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

This is just like that time in Muppets Take Manhattan when the Muppets, after unsuccessfully attempting to take Manhattan, split up and leave Manhattan.

— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) February 9, 2023

haha

finally ben simmons’ time to shine

no one talking about my son jakob poeltl getting traded back to toronto ;_;

suns new owner making a major franchise altering trade within days of taking over kudos

also i cannot believe bisons son jakob poeltl got traded back to toronto

bridges, johnson, finney smith are prob three of the top five 3 and D wings in the league

― J0rdan S., Thursday, February 9, 2023 1:58 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

tbf johnson is more just 3

so realistically pheonix has to get this done either this season or next, they traded literally all their good forwards, all their draft picks, and have no way of turning cp3 into a better player.

a lot of the analysis is still talking about cp3 as "elite" which i don't think he's cooked per se but he's dancing with the edge of that cliff

somehow i missed that ishbia and dan gilbert hate each other from mortgage shenanigans, too bad suns and cavs are pretty far from ever getting to be natural rivals, would be fun

i do think cp3 is effectively cooked in that theres no way he gives you what you need through an entire playoff run

i was watching the suns/nets game the other day and cp3 looked incredibly slow and creaky.

suns roster still really soft no depth weird guys idk

salute to the nets for pulling the trigger they got a lot, gotta think they were pretty familiar with the durant market after all thats transpired, only complaint they got no swaps gotta get those swaps

maybe it works out better with cp3 in the playoffs this year given that he’s presumably gonna be doing a lot more standing around and watching

xp au contraire, got a swap in 2028

KD has a better shot of making the finals this year moving out west but given what the suns gave up i’m not sure he’s on a team that actually has a better shot of beating boston or milwaukee, should he get there

xp au contraire, got a swap in 2028

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:15 AM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh well there you have it the perfect deal

pretty obvious that ishbia is an absolute basketball sicko looking forward to seeing what sort of damage he can do to the org

i think we keep forgetting and re-learning that to get deep into the playoffs depth is really important.

cp3 is cooked for sure

pretty remarkable final cherry on top of this dysfunctional era of the nets is that it sure seems like when they traded kyrie they still had hope to hold onto kd, otherwise they wouldn't have gone with the mavs offer which was really the best one only if you're trying to get immediate returns alongside future assets. like they actually shouldve taken the lakers picks, i don't think finney-smith and dinwiddie are too exciting for them now

but this way we get to see Russ throw hissy fits about getting traded to Utah, so everyone wins

xp Those guys are highly tradeable now or in coming years, no?

think they didnt trade him to la out of spite

yes true

i think we keep forgetting and re-learning that to get deep into the playoffs depth is really important.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:20 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah you really need it for lineup flexibility which is a little different than the regular season where the emphasis is more on giving starters rest

also worth remembering the nets got an unprotected first from the mavs. you could make the argument that an unprotected or lightly protected first from the lakers is worth more than dinwiddie and dorian finney smith, but you could also make the opposite argument. you could also argue there’s more downside to the mavs future than the lakers, tho i wouldn’t agree with that

lakers are almost guaranteed to be bad soon, mavs is 50/50

what seems obv to me is that as lagoon says the nets knew the KD trade market very well & had no intention of trading him after the kyrie deal for whatever they had been offered, which is why they wanted some real players back. but then the suns new owner took over the team and made the nets an offer they couldn’t refuse. i mean i think if the suns had made this offer in the summer the nets would’ve done the deal, so we have to presume this wasn’t on the table until very recently, prob like an hour before the trade was announced by woj

yep that seems otm

xp lineup flexibility and not having to play guys who suck or are true one-way players big minutes, those are the minutes that kill you in a close series.

the fact that this didn’t leak at all and dropped as a woj bomb as a fully completed trade makes me think it came together very quickly

Nets still $17M in tax with no reason to stay in it. Can they drop off the contracts of Crowder and Seth Curry by 3pm to get under tax line?

(Also, once more with feeling: Why didn't they stretch Jevon Carter's money?)

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) February 9, 2023

the post front office hollinger is funny

xp lineup flexibility and not having to play guys who suck or are true one-way players big minutes, those are the minutes that kill you in a close series.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:42 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

true

won't someone think of joe tsai's wallet???

i appreciate the perspective but you can tell that this stuff is hardwired into his brain now and guaranteed to drive him crazy lol

the west is crazy now no truly sound teams but a ton of talent playoffs should be wild

i’m laughing at the idea of jae crowder showing up to this weird placeholder nets team full of guys who thought they’d be playing meaningful playoff games all energized like “sup guys?” getting up 150 shots before practice while everyone else just jogs around aimlessly

on paper the griz are strongest due to their ability to play both offense and defense but idk theyve been inconsistent so far, nugs are rolling but the defense is suspect, dubs still have their guys, bunch of other teams have guys too

the nets still have a pretty good shot at the playoffs - they're 32-22 lol

lol oh you were mad about the logjam behind cam johnson? now you can enjoy the logjam behind these 7 other better wings

(plus still cam johnson)

yeah nets gotta have some more trades coming

yeah blowing up a .600 team is pretty wild but im glad they did it

It’s fun

i respect it

seems pretty clear tsai was just done with those guys will be interesting to see if they try to home grow a team this time

tbh I thought the Nets post-Kyrie still looked pretty good. at least good enough to make the 2nd round. idk what they're doing now but somehow I think being on this total dumpster fire of a team may be good for Simmons. no one's gonna expect shit outta him now

bunch of shameless laker water carrying short on details coming out now, athletic article form yesterday said the situation was untenable and thats all its said what was untenable about the situation who knows it was something tho

"I would almost say that if Russell Westbrook was not traded yesterday, that there was a decent chance that the Lakers would have sent him home... I think you will see a bounce from this team once Westbrook is gone."

🗣️ Brian Windhorstpic.twitter.com/jAqQ7LLFSw

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 9, 2023