Official NBA General Discussion 2024-25 V2.0

[AbC?]

Wow, OKC might choke a clear path to a championship. Props to Denver, taking it to 7 with all the pressure now on the Thunder.

[Tripod]

Crazy how a guy like I Joe was good in reg season yet doesn't play much in the playoffs

[djsunyc]

Nuggets or Knicks will win it all

or okc or indiana or minnesota but f ck boston

[mdenny]

Nuggets or Knicks will win it all

or okc or indiana or minnesota but f ck boston

Pretty tuff to hate Boston now after the Tatum injury.

I'll be pulling for them tomorrow night. It would be pretty cool to see them come back under such conditions.

[mdenny]

Chet and Jdubs are obviously both gonna get max extensions. The question is....can a team win with 2 of those kind of guys? Where they make a max but are amongst the lower level of max players?

They're gonna have to lose so many crucial players to accommodate those two salaries.

[NinjaBro]

Completely disagree. Yes, the issue stemmed from our desire to thread 2 eras (which just doesn't work) but many parties were at fault including FVV/Pascal and Masai. However, based on everything that's come out and been said along the way, it's clear Nick Nurse was a terrible leader in the locker room. He had limited conversation with players, banned his staff from speaking to the media, and had no desire to instill culture into the locker room. Once Kyle left, there was nothing to hold that locker room together and to account. FVV tried to step into that role but it didn't work, and a lot of people hate him for it.

What's the difference between us and the Warriors as we tried to maneuver 2 timelines? They still had Curry. We had no one once we lost Kyle.

While just as long as you COMPLETELY disagree, and you insist that it's a COMPLETE misread of the situation, then we should probably listen to your very balanced take /green font.

There's a lot of former scotty cult ppl desperately trying to salvage their talking points.

They choose to propagate a single quote from Masai to characterize several raptor players and coach as being selfish.

Fact is...Fred and siakam and OG and Nurse were all pissed off at the norm trade. Then they didn't get it done. Then they were given poetl and failed to get it down again. They were given two legit shots at it and didn't come through.

The scotty cult began propagating this ridiculous narrative that those guys were selfish and only concerned about their own well-being rather than winning. They repeat this nonsense over and over again just to propagate it. Meanwhile, golden child scotty is getting blocked on look-back showboat dunks while we're losing by 20 points. Meanwhile...the performances and roles of fred/siakam /OG on their new teams reveal the scotty cult narratives as ridiculous as they were.

The scotty cult literally colluded off-site to spam these narratives so that ppl would adopt them as a norm. Those that adopted them are still having trouble with cognitive dissonance: EVERYTHING WE'VE SEEN THE PAST 18 TO 24 MONTHS MAKES YOUR TALKING POINTS LOOK WRONG.

None of Fred or siakam or OG were the type to shwoboat while down by 20 points. Scotty is STILL doing it in his 4th season smh. Scotty was given the keys and has not shown ANYTHING to us in regards to ability or dedication to winning basketball. The cult ppl will try to spin stuff but none of it means anything. Fred and siakam and OG had already proved their commitment to winning basketball in their first two seasons and are still thriving as winning players today. All 3 were far more mature in how they carried themselves out the gate than scotty is now after his 4th season.

Pensare Basketball is the leader of the scottie cult. He poisoned the minds of all his followers and led them to drink the Kool aid. The fact that none of his followers called him out for his BS when he said he wouldn't trade scottie for Giannis, Luka and SGA is wild.

[gp2015]

Not sure I trust OKC's experience going into a big game 7.

[Brinbe]

Watch on YouTube

[NinjaBro]

Nugs taking game 7, never count out jokic.

[Son Goku 25]

Nuggets have been the better team overall and it hasn't been easy for the thunder. If nuggets didn't choke away that lead with those random 3 threes by Dort they could have advanced tonight.

[duppyy]

Nuggets have been the better team overall and it hasn't been easy for the thunder. If nuggets didn't choke away that lead with those random 3 threes by Dort they could have advanced tonight.

And OKC would have advanced already if their Coach didn't have a brain fart in game one. Lots of what ifs.

[JB7]

Chet and Jdubs are obviously both gonna get max extensions. The question is....can a team win with 2 of those kind of guys? Where they make a max but are amongst the lower level of max players?

They're gonna have to lose so many crucial players to accommodate those two salaries.

Yep, that's why their window was short, this season and next season. Once they have to pay Chet & J-Dub, and lose Dort and IH in the process, it all starts to fall apart.

[Boardbreaker]

J dub pissing his pants out there

[HumbleRen]

Chet and Jdubs are obviously both gonna get max extensions. The question is....can a team win with 2 of those kind of guys? Where they make a max but are amongst the lower level of max players?

They're gonna have to lose so many crucial players to accommodate those two salaries.

Yep, that's why their window was short, this season and next season. Once they have to pay Chet & J-Dub, and lose Dort and IH in the process, it all starts to fall apart.

It’s up to them. They can offer J Dub or Chet and like 6 picks for Giannis. No one will be able to outbid them for any star player rn.

Presti seems adverse to consolidations though.

[Los_29]

Nuggets/Thunder has been an incredible series. I have been very impressed with both teams. OKC have had two rough losses in this series and bounced back both times. They play hard night in and night out.

Denver had an incredibly quick turnaround after a 7 game series against the Clippers and have played hard and shown their championship experience and toughness.

[sidsid]

Can't think of bigger stakes for one player than winning or losing game 7 deciding whether Jdub is a Buck next year or not. No pressure.

[sidsid]

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.

Completely disagree. Yes, the issue stemmed from our desire to thread 2 eras (which just doesn't work) but many parties were at fault including FVV/Pascal and Masai. However, based on everything that's come out and been said along the way, it's clear Nick Nurse was a terrible leader in the locker room. He had limited conversation with players, banned his staff from speaking to the media, and had no desire to instill culture into the locker room. Once Kyle left, there was nothing to hold that locker room together and to account. FVV tried to step into that role but it didn't work, and a lot of people hate him for it.

What's the difference between us and the Warriors as we tried to maneuver 2 timelines? They still had Curry. We had no one once we lost Kyle.

There are many ways to interpret the post-bubble era, all with glimpses of validity.

Being absent of a true primary and promoting a high-degree of individualism wasn't good for the franchise. Everyone was out for themselves because they could be.

That stems from the signals of the FO. There were only 2 aspects of the franchise to make decisions around. Your star player in Siakam, and then the lotto pick in Barnes. The rest are role players with the caveat that OG's age and value means it makes sense for him to stay.

Then you announce "the vision". Seems very clear that you're building around Siakam/Barnes/OG with words like that! Except... you're not willing to pay Siakam (why keep him then???), and defying all logic... you're prioritizing a combo guard. Your final piece of the puzzle is prioritizing another role player at C that doesn't fit the vision to watch the non-vision play PNR and lose to the Bulls.

You end up alienating every piece of the vision along the way just so you can watch a combo guard get the bag somewhere else. It never made any sense.

[Tripod]

18.8% when you tie for taking the most shots...phew.

[Psubs]

Chet and Jdubs are obviously both gonna get max extensions. The question is....can a team win with 2 of those kind of guys? Where they make a max but are amongst the lower level of max players?

They're gonna have to lose so many crucial players to accommodate those two salaries.

Yep, that's why their window was short, this season and next season. Once they have to pay Chet & J-Dub, and lose Dort and IH in the process, it all starts to fall apart.

First you trade Isaiah Joe, then lose Kenrich Williams and Ousmane Dieng. Next would be Dort and Wiggins. Caruso makes too much. Maybe a team trades for him.

PG SGA - Topic
SG CasonWallace -
SF JalenW
PF Chet -
C Hartenstein - JaylinW

Add two 1st picks to fill the bench.

[ciueli]

Denver taking 2x the number of FTA as OKC in a deciding game, Jokic shooting almost as many FT as the entire OKC team, SGA picking up 4 fouls in the first half, OKC having to use challenges on missed Denver foul calls by the refs, none of this is suspicious, just a whole lot of home cooking for Denver I guess. I'm sure the NBA is happy they have a game 7 to show on Sunday though, nothing to see here.