2023-2024 NBA Thread

[StillMcfuu]

Warriors rumor: doesn't seem feasible, losing a couple of big pieces, to add Durant and his contract, and have to replace all those pieces around his salary. Warriors just built this team and then won a championship, would be a real crime to break it up.
Got a real hot take and I say this with all the love for the man, trade Draymond. He still has real league value and you can replace him with a young center/pf you can get into the right mindframe. Something like a sign and trade for Ayton makes sense to me. Dray brings more veteran leadership and better more flexible defense to the Sun's, Ayton brings a bigger offensive presence and is capable of multiple 20+ point games at really high efficiency.
I think Dray is the biggest ticking clock on the Warriors right now and how they handle the remainder of his rather large contract will determine their upcoming success.
People see their win as a continuation of the dynasty, buy I see it more as a new start

[PhaelixWW]

I think Dray is the biggest ticking clock on the Warriors right now and how they handle the remainder of his rather large contract will determine their upcoming success.
People see their win as a continuation of the dynasty, buy I see it more as a new start

Warriors' record last year (including postseason):

50-18 with Draymond.
19-17 without Draymond.

Now, obviously getting someone specifically to replace him would be different than trying to fill that hole from the bench, but still. He played some of the best basketball of his career last year. And the three of the core team are on the same wavelength having played so long together.

[NotBigzo]

How often do you see people be like

"Oh man, so and so won the olympics that one time" and use that to compare one player to another...ever?

[xskarma]

Warriors' record last year (including postseason):

50-18 with Draymond.
19-17 without Draymond.

Now, obviously getting someone specifically to replace him would be different than trying to fill that hole from the bench, but still. He played some of the best basketball of his career last year. And the three of the core team are on the same wavelength having played so long together.

Draymond is your Marcus Smart. People constantly question him because of perceived offensive deficiencies and occasional up and down stretch. But when pressed to deliver evidence of him being bad for the team it's all crickets and tumbleweed.

You can probably guess the reactions when Celtics brought in a player at the same general position, even though Brad had already said they wouldn't change the starting 5. But all these people need is 1 breath of air and they can yell all offseason.

(and you can probably also already guess the frustrations next season when Smart starts at PG when healthy and Brogdon isn't the replacement for him people are making him out to be, but turns out to be the replacement for Al Horford, with the Celtics going Smart-Brogdon-Jaylen-Jayson-Rob Williams for important stretches while keeping Al with fresh legs. Fun times ahoy.)

- - - Updated - - -

NBA is apparently going to adress the tampering done by the Knicks to get Jalen Brunson.


Teams: *TAMPER*

NBA: *fines 50.000 dollar*

Teams *TAMPER*

NBA:

[StillMcfuu]

Draymond is your Marcus Smart. People constantly question him because of perceived offensive deficiencies and occasional up and down stretch. But when pressed to deliver evidence of him being bad for the team it's all crickets and tumbleweed.

You can probably guess the reactions when Celtics brought in a player at the same general position, even though Brad had already said they wouldn't change the starting 5. But all these people need is 1 breath of air and they can yell all offseason.

(and you can probably also already guess the frustrations next season when Smart starts at PG when healthy and Brogdon isn't the replacement for him people are making him out to be, but turns out to be the replacement for Al Horford, with the Celtics going Smart-Brogdon-Jaylen-Jayson-Rob Williams for important stretches while keeping Al with fresh legs. Fun times ahoy.)

- - - Updated - - -

NBA is apparently going to adress the tampering done by the Knicks to get Jalen Brunson.


Teams: *TAMPER*

NBA: *fines 50.000 dollar*

Teams *TAMPER*

NBA:

That's not what I said. He is declining, it's undeniable, you can see it in his stat sheet and how teams dealt with him last year, especially on the offensive end where he gets left wide open. Dray circa 5 years ago wouldn't be left open like that.

He is still impactful and is a great player I'm not denying that. I'm saying he has real value right now and a trade to another team in the next year or 2 would benefit GSW in the long run because they could find young talent to slip into his role. They've also lost Otto Porter Jr to the Raps now as well.

As for their record, that's more to do with Curry, not Draymond. Curry slumped real bad for a while midseason, which coincided with Dray being out.

So again, I'm not hoping they trade him, but he'd be an asset to another team and his game while not entirely dependent on athleticism and outright performance, still matters. And even though he really isn't a stats player, the stats still show up, this was his worst All-star year and he's had better non all-star years. Performance wise it was middling as a season, compared to the last 2 years he seems like a golden god, but GSW was awful last 2 seasons. This plays out in advanced stats, middling WS, middling +/-, and so on. I know stats don't define exactly what he brings to a team, but they still do tell a bit of a tale.

More OT:
Harden rejected his final contract year and signed a 3 year 109m deal with the Sixers. Big move from Harden to show he is in Philly to win.

[xskarma]

That's not what I said. He is declining, it's undeniable

Yeah I didn't mean to insinuate that you were calling him bad. I was more sub posting Celtics fans for shitting on Marcus Smart than commenting on Draymond. They do have similar lightning rod auras though for their respective fanbases.

Draymond was worse than he was in previous Playoff years, and got benched during the Finals at one point, but he predicatably snapped out of it and delivered some of his best few moments of the playoffs in their 3 close out games. He;s still the oil in their machine that makes things go, and I do nto think it;s as simple to replace him as your average forward/center.

It's similar to Al Horford in the Celtics, he does so many things in so many situations that you probably can't replace him 1 for 1, but will need several players to step up and do a little bit more, in addition to having a literal body that replaces him at his position.

I think GSW will have just as hard a time replacing Draymond as the Celtics are going to have replacing Al, and I think neither team is very interested in trying at the moment.

[PhaelixWW]

That's not what I said. He is declining, it's undeniable, you can see it in his stat sheet and how teams dealt with him last year, especially on the offensive end where he gets left wide open. Dray circa 5 years ago wouldn't be left open like that.

But he was; he's been left open like that for years. It happened when it was really just Steph and Klay as a perimeter threat, but it ramped up when Durant was there, and again now that Poole (and frankly most of the rest of the team) are also a substantial threat from deep.

And his 3P% last year was above his average for the last 5 years. Sure, it was noticeably better for three of the first four years he was in the league, but it's been pretty consistent after that. He's just taking fewer per game, because he's more of a facilitator. Last year was the highest his eFG% has been in his entire career. And he was the frontrunner for DPoY until he got hurt.

As for their record, that's more to do with Curry, not Draymond. Curry slumped real bad for a while midseason, which coincided with Dray being out.

...in large part due to the fact that Draymond, the facilitator, was out.

this was his worst All-star year

I'm not sure how you quantify this as "worst"... Like, seriously, jump over to statmuse and check out his per possession stats to compare the seasons (ie, assists per 100 possessions, and just change out the stat in the search bar). Pretty much the only stat the he's consistently worse at is points, which is really not the issue on the Warriors.

[xskarma]

@PhaelixWW Did you catch Summer League game just now? Celtics-Warriors?

Warriors ran out their full compliment of recent lottery picks and lost by double digits after being down as much as 23 early. Celtics team is some 2nd rounders from this and last year, couple of older players with G-league experience and some randos. They;ve played well together the second half of last game and this game, but it;s hard not to feel like the Warriors players were outmatched even 1 on 1. Kuminga got it going a bit in the 4th, but he seemed kinda raw on defense and just the whole "organized basketball" seemed a problem for all the Warriors involved.

Was wondering if you watched it and knew what the situation is.




Celtics have a luxury problem right now. Their best 2 shooters in Summer league had the night off (Hauser and Matt Ryan) and they still shot well. Celtics have some spots open on the roster, but there's like 5 players on this Summer League roster who have shown they deserve a look in training camp and there's just not that many spots to go around.

Kabengele
Broderick Thomas
JD Davison
Juhann Begarin
Matt Ryan

I'm pretty sure all these guys end up on rosters or 2 ways for teams, just nto sure if it will be the Celtics. JD Davison is already signed to a 2way, but might get upgraded to a roster spot. So they have three roster spots and one 2way open or two roster spots and two 2ways.

Apparently according to Brad Stevens comments today Celtics are still in the market for a Big for their rotation, so that would be 1 spot gone. But with no indication of who that might be there's also a chance that this spot could go to Kabengele for instance.

Going to be interesting few weeks and honestly I'm just glad to have some sportsball to watch.

[PhaelixWW]

@PhaelixWW Did you catch Summer League game just now? Celtics-Warriors?

Warriors ran out their full compliment of recent lottery picks and lost by double digits after being down as much as 23 early. Celtics team is some 2nd rounders from this and last year, couple of older players with G-league experience and some randos. They;ve played well together the second half of last game and this game, but it;s hard not to feel like the Warriors players were outmatched even 1 on 1. Kuminga got it going a bit in the 4th, but he seemed kinda raw on defense and just the whole "organized basketball" seemed a problem for all the Warriors involved.

Was wondering if you watched it and knew what the situation is.

Nah, I didn't get a chance to check it out. I'm not too worried about the beginning of the Summer League, though. Obviously, players need to get a chance to get used to playing together.

Wiseman, in particular, played his first game back from injury two days ago, and he was out for over a year, so there's gonna be some rust. Moody and Kuminga were both suited up for the Warriors last year quite a bit, but didn't get a lot of chance to play in the games (they combined for about 250 minutes of play time in the entire playoffs), so it's not like they're coming into the Summer League games with a real sharp edge, either.

[ProphetFlume]

I was at a friend’s and watched a summer league game for probably the first time, the Orlando vs Rockets game. Was fun seeing how raw they all were. Being able to watch people take wide open 3s with no expectation that they’ll make it. It was also noticeably worse than a cohesive nba team, but still fun to see. Like watching college football games where RBs run at near full height.

[xskarma]

Looks like the Jazz and the Knick are going to finalize the Donovan Mitchell trade today. Going to be interesting what gets moved and how many picks Ainge gets.

[xskarma]

Looks like the Jazz and the Knick are going to finalize the Donovan Mitchell trade today. Going to be interesting what gets moved and how many picks Ainge gets.

Any day now...


Weird that it's been so silent about this when it was basically done deal except for the details when news leaked that Donovan was on the market. Either the Knicks are putting up more of a fight in negotiations than anyone expected, or we are due some "mystery team is interested in Mitchell" news.

[xskarma]

Ugh. Celtics are going to trade for KD, aren't they?

I hate pretty much everything about that possibility. From who we are going to give up to get him, to having him on the team, to the very real possibility that we don't even win the championship after making the trade while having given up players from a young ascending team.

It would hurt less if it translates into a championship, but I'd still much much rather win one with who we have right now.

[-aiko-]

Still waiting for that Donovan Mitchell trade...

[Pendulous]

Still waiting for that Donovan Mitchell trade...

Part of me thinks it's not happening. The other half sees all the trade rumors and expects him to be gone by his own will. Either way it's a rebuild time. And a lot of those trad rumors involve Patrick Beverly, which is unfortunate too. I was on board with the Ayton trad rumors, but that didn't pan out. And now for centers got Azubuike? Joy.

[xskarma]

"Scheduled for the NBA’s 2022-23 opening night and ring ceremony on TNT: Lakers at Warriors, Oct. 18, sources tell @Theathletic @Stadium." - Shams

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/st...94648099749889

So that's one game revealed. Wonder how many will get leaked before the official schedule drop...

[xskarma]

Opening Day Celtics open at home with the 76'ers visiting. Oct 18th.

Was hoping for something a little more inspired, but I guess with the Bucks already on xmas day and the Warriors dates below, it was basically Miami or the Sixers for attractive opponents (tv ratings wise). Otherwise it would have been the Knicks, I guess? Bet the Knicks have a home game though. (and we were at the Knicks last season already)


https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/st...54153276583936

Golden State-Boston NBA Finals rematch dates for the 2022-23 season, per sources:

Dec. 10 in Golden State
Jan. 19 in Boston
@PhaelixWW

Am I alone in being a little disappointed with this? Kind of shoved into mid-season, few weeks apart. Could have done more to make these rematches more attractive or at a time when more people would tune in for them. Or have at least one of them more towards the end or start of the season to remind us of upcoming/past playoffs. This kind of nomansland match ups is meh to me.

[xskarma]

Celtics injury "luck" continues. Danillo Gallinari out "at least 2 months" with torn meniscus. Season hasn't even started yet and we are banged up already. -_-

[ProphetFlume]

Celtics injury "luck" continues. Danillo Gallinari out "at least 2 months" with torn meniscus. Season hasn't even started yet and we are banged up already. -_-

At least you didn’t get Durant

[xskarma]

At least you didn’t get Durant

Bet he would have gotten hurt too, hahaha.

But, yeah, silver linings