2023-2024 NBA Thread

[StillMcfuu]

Isiah Thomas is out here doing God's work, hopefully newer basketball fans will look up Abdul-Rauf.



Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was one of my favorite players growing up, I remember trading a Larry Johnson rookie card for Rauf's rookie card because i just couldn't find one when I was younger. And yes I know his name was Chris Jackson when he entered the league.

[PhaelixWW]

Good lord, this Grizzlies/Thunder game... it's horrendous.

EDIT:
It's over. Memphis wins 152 to 79.

That sets a new record for margin of victory at +73 (previous +68 back in 1991). The Grizzlies led by as much as +78. Their bench outscored the entire OKC team 93 to 79.

Yeesh.

[xskarma]

Dennis Schröder is at the same time keeping us in some games by scoring when no one else does, especially from the bench, but he's also a total defensive liability and at times a tunnel vision blackhole on offense when he's not our best option that moment.

Today in Celtics at Jazz, there were 20 seconds left, no timeouts, down 6. Jazz deliberately back off and defend the 3 point line, cause they know the Celtics need a 3, to make it a 1 possession game and be able to play the foul game and maybe steal a win.

Schröder drives on a defense deliberately letting him, doesn;t kick out for the 3pt attempt, AND misses the attempt he puts up. Game over. Even had he made it, still down 4 with less than 20 seconds to go and no time outs.


Just incredibly frustrating player that should just absolutely not be getting starter or closer minutes, but with Jaylen Brown out tonight there was basically no better option.

[PhaelixWW]

Welp, Dubs up 24 over the Suns with a bit over 3 minutes left. This is definitely a make-good game for the game in Phoenix.

[StillMcfuu]

I've heard that Anthony Davis is going to star in the next Mr Glass movie.
Seriously what is wrong with this guy? He must have some kind of degenerative disease.

[PhaelixWW]

I've heard that Anthony Davis is going to star in the next Mr Glass movie.
Seriously what is wrong with this guy? He must have some kind of degenerative disease.

I mean, bigs tend to get hurt. That's why I'm rarely sold on the lasting star power of players like AD or Embiid, etc. who don't just play a normal "big" role, but also try to be a more physical all-around player. Most bigs don't seem to be terribly comfortable in their bodies and just appear to accept it. But some try to play a crossover role, and those players tend to get hurt... a lot.

LeBron is by far the most successful at this, though at 6'9" he's actually short for the role of a big. Giannis is clearly second best. AD is pretty high on the list of bigs with all-around skill, but he definitely pays for it with injuries.

[xskarma]

Not posted here much lately. Not much to post about. Celtics are a frustrating team to follow right now. Lakers at least won a title and have the excuse that they are fucking old as shit. Celtics are young and haven't done much of anything since the bubble (and that was the bubble and I'd take that with a grain of salt).

With Brad Stevens putting the financial situation in order this last off season, at least we are now operating from a point where we can basically go any direction we want and have tools and assets to do it. I'm at the point where I think it's okay for Brad to do more drastic things if he feels that's needed.

Knowing mild mannered Brad and his tendency to not get too low or too high, I'm going to guess he'll give this group the chance to prove it in the playoffs this year before blowing it up, but that means actually making it to the playoffs first and that's no certainty right now. Injuries happen and shit can get weird with Covid, and if something like that strikes at just the wrong time, Celtics might be in the lottery.

Whatever happens, I still can't feel anything but that this team is underperforming and that even clever basketball minds haven't been able to figure out what exactly the problem is or how to fix it.

I hope someone manages it though, cause this team used to be a delight to follow game to game, even in losses, and I'd love to have that back.

[xskarma]

After the Celtics "get right" game against the defending World Champions and the return of Jaylen Brown, sending Schröder back to the bench, I feel a WHOLE lot better about where the Celtics are and the direction they are going.

The important thing now is they need to keep showing up like that. They have a long rest now and then the Warriors at home. They need to show up for that game as good defensively and as willing to pass as they were against Milwaukee and then see how they match up against what is a top 3 team in the league right now.

All I want for xmas is you consistency from the Celtics.

[PhaelixWW]

All I want for xmas is you consistency from the Celtics.

It's gonna be hard to be consistent when so many players are out under COVID protocols. That's a problem that a lot of teams are going to be facing in the next month or two.

Also, Curry just hit 4 free throws with 0.1 second left in the half. I'd legitimately be surprised if that's ever happened before.

[Xath]

I'm starting to get very worried we may be looking at either another bubble or another stop in play or both. Omicron is starting to run rampant.

[PhaelixWW]

I'm starting to get very worried we may be looking at either another bubble or another stop in play or both. Omicron is starting to run rampant.

It's both delta and omicron, but yeah. I don't think the Bulls are going to be the only team postponing games this winter.

[PhaelixWW]

Lulz. The Warriors starting 5 tonight:




With the recent COVID surge, the Warriors were worried about having players stuck in Canada if they test positive, so the best players didn't even make the trip to Toronto for the game.

This starting 5 has a collective salary of only $14.7m this year and a total of 16 years of experience, not counting this year.

[ProphetFlume]

Imagine being the nba equivalent of disease cannon fodder.

[StillMcfuu]

Seeing Kyrie coming back as a part time player, due to being unvaxxed, because covid is ravaging the team’s roster is… special.

Really puts into the perspective the whole ordeal.

[PhaelixWW]

Seeing Kyrie coming back as a part time player, due to being unvaxxed, because covid is ravaging the team’s roster is… special.

Well, he's already on the health and safety protocols after less than a day, which pretty much means he got a positive test result. As an unvaccinated player, the rules are more strict about him being released from those protocols, too.

So there's that.

[StillMcfuu]

Said it before and I'll say it again... It's gratifying watching the Bulls sweep the Lakers with what should have been 3/5ths of the Lakers starting 5 this year for the cost of Westbrook. Maybe if the Lakers didn't spend their cap like a homeless guy finding a $100 bill they wouldn't be an 8th seed team.

[Pendulous]

Bojan Bogdonavic is a good three point shooter. He's also pretty good at post-ups, since he's got more size than you'd think. He needs to dribble the ball less than Gobert does. Because when he does, there's a too-good chance he's giving up the ball.

But hey. 23/21 from Gobert, and 15-16 from the line, you can't ask much more than that.

[xskarma]

Said it before and I'll say it again... It's gratifying watching the Bulls sweep the Lakers with what should have been 3/5ths of the Lakers starting 5 this year for the cost of Westbrook. Maybe if the Lakers didn't spend their cap like a homeless guy finding a $100 bill they wouldn't be an 8th seed team.

I don;t really like Bill Simmons as much as a podcaster or commenter anymore and most of his sports takes these days are just plain bad, but he recently made a tweet basically saying "I bet we'll see some random basketball source start a story of "LeBron really likes what they have built in Cleveland and would love to finish his career there"".

And that was funny, and at least semi plausible, but then his joke got picked up by news aggregators and today Kendrick Perkins made an actual tweet sort of saying the same thing, and Bill was like "Yes! Let's go!" and now I want this to actually pick up steam and become a thing in the media, just for the troll value of it.

LeBron back to Cleveland, folks, heard it here first.

[StillMcfuu]

I don;t really like Bill Simmons as much as a podcaster or commenter anymore and most of his sports takes these days are just plain bad, but he recently made a tweet basically saying "I bet we'll see some random basketball source start a story of "LeBron really likes what they have built in Cleveland and would love to finish his career there"".

And that was funny, and at least semi plausible, but then his joke got picked up by news aggregators and today Kendrick Perkins made an actual tweet sort of saying the same thing, and Bill was like "Yes! Let's go!" and now I want this to actually pick up steam and become a thing in the media, just for the troll value of it.

LeBron back to Cleveland, folks, heard it here first.

Just for the troll of it all, I hope it turns into "the decision" 2.0.

I doubt he would ever go back, for the sheer reality that he had to pull teeth to get what he wanted Cleveland and he clearly has Jeanie Buss in his back pocket.

[Xath]

I legitimately think they are going to get through the xmas day games which is a huge amount of money for the nba then pause the season and either stop having fans and enforce players staying in hotel rooms or go full bubble. Not sure how else they can finish the season so many teams are being ravaged right now.