Game 7: Philadelphia 76s (1-4) @ Phoenix Suns (5-1) | Nov 4 | 8:15 PM

[Mulhollanddrive]

Is it a weak league at the moment?

Superstars are mostly 30+ and there aren't too many new ones carrying teams

Boston, OKC seem way ahead then there's maybe a bunch of 6 or 7.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Nurk somehow led the team in +/- but man, some of his turnovers were just gross, man. I've always thought of him as a good passer but y'all see A/TO rate this season? 3.7 TO and 1.6 APG puts his A/TO ratio at 0.43. For context, last year he averaged 4 APG and 2.3 TO, which is pretty good for a center. Being lighter has made him quicker on his feet, but he doesn't seem comfortable playing as fast as we're asking him to play. So far, Plumlee's given us better minutes. I've always liked Nurk, and I thought he was fantastic for us last season - being down on him is new for me.

I didn't catch most of Dunn's PT last night but it seems he's returned to earth - which is too bad, because the ROTY race this year is wide open.

Another solid showing from Bradley Beal. With 3 primary scorers on the roster, we don't to rely on any one of them for scoring - we should learn to feed the hot hand. I know he was WC player of last week, but Devin's shooting 42% from the field so far this year. Durant's at 55% and Beal 51%. No reason for Book to force shots with all these weapons on the roster.

Speaking of weapons, Royce O'Neal has really been cooking this season. 10/7/2/1/1 in 25 MPG on 50% FG and 47% 3FG, and being the toughest guy on the team every night. He's the team leader in +/- by a long shot. We might have a losing record without him.

[SkyBill40]

I still can't get over the fact that the officials called Allen for a flagrant foul when he was leaping over someone, made incidental contact (which happened to be the head of the other player), and landed. I know he has a rep for being a player of questionable scruples sometimes when it comes to defense, but that was straight up absurd and I find it hard to believe the review panel of officials would agree and uphold that call.

Officiating seems to get worse every season.

[kennydorglas]

Nurk somehow led the team in +/- but man, some of his turnovers were just gross, man. I've always thought of him as a good passer but y'all see A/TO rate this season? 3.7 TO and 1.6 APG puts his A/TO ratio at 0.43. For context, last year he averaged 4 APG and 2.3 TO, which is pretty good for a center. Being lighter has made him quicker on his feet, but he doesn't seem comfortable playing as fast as we're asking him to play. So far, Plumlee's given us better minutes. I've always liked Nurk, and I thought he was fantastic for us last season - being down on him is new for me.

I didn't catch most of Dunn's PT last night but it seems he's returned to earth - which is too bad, because the ROTY race this year is wide open.

Another solid showing from Bradley Beal. With 3 primary scorers on the roster, we don't to rely on any one of them for scoring - we should learn to feed the hot hand. I know he was WC player of last week, but Devin's shooting 42% from the field so far this year. Durant's at 55% and Beal 51%. No reason for Book to force shots with all these weapons on the roster.

Speaking of weapons, Royce O'Neal has really been cooking this season. 10/7/2/1/1 in 25 MPG on 50% FG and 47% 3FG, and being the toughest guy on the team every night. He's the team leader in +/- by a long shot. We might have a losing record without him.

He's just trying too much atm.
Now that we added real playmakers we don't him trying to force the issue.
Just go with the flow in the game and he'll be fine.

[bwgood77]

Nurk somehow led the team in +/- but man, some of his turnovers were just gross, man. I've always thought of him as a good passer but y'all see A/TO rate this season? 3.7 TO and 1.6 APG puts his A/TO ratio at 0.43. For context, last year he averaged 4 APG and 2.3 TO, which is pretty good for a center. Being lighter has made him quicker on his feet, but he doesn't seem comfortable playing as fast as we're asking him to play. So far, Plumlee's given us better minutes. I've always liked Nurk, and I thought he was fantastic for us last season - being down on him is new for me.

I didn't catch most of Dunn's PT last night but it seems he's returned to earth - which is too bad, because the ROTY race this year is wide open.

Another solid showing from Bradley Beal. With 3 primary scorers on the roster, we don't to rely on any one of them for scoring - we should learn to feed the hot hand. I know he was WC player of last week, but Devin's shooting 42% from the field so far this year. Durant's at 55% and Beal 51%. No reason for Book to force shots with all these weapons on the roster.

Speaking of weapons, Royce O'Neal has really been cooking this season. 10/7/2/1/1 in 25 MPG on 50% FG and 47% 3FG, and being the toughest guy on the team every night. He's the team leader in +/- by a long shot. We might have a losing record without him.

I don't think +/- matters much with Nurk. He plays with the big 3 and we were up 17-10 when he sat, and when he came back in, in the second quarter, we were down 42-38...during that time only 1 or 2 of the big 3 were playing, This is all independent of Nurk.

As far as the shooting %s go, it's crazy KD is over 66% TS% so far this year and Beal over 63%. We have 3 players shooting over 43% from 3. Royce O'Neale also balling. One of the more impressive things to me is Beal's defense. He is really sticking to his guy, running around screen and getting back on his guy, contesting shots, etc. I don't remember this at all from last year. He really seems to feel much more comfortable on both sides. I think he never felt totally comfortable last year on how aggressive he should be, deferring a bit too much, and I'm sure missing so much time from the back injury hurt and made him more tentative on both sides. Then he had the ankle landing on the guy and getting punched in the face and had to wear the mask. He was just never able to get into a groove with the team.

[kennydorglas]

Nurk somehow led the team in +/- but man, some of his turnovers were just gross, man. I've always thought of him as a good passer but y'all see A/TO rate this season? 3.7 TO and 1.6 APG puts his A/TO ratio at 0.43. For context, last year he averaged 4 APG and 2.3 TO, which is pretty good for a center. Being lighter has made him quicker on his feet, but he doesn't seem comfortable playing as fast as we're asking him to play. So far, Plumlee's given us better minutes. I've always liked Nurk, and I thought he was fantastic for us last season - being down on him is new for me.

I didn't catch most of Dunn's PT last night but it seems he's returned to earth - which is too bad, because the ROTY race this year is wide open.

Another solid showing from Bradley Beal. With 3 primary scorers on the roster, we don't to rely on any one of them for scoring - we should learn to feed the hot hand. I know he was WC player of last week, but Devin's shooting 42% from the field so far this year. Durant's at 55% and Beal 51%. No reason for Book to force shots with all these weapons on the roster.

Speaking of weapons, Royce O'Neal has really been cooking this season. 10/7/2/1/1 in 25 MPG on 50% FG and 47% 3FG, and being the toughest guy on the team every night. He's the team leader in +/- by a long shot. We might have a losing record without him.

I don't think +/- matters much with Nurk. He plays with the big 3 and we were up 17-10 when he sat, and when he came back in, in the second quarter, we were down 42-38...during that time only 1 or 2 of the big 3 were playing, This is all independent of Nurk.

As far as the shooting %s go, it's crazy KD is over 66% TS% so far this year and Beal over 63%. We have 3 players shooting over 43% from 3. Royce O'Neale also balling. One of the more impressive things to me is Beal's defense. He is really sticking to his guy, running around screen and getting back on his guy, contesting shots, etc. I don't remember this at all from last year. He really seems to feel much more comfortable on both sides. I think he never felt totally comfortable last year on how aggressive he should be, deferring a bit too much, and I'm sure missing so much time from the back injury hurt and made him more tentative on both sides. Then he had the ankle landing on the guy and getting punched in the face and had to wear the mask. He was just never able to get into a groove with the team.

Beal was very good defensively in college but when his offensive game expanded kinda took a toll on his defense.

Some guys never go back to actually playing defense (harden) but I'm glad he's doing it.

[ChuckS]

That last play by Paul George runs down the clock to 5 seconds then takes the hardest 2.

If he went 1 second earlier Maxey has a wide open 3 FTW.

Grayson was outstanding defending him 1 on 1.

Nurkic is getting closer to his usual seems to start seasons slowly.

I had to wait until someone posted an encouraging comment. I like Nurkic and think he and KD are simpatico. But he was kind of hard to defend while shooting 37.5% and with turnovers up from 2.3 last year to 3.5. Yes, last year's 51% shooting is mediocre for a center, but I think it could be good enough with this team's firepower. I like that he is an exceptional rebounder, which we critically need because of our overall size, and provides toughness, for an otherwise predominantly finesse team.

Then I remembered that last year he also had the best on-court and off-court numbers on the team. Those were only negative this year in the two early games against the Lakers, albeit at a whopping minus 39. But, and I admit I'm weird, even that encouraged me. It showed our summer planning worked. Plumlee had his two best games against those Lakers, with a plus 37. So we were at least able to win one. Don'tya love it when a plan comes together?

In the other five games he was a break even 0 and plus 3 in his best, and pretty good plusses in the others. In the first instance he had 18 points and 14 rebounds against two higher rated Mav's centers. I worried most about the center and point match ups before that one. In the second, he got Zubak in early foul trouble, then fouled him out late in the fourth. I think that was instrumental in our closing run to the win. In the other three wins he was a total plus 42 with 33 boards.

In summary, and I think the wins somewhat support this, I do not believe he has hurt us as much as has been suggested online and in the media. Certainly as in most cases, there are better. I just do not see a dire need for change at this time. Nor do I see obvious solutions. In the event that a change is needed, however, I would not object to a good scoring, defensive, four or five. It probably will not be easy, but who thought we would get Plumlee, Jones, Dunn, and Morris this summer?

[NapoleonII]

That last play by Paul George runs down the clock to 5 seconds then takes the hardest 2.

If he went 1 second earlier Maxey has a wide open 3 FTW.

Grayson was outstanding defending him 1 on 1.

Nurkic is getting closer to his usual seems to start seasons slowly.

I had to wait until someone posted an encouraging comment. I like Nurkic and think he and KD are simpatico. But he was kind of hard to defend while shooting 37.5% and with turnovers up from 2.3 last year to 3.5. Yes, last year's 51% shooting is mediocre for a center, but I think it could be good enough with this team's firepower. I like that he is an exceptional rebounder, which we critically need because of our overall size, and provides toughness, for an otherwise predominantly finesse team.

Then I remembered that last year he also had the best on-court and off-court numbers on the team. Those were only negative this year in the two early games against the Lakers, albeit at a whopping minus 39. But, and I admit I'm weird, even that encouraged me. It showed our summer planning worked. Plumlee had his two best games against those Lakers, with a plus 37. So we were at least able to win one. Don'tya love it when a plan comes together?

In the other five games he was a break even 0 and plus 3 in his best, and pretty good plusses in the others. In the first instance he had 18 points and 14 rebounds against two higher rated Mav's centers. I worried most about the center and point match ups before that one. In the second, he got Zubak in early foul trouble, then fouled him out late in the fourth. I think that was instrumental in our closing run to the win. In the other three wins he was a total plus 42 with 33 boards.

In summary, and I think the wins somewhat support this, I do not believe he has hurt us as much as has been suggested online and in the media. Certainly as in most cases, there are better. I just do not see a dire need for change at this time. Nor do I see obvious solutions. In the event that a change is needed, however, I would not object to a good scoring, defensive, four or five. It probably will not be easy, but who thought we would get Plumlee, Jones, Dunn, and Morris this summer?

I agree, and I can’t really back it up statistically, but I think Nurk brings a lot of intangible stuff - good screening, big body, toughness, rebounding, great chemistry with our offensive weapons.

I think Coach Bud is smart and savvy enough to find a balance of toning down Nurk’s role on offense, making him more of an interlocutor rather than a playmaker.

If he can be a net neutral on offense and defense but a positive rebounder and screener, that’s enough with our system and shooting threats.

[Revived]

Nurkic’s turnovers are what hurts the most. Had 5 turnovers and 2 assists yesterday.

That’s unacceptable. He’s not a playmaker that has the ball in his hands a bunch so turnovers should be expected.

It’s not worth playmaking through Nurkic or using Nurkic as a playmaker when he turns it over so much.

If this continues, it’s worth going Bol Bol/Plumlee for the C rotation.

[Qwigglez]

Is it a weak league at the moment?

Superstars are mostly 30+ and there aren't too many new ones carrying teams

Boston, OKC seem way ahead then there's maybe a bunch of 6 or 7.

Yeah, I was thinking of this too. Players have had way longer primes than usual, I definitely didn't think CP3, Harden, Kawhi, Curry, and many other players would still be so productive/efficient. I think a lot of newer players are being developed as a certain archetype like 3&D wing, and are potentially missing out becoming all-star like players. Maybe...

But anyway, I agree that Boston and OKC seem to be making the correct moves, I'd say San Antonio is doing a good job too so far. I'd even say Pelicans wouldn't be that bad if they could just get over the injury bug.

[sunsbg]

As expected Dunn dropped below 40% on 3s but still liked what I saw from him. 0-3 3PFG but the shots didn't look bad, two of those were short, one almost did go in. But anyway, defense was still very good, I don't think anyone defended by him scored during his time on the court. He also displayed very good ball handling on a drive and pass to Book at end of 3rd. He's definitely skilled and should not be limited to a 3 & D player going forward. Small sample size and role but a:to ratio is also good at 3:1.

[lilfishi22]

Is it a weak league at the moment?

Superstars are mostly 30+ and there aren't too many new ones carrying teams

Boston, OKC seem way ahead then there's maybe a bunch of 6 or 7.

It's a more even league. A bunch of teams that were suppose to be good have also been underperforming but you would expect they will improve like NY, Memphis, Dallas, Minny etc. But early season is always like this. Things will normalise over the 82 game season

[Qwigglez]

^This is what the commissioner wanted though, more parity. The only team outright tanking is the Jazz. Even the Blazers are 3-5 right now. The Bucks are 1-6... holy crap. Doc is not the right coach for that team IMO. They probably need someone more like Bud

I'm surprised the Warriors are 6-1 right now to be honest. Though, they haven't had a particularly tough schedule so far, winning against the Blazers, Jazz, Pelicans twice, and Wizards. Only loss is against the Clippers, and Hield shot 3-14. Clips, despite not having Kawhi are still a well-coached tough defensive team.

[lilfishi22]

^This is what the commissioner wanted though, more parity. The only team outright tanking is the Jazz. Even the Blazers are 3-5 right now. The Bucks are 1-6... holy crap. Doc is not the right coach for ANY team IMO. They probably need someone more like Bud

I'm surprised the Warriors are 6-1 right now to be honest. Though, they haven't had a particularly tough schedule so far, winning against the Blazers, Jazz, Pelicans twice, and Wizards. Only loss is against the Clippers, and Hield shot 3-14. Clips, despite not having Kawhi are still a well-coached tough defensive team.

FTFY