Good call on the Clippers. You were the only one who didn't jump off that ship after Harden's first week.
2023-2024 General NBA Season Thread
- Thread starter BigSoxFan
- Start date
That's actually when I jumped ON it around 3-4 games in when they were coming together and playing with a purpose despite the losses. One of the games I saw this in was the 30+ point loss to Dallas which I mentioned somewhere at the time either here or Silver Dollar. I was not high on them at all with what they had prior to adding him and Theis while allowing Westbrook to fall back into his ideal role. They are all steering the ship together with defined roles....they have 3 HOF at the back end of their prime with Powell one of the most underrated players in the league. 11 of 14 now with a tough stretch coming up.
Zach LaVine has been inactive for 7 games now, since their blowout loss to Boston. Since then, Chicago is 5-2 (with the only losses against Denver and Milwaukee, and including wins over the Heat, Bucks and Pelicans) and Coby White has been incredible, averaging 26/6/7.
And an unencumbered pick in 2030 or 2031, which (if unprotected), can probably beat any offer for LaVine or DeRozan.
Chris Paul "blocks out" poor Daniel Theis. Shameless play, shameless announcing.
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1735539723949551860?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1735539723949551860?s=20
On the flip side, Alex Caruso has missed 5 games and the Bulls are 1-4 in those games.
Can you imagine having an All-Defensive player, that is shooting 47% from 3, and he still only averages 22.6 mins/gm.
Must be tough being a Bulls fan
Min guys can be bundled starting tomorrow. The Cs can trade their 2023 1st, and then have no pick obligations until 2029 following this year's draft. No way a draft pick would play on a team that had Hauser, Caruso, and PP anyway.There is only one team Caruso needs to be playing 22.6 min/gm on.
Get it done, Brad.
(I know, Caruso will end up costing more than the 30th pick. Sigh.)
Ha. A Horford/Hauser/Caruso rotation bench would be the final touches on this juggernautThere is only one team Caruso needs to be playing 22.6 min/gm on.
A package of PP + filler + a First + a pick swap for the Bald Mamba still isn't enough
Other teams' 1sts > than Celtic 1sts and probably took Boston out of the Poeltl sweepstakes last year.
With regards to the Spurs, Kevin Pelton said on Lowe's last podcast (the Draymond one) that when Wemby, Tre Jones, and Devin Vassel are on the floor, they have a +26 per 100 possession net rating in something like 272 minutes. If SAS wanted to win more games, they definitely could do it.
Pelton mentioned (and I think I also suggested this upthread) that the Spurs are trying very hard to get Wemby another lottery pick on the same timeline.
Or, to put it another way, they don't feel that Tre Jones is a starting PG on a championship team and they are going to try out a lot of other players at PG while not really caring if they lose games doing so.
Caruso seems like someone who'll generate an unreasonably large return by the deadline---he'll be in the "ask for two real firsts" category and while they may or may not get that, he's affordable, flexible, and proven. Bulls also dumb enough to keep him, which can't be ruled out.There is only one team Caruso needs to be playing 22.6 min/gm on.
I'd be stunned if Celtics can win the derby for him (though happy).
Tre Jones may not be a starting PG on a championship team but for the sake of developing Wemby, Vassell and others it is critical that he is on the floor. The entire offensive is a complete clusterfvck when he's not out there as they have no other NBA caliber initiators who have a clue how to run a halfcourt set. It results in these young kids running around looking to get shots up while creating terrible habits.
Which is why it is kind of mind-boggling that Tre Jones is averaging 23.8 mpg this year - which is a drop from the 29.2 mpg he played last year - while trying (and ending) the Jeremy Sochan as PG experiment but apparently moving to the Malaki Branham as PG experiment.
Unless, of course, SAS is pretty comfortable with not winning many games this year.
They're certainly comfortable losing games, which is fine. But per HRB's post I think it's a really bad strategy in terms of youth player development. Wemby and others need to be playing right and developing good habits. That Tre Jones has such a huge positive impact and yet is their 2nd stringer with limited minutes is a poor choice. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see a future PG in Sochan -- doesn't have the handle, vision, or passing skills. Pops and the rest of that management/coaching team have more knowledge in their fingernail than I have, so my tendency is to defer. Still said, seems very counterproductive to try to fit Sochan's square peg into a round hole and not prioritize Jones' role.
yeah, I get experimenting/tanking but the one thing you do want to maintain is a coherent offense via the primary ball handler. Experiment around that—and mate try Sochan like stuff for random bench minutes only
Sochan is unique as a non-murderous Draymond prototype of a pure 4 who can play initiate an offense. The problem is that he's 20 years old, not much of a clue as to what he's doing out there, zero sense of how to create angles much less exploit then, and frankly really kinda sucks as NBA basketball which is normal for a 20 year old. So yeah, they are really throwing shit against the wall to see if anything sticks but it's doing all these kids a disservice.
Really rough day for the Cavs:
View: https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1735731093507031277?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1735742356974932105?s=20
They are gonna have a tough time making the top 6 in the east, even if these two make relatively quick recoveries. If things really go south, I'm wondering about the odds of Mitchell being available at the trade deadline.
View: https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1735731093507031277?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1735742356974932105?s=20
They are gonna have a tough time making the top 6 in the east, even if these two make relatively quick recoveries. If things really go south, I'm wondering about the odds of Mitchell being available at the trade deadline.
Spurs are doing a full-on tank.
OKC/Pacers have a nice modern blueprint
Move the non-time liners that score POINTZ
Get picks with expensive contracts to fill the Cap for a season or two
Identify blocked youngsters on other teams as targets.
Sprinkle in a couple of cheap vet/leadership players
Rinse - repeat
NBA minutes & shots for young players are development gold but must be earned with effort on D
Handing minutes/shots to veterans, not on the trade block, doesn't help.
https://hoopshype.com/2023/12/14/keldon-johnson-the-odd-man-out-in-san-antonio/
Funny, I read that as MINNESOTA guys.
Caruso on that team would be something. Good thing they don't have any draft picks to deal.
I realize that Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell aren't playing but it's been fun to watch San Antonio beat the Lakers.
It bodes well for the Lakers that they are at their best in single elimination games. Lebron/AD have combined to miss just 4 games so far this year, after combining to miss 53, 68 and 63 games over the last 3 years. All that good healthy time banked, and they're sitting in 8th place.
Barkley was right (rare combo of words there) that the Knicks almost never have the best player against almost any opponent, but man Brunson ends up being the best guy a lot of nights. He just kept getting better tonight, points by quarter were 6, 9, 19, then he sat until 7:54 in the 4th and finished with 16 more before coming out with the big lead and 1:22 left. That was his first career 50 point game, obviously a career high.
NY got down 10 in the 3rd and then scored 56 points in the final 16 minutes (!) to win going away, their D is a mess without Mitchell Robinson but their O is better, even without his endless offensive boards.
And a game and a half out of 10th, and they're 9th in the west in point differential, with Lebron/AD already on pace to play a combined 150+ games, for the first time in 6 years. It's a long season and some other teams (Clippers) are due for some absences as well, but it's going to be a really crowded playoff race in the West. I don't think it should be the least bit surprising for the Lakers to miss the top 6 for the 4th straight year.
I am continually amazed at LeBron. He's 38 years old and averaging 25.2 points on 54.5% shooting (40.1% from three), 7.5 rebounds and 7.0 assists. The guy is an absolute machine and is easily still one of the best players on the planet.
LOL. This is going to follow Giannis around, isn't it?
View: https://youtu.be/NkdkSwkQYDY?si=sBKglHXKzK2pyUMm
View: https://youtu.be/NkdkSwkQYDY?si=sBKglHXKzK2pyUMm
The Sixers have won 5 straight, with Embiid averaging an impressive 40/12/5 in less than 33 minutes per game. It was against teams with a combined .180 winning percentage (Atlanta, Washington twice, Detroit twice), but still. Nobody beats up on the dregs of the league quite as thoroughly as Embiid.
*edit - Philly is 11-0 against teams under .500 (Denver and the Warriors are the only other undefeated teams against sub 500 teams). 6-7 against teams .500 or above.
*edit - Philly is 11-0 against teams under .500 (Denver and the Warriors are the only other undefeated teams against sub 500 teams). 6-7 against teams .500 or above.
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I did not have 'Thibodeau quip that makes me laugh' on my early morning bingo card. Who knew the Grim Reaper had humor in him?
All a long way of saying in many words that the top of the West is a jumble where any number teams could end up in the top rung or in the play-in, pretty much as was predicted about the Lakers and virtually all of those other teams.
Rockets doing better/Warriors doing worse is the only true surprise so far. The rest have very little to separate between them.
It might be selective memory, but I feel like whenever there's a team that just goes to town on bad teams, and runs up its net rating and record that way, that team always gets overrated.
I remember in particular the 2019-20 Bucks, whose "historically great" net rating everyone jizzed over. In reality, they barely had a positive point differential against good teams, and were just whomping the Orlandos of the world by 30 every time out.
I suspect Giannis is going to have to lean into this or it won't go away.
Lol ok then. I guess Philly really is bum-hunting hard.
Crazy how well the Celtics have done against the quality part of the schedule, and how few cupcakes they've had.
I like to think of myself as pretty grounded, not a fan of hyperbole. That said, this team has a ceiling that no other team in the league is capable of reaching.
If we get the Tatum from last years playoffs, this team should absolutely win it all. Obviously contingent on health too, plus I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tatum be even better than last years postseason run.
Jaylen not forcing things much changes their ceiling a bit, for the better. I want to see him keep it up, but I’m very impressed. It’s always been about him making the simple play, and he’s doing it this year. He needs to find his catch and shoot three ball again though, because that will be there all postseason.
Given the C's habit of playing to the level of their opponent, maybe a tough schedule is a good thing for this team.