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

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

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

i don't think the old klay is coming back

i was shocked last year that he made himself halfway decent but it wouldn’t shock me if he was just actually done now

he was incredible the last three months and when steph/wiggins missed time. he just completely fell apart in the lakers series and hasnt regained anything.

last three months of last season*

he wasn’t really that involved w/ the ball much but i was impressed with cason wallace for OKC last night. totally looks like a guy who has been in the NBA for 5-6 years. feel like there’s a lot of jrue holiday vibes there in terms of his size/body type & skillset

I think Klay is playing 4D chess by lowering his market value and making it easier for the Warriors to re-sign him.

i think old klay will come back, but only for brief cameo appearances

not a great start to the season for brad

INJURY UPDATE: The Phoenix Suns today announced that guard Bradley Beal will be out and re-evaluated in three weeks as he continues to rehab a low back strain. This timeline was determined following further evaluation and consultation on his injury.

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) November 17, 2023

i'm still thinking about how rudy gobert said he went into the warriors game knowing draymond was going to be acting like an ass because he tries to get ejected when steph isn't playing & then people looked for statistical evidence of this claim and found that it was overwhelmingly true

i'm not sure there is a funnier sequence of events to me than

rudy gobert seeing steph isn't playing and realizing draymond is gonna be on some fuck shit -> draymond immediately trying to choke gobert out before the score even gets to 1-0 -> rudy calling out draymond for being a baby when his boy isn't on the floor -> everyone looking up the stats and being like "wait, that is actually true". it's just perfect i don't know what else to say

it’s still hasn’t totally hit me how fight broke out 90 seconds into a november school night game

they did play each other the game before had something to do with it prob

And dray and ant were chirping heavily that game

a game in which dray tried and failed to get under ants skin and came off looking like as gobert would say "a clown"

lol xp

yeah the wolves are winning the battle vs dray very clearly.

he went to the well one too many times

he forgot he was 33 and that the 22 year old super athlete was going to cook him repeatedly