2025 NBA Preseason Multi-Game Thread! (October 2-17)

[pepe1991]

What's endgame of Hornets never ending rebuild?
I'm watching their roster and from top to bottom it makes no sense.

[MMyhre]

No idea why Herb Jones is taking 6 threes and 13 shots in 24 minutes with Zion and Murphy in his team, should probably tune that down in-season. He was a good offensive player in 23-24, not looked good in a long time now. Cooked by injuries?

[MMyhre]

So far Amen has missed some easy midrange shots this game. If he could get that dialed in he would be a formidable point guard. I don’t even think he needs a great 3 ball right now with his speed

They (the Thompsons) absolutely do not need a 3 to be star players.

Thry do, however, need to be effective playmakers, make their free throws, and have some go to moves to score (floater, across the paint runner, whatever). Amen is ahead of Ausar in this regard — which is important, as one plays with one of the best PG in the league, and the other is on a potentially elite team that’s hurting at the point.

Kind of crazy that they were blessed with ultra elite athleticism, a love and knowledge of basketball, and really bad touch.

I don't necessarily think they have a bad touch from genetics, it's more likely that the game was too easy for them due to their size, length and athleticism as kids, so they didn't focus enough on the shooting and touch aspect of it as they just scored anyways. Who needs a floater or a jump shot when you can just run fast, jump high and dunk or get a layup? Of course that's just poor coaching though, Amen went 9-9 at the line and 2-3 from 3 so he has put in work. Ausar went 1-5 from the line for comparison...

[MMyhre]

Jabari Smith will have some of best looks players can have in nba this year. He just needs to be consistent shooter. And for damn sure shoot better than 34% for 3. Especially since 3 point shooting was one of his selling cards as highly drafted lottery prospect.

He has taken advantage of the attention and playmaking abilities of his teammates, and he looks really solid. He is at 47.3 % from 3pt in preseason, and he makes them very tough to guard with his spacing, ball handling and athleticism, he had a +/- of +23 in 22 minutes. The Rockets are emerging as more serious contenders than I thought.

The Rockets starters were a combined +93 in like 22-28 minutes played, and that's against a lean well playing Zion, Murphy, Poole, Herbert..not bad players. To be fair the interior defense of the Pelicans need some work, but it's impressive. Eason also came off the bench and delivered tons of rim pressure with his drives, and he will rack up steals and blocks while disrupting on defense. Capela was one of the best defenders a few years ago, idk about now, looks a bit slow. Sheppard is shooting well of the bench, has a bit too many turnovers, and they still have Finney-Smith for 3 & D returning soon... imagine if Van Vleet didn't die as well.. but it could be a blessing in disguise in terms of speeding up the development of Amen Thompson on ball.
Scary team. I am thinking OKC 1 Rockets 2 Nuggets 3 Clippers 4 in the west as of now.

[MMyhre]

Lonzo Ball 20 min, 9 pts, 3-5 fg, 2-3 3pt, 1-4 ft, 9 assists/2 to, 4 reb, 3 blk + 12. He had like 5 great assists in a row in the 3rd quarter, just nice bullet passes, lobs or creating off the dribble. They better wrap him up in protective gear now, would be cool if he could revive his career. Floor general.

[pepe1991]

Jabari Smith will have some of best looks players can have in nba this year. He just needs to be consistent shooter. And for damn sure shoot better than 34% for 3. Especially since 3 point shooting was one of his selling cards as highly drafted lottery prospect.

He has taken advantage of the attention and playmaking abilities of his teammates, and he looks really solid. He is at 47.3 % from 3pt in preseason, and he makes them very tough to guard with his spacing, ball handling and athleticism, he had a +/- of +23 in 22 minutes. The Rockets are emerging as more serious contenders than I thought.

The Rockets starters were a combined +93 in like 22-28 minutes played, and that's against a lean well playing Zion, Murphy, Poole, Herbert..not bad players. To be fair the interior defense of the Pelicans need some work, but it's impressive. Eason also came off the bench and delivered tons of rim pressure with his drives, and he will rack up steals and blocks while disrupting on defense. Capela was one of the best defenders a few years ago, idk about now, looks a bit slow. Sheppard is shooting well of the bench, has a bit too many turnovers, and they still have Finney-Smith for 3 & D returning soon... imagine if Van Vleet didn't die as well.. but it could be a blessing in disguise in terms of speeding up the development of Amen Thompson on ball.
Scary team. I am thinking OKC 1 Rockets 2 Nuggets 3 Clippers 4 in the west as of now.

During summer in one conversation about *true * contenders i only had 3 potential championship winners for 2026. OKC, Houston and Denver.

Vleet injury will hurt Houston, but as long as Durant- Amen- Segun are healthy, supporting cast will have easiest jobs in their lives when it comes to good looks.

Jabari should benefit a lot from spacing. Sheppard needs to do little play making and be reliable shooter and not get killed on defense.


Clippers have solid team, but i simply don't trust them.

[MMyhre]

Jabari Smith will have some of best looks players can have in nba this year. He just needs to be consistent shooter. And for damn sure shoot better than 34% for 3. Especially since 3 point shooting was one of his selling cards as highly drafted lottery prospect.

He has taken advantage of the attention and playmaking abilities of his teammates, and he looks really solid. He is at 47.3 % from 3pt in preseason, and he makes them very tough to guard with his spacing, ball handling and athleticism, he had a +/- of +23 in 22 minutes. The Rockets are emerging as more serious contenders than I thought.

The Rockets starters were a combined +93 in like 22-28 minutes played, and that's against a lean well playing Zion, Murphy, Poole, Herbert..not bad players. To be fair the interior defense of the Pelicans need some work, but it's impressive. Eason also came off the bench and delivered tons of rim pressure with his drives, and he will rack up steals and blocks while disrupting on defense. Capela was one of the best defenders a few years ago, idk about now, looks a bit slow. Sheppard is shooting well of the bench, has a bit too many turnovers, and they still have Finney-Smith for 3 & D returning soon... imagine if Van Vleet didn't die as well.. but it could be a blessing in disguise in terms of speeding up the development of Amen Thompson on ball.
Scary team. I am thinking OKC 1 Rockets 2 Nuggets 3 Clippers 4 in the west as of now.

During summer in one conversation about *true * contenders i only had 3 potential championship winners for 2026. OKC, Houston and Denver.

Vleet injury will hurt Houston, but as long as Durant- Amen- Segun are healthy, supporting cast will have easiest jobs in their lives when it comes to good looks.

Jabari should benefit a lot from spacing. Sheppard needs to do little play making and be reliable shooter and not get killed on defense.


Clippers have solid team, but i simply don't trust them.

Yeah, their average is the oldest in NBA with 28,64 years, and with your two best offensive players being 36 and 34 with an extensive injury history it's hard to see them last all the way. They are really good at their best though, they played the Nuggets starters to pretty much a draw in a high intensity game.

[MMyhre]

Murray has looked great all preseason. For the first time in a long time, he's going to start the season healthy. This is his all-star season if he wants it.

Jamal Murray against Derrick Jones Jr and Kris Dunn: 20 min, 7 pts, 3-9 fg, 1-4 3pt, 0 ft, 3 ast/3 to, -3. He still doesn't have the speed and jumping ability he used to have, and against better defenders he can still be shut down until proven otherwise. The Bulls are pretty terrible defensively, and Okoro has also been terrible in preseason and has only ok to mediocre advanced stats defensively.

If he starts dropping efficient 30 bombs on OKC, Rockets or the Magic we can talk. His game has always been nice, his skill is undeniable. He is Kobeesque on that front, it's just that his injuries have sapped so much of his athleticism that he just struggles too much off the dribble or at the rim against more athletic and long defenders/teams.

The Thunder had him in hell when I watched last year, he went 6-17 fg, 1-5 3pt, and only 4 free throw attempts -17. If he somehow got into the paint, Chet just walled him off there (he had like 4-6 blocks, some unofficial ones and was a +32 in 26 minutes).

Now you look at that play yesterday where he jumps just a little bit higher than Zach Collins coming down full speed on a drive into Collins just doing a standing jump sideways... he barely gets a layup off before he lands, but that's getting blocked or defended by a longer or more athletic player than Collins.
I do agree that he looks better than last year, but he used to do this off the dribble:

Watch on YouTube

And he clearly does not have that springiness in his legs anymore.

[MMyhre]

Blazers and the Warriors were pretty evenly matched. Curry had a big game, but there was no Camara to hound him on defense. No Butler or Green either though.

Clingan looks out of shape/chubby and slow, he has almost no lift on his jumps and got blocked by a 100 year old Horford at the rim and was a -6 with 0 blocks in 20 min. He gets a lot of easy baskets off playmaking, and rebounds from his size (statpadded at least 4 offensive rebs from his own misses though), but long term I see Yang Hansen challenging for that starting spot unless Clingan gets in better shape.

Honestly none of their centers are mobile enough to compliment the Blazers decent perimeter defense, they would be better with a more mobile big man. I think it's telling that Yang Hansen also was a -12 in just 20 min, they just have too slow feet to keep up in this fast paced 3pt and space era.

Shaedon Sharpe might be a three pointer away from All Star consideration, unfortunately it does not seem to be consistent, yet. 4-8, then 2-6 and now 1-5 from 3pt land. He is not a playmaker as well, so it's hard to see a very high ceiling on him for now.

[MMyhre]

Shai might be even better. He is making better passing reads than before and his 3 point form looks better.

I was expecting him to get better, he basically had to 1v9 on offense at times last year. That makes this like childs play for him.. I am just waiting to see Chet and J-Dub, if they don't improve offensively this season Shai might put up enough stats and efficiency for a back2back MVP.

It's hard to see any of the role players making a huge leap offensively, they are defensive by nature. Maybe Dort has a better 3pt year, Barnhizer seems to have more potential than Wallace as an offensive player, but I expect more in year 2 from him there.

Chet Holmgren is the big wild card that can make this team unstoppable, I will be a bit annoyed if he doesn't play on saturday. Will his three pointer and strength/size be improved?

For the Bucks, Kevin Porter Jr is looking better this season. If he can get back to a more efficient 19 pts and 6 assists this season, the Bucks can do something if the role players heat up alongside Turner to help Giannis. It's just a bit of a wild group of outcasts in Cole Anthony, Kuzma, Gary Trent Jr and Porter Jr.. not sure if I would trust them to stay consistent for a year.

[MMyhre]

Luka Doncic is going to put up a lot of stats this year and make an MVP push.
Ayton with 10 pts, 13 reb (5oreb), 2 stl and 3 blk is impressive in 26 min with a +3.
I just think it's going to take time to get this team rolling without LeBron, Smart, Adou Thiero and Luka being integrated into the team yet. But I could see them doing some damage by December if they get a good defensive scheme going.

Jared Butler showcased that he might be able to start for some teams in the league. Decent playmaking and scoring, he is going to put up points, assists and steals as a 6th man for the Suns. It was against some soft defense but he was hitting a lot of tough threes and contested shots.

[SkyHook]

Jared Butler showcased that he might be able to start for some teams in the league. Decent playmaking and scoring, he is going to put up points, assists and steals as a 6th man for the Suns. It was against some soft defense but he was hitting a lot of tough threes and contested shots.

Nice to see Butler have a stellar game. I would have preferred the Jazz to have had far more patience with him. There were a few games his rookie year that showed glimmers of something special.

[nomansland]

If he starts dropping efficient 30 bombs on OKC, Rockets or the Magic we can talk.

That's an absurdly high bar to set.

[MMyhre]

If he starts dropping efficient 30 bombs on OKC, Rockets or the Magic we can talk.

That's an absurdly high bar to set.

I mean Jamal Murray averaged like what, 32.5 pts, 6.3 reb, 5.3 assists on 65.1 ts % against the Lakers in 4 games back in the 2023 WCF? And you think it's an absurdly high bar to ask of just one efficient 30 pt game against a good defensive team from him? Sure, if he gets 25 and they win that's nice too, but they might need 30+ from him to beat those teams. We'll see, I am not 100 % sold on him yet, but that crossover into the three was nice.

[MMyhre]

Jared Butler showcased that he might be able to start for some teams in the league. Decent playmaking and scoring, he is going to put up points, assists and steals as a 6th man for the Suns. It was against some soft defense but he was hitting a lot of tough threes and contested shots.

Nice to see Butler have a stellar game. I would have preferred the Jazz to have had far more patience with him. There were a few games his rookie year that showed glimmers of something special.

I think people are less patient with non-athletic or lengthy standouts in this league, it's all about size, jumping ability and speed nowadays. So a player that solely relies on skill and timing like Butler may have to wait longer to get an opportunity to shine, this may be that chance.

[nomansland]

If he starts dropping efficient 30 bombs on OKC, Rockets or the Magic we can talk.

That's an absurdly high bar to set.

I mean Jamal Murray averaged like what, 32.5 pts, 6.3 reb, 5.3 assists on 65.1 ts % against the Lakers in 4 games back in the 2023 WCF? And you think it's an absurdly high bar to ask of just one efficient 30 pt game against a good defensive team from him? Sure, if he gets 25 and they win that's nice too, but they might need 30+ from him to beat those teams. We'll see, I am not 100 % sold on him yet, but that crossover into the three was nice.

Who was on that Lakers team guarding him? Schroeder's a good defender, sure, I really respect him, but he's not a guy that has the league game planning around him. Who else did they have? Russell and Reaves? hmph.

You're saying he has to score 30 some amazing defenders and defensive teams to prove he's a great player or have a great season. He can still have a great season and maybe just put up a mere average scoring night against them.

[MMyhre]

That's an absurdly high bar to set.

I mean Jamal Murray averaged like what, 32.5 pts, 6.3 reb, 5.3 assists on 65.1 ts % against the Lakers in 4 games back in the 2023 WCF? And you think it's an absurdly high bar to ask of just one efficient 30 pt game against a good defensive team from him? Sure, if he gets 25 and they win that's nice too, but they might need 30+ from him to beat those teams. We'll see, I am not 100 % sold on him yet, but that crossover into the three was nice.

Who was on that Lakers team guarding him? Schroeder's a good defender, sure, I really respect him, but he's not a guy that has the league game planning around him. Who else did they have? Russell and Reaves? hmph.

You're saying he has to score 30 some amazing defenders and defensive teams to prove he's a great player or have a great season. He can still have a great season and maybe just put up a mere average scoring night against them.

I am just putting down the brakes on the Murray hypetrain until I see him doing it when it gets tough.
Murray can get hot against anyone just with his jump shot, but can he get easier buckets near the rim and get more to the line? In 19-20 he had more attempts at the rim and a higher % of makes, despite being assisted less. In the playoffs in 2020 he got to the rim more than last year and got extra points + any eventual and1 points as well vs last year.

For example, 05 Wade had 102 attempts at the rim in 14 games in the playoffs.
25 Murray had 35 attempts in 14 games.

Thus he was less reliant on his jump shot in the bubble, a statistically lower % shot, than he is now. And he might need easier shots to help the Nuggets win in the postseason.

[nomansland]

I mean Jamal Murray averaged like what, 32.5 pts, 6.3 reb, 5.3 assists on 65.1 ts % against the Lakers in 4 games back in the 2023 WCF? And you think it's an absurdly high bar to ask of just one efficient 30 pt game against a good defensive team from him? Sure, if he gets 25 and they win that's nice too, but they might need 30+ from him to beat those teams. We'll see, I am not 100 % sold on him yet, but that crossover into the three was nice.

Who was on that Lakers team guarding him? Schroeder's a good defender, sure, I really respect him, but he's not a guy that has the league game planning around him. Who else did they have? Russell and Reaves? hmph.

You're saying he has to score 30 some amazing defenders and defensive teams to prove he's a great player or have a great season. He can still have a great season and maybe just put up a mere average scoring night against them.

I am just putting down the brakes on the Murray hypetrain until I see him doing it when it gets tough.
Murray can get hot against anyone just with his jump shot, but can he get easier buckets near the rim and get more to the line? In 19-20 he had more attempts at the rim and a higher % of makes, despite being assisted less. In the playoffs in 2020 he got to the rim more than last year and got extra points + any eventual and1 points as well vs last year.

For example, 05 Wade had 102 attempts at the rim in 14 games in the playoffs.
25 Murray had 35 attempts in 14 games.

Thus he was less reliant on his jump shot in the bubble, a statistically lower % shot, than he is now. And he might need easier shots to help the Nuggets win in the postseason.

I don't see how a Wade comparison from 20 years ago really applies, but fine, pump the brakes. I prefer that people sleep on the Nuggets anyway.

[zeebneeb]

Watching the Raps/Celts game, and I am not liking the Raps starting lineup. Now its preseason, and its gonna take time to gel, but its clunky as hell. Looks awkward as hell.

[amcoolio]

Charlotte looks best starting the two rookies around Ball, Miller and Miles. They both just play winning basketball. And the two highest +/- on the team tonight, Kon Knueppel is +26, Kalkbrenner +21