Official NBA General Discussion 2022-23 V4.0

[djsunyc]

Yikes, Tatum has had no points in both 4th quarters so far?

I haven't found a single player who drew me in as a fan since Kobe retired like Butler is doing right now. Dude is a menace with a bunch of scrubs

He just plays the way he wants to play and doesn't give a **** about stats and can play whatever style he wants to play. Real assassin.

I know the scrub narrative is setting in, but the Heat role players aren't noticeably worse than Boston's right now. Just saw on twitter that Martin has more points in this series than Brown. Brogdon and White are not killing it compared to Vincent, Strus or Lowry, and Smart has been an absolute double agent so far. Tatum has been scoring in the 30s and they're still losing.

The Love and Zeller duo are a concern in this series, and I think the versatility up front is the edge for the Celtics, but the dirty little secret here is that Horford looks really **** old too. The Celtics can't really take advantage of their edge up front

every heat player is now 2019 fred van vleets.

[Los_29]

The playoffs makes you realize how tough it is to win a championship. What an absolute grind it is. I can't believe we got one. Our team was loaded with tough, gritty, two-way players.

the league has legit parity now. you need so many things to go the right way...you need the star, the coach and high end quality roster depth 2-8. and then on top of that, you need luck. superteams are gone.

that's why i will never be mad at anything that happens with us b/c we got that chip - in a market like toronto where absolutely no star would ever come to willingly.

Agreed, I actually think the importance of coaching has become even more important than in years past. These are chess matches now. You can no longer rely solely on superstar talent. Mazzula has the more talented team but is getting completely outcoached. It's unbelievable how good of a coach Spo is.

[djsunyc]

The playoffs makes you realize how tough it is to win a championship. What an absolute grind it is. I can't believe we got one. Our team was loaded with tough, gritty, two-way players.

the league has legit parity now. you need so many things to go the right way...you need the star, the coach and high end quality roster depth 2-8. and then on top of that, you need luck. superteams are gone.

that's why i will never be mad at anything that happens with us b/c we got that chip - in a market like toronto where absolutely no star would ever come to willingly.

Agreed, I actually think the importance of coaching has become even more important than in years past. These are chess matches now. You can no longer rely solely on superstar talent. Mazzula has the more talented team but is getting completely outcoached. It's unbelievable how good of a coach Spo is.

with the amount of cutting miami does, it makes our poor offense stand out even more. with no shooters, cutting and constant movement should've been a huge part of it and nurse didn't implement - even with great passers like scottie and pascal.

[tecumseh18]

... but the dirty little secret here is that Horford looks really **** old too. The Celtics can't really take advantage of their edge up front

Yeah, Horford has been their secret weapon for years now. A stretch big who can play defence - e.g. Marc Gasol - is such an asset for winning teams. But Horford's running into the same wall Marc did.

[tecumseh18]

the league has legit parity now. you need so many things to go the right way...you need the star, the coach and high end quality roster depth 2-8. and then on top of that, you need luck. superteams are gone.

that's why i will never be mad at anything that happens with us b/c we got that chip - in a market like toronto where absolutely no star would ever come to willingly.

Agreed, I actually think the importance of coaching has become even more important than in years past. These are chess matches now. You can no longer rely solely on superstar talent. Mazzula has the more talented team but is getting completely outcoached. It's unbelievable how good of a coach Spo is.

with the amount of cutting miami does, it makes our poor offense stand out even more. with no shooters, cutting and constant movement should've been a huge part of it and nurse didn't implement - even with great passers like scottie and pascal.

It's almost as if Nurse actively hated that type of offence (along with floaters in the lane, apparently). Thad and Juancho had worked out a real passer/cutter relationship early in the season when Pascal was out, and then Nurse broke them up - starting one and benching the other. But separated, they were both practically useless.

I've suggested it before, but sometimes it seems like Nurse was consciously sabotaging the Raptors. This is crazy talk, but I can give so many examples this season, and even over the years. Game 7 against the Celtics comes to mind.

[ItsDanger]

I think Nurse was more heavily into analytics then we realize. Players rarely gave much detail on tactics so its kind of hard to know exactly what they were limited to do on offense.

[Hero]

How is game 7 Tatum gonna show up if the Celtics don't even make it there?

[ItsDanger]

Denver was 2-0 vs Miami this season, both games were close though.

[sidsid]

... but the dirty little secret here is that Horford looks really **** old too. The Celtics can't really take advantage of their edge up front

Yeah, Horford has been their secret weapon for years now. A stretch big who can play defence - e.g. Marc Gasol - is such an asset for winning teams. But Horford's running into the same wall Marc did.

This was the guy who could hang with Durant in an iso possession last year, and the guy who should have had plays drawn up for him to hit 3s in the GSW game six when Tatum was wilting.

Now the Heat aren't even guarding him from 3 and actively seeking him out on pnr over just attacking guys like Brogdon.

He was easily more important than Brown during their run last year and he's just nowhere near the same guy now. With the exception of a few Embiid shutdown performances in the last round. It's a huge loss that hasn't been internalized by the media yet when gauging Boston's strength.

[hyper316]

Love spo coaching. Lowry in there missing shots, takes him out and subs in other players making a difference.

Nurse would never have the balls to sub out FVV brick after brick

[Los_29]

Love spo coaching. Lowry in there missing shots, takes him out and subs in other players making a difference.

Nurse would never have the balls to sub out FVV brick after brick

Lowry doesn't play much to begin with. He's a 37 year old player and not the player he once was.

You generally don't take your best players out because they miss shots especially if they are contributing in other areas and your backups are Dalano Banton and Malachi Flynn.

[tecumseh18]

Love spo coaching. Lowry in there missing shots, takes him out and subs in other players making a difference.

Lowry's plus/minus has been terrible in these first two games. By far the worst on the team. I wonder if Spo would take him out of the rotation entirely. Especially if/when Herro comes back.

Gabe Vincent makes so many stupid mistakes in crucial situations, tonight giving Tatum three FTs in the last minute. But to my surprise, Spo left him in the game. And he proceeds to hit the dagger, then seal the game by making both free throws.

If Lowry was ever going to be re-inserted, it would have been in that last minute. But he wasn't.

[Mister Ze]

This would be such a disappointment for Boston to lose like this; 0/2 on their home court.

You have to assume they’d make major moves in the summer that could involve targeting Siakam and OG like the rest of the league to pump the bidding war.

Question being are the Raptors trying to get younger and rebuild or running it back and gunning for the 6th seed ?

[Basketball_Jones]

With teams falling out of the playoffs, perhaps Masai was a genius in waiting for this. Teams may give up more for OG and Fred thinking they’re the difference makers for them in the playoffs

[bape_lovers]

At this point, you gotta appreciate our title even more. That sixers team had both Jimmy and the mvp.

Put Butler in front of Siakam and we'd win a chip.....he's the next best thing to Kawhi

He's everything that we need. Our defense would be unbelievable as well.

[NinjaBro]

Love spo coaching. Lowry in there missing shots, takes him out and subs in other players making a difference.

Nurse would never have the balls to sub out FVV brick after brick

You have no idea how much I hate nurse.

[Hottie McShotty]

Spo is one of the greatest coaches of all all time. I wish we had a coach like him. Taking an 8th seed to the playoffs who might win it all. Pretty incredible story!

[ATLTimekeeper]

Robert Williams man defense is awful. He just hasn't been taught how to play. Horford is looking a little tired. Smart just casually throwing the ball away again. Grant Williams with an all-time poke the bear blunder. He's NBA history now.

Still, Boston is the better team and they just have to wake up. I forgot that Brown was trained by Butler. He might be cowering in the shadow of the master right now. Time to go earn that supermax.

[MoneyBall]

Unbelievable. The Heat have SEVEN undrafted players on their roster. These include Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, and Caleb Martin among others.

Herro has been injured from the beginning, and Lowry is at best a veteran role player off the bench at this point. Love was picked up at the last minute after being waived by the Cavs and really the only other big name player they have apart from Butler is Bam. They are two wins away from making the Finals being the 8th seed.

I don't even think prime Popovich could have done what Spo and the Heat are doing now. Truly outstanding.

[HumbleRen]

Unbelievable. The Heat have SEVEN undrafted players on their roster. These include Gabe Vincent, Max Strus, Duncan Robinson, and Caleb Martin among others.

Herro has been injured from the beginning, and Lowry is at best a veteran role player off the bench at this point. Love was picked up at the last minute after being waived by the Cavs and really the only other big name player they have apart from Butler is Bam. They are two wins away from making the Finals being the 8th seed.

I don't even think prime Popovich could have done what Spo and the Heat are doing now. Truly outstanding.

Chris Boucher makes more than Gabe Vincent, Max Struss and Caleb Martin combined.

Absolute masterclass in scouting for talent by the Heat.