The NBA Thread

[Rodey]

Jrue should have the ball in his hands more than he does but, you know, Bud.

[Rodey]

That Paul Pierce videos was one of the weirder ones I've seen. Like everyone's back was to the girl twerking except one dude who was throwing chips at her. Meanwhile my dude Truth looked fuuuucked up.

[justinandimcool]

22% usage is about right considering the 2.5 time MVP is his teammate. We have 7 years of evidence that 27-31% usage rate for Holiday doesn’t get you too far, even next to a really good star

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by justinandimcool

22% usage is about right considering the 2.5 time MVP is his teammate. We have 7 years of evidence that 27-31% usage rate for Holiday doesn’t get you too far, even next to a really good star

They're much better offensively when the ball is in his hands in the half court. You can still run the offense through Giannis without having him initiate it.

[justinandimcool]

i like it when Holiday initiates but i feel like the defense back off on every pick and roll (which worked well for Holiday was Sacramento last game). he doesn’t freak out defenses enough going downhill either.

i really like Holiday/Middleton two man games though. but haven’t seen a ton of Holiday initiating/Antetokounmpo finishing. i’ll have to do my research tbh

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by justinandimcool

i like it when Holiday initiates but i feel like the defense back off on every pick and roll (which worked well for Holiday was Sacramento last game). he doesn’t freak out defenses enough going downhill either.

i really like Holiday/Middleton two man games though. but haven’t seen a ton of Holiday initiating/Antetokounmpo finishing. i’ll have to do my research tbh

I'm just an advocate against Giannis initiating a halfcourt offense. He's not particularly good at it.

[Balor3012]

Fuck!!! Can't ever close it out against the Nets. Last two games the Nets have melted down by double teams on the perimeter but Knicks just haven't had a final shot in them

[justinandimcool]

so many heartbreakers for New York this past month, wow

Trent much needed game winning buzzer beater!! much needed for Toronto and that’s a pretty big dagger for Washington’s season

[justinandimcool]

catching up on games, didn’t even realize Harden got hurt. that seems...bad

Finney-Smith and Melli were huge tonight, wtf. Dallas now 2.5 behind the Lakers

[justinandimcool]

McLemore not a bad signing, good Caldwell-Pope and Matthews insurance. insane stretch coming up, they’d be lucky to go 3-7

[justinandimcool]

dang some really good games rn

Williamson and Young both kicking ass

Lakers epic start vs Toronto

Embiid and Brown looking great in a really big game

[justinandimcool]

lol Anunoby hit Schroder with a sidewalk slam

Isaiah Thomas hitting threes! missed him

[justinandimcool]

game was good until Danny Green blew it open. Tatum and Walker rough time, Fournier really helped their offense last two games so this one week without him will be same old clunky offense again

Toronto freaking stinks!! Indiana also stinks! much needed string of wins for Chicago and the Lakers though

Bogdanovic and Gallinari have been soooo good for Atlanta this past few weeks. team looks electric even without Collins

[justinandimcool]

Trae Young going bananas. whole team is 19/24 on threes through the third

[justinandimcool]

Stephen Curry!!!!!!

decent performance by Milwaukee offensively without Antetokuonmpo and still without Tucker. but gosh Golden State desperately needed this

[Rodey]

Marc Davis struck again.

Deer should have never met them back in, though.

[sbuzzz]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Marc Davis struck again.

Deer should have never met them back in, though.

That dude was atrocious last night. Only watched the second half, but can think of at least 4 phantom calls he made.

[justinandimcool]

only had time for a tiny bit of catchup

Miami’s awesome defense didn’t look so awesome, Bjelica might be miscast as the backup center. nice to see Herro play well for the first time in a while. Memphis quietly hanging in there, they look good every time i watch them it seems


nice to see Beverley back. sucks that Mann’s minutes decreased immediately but can’t argue with the results, their defense killed Lillard. Clippers three point shooting continues to be legendary

Portland completely has given up on defense. Derrick Jones Jr. barely even played lmao.

[justinandimcool]

Durant good

Aldridge and Griffin did well, I like how they were staggered. against a poop defense but that’s okay

i like how they defended Williamson too forcing it out of his hands

[justinandimcool]

another Knicks heartbreaker sheesh

[Balor3012]

We live for it

[justinandimcool]

what a game give me seven more please!!

Paul was obv ridiculous but wow what a performance from Ayton on the defensive end

Utah needs more from Conley and Bogdanovic in the clutch. Mitchell is their only offense during winning time as usual

regardless of outcome Phoenix clearly showed themselves to be the better contender and more equipped for the playoffs. depth, versatility, toughness, everything

[justinandimcool]

props to Pokusevski and Maledon, having pretty efficient games at 19 years old, almost routine now. what a fun team

[justinandimcool]

67% done with the season awards!

winners so far, not who I think will win

MVP: 1) Antetokounmpo 2) Jokic 3) Embiid 4) James 5) Leonard


All-NBA Centers: 1st) Jokic 2nd) Embiid 3rd) Gobert | just missed: 4th) Adebayo 5th) Turner

All-NBA Forwards: 1st) Antetokounmpo, James, 2nd) Leonard, Durant 3rd) Brown, Middleton | just missed: 4th) Tatum, Ingram 5th) Sabonis, Randle n/a) Durant, Davis

All-NBA Guards: 1st) Harden, Curry2nd) Doncic, Lillard3rd) Young, Irving | just missed 4th) George, Booker

apologies to the awesome statistical stories around the league: Grant, Lavine, Wood, Fox, Paul, Beal, Mitchell, Butler, McCollum, Sabonis, Holiday, Vucevic, Morant

DPOY: 1) Gobert 2) Simmons 3) Adebayo 4) Antetokounmpo 5) Leonard n/a) Davis

COTY: 1) Snyder 2) Rivers 3) Williams 4) Jenkins 5) Vogel 6) Borrego

ROTY: 1) Haliburton 2) Ball 3) Edwards 4) Quickley

6OTY: 1) Thaddeus Young 2) Clarkson 3) Burks

EOTY: 1) Presti 2) James Jones 3) Marks 4) Pelinka

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[/QUOTE]

[justinandimcool]

Originally Posted by justinandimcool

thread is kinda dead so maybe we could do part 1 of prediction discussions. i’ll start with team predictions and superlatives, and maybe we can do players later after a few more preseason games

contender tier
Lakers
Clippers
Milwaukee

could be on contender tier mid season
Philadelphia
Dallas
Brooklyn
Denver
Miami

long shot contender tier
Portland
Utah
Boston
Toronto

seeds: reasonable load management, injury, and COVID stuff factored in. i do think Harden gets traded too
1 Lakers
2 Denver
3 Clippers
4 Dallas
5 Portland
6 Utah

play-in tourney
7 Phoenix
8 New Orleans
9 Golden State
10 Memphis

11 San Antonio
12 Houston
13 Sacramento
14 Minnesota
15 Oklahoma City

1 Milwaukee
2 Philadelphia
3 Brooklyn
4 Toronto
5 Boston
6 Miami

play-in tourney
7 Indiana
8 Atlanta
9 Washington
10 Orlando

11 Charlotte
12 Chicago
13 Detroit
14 Cleveland
15 New York


top 5 best offensive rating (this is hard bc i think there’s legit 20 good offenses in the league)
Dallas
Brooklyn
Portland
Utah
Denver

top 5 defensive rating REALLY hard since a lot of great teams got slightly worse defensively
Boston
Clippers
Lakers
Indiana
Milwaukee

most fun non-contender teams:
Atlanta
Phoenix
Washington
Golden State
Charlotte

so hard to predict the champion not knowing where Harden goes but i think this is the likeliest outcome regardless:
Conference finals:
Lakers/Clippers
Brooklyn/Milwaukee

Finals:
Clippers over Brooklyn

Click the "Show Spoiler" Button to reveal hidden text.

preseason predictions not too bad- Toronto and New York my biggest surprises and obviously underrated Utah/Phoenix.

not changing my conference finals and finals predictions!

[Balor3012]

I think I'm losing my mind from all the people on r/nba who think Jokic isn't getting foul calls because the league wants LeBron or Embiid to win the mvp this season. LeBron will end up missing a month he's not gonna win and why would the league want Embiid to win specifically? And if he does it's cause he's been awesome lmao

[Balor3012]

I almost want Giannis to win again so that their brains will be broken

[justinandimcool]

Originally Posted by Balor3012

I almost want Giannis to win again so that their brains will be broken

me too lol. he’s missing time this past couple weeks though. if Jokic and him continue their current play it will go to Jokic. especially since they’re killing it post-Gordon trade. but a slight regression from Jokic and a big run from Milwaukee would really tip the scales. they have a LOT of marquee matchups this month


i don’t think Jokic has been getting hacked more than any other superstar, he just whines the most

[justinandimcool]

Dallas defense really good! Milwaukee shorthanded has some bad shooting luck too with open jumpers

Phoenix in the midst of probably the most impressive back to back by any team this year. we shall see. Clippers three point shooting continues to be godlike

[Balor3012]

Knicks!!!!!