2023-24 NBA Season Thread

[PKIPP]

Originally Posted by oldgoldy97

Wolves win.

Hmmmm

Loving their success man. Mike Conley is so underrated


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[Ferg1945]

Originally Posted by Ferg1945

The Mavs are aware that this isn't how you win playoff games..... right?

I've seen way too many box scores in Mavs games that look very similar to this. Oh cool... Luka and Kyrie can score.... what about the others? When 75% of the team is taking less than 4 shots by mid way through the 4th... the good playoff teams will force the ball out of Luka and Kyries hand and those guys who take 2-5 shots will be forced to take shots. If they aren't taking shots now... how do you think those shots are gonna do in the playoffs?



3 guys have taken 73% of the shots in this game. Winning Formula!!!

This was 2 days ago.

Tonight... those same 3 players took 71% of the overall shots by the team.

That works great in the regular season... that doesn't work so well in the post season. Do the Mavs and Jason Kidd know that? Or we just doing a Luka/Kyrie show and dont worry about the playoffs?

[NeedChapmans]

I love early-season NBA hope.

The Cavs are going to be scary
Possible WCF preview with OKC and Minnesota
The Hardaway / Doncic / Irving triplicate will work well in the regular season
Bam is Alonzo Mouring 2.0

It's really a shame that all of these have to be crushed at some point. The NBA should figure out a way to allow everyone to win so that all 30 team fanbases stay this engaged thru June.

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

I love early-season NBA hope.

The Cavs are going to be scary
Possible WCF preview with OKC and Minnesota
The Hardaway / Doncic / Irving triplicate will work well in the regular season
Bam is Alonzo Mouring 2.0

It's really a shame that all of these have to be crushed at some point. The NBA should figure out a way to allow everyone to win so that all 30 team fanbases stay this engaged thru June.

Bubble Alpaca's hammy doesn't make it to April and all bets are off.




Don't overprognosticate it.






(I do not think any of the 4 are necessarily likely, btw)

[Ferg1945]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

I love early-season NBA hope.

The Cavs are going to be scary
Possible WCF preview with OKC and Minnesota
The Hardaway / Doncic / Irving triplicate will work well in the regular season
Bam is Alonzo Mouring 2.0

It's really a shame that all of these have to be crushed at some point. The NBA should figure out a way to allow everyone to win so that all 30 team fanbases stay this engaged thru June.

This seems like a yearly occurrence.

I swear I see games and recaps where Bam plays like a top 5 player in the NBA...but come playoffs... he's 15 and 8

[PKIPP]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

I love early-season NBA hope.

The Cavs are going to be scary
Possible WCF preview with OKC and Minnesota
The Hardaway / Doncic / Irving triplicate will work well in the regular season
Bam is Alonzo Mouring 2.0

It's really a shame that all of these have to be crushed at some point. The NBA should figure out a way to allow everyone to win so that all 30 team fanbases stay this engaged thru June.

@ me next time champ


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[ninjacookies]

Pels and Fakers in.


Warriors and Denverites out.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by NeedChapmans

I love early-season NBA hope.

The Cavs are going to be scary

I’m gonna go ahead and squash this one right here. There’s nothing scary about the Cavs. They’re a play in team at best.

JB is a terrible coach. They barely beat bad teams running 8 man rotations.

I’m really tired of Donovan Mitchell to be honest. His brand of iso ball is either dropping 50 or bricking shots for the entire 4th quarter in a loss. He’s not good enough to be the best player on a contender. They need to trade him for whatever they can get. I was hopeful based on last season that he could be a different player than he was in Utah but that’s clearly not the case.

This is the least interesting the Cavs have been since Brons last season here

[Nomad]

At least he prays a lot at the line.

[tjforce]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

I’m gonna go ahead and squash this one right here. There’s nothing scary about the Cavs. They’re a play in team at best.

JB is a terrible coach. They barely beat bad teams running 8 man rotations.

I’m really tired of Donovan Mitchell to be honest. His brand of iso ball is either dropping 50 or bricking shots for the entire 4th quarter in a loss. He’s not good enough to be the best player on a contender. They need to trade him for whatever they can get. I was hopeful based on last season that he could be a different player than he was in Utah but that’s clearly not the case.

This is the least interesting the Cavs have been since Brons last season here

Mitchell is the same player he was last year: feasts on bad teams, struggles vs good.... never takes his foot off the gas.

Take his last 7 games: Only twice has shot over 35%. Those games were against Atlanta and Portland. He's been the team's leading shot taker in every game he's played this year.

The upside: Mobley is showing signs of across the board improvement this year (other than 3 pt shooting, but we honestly don't need him to be great at it). Allen is playing well again. Garland is scoring much better close to the basket and the offense moves well when he runs it. Strus is the shooting guard we were looking for. When Mitchell does have a good night, it can be really good.

The biggest risk in any given game is that Mitchell is such a high volume, streaky shooter. If he could ever figure out how to be effective while not shooting the ball on nights the shot isn't going down, then this team could be pretty tough.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by tjforce

Mitchell is the same player he was last year: feasts on bad teams, struggles vs good.... never takes his foot off the gas.

Take his last 7 games: Only twice has shot over 35%. Those games were against Atlanta and Portland. He's been the team's leading shot taker in every game he's played this year.

The upside: Mobley is showing signs of across the board improvement this year (other than 3 pt shooting, but we honestly don't need him to be great at it). Allen is playing well again. Garland is scoring much better close to the basket and the offense moves well when he runs it. Strus is the shooting guard we were looking for. When Mitchell does have a good night, it can be really good.

The biggest risk in any given game is that Mitchell is such a high volume, streaky shooter. If he could ever figure out how to be effective while not shooting the ball on nights the shot isn't going down, then this team could be pretty tough.

My main issue is that he's useless off ball, he does pretty much nothing. It's always been that way too. When he's off, he's WAY off and he just doesn't stop firing

I agree that if he can figure out how to play and move off ball the Cavs can be interesting (as long as they fire JB) but with the combination of JB at coach and Mitchell being a ball dominator I don't really see anything interesting in terms of post season success

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

My main issue is that he's useless off ball, he does pretty much nothing. It's always been that way too. When he's off, he's WAY off and he just doesn't stop firing

I agree that if he can figure out how to play and move off ball the Cavs can be interesting (as long as they fire JB) but with the combination of JB at coach and Mitchell being a ball dominator I don't really see anything interesting in terms of post season success

The problem is that, without Spyda, the Cavs lack a 1a. Every championship squad spanning the course of the last decade+ has been represented by an MVP-caliber player with a strong supporting cast.

If we're talking solely about the EC representative, then Miami's the sole outlier. And even they got worked in the finals, despite having arguably the best foundational system around and one of the top postseason 2-way wings.

The Cavs are in the same boat most other squads are in. Who's going to be that elite piece that puts them over the top? While DGar and Mobley are certainly very good, I would not bet on either one carrying them through a 7 game series in april.

Far too much equal and superior competing talent out there these days.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

The problem is that, without Spyda, the Cavs lack a 1a. Every championship squad spanning the course of the last decade+ has been represented by an MVP-caliber player with a strong supporting cast.

If we're talking solely about the EC representative, then Miami's the sole outlier. And even they got worked in the finals, despite having arguably the best foundational system around and one of the top postseason 2-way wings.

The Cavs are in the same boat most other squads are in. Who's going to be that elite piece that puts them over the top? While DGar and Mobley are certainly very good, I would not bet on either one carrying them through a 7 game series in april.

Far too much equal and superior competing talent out there these days.

I agree but most 1a players are ball handling wings. How many volume shooting guards across history have been 1a on a title squad? Kobe is like it and he was a solid defender.

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

I agree but most 1a players are ball handling wings. How many volume shooting guards across history have been 1a on a title squad? Kobe is like it and he was a solid defender.

Steph was/is uh...kinda good lol.


But yeah...greatest shooter/offensive gravity and best off-ball movement of all time kinda counts.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Steph was/is uh...kinda good lol.


But yeah...greatest shooter/offensive gravity and best off-ball movement of all time kinda counts.

I don’t really consider Steph a volume shooter tbh

The last guy to make the finals not named Kobe was probably AI and that was an all time feat, dragging that team to the finals

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

I don’t really consider Steph a volume shooter tbh

The last guy to make the finals not named Kobe was probably AI and that was an all time feat, dragging that team to the finals

Steph averages 18 shots and 9 3's a game for his career. He's the antithesis of a wing too because he's not elite defensively, and will never be assigned to guard the opposing team's best player. But massive asterisk there because he's the best beyond the arc to ever do it. There's no real comparison, he's the sole outlier at the position.

Correct, AI was probably the last one. I wasn't referring to Cleveland needing a 1a guard. Just a 1a in general to move the needle. Both conferences are oversaturated with talent now. You really need that 1a to distance yourselves from the pack. Cleveland faces the same dilemma that majority of the league does. There's only a small finite supply of superstars able to carry squads, and most are locked for a stretch.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Steph averages 18 shots and 9 3's a game for his career. He's the antithesis of a wing too because he's not elite defensively, and will never be assigned to guard the opposing team's best player. But massive asterisk there because he's the best beyond the arc to ever do it. There's no real comparison, he's the sole outlier at the position.

Correct, AI was probably the last one. I wasn't referring to Cleveland needing a 1a guard. Just a 1a in general to move the needle. Both conferences are oversaturated with talent now. You really need that 1a to distance yourselves from the pack. Cleveland faces the same dilemma that majority of the league does. There's only a small finite supply of superstars able to carry squads, and most are locked for a stretch.

I agree and that was my hope for Mobleys development but I don’t see the offense realistically getting there.


I guess I was mostly trying to say I don’t think a guard can be a 1a in todays (or maybe ever?) NBA. Without being an insane outlier a la Steph.

Wings and bigs run the league. Same as it ever was

[jcardstore]

I take that back. If we go back to 2000s hero ball, the grossest era in NBA history, a guard might be a 1a in that case

[ninjacookies]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Wings and bigs run the league. Same as it ever was

Correct.

You basically have to have as close to a statistically perfect defensive scheme spanned out over the course of nearly 2 months AND a borderline 1a guy to front the offensive load when times to tough. Miami had this and still got trucked in the Finals.

That's the entire reason Cleveland made the trade, and squads like Milwaukee are willing to deal an all-nba caliber guy to acquire another borderline 1a. Because even a franchise MVP centerpiece like Yannis isn't enough to do it all himself despite having a pretty decent surrounding cast.

Mobley's a beast. But he's still in that JJJ category. The distance between him and a dude like Yoker is the same distance that exists between Scalabrine and every street dude that takes up his challenge.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by ninjacookies

Correct.

You basically have to have as close to a statistically perfect defensive scheme spanned out over the course of nearly 2 months AND a borderline 1a guy to front the offensive load when times to tough. Miami had this and still got trucked in the Finals.

That's the entire reason Cleveland made the trade, and squads like Milwaukee are willing to deal an all-nba caliber guy to acquire another borderline 1a. Because even a franchise MVP centerpiece like Yannis isn't enough to do it all himself despite having a pretty decent surrounding cast.

Mobley's a beast. But he's still in that JJJ category. The distance between him and a dude like Yoker is the same distance that exists between Scalabrine and every street dude that takes up his challenge.

Never forget the Scallenge

[Nomad]

Seeing Durant, Nurk, and Book work together is a thing of beauty. But Scottie Barnes.

And Schroeder, Drake heartily agrees.

[ninjacookies]

This is peak everything.


https://streamable.com/kn36ii

[oldgoldy97]

Too much deep basketball talk in the past few posts.


Let’s get this back in the cesspool.


Steph is a stupid dummy face.

[daeve]

15 trip dubs in the NBA so far this year, 7 are Joker.

32-10-15 masterclass tonight on that stout Houston defense.

[NeedChapmans]

Originally Posted by daeve

15 trip dubs in the NBA so far this year, 7 are Joker.

32-10-15 masterclass tonight on that stout Houston defense.

No turnovers. He's got the TOs down to a flat 3 per game which is his best since 2019 and if he can keep that going, the metrics would be off the charts by season end.