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

As things stand right now the only west conference teams with a chance to push the nuggets during the 'offs are the wolves and maybe OKC, though it would be pretty crazy if the nuggs duplicated their playoff run from last year. That run was incredible.

the only team that matches up decently w/ denver on paper is the t wolves and they're the t wolves. so like...

would like to see joker torture rudy for a series

okc should pick up a center imo, kind of a weird sitch tho cause playing chet at center most of the time is the right move but youd like a bigger guy for playing vs other big guys, but then youre gonna what get a starting quality center but not start him most of the time

they could definitely do with another bench big with a bit more size

i wouldnt be quite so bullish about the nuggets, the roster downgrade from last season is real. could be an issue if gordon forgets how to shoot again

i think i feel the opposite way. the roster downgrade amounts to bruce brown & jeff green and nothing that happened in the playoffs last year indicated that any team was the subtraction of bruce brown & jeff green away from beating them

okc has approximately one kazillion draft picks they could use as trade bait for a bench upgrade. i wonder if they'll use some of them this season before the deadline

https://i.imgur.com/kepemjP.png

if you don't have a big 4 who can guard aaron gordon in the post you can't beat denver but also if that 4 can't shoot or otherwise fucks your offense you can't beat them either. aka i don't think you can actually try and find a second center. not a lot of players out there who fit the bill

i think one of the hoop collective guys threw out olynyk as a potential option for OKC. i thought that made sense.

the guy they could look at if they really wanted to take a swing for a good long term piece is wendell carter jr, idk if the magic want to trade him but hes not starting for them right now due to injuries and bitadze playing good so maybe

someone like kelly o or capela would be more of a nice to have around guy

for okc i'm personally much more on the side of "let this denver era run its course" as opposed to turning over every rock in the league trying to beat them in the next year or two as ultimately i'd be stunned if any team in the west even got denver to 7 games let alone beat them

https://i.imgur.com/51xGdGx.png

i find it hard to look at nba history and then to watch the nuggets and feel like they aren't stamped for like 3 straight finals appearances at minimum but this is prob why i shouldn't be a GM among many reasons

def think OKC should trade giddey before other teams come to the realization that if you can't shoot or play defense you probably aren't long for playoff rotations in this day and age

the thing about okc is they have so many assets they can make moves and its not really a big deal

they're already very good they can probably bide their time and still make deep playoff runs

if they have to worry about anything it's just that they don't have a lot of room for experimenting w/ a new piece. they can get anyone they want but i do feel like they have to be pointed about it bcuz you're dropping a piece into a car that's already going 80 mph, can't just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks (excuse my mixed metaphors)

throwing a moving car at a wall def a bad idea

im a skeptic of okc going for another star imo shai-chet-jdub is already a great top three, but i do think they should get wendell carter jr

the nuggets are providing the NBA a great gift this season in not caring enough that people can have conversations about "west contenders" that carry enough of a veneer of plausibility that you don't immediately tune it out. but who are we kidding

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Sunday, January 7, 2024 3:35 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ll do a half-season post in the nuggets thread soon but while I want this to be true, and believe when it comes down to it it will be, the one thing that worries me just a little bit about the nuggets is their lack of frontcourt bench options. right now all the nuggets starters are playing great (they’re something like +18.2 per 100), and peyton watson has pretty much established himself as a playoff rotation piece as well. christian braun and reggie jackson look to be the other locks to get significant playoff playing time. but there’s no big that can be pencilled in right now — jeff green wasn’t good, but he was a guy who could eat 15 minutes in the playoffs. malone clearly doesn’t think either deandre jordan or zeke nnaji is that guy right now.

this is the only thing that worries me, and it’s reflected in the mediocre team rebounding numbers despite the size of their 5 best players

the only team that matches up decently w/ denver on paper is the t wolves and they're the t wolves. so like...

they have less injury insurance for sure. if any of their starters miss games in the playoffs they could be in trouble very quickly. if i were okc or any other contender i would be staying ready

i think that while it's true that brown & green were necessary options in scenarios where malone wanted to pull either gordon or MPJ off the floor, i don't think that any team in the west actually has the firepower to fully exploit that weakness in denver's roster this year. i also don't think it will be that hard for them to find a vet who can hold down 12 mins per game standing wide open for three on offense and banging a bit down low on defense

this years wolves/okc/celtics are all better than any team the nuggets faced in their title run

I think the dubs match up well
― infinite wiggles (Spottie), Sunday, January 7, 2024 4:56 PM (thirty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah tbf denver lucked out with the matchups last year didnt have to face any sick guards who are type of guys who torch them

except for booker i guess who went absolutely historically buck wild on them

shai steph fox could all cause them major problems tho okc is prob the only team thats good enough for it to really matter

oh ant too cant forget about that guy

shai steph fox could all cause them major problems tho okc is prob the only team thats good enough for it to really matter

― lag∞n, Sunday, January 7, 2024 5:02 PM (one minute ago)

the problem w/ this is that murray in the playoffs has proven to be as good as these guys so it's like ok cool you have a really good scoring guard but what else

nuggets would curb stomp this warriors team in a 7 game series imo

fwiw its not the wolves as a historical entity who i dont have faith in its rudy, but he was a one man defense in utah maybe the playoffs will work out better in minny now that hes playing with other guys who can guard, but with him mcdaniels and other offensive zeros in the mix i just dont think theyll be able to score enough

the problem w/ this is that murray in the playoffs has proven to be as good as these guys so it's like ok cool you have a really good scoring guard but what else

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Sunday, January 7, 2024 5:05 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i like murray a lot but if the other team has some ability to defend him and denver it turns out cant stop the other guy it could get dicey

well the problem isn't defending him it's defending the jokic/murray two man game and last year nobody was anywhere near close to solving that

fwiw its not the wolves as a historical entity who i dont have faith in its rudy

i for one would like to register my lack of faith in the wolves as a historical entity while employing karl anthony towns as a direct link to that history

the warriors title team where you had...

a. wiggins as an elite role player shooting like a good 3 and rebounding like a good 4
b. looney really contributing both next to and in place of draymond
c. otto porter & gp2 giving elite minutes as bench "bigs"
d. jordan poole coming off the bench w/ a little bit of scoring juice
e. one of the greatest guards of all time playing the best playoff basketball of his career

...could give this nuggets team a run. of course that team doesn't exist anymore. i don't see any other team in the west w/ the right mix of size, shooting, depth etc

murray has been really good, prob his best regular season yet. and as jordan said there’s really not a team that can stop the jokic-murray 2 man game, particularly in the playoffs where jokic is just going to realize he needs to score more and will prob do so easily. there’s no team that is going to beat the nuggets in jokic’s minutes — but in the 8-10 mins he needs to sit, there are some questions and, at least in the regular season, the nuggets have shown themselves very capable of losing those minutes badly. gordon did really well as the small ball 5 in those minutes last year in the offs, and maybe watson can slide in at the 4 in some of those mins too. but I do think the nuggs need to be looking to add a big for the stretch run

I do love jordan’s belief in the nuggs, I will allow it for now but I’m cautiously but respectfully monitoring for some intentional jinx scenarios…again respectfully

tbh feel like NBA history tells us that when you have a player as good as jokic w/ a team that has won a title and you can bring that entire team back for multiple seasons you're good for like 4 straight finals and that's even if you have an obvious rival in your own conference and they don't have anything close to that. the idea of them being threatened this year just feels like fantasy land to me

i would love to poke holes in the team that went on a 16-4 title run and then brought back their entire starting 5 but i'm having some trouble doing so

i do think the celtics can beat them btw that is a legitimate conversation to me, i just think we're gonna be sitting here on june 1 looking back at a western conference that was flattened by a steamroller

for sure, as constructed the celtics are far and away the leagues best team imo. we’ll see if their dudes can get up for an extended playoff run.

for the record I would not be thrilled about basically any of MIN, OKC, or GSW in a playoff series, but MIN is the one that gives nuggets fans the biggest pause. their first round series last year might have been the nuggets’ toughest of last year’s run, and they match up really wel overall

the degree to which a team like OKC beating a team like denver in a 7 game series would fly in the face of basically all of NBA history makes me feel like that one is not really the danger ppl seem to think it is, but maybe my imagination is limited

to me they are reminding me a lot of those early KD/russ/harden teams that made a run, I’ve got a lot of respect for what they’re doing out there. and I do think SGA is that dude, tho of course he’d be going up against jokic

Basically a whole roster of unproven dudes.

its tough for a new young team to go all the way and win a chip but i wouldnt rule okc out of winning any single playoff series

unproven dudes who are currently parked in the second seed, with only three teams in the league with better records. so, maybe they could be good.

to be clear as i said i think the nugs are overwhelming west faves, but defending star guards is an actual major problem for them, theyve just got no rim protection so if you have a great scorer who can consistently beat his man on perimeter youre in business, thats a jokic problem easily the biggest hole in his game, luckily for them the celtics dont have flame throwing guards, maybe itll be the year of derrick white finals mvp