Official NBA General Discussion 2024-25 V1.0

[JB7]

these east play in games blew

The play-in is a terrible idea. It really doesn’t matter which bad lower seeds are going to get obliterated by the Cavs and Celtics, we know who is winning those series already.

I think it would actually work better with it expanded. Something like only the top 4 in each conference are guaranteed the playoffs and the 5 thru 12 seeds or something "play in".

It would really incentivize teams to be top 4 and give a fun little single elimination tournament. Like you said (and I will take it further), the 5 thru 8 seeds almost always lose anyways and are never true contenders. The real "playoffs" always have started in the 2nd round anyways.

In the East fine, but in the West, I don't know that you could argue that. All that separated the 2 seed (Rockets) from the 8 seed (Griz) was 4 wins, and 3 seed (lakers) to 8 seed was only 2 wins.

[WuTang_CMB]

Should just be 8 vs 9 and call those seeds wildcards
1 game playoff winner take all. 8th hosts
But game only happens if 9th is within 3 games back

[Dr Positivity]

The real purpose of the play-in was to have less tanking, like Davis would've never come back if they were out of it, etc. But I think you could get rid of the 7 vs 8 game and have that.

[tsherkin]

What stands out to me is the difference between him and Paolo for those numbers. Franz is at a +9.3 in on/off per 100 in his career while Paolo is at -4.8 in on/off per 100. That's a crazy difference. I would guess it looks like that because they stagger lineups where one of them is always on the floor, but it's insane how much better they are with just Franz than just Paolo.

Yeah, I mean Wagner is more of a legit playmaker than Paolo (although it's a strength for Banchero relative to his position), and it's interesting to note, no doubt.

Next year may well be Banchero's break-out year, though, so we'll see. His injury kind of cooked him a little, but he was flashing it at the start and near the end. If he becomes efficient, then we may see a very different level of performance next year.

[MiamiSPX]

Cavs (opponent doesn't matter)
Celtics
NY
Bucks

Thunder (opponent doesn't matter and won't win a game)
Golden State
Lakers
Denver

[tsherkin]

Franz started out ok from 3 in his career but is <30% 3pt the last two years,

There is more to shooting than just the 3pt shot. He's a VASTLY superior FT shooter, and better from the short mid-range spots as well. He's also a lot more mobile, pounding it inside 10 feet even as a guard.

and I'm not convinced Barnes is better on D, Franz being massive at SF seems like an advantage on that end and his on/off on D is good.

He isn't massive. He's like 6'9 with a +2" wingspan.

His 24ppg speaks for itself but the skillset doesn't seem that far from Barnes and Jalen Johnson power wing inside the arc type of game. I believe Barnes is more talented playmaker.

His ball handling is a lot better than Barnes, his mobility with the ball in general.

I don't see Barnes as a more talented playmaker, especially because he's incapable of doing some of the things Wagner does and because Barnes is considerably more prone to turnovers. And Wagner's Box Creation is better, while his cTOV% is 3% lower.

[Dr Positivity]

I feel Barnes from midrange is the one thing he has as a scorer.

[YogurtProducer]

The play-in is a terrible idea. It really doesn’t matter which bad lower seeds are going to get obliterated by the Cavs and Celtics, we know who is winning those series already.

I think it would actually work better with it expanded. Something like only the top 4 in each conference are guaranteed the playoffs and the 5 thru 12 seeds or something "play in".

It would really incentivize teams to be top 4 and give a fun little single elimination tournament. Like you said (and I will take it further), the 5 thru 8 seeds almost always lose anyways and are never true contenders. The real "playoffs" always have started in the 2nd round anyways.

In the East fine, but in the West, I don't know that you could argue that. All that separated the 2 seed (Rockets) from the 8 seed (Griz) was 4 wins, and 3 seed (lakers) to 8 seed was only 2 wins.

The west this year is also a huge anomaly.

[Buff]

I feel Barnes from midrange is the one thing he has as a scorer.

He had that baby hook in the post, used to be money. I haven't seen it on a couple of years.

[JB7]

I think it would actually work better with it expanded. Something like only the top 4 in each conference are guaranteed the playoffs and the 5 thru 12 seeds or something "play in".

It would really incentivize teams to be top 4 and give a fun little single elimination tournament. Like you said (and I will take it further), the 5 thru 8 seeds almost always lose anyways and are never true contenders. The real "playoffs" always have started in the 2nd round anyways.

In the East fine, but in the West, I don't know that you could argue that. All that separated the 2 seed (Rockets) from the 8 seed (Griz) was 4 wins, and 3 seed (lakers) to 8 seed was only 2 wins.

The west this year is also a huge anomaly.

Last season the West was also tight. Not as tight as this year, but the spread between the 4 seed and 10 seed was 5 wins. And the 1-3 seed were separated by a game. I don't see it changing much in the West, especially as SAS gets better.

[YogurtProducer]

In the East fine, but in the West, I don't know that you could argue that. All that separated the 2 seed (Rockets) from the 8 seed (Griz) was 4 wins, and 3 seed (lakers) to 8 seed was only 2 wins.

The west this year is also a huge anomaly.

Last season the West was also tight. Not as tight as this year, but the spread between the 4 seed and 10 seed was 5 wins. And the 1-3 seed were separated by a game. I don't see it changing much in the West, especially as SAS gets better.

And the 1, 2, 3, and 5 seeds won the series' which is exactly my point.

The first round (mostly) sucks already. Replace the first round with an expanded play-in type thing and have the "playoffs" start with the top 8 teams in the entire league and IMO we have a better product.

[Childs]

I feel Barnes from midrange is the one thing he has as a scorer.

He has that look behind him for 4 seconds, standing next to the net and dunking move.

[WuTang_CMB]

Lol

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=0YpMScWXY2zRUqR8fH-usg

[tsherkin]

I feel Barnes from midrange is the one thing he has as a scorer.

He's above average with some of his moves in the bottom half of the circle and on the left mid-post, for sure. Not something you can build a whole offensive game around but it's definitely something he's improved on.

[WaltFrazier]

Hawks heat tight finish

[Tripod]

Hawks heat tight finish

Good game

Risacher overwhelmed: 1-11 in 15 mins of play

[WaltFrazier]

Jaime Jaquez scored 41 on Sunday, played 1 minute in the first play in, and zero tonight. I googled to see if he's hurt and found this:

https://www.tmz.com/2025/03/24/erik-spolestra-ex-wife-nikki-rumors-dating-jaime-jaquez-jr/

[WaltFrazier]

Ex Raptor Davion coming up huge in OT. Assist, three, forces Trae to travel, another 3, draws foul on Mann

[Tripod]

Jaime Jaquez scored 41 on Sunday, played 1 minute in the first play in, and zero tonight. I googled to see if he's hurt and found this:

https://www.tmz.com/2025/03/24/erik-spolestra-ex-wife-nikki-rumors-dating-jaime-jaquez-jr/

He has had lots of games lately where he has barely played, 2, 4, 6 mins played in late March.

Davion dominating!

[Raps in 4]

Damn, Riley robbed Masai in the Davion trade.