The Official NBA 2016/2017 Season Preview Thread

[stewie griffen]

Drake wore a Booker jersey at his concert. This can't be good

Devin Booker needs one dance

 

[PP34]

How do we have a better team than last year? Rose even with his injuries and history shits all over Rajon Rondo. They both cant shoot but at least Rose is a leader and can attack the rim and score and when he is on, can still be old D-Rose and dominate games. Rondo wont give us any of that. Plus he is a ball stopper.

Wade is finished. He wont make us better.

We lost Pau and Jo and got Rolo.

The only hope we have to be better than last season is improvement from players like McDermott, Felecio and Portis. Then hope Valentine hits the ground running and is awesome.

We could be the worst three point shooting team in the league in a league that is huge on three point shooting. It's not gonna be a good year.

What year are you in? Rose is cooked. I've literally seen one or two games where he scores a bit, but even then looks nothing like 2011 Rose. Rondo might be a flawed player who never developed a jumphot or a proper scoring instinct, but he knows how to get people the ball. Rose does not shit all over him at all.

The whole Rondo is a ballstopper thing is overblown anyway. Sure, he can literally stop the offence at times, but he doesn't handle the ball a great deal compared to other point guards, he can just hurt you because he's indecisive because he can't shoot and often overthinks driving to the basket. He is very much capable of being a point guard to make quick decisions, and not harm your flow too much, as long as you're playing with some pace and slashers (tick)

Rose comparatively last year was handling the ball a fair bit for a guy averaging only 16ppg and only 4 assists.

Rondo very much has leadership qualities in the right environment. Playing with Dwyane Wade would suit him.

I don't understand how you seemingly rave about Rose still, but then claim Wade is finished. Easily was better than Rose last year and had a strong playoffs. Knees are a concern yes, but he hasn't shown too many signs of being a massive injury worry yet.

You lost an aging Pau who doesn't play a lick of defence anymore, and Noah another player who had no impact last year, and doesn't look like getting back to what he was. Lopez is a no thrills big men who does the dirty work and will come in handy.

I'm no expert of what went on at Chicago last year, but I think you're just looking at the loss of Rose and Noah as if they're ready to comeback to their best. It simply isn't happening. Rose especially. Sadly, he's now exactly like Penny Hardaway.

 

[PP34]

I disagree. Rondo is a ball stopper. All three of Butler, Rondo and Wade are ball dominant players. Watch us last season, we do a lot of handing the ball off straight away in the offence, so the ball is straight out of the PG's hands. That's not gonna work with Rondo.

Hoiberg plays an offense of movement and sharing the ball. That wont work with Wade and Rondo. Rondo more so than Wade as he can sacrifice his game better as we saw when LBJ landed in Miami.

The problem with Rondo is he is almost pointless without the ball in his hands 90% of the time. In Hoiberg's offence Rondo will just turn into a non factor on both ends. His defence has been awful for years and we want to move the ball, he cant shoot. So what's the point. We may aswell play the younger and more athletic Grant, although he shoots horribly aswell.

We have decent options in the front court with Rolo, Niko, Taj, Portis and Felecio. But we have real problems everywhere else.

We are gonna have a lot of nights of shooting 35% from the field and putting up about 70 points and losing by 20. It's gonna be ugly.

Rondo has a lot of touches, but he doesn't actually hold onto it for any longer than any other guard like a Westbrook or Paul. Not ideal obviously when he sucks at hitting the mid range, but he was actually hitting threes okay last year and finishing a bit better at the rim.

You just signed Wade and Rondo, so it's pretty obvious Hoiberg will modify his offence. Rondo is more than capable of sacrificing touches for the team. He's well aware of his limitations and has shown before he can sacrifice. His career peak was playing on a team with three star veterans that all needed touches. Rondo isn't going to fuss about having to get them the ball more.

Rondo still has defensive smarts and can defend when he wants to. Playing defence as a point guard in Sacramento isn't exactly something you'd love to do. Effort is his biggest issue. He might actually try with some competent players around him.

Rondo is a flawed player, but you're making out like he should be a bench warmer or something.

 

[jod23]

Rondo has a lot of touches, but he doesn't actually hold onto it for any longer than any other guard like a Westbrook or Paul. Not ideal obviously when he sucks at hitting the mid range, but he was actually hitting threes okay last year and finishing a bit better at the rim.

You just signed Wade and Rondo, so it's pretty obvious Hoiberg will modify his offence. Rondo is more than capable of sacrificing touches for the team. He's well aware of his limitations and has shown before he can sacrifice. His career peak was playing on a team with three star veterans that all needed touches. Rondo isn't going to fuss about having to get them the ball more.

Rondo still has defensive smarts and can defend when he wants to. Playing defence as a point guard in Sacramento isn't exactly something you'd love to do. Effort is his biggest issue. He might actually try with some competent players around him.

Rondo is a flawed player, but you're making out like he should be a bench warmer or something.

It's hard to judge Rondo because Sacramento runs a completely different offence to what Chicago do. So will Hoiberg change it up to suit Rondo or will Rondo have to adapt his game to suit Hoiberg's style, im thinking the latter.

You said above that you think Hoiberg will modify his offence to cater to Wade and Rondo but I dont think that is the way forward. Or if it is, it's stupid. GarPax brought in Hoiberg for equal opportunity offence, ball movement, run n gun, spread. After years of dour (but winning) basketball under Thibs, the owners wanted more uptempo exciting basketball.

So to bring in Hoiberg for his style of basketball and then not let him run it is just stupid. But this is GarPax so totally possible.

As for Rondo... this is all stuff you can get from that YT video that was put up.

He ranked 64th out of 70 in % of time finding a spot up shooter in the PnR.

Out of 72 players who had at least 150 transition possessions Rondo finished dead last. 72nd in TO's with a whopping 38.2% chance of a TO with Rondo on the break. Yikes.

Chicago has the worst fast break attack in the league last season. The above stat doesnt give you much confidence that that will improve.

We can expand on that by including Wade who ranked 51st out of 72 in points per possession in transition. Wade's famed eurostep isnt as quick and devastating as it used to be. So Chicago ranked 30th in fast break offense last season and we brought in two terrible players on the fast break.

So it simply must mean that Hoiberg is gonna change it up to effectively play a very slow half court offence. Easier to defend and well... shit, if we were gonna do that, then why did we sack Thibs in the first place.

Wade also loves the mid range jumpers which are inefficient and Wade also loves iso ball. Iso ball is a huge move away from Hoiberg's equal opportunity spread the ball offense. That's not to mention how much of a ball stopper Rondo is.

Hoiberg has a huge task on his hands.

 

[jod23]

I don't understand how you seemingly rave about Rose still, but then claim Wade is finished. Easily was better than Rose last year and had a strong playoffs. Knees are a concern yes, but he hasn't shown too many signs of being a massive injury worry yet.

You lost an aging Pau who doesn't play a lick of defence anymore, and Noah another player who had no impact last year, and doesn't look like getting back to what he was. Lopez is a no thrills big men who does the dirty work and will come in handy.

I'm no expert of what went on at Chicago last year, but I think you're just looking at the loss of Rose and Noah as if they're ready to comeback to their best. It simply isn't happening. Rose especially. Sadly, he's now exactly like Penny Hardaway.

Wade is finished purely because of his age. He will turn 35 in the middle of next season and has bad knees. Rose is still only 27 and yeah he has a terrible injury record but it is still possible to get back to somewhere near his best or at least like 70% of 2011 D-Rose which would still be very, very good.

Last season was really D-Rose's first real comeback. He played a whole season. Was he great? No, far from it. But last season was really about feeling his way back and probably more challenging mentally than physically. He needs to get to a place where he trusts his body again.

After a full season and then a full pre-season with the Knicks, I wont be surprised to see Rose have a really good season. He will never be what he was but he's still miles better than Rondo.

You said that Pau didnt play a lick of defense last season. Not entirely true. He was actually a very good rim protector but if you dragged Pau away from the basket then yes, a lot of trouble was had. Pau defending the PnR was a disaster all season long. But Gasol was also our second leading scorer.

Wade should replace those points but Wade and Rondo dont play defense either so it's tit for tat. As for Noah, I'm not bothered by his exit. He was only ever very good on one end of the floor anyways, a complete non-factor on offence which makes us easier to guard against.

At least now we have bigs that can do a bit of both so we're not carrying anyone. Guys like Rolo, Felicio, Taj, Portis. It's still not great though.

Anyways as I've said, we wont get better, we wont get much worse. 38 wins and we miss the playoffs again.

 

[stewie griffen]

Rondo has a lot of touches, but he doesn't actually hold onto it for any longer than any other guard like a Westbrook or Paul. Not ideal obviously when he sucks at hitting the mid range, but he was actually hitting threes okay last year and finishing a bit better at the rim.

You just signed Wade and Rondo, so it's pretty obvious Hoiberg will modify his offence. Rondo is more than capable of sacrificing touches for the team. He's well aware of his limitations and has shown before he can sacrifice. His career peak was playing on a team with three star veterans that all needed touches. Rondo isn't going to fuss about having to get them the ball more.

Rondo still has defensive smarts and can defend when he wants to. Playing defence as a point guard in Sacramento isn't exactly something you'd love to do. Effort is his biggest issue. He might actually try with some competent players around him.

Rondo is a flawed player, but you're making out like he should be a bench warmer or something.

Oh but he does. He's an assist hoarder who turns into a ball stopper until he can get a pass for a scoring opportunity. The Kings ranked 29th in passes thrown and 27h in front court touches. He runs a slow pick and roll and tries to find the roll man as thats the best chance of getting an assist. He was 64/70 in % passes thrown to a spot up shooter. His transition game was garbage as he ranked last in % turnovers at 38.2% as his long pass game was gash. The Kings office was stagnant as shit, and whilst he got Boogie some decent pick and pop looks he doesnt have a player of that calibre near him.

And he joins the worst fast break team in the league last year.

Yay

If he didnt try defensively in a contract year at the Kings he aint gonna start now.

You just cant compare the usage of guys like Paul, Lillard and Westbrook, who are legit triple threats with a pass first point guard who cant shoot.

 

[PP34]

It's hard to judge Rondo because Sacramento runs a completely different offence to what Chicago do. So will Hoiberg change it up to suit Rondo or will Rondo have to adapt his game to suit Hoiberg's style, im thinking the latter.

You said above that you think Hoiberg will modify his offence to cater to Wade and Rondo but I dont think that is the way forward. Or if it is, it's stupid. GarPax brought in Hoiberg for equal opportunity offence, ball movement, run n gun, spread. After years of dour (but winning) basketball under Thibs, the owners wanted more uptempo exciting basketball.

So to bring in Hoiberg for his style of basketball and then not let him run it is just stupid. But this is GarPax so totally possible.

As for Rondo... this is all stuff you can get from that YT video that was put up.

He ranked 64th out of 70 in % of time finding a spot up shooter in the PnR.

Out of 72 players who had at least 150 transition possessions Rondo finished dead last. 72nd in TO's with a whopping 38.2% chance of a TO with Rondo on the break. Yikes.

Chicago has the worst fast break attack in the league last season. The above stat doesnt give you much confidence that that will improve.

We can expand on that by including Wade who ranked 51st out of 72 in points per possession in transition. Wade's famed eurostep isnt as quick and devastating as it used to be. So Chicago ranked 30th in fast break offense last season and we brought in two terrible players on the fast break.

So it simply must mean that Hoiberg is gonna change it up to effectively play a very slow half court offence. Easier to defend and well... shit, if we were gonna do that, then why did we sack Thibs in the first place.

Wade also loves the mid range jumpers which are inefficient and Wade also loves iso ball. Iso ball is a huge move away from Hoiberg's equal opportunity spread the ball offense. That's not to mention how much of a ball stopper Rondo is.

Hoiberg has a huge task on his hands.

Agree on it being hard to judge Rondo.

All those stats say to me is that Sacramento was a hugely flawed team. Yet to see if Chicago is going to be the same.

Wade is a pretty versatile player who can adapt to most things. You don't be as good as him for so long without being able to adapt to different coaches and schemes.

I agree your signings as a whole are strange. Honestly thought Chicago probably should have just begun rebuilding, instead they've signed Rondo and Wade just to be somewhat decent for a bit longer. Really odd.

Wade is finished purely because of his age. He will turn 35 in the middle of next season and has bad knees. Rose is still only 27 and yeah he has a terrible injury record but it is still possible to get back to somewhere near his best or at least like 70% of 2011 D-Rose which would still be very, very good.

Last season was really D-Rose's first real comeback. He played a whole season. Was he great? No, far from it. But last season was really about feeling his way back and probably more challenging mentally than physically. He needs to get to a place where he trusts his body again.

After a full season and then a full pre-season with the Knicks, I wont be surprised to see Rose have a really good season. He will never be what he was but he's still miles better than Rondo.

Wade at 34 still looks more athletic and quicker than current day Derrick Rose. Other than you, I've barely seen any Bulls fans try to claim Rose can still be similar to what he was in 2011. He's just done being a high level NBA player. You don't go four years without being an elite player and suddenly find your best again, despite whatever injury setbacks and mental hurdles were in the way. Rose now reminds me a lot of Brandon Roy in his last Blazers season. Could have the occasional offensive burst and look somewhat like the old Roy, but he still wasn't.

You said that Pau didnt play a lick of defense last season. Not entirely true. He was actually a very good rim protector but if you dragged Pau away from the basket then yes, a lot of trouble was had. Pau defending the PnR was a disaster all season long. But Gasol was also our second leading scorer.

Wade should replace those points but Wade and Rondo dont play defense either so it's tit for tat. As for Noah, I'm not bothered by his exit. He was only ever very good on one end of the floor anyways, a complete non-factor on offence which makes us easier to guard against.

In regards to Gasol I was talking more about his individual defence. His rim protection is decent yes, but he's not a guy you'd ever want to rely on to be anchoring your defence, so those numbers aren't too big of a deal. Robin Lopez will be just as adequate defensively.

Anyways as I've said, we wont get better, we wont get much worse. 38 wins and we miss the playoffs again.

I still don't think it's that hard to improve in the East. Yes, the team might be flawed offensively, but there's still some talent on the roster.

Oh but he does. He's an assist hoarder who turns into a ball stopper until he can get a pass for a scoring opportunity. The Kings ranked 29th in passes thrown and 27h in front court touches. He runs a slow pick and roll and tries to find the roll man as thats the best chance of getting an assist. He was 64/70 in % passes thrown to a spot up shooter. His transition game was garbage as he ranked last in % turnovers at 38.2% as his long pass game was gash. The Kings office was stagnant as shit, and whilst he got Boogie some decent pick and pop looks he doesnt have a player of that calibre near him.

And he joins the worst fast break team in the league last year.

Yay

If he didnt try defensively in a contract year at the Kings he aint gonna start now.

You just cant compare the usage of guys like Paul, Lillard and Westbrook, who are legit triple threats with a pass first point guard who cant shoot.

I'd be interested to see some of his earlier Celtic numbers in that area to be honest. Sacramento's offence was awful. Built around Cousins first and foremost and then trying to run a myriad of screens to get guys like Bellinelli open looks.

 

[stewie griffen]

At a cursory glance rondos best years at Boston hovered around 20 percent usage and 22 percent turnover rage. His defensive win shares were off the charts tho peaking at 5.1 whilst offensive was 4.9 in 08-10ish.

Free throw rate has fallen off a cliff. Interestingly 3pt attempt rates have risen dramatically

 

[Son of Skeletor]

It's the defence with Rondo that would scare me above all else. That was the gripe from Kings fans last year, or so I've heard.

The other is the fit with Chicago's personnel, which is what stewie griffen is getting at. Rondo ball pounding at the Kings actually had a silver lining, as it just traded one static offensive set - Boogie in the low post - for another. Ball pounding just isn't that effective period outside exceptional cases, but it's better coming from a point guard than a center, and for all their faults the Kings were still 15th for offensive efficiency.

But really, Rondo needs to play with a team of shooters and roll men who struggle to get their own shot these days. Ironically Boston outside of Isaiah Thomas probably best fits that description, perhaps Denver too.

Rondo can probably play effectively with McBuckets and Taj, RoLo too even. But the fit with Wade & Jimmy is just.... eh. I can see signing Rondo or Wade in isolation being defensible, but signing both is a real head-scratcher.

 

[SloaneysDanger]

On a separate note Warriors won't lose a game for the next 3 seasons.

...but will still fail to win a championship in that time

 

[Son of Skeletor]

At the risk of interrupting the discussion of how good/bad a fit Rondo is for the Bulls, Im more than happy to have a go at the Thunder preview, most likely with input of some of the Thunder board faithful.

Dive right in man, all good.

stewie griffen do you want to update the first post so we can carve up the remnants?

 

[deeman87]

Hey guys, anyone here interested in a fun fantasy league? We need to fill a spot fairly urgently in an auction roto league run here on bf. Someone come sign up!
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-kevin-mchale-cup-16-17.1142634/page-2#post-46671895

 

[fidstar]

Hey guys, anyone here interested in a fun fantasy league? We need to fill a spot fairly urgently in an auction roto league run here on bf. Someone come sign up!
https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-kevin-mchale-cup-16-17.1142634/page-2#post-46671895

I can't stress this enough.

I really


really



really







really









really






don't want to win the Kevin McHale Cup

 

[DangerSloane]

Handsbro
hibbert
hawes
hilarious

Rondo.

 

[DangerSloane]

Happy to do Hornets preview.
Whats the go, is there any kind of order?

 

[stewie griffen]

Happy to do Hornets preview.
Whats the go, is there any kind of order?

Nope

Start typing sunshine

 

[DangerSloane]

Nope

Start typing sunshine

Later in the week when I have less work to do.

 

[Son of Skeletor]

Happy to do Hornets preview.
Whats the go, is there any kind of order?

Nope

Start typing sunshine

I think we should clean up who is doing what and then we can start the race.

Any of the following fabulous fellas up for writing about their team, or alternatively a little Q & A?

Primetime Pricey Warsaw Drumroe Atlanta_Cats BoshtrichBurger mickelboy182 Dannnnnnnnnn StevieDewar Hipster Doofus fidstar

If there are any Bucks, Clippers or Pacers fans floating around - I know there used to be - who want to jump in and give thoughts, let us know. Ditto Jazz, Grizz, Raptors or Nets, otherwise we'll dump them all on stewie

 

[stewie griffen]

I think we should clean up who is doing what and then we can start the race.

Any of the following fabulous fellas up for writing about their team, or alternatively a little Q & A?

Primetime Pricey Warsaw Drumroe Atlanta_Cats BoshtrichBurger mickelboy182 Dannnnnnnnnn StevieDewar Hipster Doofus fidstar

If there are any Bucks, Clippers or Pacers fans floating around - I know there used to be - who want to jump in and give thoughts, let us know. Ditto Jazz, Grizz, Raptors or Nets, otherwise we'll dump them all on stewie

Nets - Will have less wins than priceys mum has had orgasms

 

[Dannnnnnnnnn]

I think we should clean up who is doing what and then we can start the race.

Any of the following fabulous fellas up for writing about their team, or alternatively a little Q & A?

Primetime Pricey Warsaw Drumroe Atlanta_Cats BoshtrichBurger mickelboy182 Dannnnnnnnnn StevieDewar Hipster Doofus fidstar

If there are any Bucks, Clippers or Pacers fans floating around - I know there used to be - who want to jump in and give thoughts, let us know. Ditto Jazz, Grizz, Raptors or Nets, otherwise we'll dump them all on stewie

Don't think I have the basketball knowledge to do a full preview justice, happy to do special comments/Q&A though.

 

[stewie griffen]

Don't think I have the basketball knowledge to do a full preview justice, happy to do special comments/Q&A though.

I'll be happy to collaborate on minny with ya

I'll just get my suite of thibs gifs ready [emoji6]

 

[Hipster Doofus]

I can get the Kings miserable preview up and about within the week, prepare for a lot of Omri love.

 

[fidstar]

sorry guys, probably not going to have time this year to help out.

 

[Warsaw]

I think we should clean up who is doing what and then we can start the race.

Any of the following fabulous fellas up for writing about their team, or alternatively a little Q & A?

Primetime Pricey Warsaw Drumroe Atlanta_Cats BoshtrichBurger mickelboy182 Dannnnnnnnnn StevieDewar Hipster Doofus fidstar

If there are any Bucks, Clippers or Pacers fans floating around - I know there used to be - who want to jump in and give thoughts, let us know. Ditto Jazz, Grizz, Raptors or Nets, otherwise we'll dump them all on stewie

Drummer_19 you want to take the reigns on this one?

 

[stewie griffen]

Don't think I have the basketball knowledge to do a full preview justice, happy to do special comments/Q&A though.

Now i just have to work a gif of this in