2024-25 NBA Season Discussion

[70sFan]

The 1971 Chicago Bulls were a 7.91 SRS team for goodness' sakes.

As opposed to the juggernaut 1986 Bucks team?

[jalengreen]

This mini-era is also weak,

Any particular reason you think this is the case?

I don't have a reason for it but three teams from the last two seasons having top 8 net ratings ever ('25 Thunder 2nd, '24 Celtics 5th, '25 Cavaliers 8th) does strike me as a little suspicious. I suppose a reasonable explanation beyond it being a weaker era would be that the current meta lends itself more to better teams blowing worse teams out - IIRC the Thunder are on track to break the record for most double digit point wins.

(Separately I do think ~2021-23 was a weaker run of playoff fields but I don't think that applies to now)

[TheGOATRises007]

The post-Russell, pre-ABA Merger NBA is by far the weakest mini-era in NBA history. It's always been a travesty that the 1972 Lakers and 1971 Bucks get celebrated by real analysts as GOAT-level teams. The 1971 Chicago Bulls were a 7.91 SRS team for goodness' sakes.

This mini-era is also weak, thought not nearly as weak as the aforementioned one. OKC and CLE are getting overrated in a historical sense by SRS and other metrics.

That said, neither is a "pretender." Both are legit contenders. OKC should be the favorites to win the title. Honestly, I think Cleveland, if healthy, will clown the true imposter team, which is Boston. To be honest though, I don't even think Boston gets to Cleveland. All Boston has to do is face a healthy team, and they are done.

My hope for Cleveland is that when the going gets tough in the playoffs, they give the reigns to Darius Garland. Garland got deserved hype in Year 3, then had to contend w/ a high-USG% low-iq chucker in Mitchell sucking oxygen from the offense, and it somewhat stymied Garland's confidence, creativity and certainly his primacy. I feel Cleveland has improved that dynamic, and it should make them more resilient in the playoffs this year.

How are Boston a true imposter team when they were a 10+SRS team last season and rolled through the playoffs?

That makes no sense at all.

[TheGOATRises007]

Pretty big game tonight between the Warriors/Nuggets.

Curious to see how it plays out. The Nuggets are slipping lately. If the Warriors win, their momentum might carry them to a top 4 seed which seemed unfathomable before the Butler trade.

[Statlanta]

How are Boston a true imposter team when they were a 10+SRS team last season and rolled through the playoffs?

That makes no sense at all.

All the injuries(Miami, Cleveland, Indiana all injured), almost reminiscient of the 2015 Warriors. Credit to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for being durable players(and dealing with their own injuries with Porzingis) but that was not an all-time team that played in the playoffs last year.

[TheGOATRises007]

How are Boston a true imposter team when they were a 10+SRS team last season and rolled through the playoffs?

That makes no sense at all.

All the injuries(Miami, Cleveland, Indiana all injured), almost reminiscient of the 2015 Warriors. Credit to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for being durable players(and dealing with their own injuries with Porzingis) but that was not an all-time team that played in the playoffs last year.

So you think the 2015 Warriors were also an imposter team?

And I don't think any of those injuries change anything. Celtics went 16-3 in the postseason with a good net rating.

[bigboi]

League needs to force Zion to be traded. Literally wasting him. If he had went to NY in the first place, ratings would’ve been through the roof. Dude should’ve been the face of the league long time ago

[jalengreen]

Pretty big game tonight between the Warriors/Nuggets.

Curious to see how it plays out. The Nuggets are slipping lately. If the Warriors win, their momentum might carry them to a top 4 seed which seemed unfathomable before the Butler trade.

Just tuned in to see that Jokic and Murray aren't playing lmao, so much for that (though the Nuggets are still winning but I imagine that won't last)

[Outside]

How are Boston a true imposter team when they were a 10+SRS team last season and rolled through the playoffs?

That makes no sense at all.

All the injuries(Miami, Cleveland, Indiana all injured), almost reminiscient of the 2015 Warriors. Credit to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for being durable players(and dealing with their own injuries with Porzingis) but that was not an all-time team that played in the playoffs last year.

So you think the 2015 Warriors were also an imposter team?

And I don't think any of those injuries change anything. Celtics went 16-3 in the postseason with a good net rating.

2015 Warriors only won because of injuries. Same team in 2016 was one of the most stacked teams of all time. Celtics have been very good and gotten better, yet when they win, they're imposters.

Can’t win against the narrative crew.

[Doctor MJ]

So a note on the parity of the lack of dominance demonstrated by having a different champion every year:

It can be caused by stagnant mediocrity,
but it can also be caused by a rapid tactical arms race.

What we're seeing is the latter, and it's causing a situation where champions aren't just getting better era-to-era, but much better as new leaps forward in approach are made not even year-to-year, but game-by-game in an era where each NBA team can afford to have every other NBA game scouted on video, and any new approaches identified and stolen if useful.

I would suggest that it cannot be reasonably argued that this era represents any kind of competitive weakness, and those who think they spot it, are using the narrative of the former as proxy for direct basketball evaluation.

Mind you as I say this, I think we all use proxies in our analysis, and often we don't realize it

[jalengreen]

Pretty big game tonight between the Warriors/Nuggets.

Curious to see how it plays out. The Nuggets are slipping lately. If the Warriors win, their momentum might carry them to a top 4 seed which seemed unfathomable before the Butler trade.

Just tuned in to see that Jokic and Murray aren't playing lmao, so much for that (though the Nuggets are still winning but I imagine that won't last)

Or it will lol. Healthily scraping past the Lakers sans Bron/Luka/DFS/Rui/Vincent, losing to the Wizards, and beating the mostly? healthy Warriors sans Jokic/Murray is a funny three game run for Denver

[GSP]

The post-Russell, pre-ABA Merger NBA is by far the weakest mini-era in NBA history. It's always been a travesty that the 1972 Lakers and 1971 Bucks get celebrated by real analysts as GOAT-level teams. The 1971 Chicago Bulls were a 7.91 SRS team for goodness' sakes.

This mini-era is also weak, thought not nearly as weak as the aforementioned one. OKC and CLE are getting overrated in a historical sense by SRS and other metrics.

That said, neither is a "pretender." Both are legit contenders. OKC should be the favorites to win the title. Honestly, I think Cleveland, if healthy, will clown the true imposter team, which is Boston. To be honest though, I don't even think Boston gets to Cleveland. All Boston has to do is face a healthy team, and they are done.

My hope for Cleveland is that when the going gets tough in the playoffs, they give the reigns to Darius Garland. Garland got deserved hype in Year 3, then had to contend w/ a high-USG% low-iq chucker in Mitchell sucking oxygen from the offense, and it somewhat stymied Garland's confidence, creativity and certainly his primacy. I feel Cleveland has improved that dynamic, and it should make them more resilient in the playoffs this year.

How are Boston a true imposter team when they were a 10+SRS team last season and rolled through the playoffs?

That makes no sense at all.

We got a far easier path w/ Jimmy, Mitchell and Haliburton injuries but mofos act like we werent without Kp for basically the entire eastern conference playoffs

And we played a healthy Mavs in the finals...........who were a top 5 defense post trade deadline with a monster big man rotation, great shooting and perimeter defenders spearheaded by Luka and Kyrie. They were a juggernaut who beat 3 50 win teams to get to the finals



i know for a FACT the ppl who still talk about us beating injured comp picked the Mavs to beat us

[Special_Puppy]

So a note on the parity of the lack of dominance demonstrated by having a different champion every year:

It can be caused by stagnant mediocrity,
but it can also be caused by a rapid tactical arms race.

What we're seeing is the latter, and it's causing a situation where champions aren't just getting better era-to-era, but much better as new leaps forward in approach are made not even year-to-year, but game-by-game in an era where each NBA team can afford to have every other NBA game scouted on video, and any new approaches identified and stolen if useful.

I would suggest that it cannot be reasonably argued that this era represents any kind of competitive weakness, and those who think they spot it, are using the narrative of the former as proxy for direct basketball evaluation.

Mind you as I say this, I think we all use proxies in our analysis, and often we don't realize it

I’d also note that the lack of repeat champions could be in part because of some relatively weird circumstances

2023 Nuggets: Murray was absolutely hobbled by injuries in the playoffs
2022 Warriors: Title team built off career years from a number of Role players.
2021 Bucks: Injuries
2020 Lakers: Injuries+panicked and blew up the team after first round exit
2019 Raptors: Finals MVP leaves after championships

[EmpireFalls]

Boston has an excellent chance at repeating this year, and if a team like OKC wins I doubt anyone would be surprised to see them make another finals appearance in 2026.

I think it’s harder to be a dynasty now than ever before but it’s also not impossible

[xb3at band1tx]

It's crazy Memphis and the Suns just let Goodwin go like that.

Suns in particular, Jordan Goodwin is the exact type of guard they need lol (Josh Hart-lite that can guard and rebound)

[Special_Puppy]

Read on Twitter

[Special_Puppy]

I said this before, but teams shouldn't be allowed to make the play-in or playoffs unless they have a winning record. If there's an instance like this year in the East where there are only 6 teams over 0.500 then they should just give the 1st+2nd seed first round byes

[tsherkin]

I said this before, but teams shouldn't be allowed to make the play-in or playoffs unless they have a winning record. If there's an instance like this year in the East where there are only 6 teams over 0.500 then they should just give the 1st+2nd seed first round byes

What incentive is there for them to try and make the play-in, though? It affords them nothing, no reward.

[parsnips33]

Warriors & Wolves in lockstep lol

What an annoying loss. Feels like teams going super small and switchy can fluster the Dubs still. I remember in the Houston game earlier after Sengun got pulled, Rockets went on a crazy run

[itsxtray]

I said this before, but teams shouldn't be allowed to make the play-in or playoffs unless they have a winning record. If there's an instance like this year in the East where there are only 6 teams over 0.500 then they should just give the 1st+2nd seed first round byes

Owners would never vote for that because making the playoffs brings in revenue. Also, having a competitive advantage from being well-rested, not because of anything you did, but because your hypothetical opponent isn’t above .500, is unfair to the other teams.