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

often a playoff series says as much about the loser as it does the winner (i.e. hawks over sixers in the semis) and the mavs are looking like they might fall into that category and perhaps even an extreme version when you consider the two teams they beat were utah (perpetually in turmoil and then immediately disbanded) and phoenix (triggered into turmoil by a legendary meltdown)

mavs playing good defense last year was weird considering they dont have a very defensively talented roster good offense bad defense is more what i would expect from them

the honeymoon is over. it's time to fire Kidd.

sure but i’m not sure who’s supposed to do anything with this roster. it’s a mess.

hope someone is telling luka hes not allowed to kill two coaches in a row

ah well

Mavericks forward Maxi Kleber will miss six-to-eight weeks due to a sprain in his right knee, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 15, 2022

Team has announced a hamstring tear for Kleber as well.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 15, 2022

yikes. they might be play-in bound

a huge issue that no coach can fix is that finney-smith and bullock are both shooting 31% from three after being in the high 30s each of the last two seasons. that's essentially the basis of their whole offense

theres that chart from a lil while ago showing those guys get some of the best looks too, not great

hammy and knee sprain wow

not a lot of info but doesnt sound too bad

Golden State's Steph Curry is expected to miss "a few weeks" with his left shoulder injury, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 15, 2022

tho on the other hand they cant really afford for him to miss much time

great assessment of the timberwolves' misadventures in super team building

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/dec/15/minnesota-timberwolves-superteam-nba-failure

the guardian!

the article doesn't get it wrong, but by now it doesn't require any special insight to write all that. heck, ILH has collectively nailed down a more complete description of what the Wolves did wrong and did it starting on the day of the trade.

mavs playing good defense last year was weird considering they dont have a very defensively talented roster good offense bad defense is more what i would expect from them

― lag∞n, Thursday, December 15, 2022 10:40 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

also Kidd's Bucks teams were notoriously awful on defense

despite having a ton of dudes with unreal wingspans

kidd's bucks teams played a scheme that was so impossible for the players that no one has tried anything like it since. last year the mavericks seemed to get by with decent positional defense in a conservative scheme, but luck with that can go away quickly.

great assessment of the timberwolves' misadventures in super team building

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/dec/15/minnesota-timberwolves-superteam-nba-failure

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 15, 2022 3:45 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol so musician/nba twitter personality claire de lune writes guest columns about hoops for the guardian? that's cool i guess!

Best net rating:

7.0 — Warriors with Steph on floor
6.8 — Celtics
6.3 — Cavs

Worst net rating:

-6.7 — Hornets
-10.1 — Spurs
-11.1 — Warriors with Steph on bench pic.twitter.com/m0v7VbgwN7

— StatMuse (@statmuse) December 15, 2022

gotta be one of the biggest post championship slips that didn’t involve major roster overhaul

yeah pretty crazy

they got rid of some really efficient roleplayers that people may have been undervaluing

idk none of the guys they lost are even getting minutes

but they did make the role players work last year in a way that theyre just not this

last year there werent any close to dominant teams, the dubs were a weak champ, looking like theres not any great teams this year either

gotta be one of the biggest post championship slips that didn’t involve major roster overhaul

― Clay, Thursday, December 15, 2022 5:13 PM (forty-five minutes ago)

the other thing is that w/ each year teams devalue the regular season more and more there's prob some line of demarcation when load management really started to matter and teams like the warriors are just like "eh we'll see you in the playoffs"

poole's shooting has been real bad for the amount he plays, he's down to replacement level this season in the bbref stats pretty huge downswing from last year that's probably a lot of the difference right there

if the warriors make it into the playoffs healthy you'd still have to put them up there w/ any team in the west based on how that conference is looking so far

yeah theoretically theyre still in the mix but idk they might be cooked too

they need trades

yeah feels just as likely the clock strikes midnight and they go out 4-1 in the first round as they make it back to the west finals

Home and away splits for opponent 3P shooting.

Warriors, Mavs, and Grizzlies have the biggest difference between opponent 3P% at home and on the road. The average team faces 1.3 percentage points higher opponent 3P% on the road vs. at home (more red on the right side). https://t.co/Tk7iVG54vH pic.twitter.com/cXAagVdI6T

— Todd Whitehead (@CrumpledJumper) December 15, 2022

idk none of the guys they lost are even getting minutes

kinda reminds me of the heat where PJ tucker stinks this year but you can still really feel the heat missing him or at the least that role as occupied by a solid vet

heat always find a way to make it work with a bunch of randos but its no way to live

turns out you need someone to play power forward

grizz up 20 on the bucks

grizz looking pretty impressive: ball mvmt, pace, rebounding, balanced scoring.

ya theyre good young active physical tough to play against

lol i love watching centers furiously dropping back against ja and it just doesnt matter hes by them instantly

grizz up 20 on the bucks

― lag∞n, Thursday, December 15, 2022 8:49 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

29 at the half

grizz up 20 on the bucks

― lag∞n, Thursday, December 15, 2022 8:49 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

29 at the half

― lag∞n, Thursday, December 15, 2022 9:11 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

36

42

ja trip dub in under 3 quarters

yoo portis scratched the hell out aldama hes bleeding

the jazz dance squad is performing the nutcracker at halftime

not sure what to say about this, i tip my cap to them

grizz just need to hit the playoffs healthy

the nutcracker is generally a crowd-pleaser, good for them imo