Around The NBA : 2023-24 Season #2

[prolific passer]

I'm the same. Of course I know he's amazing and everything, but it's just hard for me to be impressed by him given how much he's skewed the competition in his favor over the years.

I think for me it's just the Lebron burnout from his hardcore fans. Same with the Jordan and Kobe fans. Sorry to the hardcore Jordan fans to the board but it's just how I feel.

Not sure if people on this forum visit the General board or the PC board, but Jordan was ranked a distant 3rd place behind James and Abdul Jabbar in the top 100 all time list project they do every few years. There is a large pro-Lebron, anti-Kobe, anti-MJ sentiment on realm...

Yeah on the player comparisons board which just leads to burnout from others.

[FriedRise]

I thought one team would slip into the play-in but I thought that team would be the Embidless 76ers - not the Pacers.

Time is slipping our ability to move up at all - would love to have a chance at playing anyone other than Boston in the first round (if we're ableto make it out of the play-in).

I know there's various contributing factors but since the trade deadline the Knicks are 3-6 and the Pacers are 5-4. Hardly the big splash either were hoping for I imagine.

Those amateur teams obviously made too many changes and lack CONTINUITY!

[kodo]

Pretty sure it was just me, man.

I was actually referring to the GB and outside RealGM. There was so much Wemby hype, which is totally deserved but elite individual talent still can't carry teams to the POs. Lebron & Kobe failed to make the playoffs with non-tanking teams. He'll need a co-star next to him.

[drosestruts]

I thought one team would slip into the play-in but I thought that team would be the Embidless 76ers - not the Pacers.

Time is slipping our ability to move up at all - would love to have a chance at playing anyone other than Boston in the first round (if we're ableto make it out of the play-in).

I know there's various contributing factors but since the trade deadline the Knicks are 3-6 and the Pacers are 5-4. Hardly the big splash either were hoping for I imagine.

Those amateur teams obviously made too many changes and lack CONTINUITY!

Can't make a bad trade if you don't make a trade I guess.

[HomoSapien]

I think for me it's just the Lebron burnout from his hardcore fans. Same with the Jordan and Kobe fans. Sorry to the hardcore Jordan fans to the board but it's just how I feel.

Not sure if people on this forum visit the General board or the PC board, but Jordan was ranked a distant 3rd place behind James and Abdul Jabbar in the top 100 all time list project they do every few years. There is a large pro-Lebron, anti-Kobe, anti-MJ sentiment on realm...

Yeah on the player comparisons board which just leads to burnout from others.

I used to really enjoy the Player Comparisons board, but they've gotten a little pretentious over there. I've seen people cite that list during debates as if it's come from some meaningful academic journal.

[kodo]

So let's say the Spurs were intentionally bad this year - what's their plan for being intentionally good? They've signed some of these players like Johnson, Vassell, and Collins to extensions and are expected to have arund $30mm in cap space along with a top 3 pick.

They're currently 20 games behind teams in the play-in, that's a lot of ground to make up.

Do they throw the max at someone like OG Anunoby and hope the Knicks balk?

Every top-10 projected pick is pretty young - I don't personally have the best insights into which will be immediate contributors and which will require seasoning/development

They need a star guard to create good shots for the roleplayers. Even Joker who is and probably will be for generations the best playmaking C in NBA historically, did not lead his team in assists in the Finals (7 apg). That was Jamal (10 apg). Wemby is safe to say won't be the passer Joker is, and Joker still wasn't enough. The entire situation with forcing Sochan as some king of PG is pretty painful, and it sounds like he's not even that confident in it.

"It is the first time I have ever played point guard in my life," Sochan said. "I am doing it. I am making a transition like this in the NBA, which is rare. You don't see a lot of people going from power forward to point guard.
"There have been moments where it's like, 'Yo, I don't want to.' It's like, 'f--- this s---.' I'm going to be honest."

And I don't think they should be targeting anything but a young player. The plan Cleveland had around rookie Lebron, surrounding him with guys in the late 20s/30s like Ilgauskas, Larry Hughes, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall just forced Lebron to leave as his team aged around him as he was ascending. They were impatient to compete, and ended up just sealing Lebron getting out of a small market. Age of first time NBA champions:
Jordan 27, Lebron 27, Shaq 27, Steph 26, Giannis 26. And some of the later situations include Dirk 32, KG 31, Olajuwon 31.

It's going to be difficult to trade for a star guard near Wemby's age, who is locked into his rookie contract or 2nd RFA w/ his original team. Haliburton & Luka happened, so not impossible but those were some bad moves and the Spurs have nothing comparable to Sabonis to trade. I think for SA it's more likely they'll draft Wemby's #2.

[DASMACKDOWN]

I think the Lakers would be licking their chops if there is a playin situation where they would have to play OKC. OKC cant beat the Lakers. That would be an easy upset special.

[drosestruts]

I think the Lakers would be licking their chops if there is a playin situation where they would have to play OKC. OKC cant beat the Lakers. That would be an easy upset special.

I think we'll see some first round upsets again this year for sure.

You could have Dallas vs Minnesota and Lakers vs OKC in the first round.

The play-in in the West is going to insane - currently includes Sacramento, Dallas, Lakers, Warriors

Heat could be meeting the Bucks in the first round again.

Still a lot of jockeying for position to be done in the last month or so here.

[TheSuzerain]

So barring some big shift in the closing month here, our best case scenario is a first round matchup with the Celtics?

[Ice Man]

I think the Lakers would be licking their chops if there is a playin situation where they would have to play OKC. OKC cant beat the Lakers. That would be an easy upset special.

Hmmm. If I were to list all the times that a team that got swept in the regular season beat that same team in a playoff series, that would take a while. That said, any team with LBJ and AD has fangs.

[Ice Man]

So barring some big shift in the closing month here, our best case scenario is a first round matchup with the Celtics?

Yep. We're 5 games behind an Indy team that has Haliburton and Siakam for the chance to escape the Celts. It looks highly likely that one of Chicago, Atlanta, or Brooklyn will spend the first round as Celtics bait.

[drosestruts]

So barring some big shift in the closing month here, our best case scenario is a first round matchup with the Celtics?

Yep. We're 5 games behind an Indy team that has Haliburton and Siakam for the chance to escape the Celts. It looks highly likely that one of Chicago, Atlanta, or Brooklyn will spend the first round as Celtics bait.

I know it can take time for teams to gel with new additions and Hali's been hurt some but the Pacers are 10-11 since Siakam got there.

with 20 games left, 12 of those teams have a better record than the Pacers.

But yes 5 games is still a big amount to overcome, but not impossible yet. I imagine we'll have a much clearer picture over the next 5 games of any potential standings jumps or changes.

Could be a fun last month of the season. Even if the Bulls are stuck where they are theres a lot of teams bunched up in the standings through the East and West.

[Dan Z]

So let's say the Spurs were intentionally bad this year - what's their plan for being intentionally good? They've signed some of these players like Johnson, Vassell, and Collins to extensions and are expected to have arund $30mm in cap space along with a top 3 pick.

They're currently 20 games behind teams in the play-in, that's a lot of ground to make up.

Do they throw the max at someone like OG Anunoby and hope the Knicks balk?

Every top-10 projected pick is pretty young - I don't personally have the best insights into which will be immediate contributors and which will require seasoning/development

They need a star guard to create good shots for the roleplayers. Even Joker who is and probably will be for generations the best playmaking C in NBA historically, did not lead his team in assists in the Finals (7 apg). That was Jamal (10 apg). Wemby is safe to say won't be the passer Joker is, and Joker still wasn't enough. The entire situation with forcing Sochan as some king of PG is pretty painful, and it sounds like he's not even that confident in it.

"It is the first time I have ever played point guard in my life," Sochan said. "I am doing it. I am making a transition like this in the NBA, which is rare. You don't see a lot of people going from power forward to point guard.
"There have been moments where it's like, 'Yo, I don't want to.' It's like, 'f--- this s---.' I'm going to be honest."

And I don't think they should be targeting anything but a young player. The plan Cleveland had around rookie Lebron, surrounding him with guys in the late 20s/30s like Ilgauskas, Larry Hughes, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall just forced Lebron to leave as his team aged around him as he was ascending. They were impatient to compete, and ended up just sealing Lebron getting out of a small market. Age of first time NBA champions:
Jordan 27, Lebron 27, Shaq 27, Steph 26, Giannis 26. And some of the later situations include Dirk 32, KG 31, Olajuwon 31.

It's going to be difficult to trade for a star guard near Wemby's age, who is locked into his rookie contract or 2nd RFA w/ his original team. Haliburton & Luka happened, so not impossible but those were some bad moves and the Spurs have nothing comparable to Sabonis to trade. I think for SA it's more likely they'll draft Wemby's #2.

If the Spurs trade for Trae Young he's 25 years old so age shouldn't be an issue.

Whatever they end up doing I think they should keep at least one of their lottery picks because it's a potential shot at getting a second star to go with Wemby.

[drosestruts]

So let's say the Spurs were intentionally bad this year - what's their plan for being intentionally good? They've signed some of these players like Johnson, Vassell, and Collins to extensions and are expected to have arund $30mm in cap space along with a top 3 pick.

They're currently 20 games behind teams in the play-in, that's a lot of ground to make up.

Do they throw the max at someone like OG Anunoby and hope the Knicks balk?

Every top-10 projected pick is pretty young - I don't personally have the best insights into which will be immediate contributors and which will require seasoning/development

They need a star guard to create good shots for the roleplayers. Even Joker who is and probably will be for generations the best playmaking C in NBA historically, did not lead his team in assists in the Finals (7 apg). That was Jamal (10 apg). Wemby is safe to say won't be the passer Joker is, and Joker still wasn't enough. The entire situation with forcing Sochan as some king of PG is pretty painful, and it sounds like he's not even that confident in it.

"It is the first time I have ever played point guard in my life," Sochan said. "I am doing it. I am making a transition like this in the NBA, which is rare. You don't see a lot of people going from power forward to point guard.
"There have been moments where it's like, 'Yo, I don't want to.' It's like, 'f--- this s---.' I'm going to be honest."

And I don't think they should be targeting anything but a young player. The plan Cleveland had around rookie Lebron, surrounding him with guys in the late 20s/30s like Ilgauskas, Larry Hughes, Eric Snow, and Donyell Marshall just forced Lebron to leave as his team aged around him as he was ascending. They were impatient to compete, and ended up just sealing Lebron getting out of a small market. Age of first time NBA champions:
Jordan 27, Lebron 27, Shaq 27, Steph 26, Giannis 26. And some of the later situations include Dirk 32, KG 31, Olajuwon 31.

It's going to be difficult to trade for a star guard near Wemby's age, who is locked into his rookie contract or 2nd RFA w/ his original team. Haliburton & Luka happened, so not impossible but those were some bad moves and the Spurs have nothing comparable to Sabonis to trade. I think for SA it's more likely they'll draft Wemby's #2.

If the Spurs trade for Trae Young he's 25 years old so age shouldn't be an issue.

Whatever they end up doing I think they should keep at least one of their lottery picks because it's a potential shot at getting a second star to go with Wemby.

I think Trae or unironically Zach would make for great fits/additions in San Antonio. Trae is obviously younger and brings more playmaking.

They have the cap space and assets to acquire either if they wanted to - maybe even both and really test how much of a defender Wemby can be.

[FriedRise]

And just like that, Philly have joined us in the play-in. Knicks only 0.5 game away as another free fall candidate.

[DropStep]

I think the Lakers would be licking their chops if there is a playin situation where they would have to play OKC. OKC cant beat the Lakers. That would be an easy upset special.

Hmmm. If I were to list all the times that a team that got swept in the regular season beat that same team in a playoff series, that would take a while. That said, any team with LBJ and AD has fangs.

Chet defending AD is a problem. I don't know why they didn't pick up a big at the deadline, at least a buyout guy. Other than that, I'd be on them. I still think they have a shot, but AD is a problem without a solution.

[Muzbar]

And just like that, Philly have joined us in the play-in. Knicks only 0.5 game away as another free fall candidate.

Which is not a good thing.

If they get their guys back (Embiid (Phi) Randle/Brunson (NYK)) then that's going to be bad for the Bulls. Those will be some big mountains to climb.

[MrSparkle]

Houston’s in that funny situation where they super tanked 3 years and drafted a bunch of busts… besides for their 16th pick (Sengun).

Which side note… wonder-boy Presti traded the rights to Sengun for two future picks of ambiguous value. A little retribution for the Westbrook trade, I suppose. I think everybody has their wins and misses on draft night.

Amen is a hell of a talent, but at 19% 3P, he’s a big project. Jalen Green looks like a talented but low efficiency, low IQ scorer. The whole team is young but the top-5 picks are not appealing.

[Ice Man]

Philly 26-8 with Embiid, 9-18 without him. People talk about the importance of NBA coaches but they are merely along for the ride. Having Joel is 100x more valuable than the difference between the alleged genius Nick Nurse and some coach whom everybody mocks, like Jason Kidd.

[drosestruts]

Watching Dallas v Indiana last night and reading Dallas fans' complaints afterwards has me feeling particularly "the grass isn't always greener on the other side" about our coaching staff.

It seems like most teams don't like their coach - I think it's easier to count what teams do like their coach:

Miami
Indiana
San Antonio
Golden State
Denver
OKC - Daignuealt (for now)
Utah - Hardy

Aside fom that every fan base seems to have some issues with their coaching staff. Over 2/3 of the league seems to think there's some magical better coach out there.