2022/23 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "TANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

xxpost: yup. you could see it at Georgia, too.

i'm old so i'm as quick to react as anyone, but it's important to remember that he turned 21 three months ago.

he could really use a few of the right veterans around him. not sure who that is, but looking at their roster, i don't see them.

i think KAT can handle it

lmao

Hahaaaa

Lue: Kawhi Leonard without timetable for return.

— Underdog NBA (@Underdog__NBA) November 7, 2022

lue: idk

i wonder if his career is over…..

spurs diagnosed him correctly smh

― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Saturday, October 29, 2022 2:44 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

do the clippers just kinda stink

they were a .500 team last year and haven't really made any major changes

they get more games of paul george this year presumably but he's getting old

this jazz team is really something

Little thing that says a lot about the Jazz: Will Hardy went with Collin Sexton in the closing lineup instead of Jordan Clarkson. As Sexton threw down the dagger dunk, Clarkson jumped off the bench with his fists in the air to celebrate.

What’s going on in Utah? Good vibes.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) November 7, 2022

nice vibe check

lauri balling out like this and still shooting <30% on threes is crazy.

i think every team plays tomorrow? and no games tues for election

that ant edwards clip is hilarious. the vibes are way off with the wolves.

i'm trying not to give in to despair
things are weird, everything feels off
though i'm trying to keep it in perspective, we started worse last year (were 3-7 at 10 games in)
but i dunno, finch has a lot to figure out
i think he's going to have to abandon the idea of starters/bench to a degree and try to put together lineups of the players that he has that work together, but that can be tough given egos etc

early season struggles arent the worst thing in the world

every night my team's not playing i'm kind of taking as a personal affront. how dare they

yeah one would think the wolves figure it out better than they have so far, their defense has been decent but the offense is pretty bad, the opposite of what id expect, when rudys on the floor you really have to have him rolling to the rim a lot in order for teams not to ignore him, russell prob their best ball handler for that but edwards def needs to learn too, then you have kat spaced out at the line ready to shoot or attack the closeout, when rudys not on the court you can go small make room for the guys to work, seems like it should be possible, tho everyone might not be happy with that style of play idk, maybe try to stagger kat and rudy as much as possible

theyve got talent, maybe not the best fit, its also prob not a super high bb iq group

picturing rudy always trying to post up getting frustrated when he doesnt get the ball finally getting a post touch and turning it over

it’s always tough when a team is struggling but moves made by the front office dictate what line ups are on the court. it’s not dissimilar from the westbrook situation. finch doesn’t have a ton of options unless there is a full on organizational decision to deviate from what the plans were going into the season

right now his only play is to mix and match throughout the game when it’s easier to shift line ups around and hope the 4 stars eventually just get better at the beginnings and ends of games

i think ultimately there's a KAT/Ant anchored lineup and a DLo/Gobert anchored lineup that might work

Dlo has really been bad though, his struggles don't get as much attention but he was actually very good for a lot of last season and I thought in a contract year he was going to be super focused but no dice so far, he's like a -53 plus/minus or something horrible like that

dlo will prob come around just that will help

wolves prob also have to just own up to the fact that its normal to go small at the end of games

just looked at the west standing to try to figure out where the wolves fit in and lol wow wild stuff

the defending champs are 3-7? the team that was gutted to tank is 8-3

dubs should trade for some of utahs guys

the whole league...i just feel like i don't have a handle on this season

the east is pretty normal cleve is stronger than ppl thought but its not that crazy philly and miami struggling a little but will prob figure it out, the west is psychotic tho lol

wolves prob also have to just own up to the fact that its normal to go small at the end of games

― lag∞n, Monday, November 7, 2022 11:58 AM (five minutes ago)

i feel like this is the logical end conclusion but it's gonna require, like, press conferences to say that they still believe in gobert & towns as a duo but acknowledge that on some nights one of them will have to sit at the ends of games

which is of course a tacit admission that the trade was giant failure but the trade is already done, at this point you gotta do what's necessary to win games

is it really psychotic though? if you flipped GSW and utah would you still think things were amiss

if you took out the two craziest parts out of 16 then yeah it would only look somewhat unsettled

phoenix being great again, blazers looking legit, clippers stinking, spurs being competitive, lakers being truly terrible... there is a topsy turvyness to the west aside from utah and the dubs that isn't really present in the east

i dunno if 5-5 after 10 games is enough for "stinking" or "being competitive"

btw kinda seems like kawhi is in the process of doing what he did in san antonio again, clippers seeming a lot like they have no idea whats going on with him

The biggest CAV surprise for me is that they are 8-1 with Garland (their first or second best scorer) only playing in two full games.

yeah that is wild

they play so hard, vibes are very good over there, tho they might want to chill a bit at some point its a long season

Also they have the best point differential in the NBA which kinda blows my mind!

yeah theyre blowing the doors off

i dunno if 5-5 after 10 games is enough for "stinking" or "being competitive"

― ciderpress, Monday, November 7, 2022 12:22 PM (five minutes ago)

well yes it's only 10 games alas that's how many games have been played

i think we need to check back in at around game 20 these things usually smooth out after a quarter of the season. the jazz and blazers not only being in the mix but high in the standings is gonna make things a lot tougher for the west tho. games will matter more which is cool. the heat and 76ers are underperforming in the east.

dubs should trade for some of utahs guys

― lag∞n, Monday, November 7, 2022 10:03 AM (nineteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they should 100% be going after kelly o

cavs move the ball so well, big team energy and every great team needs somebody super punchable and that person is kevin love

i’m still skeptical of them as a playoff team i just feel like you need wing players at the end of the day but it’s a great time for cavs fans no doubt, the mitchell trade was a home run

It’s a unique roster construction would be cool to see it continue to work