2021-22 NBA Season Discussion

[Dr Positivity]

Trent is the new streak shooting king

[sp6r=underrated]

Will Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony be in the NBA next year?

[Clyde Frazier]

A little late on this but it was wild watching Curry literally stand in the corner on multiple possessions which still opened up the floor for everyone else against the bucks. Really happy to see klay look decent still.

There was a broken play where he caught the ball at the top of the key, basically squaring up in the air and still hit the shot. Very few players could even get a shot off like that with a reasonable chance of going in. He still has it even though it's going to take time to be ready for the playoffs.

I still think they're prime for a finals run as long as Draymond gets back. Also happy to see kumimga contributing and continuing to improve. I have a lot invested in those G League ignite guys haha.

[parsnips33]

Man I am excited to get Draymond back. Haven't been this excited for a game since Klay's return lol

[sp6r=underrated]

Man I am excited to get Draymond back. Haven't been this excited for a game since Klay's return lol

The gap between Dray's impact on the game relative to the way you'd describe his abilities is probably the largest of any player in my life.

If you asked me to write him up you'd think I'm describing just a nice player but he's a no question 1st ballot HOFer

[parsnips33]

Man I am excited to get Draymond back. Haven't been this excited for a game since Klay's return lol

The gap between Dray's impact on the game relative to the way you'd describe his abilities is probably the largest of any player in my life.

If you asked me to write him up you'd think I'm describing just a nice player but he's a no question 1st ballot HOFer

It's really weird, you could probably learn more about his impact just watching him on defense every play for a quarter than looking at a careers worth of stats (not that there aren't stats that love Draymond)

[falcolombardi]

Man I am excited to get Draymond back. Haven't been this excited for a game since Klay's return lol

The gap between Dray's impact on the game relative to the way you'd describe his abilities is probably the largest of any player in my life.

If you asked me to write him up you'd think I'm describing just a nice player but he's a no question 1st ballot HOFer

my wildcard here is dirk: not athletic by nba star standards, not a brilliant passer, not a great defender, still an all time great

if you described dirk skillset to me i would think a great role player at first before superstar

[parsnips33]

A little late on this but it was wild watching Curry literally stand in the corner on multiple possessions which still opened up the floor for everyone else against the bucks. Really happy to see klay look decent still.

There was a broken play where he caught the ball at the top of the key, basically squaring up in the air and still hit the shot. Very few players could even get a shot off like that with a reasonable chance of going in. He still has it even though it's going to take time to be ready for the playoffs.

I still think they're prime for a finals run as long as Draymond gets back. Also happy to see kumimga contributing and continuing to improve. I have a lot invested in those G League ignite guys haha.

It's funny because this is a game that will instantly get forgotten for Steph (looks more like a Draymond game just from the statline) but his impact on the game is so clear to anybody who watched.

[eminence]

Nuggets bench finally comes through for Jokic to secure him a big win in a game that puts him quite a bit closer to securing the MVP repeat.

[falcolombardi]

jazz has the best offensive quarter of the seasom (all teams) amd hits 10 3's in a quarter

up by 2

[falcolombardi]

towns in pace for 60+ points

[Peregrine01]

I don't think there's a duo that better complements each other than Curry and Dray. They'll never be recognized as such, but they've been the best duo of this last decade.

[falcolombardi]

now that regular season is pretty much over how do you rank teams coming into the playoffs?

i got

tier 1A: Suns

i actually dont think suns are much better thsn last year team (remember how slow they started in 2021 before becoming a winning machine) than lost against bucks
i think they fine tuned their bench well (i like biyombo for their style more than saric) and had nice improvements by their young players (brisges big leap specially)

Tier 1B: Bucks, warriors, miami

the safer picks even if sixers or nets may be sexier

bucks i worry a bit about who will play tucker role as wing defender and about brook López health/form coming off his injury
on the good side i think they are scary if their 3 point shooting doesnt abandon them like last year, i trust their D in the playoffs

warriors i think have a chance as Long as draymond and curry are there, their defense is excelent to keep them in games and curry/klay shooting explosions always can win them close games

i would worry about their offense: it has been so-so even in regular season which is not a good signal when teams play tougher defense to break warriors ball movement rythim in the playoffs

Miami is just too solid all around and really experienced, if Butler has another gear for playoffs they could take anyone

other teams have chances too, but these feel safer

[70sFan]

The 76ers vs Nuggets game was fantastic.

I think Philly is a concerning matchup for Jokic for a few reasons. It's clear that Embiid's size bothered Jokic, he wasn't as comfortable as he usually is on the floor. Thybulle also made it harder for Joker with his help defense. On the other side of the court, Jokic really struggled against Embiid-Harden P&R.

Keep in mind that Nuggets won this game mostly because of hot bench shooting, Jokic had negative +/- while Embiid was +1.

By the way, why is DeAndre Jordan still in the league? He's completely useless...

[sp6r=underrated]

The list show all drafts from 84-95 filtered for players with 100 WS. Not a great metric but a useful sketch tool for players who had long productive careers.

1. You can see outlier talents are outliers. They don't come along equally.
2. The NBA got a huge influx of elite talents from 84-87
3. It gets shockingly thin in the late 80s. The players who just missed the cutoff are mostly guys no one considers very impressive (Mason, Hawkins, Strickland) save Vlade/Kemp. I wonder did this help Malone, Jordan and a few others get a couple extra years at the top of the league.
4. You can see the toll of injuries in the mid 90s elite classes who got wrecked with injuries: Penny, Mourning and Hill above all.
5. Shaq blew a huge opportunity the drafts before him were really weak on elite talent. The ones that came after had players who had destroyed careers.

He really should have had a run from 97-01 were he was the unquestioned best player in the league.

Code: Select all

Year   Player         RD-Pick   BPM    Win Shares
1982   Dominique Wilkins  1-3     3.3    117.5
1983   Clyde Drexler      1-14    5.4    135.6
1984   Charles Barkley    1-5     6.1    177.2
1984   Hakeem Olajuwon    1-1     4.6    162.8
1984   John Stockton      1-16    6.8    207.7
1984   Michael Jordan     1-3     9.2    214
1984   Otis Thorpe        1-9    (0.1)   106.4
1984   Sam Perkins        1-4     1.2    105.4
1985   Detlef Schrempf    1-8     1.8    109.5
1985   Karl Malone        1-13    5.1    234.6
1985   Patrick Ewing      1-1     2.9    126.4
1985   Terry Porter       1-24    2.9    110.4
1986   Jeff Hornacek      2-46    2.9    108.9
1987   David Robinson     1-1     7.5    178.7
1987   Horace Grant       1-10    1.4    118.2
1987   Reggie Miller      1-11    3.5    174.4
1987   Scottie Pippen     1-5     4.1    125.1
1990   Gary Payton        1-2     3.3    145.5
1991   Dikembe Mutombo    1-4     1.7    117
1992   Shaquille O'Neal   1-1     5.1    181.7
1994   Eddie Jones        1-10    3.1    100.6
1994   Jason Kidd         1-2     3.8    138.6
1995   Kevin Garnett      1-5     5.6    191.4
1995   Rasheed Wallace    1-4     2.2    105.1

[Colbinii]

The 76ers vs Nuggets game was fantastic.

I think Philly is a concerning matchup for Jokic for a few reasons. It's clear that Embiid's size bothered Jokic, he wasn't as comfortable as he usually is on the floor. Thybulle also made it harder for Joker with his help defense. On the other side of the court, Jokic really struggled against Embiid-Harden P&R.

Keep in mind that Nuggets won this game mostly because of hot bench shooting, Jokic had negative +/- while Embiid was +1.

By the way, why is DeAndre Jordan still in the league? He's completely useless...

What do you think of Towns? Arguably best scoring center since Shaq?

[itsxtray]

The 76ers vs Nuggets game was fantastic.

I think Philly is a concerning matchup for Jokic for a few reasons. It's clear that Embiid's size bothered Jokic, he wasn't as comfortable as he usually is on the floor. Thybulle also made it harder for Joker with his help defense. On the other side of the court, Jokic really struggled against Embiid-Harden P&R.

Keep in mind that Nuggets won this game mostly because of hot bench shooting, Jokic had negative +/- while Embiid was +1.

By the way, why is DeAndre Jordan still in the league? He's completely useless...

What do you think of Towns? Arguably best scoring center since Shaq?

Towns is more efficient and a better shooter but Embiid's aggressiveness and ability to get to the line 12 times a game makes him a better scorer to me.

Towns and Jokic have similar problems imo, they'll go possessions where they don't touch the ball or pass up opportunities to the attack the defense by going thru the motions. Agressive Jokic is best Jokic, just like aggressive Kat is best Kat, Embiid has mastered this in the last couple years, i wanna see it from Kat and Jokic as well.

[falcolombardi]

being more agressive comes with its own downsides and tradeoffs

i think jokic has a good balance between calling his own offense, getting out of the way and facilitsting for someone else

towns i dunno, dude is so skilled that he could definetely attack and shot more if he wanted without his effectivity falling much, but maybe that would hinder Edwards and D'angelo

[parsnips33]

now that regular season is pretty much over how do you rank teams coming into the playoffs?

i got

tier 1A: Suns

i actually dont think suns are much better thsn last year team (remember how slow they started in 2021 before becoming a winning machine) than lost against bucks
i think they fine tuned their bench well (i like biyombo for their style more than saric) and had nice improvements by their young players (brisges big leap specially)

Tier 1B: Bucks, warriors, miami

the safer picks even if sixers or nets may be sexier

bucks i worry a bit about who will play tucker role as wing defender and about brook López health/form coming off his injury
on the good side i think they are scary if their 3 point shooting doesnt abandon them like last year, i trust their D in the playoffs

warriors i think have a chance as Long as draymond and curry are there, their defense is excelent to keep them in games and curry/klay shooting explosions always can win them close games

i would worry about their offense: it has been so-so even in regular season which is not a good signal when teams play tougher defense to break warriors ball movement rythim in the playoffs

Miami is just too solid all around and really experienced, if Butler has another gear for playoffs they could take anyone

other teams have chances too, but these feel safer

I just can't get myself there with Phoenix, at least not in a tier of their own. Could see a path where their opponent has the best player in the series in every series or every series after the 1st round. Very possible I'm just missing something with them though, as I haven't watched too many of their games this season. They have the profile of "more than the sum of its parts" team.

[Colbinii]

Tier 0 - None
Tier 1 [Teams I have as favorites] - Phoenix, Milwaukee
Tier 1.5 [Teams I am not surprised to win it all] - Golden State, Brooklyn, Miami, Philadelphia
Tier 2 [Overperform expectations and/or injuries result in Championship] - Dallas, Memphis, Denver, Boston

The next group I have is the likes of Chicago, Minnesota, Utah and Cleveland who could win any series but 4 in a row? Not seeing any realistic scenario.