2024-25 NBA Season Discussion

[tsherkin]

Huh? OKC only played two series.

I brain-farted and started talking about Dallas.

[tsherkin]

And I take a sample of 82 games over a sample of 12 games any time, even if the 12 games are in a playoff setting.

I won't. They mean different things. It means more when you're elite, but Dallas wasn't an elite offense in the RS, they were ranked 10th.

I understand what you mean about sample size, and of course matchups matter as well. With OKC, of course, they were very good on O in the RS and then 8th-ranked in the playoffs, which wasn't great. Now, there were reasons for that. And Jalen Williams looking bleh was part of it. The whole team dipped pretty notably from 3. They were young, though, so we'll see what they pick up going forward.

[ShaqAttac]

okc lost coz sga teammates choked not sga

[parsnips33]

Starting to get pretty excited for Moses Moody's breakout year I'm not gonna lie to you all

[Cavsfansince84]

With the start of the season ahead of us, what are everyone's thoughts on who is/are the

– title favorite
– clear contenders
– fringe contenders

?

Favorite has to be Boston(even though I think this is the year Zinger breaks down again)
clear/fringe contenders- to me the line between fringe and clear for the rest of the top teams is very thin. Too many question marks all across those teams to really label any of them as clear contenders yet imo. I think Okc, Minny and ny are the strongest of the group though.

[Dr Positivity]

I think OKC is set up to have their 2015 Warriors season.

[Raonak]

The endings to the last 2 seasons have been really sad from a warriors fan... especially with klay leaving.
It felt like the death of the dynasty - for real this time(?)

But then steph had his golden dagger moment, which made it clear that he's still one of the goats.

The new players and new coaching additions were quite promising, but I don't think anyone could've expected what we're seeing.
The warriors look good... real good. The team looks super well coached. The improvements to ball movement and team chemistry is undeniable. The vets look like perfect fits, and the youngsters are actually making an impact. The players seem to understand the system better, and the system has also evolved to become more potent now that it's not focused on only generating shots for steph and klay, instead the whole team can shoot.

And beating both the lakers and kings twice, doesn't hurt at all.

Can't help but be super high on the warriors after that perfect preseason. Hope it translates to the real thing.

[bballcool34]

Starting to get pretty excited for Moses Moody's breakout year I'm not gonna lie to you all

Are there enough minutes for him in GSW?

[parsnips33]

Starting to get pretty excited for Moses Moody's breakout year I'm not gonna lie to you all

Are there enough minutes for him in GSW?

There's guys ahead of him, but nobody who is THAT good. Up to him to go out and grab a spot this year

[parsnips33]

The endings to the last 2 seasons have been really sad from a warriors fan... especially with klay leaving.
It felt like the death of the dynasty - for real this time(?)

But then steph had his golden dagger moment, which made it clear that he's still one of the goats.

The new players and new coaching additions were quite promising, but I don't think anyone could've expected what we're seeing.
The warriors look good... real good. The team looks super well coached. The improvements to ball movement and team chemistry is undeniable. The vets look like perfect fits, and the youngsters are actually making an impact. The players seem to understand the system better, and the system has also evolved to become more potent now that it's not focused on only generating shots for steph and klay, instead the whole team can shoot.

And beating both the lakers and kings twice, doesn't hurt at all.

Can't help but be super high on the warriors after that perfect preseason. Hope it translates to the real thing.

I fell for the 5-1 start last year, gonna need to see a bit more before I start getting too excited

[mikejames23]

ANT, Luka, SGA, Jokic should all be in for a wild wild west ending.

Knicks look pretty good now, let's see how they do.

[ShotCreator]

Denver blatantly sucks now IMO. They'll be good for a quick first or second round out again. No depth. Horrible net negatives off the bench. And their only decent players outside of Jokic have the worst contracts in the league. Jokic is stuck for a while.

[tsherkin]

Denver blatantly sucks now IMO. They'll be good for a quick first or second round out again. No depth. Horrible net negatives off the bench. And their only decent players outside of Jokic have the worst contracts in the league. Jokic is stuck for a while.

I hate seeing talent wasted.

[The-Power]

Denver blatantly sucks now IMO.

That's obvious hyperbole but it's undeniable that Denver needs to find something beyond Jokic-ball that works if they want to make a push. Some prospects will have to take the next step or Denver will need to find ways to add a bit more depth to the roster.

[parsnips33]

I wonder how Memphis does this year, I could see them making a lot of noise

Excited to see how Edey does

[parsnips33]

Anthony Slater reporting Warriors original plan was to go for both PG AND Lauri. What could have been...

[Texas Chuck]

Denver blatantly sucks now IMO.

That's obvious hyperbole but it's undeniable that Denver needs to find something beyond Jokic-ball that works if they want to make a push. Some prospects will have to take the next step or Denver will need to find ways to add a bit more depth to the roster.

They have bled talent for sure. And they have a couple of max players with real question marks.

but we can't forget the series they lost was extremely close. And I don't think anyone believes Dallas cakewalks them had they advanced.

This collective narrative of their demise with the best player on the planet peaking is premature at absolute best.

[RCM88x]

Anthony Slater reporting Warriors original plan was to go for both PG AND Lauri. What could have been...

Great plan but when they're not willing to give up any assets to do so it doesn't hold much weight. I'm sure many teams were planning on going for both guys.

[parsnips33]

Anthony Slater reporting Warriors original plan was to go for both PG AND Lauri. What could have been...

Great plan but when they're not willing to give up any assets to do so it doesn't hold much weight. I'm sure many teams were planning on going for both guys.

I think if they had been able to get PG out of LA, they would have dumped everything for Lauri. Granted it's all moot now, but I imagine what they'd be comfortable giving for Lauri is very different in either scenario

[The-Power]

Denver blatantly sucks now IMO.

That's obvious hyperbole but it's undeniable that Denver needs to find something beyond Jokic-ball that works if they want to make a push. Some prospects will have to take the next step or Denver will need to find ways to add a bit more depth to the roster.

They have bled talent for sure. And they have a couple of max players with real question marks.

but we can't forget the series they lost was extremely close. And I don't think anyone believes Dallas cakewalks them had they advanced.

This collective narrative of their demise with the best player on the planet peaking is premature at absolute best.

I'm not saying their demise is inevitable – I still have them as contenders, though clearly not as favorites at this point – but an already shallow team lost one of their five best players without proper replacement and there are clearly question marks surrounding their secondary star. I don't think they can just sit back and assume they'll be a force again in the playoffs – they need to actively look to improve their roster.