Board 8 > 2023-2024 NBA Topic 1

(+) Yeah! (+)

Suns demolishing the Jazz just makes me yearn for that first Beal+Booker+Durant game even more.

Emeraldegg posted...

KAT hasn't been the same since his mom died several years ago

Yeah, I've seen a lot of people say this. I personally as a fan really like this T-Wolves team; I think the pieces are there to really be great. But there's been more and more publicity later and unless they can be one of the top teams in the West by the deadline, I can't picture KAT not getting shipped off at this point. I don't want it to happen, but it's what I feel is pretty likely to happen.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1719020363252629808

Purple courts reign supreme.

They're trying really hard to convince us this thing matters

I'll at least give it an honest chance

I wish it was in December though, because it seems too early in the season to be a "mid season tournament"

Start it first week of December and let the Tournament Finals be one of the Christmas Day games

It'll go as far as the amount the players care. Exciting games where people are playing hard, is always fun TV.

Seems like most fans are on the 'who cares', in the middle, or just down right don't like it. Good games goes a long way.

I'm personally excited, at the very least it's something new.

presence sometimes builds legitimacy alone. boxing has a bunch of alphabet titles and fans don't really care that much, but promoters and fighters absolutely do

I don't really think the NBA needs something new, at least not something totally disconnected from everything else.

also you kinda need good teams to win it, if bad teams are winning this thing because the good teams don't care, that'll damage its legitimacy more than anything else

It's a new year, it's the same old team. Good lord what a collapse.

the Hawks have looked impressive the last two games

Final Score

Pistons 112
OKC 124

Cut it down to 7 late in the 3rd, but was never able to get closer than that. Pistons fall to 2-2.

early thoughts

move OKC to the East

kings look solid thus far over about a week

https://twitter.com/sadcrib/status/1719107650774880432

James Harden traded to the Clippers in the middle of the night

surely nothing will go wrong

I'm guessing Silver had a nice little chat with Morey to let him know that they can't just not play Harden if he's healthy

Leonhart4 posted...

I'm guessing Silver had a nice little chat with Morey to let him know that they can't just not play Harden if he's healthy

To be fair, the reasoning they had for denying him on the plane was legit imo. He'd been away from the team for more than a week and suddenly wants to play, get him ready first. He can't just be like "I'm not gonna do anything the team wants but play games so that I technically fulfill my contract"

Harden is an ass

Emeraldegg posted...

To be fair, the reasoning they had for denying him on the plane was legit imo. He'd been away from the team for more than a week and suddenly wants to play, get him ready first. He can't just be like "I'm not gonna do anything the team wants but play games so that I technically fulfill my contract"

Yes, but you can only get away with that once, so I still think Silver and Morey had a chat about it afterwards.

fact that sixers are absolutely balling must ease the pain too

Way too early to say that imo, their 2 wins are the blazers and raptors, two crap teams

it doesn't mean the sixers will be as good as with harden, but i'm sure it feels less bad to trade harden when maxey's averaging 30ppg

westbrook and harden together again

Clippers are gonna be so fun to watch

Also crazy to me that people arent looking at them like a superteam. I know the general (wrong) consensus is that Russ and Harden are washed and Kawhi and PG are never available, but its literally 2 MVPs, a 2x FMVP, and the Paul God. Like how do you beat that? Kawhi says he feels good and Im ready to get hurt again. And so is he.

Harden isn't washed. He's not what he was but he's still effective. He's exactly what the clips need.

Harden proved last year he can be a really effective player if he's willing to be more of a facilitator than the primary scorer, but we also saw last year that sometimes he can't help but revert into "have ball will shoot" mode at the wrong times.

Clippers have no depth now, Harden can play his heart out, but I don't think it matters.

Still taking the Nuggets, Suns, and Warriors over them, Clippers are definitely a top 4-5 team in the west now. The lack of depth is going to cost them like it did the Suns last year though. At least so far the Suns and KD have proved they can win, and win handily when the other stars are out. Which speaking of that Booker's MRI revealed an ankle sprain, and Beal has been practicing but still out with back issues. Guess I'll be waiting another week for them to actually play together.

ya go my Spurs

alenderman torch paasing game

Leonhart4 posted...

ya go my Spurs

Damn right. Even with Phoenix missing Booker and Beal, that's the sort of comeback you don't expect to see from the youngest team in the league.

https://imgur.io/q7xQwi9?r

I knew Memphis wouldn't do what they did last year, but they straight up just look like a bad team.

Oh hey, the Lakers finally beat the Clippers again

And LeBron is averaging more minutes per game so far this year than he did last year

Wolves of course can win when I surely think there is no chance of it. Naz for 6th man of the year.

the knicks need to be more consistent but at least rj has played really well so far

harden is probably the second biggest playoff choker of all time at this point. i think he will put up good counting stats in the season and pull his houdini act in playoffs like always. luckily for him he has kawhi/pg/westbrook who tend to be more consistent in the playoffs. i think the nuggets/suns/bucks/celtics will be the real contenders but i think the celtics are scary good if they can stay healthy

Kawhi isn't consistent in the playoffs, he's always hurt

Consistently unavailable

Zaza is still the worst

It's an early sample size, but there's definitely some panic brewing in the Bucks community. And it's not even centered around the slow offensive start of Dame and Giannis, it's centered around our horrible defense so far. Adrian Griffin, a defensive coach, came to Milwaukee and completely overhauled our defense with his trademark "crash-in" defense, which, by the way, is very exploitable, and completely underutilizes our bigs Lopez and Giannis.

Lopez was a Defensive Player of the Year candidate last year and Giannis has won it in the past. One thing Milwaukee's former coach (Coach Bud) did was utilize those guys effectively on defense. Last night, Lopez and Giannis had just one defensive rebound each. Pathetic, really.

Outside of our defensive woes, it turns out we found out who can stop the Dame-Giannis pick and roll. The Bucks can. By not using it. Dame looks like a guy still looking for his role on this team and his poor shooting and lack of shooting is likely a result of that. Giannis is also acting a bit more reckless than usual to start off the season.

Thankfully, just a few games in, and maybe everything will mesh soon, but definitely some warning lights popping up. Good news is that Bucks are in full "win now" mode so if Griffin doesn't get it together, he'll be gone by season's end, or sooner.

The bucks for years even under Bud have spent the regular season experimenting. We need to get like halfway through the season before real panic should be setting in

The bucks are a completely different team that still has the 2 best players on the court most nights. it will take some time to mesh, anyone panicking for real at this point should take a chill pill.

The Bucks knew they were sacrificing some defense in getting rid of Holiday and bringing in Dame. That's how things are going to be for them.

the bucks will be fine, or at least i will be shocked if they aren't. giannis is arguably the best player in the league and is at worst the second best player and unquestionably the best two way player. dame is too good to be consistently bad and even if he isn't prime dame, any team with giannis will be a force in the east.

i think the celtics are more talented overall but the bucks should be good enough to compete with anyone in a seven game series imo

the Heat are gonna beat the Bucks and Celtics in inexplicable fashion again in the end anyway

You are usually able to see who the actual contenders are about 1/4th through the season. So if any of the perceived best teams are still struggling 20-25 games in then yeah at that point I'd probably be concerned.

Spurs... legit?

Or are the Suns frauds...!

LeonhartFour posted...

Or are the Suns frauds...!

booker is so good and kd is just a walking bucket. they added depth pieces trading ayton and while i think beal has always been overrated, i think him being the 3rd option is strong for phoenix since he has to be one of the best #3 players. the suns will be horrible defensively though and kd has struggled in recent years with health. i think they could beat anyone in theory but the clippers should be comparable and the nuggets should still be the team to beat in the west. who knows tho tbh

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/22d93c83.jpg

Please make it stop

LeonhartFour posted...

Or are the Suns frauds...!

very possible but we still haven't seen them at full strength!