2024 Playoffs Discussion Thread

[bballsparkin]

This is gonna be the Mavs toughest series. Maybe Minny, they match up well against everyone else

You think they can beat the Nuggets?

[bballsparkin]

I think Tucker was moving on that charge attempt.

[Basketball_Jones]

Clippers decided not to play defense tonight. They don’t have a disruptive style of defending and Mavs just do whatever they want

[DreamTeam09]

This is gonna be the Mavs toughest series. Maybe Minny, they match up well against everyone else

You think they can beat the Nuggets?

Yeah they have the size to match Denver's frontline - obv Jokic is the best but Dallas does have the bodies n size for Jokic Gordon MPJ

I also think Dallas is a little deeper

[bballsparkin]

^^hmm, not sure I agree. Although Gafford was a great addition. It would be a fun series that's for sure.

[mtcan]

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I'm guessing the Mavs can send the Clippers to Galveston soon

[mihaic]

The NBA as a whole just has a lot more parity. The lack of superteams helps with that. Other than maybe DEN and BOS, you can mix up all the current playoff teams and each team would have a shot at beating the other team. There are just a whole bunch of 45-50 win teams that aren't separated by much.

But, the top 3 teams Okc Minnie Denver in the west have all demolished their opponent.

I think there were 3 to 5 good teams (contenders) in the west (Mavs and LAC are close to that level too imo) and 1 in the east.

I just don't trust the two Celtic's Jays to win against any of those western teams except maybe the Clippers.

[mihaic]

The East is seriously horrible. So many teams exposed in the first round of these playoffs.

I sound like a broken record but all these series have shown me is how easy the path is for Boston to get to the Finals. I think a healthy Bucks team would have given them the toughest series. The rest of then have some serious flaws that I just can't take them seriously as contenders.

So yeah, I agree that we can flirt with a play-in spot next season, but it would be directly as a result of how awful the East continues to be. Plus you can also count on the Bulls and Hawks somehow making the wrong moves this summer. But again, that shouldn't be our goal. If we organically make the play-in, great. We just shouldn't force the issue.

This is why I desperately want us to NOT rush this rebuild. It's gonna be absolute fools gold if we move forward with the current roster we have. Sure maybe we make it to like the 4-6th seed, but what's the point if you are never actually in arms length of true contention.

If we could be top 4-6 next year with such a young roster... we are set, we can trade for another piece. But don't worry, we wont make the playoffs, maybe we can make the playin at best.

[mihaic]

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I think they are right. Their team will go from Dallas directly to Cancun after next game, if Kawhi is not back and able to play.

[mdenny]

BTW, I want to go on the record to say I was completely wrong about Tyrese Maxey. I was a loud and adamant Precious > Maxey as a prospect poster on this board. Boy, was I wrong.

I still think, on average, you should shy away from small guards when building your team because their limitations are amplified in the playoffs (See Tyler Herro, Darius Garland). And I still think on average, length is most important. But Maxey and Murray (and even Brunson) have shown you could build real winners around short gunners that can go out there and get you buckets at an elite level.

Part of the reason I was less happy with the OG trade than most was precisely because I'm not a big fan of the IQ archetype. But his play over the last year and the continued success of Murray along with the emergence of Brunson and Maxey has made me more excited about IQ's future. Fingers crossed.

I kinda hear you but what do you mean by 'real winners'?

Have Maxey and Brunson shown that you can build winning teams around either of them? Maxey never been to the second round with an mvp center. Brunson....I can't remember, has he made it to the second round?

To be honest....your initial impression might be more accurate than your adjusted one.

I don't like Brunson's iso game to be honest and I don't think he has any chance against the defenders the celtics can throw at him (holiday/brown). The knicks are really over-hyped. Add Paul George or Pascal siakam to the knicks and then I'll reconsider. But that team is a dead end street imo.

I think the sixers have a brighter immediate future mainly because of the Tobias Harris expiring. It's gonna be easier for them to find a third player complimenting embiid/Maxey than it will be for the knicks to find one player to compliment Brunson. Knicks are gonna fill up all their cap space with role players like og.

But add an elite role player like OG to the sixers? That's alot sexier imo.

It just seems easier to me to plug in one more major piece to the sixers. The knicks.....I don't know man. In my opinion...they have a mediocre batman and a mediocre Robin. I don't see it working.

[WuTang_OG]

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[ForeverTFC]

BTW, I want to go on the record to say I was completely wrong about Tyrese Maxey. I was a loud and adamant Precious > Maxey as a prospect poster on this board. Boy, was I wrong.

I still think, on average, you should shy away from small guards when building your team because their limitations are amplified in the playoffs (See Tyler Herro, Darius Garland). And I still think on average, length is most important. But Maxey and Murray (and even Brunson) have shown you could build real winners around short gunners that can go out there and get you buckets at an elite level.

Part of the reason I was less happy with the OG trade than most was precisely because I'm not a big fan of the IQ archetype. But his play over the last year and the continued success of Murray along with the emergence of Brunson and Maxey has made me more excited about IQ's future. Fingers crossed.

I kinda hear you but what do you mean by 'real winners'?

Have Maxey and Brunson shown that you can build winning teams around either of them? Maxey never been to the second round with an mvp center. Brunson....I can't remember, has he made it to the second round?

To be honest....your initial impression might be more accurate than your adjusted one.

I don't like Brunson's iso game to be honest and I don't think he has any chance against the defenders the celtics can throw at him (holiday/brown). The knicks are really over-hyped. Add Paul George or Pascal siakam to the knicks and then I'll reconsider. But that team is a dead end street imo.

I think the sixers have a brighter immediate future mainly because of the Tobias Harris expiring. It's gonna be easier for them to find a third player complimenting embiid/Maxey than it will be for the knicks to find one player to compliment Brunson. Knicks are gonna fill up all their cap space with role players like og.

But add an elite role player like OG to the sixers? That's alot sexier imo.

It just seems easier to me to plug in one more major piece to the sixers. The knicks.....I don't know man. In my opinion...they have a mediocre batman and a mediocre Robin. I don't see it working.

To be clear, I don’t think a small guard can be your best player unless their name is Steph Curry. But I think there is a place for them on elite teams that can win titles at this point. Murray/Jokic, Maxey/Embiid, hell even Curry/KD. A gunner that can score and score quickly might have a lot of value, even if they give some of it up defensively.

But I agree. All else equal, I’d still rather grab the wing/big than the guard.

[Scase]

I sound like a broken record but all these series have shown me is how easy the path is for Boston to get to the Finals. I think a healthy Bucks team would have given them the toughest series. The rest of then have some serious flaws that I just can't take them seriously as contenders.

So yeah, I agree that we can flirt with a play-in spot next season, but it would be directly as a result of how awful the East continues to be. Plus you can also count on the Bulls and Hawks somehow making the wrong moves this summer. But again, that shouldn't be our goal. If we organically make the play-in, great. We just shouldn't force the issue.

This is why I desperately want us to NOT rush this rebuild. It's gonna be absolute fools gold if we move forward with the current roster we have. Sure maybe we make it to like the 4-6th seed, but what's the point if you are never actually in arms length of true contention.

If we could be top 4-6 next year with such a young roster... we are set, we can trade for another piece. But don't worry, we wont make the playoffs, maybe we can make the playin at best.

I was thinking 4-6 in a couple years not next year. but honestly, if we ended up there even next year, it absolutely doesn't mean we are set. My whole point is that with how bad the east currently is, the current roster making it there, just means we moved up cause others are bad, not cause we are good.

The team needs sustainability, not making it to the 2nd round, or even ECF to get stomped by real teams. As of now, the only "real" team in the east are the celtics. Any one of the other teams makes it to the finals they get utterly demolished by basically any WC team. That's not success IMO. Contender doesn't just mean in your conference.

[2019nbachamps]

I love see the Clippers fall short again. Hopefully the Mavs put em away. Interesting choices for Balmer to make this summer. Overpay PG and Harden and try again or hit the reset button? My guess is they run it back and continue to delude themselves they can manage to keep everyone healthy going into the playoffs. They want to keep a marketable product on the floor going into the 25-26 season.

[MiamiSPX]

I love see the Clippers fall short again. Hopefully the Mavs put em away. Interesting choices for Balmer to make this summer. Overpay PG and Harden and try again or hit the reset button? My guess is they run it back and continue to delude themselves they can manage to keep everyone healthy going into the playoffs. They want to keep a marketable product on the floor going into the 25-26 season.

Ballmer got hoodwinked and I'm here for it. Is it just a coincidence that in their extension-eligible year, Kawhi and PG played the most games in a season since they began their tenure with the Clips 5 years ago? I think not, considering this will be the last 9-figure deal for each.

He already caved and gave it to Kawhi and not even 3 months later it is looking to be disastrous. Let's hope he caves on PG as well.

[Tha Cynic]

BTW, I want to go on the record to say I was completely wrong about Tyrese Maxey. I was a loud and adamant Precious > Maxey as a prospect poster on this board. Boy, was I wrong.

I still think, on average, you should shy away from small guards when building your team because their limitations are amplified in the playoffs (See Tyler Herro, Darius Garland). And I still think on average, length is most important. But Maxey and Murray (and even Brunson) have shown you could build real winners around short gunners that can go out there and get you buckets at an elite level.

Part of the reason I was less happy with the OG trade than most was precisely because I'm not a big fan of the IQ archetype. But his play over the last year and the continued success of Murray along with the emergence of Brunson and Maxey has made me more excited about IQ's future. Fingers crossed.

I think we have the exact same outlook on this. I'm not a big fan of the Maxey archetype, but in today's NBA they can work on the right setting. I'm still more of an Orland Magic archetype fan (similar to what the Raptors did before). I'm slowly coming around to the Maxey archetype but again, I think they are secondary players to guys like Embiid, Jokic, and other big wings. What Jalen Brunson is doing is simply amazing.

Definitely hoping Quickley becomes something similar.

[ATLTimekeeper]

There's no body type that doesn't work in the playoffs. It's all about quality.

[WuTang_OG]

I love see the Clippers fall short again. Hopefully the Mavs put em away. Interesting choices for Balmer to make this summer. Overpay PG and Harden and try again or hit the reset button? My guess is they run it back and continue to delude themselves they can manage to keep everyone healthy going into the playoffs. They want to keep a marketable product on the floor going into the 25-26 season.

Ballmer got hoodwinked and I'm here for it. Is it just a coincidence that in their extension-eligible year, Kawhi and PG played the most games in a season since they began their tenure with the Clips 5 years ago? I think not, considering this will be the last 9-figure deal for each.

He already caved and gave it to Kawhi and not even 3 months later it is looking to be disastrous. Let's hope he caves on PG as well.

[WuTang_OG]

doubling down as i said
this guy still in phase 1

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[mihaic]

This is why I desperately want us to NOT rush this rebuild. It's gonna be absolute fools gold if we move forward with the current roster we have. Sure maybe we make it to like the 4-6th seed, but what's the point if you are never actually in arms length of true contention.

If we could be top 4-6 next year with such a young roster... we are set, we can trade for another piece. But don't worry, we wont make the playoffs, maybe we can make the playin at best.

I was thinking 4-6 in a couple years not next year. but honestly, if we ended up there even next year, it absolutely doesn't mean we are set. My whole point is that with how bad the east currently is, the current roster making it there, just means we moved up cause others are bad, not cause we are good.

The team needs sustainability, not making it to the 2nd round, or even ECF to get stomped by real teams. As of now, the only "real" team in the east are the celtics. Any one of the other teams makes it to the finals they get utterly demolished by basically any WC team. That's not success IMO. Contender doesn't just mean in your conference.

I understand what you say. But if this roster is 4th or 5th next year (you said 4-6), given how young they are, and that Scottie and IQ are on non max deals, I think the expectancy will be the team will still improve (they are young) and they can pursue trades as they will own almost all their picks plus a future Indy pick.

Furthermore if they are good enough to be 4-6, they will not get a top lottery pick. You can't expect them to tank barring major injuries, if they are that good.