2021-22 NBA "REGULAR" SEASON THREAD

getting there. two years ago he averaged 34 ppg, kinda hard to sustain that. obv going to teams where he wasnt the #1 guy was gonna impact his production, but his shooting efficiency has taken a noticeable turn:

career: .442/.362, TS .610
this year: .410/.333, TS .583

he's past his peak, but not his expiration date

that seems accurate. should be good enough to be the running mate of embiid. SHOULD be.

seems inevitable that hes going to have some games in the playoffs that make sixers fans very mad

its not like he has an extensive history of underperforming in the postseason or philly of excoriating athletes who dont live up to expectations, he should be fine

seems inevitable that hes going to have some games in the playoffs that make sixers fans very mad

― lag∞n, Saturday, April 9, 2022 4:50 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

just like every other franchise he's been on.

dece number of points

Memphis just became the fourth team in NBA history to score 55 points in a quarter.

- Suns (57, 2Q, 11/10/90)
- Warriors (57, 3Q, 3/4/89)
- Braves (58, 4Q, 10/20/72)

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 9, 2022

harden sure has a history of playoff issues but the thing we must consider is hes worse now

harden is not unlike russ in that he only knows one way to play and that doesnt work when they arent the best player on their team and everything is built around them and their strengths. plus hes out of shape and has lost a step maybe cos the hammy

hes really not getting separation on his drives like he used to

harden also just seems to care less about basketball than he did a few years ago, just doesn't have the oomph on the court, which yeah, could be bc of injuries and conditioning piling up on him

being around kyrie will make you look at the world different

https://sneakernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/nike-kyrie-7-pre-heat-black-teal-9.jpg

broo

maybe they make the east finals or whatever and this is all moot but if the playoffs go south for philly — i.e. they lose in round 1 or lose to miami in 5 or 6 in round 2 — i’ll be really curious what happens with the harden contract. the vibes are already off at least w the fanbase but it feels like he & philly are stuck with each other for various reasons, and if he demands the full 5 year max i’m not sure how daryl would be able to say no to that. is there any chance harden is like “yeah me signing this contract would obviously be a disaster in waiting for this franchise based on my recent play and age, i agree to some sort of discount”? just seems highly unlikely to me, in which case if they don’t win a title or come extremely close in the following two seasons then the trade is just an outright disaster, potential embiid career killer bcuz the last three years of that deal… i just don’t see how it’s positive at all for the team who signs it. i would respect daryl if he walked away from harden and he was just like “yeah actually i screwed up that trade but i’m not tying an anvil to this franchise” but again that seems highly unlikely too, he & harden just seem too close on a personal level

and they gave up too much like whats their team without harden

i think they would have some cap space if they let him walk bcuz they would’ve cleared simmons out but i don’t even remember who’s a free agent this summer

speaking of are the celtics going to lose on purpose to get the 4 seed and avoid milwaukee in round 2 or are they gonna play their guys vs memphis? is there any reason for memphis to play their guys? does philly try and tank their way into the 4 seed too? i can’t get a read on this

boston has the tie breaker against philly so if philly want the 4th spot its theirs... except that would mean playing toronto where thybulle cant play cause hes not vaccinated so maybe theyre aiming for 3 and the celtics can tank for 4 which would be my choice, also they have the tiebreaker against the bucks who are resting tomorrow so it seems like the celtics could have the 2 seed if they want it

you know ironically philly's problem here may be that they stopped ......... trusting the process

much to think about

the really interesting thing about harden is that his discontent feelings about his various teams have conveniently mirrored his decline as a player. so now two teams have talked themselves into being his change of scenery, but the signs of the real decline have been there the entire time imo.

i think they trusted the process too much. one thing i’ll give morey credit for is being willing to trade simmons even before he melted down in the playoffs, of course the guy he wanted to trade him for was harden so i’m not sure if they’re in a much different place one way or another. but he at least didn’t treat simmons and embiid as some untouchable duo that was going to be the nucleus of a multi time championship team

what you're talking about is a low bar honestly but i may be on the extremist end of people who don't like simmons very much

there were plenty of ppl who said they wouldn’t fit together but also plenty of ppl who argued that they would. i’m pretty sure sixers fans really bristled at those accusations and would point to the offensive and defensive ratings when the two were on the court together etc to show that it would work. so i do give him credit for actually trying to make a move with simmons when he was at something close to his peak value, he just didn’t want to trade as much as the nets (justified). obv i think he screwed everything up after that

pretty funny that even tho he was ahead of the curve on trading simmons he was trying to do the same deal that he did a year later

lol lets do this

Reports that Ben Simmons could return during first round of playoffs https://t.co/ug6WZ9UPjQ

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) April 10, 2022

Strange final day. All 30 teams play today, but the few 'meaningful' games are ones where neither team really wants to win.

Simmons must play or this season will not complete the true cycle

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQA91uGXsAIlKA8?format=jpg&name=medium

I forget does play-in warrant an ‘offs thread?

play-in is the start of the offs imo

the Meta Quest NBA Play-In Tournament

quest = playoffs, meta means beyond should really be whatever the ancient greek word for before is

proteros quest

just googled what meta quest the first result was their twitter which i had already blocked lol, its some virtual reality shit

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6198f91a5cae080ff837d998/18f34255-3e4f-4ad8-b50c-01648adcf2a3/metaquest+logo+sugg.png?format=1500w

https://www.meta-quest.co

Earn rewards by killing monsters and competing in tournaments against other players.

We are a team of well known developers and game creators in the crypto gaming industry and our goal is to create value for the players and our holders. The crypto gaming industry is in need of progress in this regard and we have filled the void with MetaQuest.

i'm sure this is a different metaquest but also this feels right

play-in is the start of the offs imo

whether its vr or crypto either way just great stuff

i'm jumping on both right now because as i see it both are the future of basketball (and, perhaps, life?)

i meant in terms of when to make the playoffs thread, i agree that its not really the offs

officially it’s this weird netherworld where the stats don’t even count. but to me the playoffs is where there are 8 teams… the play in teams are trying to get there
― J0rdan S., Sunday, April 10, 2022 6:58 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is correct

tatum had a 50 point game in the playins last year thats basically off the books

forgot about taht

TNT is running a john konchar triple double watch stat box. gotta love the last game of the season.

lol im watching the celtics broadcast and scal was just reading the stat sheet and was like oh wow john konchar triple double watch

oh he got it! nice.

anti vax hippie category

Thybulle: “This was a decision i made a long time ago…I was raised in a holistic household, anti vax is not a term that was ever used…we grew up with Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors.” Says he has had to reconsider and look at situation differently

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 11, 2022

does any other coach talk more shit about his own players

Doc Rivers on Paul Reed potentially getting the backup center minutes in the playoffs: “We’re not going on a Paul Reed victory tour. We’re trying to win a world championship, man.”

— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) April 11, 2022

xp ah apparently his mom was some kind of new age doctor