2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[freethedevil]

If you're Milwaukee, would you rather draw Miami or Brooklyn in the playoffs? Philly?

Brooklyn. Definitely brooklyn.

[freethedevil]

So we're gonna see a decent amount of KD at center right? That's the part of the trade that interests me most

That's what I'm thinking, but also wondering if his body can handle it. Can claxton defend at all? I have no idea.

KD at cneter is not a winnign strategy for the playoffs.

[StepBackCrack]

What will be the most points scored in a game by the Nets this season? Do they break 160? 170?

I think 160 is possible if they actually try their starters for almost a whole game and not rest them in the 4th lol. But it will be vs a weak team defensively and great offensively (to keep the game close enough for the Nets starters to stay on court).

What's interesting is that this is the first time I will see 3 players that can ISO/create a shot/shoot off the dribble at an elite level in the same team. And 2 of them have high BB IQ (Kyrie BB IQ is not bad as well). So it will be super interesting to see how they work together. But If I were Nash, I would certainly stagger them as much as possible. Sub Kyrie or Harden early in the game and let one of them cook with the bench unit that will likely have a great sniper Harris.

[ahmetmekin]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

[MartinToVaught]

Clippers defense at 25th yuck. That bench is just tanking them on defense this year

It's specifically Reggie, Lou and Luke that are the problem. Luke isn't going anywhere because our front office already paid him, but we need to move on from Lou and Reggie and bring in players who are at least decent on defense.

[MartinToVaught]

What will be the most points scored in a game by the Nets this season? Do they break 160? 170?

I'm more curious to see what their opponents score against that All-Star Game level "defense."

[StepBackCrack]

KD shouldn't play center. He is too light for it. Maybe just for few minutes and in rare occasions only. But he will obviously play a lot of 4. Clax has potential and he might play a lot of minutes at center eventually.

[parsnips33]

What will be the most points scored in a game by the Nets this season? Do they break 160? 170?

I'm more curious to see what their opponents score against that All-Star Game level "defense."

Well that's gonna be a reason we might see them put up huge totals. If they're up 40 at the end of the 3rd they'll probably throw the bench in super early, but if a team can stay in striking distance, we'll see some eye popping numbers

[Doctor MJ]

Ugh, the Nets now have the unholy trinity of least likable human beings in the NBA.

But I'll say this: With Durant & Harden, they don't even need to be able to rely on Kyrie.

Previously I saw the team as one that might be able to hit high highs, but was unlikely to be able to maintain it through a regular and post-season.

Now things just got a hell of a lot easier, and it's not hard at all to see them contending for titles this year and going forward.

We'll see how they all mesh, and I still consider the Lakers to be the favorites if they're healthy, but it won't be a shock at all if the Nets get to the finals, and then we'll just see who's actually suited up for the opposition.

Eh, cousins is worse.

I'm someone who has been very negative on Cousins for a long time, but I haven't heard of him to anything to betray his teammates the way each of Kyrie, Durant, and Harden have done. Feel free to expound though, maybe there's something I'm not thinking of.

[Doctor MJ]

KD shouldn't play center. He is too light for it. Maybe just for few minutes and in rare occasions only. But he will obviously play a lot of 4. Clax has potential and he might play a lot of minutes at center eventually.

He shouldn't ever be on a roster where he's the best 5, but he may be the Nets best 5.

[parsnips33]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

[MisterHibachi]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why do you say that about the Sixers? I figure they have a really good shot against the Nets, with Embiid being able to dominate in the paint, and Simmons to play on KD, and a bunch of other + defenders in the lineups.

[StepBackCrack]

KD shouldn't play center. He is too light for it. Maybe just for few minutes and in rare occasions only. But he will obviously play a lot of 4. Clax has potential and he might play a lot of minutes at center eventually.

He shouldn't ever be on a roster where he's the best 5, but he may be the Nets best 5.

Agreed!

[freethedevil]

Ugh, the Nets now have the unholy trinity of least likable human beings in the NBA.

But I'll say this: With Durant & Harden, they don't even need to be able to rely on Kyrie.

Previously I saw the team as one that might be able to hit high highs, but was unlikely to be able to maintain it through a regular and post-season.

Now things just got a hell of a lot easier, and it's not hard at all to see them contending for titles this year and going forward.

We'll see how they all mesh, and I still consider the Lakers to be the favorites if they're healthy, but it won't be a shock at all if the Nets get to the finals, and then we'll just see who's actually suited up for the opposition.

Eh, cousins is worse.

I'm someone who has been very negative on Cousins for a long time, but I haven't heard of him to anything to betray his teammates the way each of Kyrie, Durant, and Harden have done. Feel free to expound though, maybe there's something I'm not thinking of.

Watch on YouTube

[freethedevil]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why would philly not want the nets? Don't they basiclaly get the same boost the bucks do?

[parsnips33]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why do you say that about the Sixers? I figure they have a really good shot against the Nets, with Embiid being able to dominate in the paint, and Simmons to play on KD, and a bunch of other + defenders in the lineups.

Nets have three elite off-the-bounce guys who can challenge Embiid in the pick and roll and force him to defend in space. Even with Brooklyn's soft interior, I can't see Embiid carrying the offense to a level where they can match Brooklyn's output.

[parsnips33]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why would philly not want the nets? Don't they basiclaly get the same boost the bucks do?

I think Giannis can exploit Brooklyn's defense in a way Embiid just can't. Would be happy to be proven wrong (I love Embiid) but I just think Giannis is on a higher level offensively than anybody in Philly right now

[Doctor MJ]

What will be the most points scored in a game by the Nets this season? Do they break 160? 170?

According to bkref the recent Warriors teams never broke 150, I think people need to chew on that because it's pretty unlikely that the Nets are in general scoring more than those Warrior teams, both because they probably won't be as good offensively, and because iso-ball slows things down.

Not saying they couldn't get hot for a game and just go for it, because that can happen for teams with a lot less talent than the Nets, but if you're expecting the Nets to be the best offensive team in history, you're almost certainly in for a let down, and if you're thinking they're going to play extremely fast, well, I doubt they'll even be trying to play particularly fast.

To be clear: While I would not favor the Nets to win the title, this is not me saying they can't win it. I think the Nets acquisition of Harden was pretty wise given where they were, and it was the easiest way to turn them into a likely contender, but basketball is not a sport where you can just keep adding scorers without diminishing returns.

If the Nets do become an all-time offense, it's going to mean some kind of synergizing that no one should see as a given at this time.

[Doctor MJ]

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why would philly not want the nets? Don't they basiclaly get the same boost the bucks do?

I think Giannis can exploit Brooklyn's defense in a way Embiid just can't. Would be happy to be proven wrong (I love Embiid) but I just think Giannis is on a higher level offensively than anybody in Philly right now

I don't necessarily disagree with your general assessment, but I'd note that we're talking about two very different attacking style, and Embiid is the one who can go right into the teeth of the Nets' biggest weakness: Lack of bigs.

But I think it's quite possible that Giannis will do great too because he's always great against bad team defense. Unless the Nets develop a great sense for how to work together "5 guys on a string" style, Giannis will probably do well against them. The other wild card would be KD's defense. While it seems suicide to try to put KD up against Embiid, putting him on Giannis actually makes a lot of sense.

[Doctor MJ]

I think right now we have rock paper scissors situation:
Heat>Bucks
Bucks>Nets
Nets>Heat
in a playoff series.

This seems right to me. Expanding it out a bit, I think the Nets are the last team Philly would want to see in a series. I think Boston can basically matchup well with everyone.

Why would philly not want the nets? Don't they basiclaly get the same boost the bucks do?

I'll go further and specifically say the 76ers have to fantasizing right now about letting Embiid loose against the Nets. The Nets offense may be too good and the 76ers could end up losing, but if I'm the Nets right now, I'm pointing to Embiid and saying "If the 76ers are legit in the playoffs, we need a much better answer for Embiid than any answer we have on roster right now."