NBA Finals Discussion thread

The New Orleans Pelicans are moving quickly to assemble a coaching staff to surround Alvin Gentry, reaching an agreement in principle with Boston Celtics assistant Darren Erman to become associate head coach, league sources told Yahoo Sports.


Erman, who will oversee the Pelicans' defense, informed Celtics officials on Tuesday morning that he had accepted the job with New Orleans, league sources told Yahoo Sports.


A disciple of ex-Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Erman was the architect of a Golden State Warriors defense that developed into one of the league’s juggernauts.
When Erman took over the Golden State defense, he transformed a 26th-ranked unit to 11th in 2012-13, and ultimately third in 2013-14. Erman worked under Thibodeau and later Lawrence Frank with the Boston Celtics as members of coach Doc Rivers’ staff.


Several Golden State players, including Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, point to Erman's individual work as a key asset to their development.


Erman spent the 2014-15 season on Brad Stevens' staff with the Boston Celtics, where the defense showed significant improvement. Celtics general manager Danny Ainge has been a proponent of Erman's, and brought him back for a second tour in 2014-15 to work under Brad Stevens.


The Toronto Raptors recently pursued Erman to become defensive coordinator under Dwane Casey, sources said, but the chance to become associate head coach with Gentry and work with superstar Anthony Davis apparently swayed him.
 
forget which thread mentioned the defensive coach for GSW - it certainly was not this guy..
 
oh ya and this .....


Darren Erman got fired for secretly recording Mark Jackson, and teams are fighting over him. Think about that.
 
CASH said:
oh ya and this .....


Darren Erman got fired for secretly recording Mark Jackson, and teams are fighting over him. Think about that.
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I read it your suggesting that Jackson was the problem, which I agree with. He didn't want his assistants talking to the media and in the spotlight and what happened with Scalabrine was just bizarre. Lets not forget that Jackson was traded 7 times in his career and was a locker room cancer when he was in Utah.
 
With his hardcore religious beliefs, Marc Jackson was outspoken about Yag people. And there's a Yag executive in the Warriors front office who calls shots. Just goes to show no matter how good you're doing coaching, you need to respect authority in the workplace. Anybody can be replaced.
 
ArizonaKid said:
I read it your suggesting that Jackson was the problem, which I agree with. He didn't want his assistants talking to the media and in the spotlight and what happened with Scalabrine was just bizarre. Lets not forget that Jackson was traded 7 times in his career and was a locker room cancer when he was in Utah.
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It was taken from Zach lowes twitter.

and I agree with you..

As far as Scal,, very weird.. the positive - he became the color guy for Celtics away games... enjoyable to listen to along with mike gorman as he is one of the best play by play guys...
 
From rotoworld:
Shaquille O'Neal said he would prefer to play with Kobe Bryant over LeBron James.

In a bit of a surprise after their very public feud, O'Neal gave praise to his former teammate on The Dan Patrick Show on Monday. "I played with both of them," Shaq said. "Kobe has that killer instinct. I'll probably have to go with Kobe. That's not a knock against LeBron." Shaq went on to praise James as well, but this was a very surprising statement from the former Laker.
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Lebron makes his team better.

kobe in the killer on the court.

Two very different players. When it comes down to it. Lebron will be looked at as the better overall player IMO.
 
Dan Crawford, Scott Foster, Marc Davis and Derrick Stafford are all LeBron Secret Society members.

Granted you'll see one or some of them at the bottom of the box-score in Cavs victories.
 
warriors in 5 imo


totally forgot about speights....

lebron will have to average 35 poiints, 8 assists a game to make it a series
 
I think it goes 6 games.
Warriors win
Should be a fun series to watch for sure
 
nbafan88 said:
Speights is going to be HUGE this series. Cavs are in big trouble if the refs are neutral
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If he is 100% then yea he will be a big factor as I expect the Cavs to really muck it up and Speights can get tough buckets. When Mozgov isn't on the floor Speights should get his down low...10 points a game in just 16 minutes is pretty nice production and can hit free throws.
 
The Warriors gotta get the thin Cavs front line in foul trouble. It's going to be hard being a jump shooting team. Hopefully they make it a point to attack the rim and try and get easy baskets or fouls.
 
cogenman said:
The Warriors gotta get the thin Cavs front line in foul trouble. It's going to be hard being a jump shooting team. Hopefully they make it a point to attack the rim and try and get easy baskets or fouls.
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And the other way around. Cleveland needs to get Green (and Bogut) in to foul trouble. GSW doesn't have anyone that can replace what Green does. Without him, GSW numbers become from great to almost mediocre.
 
ArizonaKid said:
NBA Finals trivia...

there are 7 players in NBA history that have shot 45% from 3 and 50% from the field (minimum 200 3's attempted) and one of them is in this Finals...who is it ? (and for you hardcore NBA fans name the other 6)
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Brandon Rush. Too bad he blew each knee out and has lost all his athleticism because he was a really good shooter who could play D, thought he was going to be a really good player back in his Kansas days.

Kerr, Nash, Hornacek, Dale Ellis, Brent Barry, and Tim Legler are the others.
 
My Finals thoughts

Irving's knee isn't improving as well as the Cavs camp had hoped and it is going to be a real issue. Where are they going to hide him on D, on Klay or Barnes ? Each will back him down and take him to the paint and when help comes the Warriors ball movement will kill them.

Golden State will also attack Mozgov on the pick and roll and get some open looks. When James Jones is on the court the Warriors will attack him similar to the Spurs the last 2 Finals because he is one of the worst defenders in the league.

Golden State scores more points in the paint and more points in transition than the Cavs, and the Cavs lead the NBA this postseason in shots taken the last 4 seconds of the shot clock (just my semi-educated guess).

Golden State needs Draymond Green to avoid foul trouble to keep T Thompson off the boards, think Kerr limits how much he guards LeBron and goes with Barnes and Iguodala more as the primary defender.

While Golden State has turned the ball over this season, Cleveland has the 2nd lowest turnovers caused ratio this postseason just ahead of the Trailblazers who were the worst in the league this season. Andre Iguodala has 51 assists this postseason vs only 8 TO's...the best ratio of any player this playoffs.

If Speights can contribute, then Cleveland is really up against it. He was a big reason the Warriors avoided scoring droughts when Curry was on the bench, avg. 10 points a game in just 16 minutes.

My pick to be a difference maker this series is Shaun Livingston, his length will bother the Cavs guards on the 3 point line and when he and Iguodala are on the court together they really muck things up and shorten the passing lanes.

13 times in NBA history a team with 65+ wins has made the Finals and each time that team took home the Title. This Finals won't be any different, LeBron can only do so much and with the Cavs far from full strength they don't have enough to overcome the Warriors.

While I like the series price at -225, if you can play the odds on Warriors in 5 at +350ish, Warriors in 6 +410ish, and Warriors in 7 +345ish your getting a great return on the 2015 NBA Champions.
 
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ArizonaKid said:
My Finals thoughts

Irving's knee isn't improving as well as the Cavs camp had hoped and it is going to be a real issue. Where are they going to hide him on D, on Klay or Barnes ? Each will back him down and take him to the paint and when help comes the Warriors ball movement will kill them.

Golden State will also attack Mozgov on the pick and roll and get some open looks. When James Jones is on the court the Warriors will attack him similar to the Spurs the last 2 Finals because he is one of the worst defenders in the league.

Golden State scores more points in the paint and more points in transition than the Cavs, and the Cavs lead the NBA this postseason in shots taken the last 4 seconds of the shot clock (just my semi-educated guess).

Golden State needs Draymond Green to avoid foul trouble to keep T Thompson off the boards, think Kerr limits how much he guards LeBron and goes with Barnes and Iguodala more as the primary defender.

While Golden State has turned the ball over this season, Cleveland has the 2nd lowest turnovers caused ratio this postseason just ahead of the Trailblazers who were the worst in the league this season. Andre Iguodala has 51 assists this postseason vs only 8 TO's...the best ratio of any player this playoffs.

If Speights can contribute, then Cleveland is really up against it. He was a big reason the Warriors avoided scoring droughts when Curry was on the bench, avg. 10 points a game in just 16 minutes.

My pick to be a difference maker this series is Shaun Livingston, his length will bother the Cavs guards on the 3 point line and when he and Iguodala are on the court together they really muck things up and shorten the passing lanes.

13 times in NBA history a team with 65+ wins has made the Finals and each time that team took home the Title. This Finals won't be any different, LeBron can only do so much and with the Cavs far from full strength they don't have enough to overcome the Warriors.

While I like the series price at -225, if you can play the odds on Warriors in 5 at +350ish, Warriors in 6 +410ish, and Warriors in 7 +345ish your getting a great return on the 2015 NBA Champions.
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Thank you for these thoughts :shake:
 
Thank you AK...


As mentioned on First Take, Lebron's individual performance this post season sucks.... but he is COACHING and leading the team to victory.

COACHING...



He is shooting 17% from 3 this post season, SEVENTEEN PERECENT... his efficiency is putrid and he has basically been able to make plays at the right time to take advantage of the matchups... he has no matchup advantages vs the Warriors other than himself... and he will have to shoot much better than he has all series

i think its much more likely the cavs get swept than it is that they win 2 games
 
ArizonaKid said:
If he is 100% then yea he will be a big factor as I expect the Cavs to really muck it up and Speights can get tough buckets. When Mozgov isn't on the floor Speights should get his down low...10 points a game in just 16 minutes is pretty nice production and can hit free throws.
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I honestly dont care if speights scores ten points the entire series... him just being on the floor is huge because of his tenacity... bogut is bleh,
 
Yeah, LeBron is coaching, Blatt is playing... try to watch a game sometimes...
Strange that LeBron is coaching the same way that Blatt coached the last two decades...
 
ArizonaKid said:
My pick to be a difference maker this series is Shaun Livingston, his length will bother the Cavs guards on the 3 point line and when he and Iguodala are on the court together they really muck things up and shorten the passing lanes.
Click to expand...
That second unit is the difference maker as far as I'm concerned. Not sure how the Cavs are going to counter guys like Livingston, Barbosa and Iggy. And if David Lee ever finds his way out of the dog house, forget about it...
 
As for the series, as I wrote already, I think GSW wins this one and agree with AZ's thoughts more or less.
Kyrie's injury is huge.
GSW is the best offense and the best defense that Clevleand have met so far in the playoffs.
Cavs offense without Kyrie and with Bron shooting 17% from three pointer and not much better on long mid range shots, looks beyond horrible.
Cleveland won 8 games the last two series, with 4 of those games Cleveland shot below 100 points (highest being 96 points). GSW in all of their wins, scored 97+ points and lost the only two games where they failed to reach 95 points (89 and 90 points).
I would assume that Cleveland will struggle to reach 100 points against Golden State and will struggle to stop the Warriors below 100 points mark.

I still won't back GSW here, despite believing in them.
Why? First of all, as I wrote already, no team have won a title, without having at least one player on their roster, since first title by Jordan (more than 20 years ago). Bron needed to lose in the Finals before winning it, Durant needed to lost Finals before winning it, Shaq needed to lose the Finals and so on...
Curry and Thompson (and others) not only never been in the Finals, I think that no player on their roster, but Barbosa, have been in the Conference Finals even.
Jones, Miller, Perk, Bron - know what it takes to win it.
I know that many won't agree, but Blatt knows how to win as a coach in the Finals - Kerr doesn't.
Experience matters and it's probably one of the most one sided Finals experience wise.

Also, Bron won 17 of his last 19 series, so it's very hard to go against him.
Another point, I would like to see Kyrie play, before writing him off. He played decent+ against the Hawks in Game 4 and it's hard to believe that 8 days of rest didn't help.
Cleveland could be blowing smoke about Kyrie's injury.

If Kyrie is injured like he was against the Bulls and Bron can't shoot away from the basket, it will probably be GSW in 5.
 
divol said:
Yeah, LeBron is coaching, Blatt is playing... try to watch a game sometimes...
Strange that LeBron is coaching the same way that Blatt coached the last two decades...
Click to expand...


No actually Lebron is coaching and playing and Blatt is enjoying the ride while doing 60-70% of what an nba coach should do. Do you really think all a coach does is draw up plays? You cannot compare coaching in Europe to coaching in the NBA... I dont know why you even bring it up. Everything from the level of competition among his coaching peers to the grueling schedule to the media... its just no where close to being the same

I think Lebron has had to do so much with regards to making his TEAM better and make up for Blatt's inadequacies as an NBA level coach, he has had less time to keep up and work on his own personal game
 
Trying to make a series wager on cavs. Do you guys think Blatt is worth one or two wins just due to his coaching?
 
nbafan88 said:
Do you really think all a coach does is draw up plays? You cannot compare coaching in Europe to coaching in the NBA... I dont know why you even bring it up. Everything from the level of competition among his coaching peers to the grueling schedule to the media... its just no where close to being the same

I think Lebron has had to do so much with regards to making his TEAM better and make up for Blatt's inadequacies as an NBA level coach, he has had less time to keep up and work on his own personal game
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I believe that coaching is responsible for 80% of the plays on the floor. Obviously, many times players go with another play or need to improvize and sometimes, during timeouts ask for a certain play, but overall, I can't believe that it can be done any other way. Blatt gets 5 mill a season, Lue is the highest paid assistant coach in the history of the league and gets 2 mill a season. I really don't believe they are getting paid just to sit on the bench...
You say Blatt's inadequacy as NBA level coach, please name a few...
I believe that playing in European Championship Finals and Euroleague Finals, that are watched by millions teach you a thing or two.
Again, I really don't want to get in to this discussion, but I personally, would take good coach from Europe (Messina, Obradovic and Blatt probably the elite), over any recycled coach in the NBA in a heart beat.
 
And I don't want to say that Blatt brought his team to the NBA Finals despite LeBron, because it's obviously would be wrong to say, but Bron was really a dick about Blatt and his coaching, despite others that talked really highly of it (both Cavs players and people within Cavs organization snd people outside it).
It been talked now more and more about the fact that Bron wanted to leave Miami to be more dominant and couldn't do that under Riley and simply bullied a coach that never coached in the NBA and Blatt managed to get past that and got praises from everyone for that.
 
Poor David Blatt, that's what coaching is in the NBA , managing stars. Kobe and Michael were hardly Angels. Time for blatt to pull up his big boy Capri pants ( isn't that what they wear in Europe?)
 
braves said:
Trying to make a series wager on cavs. Do you guys think Blatt is worth one or two wins just due to his coaching?
Click to expand...

Really looking forward to watching what he does this series. If I'm the Cavs i let Draymond Green have open jumpers and 3 pointers all series long, He has shot poorly outside the paint this postseason and is only hitting 26.3% from 3's. I'm also telling my guys to not let Klay have catch and shoot 3's...he is deadly and would rather force him to go off the dribble.

Biggest thing I do if I'm the Cavs is strategic fouling, not hack a Bogut but rather use 2 fouls each quarter early before the Warriors are in the bonus and just foul them on a turnover/Cavs missed FG and take away 8-9 opportunities a game from the Warriors transition offense where they just kill teams. This postseason the Warriors have scored 295 points on 253 possessions or 1.17 ppp on 64.7% eFG. Cleveland could steal a point or 2 a game doing this and kill some momentum from the Warriors especially when they hit open 3's in transition.

Cleveland can't outgun the Warriors, going to have to slow it down to a crawl and make these games ugly. They can't give up the open looks like they did vs the Hawks who only knocked down 31% of them, The Warriors are hitting 50% on open looks and 40% from 3's.
 
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I agree they need to stop transition offense, but if I'm Cleveland, I'm crushing the offensive glass. That will add possessions to Cavs and take away many transition chances for the Warriors. On top of that, it may force GSW to help on boards and focus on securing the rebound, instead of going on transition offense.
Obviously it will lead to some even easier than usual fast breaks, since Cavs will be crushing the boards, but I think it's the best way.

I also would bring Kyrie off the bench. He needs to play against second unit on defense and it will help Blatt to find the best spot for him to go in.
If Kyrie will play 20 - 24 minutes and 8 - 10 of them are minutes in which Curry is on the bench, it would be great for the Cavs.
I would also play a lot of zone defense and try to keep Mozgov on the floor as much as possible. By going big, Cavs have great inside the paint presence and it will be really hard to drive inside the paint, when Cavs go big.
 
Question for you guys - you say that Blatt doesn't have experience in the NBA and so on, still, between Blatt that has two decades of coaching behind him and Kerr, that never coached in his life, do you agree that Blatt has the advantage experience wise or do you think that they have equal experience?
 
He has more experience coaching.

I do not agree that gives him an advantage over Kerr in this series.
 
divol said:
I agree they need to stop transition offense, but if I'm Cleveland, I'm crushing the offensive glass. That will add possessions to Cavs and take away many transition chances for the Warriors. On top of that, it may force GSW to help on boards and focus on securing the rebound, instead of going on transition offense.
Obviously it will lead to some even easier than usual fast breaks, since Cavs will be crushing the boards, but I think it's the best way.

I also would bring Kyrie off the bench. He needs to play against second unit on defense and it will help Blatt to find the best spot for him to go in.
If Kyrie will play 20 - 24 minutes and 8 - 10 of them are minutes in which Curry is on the bench, it would be great for the Cavs.
I would also play a lot of zone defense and try to keep Mozgov on the floor as much as possible. By going big, Cavs have great inside the paint presence and it will be really hard to drive inside the paint, when Cavs go big.
Click to expand...

How you figure the Cavs to be crushing the glass. Cleveland's rebounding numbers this postseason are smoke and mirrors.

Easier said than done vs the Dubs.
 
divol said:
Question for you guys - you say that Blatt doesn't have experience in the NBA and so on, still, between Blatt that has two decades of coaching behind him and Kerr, that never coached in his life, do you agree that Blatt has the advantage experience wise or do you think that they have equal experience?
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You answered your own question.

Kerr has the advantage. In the NBA, he has played, analysed and had a front office gig which is basically eating, breathing and shitting NBA 'experience'.

Blatt made his name in Israel. Not disrespecting his talent as I am impressed with some of his defensive schemes but the NBA is a class and a half above every other league on the planet. He could turn into a great NBA coach but for now he is fortunate to have the league's best player/coach on his roster. Time will tell.
 
Why Cleveland's rebounds stats are smoke and mirrors? Bulls are a good rebounding team and Cleveland did great against them.
 
divol said:
Why Cleveland's rebounds stats are smoke and mirrors? Bulls are a good rebounding team and Cleveland did great against them.
Click to expand...

Noah was banged-up with zero confidence, Pau is a wet blanket and missed half the series any way, leaving Taj and his weak verticals to get out-hustled and he was.
 
I assume that Green will be on Bron for many minutes, leaving Bogut to battle alone against Tristan and Timmo to fight on boards.
 
divol said:
I still won't back GSW here, despite believing in them.
Why? First of all, as I wrote already, no team have won a title, without having at least one player on their roster, since first title by Jordan (more than 20 years ago). Bron needed to lose in the Finals before winning it, Durant needed to lost Finals before winning it, Shaq needed to lose the Finals and so on...
Curry and Thompson (and others) not only never been in the Finals, I think that no player on their roster, but Barbosa, have been in the Conference Finals even.
Jones, Miller, Perk, Bron - know what it takes to win it.
I know that many won't agree, but Blatt knows how to win as a coach in the Finals - Kerr doesn't.
Experience matters and it's probably one of the most one sided Finals experience wise.

Also, Bron won 17 of his last 19 series, so it's very hard to go against him.
Click to expand...


The Finals experience is anecdotal, if Mike Miller was sitting at the end of Golden State's bench it would be meaningless. Lindsey Hunter's 5 minutes a game in the playoffs with a Lakers Title team had no impact whatsoever on the Pistons winning a ring. If Cleveland had lost in the Finals last year I would say that matters. But the fact is the Cavs don't have any experience playing together and it shows on offense.

Blatt has no idea how to win in an NBA Finals, he has never been in one unlike Kerr. This isn't Europe or the Olympics and a one game contest, its a best of 7 and he has no hc advantage and a shorthanded roster.

He does have LeBron, who as you mentioned has one 17 of his last 19 playoff series. Too bad he doesn't have 3 HOF teammates like he did in Miami.
 
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I do believe that guys that been there, bring something extra to the team.
It's like when Kyrie asked Miller in first home game or something, is this how playoffs feel like...
I can easily see Jones/ Miller giving each a game with 5 three pointers, shooting 60%+.
Obviously you remove LeBrone from Cleveland and all the experience in the world, won't help them to win one game, so obviously talent is much much more important, but experience does bring something more to the table imho.

I don't think it's wrong to claim that Thunder that lost to the Heat in the Finals, were better than Dallas that beat Heat in the Finals and I think that one of the main reasons why Thunder lost and Dallas won, was experience.
 
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