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

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

devin booker, hes tired out at the end from getting too many buckets lol

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

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

― lag∞n, Sunday, January 7, 2024 4:45 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

agree w this, shai is a #1 guy and chet seems like hes going to be too, they can instead use all their assets to fill out their rotation with good complementary players and then win the nba playoffs 3 years in a row

I agree with jordan and lagoon about the thunder, they’re so far ahead of schedule that making a big move might do more harm than good. tho if they can make a small move to fortify the bench that might not be a bad idea

idk championship windows can be fleeting, if there is a move they can make to go to the next level they should just do it

right now they have hella rookie scale contracts and can easily make cap room

I think the Bertans for Capela idea makes a lot of sense

im sure if they could get a star who was a really good fit theyd do it, but theyve even said that they feel like theyre still in the information gathering phase, careful of making a big move cause they dont know enough about their team, which makes sense two of their top three have less than two years in the league combined, and then also going full contender mode with such young guys could be dicey too, thats why i think the nugs dont have much to fear from them theyre just so young

but adding someone like lauri markkanen, as has been rumored, who is a questionable fit isnt that great and will cost a lot is a pass at this point imo, where later if youre just looking for that last piece it might make more sense

gobert just got his point blank dunk spiked lol thats the stuff

how good is lauri actually that is what i want to know

yeah its unclear

i dont like trampoline dunk teams does every team need one its dumb yeah wow u dunked you jumped off a bouncy thing and landed on a mat thats not game legal

they all have bad nicknames the pa is all here comes f wiz sky jimmy and also the mascot to do some fake dunks

wow man that’s next level hating

people are out here jumping on trampolines and dunking trying to earn a living

grab a broom you know plenty to do around here

rj barrett is going the bell off

*hell

rough closing posessions by the suns big three

suns with all their guys losing at home to the griz without ja, they suck man

kd took 23 shots and only one of them was a three, he shot one ft, beal also took one three, booker took six, you cant win this way

i dont understand why such good shooters dont want to take threes, most players love to take threes

grizzlies took 21 more threes than the suns

that’s a lot more threes

correct

Curry’s consistency is really starting to slip. No threes again tonight and just got absolutely bullied on defense

you hate to see it

mavs beat a fully healthy t wolves team last night with kyrie & luka scoring 69 points on 26-43 from the field and 11-20 from three. when it works it works!

wolves offensive deficiencies really showed down the stretch of that game, they scored two points in the last 3:30 and even that was after it was hopeless, meanwhile the mavs have two guys who can get shots up, pretty rough game overall tho, at least the part i watched

west playoff race is already looking nuts. the margin separating a top 3 seed from the play in is gonna be minuscule

wolves offensive deficiencies really showed down the stretch of that game, they scored two points in the last 3:30 and even that was after it was hopeless, meanwhile the mavs have two guys who can get shots up, pretty rough game overall tho, at least the part i watched

(in the playoffs, i mean)

gobert calling for the ball in the post while his teammates ignore him is the most annoying running joke in the nba, why doesnt he just stop

18 points from conley and gobert in 66 combined minutes is def reminiscent of those final few jazz teams where those guys just provided no juice at all on offense
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Monday, January 8, 2024 11:25 AM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

mcdaniels two points in 37 mins, slowmo 4 points in 20mins

also this situation where three of their top four guys are bigs really needs to be sorted, you have to be able to play all your best players at the same time on a basketball team

btw watching the celtics this year has made it so when im watching other teams and a player has a somewhat open three that they just dont shoot immediately im like what are they doing what is going on here, lol

people have been quick to reappraise the gobert trade but i still think its bad

The Bucks have had a rough week or so. They got smacked around by Indiana twice as the Pacers (20-15) showed they don’t fear Milwaukee at all. Then, the Bucks barely beat the Spurs (5-30) while providing a highlight reel for Victor Wembanyama. And, after their 112-108 loss Saturday night in Houston (18-16), Giannis Antetokounmpo decided to call out everybody on the team:

“We have to be better. We have to play better. We have to defend better. We have to trust one another better. We have to be coached better. Every single thing, everybody has to be better. Everybody. It starts from the equipment manager. He has to wash our clothes better. The bench has to be better. The leaders of the team have to be more vocal.

“We have to make more shots. We have to defend better. We have to have better strategy. We have to be better… We have four months to get better, so let’s see.”

dont let that equipment manager get away with anything stay on him

I mean, I think KAT and Rudy are just disliked so much that it colors perceptions, to me the whole key to the problem is Jaden's lack of offensive production, they are banking on him being a two way player and he's not been that so far.

that and we need another shooter

the problems with rudy imo are wolves gave up and are paying a ton for a guy whos a zero on offense thats the main thing you cant treat a defensive specialist like a superstar hes just not one, and then also theyve got a logjam in the front court

yeah he has to be your 3rd star if you consider him a star

which i guess he is there but they need one of their first 2 stars to not be kat then