Official NBA General Discussion 2024-25 V2.0

[LBJKB24MJ23]

So is Brunson vs FVV still a thing ?

[ForeverTFC]

If you watch the press conference with Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal, you can really see that Tyrese respects Pascal, and is open to his guidance.

I think a common narrative was that Pascal was selfish and didn't fit in with Scottie. I'm beginning to think that perhaps Scottie didn't respect Pascal enough, and wasn't open to his guidance in the same way that Tyrese is.

So perhaps we've been asking the wrong questions. Maybe the real point is that Pascal is great with young players, and it's one of the central reasons the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Maybe Scottie needs to learn to take feedback? Perhaps if he did, then. Scottie would have been a better player and our team with both Scottie and Pascal would be excelling right now?

https://youtu.be/PuVR4wPnfeg?si=cOKX0CLrF4zbns0g

I think this is a complete mis-read of the situation. I'm not sure that Pascal and Scottie had issues with eachother. Pascal may have not liked Scottie being put above him in the order and prioritized, and he has every right to feel that way. But let's also remember:

1. Thorpe is Pascal's trainer
2. Thorpe was the one getting a lot of intel about how bad our locker room was, including some of the stuff coming out about Scottie's work ethic
3. At one point, Thorpe talked about Nurse losing the locker room and proposed Watson as the replacement
4. Watson was brought on to our staff by Pascal's agent and was working with Pascal privately before joining Nurse' staff
5. It came out later that Watson attempted a coup against Nurse and went after his job

So tangentially, Pascal was connected to a lot of what was happening with this franchise in that last year. I love Pascal and I don't think he's a selfish guy. But there also was a reason why Masai called him out, I just think he used the wrong words.

[HiJiNX]

Our Raps fanbase are hilarious. The only fanbase that legitimately thinks Siakam is the best player on the pacers.

You know why Haliburton and Siakam works way better together than Scottie and Siakam? It’s because Haliburton can average 20/10 on elite efficiency on any given night as a lead guard.

Haliburton and Buddy Hield were a better duo than Siakam and Scottie. Why? Because of Haliburton. Haliburton and Carlisle are basically the modern day Nash/Dantoni. You plug any competent player in that system and they will thrive.

Siakam and Scottie both literally averaged 23/8/5 a piece for a month playing elite defence and we still lost 65% of our games that month. Why? Because you need an all nba caliber lead guard beside those archetypes. You need deep depth and shooting across the board. That was never going to happen with Scottie and Siakam both on the team.

Do people really think Siakam is the best player on the pacers?

He was last year. This year Haliburton has bounced back.

[tsherkin]

He was last year. This year Haliburton has bounced back.

Was he? The league's leading playmaker, who scored an efficient 20 ppg, versus 41 games from Siakam scoring 1 more ppg?

[AkelaLoneWolf]

If you watch the press conference with Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal, you can really see that Tyrese respects Pascal, and is open to his guidance.

I think a common narrative was that Pascal was selfish and didn't fit in with Scottie. I'm beginning to think that perhaps Scottie didn't respect Pascal enough, and wasn't open to his guidance in the same way that Tyrese is.

So perhaps we've been asking the wrong questions. Maybe the real point is that Pascal is great with young players, and it's one of the central reasons the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Maybe Scottie needs to learn to take feedback? Perhaps if he did, then. Scottie would have been a better player and our team with both Scottie and Pascal would be excelling right now?

https://youtu.be/PuVR4wPnfeg?si=cOKX0CLrF4zbns0g

Jeeez. This Pacers team fits Pascal just better than the trash Masai builded. There was never stuff going on between Siakam and Barnes. Casual Raptors stan being overdramatic.

I agree. Scottie is trash. Better trade him now.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

So is Brunson vs FVV still a thing ?

Damn two desperate now that OG and pascal in ecf while ya boy Scottie partying in Galveston bay.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

Delusional Raptors Stan detected

what are you talking about? den/okc series is the championship right now. i don't expect either knicks or pacers to compete against them.

This is what I'm talking about "Raptors can compete next year". Oh and, Knicks gonna eat the thunders alive. Denver is trash.

Better delusional than a loser two fan.

[AbC?]

OKC's bespoke use of Alex Caruso is paying off

Let's finish with a closer analysis of one of the NBA's best role players. Caruso isn't just an elite defender compared with his peers; it's not an exaggeration to say that he's one of the best defenders of the 21st century.

According to xRAPM, an advanced metric that measures a player's impact based on factors such as individual stats and his teammates, the most valuable defenders in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97) are, in order: Kevin Garnett, Dikembe Mutombo, Caruso, Draymond Green, Rudy Gobert, Tim Duncan and Ben Wallace. Caruso is surrounded by Defensive Player of the Year winners, and he and Tony Allen (18th) are the only guards in the top 25.

The Thunder knew what they were getting when they traded Josh Giddey for Caruso last summer. Caruso won't post the same gaudy counting stats as Giddey -- but the former champion with the Lakers fits much better as a clutch option in the playoffs.

The only problem with Caruso's game is that he has been injury prone throughout his NBA career, thanks to his extreme hustle and physical style. So the Thunder embraced an individualized load-management approach for him this season, as Caruso played his fewest minutes since 2018-19. He took plenty of off days (as a non-All-Star, he's not subject to the league's player participation policy).

Caruso's season high in minutes was 31, in a two-point win over the Clippers in March; that was his only game in the regular season with more than 27 minutes played. For comparison, Caruso played more than 27 minutes in 47 games as a member of the Chicago Bulls last year.

Coach Mark Daigneault has continued to conserve Caruso in the playoffs. After all, he has only so many jumps and lunges and hustle plays in his body; why waste them in games the Thunder are already guaranteed to win?

In Game 1 against Memphis, Caruso was a plus-30 in 12 minutes in the first half despite not attempting a shot. The Thunder were winning in a blowout, so Caruso didn't get off the bench after halftime. Similarly, in the Thunder's Game 2 rout of the Nuggets, Caruso played 10 minutes in the first half then sat the rest of the game.

But in close games, Caruso looks fresh, plays more and shines. He caused several clutch turnovers in the Thunder's big comeback win in Memphis in Game 3. He tallied 20 points, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks in Game 1 against the Nuggets. And he helped stabilize the Thunder on both ends in a must-win Game 4 in Denver.

The Thunder closed that game with a lineup of Caruso, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein -- their starting lineup but with Caruso in Luguentz Dort's place. That particular quintet didn't play a single minute together in the regular season, but it might be the best unit at Daigneault's disposal.

If anything, Caruso deserves an even larger role going forward. According to box plus-minus, entering Tuesday's games, Caruso had been the second-most valuable per-minute player in the playoffs this year, behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo. And the Thunder had a plus-22.7 net rating with him on the floor. (The top three players in net rating in the playoffs are OKC's Cason Wallace, Caruso and Aaron Wiggins, which underscores just how productive its bench has been.)

There was a lot of criticism from the usual suspects about the Caruso trade, but his impact in these playoffs is exactly why they brought him in. Great trade for both teams.

[Pointgod]

Our Raps fanbase are hilarious. The only fanbase that legitimately thinks Siakam is the best player on the pacers.

You know why Haliburton and Siakam works way better together than Scottie and Siakam? It’s because Haliburton can average 20/10 on elite efficiency on any given night as a lead guard.

Haliburton and Buddy Hield were a better duo than Siakam and Scottie. Why? Because of Haliburton. Haliburton and Carlisle are basically the modern day Nash/Dantoni. You plug any competent player in that system and they will thrive.

Siakam and Scottie both literally averaged 23/8/5 a piece for a month playing elite defence and we still lost 65% of our games that month. Why? Because you need an all nba caliber lead guard beside those archetypes. You need deep depth and shooting across the board. That was never going to happen with Scottie and Siakam both on the team.

Preach

[WaltFrazier]

Tony Brothers sent in to extend the series.

Read on Twitter

[deeps6x]

Starting to watch a recording of the GSW Minny game. Ref #60. Is he blind, drunk, incompetent or just on the take? Watched Butler lay out a player right in front of him. No call. Watched two players fighting for a rebound seconds later, 3 feet in front of his face, GSW player was last to touch the ball, clearly, with both hands, before it goes out of bounds, and he doesn't award the ball to Minny. Had to go to the Replay for the Blind people to decide it for him. But oh, he is quick to make iffy calls in GSW's favor.

Aren't we supposed to be getting the best of the best refs working these playoff games?

I have no stake in the outcome, but after seeing this, I wanted Minny to beat the spread by 20, just to spite this clown.

Too bad Curry couldn't play. Minny probably will blow them out now.

[Brinbe]

SGA/Chet
Ant/Randle
Hali/Siakam
Brunson/Kat

[WaltFrazier]

Podz heroic in defeat here.

I think defeat, 13 point lead with two minutes

[WaltFrazier]

Happy to see another old guard team lose. Only bad thing is Draymond will likely be on TNT panel next round

[Los_29]

Great effort from the Celtics. They stepped up without their best player. Just not sure they can win two more against a good team like the Knicks.

I feel awful for Tatum. He’s a great player and a class act. I’m excited to see him back.

Minnesota played a team without their best player but I still like what I’m seeing.

[SirKen]

One of SGA/Ant/Brunson/Haliburton getting a ring would be great for the league. The future is now.

I still think OKC should win it all but their offense been disappointing this series to me. They have had great shot quality according to second spectrum and are just shooting very poorly, so maybe that flips soon.


shout out Joker though, I was getting worried. 2 out of 5 great games is fine vs this defense and how they are defending him is fine.

I want Conley to get one before retirement, so my vote is for Ant.

[WuTang_CMB]

TImberwolves have been great all playoffs. Randle has completely done a 180 and has stepped up big time.
They got length, defense, depth and a star

[ATLTimekeeper]

If you watch the press conference with Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal, you can really see that Tyrese respects Pascal, and is open to his guidance.

I think a common narrative was that Pascal was selfish and didn't fit in with Scottie. I'm beginning to think that perhaps Scottie didn't respect Pascal enough, and wasn't open to his guidance in the same way that Tyrese is.

So perhaps we've been asking the wrong questions. Maybe the real point is that Pascal is great with young players, and it's one of the central reasons the Pacers are in the Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.

Maybe Scottie needs to learn to take feedback? Perhaps if he did, then. Scottie would have been a better player and our team with both Scottie and Pascal would be excelling right now?

https://youtu.be/PuVR4wPnfeg?si=cOKX0CLrF4zbns0g

I think this is a complete mis-read of the situation. I'm not sure that Pascal and Scottie had issues with eachother. Pascal may have not liked Scottie being put above him in the order and prioritized, and he has every right to feel that way. But let's also remember:

1. Thorpe is Pascal's trainer
2. Thorpe was the one getting a lot of intel about how bad our locker room was, including some of the stuff coming out about Scottie's work ethic
3. At one point, Thorpe talked about Nurse losing the locker room and proposed Watson as the replacement
4. Watson was brought on to our staff by Pascal's agent and was working with Pascal privately before joining Nurse' staff
5. It came out later that Watson attempted a coup against Nurse and went after his job

So tangentially, Pascal was connected to a lot of what was happening with this franchise in that last year. I love Pascal and I don't think he's a selfish guy. But there also was a reason why Masai called him out, I just think he used the wrong words.

The decision to get younger led to a lot of bets that didn't pay off, but along the way you get the sense that there were sore feelings with how Masai handled the transition.

Norm was crestfallen.
Siakam was ghosted, which Masai apologized for in tears.
Fred had to read between the lines how the team wanted to use him in his UFA year. Masai went and said they might be better off with Dennis Schroder. Schroder was lied to about his role on the team.

This is what bad culture looks like, and it all directly leads back to Masai. Yes, Scottie was immature, but he was given grace for being a lotto pick. The team went on the defensive to protect him, and it would only pay off if Scottie actually became a worthy franchise player. We haven't seen that Scottie yet, and so right now it looks like we tore up the team and made excuses for Josh Smith 2.0.

Bad bets, bad communication, bad results.

[MiamiSPX]

I guess I am in the minority that thought GS didn't win that Butler trade. I think they both lost. Butler hoodwinked GS into paying him. No team should want to pay him in his age 36 and 37 seasons. Not to mention if he puts up decent enough numbers in that last season, it will get ugly once again when he starts demanding an extension.

And Miami, well, they get to look forward to watching Andrew Wiggins for 2 more years, which is as frustrating as it gets.

[WaltFrazier]

TImberwolves have been great all playoffs. Randle has completely done a 180 and has stepped up big time.
They got length, defense, depth and a star

Yes they're playing great. Tough to beat OKC though