2023-2024 NBA Thread

[xskarma]

In the most amazing development, Russel Westbrook might be traded afterall. For John Wall.

If that sounds familiar, it IS. Houston traded Russ to Washington for John Wall and got a shit load of picks. So now they'd trade Wall for Westbrook....and get a shit load of picks. That would be positively amazing.

The most fun thing is that it would involve 2 entirely different front offices making the trades.

And I have no doubt that Russel would put up a bunch of gaudy empty stats on a losing team in Houston, and that they'd sucker some team into trading for him again AND get even more compensation.

Russel Westbrook is the gift to media that keeps on giving. There's always some trade thing going on with him and some supporter base going "YESSSSSSSS" or ""nonononononono, pls god no".

[StillMcfuu]

In the most amazing development, Russel Westbrook might be traded afterall. For John Wall.

If that sounds familiar, it IS. Houston traded Russ to Washington for John Wall and got a shit load of picks. So now they'd trade Wall for Westbrook....and get a shit load of picks. That would be positively amazing.

The most fun thing is that it would involve 2 entirely different front offices making the trades.

And I have no doubt that Russel would put up a bunch of gaudy empty stats on a losing team in Houston, and that they'd sucker some team into trading for him again AND get even more compensation.

Russel Westbrook is the gift to media that keeps on giving. There's always some trade thing going on with him and some supporter base going "YESSSSSSSS" or ""nonononononono, pls god no".

The "secret" on Westbrook is out, there is no shot of even an MVP level season in Houston getting him traded to a contender again, unless that team is trying to replace a star who is definitely leaving and Russ would be alone again.

[Coniferous]

The "secret" on Westbrook is out, there is no shot of even an MVP level season in Houston getting him traded to a contender again, unless that team is trying to replace a star who is definitely leaving and Russ would be alone again.

The secret should have been out 6 years ago, when he put up that ridiculous empty stats "mvp" campaign.

- - - Updated - - -

Carmelo Anthony on the Westbrook benching:

"That’s the only thing we can do is make sure his mental is right. That’s the only thing I care about, I don’t care about any basketball stuff when it comes to Russ. As long as his mental is right then I’m good.

Of course, he made half a million dollars playing tonight and I'm on a minimum salary, so he'd better be ok - I'd happily trade places!"

Ok, I added the last sentence.

[StillMcfuu]

The secret should have been out 6 years ago, when he put up that ridiculous empty stats "mvp" campaign.

- - - Updated - - -

Carmelo Anthony on the Westbrook benching:

"That’s the only thing we can do is make sure his mental is right. That’s the only thing I care about, I don’t care about any basketball stuff when it comes to Russ. As long as his mental is right then I’m good.

Of course, he made half a million dollars playing tonight and I'm on a minimum salary, so he'd better be ok - I'd happily trade places!"

Ok, I added the last sentence.

Yeah, that's why I use secret in quotes, Russ' empty stats, inconsistent play, non-existent defense have all been topics of discussion for years. I've been down on Russ since before his MVP season, I never saw him as an elite player, he's simply a walking highlight reel (he wishes he was the caliber player VC was lol).

[Coniferous]

Yeah, that's why I use secret in quotes, Russ' empty stats, inconsistent play, non-existent defense have all been topics of discussion for years. I've been down on Russ since before his MVP season, I never saw him as an elite player, he's simply a walking highlight reel (he wishes he was the caliber player VC was lol).

Russ decided a long time ago the he was going to keep playing the way he wants to play, team success be damned. He could have been a valuable player if he had focused more on the things he's good at (transition, driving to the hoop), actually learning to be good at the thing he should have been good at (defense), and not doing the thing he's atrocious at (shooting threes). The problem is he was good enough to have a lot of regular season success that way.

[StillMcfuu]

Russ decided a long time ago the he was going to keep playing the way he wants to play, team success be damned. He could have been a valuable player if he had focused more on the things he's good at (transition, driving to the hoop), actually learning to be good at the thing he should have been good at (defense), and not doing the thing he's atrocious at (shooting threes). The problem is he was good enough to have a lot of regular season success that way.

My least favorite thing about Russ is his regression, his shot has been getting worse and worse. And I'm not even talking about the outcome of the shot, his form is awful. It was never great, but now it has even more issues than it used to.
Most people with unorthodox or just bad forms are extremely consistent in that form and usually do one part extremely well. Look at the ball Brothers, mainly lonzo old and melo's current form. The mid point of their forms is not good, coming across the body from left to right, but their leg force and follow through are extremely good.
Russ doesn't have consistency anywhere in his shot, his release in his jump, the release timing, follow through, etc. Its all bad and inconsistent.
And he refuses to work on it. That pisses me off for a 50m a year guy.

[Coniferous]

Video on the Grayson Allen flagrant:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ul-alex-caruso

He didn't actually hit him too hard, but what to me stands out is that most normal players after committing a foul like that would have (out of basic human decency) supported Caruso on his way to the floor. Grayson didn't. The weirdest part of the video is when they cut to Allen after the announce that he's kicked out of the game, and Allen is laughing. That's just... really creepy.

Get this guy out of the league.

[PhaelixWW]

Video on the Grayson Allen flagrant:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ul-alex-caruso

He didn't actually hit him too hard, but what to me stands out is that most normal players after committing a foul like that would have (out of basic human decency) supported Caruso on his way to the floor. Grayson didn't. The weirdest part of the video is when they cut to Allen after the announce that he's kicked out of the game, and Allen is laughing. That's just... really creepy.

Get this guy out of the league.

If anyone isn't aware of Grayson Allen's dirty style of play, they haven't been paying attention. Frankly, he should never have been drafted.

[Coniferous]

Interesting take on Luka:

https://sports.yahoo.com/opinion-lon...214214671.html

The article compares him to Westbrook but I think Harden is the more apt comparison. Luka and Harden were both tricky players who didn't blow anyone away with athleticism but managed to score by drawing lots of fouls and messing with the defense. Thanks to the Harden rule, Luka's efficiency from the field has plummeted as he hasn't been able to use cheap fouls to goose his shooting numbers. He's down to .532 TS% from .587 - that's the difference between very good and below average - worth about 2.5 points per game.

What's weird about this year's Mavericks is they have one of the best defenses in the league and their offense is bad.

Personally, I'm a seller on Luka as the next great player - he needs to get much better as shooter or else his ceiling is too low.

[xskarma]

Marcus Smart made my favourite play of the season tonight.

Out of bounds ball, clock winding down to get the ball in, Wizards double Tatum, with one of them with his back to Smart and the baseline. So Smart chucks the ball of the opponent's back, catches it, and turns straight to the basket unopposed for the easy layup.

Apparently that's legal. Hilarious play.

[PhaelixWW]

Marcus Smart made my favourite play of the season tonight.

Out of bounds ball, clock winding down to get the ball in, Wizards double Tatum, with one of them with his back to Smart and the baseline. So Smart chucks the ball of the opponent's back, catches it, and turns straight to the basket unopposed for the easy layup.

Apparently that's legal. Hilarious play.

Yeah, it happens every year or two, I think.

EDIT:

[xskarma]

Yeah, it happens every year or two, I think.

EDIT:

[video=youtube;joXiBVo8ebc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joXiBVo8ebc[video]

Fun vid! Thanks for the link.

[ProphetFlume]

That Westbrook (I said westbrick in my head thinking it was his actual name) gotta be the best cause he did it when there was actually another guy defending him.

[StillMcfuu]

Interesting take on Luka:

https://sports.yahoo.com/opinion-lon...214214671.html

The article compares him to Westbrook but I think Harden is the more apt comparison. Luka and Harden were both tricky players who didn't blow anyone away with athleticism but managed to score by drawing lots of fouls and messing with the defense. Thanks to the Harden rule, Luka's efficiency from the field has plummeted as he hasn't been able to use cheap fouls to goose his shooting numbers. He's down to .532 TS% from .587 - that's the difference between very good and below average - worth about 2.5 points per game.

What's weird about this year's Mavericks is they have one of the best defenses in the league and their offense is bad.

Personally, I'm a seller on Luka as the next great player - he needs to get much better as shooter or else his ceiling is too low.

I think the difference between Luka and Westbrook is that Russ isn't a playmaker, he dives and dumps, sometimes leading to open shots. Luka on the other hand is completely running the offense and using his gravity to generate shots for teammates. Luka's repertoire is way above Russ. Regardless of Westbrook's assist totals, he is an average passer at best.

Luka is definitely more like Harden as you say, or better still he is an unathletic young Lebron. If early Lebron didn't have an overwhelming physical advantage, his numbers would have suffered compared to what they were. Both play the game similarly now, because old Lebron is more along the lines of Luka's athleticism. Difference being old Lebron has had 20 years refining his game and working on his defects.

[Coniferous]

I think the difference between Luka and Westbrook is that Russ isn't a playmaker, he dives and dumps, sometimes leading to open shots. Luka on the other hand is completely running the offense and using his gravity to generate shots for teammates. Luka's repertoire is way above Russ. Regardless of Westbrook's assist totals, he is an average passer at best.

Luka is definitely more like Harden as you say, or better still he is an unathletic young Lebron. If early Lebron didn't have an overwhelming physical advantage, his numbers would have suffered compared to what they were. Both play the game similarly now, because old Lebron is more along the lines of Luka's athleticism. Difference being old Lebron has had 20 years refining his game and working on his defects.

Lebron is in a different category because of his size. Lebron is still a plus athlete right now because he’s just moved inside to power forward and center where the typical players are less athletic.

It’s hard to overestimate how much of a unicorn Lebron was - near Jordan level athleticism in Karl Malone’s body.

[Pendulous]

Zero starters playing plus no Joe Ingles (who has been bad recently anyway), fielding a starting lineup of Hasan Whiteside, Jordan Clarkson, Danuel House, Trent Forrest, and Rudy Gay. And yet still almost upset the league-leading Suns. Can't really be mad about that, but the Jazz are on a free-fall and can't win any games. Health is an obvious factor (and Whiteside just came off a bad covid case), but I'm starting to believe the people who think coaching is a big issue.

[PhaelixWW]

So, uh, what happened to the Jazz? They've lost 11 of the last 13 after starting 28 and 10.

Edit: I suppose I could have just read the post above mine. Figures.

Edit 2: Aaaaand Jingles out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Ugh, that's horrible news.

[PhaelixWW]

What an amazing game tonight between the Warriors and Spurs. This was one of those games on the tail end of a back-to-back where the Warriors all but ceded the game by sitting everyone: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Andre Iguodala, Otto Porter Jr, Nemanja Bjelica, and James Wiseman were all out for the game. They had only 9 players suited up, and the only normal starter was Kevon Looney.

The starting 5 for the Warriors tonight have a combined salary of only 14.5m this year. The combined salary for all 9 players available tonight is only 22.5m. For comparison, the Warriors players who weren't available tonight have a combined salary of 155.7m.

To be fair, San Antonio were also on the tail end of a back-to-back after playing the Suns last night. They rested a number of their top players last night and still almost beat the Suns. But tonight, they had their full set of starters ready to go at home trying to hold against the Dubs.

The Warriors were behind most of the game, but managed to mostly stay within striking range, even though at one point in the third quarter, the Spurs were up by 17 and were shooting 65% from the floor and 55% from three-point range. The Spurs were up 15 at the end of the 3rd, but that level of shooting just couldn't be maintained for the whole game. The Warriors ratcheted up the intensity for the 4th, tied the game with 2:30 left to play, and then ended up outscoring the Spurs 35-16 in the quarter to win by 4.

This was one of the best all-around games of basketball I've ever seen.

[xskarma]

lol Philly and the Nets are thinking about swapping their unwanted toys, Harden for Simmons.


I know the Celtics haven't been great and have roster issues they need to fix, but I'm thankful Brad pulled the trigger quickly when Kemba and his contract turned into a problem, instead of dragging it out for ages, and creating potentially even more problems.

[PhaelixWW]

lol Philly and the Nets are thinking about swapping their unwanted toys, Harden for Simmons.

I know the Celtics haven't been great and have roster issues they need to fix, but I'm thankful Brad pulled the trigger quickly when Kemba and his contract turned into a problem, instead of dragging it out for ages, and creating potentially even more problems.

Those trade rumors be flyin'.

Also, Klay Thompson finally looked like Klay last night, with 23 points in 24 minutes off 8-11 FG and a crazy 7-9 from three. After the game, there was the usual presser runaround, but apropos of this conversation, he was asked:

Reporter: Would you like to see the Warriors do anything at the trade deadline? Is there anything you guys need? Do you need a big man?

Klay Thompson: Uh... maybe a new washing machine.

(In case you don't get the reference...)