2022-23 Season Discussion and Review - the Blockbuster trade and playoff downfall

[Waylay13]

So what is everyone feelings about this story https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-we-drug-guy-chael-sonnen-drops-bombshell-details-lebron-james-ped-use-nba

[WeekapaugGroove]

So what is everyone feelings about this story https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-we-drug-guy-chael-sonnen-drops-bombshell-details-lebron-james-ped-use-nba

Honestly I think most professional athletes are taking designer drugs and I don't really have a problem with it. We're so far past the old school steroids days and now the lines are really foggy on what's legal or banned.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

[sunsbum]

no doubt Lebrons pill cabinet is actually a closet with items that cost more money than this board makes collectively in a year. Is anyone shocked to hear hes a PED user?

[lilfishi22]

Did you watch the last game? Was on full display.

Guess BWG missed the constant double teams and resulting passes to Josh Okogie (and later Ish) who bricked like 10 shots that were WIDE open on the wing.

With great players, you are going to see a lot of double teams resulting in someone being open (someone like Okogie), and while that happened, DA also didn't get many touches the last couple games, and over the long run, if you have someone in the middle that is a big offensive threat to quickly score on very high efficiency OR someone driving to the rim caving the defense, it will typically even open up more shooters over the long run. Of course the higher caliber scorer, and the more double teams will always leave someone open, but when most shots are midrange, players typically don't have to cover as much ground to get to a shooter.

Now yes, maybe in one game here and there or a couple consecutive games, but typically, your shooters open up more when someone is a threat driving to the rim or someone in the paint. This has long been a philosophy of driving and dishing, or a big passing out when defenses cave and a couple of games don't change my general opinion on the matter, particularly when we didn't really utilize that.

DA's gravity is what opens up opportunities for players like Okogie, Craig or CP3 on the weakside. Defenses normally have a single weakside defender essentially getting ready to help and double DA in the paint when/if KD/Book passes out. But that weakside defender is also tasked with jumping out to the shooters in the corner or on the wings where CP3 normally is left open. That's a mammoth task for even good defenders and teams don't normally put their better defenders on the weakside either as they are better utilised on ball or helping closer on KD/Book. So on that weakside you have a lesser defender having to jump at potentially 3 areas (corner, wing, paint) on the court.

A large part of DA's value is using him as a decoy and forcing teams to stay closer to the paint because of what he can do against most single coverages. That's how we get shooters open. There are certainly opportunities that will open up or KD/Book/CP3 will find where getting it to DA is the better option because teams are helping out more on the shooters than in the paint and in those instances it makes sense dump the ball off in the paint but it's just what teams are giving us.

It's only been 3 games so I do hope we give DA more scoring opportunities but I can see that DA has significant value as a decoy right now especially if we're trying to pump up our 3PA's which we should absolutely do. Over this 3 game sample, we're averaging 35.3 attempts from 3 which is a tick up from the 32.5 we were attempting prior. 35.3 would put us in the top 10 of teams on attempts. That's a good step in the right direction

[bwgood77]

Guess BWG missed the constant double teams and resulting passes to Josh Okogie (and later Ish) who bricked like 10 shots that were WIDE open on the wing.

With great players, you are going to see a lot of double teams resulting in someone being open (someone like Okogie), and while that happened, DA also didn't get many touches the last couple games, and over the long run, if you have someone in the middle that is a big offensive threat to quickly score on very high efficiency OR someone driving to the rim caving the defense, it will typically even open up more shooters over the long run. Of course the higher caliber scorer, and the more double teams will always leave someone open, but when most shots are midrange, players typically don't have to cover as much ground to get to a shooter.

Now yes, maybe in one game here and there or a couple consecutive games, but typically, your shooters open up more when someone is a threat driving to the rim or someone in the paint. This has long been a philosophy of driving and dishing, or a big passing out when defenses cave and a couple of games don't change my general opinion on the matter, particularly when we didn't really utilize that.

DA's gravity is what opens up opportunities for players like Okogie, Craig or CP3 on the weakside. Defenses normally have a single weakside defender essentially getting ready to help and double DA in the paint when/if KD/Book passes out. But that weakside defender is also tasked with jumping out to the shooters in the corner or on the wings where CP3 normally is left open. That's a mammoth task for even good defenders and teams don't normally put their better defenders on the weakside either as they are better utilised on ball or helping closer on KD/Book. So on that weakside you have a lesser defender having to jump at potentially 3 areas (corner, wing, paint) on the court.

A large part of DA's value is using him as a decoy and forcing teams to stay closer to the paint because of what he can do against most single coverages. That's how we get shooters open. There are certainly opportunities that will open up or KD/Book/CP3 will find where getting it to DA is the better option because teams are helping out more on the shooters than in the paint and in those instances it makes sense dump the ball off in the paint but it's just what teams are giving us.

It's only been 3 games so I do hope we give DA more scoring opportunities but I can see that DA has significant value as a decoy right now especially if we're trying to pump up our 3PA's which we should absolutely do. Over this 3 game sample, we're averaging 35.3 attempts from 3 which is a tick up from the 32.5 we were attempting prior. 35.3 would put us in the top 10 of teams on attempts. That's a good step in the right direction

DA works great as a decoy making guys cheat into the paint and that is a large part of what makes 3 pt shooters more open in general, but when he gets the ball, it generally opens very wide open looks from 1 or 2 people, or if he gets an offensive board. We shoot very well on 3s when DA passes out because of how wide open they are with no one usually close to contesting and he is very good at making those passes. He hasn't gotten many touches as of late.

As for the uptick in 3s, a large reason our 3 pt % is down is because we were missing our 2 highest volume 3 pt shooters from our starting lineup for a long time, in Book and Cam. We had makeshift lineups. Bridges was always hesitant but had been shooting more, but a lot more of the offense also fell on Ayton and his shots went way up. It's hard to really c6d Shamet. Per 36 those were our highest out of guys with a decent # of minutes. Bridges ranked 14th in 3PA per 36 of or players this season and was often too hesitant which I mentioned a bit.

Had we been healthy with both Cams, Book and Shamet, who are the top 4, we would have been averaging a lot more this season to date.

[lilfishi22]

With great players, you are going to see a lot of double teams resulting in someone being open (someone like Okogie), and while that happened, DA also didn't get many touches the last couple games, and over the long run, if you have someone in the middle that is a big offensive threat to quickly score on very high efficiency OR someone driving to the rim caving the defense, it will typically even open up more shooters over the long run. Of course the higher caliber scorer, and the more double teams will always leave someone open, but when most shots are midrange, players typically don't have to cover as much ground to get to a shooter.

Now yes, maybe in one game here and there or a couple consecutive games, but typically, your shooters open up more when someone is a threat driving to the rim or someone in the paint. This has long been a philosophy of driving and dishing, or a big passing out when defenses cave and a couple of games don't change my general opinion on the matter, particularly when we didn't really utilize that.

DA's gravity is what opens up opportunities for players like Okogie, Craig or CP3 on the weakside. Defenses normally have a single weakside defender essentially getting ready to help and double DA in the paint when/if KD/Book passes out. But that weakside defender is also tasked with jumping out to the shooters in the corner or on the wings where CP3 normally is left open. That's a mammoth task for even good defenders and teams don't normally put their better defenders on the weakside either as they are better utilised on ball or helping closer on KD/Book. So on that weakside you have a lesser defender having to jump at potentially 3 areas (corner, wing, paint) on the court.

A large part of DA's value is using him as a decoy and forcing teams to stay closer to the paint because of what he can do against most single coverages. That's how we get shooters open. There are certainly opportunities that will open up or KD/Book/CP3 will find where getting it to DA is the better option because teams are helping out more on the shooters than in the paint and in those instances it makes sense dump the ball off in the paint but it's just what teams are giving us.

It's only been 3 games so I do hope we give DA more scoring opportunities but I can see that DA has significant value as a decoy right now especially if we're trying to pump up our 3PA's which we should absolutely do. Over this 3 game sample, we're averaging 35.3 attempts from 3 which is a tick up from the 32.5 we were attempting prior. 35.3 would put us in the top 10 of teams on attempts. That's a good step in the right direction

DA works great as a decoy making guys cheat into the paint and that is a large part of what makes 3 pt shooters more open in general, but when he gets the ball, it generally opens very wide open looks from 1 or 2 people, or if he gets an offensive board. We shoot very well on 3s when DA passes out because of how wide open they are with no one usually close to contesting and he is very good at making those passes. He hasn't gotten many touches as of late.

As for the uptick in 3s, a large reason our 3 pt % is down is because we were missing our 2 highest volume 3 pt shooters from our starting lineup for a long time, in Book and Cam. We had makeshift lineups. Bridges was always hesitant but had been shooting more, but a lot more of the offense also fell on Ayton and his shots went way up. It's hard to really c6d Shamet. Per 36 those were our highest out of guys with a decent # of minutes. Bridges ranked 14th in 3PA per 36 of or players this season and was often too hesitant which I mentioned a bit.

Had we been healthy with both Cams, Book and Shamet, who are the top 4, we would have been averaging a lot more this season to date.

He gets the ball when he's open yes and that's not by accident. He's not going to get the ball if he has a good defender on him because it's asking for a tough shot or a turnover when he's trying to create. In those instances, you'd rather create for shooters or let KD/Book go to work and find a better shot. He gets the ball when he has weaker single coverage (ie mismatch) or he actually does the pre-work to get a really good position down in the post. And even if he gets good position, it's not always easy to get the ball to him promptly. Otherwise it's grabbing offensive rebounds and putting those back.

As for touches, in these 3 games, he's averaged 45 a game which is slightly below the pre-ASW touches (53.5). That lines up with expectations imo. CP3 is getting 5 less touches, Book is getting 5 more touches and KD is getting the 3rd most touches at 61.3. DA slots right behind those 3 at #4. In terms of hierarchy I think it's where it should be ie behind CP3, Book and KD since those are the main creators. I'd be happier if we threw another 5 touches from CP3 to bump up DA to closer to the Pre-ASW numbers but I think it's clear he's about where he should be.

Looking at points per touch, #1 is Book at 0.524, Okogie at 0.487, KD is at 0.435, DLee is at 0.349 and then DA is at 0.239 which is only a little above Jock at 0.233. Pre-ASW, DA was right at the same mark as DLee.

My point about the 3PA is not about why there's an uptick but that in general, it just needs to go up and the last 3 games is a step in the right direction.

[KdoubleDees23]

They need a 30 day return policy on trades lol man I loved the trade but durant is built like a natural valley granola bar

[Jesus_H_Macy]

So we don't even get more than 3 games to try and convince ourselves we had a legit shot at the championship this year. Bridges, Johsnon, 5 2nd round picks, four unprotected 1st round picks, and a swap for 3 games worth of hope. I suppose the cruel bitter pang of reality is better to taste now than after being fully bought in by the time the playoffs start.

[enigmatics]

Man I'm glad I don't freak easily. It's kinda comical watching some of you. #ChillBruh

[Ghost of Kleine]

https://www.youtube.com/live/XT9cqAcUw54?feature=share

[Nando88]

I'm kind of perplexed as to why Duane Rankin would retweet that Greg Moore column . I understand that's his colleague at AZCentral but damn, that column was irresponsible and clickbait

[Hitachi77]

So we don't even get more than 3 games to try and convince ourselves we had a legit shot at the championship this year. Bridges, Johsnon, 5 2nd round picks, four unprotected 1st round picks, and a swap for 3 games worth of hope. I suppose the cruel bitter pang of reality is better to taste now than after being fully bought in by the time the playoffs start.

1. This isn’t a rental, we have one of the best players of all time under contract, probably for the rest of his prime. Hell of a thing.

2. We still don’t know the full extent of the injury.

3. We all love Cam and Bridges, but they played when we suffered possibly the most embarrassing game 7 home loss ever. That kind of loss can only be explained by the team being off mentally.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[Revived]

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Only 2-3 weeks thankfully. But damn still valuable time he’s missing out on before playoffs start. Hopefully he stays healthy longer than 3 games when he comes back…

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[matt131]

Read on Twitter

Only 2-3 weeks thankfully. But damn still valuable time he’s missing out on before playoffs start. Hopefully he stays healthy longer than 3 games when he comes back…

Kings, Warriors, Bucks, Magic, OKC, Lakers are the games potentially missed. I wonder if we sit Book and CP3 against the Bucks.

Disappointed about having the kings game in there. Best way to make ground against them is to beat them. We won last time without KD/Bridges, so maybe we can do it again. Magic/OKC hopefully are wins. Warriors and Bucks will be tough.

I guess ultimately this isn't the worst news in the world, but for there to be a decrease in swelling and no mention of torn or partially torn ligaments, I wonder if there is just some extreme precaution going on. Sounds like it's mostly a pain tolerance thing here and we don't want him to get injured if he's in pain and favoring that leg.

Feel bad for all involved, but I'm sure KD is frustrated that he's back to rehabbing 3 games after returning from injury.

[matt131]

Well, Suns officially say reevlauated in 3 weeks. So that throws in Kings (again!), 76ers, Jazz, Timberwolves.

A little annoying how quickly this fate was handed down to us. A weird accident for sure, but a ton of his other injuries have been that way (guys falling on his leg).

Still frustrated that Giannis' leg can bend the wrong way at a freaking 30 degree angle and he can bounce back so quickly to go GOD mode in the NBA finals but that KD needs 3 weeks after walking wrong lol (hyperbole, I understand. just mad).

Terrence Ross: better get ready to score a whole lot. Unless of course we see 30/15 Ayton again....

[BobbieL]

This was always the risk trading for Durant. Hell he was hurt when they traded for him

Suns were trending toward a 2/3; now have to hang on to 5/6 range

[Revived]

Still frustrated that Giannis' leg can bend the wrong way at a freaking 30 degree angle and he can bounce back so quickly to go GOD mode in the NBA finals but that KD needs 3 weeks after walking wrong lol (hyperbole, I understand. just mad).

Giannis has a very strong build and works on his body quite a bit (and it shows). KD has hardly worked on getting stronger since entering the league and he’s one of the most scrawny superstars to ever play the game. Obviously he’s so skilled that it doesn’t matter and he still dominates when on the court but the downside always is gonna be more recurring injuries especially as he ages. Even on the photo of his injury, his leg is so skinny it looks like it belongs to someone with malnutrition.

[lilfishi22]

Still frustrated that Giannis' leg can bend the wrong way at a freaking 30 degree angle and he can bounce back so quickly to go GOD mode in the NBA finals but that KD needs 3 weeks after walking wrong lol (hyperbole, I understand. just mad).

Giannis has a very strong build and works on his body quite a bit (and it shows). KD has hardly worked on getting stronger since entering the league and he’s one of the most scrawny superstars to ever play the game. Obviously he’s so skilled that it doesn’t matter and he still dominates when on the court but the downside always is gonna be more recurring injuries especially as he ages. Even on the photo of his injury, his leg is so skinny it looks like it belongs to someone with malnutrition.

They play a completely different game. And it's ridiculous to suggest KD has added negligible strength since entering the league. That's like saying Booker hasn't added much strength because he isn't like brick shthouse like PJ Tucker or something.

One player's game is built around speed, skill and agility while the other is about brute strength.

You don't have to be built like Giannis to dominate your game. Nor does staying slim like KD mean you can be like him either. These guys are elite athletes who work on their strengths the way they and their trainers believe would elevate their game based on their skill set. It's obvious even to casuals Giannis' bully ball game is greatly enhanced by the way he's built his body composition. While on the other hand, KD's build is based on a shooter's whose strength is movement, agility and skill.

It makes no sense to compare the two guys just because they are both 6-11'ish. And you could also argue adding additional, unnecessary muscle mass would put further strain on his knees