we see it.
All the sport ever does is talk about rings and dynasties, and when the next one appears - we all complain about how unfair and boring it is. But then we revert back to admiring and glorifying dynasties and dominance once it's over.
social media + talkback radio + hot takes = people losing their shit over this season.
Has this season been predictable? absolutely. But, predictability doesn't necessarily have to equal boring.
Many wondered how quickly the Warriors would gel - after all, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Heat. Would there be a pecking order? Durant is a smart player and efficient, but, Draymond had complained about his lack of shots in the past...what would adding Durant to that mix do? How would Klay react? (We have active NBA players talking about Klay moving on from the Warriors)
And that's just the Warriors.
Also let's not forget - that injury Durant suffered...a touch of bad luck and it could have been much more severe. What would that have done to this team?
I understand how some people might not like it and that's fair enough. Liking is subjective...there is no 'wrong' answer here - but the ratings are up in the playoffs...so, despite people complaining...they can't look away..and I'm one of those people. I enjoy watching the dominance - just wish Steph would shimmy a bit less
Has this season been predictable? absolutely. But, predictability doesn't necessarily have to equal boring.
Many wondered how quickly the Warriors would gel - after all, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Heat. Would there be a pecking order? Durant is a smart player and efficient, but, Draymond had complained about his lack of shots in the past...what would adding Durant to that mix do? How would Klay react? (We have active NBA players talking about Klay moving on from the Warriors)
And that's just the Warriors.
Also let's not forget - that injury Durant suffered...a touch of bad luck and it could have been much more severe. What would that have done to this team?
I understand how some people might not like it and that's fair enough. Liking is subjective...there is no 'wrong' answer here - but the ratings are up in the playoffs...so, despite people complaining...they can't look away..and I'm one of those people. I enjoy watching the dominance - just wish Steph would shimmy a bit less
Steve Kerr 
Kerr's brilliantSteve Kerr
I've missed his snarkiness.Steve Kerr
Also, Lebron and Draymond in a barbershop.