2023-2024 NBA Thread

[Pendulous]

Jazz highlights never make it to the front page, so when they do, you know it's impressive https://streamable.com/m9b2y8

[ProphetFlume]

sexton scored 20 points in a row for the cavs across ot and double ot to spoil the nets' first game together.

[StillMcfuu]

Nets need to trade Kyrie to get depth and defense. Cavs look like they have a top 5 offense when matched against Nets. What are the Nets going to do when faced with an actual functioning offense

[xskarma]

Caris LeVert is one of the luckiest players in the NBA. Gets unexpectedly traded, they find an anomaly, it turns out on further inspection that it;s cancer, new team (Pacers) stands by him and gets him the care he needs, he gets surgery to remove it, which goes well. Indefinite recovery period, but he will be perfectly okay, where otherwise, who knows?

[Pendulous]

Jazz take the best record in the NBA with a back-to-back, embarrassing the Mavs without Donovan Mitchell or Derrick Favors. Jordan Clarkson is the easy sixth-man-of-the-year. Waiting for the fallout to start anytime.

[xskarma]

Unluckiest guy in the NBA might be Jimmy Butler. From last year's excellence in the Finals and dragging the Heat all the way there, to now having Covid and apparently having lost 12 pounds. If it's that bad, then his season might be over (and Miami's with it).

Hope he recovers soon.

[xskarma]

Jokic getting some mvp buzz. I get that his stats are there but here's my problem with giving MVP to a player like this: Anthony Davis torched Jokic in the playoffs a couple months ago. If they played again this year, we have every reason to suspect he'd do it again.

I have a hard time calling a player the "MVP" because he dominates the regular season against less talented teams when we know there are a couple players (Davis, Giannis, probably Embiid) who are just more physically dominant and would likely crush him in the playoffs.

Slippery slope. Should we then just give the award to the most dominant physical player every year? No. It's a regular season award, for excellence during the running season. If Jokic puts up amazing stats and a better season than anyone else and the Nuggets get a high seed in the playoffs, then they need to give it to him, regardless of how he personally, physically stacks up against Davis et al.

And I'd argue the same is true for Embiid. If he has an amazing regular season, they need to give it to him, regardless of him potentially flaming out again in the playoffs. The same thing happened to Harden and Westbrook. Great during the season, not so great in the playoffs.

(and the same thing was true in the NFL as well, with Peyton Manning getting like 5 MVP's but almost always struggeling in the post season. It's a regular season award. The best player in the NBA playoffs typically gets the Finals MVP, that's their reward and much sweeter than any regular season MVP)

[xskarma]

Gahhhhhhh. Celtics had the Lakers right where they wanted them, had a shot for the win + a rebound put back for the win and missed both.

And that's not mentioning that the Celtics scored in their own net not once but TWICE this game, which would have saved 4 points when we lost by 1.

And to the fucking Lakers. Bah.

[StillMcfuu]

Gahhhhhhh. Celtics had the Lakers right where they wanted them, had a shot for the win + a rebound put back for the win and missed both.

And that's not mentioning that the Celtics scored in their own net not once but TWICE this game, which would have saved 4 points when we lost by 1.

And to the fucking Lakers. Bah.

Speaking of which, there was this moment in the game. (Jump to :37 in the video)



And I can already see the DJMeech voice over for it.

"Alright, how does Melo do this, stab, fake, fake, stab, damn he isn't falling for any of this."

Just for reference on the difference in their footwork, recently Melo did this.

[Blueobelisk]

I watched parts of LAC @ BKN last night and the beginning of BOS @ GSW. Pretty entertaining and close games. Once Super Bowl is over I guess basketball will become more interesting.

I wonder if the All Star game is happening.

[xskarma]

I wonder if the All Star game is happening.

Sadly, it probably is. March 7th in Atlanta. There's rumors only so far, but it;s from reliable sources and they all say that game is on and that there is even going to be a dunk contest and 3point contest.

NO idea how they are justifying this, but it;s apparently pretty much agreed upon already. News should drop soon, probably tomorrow.

[StillMcfuu]

Completely idle speculation... but this year more than ever has made me wonder if Lebron is on something. I'm a huge fan of the guy, but he's approaching the territory of being such a crazy outlier that it's hard to not wonder. Most people his age who are still dominant (Barry Bonds) were on something. Obviously the primary comparable is Jordan but he's already a year older than Jordan was at the time he retired from the Bulls, with something like 25% more career minutes. Starting to become an outlier among outliers.

I think he probably has some type of enhancement cycle in the off-season, but honestly every professional athlete probably does. I was actually thinking about this the other day, but LeBron was so hype athletic in his prime that even aging he would still be more athletic than most players.
Also his play style and the nature of his athletic ability, its hard to notice a decline.
He's clearly lost some explosiveness in his jump, but he replaced this with a reliable jumper and really high level rim finishing, vs where he would just dunk on everyone. And honestly he never had a good first step, he probably still similarly fast off the step. Its not as if he is AI and the second he slows down a little he becomes an easier target.
I think a guy who has really maintained his abilities is Chris Paul, the guy can still easily dunk. But his playstyle also hides his decline a bit, he's always been a craft finisher and probably the most unstoppable shot in the nba (his midrange fade). Those kinds of signature abilities don't fade as much with the athletics, same as Lebron.
I think LeBron's first year with LA really showed off his decline because he was still more using the old lebron game. After that year though he's really made a good chunk of changes and it shows in that it's hard to tell if he is not having his best year ever... again at 36.

[xskarma]

Starting to become an outlier among outliers.

I think McFuu covered most of what I thought pretty well, but I'll amend this: If Lebron was on something, we would have found out this season cause there's been almost no off season for him to recover and get on stuff. And on top of there not being time, he also would have been impacted more by having to start again quickly, if he's in decline, but masking it with substances, and again, he is not.

So, I think LeBron, like Tom Brady, just spends a fortune on managing his body and is an outlier to begin with and it results in him being able to do the things he does still. On the broadcast of the Lakers- Celtics game they said he spends more than a million dollars a year just to keep up his body. That kind of investment is only possible for the ultra rich and ultra dedicated. Not to mention it also requires ridiculous discipline to maintain.

So yeah, I think he and Tom Brady are just outliers among outliers and prove that with the right approach and dedication that you can play and play well far longer than we thought possible even 10 years ago.

[Pendulous]

A couple ongoing "controversies" right now. One, Shaq is a dumbass. Called out Donovan Mitchell for literally no reason a bit ago, and then dunked on Rudy Gobert's contract. Now, he's trying to claim he's the reason they're doing so well (they fucking already were), and just keeps doubling down on his stupidity every time he's on camera.

Second, the Dallas Mavericks haven't been playing the national anthem this whole season, and nobody noticed til now. And the NBA responded as you would expect, basically giving them no option. mark Cuban SAID it was because he didn't feel the anthem represented everyone, which is very true given all the non-Americans who play in the NBA. But I have a feeling knowing him that he just wanted something to shove in the NBA's face. Nobody noticed, nobody cared. Completely unnecessary. Pelicans coach Stan van Gundy supports it. But it looks like Cuban is caving, so I'm guessing a fine wasn't the only thing they intended to do to him.

[xskarma]

I don't know what gets into the Pistons when they play good teams, but this is the second time they beat the Celtics and play out of their mind, especially shooting wise. Turn into the fucking 2014 GSW when they play us it seems.

Kinda over the Celtics getting players hurt and playing like ass as a result, though.

[xskarma]

It’s reported that Knicks believe they have enough pieces to trade for a superstar (wrong) and they believe it’s the right time to do it (also wrong).

Most likely outcome if they manage to do anything is they bet the farm on a fake superstar like Ben Simmons.

Who is even out there to be had? It's mid-season and most of the stars I can think of off the top of my head are doing well with their current team.

Almost everybody is also locked up for next season, so who do they even have their eye on?

The only good player I can think of that might be willing to move is Oladipo, but that's not a superstar.

He can likely be had for very little though and also will most likely react to being wanted for a change really well. Dude's been moved from teams a load of times when he's a great player when healthy.

- - - Updated - - -

Absurd



- - - Updated - - -

I know Celtics have like 6 games in 8 days, but they are currently down 12 at the half against the Wizards, with absolutely NO energy, terribly sloppy play, and giving up way too many fouls. I personally turned the game off, cause I have better ways to spend my time then to watch the crap the Celtics are currently putting forth.

[Pendulous]

Sixth man of the year Jordan Clarkson scores 40 as the one seed in the west beats the one seed in the east. 8-13 from three, typing a single game record for the Jazz. Overshadowed by Ben Simmons getting 42 in his career best. Thanks for making the NFL offseason fun.

[Pendulous]

Spurs are postponing their next three games as they have four positive tests. Charlotte is missing their next two during contact tracing. Meanwhile, Mavs-Pistons Wednesday is being postponed due to the weather in Texas destroying the power grid.

[Logwyn]

Oklahoma City Thunder change jerseys at half after mix-up with Atlanta Hawks
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-atlanta-hawks

Really? They couldn't tell they were almost the same?

[xskarma]

I feel a trap game coming up for the Celtics tonight.

Raptors are missing most of their starters and I think most of their coaching staff too still. On top of that it's the last game before the All-Star break, where 2 of our 3 main guys will be playing. The rest will get some much needed rest and will probably have weekend getaways planned (most players in the league do, although probably harder now with Corona still raging).

This is all just screaming for the Celtics to not be ready for this game or to take it too lightly.

If the Celtics come out flat or play like shit in the second half and allow these shorthanded Raptors to get back in it, then consider this my "fucking knew it" declaration.


Consider me also delighted if the Celtics prove me wrong and step on their necks. We could do with a nice blow out win to go into the All-Star break.