2022-23 NBA Season Discussion

[Doctor MJ]

Hopefully this season ends as nicely as the last one

Just need Bob to bring Looney and Payton back so I can feel at ease. Otto would be nice, but I expect he'll be on the move and I think he should be easier to replace

That seems like a realistic expectation to me, in terms of who you can get back, and who you can't. Hard to imagine Otto doesn't get an offer more in line with his stature, and hard to imagine Otto not being interested in taking that.

I will say, I don't know about easy to replace. He's less of a specialist than the other two, and the Warriors really need those two specialists, so I think it makes sense to see Otto as less of a priority (aside from his likely greater market), but Otto's ability to be a generalist when needed isn't likely something the Warriors will be able to replace.

[Doctor MJ]

I like kcp for nuggets, but i wonder about mpj back ever being healthy again

The health of Murray & Porter is just such a massive thing. I really do think the Nuggets are serious title contenders if those two can come back at their previous peaks, and the Nuggets surely feel they have no choice but to bet on that...but it may all fizzle.

[HeartBreakKid]

Interesting that Dr.J is in the top ten POY shares

[MartinToVaught]

Read on Twitter

Stories like this, or Batum talking about how the Clippers saved his career, always make me think back to the days when Ron Harper compared playing to the Clippers to serving time in jail, or when Lamar Odom said he wanted to get as far away from the Clippers as possible, or when Mo Taylor went from demanding $71 million from the Clippers to signing with the Rockets for $2.5 million because he wanted out so badly. Now we have players seriously considering turning down a bag because they love being a Clipper so much. We almost underappreciate how extreme the Clippers' turnaround as a franchise has been both on and off the court.

[parsnips33]

Hopefully this season ends as nicely as the last one

Just need Bob to bring Looney and Payton back so I can feel at ease. Otto would be nice, but I expect he'll be on the move and I think he should be easier to replace

That seems like a realistic expectation to me, in terms of who you can get back, and who you can't. Hard to imagine Otto doesn't get an offer more in line with his stature, and hard to imagine Otto not being interested in taking that.

I will say, I don't know about easy to replace. He's less of a specialist than the other two, and the Warriors really need those two specialists, so I think it makes sense to see Otto as less of a priority (aside from his likely greater market), but Otto's ability to be a generalist when needed isn't likely something the Warriors will be able to replace.

Oh big time, Otto was the perfect stretch 4 this past season and I'd be thrilled to bring him back

[Doctor MJ]

Interesting that Dr.J is in the top ten POY shares

So, one thing I'll say:

In the time since the RPOY, Harvey Pollack's 76er +/- data has come to light, and as a big Dr. J fan, it was pretty disappointing how meh Dr. J looks by those metrics, and it hurts my personal assessment here.

Currently I've got Erving 20th by such a metric, though let's note that this list included George Mikan (while our original did not), as well as younger players like LeBron, KD & Curry.

[Colbinii]

Read on Twitter

[Lou Fan]

The sooner this cancerous attitude of leaving every team leaves with the older generation of stars I'll be so happy. You made your bed lay it in.

[parsnips33]

Read on Twitter

Homecoming?

[Colbinii]

LeBron was the only successful player at the whole "Player Movement" era [aside from GSW who rode KD to two easy championships].

KD has fallen flat on his face. Kawhi only won one title and Paul George 0. Jimmy Butler finally landed in one of the strongest culture organizations available and found success. Harden's stops have been failures [He started moving post-Houston]. Kyrie hasn't been able to get back to the Finals since he left LeGoat.

Who else am I forgetting?

[parsnips33]

Denver should throw everything they have Brooklyn, Jokic/KD would be too perfect

[Dr Positivity]

LeBron was the only successful player at the whole "Player Movement" era [aside from GSW who rode KD to two easy championships].

KD has fallen flat on his face. Kawhi only won one title and Paul George 0. Jimmy Butler finally landed in one of the strongest culture organizations available and found success. Harden's stops have been failures [He started moving post-Houston]. Kyrie hasn't been able to get back to the Finals since he left LeGoat.

Who else am I forgetting?

I mean Durant winning 2 titles and Kawhi winning 1 isn't exactly failures

[Colbinii]

LeBron was the only successful player at the whole "Player Movement" era [aside from GSW who rode KD to two easy championships].

KD has fallen flat on his face. Kawhi only won one title and Paul George 0. Jimmy Butler finally landed in one of the strongest culture organizations available and found success. Harden's stops have been failures [He started moving post-Houston]. Kyrie hasn't been able to get back to the Finals since he left LeGoat.

Who else am I forgetting?

I mean Durant winning 2 titles and Kawhi winning 1 isn't exactly failures

I would consider Kawhi Leonard having only 1 title since 2014 is a relative failure. It started when he sat out nearly an entire season, then he joined a 7.29 SRS team and has since been injured or upset in the post-season.

Durants time post-2016 could be viewed as a success but I factor in the 2016 cap jump as a once-in-a-lifetime event. All the stars aligned perfectly.

[parsnips33]

LeBron was the only successful player at the whole "Player Movement" era [aside from GSW who rode KD to two easy championships].

KD has fallen flat on his face. Kawhi only won one title and Paul George 0. Jimmy Butler finally landed in one of the strongest culture organizations available and found success. Harden's stops have been failures [He started moving post-Houston]. Kyrie hasn't been able to get back to the Finals since he left LeGoat.

Who else am I forgetting?

I mean Durant winning 2 titles and Kawhi winning 1 isn't exactly failures

I would consider Kawhi Leonard having only 1 title since 2014 is a relative failure. It started when he sat out nearly an entire season, then he joined a 7.29 SRS team and has since been injured or upset in the post-season.

Durants time post-2016 could be viewed as a success but I factor in the 2016 cap jump as a once-in-a-lifetime event. All the stars aligned perfectly.

You think Kawhi would have 2+ titles if he stayed in San Antonio?

[jalengreen]

Just feels like it's gonna be him in Phoenix

They can trade Ayton+Mikal, tough package to beat unless the Celtics want to throw JB in there

[Dr Positivity]

LeBron was the only successful player at the whole "Player Movement" era [aside from GSW who rode KD to two easy championships].

KD has fallen flat on his face. Kawhi only won one title and Paul George 0. Jimmy Butler finally landed in one of the strongest culture organizations available and found success. Harden's stops have been failures [He started moving post-Houston]. Kyrie hasn't been able to get back to the Finals since he left LeGoat.

Who else am I forgetting?

I mean Durant winning 2 titles and Kawhi winning 1 isn't exactly failures

I would consider Kawhi Leonard having only 1 title since 2014 is a relative failure. It started when he sat out nearly an entire season, then he joined a 7.29 SRS team and has since been injured or upset in the post-season.

Durants time post-2016 could be viewed as a success but I factor in the 2016 cap jump as a once-in-a-lifetime event. All the stars aligned perfectly.

I wouldn't, plus he has been injured at the end of so many seasons. His best chance to get his 3rd title was staying with the Raptors, but he ended up on the Raptors in the first place due to player movement.

[Doctor MJ]

Read on Twitter

Yeah so I said on the GB, I'm really confused about this given that Kyrie just opted-in.

Possibilities I see:

1. KD & Kyrie looking to be shipped as a package deal, which required Kyrie to be under contract...but the combined salary of the two players to me seems like it would be too larger for any other team to be able to match.

2. KD looking to Nets & Kyrie...but why wait until Kyrie opted in?

3. Reporting timeline is confused and KD actually issued the trade demand privately before Kyrie opted in, and either does not actually want a trade now, or all parties agreed to keep KD's trade demand secret until Kyrie's situation was taken care of...but I'm not sure why that made sense for all parties.

Forgetting about where we are at the moment, it seems plausible that when the Nets refused to max extend Kyrie, KD decided he wanted out and the only way to save that was if negotiations ended up getting Kyrie a multi-year deal...but again, that implies that KD really wanted to keep playing with Kyrie, and if KD really wants to play with Kyrie he's literally on the same team with him right now.

Coming in from the Nets perspective, assuming the trade demand is real and still live, while I'd be disappointed that KD wanted to leave, I think I'd feel a bit relieved at the current timing. If you had to trade Kyrie first, then there's all sorts of worries about what would be acceptable to KD. With the focus being on KD, nothing else really matters, and you do have him under contract.

I'd basically tell the rest of the NBA: Bring the bidding war. Once KD was traded, then you can figure out what to do with the lame duck Kyrie who has much less value but (previously) had more likelihood of causing chaos for reasons that made no practical sense for anyone, himself included.

[Dr Positivity]

I have KD as specifically targeting the Suns here. He knows he can get another ring by joining a 1st seed.

[MartinToVaught]

Durant is the softest frontrunner I've ever seen in sports.

[parsnips33]

Looking forward to Luka and Christian Wood taking out the superteam Suns lol