2023-24 NBA Season Discussion

[clearlynotjesse]

Round 2 of the West is gonna be so good

Round 2? How about round 1?........

Nuggets, Clippers, Thunder, Wolves, Mavs, Suns, Pels, Lakers, Kings

One of those teams is missing it.........Warriors MIGHT just sneak in can never count em out

Spurs, Blazers, Grizzlies wont do anything. Rockets and Jazz wont make it but theyre tough

Round 2's just gonna be a higher level of basketball. Top 4 seeds have definitely separated themselves from the pack.

[sp6r=underrated]

Anyone else disappointed with Minnesota's effort tonight? Not the biggest thing in the world but this should have been a cakewalk game yet they struggle to muster any sustained energy.

[sp6r=underrated]

Round 2 of the West is gonna be so good

Round 2? How about round 1?........

Nuggets, Clippers, Thunder, Wolves, Mavs, Suns, Pels, Lakers, Kings

One of those teams is missing it.........Warriors MIGHT just sneak in can never count em out

Spurs, Blazers, Grizzlies wont do anything. Rockets and Jazz wont make it but theyre tough

Round 2's just gonna be a higher level of basketball. Top 4 seeds have definitely separated themselves from the pack.

Clippers are the most intriguing of the Western contenders given their age. Unlike the other teams you feel like their future is very limited.

[sp6r=underrated]

I mocked Minnesota's effort but to their credit they rallied and stomped Memphis in that 4th quarter.

[Dr Positivity]

Random nba history thought, I think this series may be underrated historically:

1959 - Boston beats Syracuse in game 7 by 5 points. Probably the real finals as the below .500 Lakers won the West and got swept. Not the closest series in terms of margins with 5 double digit wins but Syracuse's win in game 2 along with game 7 are close.

Syracuse had made possibly the first star to a contender trade getting George Yardley midseason, who had been coming off 1st team All NBA in 58 and broke Mikan's single season points record, before regressing to a still star caliber 20ppg in 59. I believe Costello was possibly the actual best PG in the league over the less efficient back nine Cousy, so seems like a solid big 3 along with some other players like Red Kerr and young Greer. After ok regular season stats with Syracuse Yardley averages 25ppg in the playoffs and 26 against Boston, and they beat a solid (40-32) New York team in Round 1 before their Boston showdown. They win 45 games with him in 1960 before getting smashed by Wilt and then after that while Greer becoming a star replaces Yardley retiring to be engineer and they get a great coach in Hannum, Schayes starts to fade and already had his regular season dip by 59 although his playoff stats were good.

[70sFan]

Random nba history thought, I think this series may be underrated historically:

1959 - Boston beats Syracuse in game 7 by 5 points. Probably the real finals as the below .500 Lakers won the West and got swept. Not the closest series in terms of margins with 5 double digit wins but Syracuse's win in game 2 along with game 7 are close.

Syracuse had made possibly the first star to a contender trade getting George Yardley midseason, who had been coming off 1st team All NBA in 58 and broke Mikan's single season points record, before regressing to a still star caliber 20ppg in 59. I believe Costello was possibly the actual best PG in the league over the less efficient back nine Cousy, so seems like a solid big 3 along with some other players like Red Kerr and young Greer. After ok regular season stats with Syracuse Yardley averages 25ppg in the playoffs and 26 against Boston, and they beat a solid (40-32) New York team in Round 1 before their Boston showdown. They win 45 games with him in 1960 before getting smashed by Wilt and then after that while Greer becoming a star replaces Yardley retiring to be engineer and they get a great coach in Hannum, Schayes starts to fade and already had his regular season dip by 59 although his playoff stats were good.

This Nationals team was fairly talented indeed and I think it's not a luck that they beat the Warriors two years later, even if they were older and more spent.

Schayes is a fascinating player for me to analyze. I think people would be surprised how much impact he had offensively if we had seen his impact metrics. Unfortunately, we have only one full Nationals team game from that era (and one incomplete matchup Vs Mikan Lakers from earlier). I do have quite a lot of clips from their matchups with the Celtics and if you are interested, I could share something from 1959 series as well.

[The-Power]

We're halfway through the season now. Any thoughts on power rankings and player awards at this point of the season?

[eminence]

We're halfway through the season now. Any thoughts on power rankings and player awards at this point of the season?

MVP/POY
-I've got Jokic leading. Tatum/Giannis/SGA/Embiid the chase pack. Tatum doesn't get that level of respect so won't really be a contender, but I'll consider him. Embiid likely to miss too many games. So Jokic/SGA/Giannis the real race I'd say.
-Jokic/Tatum/Giannis/Embiid aren't new names, they've all been staying in the top 5 when healthy players for the last few seasons, but it's nice to see SGA make the jump. Had been expecting it to be Luka, but not yet.

DPOY
-It's Rudy in a route.

ROY
-Chet's the pick and has come out as one of the best rookies in a long time. Much much better than I expected.
-Victor has shown the absurd promise he has, but doesn't have the offensive consistency yet. Would be a strong winner in plenty of other years.
-Other high lotto picks have struggled, but that's not too uncommon as they've mostly been thrown in the deep end.
-Lots of guys getting off to fast starts as solid middle tier guys - Lively, Jaquez, Podziemski, Wallace, Hawkins, Jackson-Davis. I'm not sure I like any of them for a jump to stardom, but it looks like it'll be viewed as a deep draft class in the future.

Power Rankings
Celtics have looked great - if they stay healthy they should be viewed as clear favorites
Nuggets would probably still be my #2 - haven't put the foot down, but cruising to homecourt in the first round
Bucks/Sixers/Wolves/Thunder/Clippers 3-7 in some order and the other squads I see as somewhat reasonable contenders currently.

[The High Cyde]

Is Rudy once again a sleeper top 5 player this season? He has a huge hand in Minnesota being top of the West halfway through the season while obviously being back to his DPOY shenanigans.

[LA Bird]

Does anyone know where to find total number of possessions played by a player in each season? I know there are per 100 possession stats available but I am hoping for more precision in the analysis I am going to run.

[eminence]

Does anyone know where to find total number of possessions played by a player in each season? I know there are per 100 possession stats available but I am hoping for more precision in the analysis I am going to run.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?PerMode=Totals

Far right column

(In case the link doesn't work, nbastats.com, Players, General, Advanced)

[sp6r=underrated]

Did anyone watch the Suns-Pelicans game? I'm curious why Phoenix was so dominant.

[TheGOATRises007]

Nuggets still look like the best team in the league come playoff time.

I trust Jokic too much to favor another team.

[TheGOATRises007]

Did anyone watch the Suns-Pelicans game? I'm curious why Phoenix was so dominant.

Booker having one of the best games of the season is your answer.

52-5-4 on 30 shots and just 1 turnover.

[sp6r=underrated]

Did anyone watch the Suns-Pelicans game? I'm curious why Phoenix was so dominant.

Booker having one of the best games of the season is your answer.

52-5-4 on 30 shots and just 1 turnover.

Are you watching it? I'm curious I see the box score but I'm interested in the flow of the game.

[TheGOATRises007]

Did anyone watch the Suns-Pelicans game? I'm curious why Phoenix was so dominant.

Booker having one of the best games of the season is your answer.

52-5-4 on 30 shots and just 1 turnover.

Are you watching it? I'm curious I see the box score but I'm interested in the flow of the game.

Was too busy watching the Celtics-Nuggets game.

[LA Bird]

Does anyone know where to find total number of possessions played by a player in each season? I know there are per 100 possession stats available but I am hoping for more precision in the analysis I am going to run.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?PerMode=Totals

Far right column

(In case the link doesn't work, nbastats.com, Players, General, Advanced)

Nice, thanks.

Do you know of any total possession estimates before pbp era?

[eminence]

Does anyone know where to find total number of possessions played by a player in each season? I know there are per 100 possession stats available but I am hoping for more precision in the analysis I am going to run.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/advanced?PerMode=Totals

Far right column

(In case the link doesn't work, nbastats.com, Players, General, Advanced)

Nice, thanks.

Do you know of any total possession estimates before pbp era?

.

Not available that I can think of. Obviously Bbref has some on the backend to estimate /100 numbers - paging Daniel

[Texas Chuck]

Is Rudy once again a sleeper top 5 player this season? He has a huge hand in Minnesota being top of the West halfway through the season while obviously being back to his DPOY shenanigans.

He won't get the love because defense and because people just dislike Rudy. But he's the main driving force behind the best team in the West. He absolutely is having significant impact for sure. I'd definitely take him over some shinier guys who will get consideration.

[Peregrine01]

Nuggets still look like the best team in the league come playoff time.

I trust Jokic too much to favor another team.

I'd describe Jokic and the Nuggets as the most "inelastic". Jason Timpf had a good point that playoff games inevitably turn into rock fights when the refs swallow their whistles because they don't want to decide games and the physicality ratchets up several levels. Players and teams that are most impervious to those situations have a big advantage. This is the same reason why I doubt the effectiveness of players like Harden and Embiid who thrive off a soft whistle in the regular season and later have difficulty adapting their games in playoff settings.