NBA 2024-2025

WI_Red said:
interesting decision by the Grizzlies at this point in the season.
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His time was up

I wouldn't have done it at this point (I would have either pulled the trigger during all star weekend or waited until after the playoffs) but performance numbers are trending down. A team mentality reset is needed fast.
 
Looking very likely that the final 4 will be the 4 #1 seeds. Would be only the second time ever.
 
WI_Red said:
Looking very likely that the final 4 will be the 4 #1 seeds. Would be only the second time ever.
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Looks like the current NIL and portal rules are making the rich even richer.

Next season when teams can pay players directly will likely be even worse. Everyone decent from a non-elite team seems to be in the portal already.
 
WI_Red said:
Looking very likely that the final 4 will be the 4 #1 seeds. Would be only the second time ever.
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Beans said:
Looks like the current NIL and portal rules are making the rich even richer.

Next season when teams can pay players directly will likely be even worse. Everyone decent from a non-elite team seems to be in the portal already.
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Just wait till the next bracket expansion!

 
Phoenix Suns might just be the most pathetic team in the league this season. One of the most pathetic teams I've seen in a long time, relative to the stars they have and the salary they're paying out.
 
They don't really have a team though. They have two all star caliber players and a bunch of also-ran. Their season was one of the most predictable since the trade for Durant was obviously awful.
 
Beans said:
Looks like the current NIL and portal rules are making the rich even richer.

Next season when teams can pay players directly will likely be even worse. Everyone decent from a non-elite team seems to be in the portal already.
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With diminishing returns IMO

Players want to get paid (deservedly) but they also want to maximize court time so they get NBA draft attention.

Elite teams will have their starting 5 sorted but beyond that, it'll be challenging to maintain stacked rosters, when there's a team down the road promising a bag and guaranteed starting minutes
 
Finally got down to reading Simmons' Book of Basketball, which though outdated, is very entertaining. Super long though.

It won't replace Breaks of the Game as the best basketball book I've ever read but I'm still likely to peruse it very keenly. Also both John Thompson's I Came as a Shadow which I plan to read sometime soon (was able to grab it for $4 on my Kindle through Amazon sale, so was a no brainer).
 
JPRouve said:
They don't really have a team though. They have two all star caliber players and a bunch of also-ran. Their season was one of the most predictable since the trade for Durant was obviously awful.
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They have the most expensive payroll in the entire league. I'm pretty sure the consensus expectations for them going into this season was 6th seed at the worst.
 
WeePat said:
They have the most expensive payroll in the entire league. I'm pretty sure the consensus expectations for them going into this season was 6th seed at the worst.
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They do but think about it carefully, they don't have a starting caliber point guard, they have no quality depth and they have a below average front court. The only way for them to even be close to 6th seed is if Booker and Durant play the entire season at an all time great level, only one them playing at Jokic's level wouldn't be enough because the roster lacks fundamental skills, no one can rebound consistently, no one can guard above average wings and no one can playmake at an excellent level.

Who do you think in the current top 7 should have been replaced by the Suns?
 
The Suns are the kind of time a 13 year old would build on NBA2k.
 
JPRouve said:
They do but think about it carefully, they don't have a starting caliber point guard, they have no quality depth and they have a below average front court. The only way for them to even be close to 6th seed is if Booker and Durant play the entire season at an all time great level, only one them playing at Jokic's level wouldn't be enough because the roster lacks fundamental skills, no one can rebound consistently, no one can guard above average wings and no one can playmake at an excellent level.

Who do you think in the current top 7 should have been replaced by the Suns?
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As they are right now, knowing what I know, I wouldn't have them above any of the current top 7. Before the season started though, I had them above the Rockets, Grizzlies, Warriors, Clippers and honestly maybe even Lakers. They finished 6th last season and they kept the team together, and they've been relatively healthy for the most part. Them finishing top 6 again would have been decent bet.

Them being 10th and 5 games below .500 is kind of shocking. If Wemby didn't go down for the season, they'd probably be 11th now. They have just collectively checked out.
 
WeePat said:
As they are right now, knowing what I know, I wouldn't have them above any of the current top 7. Before the season started though, I had them above the Rockets, Grizzlies, Warriors, Clippers and honestly maybe even Lakers. They finished 6th last season and they kept the team together, and they've been relatively healthy for the most part. Them finishing top 6 again would have been decent bet.

Them being 10th and 5 games below .500 is kind of shocking. If Wemby didn't go down for the season, they'd probably be 11th now. They have just collectively checked out.
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Do you take into account the fact that the Clippers were a better team than them last season, the Rockets were a very young team ascending, the Grizzlies were ravaged by injuries. In reality the Grizzlies alone put the 6th spot in question for the Suns. The only team that is a positive surprise is the Warriors otherwise on paper the Suns shouldn't be above the Kings or Pelicans but the Pelicans are the actual disaster this season.

In the West the Suns were always a borderline play-in team. For them to be in the top 6 would have required that several teams either stagnate or have an injury crisis. The Pelicans and Kings stagnated/regressed, the Rockets kept improving and the Grizzlies/Warriors/Lakers went back to a level that is normal for them. Last year the Suns were lucky circumstances helped them, a few teams had a number of injuries or surprisingly lacked consistency.
 
It's strange how a couple of games can deflate you. In March the Wolves had a 11-3 record but the three losses sting more than the 11 wins. Losing to the Pelicans and Pacers when both teams had weakened teams isn't a nice feeling.
 
JPRouve said:
Do you take into account the fact that the Clippers were a better team than them last season, the Rockets were a very young team ascending, the Grizzlies were ravaged by injuries. In reality the Grizzlies alone put the 6th spot in question for the Suns. The only team that is a positive surprise is the Warriors otherwise on paper the Suns shouldn't be above the Kings or Pelicans but the Pelicans are the actual disaster this season.

In the West the Suns were always a borderline play-in team. For them to be in the top 6 would have required that several teams either stagnate or have an injury crisis. The Pelicans and Kings stagnated/regressed, the Rockets kept improving and the Grizzlies/Warriors/Lakers went back to a level that is normal for them. Last year the Suns were lucky circumstances helped them, a few teams had a number of injuries or surprisingly lacked consistency.
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It's possible that I was blinded by KD and Book. A top 10ish player and a top 25ish player together, I thought their floor would be a playoff team. I didn't really have much faith in a Kawhi-less Clippers nor in Kawhi's ability to stay healthy. I knew Grizzlies would bounce back, but I had them in the play-in along with the Rockets. Clearly I underestimated these teams, and massively overestimated the Suns.

My top 6 going into this season was Thunder, Nuggets, Wolves, Mavs, Lakers and Suns.
 
WeePat said:
It's possible that I was blinded by KD and Book. A top 10ish player and a top 25ish player together, I thought their floor would be a playoff team. I didn't really have much faith in a Kawhi-less Clippers nor in Kawhi's ability to stay healthy. I knew Grizzlies would bounce back, but I had them in the play-in along with the Rockets. Clearly I underestimated these teams, and massively overestimated the Suns.

My top 6 going into this season was Thunder, Nuggets, Wolves, Mavs, Lakers and Suns.
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I actually understand the appeal of KD plus Booker. The issue is this, compare the starting 5s one team has Harden, Kris Dunn, Powell, Leonard and Zubac while the other has Booker, Beal, Durant, Dunn and Plumlee. The difference is pretty big, the Clippers can do everything, they can score in bunches, they can guard nearly any team because they have Dunn and Leonard as primary wing defenders, Zubac is a plus paint defender and when they want Powell and Harden are serviceable help defenders, they can also add the likes of Batum and Derrick Jones Jr, they are not particularly deep but they are balanced.

On the other hand the Suns don't really have wing defenders, they don't have a true paint defender either, they have elite scorers but don't have a traditional playmaker to set the table for them. To some extent they remind me the pre-Conley-Gobert Wolves who could score easily with KAT, Edwards and Russell, the small difference being that they had wing defenders in Beverley, McDaniels, Okogie and Vanderbilt.
 
JPRouve said:
I actually understand the appeal of KD plus Booker. The issue is this, compare the starting 5s one team has Harden, Kris Dunn, Powell, Leonard and Zubac while the other has Booker, Beal, Durant, Dunn and Plumlee. The difference is pretty big, the Clippers can do everything, they can score in bunches, they can guard nearly any team because they have Dunn and Leonard as primary wing defenders, Zubac is a plus paint defender and when they want Powell and Harden are serviceable help defenders, they can also add the likes of Batum and Derrick Jones Jr, they are not particularly deep but they are balanced.

On the other hand the Suns don't really have wing defenders, they don't have a true paint defender either, they have elite scorers but don't have a traditional playmaker to set the table for them. To some extent they remind me the pre-Conley-Gobert Wolves who could score easily with KAT, Edwards and Russell, the small difference being that they had wing defenders in Beverley, McDaniels, Okogie and Vanderbilt.
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Suns did have Nurkic going into the season, and he was a pretty good, net positive big last season. Him falling off a cliff this season was a huge problem.

But yeah, true. All fair points.
 
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