Official NBA General Discussion 2024-25 V1.0

[Scizzup]

The Caruso trade has not worked out for the Thunder so far. Not sure what’s going on with him but he’s looked awful.

what? it has worked out. It's not been perfect due to his poor shooting but he is their 2nd best defender and a big reason they are posting the best defense in modern NBA history relative to the league average.


Caruso won't this bad all season either on offense going by his career numbers.

[Potential]

The 3 best teams in the east when healthy is Boston New York and Philly

[Los_29]

The Caruso trade has not worked out for the Thunder so far. Not sure what’s going on with him but he’s looked awful.

what? it has worked out. It's not been perfect due to his poor shooting but he is their 2nd best defender and a big reason they are posting the best defense in modern NBA history relative to the league average.


Caruso won't this bad all season either on offense going by his career numbers.

He’s got a 39% TS% with the worst on/off stats of his career.

[Brinbe]

celts making a statement against the cavs.

This didn't age well.

nope. it aged perfectly well. cavs now not unbeaten

[lebron stopper]

celts making a statement against the cavs.

This didn't age well.

nope. it aged perfectly well. cavs now not unbeaten

seems like the Garland vs. Jrue and Derrick White matchup is gonna be tough for the Cavs to overcome

[Scizzup]

The Caruso trade has not worked out for the Thunder so far. Not sure what’s going on with him but he’s looked awful.

what? it has worked out. It's not been perfect due to his poor shooting but he is their 2nd best defender and a big reason they are posting the best defense in modern NBA history relative to the league average.


Caruso won't this bad all season either on offense going by his career numbers.

He’s got a 39% TS% with the worst on/off stats of his career.

Yea, I don't think he is going to shoot 39% TS all year do you? on/off? he is a bench player on a team that is beating teams by 11p100. The Thunder are very good with him on the court and they are also great when he is on the bench. The same reason Brown and Tatum both had negative on/off last year. on/off is useless here.


Caruso has a 3.9 DBPM and he rates as a top 5 most impactful defender on early impact stats. Thunder have a 99 DRTG with him on the court.

[Brinbe]

knecht supernova, holy crap

[Potential]

Imagine we had gradey and knecht

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Knecht dropping 50?

[Syd-TK3]

Knecht going crazy

[ForeverTFC]

Watch on YouTube

When Nurse took over from Casey, I thought we would be playing this way as this is how our bench mob used to play...
Then when Darko took over from Nurse, I thought he would implement a more fluid offense like this one...

Still waiting...

The secret - play 11 of 15 games against teams below .500, and have the above .500 teams be the Knicks, Warriors, Magic, and Lakers.

Nothing against CLE, but they have played a cupcake schedule.

You are talking about the results, I am talking about the process.

I think you have it the other way around. To me, it feels like you're looking at results, not the process.

Raptors are 7th in AST % this year at 67% while the Cavs are 17th at 62%. A higher % of our FGM are assisted than theirs. We move the ball a ton. However, NBA.com says Cleveland has a higher AST ratio which means they have more assists per 100 posessions. So what gives? The issue is that we're 24th in TS% and 13th in FG% (we get a ton of ORBDs for putbacks and don't shoot a lot of 3s) while the Cavs are 1st in both metrics, We're near bottom of the league in TOV % at 16% while Cleveland is 5th at 13% (3.5 TO differential per game in their favor). So we waste a lot of possessions because we can't hit shots or protect the ball.

Cleveland actually plays more in isolation than we do; our team moves the ball and cuts a bunch. We just suck at scoring off our passes and protecting the ball when we pass, despite scoring off passes more than the Cavs when we do make a FG whereas Cleveland mixes in more isolation. It's a talent and experience issue which lead to **** results, the system is all about sharing the ball so the process is there.

[elmer_yuck]

Should have done better in the coin tosses. Lost out on McCain and Knecht, who are both blowing up.

[ForeverTFC]

Is Knecht who we thought Gradey was when we drafted him? 37pts on 12 of 16 shooting, 9 for 12 from 3 in 38 minutes. +18 in a 6 point game. Scored 18 of his points in 3 minutes of game time in the 3rd.

[James_Raptors]

celts making a statement against the cavs.

This didn't age well.

nope. it aged perfectly well. cavs now not unbeaten

My bad, I didn't realize "just winning" was the statement you were looking for, rather than the fact the Celtics were up 21 in the 3rd at the time of your posting.

[Dexjackson]

Is Knecht who we thought Gradey was when we drafted him? 37pts on 12 of 16 shooting, 9 for 12 from 3 in 38 minutes. +18 in a 6 point game. Scored 18 of his points in 3 minutes of game time in the 3rd.

The output is impressive for sure. The guy is a knockdown shooter. Not to diminish his accomplishment but if you put Gradey in his spot was there anything in this game Gradey couldn't do? LBJ, AD, Reaves, and Russell created most of these shots. He's also 2 1/2 years older than GD (Today is Gradey's bday btw lol).

[Dexjackson]

Feels like a sacrilege to say this but I thoroughly enjoyed that Celts/Cavs game lol. Boston's defense stifled the Cavs for much of the game until Cavs kept switching to have Spida attack Queta. Jrue is probably my favorite non-big defensive player to watch. Cleveland may have had an easier schedule to start the season but you can only play who's in front of you. Coming back down 20 against Boston at home shows me what I need to see in terms of their resilience and toughness. Mitchell and Mobley both looked great this game. Mitchell's ability to make tough buckets is what I trust in a playoff series. He made a bunch of difficult playoff type shots tonight. I never come away impressed with Garland when I watch him. I don't know why but what I watch does not seem to match his stats. He seems like the type of player that plays great against subpar competition but not so good against tougher matchups.

[navyblue]

Is Knecht who we thought Gradey was when we drafted him? 37pts on 12 of 16 shooting, 9 for 12 from 3 in 38 minutes. +18 in a 6 point game. Scored 18 of his points in 3 minutes of game time in the 3rd.

Knetch is also 2.5+ years older than gradey (almost 24 years old)
For comps rj Barret is 9 months older than knetch.

Btw happy 21st bday gradey.

[Brinbe]

This didn't age well.

nope. it aged perfectly well. cavs now not unbeaten

My bad, I didn't realize "just winning" was the statement you were looking for, rather than the fact the Celtics were up 21 in the 3rd at the time of your posting.

A win is a statement regardless of the differential when the opponent is the hottest team in the league and you're the defending champs in the same conference. They absolutely did make a statement, especially with how they handled Garland.

[WaltFrazier]

I wonder if a player like say Dillon Brooks had laid out Mitchell with a body block like Tatum did near the end of the game, if there'd have been a F1 called? Or at least get reviewed.

[SirKen]

The secret - play 11 of 15 games against teams below .500, and have the above .500 teams be the Knicks, Warriors, Magic, and Lakers.

Nothing against CLE, but they have played a cupcake schedule.

You are talking about the results, I am talking about the process.

I think you have it the other way around. To me, it feels like you're looking at results, not the process.

Raptors are 7th in AST % this year at 67% while the Cavs are 17th at 62%. A higher % of our FGM are assisted than theirs. We move the ball a ton. However, NBA.com says Cleveland has a higher AST ratio which means they have more assists per 100 posessions. So what gives? The issue is that we're 24th in TS% and 13th in FG% (we get a ton of ORBDs for putbacks and don't shoot a lot of 3s) while the Cavs are 1st in both metrics, We're near bottom of the league in TOV % at 16% while Cleveland is 5th at 13% (3.5 TO differential per game in their favor). So we waste a lot of possessions because we can't hit shots or protect the ball.

Cleveland actually plays more in isolation than we do; our team moves the ball and cuts a bunch. We just suck at scoring off our passes and protecting the ball when we pass, despite scoring off passes more than the Cavs when we do make a FG whereas Cleveland mixes in more isolation. It's a talent and experience issue which lead to **** results, the system is all about sharing the ball so the process is there.

I haven't had the opportunity to watch too many games this season, so I should not comment on this year's progress. However, from what I have seen in bits and pieces, the cuts and passes are coming more from the playstyle of Gradey, and Ochai. Even when you look at the last game we won behind RJ's performance, you can see plenty of occasions where he has taken a more difficult shot than actually finding the open man.

I will take a closer look at Cavs and our games before commenting deeper on the context of the stats you quoted. In the meantime, not all passes and assists are created equal. Remember Fred's high assist rates and high AST ratio where he would go for the safe perimeter passes and someone else would convert it as a contested shot? That being said, if you have followed both teams sufficiently to confirm the context of the stats with the eye test or other specific data, then I will take your word for it.

Also, talent is an issue for sure. It does not have to be mutually exclusive.