Genuine question: why is basketball (the sport) so unpopular in the UK?
NBA 2019-2020
- Thread starter altodevil
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
british people depraved pasty fools
Thought France v Australia for the final so it makes sense it will be Spain v Argentina now.
Spain vs Australia was a great thriller.
Is Sergio Lull playing for Spain?
Yes Llull is there.
And Team USA have lost the fifth-place game against Serbia too.......now against Poland (@Sarni) to get the 4th defeat in the last 9 games
Oh they have won against Poland.....7th place finish
Because they are shit at it?
Because football, rugby and cricket are way more popular.
Comedic reply.
Just like your question.
Oh, so the UK can only bother with three sports. Might be the reason. Three is the magic number.
Spain are World Champions......very easy 95-75 win against Argentina.
Anyone else like Houston for the title? They should have enough to get by GS this year.
There's probably five or six teams who have enough to get by GS next season.
Houston will do well in the regular season I think - probably 1st or 2nd seed. Not sure how they'll work in the playoffs.
Warriors are far from the benchmark this year, Clippers are, then Bucks, Sixers and Lakers. All four are more likely to win the title than Warriors are, by a margin. Warriors will be very reliant on Curry’s health in the regular season, he misses more than 20 games and they probably don’t even make the playoffs.
I think fully healthy Clippers would be too much for Rockets in the playoffs but let’s see.
Lakers are even more reliant on their star players staying injury free - their bench is much shorter.
I like Rockets chances this year. Time for Harden and Westbrook to step up in the Plaoffs.
Well it's not. It lacks premium quality but they do have a lot of players who can give you minutes. Green, Bradley, Cook, Rondo, KCP, McGee, Caruso and Dudley aren't great by any means but they are all solid players who have some league experience and will probably not suck that bad as long as they have LeBron and/or Davis next to them.
Warriors are just brutal beyond Curry, Russell, Green and Looney. Their best players are Burks, McKinnie, Robinson and Cauley-Stein, none of whom are good at all. Beyond that you are looking at young players like Poole, Paschall, Smagailic, Spellman and Damion Lee who have little or no experience inthe league. They don't have a single wing who doesn't suck.
If Lakers lose LeBron or AD they would be in big trouble. Last year they couldn't even make the playoffs with LeBron sidelined for many games. He's 35 in December and injuries might start to creep in.
Cauley-Stein was a good addition to them and Robinson could be a good wing, Klay will be back at some point and they will still be able to outscore most of their opponents. Some of the young players will step up.
I don't believe they will challenge this year as they are off the pace. Lakers have more experienced bodies but if they are to replace their star players they will find themselves short.
Last edited:
i like Houston's chances, especially if Westbrook fits in well. it's them and Clippers for me.
just read how Houston have done some creative accounting on Nene's contract to put themselves into the possible position to add Iggy mid year - or, someone else. he'd be a nice extra piece.
just read how Houston have done some creative accounting on Nene's contract to put themselves into the possible position to add Iggy mid year - or, someone else. he'd be a nice extra piece.
Of course. Still much less trouble than Warriors would be in if they lost Curry. Warriors would basically be a 25-win team without him, at best.
Cauley Stein isn't a wing, he's a center (a very average one too though for the money he's making it's fine).
I'm leaning towards someone else.
I think Clippers will take Iguodala, in exchange for Harkless and Robinson. They've been working out Noah in the past few days too. If Noah can get back into some form (he wasn't that bad last season) and Iguodala is himself in the playoffs, the lineup of Beverley, PG, Kawhi, Iguodala and Noah would be defensively incredible in the playoffs. And then you have Harrell, Shamet and Williams all with their great scoring ability off the bench. That team could become super strong very soon.
Klay and Russell can perhaps cover for him when Klay returns. Dubs are probably not the biggest concern for Lakers either way as most probably they will be in transitional year.
Whoops seems to missed Robinson in the above quote who can be decent sub on the wing.
Stein, Green, Klay, Looney, Steph is a very good 5 with Russell backup to Steph if he gets injured. Robinson can be useful for around 10-15 mins per game and the youngsters can chime in. I feel this year is a writeoff for Dubs unless they trade Russell in December.
You can't play Looney, Green and Cauley-Stein at the same time, spacing would be awful. Only two of them. They are basically forced to start Robinson or Burks if they want to play with a true wing, or use Klay at 3 which isn't ideal.
I think Russell will be used as a trade bait anyway. There are easily 2-3 teams in the league that could use him and would have the assets necessary to make it a tempting trade offer for Warriors. Timberwolves could give them Covington and a salary filler which would be great, wouldn't be surprised if Suns tried doing something although they don't necessarily have the assets to make it work.
I think regular season will be much more of a problem for Warriors than the playoffs. They should have Klay back for the playoffs so that could be a very good team then. Teams are narrowing their rotation to 7, max 8 guys in the playoffs and that'd work in their favor. They will also be a very attractive destination for buyout guys in Jan & Feb, though the buyout market might not be that good this year (could still realistically include guys like Crowder).
Just realized the new season is so fecking close now
So when did everyone realise the bulls logo upside down looked like a robot fecking a crab
I mentioned Golden State because they knocked Houston out the last two years.
Clippers should be a great defensive team, no need to mention Leonard and George is also top rate. But with the way the game is going more offensive-based, and the players relatively unfamiliar with each other, I have my doubts about the Clippers winning this season, though it would be less crazy than the Raptors winning last season.
Would be great to see the Bucks win, their last title saw two of the best ever, Oscar Robertson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, together. They lack some experience, but it looks like they'll walk the East.
I disagree. As playoffs showed, top defense is just as important as good offense and was one of the main reasons why Toronto won the title. Aside from that, they aren't really unfamiliar with each other. The core of the team that won 48 games last season is still there, bar Gallinari but he got replaced by a clearly superior player in George. Beverley, Williams, Shamet, Harrell, Zubac, Green all played significant minutes together last season and had great chemistry, and all will still be there next season. Williams and Harrell off the bench is particularly great, they seem to have awesome chemistry. It's actually one of the reasons why I like them so much for the title next season, this is a team that did very well last year and then added a top 5 and a top 10 player in the league in the same window, without really giving up any of their core pieces.
Their offense should be great too. All their core players are actually very good offensively, and most of them are great defensively (Beverley, Kawhi, George are absolutely elite and top 3 defenders in the league in their positions).
East is between Bucks and Sixers this year, unless Durant makes a comeback around March and can feature in the playoffs at his 80-90%.
Looking at lines for this season two that stick out for me are Pacers at 47.5 and Bulls at 32.5. Pacers should not get much over .500 with Oladipo injured for half a season and departure of Young and Bogdanovic, Bulls should comfortably get over 35 wins as they actually have a decent team when everyone is healthy.
Are the Pacers really at 47.5? That's crazy. Way too high.
since then they've lost Durant and Klay is also injured for the bulk if not all the season.
I have been following LaMelo Ball in the NBL so far and he looks a real good prospect. Very nifty at getting to the basket, is a decent shooter (could deff get better) and just like his big brother he Is a great passer and has a real high Basketball IQ. I would not be surprised if he became a better passer than Lonzo. Lonzo is much better at Defense then Melo but Melo definitely has more in his scoring arsenal. He is 6'6"/6'7" and I would not be surprised if he got to 6'8" by the end of the season. He has all the tools to be a great PG in this league. I am a fan of Lonzo but I think LaMelo will be better.
9 days until the season begins
9 days until the season begins
I have been following LaMelo Ball in the NBL so far and he looks a real good prospect. Very nifty at getting to the basket, is a decent shooter (could deff get better) and just like his big brother he Is a great passer and has a real high Basketball IQ. I would not be surprised if he became a better passer than Lonzo. Lonzo is much better at Defense then Melo but Melo definitely has more in his scoring arsenal. He is 6'6"/6'7" and I would not be surprised if he got to 6'8" by the end of the season. He has all the tools to be a great PG in this league. I am a fan of Lonzo but I think LaMelo will be better.
9 days until the season begins
Support Knicks, Sporting and Ball's family. You glutton to punishment, dont you mate? #sorry,cant resist
It gets worse when you find out I am also a Giants fanAs for the Ball's I think Lonzo gets unfair criticism at times and LaMelo looks a good prospect is all
LaMelo will be better than Lonzo just because his shot isn't as fecked up.I have been following LaMelo Ball in the NBL so far and he looks a real good prospect. Very nifty at getting to the basket, is a decent shooter (could deff get better) and just like his big brother he Is a great passer and has a real high Basketball IQ. I would not be surprised if he became a better passer than Lonzo. Lonzo is much better at Defense then Melo but Melo definitely has more in his scoring arsenal. He is 6'6"/6'7" and I would not be surprised if he got to 6'8" by the end of the season. He has all the tools to be a great PG in this league. I am a fan of Lonzo but I think LaMelo will be better.
9 days until the season begins
I doubt LaMelo will even be a lottery pick. It's all hype.
Hawks & Pelicans are two of the most interesting young teams in recent years.
Hawks & Pelicans are two of the most interesting young teams in recent years.
the NBL shouldn't be used as a judge of anything. Bogut was the MVP and he's basically just a serviceable big off the bench in the NBA now.