2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[cpower]

That was quite a game. James clearly wasn't himself throughout the game and yet he did it again when it mattered. Draymond was spectacular on defense, I have mixed feelings about Curry. He went nuclear in the 2nd half, but he had a lot of sloppy turnovers.

I'm glad playoffs (I mean, play-ins ) are finally there, I missed good basketball

He has to be perfect for us to have a chance (making all the shots and making all the passes and defend) You know how difficult is to have a perfect game in basketball, I thought he played well , even more than what I thought he would perform. If he puts up another 5 three points attempts we might have won the game.

[Peregrine01]

Draymond played the greatest defensive half I've seen in a long, long time. Blew up everything the Lakers were trying to do. But the Lakers did the same thing to him on defense in the second half, played him for the pass and instead of taking open shots kept forcing bad passes leading to turnovers. Sometimes, he just has to shoot the ball.

[Dupp]

I'm predicting the Warriors and Spurs to win tonight.

Nice

[Colbinii]

I'm predicting the Warriors and Spurs to win tonight.

Nice

Nailed it

[70sFan]

That was quite a game. James clearly wasn't himself throughout the game and yet he did it again when it mattered. Draymond was spectacular on defense, I have mixed feelings about Curry. He went nuclear in the 2nd half, but he had a lot of sloppy turnovers.

I'm glad playoffs (I mean, play-ins ) are finally there, I missed good basketball

Curry had a lot of turnovers but his gravity is so much more than any other player to ever play and it isn't really close.

True, his gravity is untouchable. It gave Warriors so many open shots. Definitely one of the best offensive player ever and the MVP of that game.

[Homer38]

That was quite a game. James clearly wasn't himself throughout the game and yet he did it again when it mattered. Draymond was spectacular on defense, I have mixed feelings about Curry. He went nuclear in the 2nd half, but he had a lot of sloppy turnovers.

I'm glad playoffs (I mean, play-ins ) are finally there, I missed good basketball

He has to be perfect for us to have a chance (making all the shots and making all the passes and defend) You know how difficult is to have a perfect game in basketball, I thought he played well , even more than what I thought he would perform. If he puts up another 5 three points attempts we might have won the game.

Possible but we need to remember that in the first half,LBJ and AD had been complete garbage,one of the reason why the game was close at the end.

Read on Twitter

[LukaTheGOAT]

What do people see as Tatum's ceiling? He's had a pretty incredible career so far

I could see Tatum potentially snatching a MVP at some point in his career if he gets hot at the right time, his team does well enough, and he has the right narrative. I don't think he will ever be the best player in the league (or really close to it), but you don't need to be in order to win the MVP, especially since it is a RS award.

I'm thinking his about 27/28 per 75 a game on rTS% around 2-4 with okay playmaking (around KD level) and all-nba level defense for a wing. So a fringe top 5 (or highly argued), definite top 10 guy is what I see as the vision with him.

[mikejames23]

Put AD at Center and run Kuz, Matthews, Caruso. Lineup looks ready to take on the world so long as LeBron is healthy.

[parsnips33]

Lakers defense is for serious, I think these guys are still the favorite

Credit to Vogel's defensive adjustments and Caruso who has ice in his veins

Biggest difference to get AD going was getting him the ball in motion. He's just not a throw it in the post and let him create guy

[Fadeaway_J]

Good game, AD at the 5 is so obvious.

That will always be the best option, but with two bigs I'd much rather have Gasol starting. Drummond makes my head hurt.

[Peregrine01]

I don't understand why Drummond is even playing? Are they trying to re-sign him or something?

[Fadeaway_J]

I don't understand why Drummond is even playing? Are they trying to re-sign him or something?

I think they promised him a starting spot when they signed him.

Vogel can be pretty ruthless though so I'm not sure how long that will hold.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Good game, AD at the 5 is so obvious.

That will always be the best option, but with two bigs I'd much rather have Gasol starting. Drummond makes my head hurt.

AD shot 9-13 in the Warriors game when he played Center and 1-11 when either Harrel or Drummond was on the floor with AD. Make of that what you will.

[nolang1]

Draymond played the greatest defensive half I've seen in a long, long time. Blew up everything the Lakers were trying to do. But the Lakers did the same thing to him on defense in the second half, played him for the pass and instead of taking open shots kept forcing bad passes leading to turnovers. Sometimes, he just has to shoot the ball.

Yeah I think this is really underdiscussed because he's such a polarizing player that the people who don't like him are saying "see how overrated he was from being on a stacked superteam, he never should've been an all-star" and the people who do are talking about how many brilliant things he does that go unnoticed by casuals. The last 2 seasons I just assumed he was taking it easy (first for deferring to KD and Klay as the Warriors coasted and then because the team was tanking) and he'd bounce back offensively.

Instead, he's only 5 years removed from scoring 30+ points in game 7 of the Finals and his jumper has abandoned him to the point he's now scoring at a lower rate than he was as a rookie. It's such low-hanging fruit where just normal bad three-point shooting would be worth an extra 1-2 points per game even if he was still defended in such a way that made spacing worse for everyone else and made it basically untenable to have Wiseman on the floor with him.

[CKRT]

I don't understand why Drummond is even playing? Are they trying to re-sign him or something?

I think they promised him a starting spot when they signed him.

Vogel can be pretty ruthless though so I'm not sure how long that will hold.

Fairly certain there is some locker room politicking going on based on some off hand comments that AD has made and the fact that he keeps getting gigantic minutes.

[Peregrine01]

Draymond played the greatest defensive half I've seen in a long, long time. Blew up everything the Lakers were trying to do. But the Lakers did the same thing to him on defense in the second half, played him for the pass and instead of taking open shots kept forcing bad passes leading to turnovers. Sometimes, he just has to shoot the ball.

Yeah I think this is really underdiscussed because he's such a polarizing player that the people who don't like him are saying "see how overrated he was from being on a stacked superteam, he never should've been an all-star" and the people who do are talking about how many brilliant things he does that go unnoticed by casuals. The last 2 seasons I just assumed he was taking it easy (first for deferring to KD and Klay as the Warriors coasted and then because the team was tanking) and he'd bounce back offensively.

Instead, he's only 5 years removed from scoring 30+ points in game 7 of the Finals and his jumper has abandoned him to the point he's now scoring at a lower rate than he was as a rookie. It's such low-hanging fruit where just normal bad three-point shooting would be worth an extra 1-2 points per game even if he was still defended in such a way that made spacing worse for everyone else and made it basically untenable to have Wiseman on the floor with him.

It's befuddling how he has become almost allergic to shooting. He'd rather get a turnover than brick a shot. Seems like he's just completely in his own head.

[parsnips33]

Draymond played the greatest defensive half I've seen in a long, long time. Blew up everything the Lakers were trying to do. But the Lakers did the same thing to him on defense in the second half, played him for the pass and instead of taking open shots kept forcing bad passes leading to turnovers. Sometimes, he just has to shoot the ball.

Yeah I think this is really underdiscussed because he's such a polarizing player that the people who don't like him are saying "see how overrated he was from being on a stacked superteam, he never should've been an all-star" and the people who do are talking about how many brilliant things he does that go unnoticed by casuals. The last 2 seasons I just assumed he was taking it easy (first for deferring to KD and Klay as the Warriors coasted and then because the team was tanking) and he'd bounce back offensively.

Instead, he's only 5 years removed from scoring 30+ points in game 7 of the Finals and his jumper has abandoned him to the point he's now scoring at a lower rate than he was as a rookie. It's such low-hanging fruit where just normal bad three-point shooting would be worth an extra 1-2 points per game even if he was still defended in such a way that made spacing worse for everyone else and made it basically untenable to have Wiseman on the floor with him.

It's befuddling how he has become almost allergic to shooting. He'd rather get a turnover than brick a shot. Seems like he's just completely in his own head.

I think you have to credit the Lakers defense as well in that game. Dray has notably picked up his aggression offensively lately (was huge in that game against Memphis) but the Lakers rim protection totally swallowed him up a couple times and had him scared to attack.

Priority for the offseason needs to be bringing in a stretch 5

[Fadeaway_J]

Good game, AD at the 5 is so obvious.

That will always be the best option, but with two bigs I'd much rather have Gasol starting. Drummond makes my head hurt.

AD shot 9-13 in the Warriors game when he played Center and 1-11 when either Harrel or Drummond was on the floor with AD. Make of that what you will.

If you're playing an additional big with no range on a team with weak shooting, you at least want him to provide vertical spacing, but Drummond is a trash finisher and Harrell is too small.

Gasol at least can spread the floor and immediately improves the offensive flow with his playmaking.

[nolang1]

Yeah I think this is really underdiscussed because he's such a polarizing player that the people who don't like him are saying "see how overrated he was from being on a stacked superteam, he never should've been an all-star" and the people who do are talking about how many brilliant things he does that go unnoticed by casuals. The last 2 seasons I just assumed he was taking it easy (first for deferring to KD and Klay as the Warriors coasted and then because the team was tanking) and he'd bounce back offensively.

Instead, he's only 5 years removed from scoring 30+ points in game 7 of the Finals and his jumper has abandoned him to the point he's now scoring at a lower rate than he was as a rookie. It's such low-hanging fruit where just normal bad three-point shooting would be worth an extra 1-2 points per game even if he was still defended in such a way that made spacing worse for everyone else and made it basically untenable to have Wiseman on the floor with him.

It's befuddling how he has become almost allergic to shooting. He'd rather get a turnover than brick a shot. Seems like he's just completely in his own head.

I think you have to credit the Lakers defense as well in that game. Dray has notably picked up his aggression offensively lately (was huge in that game against Memphis) but the Lakers rim protection totally swallowed him up a couple times and had him scared to attack.

Priority for the offseason needs to be bringing in a stretch 5

Yeah the Lakers defense was great like usual, but my point is more that over the course of a season it's enough of a difference that they'd have been well clear of the play-in games. And even then, some of that Lakers rim protection is due to how much they're able to sag off of him; I think it was the end of the 3rd quarter where Draymond was just left completely alone for a three and you still knew it had no chance.

[parsnips33]

It's befuddling how he has become almost allergic to shooting. He'd rather get a turnover than brick a shot. Seems like he's just completely in his own head.

I think you have to credit the Lakers defense as well in that game. Dray has notably picked up his aggression offensively lately (was huge in that game against Memphis) but the Lakers rim protection totally swallowed him up a couple times and had him scared to attack.

Priority for the offseason needs to be bringing in a stretch 5

Yeah the Lakers defense was great like usual, but my point is more that over the course of a season it's enough of a difference that they'd have been well clear of the play-in games. And even then, some of that Lakers rim protection is due to how much they're able to sag off of him; I think it was the end of the 3rd quarter where Draymond was just left completely alone for a three and you still knew it had no chance.

Definitely shrinks the margins offensively for the team. When you have great shooters and finishers all around it's mitigated because Draymond's passing is so elite AND you have to respect all the other players on the court. If you can just treat Draymond and say Looney as non-factors, there's only so much Steph can do