2023/24 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "THANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

al horford decline watch - looking pretty spry tonight!

love that als not playing many minutes most nights, keeps him ready to go

pretty funny how much he loves beating embiid, i love it too

the Dame-led offense looks pretty good in Milwaukee, wonder if Griff just hasn't figured out how to use him and Giannis together

gotta be a huge adjustment for giannis hes basically had everything running through him his whole career

and his best play with dame is the pick and roll which is kinda grunt stuff

suspect theyll figure it out sooner than later, rest of the team is a bigger question imo, tho if dame-giannis gets rolling that makes everything easier for everyone

gotta be a huge adjustment for giannis hes basically had everything running through him his whole career

― lag∞n, Wednesday, November 15, 2023 9:18 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think Dame as well he seems to be going through this thing where he's maybe getting different types of open looks and doesn't quite know yet where everyone's gonna be, so he's turning the ball over a lot. but yea if they can figure that out and Middleton starts hitting 3s like he used to this team is gonna be trouble

yeah the trade happening right before the season started didnt help with all that either

the gap between gobert era t wolves seasons 1 and 2 may be instructive here. not to wet blanket the bucks. but there’s been a drastic difference there

rookie coach too

on the hoop collective today they made a good point that both dame and giannis are used to being at the front end of the pick and roll, it's reasonable to expect them to need time to adjust to that. whether they actually have time, the right coach, or a willingness to adjust is tbd of course.

what would draymond's career have been like had he been taken one pick earlier (cavs, traded to mavs) or later (kings, traded to pacers)

P.J. Tucker

suns shot 60/55/93 against the famous wolves defense last night

the knicks have finally vanquished their enemy, the atlanta hawks

is trae young valid

a:no

i liked that the knicks-hawks game finished 116-114 and moved both teams' records to 6-5. spiritually they are already facing off in the play in game

i think the knicks are good enough to avoid the play in tbh

suns are better when devin booker is playing #analysis

currently one third of the league is either 6-5 6-6 or 5-6, its a tight race

i said spiritually...

spiritually... bingbong

missed that the nuggs lost to the rockets on sunday whats going on with the rockets theyre winning games now, weird

FVV and Dillon are serious vets and they got a serious coach. And they got Jalen Green and Jabari Smith doing less. And they’re running things through their best player Sengun.

seems like there must be some unsustainable stuff happening like dillion brooks cannot continue to shoot 55/53/84 and a team with sengun at center cant be a top five defense but maybe theyll be ok instead of the bad everyone though, but idk i dont trust it

They’re playing above their weight for sure. But they’ll likely be in the playoff mix, which is more than anyone thought they be.

https://twitter.com/muggsybogues/status/1725188286673519003?s=46&t=mohDpDAFl5F45rFjzYedvA

idk sengun is real but they have a lot of inefficient shooting around him once brooks returns to earth

can easily imagine them suddenly losing 5 in a row off of struggling to score and staying in the bottom half of the conference after that

yes that seems likely

makes sense, not sure why the cops would leak that story about not being able to find footage other than the fact that theyre cops

Okay, the Oubre timeline I’m seeing:
1. Gets sideswiped by a car while on a bike
2. Tries to walk it off because he’s dumb and 27
3. Gets home, his wife tells him to go the hospital, finds out he actually broke a rib
4. Gets asked where the accident happened, can’t remember pic.twitter.com/xmSD28HasN

— Frankie Bacon and the Screaming Popes (@PanasonicDX4500) November 16, 2023

the hawks were on the end of a back-to-back but trae has not been himself this year to say the least with his shooting. the floater is gone for some reason. he did have like 16 assist

career 34.9% from three hes at 28% right now but for a guy who has a reputation as an elite shooter hes really nowhere near it

he's actually taking more threes as a percentage of shots than he has in the last 4 seasons, and shooting worse than he ever has. he's trying to fix the issue by pushing even further into the red and it's just not working

he still has many years left of being able to blow by guys, make floaters, get fouled, etc but what is he ultimately if he is a bad three pointer

yes, but one of the best passers in the game

i know he was always billed as the next steph but it never made sense

yes that too xp

i actually have a theory that his slow start last year and this year is due to working out with steph in the offseason and steph just completely breaking him

haha

everyone wants to be new steph when its doing sick dribbles and taking a 30 footer, no one wants to be new steph when its running around a bunch without the ball and taking a 30 footer

(and playing defense)

the most unpleasant part of all

gotta push back a little bit on that. while he's still the same size his effort and smarts on the defensive end has improved. i'm sure someone could look at stats, i can never figure that shit out

hesitant to post r*nger content but i like kyle mann and these rookie write ups are nice and thorough (if a bit annoying from a prose perspective), w/ clips attached. i liked this section on scoot

https://nbarankings.theringer.com/rookie-rankings

ANALYSIS
Scoot’s offensive game is like a tangled ball of Christmas lights right now. We’d all love to see it wrapped around Portland’s scheme so that it could beam festive light on everyone, but some things need to be straightened out before that can happen.

A heavy dependence on dribble pull-ups was one of my chief worries about Scoot before the draft. It’s difficult to be efficient enough to justify those shots at volume, especially for someone of his size. Those shots have not only tapered off in the NBA, but they’ve been removed entirely, like someone pulled the chair on his play style. In their absence, we’ve been left with a shot chart imbalance that’s leaning away from rim pressure, in the direction of perimeter attempts. Neither has gone particularly well.

Henderson was brutal from 3 in Year 1 with the G League Ignite (22.2 percent on 45 attempts, most of which were catch-and-shoot opportunities), and he was only slightly better in Year 2 (28.6 percent on 49 attempts), when more of those shots were self-created. He’s somehow been even worse through five games in Portland (9.5 percent on 21 attempts). To hit his ceiling, he’ll have to take (and make) some of those shots. But until he starts seeing some of them go down, he’ll have to be more careful with his choices.

Development can often come down to discernment—knowing when an option is available not out of happenstance, but because it’s what the defense prefers. And there are plays in which Scoot is obviously hunting a pull-up 3 because the defense is offering it to him on a platter. We’ve seen flashes of his powerful, balletic trips to the rim, and whenever he opts out of seizing those moments, defenders are thinking, Thank God. This is also putting a strain on his ability to make more advanced reads and place passes.

Henderson’s defensive effort also needs improvement. His hand activity on the ball cannot be ho-hum, he can’t have sauntering closeouts where he looks like someone in a crosswalk speeding up just enough to beat the flashing light, and he has to run hard in transition and navigate screens better. His resting heartbeat on that side of the floor just has to be higher.

It’s normal for lead guards to drive on the rumble strip upon entering the league. This whole season could be like that for Scoot, especially if a recent ankle sprain continues to impede his progress. Based on what (I think) I know about him, he’ll get the car back between the lines and play quality basketball.

I’ve seen two really nice, high-difficulty passes from duncan robinson in the past 5 mins, is he evolving?

call him james neutron now

you can check out my heat bløg for a post on duncan looking better than ever w/ added elements to his game

if steph has to miss any extended period of time the warriors will miss the playoffs right?

sick no look pass by cp3 at the end of the half there