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

Embiid is playing better than he was in his MVP season but yeah kinda want to see how he does vs. good teams

no i think giannis and dame are both better than embiid. i think milwaukee would have the two best players in that series.

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, December 28, 2023 3:52 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this uh extremely debatable to say the least, worth noting that dame is the primary cause of the bucks defense problems

yeah but i also know that by the fourth quarter he will still be running up the floor at the same speed as the first quarter and that his brain won’t be leaking out of his ears

look if a clairvoyant told me that a bucks-sixers series took place and the deciding factor was that the sixers coach was >>>>>>> the bucks coach i’d be like, yup. so that part i can’t & won’t debate. but the nuggets just won the title with basically 6 players and when you start looking at each roster thru that prism i like the bucks a lot more

im gonna need to see the bucks play good before i start fantasy drafting them over the sixers

i would def not take middleton in the third round but regardless the bucks just cannot defend and they have the buyout market and whatever they can get for two second round picks to solve the problem, their coach also seems to be very bad, not feeling them

a draft scenario between two teams doesn’t actually accomplish the theoretical goal of ranking the rosters bcuz you start to get into fit issues and stuff. like in some scenarios i’d rather have middleton over maxey but not in others. but i can say with my first pick i would not be drafting off philly’s roster

dame over maxey is the only definitive advantage if youre gonna look at it that way imho, and its meaningful for sure, but i cant get past the bucks defense its just not playoff ready, its not impossible they get it to a good enough level but being at the point a third of the way through the season planning on making your defense good enough at some point in the future is not good, the bucks have been a very good defensive team for this giannis era it was their thing, even their offense is piling up points more based on talent than playing good, idk they dont look like a contender now, obvs a lot of season left, but the sixers do look like a contender

giannis > embiid is a definitive advantage to me but i’ve always been a giannis believer & an embiid playoff skeptic

i mean, the sixers have *always* looked like a contender. maybe enough has changed now!

we kinda had this discussion last year about their role players and how you don’t need to guard them on the perimeter and how embiid gets put in a straitjacket in the post because of that & then starts turning the ball over, falling all over the place, looking like he’s in the circus etc i don’t think much has changed about that despite the roster turnover. like is asking them to find one good role player shooter too much to ask?

im def very cognizant of embiids playoff failures, but i cant give full credit since giannis has had his problems in the offs too, bucks def have the crunch time advantage, but they gotta make it there first

sixers look the best they ever have this year imo, ive never been a believer in them, and im still not tbh, but i believe more in them now, and well see if they can put together a meaningful trade, no matter what they do al horford is still standing in their way

be curious to see if nurses system makes embiid a more consistent playoff player, seems like it could, theyre not just dumping him the ball and telling him to get buckets, getting nurse is huge for them, not just cause hes a good coach but also cause doc and brown were bad

i hope we get a bucks sixers second round matchup not just so we can have closure on the conversation but because also it would be a good series

then the vibes analysis, dame playing second banana in a rustbelt town instead of starring in miami, giannis openly threatening to leave, terry stotts walking out in the preseason, griffin an odd sideline presence

where philly is feeling the burden of harden lifted and its all clicking with maxey playing fast nurse making the right calls even harris is moving around

it’s going to be useful to see what embiid does in the playoffs now that he’s completely out of excuses. it could totally happen for him this year! many guys have gotten this deep into their careers before it happened for them. but it’s like the ultimate “i need to see it first” nba storyline for me.

this seems somewhat encouraging:

According to Cleaning The Glass, the Pistons have a +3.3 net rating in 313 possessions when Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren share the floor together.

— Jason Timpf (@_JasonLT) December 28, 2023

the thing with embiid and the playoffs, amongst other things, is that he just doesnt have the stamina to play his best basketball for big playoff minutes, which is obvs not what you want out of a league mvp, given that i think the nurse offense using him in more of a high post distributing role could be good for keeping him fresh, instead of just playing bully ball he can pass and relocate, its also good for keeping the offense flowing in general so the other team as more to worry about than when to double embiid

I'd be curious to see stats on how much he's getting to the line in the playoffs (which he is doing to an absurd degree in the regular season) given that the conventional wisdom is that the refs get stingier with fouls in the post season, seems like that could be a factor

ranking embiids playoff issues

1 stamina
2 psychology
3 playoff officiating

haha xp

foul merchants generally dont perform as well with playoff whistle, dame also has this issue

its some form of justice

first order of business is fire monty

would be so hilarious if they did fire him 5% of the way into the richest coaching contract in NBA history. that would have to be an unprecedented level of dysfunction not even seen in the NFL

I love Embiid and would love for it to happen for him and the Sixers, but I am in the "believe it when I see it" camp.

Bringing in a +starter (not necessarily a star) so that one of Batum/Melton is coming off the bench would make them so much better.

yeah they really should do that, would be surprised if they dont, unless morey already has some conflicting tampering scheme in place for the offseason

pistons 30 celtics 27 after 1, this could be the night

The nba needs this.

pritchard just grabbed a ft rebound and hit a 3 celtics are ahead now

pritchard just took three threes on one possession and missed them all

celtics are down 11

13

Is this there biggest lead of the season?

Their

idk tv guys didnt say anything

15

17

19

21

pistons 66
celtics 47
halftime

draftkings and fanduel must be popping off right now. just saying

I really hope they don’t blow this. These guys might never recover if they do.

yeah they seriously might actually not win again if they blow this one

celtics getting their fans re-primed to be let down in games of national importance you can never start too early

oh yeah totally

celtics are frauds

Bringing in a +starter (not necessarily a star) so that one of Batum/Melton is coming off the bench would make them so much better.

btw not sure i would endorse that path, i think i’ve come around on the idea that 3 stars is a dead end and what you really want is two stars and as many high level role players as possible

That's where I am at now. I like flexibility and tired of seeing the team crater when Embiid steps off the floor. The question might be whether Maxey is good enough as a #2.

yeah if you go for three stars you better nail it cause youre completely locked in

pistons 72
celtics 62