Board 8 > NBA Topic 3: There's still more playoffs

(+) Yeah! (+)

Our streak of getting the number 5 pick every year ends tonight

Looking at the teams in the lotto, let me see who I wouldn't mind winning

Rule out any teams who have won it recently
Hawks (Actually this is unprotected so nevermind)
Spurs
Pelicans
Sixers (not recent but they got 2 back to back and fuck that whole tanking era)

Rule out teams who would be bailed out of their own incompetence
Mavs (for the Luka nonsense)

Rule out teams who are already well set
Rockets (they also lived in the high lotto until recently)

Rule out teams who shamelessly tanked
Utah

I know others tanked but I think Wizards and Hornets are just bad whereas Jazz could have been better and engineered their way into top odds.

So I guess I'd be fine with any of the following winning it? There's varying levels of incompetence in there but for the most part teams are either just really bad or got there through actively trying to be good (even if misguided) but it blowing up in their face. Kings I erred on but left them in here. Raptors fans on twitter have been insufferable to Magic fans for years but can't hold that against the actual franchise.

Washington
Charlotte
Brooklyn
Raptors
Portland
Bulls
Kings

ya go my spurs capture the flagg

lol jazz and wizards

Hornets/Sixers/Spurs/Mavs top four

what if the Mavs somehow get Flagg

If the Mavs get bailed out of their Luka incompetence I'm calling rigged

The Nico-4D chess memes will be intolerable

omg

lmao

That shit is so rigged lmao

Can't believe Nico Harrison has been rewarded for his shenanigans

False Flagg operation

Leonhart4 posted...

False Flagg operation

*applause*

Mina Kimes posted the same thing

https://x.com/LakersNation/status/1922070890549772537

Reminder that the Bulls and Mavs also had to coin flip for position, Mavs won that flip

Oh also, if the play-in didn't exist then it would have been the Heat at 11 instead. They only weren't in that position because they outplayed their seed into the playoffs

Wouldn't be surprised if there's an uproar about this and it leads to the ping pong ball drawing being televised.

It was an appropriate way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Knicks winning the draft lottery for Patrick Ewing and the accompanying controversy of that one

knicks have the lead going into the 4th

not sure if this is a good or bad sign for them!

Celtics blew it in the third this time so they can still win by 20

A cunning strategy

Celtics are blowing it more with terrible shots and Tatum might be done. It looked like something might've tore when he tried to push forward.

Uh oh.

RIP Tatum

sucks.

is this where brunson offers to tear his achilles in order to win fairly?

that's a bleach reference

Also Dallas getting the #1 pick proves there is no justice in the NBA.

We could have Knicks with home court against the team that beat them last year, and the west winner being a massive favorite over either one.

The Knicks would actually have home court on every team in the west except the Thunder, too.

bill simmons is going to drink a lot tonight

we can't rule out the Mavs passing on Flagg

oh god the Spurs are second

Well that sucks

MZero posted...

we can't rule out the Mavs passing on Flagg

Well, if they really believe defense wins championships, trade the pick to the Bucks for Giannis...!

Knicks are gonna be skunked by the pacers

Weird world

what the actual fuck is happening in this Warriors game. We've been stuck at 68 for what feels like the past eternity.

Draymond KEEPS taking open 3s and I must just be missing it every time he actually makes one of those because he's air balled every one that I've seen.

I felt so good at half time.

WOW, finally got points on a breakaway steal. Now we're only down by 15 after being AHEAD the last time we scored.

What a complete collapse.

Would have preferred a better close.

if you told me three teams would be up 3-1 in round 2 I wouldn't have been surprised

if you told me none of those were the Cavaliers, Celtics, or Thunder I would have called you a doofus

v_charon posted...

Would have preferred a better close.

And I would have preferred not to win 3 quarters, yet lose the game in a not-particularly-close fashion. That 3rd quarter is going to haunt me

Shattered posted...

Wouldn't be surprised if there's an uproar about this and it leads to the ping pong ball drawing being televised.

nah, i'm sure the league loves the controversy. gets people talking, etc.

but totally rigged

Shattered posted...

Wouldn't be surprised if there's an uproar about this and it leads to the ping pong ball drawing being televised.

It's already on YouTube every year:

https://youtu.be/NCxgXS7EBI0?si=4RsLqNbZNsgQ_6st

went to game 4 of celtics-knicks

all i can say is - do not rush steph back

I'll just say it, Kerr has been puzzling this playoffs. I gave him the benefit during game 2 because he was trying to figure out a lineup. But he seems like he's not even trying to get his team to run plays, and it just ends up with people passing the ball randomly and taking contested shots. Like... it shouldn't be that hard to send Jimmy and Draymond in the middle and kick out to outside shooters, pass around until there's an open guy (either Hield, Podz or JK). I guess he doesn't trust those folks (with good reason) but Jimmy iso and Draymond three's was never going to cut it.

His habit of messing with the lineups all the time is just causing confusion with the players I think. And yeah, a lot of it gets covered up when Steph is there to bail everyone out.

Let next season be Steph, Draymond and Kerr's last dance. maybe jimmy too.

He's never trusted kuminga. Podz has had a bad playoffs, buddy is hot and cold. Moody's been awful.

They just don't have a true PG backup on the roster, that's the problem imo. Podz is not there yet.

UltimaterializerX posted...

this isnt some giant surprise.

I knew winning the series would be damn near impossible without Curry, not I thought we could have taken at least one of the home games. And especially after how things went in that first half it felt like it was going to be a competitive game even if we lost. But instead that 3rd quarter crushed any realistic hope of a comeback.

colliding posted...

Kerr has been puzzling

It's not even just the playoffs, his leadership and/or willingness to make tough personnel has felt lacking for some time.

The 90s Bulls nostalgia in me wants to give him all of the benefits of the doubt, but things feel bleak when our lineup doesn't have an overwhelming advantage in terms of talent. It just doesn't seem like we're winning games through any kind of strategic prowess.

almost no one wins a championship without overwhelming talent, and literally no one wins multiple without overwhelming talent.

SeabassDebeste posted...

almost no one wins a championship without overwhelming talent, and literally no one wins multiple without overwhelming talent.

I think what he's saying is that they don't win unless they have an overwhelming talent advantage over their opponent, not overwhelming talent in general. So like if the teams are equal or even if the Warriors have a slight edge they tend to lose

I think kerr is a coach like budenholzer was with the bucks. They have one way and that way is how they do things and they aren't good at finding another way. Doesn't make him a bad coach, it just means they're open to being disrupted.

Ultimately though, the team just isn't that good. Butler is old and tired, the rest of the team is a bunch of roleplayers. That's not on kerr, it's a natural end to a naturally built dynasty. Even steph can't win games on his own like he used to. With only butler the team is much like how it was most of the seasno when they had only steph: middling. Better adjustments might make it more difficult, but even if spoelstra or pop or whatever other prime coaches are out there was the coach of this team, people wouldn't be giving the dubs a snowball's chance in hell without steph.

The amount of Spurs fans I see online who want to trade the second pick or use it on Bailey because "WE ALREADY HAVE FOX AND CASTLE" is making this one of those days that make me depressed to be a sports fan.

Spurs should be trying to trade for Giannis imhotbqh

The time has never been better to trade for giannis for the spurs. They have the stuff, they have the positional need, it's a perfect fit. They'd be contenders. I think they should be and are heavily eyeballing it. It just depends on how much you can get away with keeping. Like do you do it if you have to trade #2 AND castle?

Well, they've got the #14 pick, too, although that's obviously not a high value pick, but it's still two first rounders.