2023-2024 NBA Thread

[PhaelixWW]

I'm just pleasantly surprised by the play of the Warriors so far. Pre-season Finals odds only put the "super-team" Nets and Lakers above Golden State, with the Bucks more or less a push. With Iggy back in the fold and Klay finally set to return sometime around the end of the year, the Warriors are going to more closely resemble their 2014-15 Championship team, but with an awful lot of really good young talent as well.

Should be fun to watch.

[xskarma]

I'm just pleasantly surprised by the play of the Warriors so far. Pre-season Finals odds only put the "super-team" Nets and Lakers above Golden State, with the Bucks more or less a push. With Iggy back in the fold and Klay finally set to return sometime around the end of the year, the Warriors are going to more closely resemble their 2014-15 Championship team, but with an awful lot of really good young talent as well.

Should be fun to watch.

Coming from someone who's been watching the team with pedigree and really good young talent: It can be a bumpy ride.

It's worth it, but it can be frustrating too when you lose like 3 games in a row in mid January cause the young guys all couldn't step up.

Young guys are just inconsistent as hell.

But, there's also going to be games where a few of them put it together at the same time and then *fireworks*.

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The Simmons Drama is something else.

Sixers couldn't trade him cause he had indicated that he wouldn't come back. Then they started docking his pay for not showing up, so he showed up to get his moneyu but was disinterested and refused to really actually participate. So now today the Sixers suspend him for a game (docking him a pay check again one assumes) so now the ball is in Simmons' court again to either truly show up and play or to just go without the money.

My bet is that he throws a fit and refuses to show up again for a while, losing more money and creating more drama. He's such a fucking baby.

[PhaelixWW]

Coming from someone who's been watching the team with pedigree and really good young talent: It can be a bumpy ride.

It's worth it, but it can be frustrating too when you lose like 3 games in a row in mid January cause the young guys all couldn't step up.

Young guys are just inconsistent as hell.

But, there's also going to be games where a few of them put it together at the same time and then *fireworks*.

The particular beauty of the Warriors style of play is that it's somewhat resilient against that kind of breakdown. It's an assist-heavy offense that focuses more on ball movement skills and getting the open look, and doesn't necessarily rely as much on play-making iso ball. But for that kind of role, they have Curry, who arguably has the best ball-handling skills in the NBA (especially if Kyrie is off in anti-vaxx land instead of playing).

The biggest worry with a lot of younger players on the Warriors roster is their defense, but they still have Draymond and Igoudala to lock things down. And Klay coming back should obviously elevate both the offensive and defensive sides of play.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

The Simmons Drama is something else.

Sixers couldn't trade him cause he had indicated that he wouldn't come back. Then they started docking his pay for not showing up, so he showed up to get his moneyu but was disinterested and refused to really actually participate. So now today the Sixers suspend him for a game (docking him a pay check again one assumes) so now the ball is in Simmons' court again to either truly show up and play or to just go without the money.

My bet is that he throws a fit and refuses to show up again for a while, losing more money and creating more drama. He's such a fucking baby.

And he's torpedoing what little trade value he had by reinforcing the view that he's a quitter, which was the view that got him on the trade block to start with.

His options are basically down to "Shut up and play" or "Sit out the year and hope the Sixers get so fed up they release him next year."

[xskarma]

And he's torpedoing what little trade value he had by reinforcing the view that he's a quitter, which was the view that got him on the trade block to start with.

His options are basically down to "Shut up and play" or "Sit out the year and hope the Sixers get so fed up they release him next year."

There's no releasing a player in the NBA. Sixers would be on the hook for his entire remaining salary. They could try a buyout in theory, but there's no way the Sixers let him go for nothing. They'd just as soon trade him to the Kings for pennies on the dollar than get nothing.

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Also, Giannis heard y'all say the Nets were the better team just after he beat them to win a title and he's like "I'mma prove 'm wrong. Again."

He looks locked in already in game 1.

[PhaelixWW]

Also, Giannis heard y'all say the Nets were the better team just after he beat them to win a title and he's like "I'mma prove 'm wrong. Again."

He looks locked in already in game 1.

It hasn't even been a full quarter yet, lol.

[StillMcfuu]

There's no releasing a player in the NBA. Sixers would be on the hook for his entire remaining salary. They could try a buyout in theory, but there's no way the Sixers let him go for nothing. They'd just as soon trade him to the Kings for pennies on the dollar than get nothing.

The 76ers can waive him. They would still owe him money but he wouldn't be on the roster. A team can pick him up within 48 hours and just take his contract, or after 48h he will become an unrestricted free agent, but continue to be paid by 76ers. The Sixers can ask for waiver amnesty which would remove his contract from their salary cap, but they would still be paying him.

I'm on the fence with this situation, Simmons is acting childish, but the Sixers as an organization threw him under the bus, so they have the comeuppance coming as well. I also get the feeling they never shopped him properly for a trade by asking ridiculous things for him. Honestly I think they look like clowns for declining to entertain the Harden trade last year, Harden made them a finals team.

[xskarma]

The 76ers can waive him. They would still owe him money but he wouldn't be on the roster. A team can pick him up within 48 hours and just take his contract, or after 48h he will become an unrestricted free agent, but continue to be paid by 76ers. The Sixers can ask for waiver amnesty which would remove his contract from their salary cap, but they would still be paying him.

I'm on the fence with this situation, Simmons is acting childish, but the Sixers as an organization threw him under the bus, so they have the comeuppance coming as well. I also get the feeling they never shopped him properly for a trade by asking ridiculous things for him. Honestly I think they look like clowns for declining to entertain the Harden trade last year, Harden made them a finals team.

The Sixers have since the beginning of Simmons' career tried to work on his shooting ability. And all these years later he's not improved an inch. For someone with Simmons' draft status, contract, and ability in other facets, that is just pointing to him not putting in the work.

Look at Giannis. He's been poor at the free throw line in the past, but he;s taken this as a challenge and done something every year, including this year after winning it all, to improve in that area.

Simmons has shown NOTHING like this. So I can totally understand the team and his fellow players being fed up with it. He;s being paid like a superstar and he wnats to be treated like it. Well, then fucking ACT like it too, and take the game seriously.


I mean, as a Celtics fan this is all fine with me. Let the Sixers have the distraction and let management and Simmons eat eachother and make the situation worse, but as a basketball fan it annoys the shit out of me that we are responsible for making these guys multi millionaires and they treat it like they can just be petulant children and divas.

It's that kind of behaviour that helped get me away from European Football at the height of the player empowerment era there, and I don't want to see that situation play out in the NBA.

[PhaelixWW]

Look at Giannis. He's been poor at the free throw line in the past, but he;s taken this as a challenge and done something every year...

That's... not a good example. Giannis' FT% is still horrible, and it's gotten worse lately.

[StillMcfuu]

The Sixers have since the beginning of Simmons' career tried to work on his shooting ability. And all these years later he's not improved an inch. For someone with Simmons' draft status, contract, and ability in other facets, that is just pointing to him not putting in the work.

Look at Giannis. He's been poor at the free throw line in the past, but he;s taken this as a challenge and done something every year, including this year after winning it all, to improve in that area.

Simmons has shown NOTHING like this. So I can totally understand the team and his fellow players being fed up with it. He;s being paid like a superstar and he wnats to be treated like it. Well, then fucking ACT like it too, and take the game seriously.


I mean, as a Celtics fan this is all fine with me. Let the Sixers have the distraction and let management and Simmons eat eachother and make the situation worse, but as a basketball fan it annoys the shit out of me that we are responsible for making these guys multi millionaires and they treat it like they can just be petulant children and divas.

It's that kind of behaviour that helped get me away from European Football at the height of the player empowerment era there, and I don't want to see that situation play out in the NBA.

Counter-point: Maybe Simmons just can't shoot. And honestly at this point who gives a shit. Hes a dpoy, one of the best passers in the league, one of the best pace pushers, dangerous in transition, nearly impossible to stop on drives even though he is technically a bit shit at finishing...
Sixers have also done nothing for Simmons even though they say they have. They remove shooters from the team, continue to clog the lane with Embid and Harris. Its not a shock he is a beast when Embid is out...
You bring up Giannis, but Giannis has been in the league 4 years longer and 4 years ago Giannis was a bit shit when it mattered... he was also a shit shooter always. Not to mention, should we get on Giannis for his meh passing and iffy ball handling too?

Let's be real here, Sixers are a joke and have been for years, if anything they over achieve considering their shit management. They need to swallow their pride and find a home for Simmons that will allow to thrive.
Like I said though, Simmons is acting ridiculously for a professional, and the situation is clearly beyond fucked.

[PhaelixWW]

I love that the opening day "preview" for the NBA featured both super-teams... losing.

Even if it is to the teams ranked 3 and 4.

[StillMcfuu]

I love that the opening day "preview" for the NBA featured both super-teams... losing.

Even if it is to the teams ranked 3 and 4.

I dont really think there are any super teams right now. Nets played really sloppy and needed iso ball to stay in it. Bucks cooled off massively after a hot start as well. Just the iso ball makes the Nets dangerous though. Lakers are a super team 8 years ago, right now they look about as good as expected to be honest. To be fair to GS, their pace they ended last season at was that of a 60win team, they are getting better and better. Lakers still look like 6-8 seed team though

[xskarma]

End of this 3rd Quarter in Celtics-Knicks has just been 1 ugly offensive and defensive possession after another, mostly ugly offense leading to just transition buckets for NY.

It's mostly bench players + Jaylen though.

Hoping that when the starting 5 is in in the 4th that these things stop happening. Celtics have outplayed the Knicks when the starters are in.

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Yeah, transition defense is just utterly terrible with this bench unit. They are in the wrong place constantly.

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Ugh. So many careless mistakes. Smart just completely overthrowign Tatum for the 2nd time this game to just lose possession. Just when we got a stop and a score the possessions before.

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This game got closer at the end than it had any right to be. Knicks really fucked that up under pressure. But they got it straight before their 10 point cushion ran out. Should be game over with a 4 point difference with 9 seconds remaining.

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LMAO OMG. The Knicks utterly fucked that up.

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Took double OT but the Knicks finally strung enough plays together to win their home opener. And this was with the Celtics and Tatum in particular playing like shit.

GG Knicks.

[StillMcfuu]

Snip.

I watched some of the Knicks game, but it looked awful. Julius Randle is one of the oddest players in the NBA, he doesn't look or play like he should be making anything, but somehow the ball goes in for him.

I switched over to the Indiana-Charlotte game and that was amazing, felt like a playoff game atmosphere. Duarte who I will forgive everyone for not knowing, picked 13th in the draft, dropped 27pts in his NBA debut. Really a great game all around.

[Hendor]

I'm liking my young Spurs team.

[PhaelixWW]

What the hell happened to the Bucks tonight?

I guess PJ Tucker is laughing, though.

[xskarma]

Phoenix Suns owner might be getting Sterling'd. He's already set up a massive publicity attack on the report and it's not even out yet. That probably means the report is true.

Funny how he has money to spend on this but not on his team.

[Crissi]

At least Silver has balls of steel dealing with owners. Goodell could take notes.

[xskarma]

I was annoyed at the half that Celtics weren;t blowing this bad Houston team out, but things got better in the 2nd half and I came to realize that Jalen Green is going to be a problem. Singlehandedly kept the Rockets in it and the score at least somewhat respectable.

My other takeaway from this game and from the start of the season in general is that Celtics are VERY lucky that they have Al Horford back. The man is the only one that's played well all 3 games so far and even though his shot was off this game, he was probably still the most important Celtic not named Jayson Tatum.

I'm also warming up to Dennis Schröder. His relentless drives to the basket gives the Celtics a jolt they need on offense, something that puts the defense in trouble and leads to easier buckets. He's still a pest outside of direct basketball related things, but at least on the court he's making the Celtics a better team.

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This will probably be an ugly game for the Celtics. 2nd leg of a back to back, players out, been inconsistent and dealing with installing new systems from the new coaching staff.

But who knows. Crazier things have happened in the NBA.

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Schröder has fucking kiiiiiiiiiiilled us this game. So many missed shots and bad plays. I can understand havign a cold night from 3, a few Celtics have had that today, but he's missed bunnies and short mid range shots and just straight up lost the ball.

If Tatum doesn;t get back in the game soon we are just going to lose this because the gap gets too big and there's no offense without him right now.

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Well Celtics were down 10 with 5 min to play and won by 11 in OT. Special special performance down the stretch by this team. Wasn't exactly pretty, but if they can defend all the time like they did during that stretch, then they'll start winning games more comfortably than having to duke it out in OT.

[xskarma]

I have high hopes for tonight. Celtics looked like they were putting it together last game, and they are at full strength minus Romeo Langford. They kind of just need to win these type of home games against teams that are less talented than them and preferably not struggle while doing it.

I'll settle for a win without over time though.

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That was just about the worst half of basketball the Celtics have played so far this season. Both offensively and defensively. Like last game never happened. Unbelievable.

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It didn't get much better in the second half. New coaching staff, new front office, bunch of new players, bunch of returned good players, and the same damn lacidaisical and uneven and inconsistent damn Celtics.

Not sure why I keep expecting them to maintain momentum between games, cause it's not happened since before the Bubble season.

And the thing is that they show you even in their bad games that they are better than this, but going on runs and having stretches where they look like world beaters. And yet time and again there's slow starts to games and whole quarters where their defensive intensity just disappears and whole halves where they just play without any kind of plan on offense beyond chucking up a contested ISO shot because they never really got into a set play or didn;t execute it well enough to get the desired action out of it and have no other choice but to chuck it up cuase there's zero movement or cutters or any action.

The flashes give me hope though that this coaching staff will diagnose the issues and start rectifying them and that this will turn into a season of not individual but TEAM growth. Lord knows this team needs it.

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At least we're not the Lakers I guess. xD