Around the League: 2024-25 Season

[eyriq]

Aprons were necessary to reduce the competitive advantage of spending more than others. If you value parity you should be a fan of the aprons.

[VFX]

Crazy talk.

Only 5 teams in entire nba history recovered from 0-2 at home. One being in 1969.

In both games they were without 3 key players. And lost in such a heartbreaking fashion.

Probability after being 0-2 ( road or home) to advance is 7,3%.

Cavs have fixing to do, but yea, series was over after 0-2. Just like Celtics were probably done after their 0-2.


Talking about who's "soft" or "hard" or who has boner while rebounding is childish.

Now, more than ever, single series can be decided in something as stupid as having enough hot hands in right time. Pacers got hot, Cavs got cold.
Celtics series played in similar fashion.

Pacers are lucky, luck is part of the sport.

It's hard to overcome a 4-1 lead.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

And your point is?

Pacers advanced. Pacers advanced last year as well.
Pacers are underrated team.

Pacers for past two years only played 1 healthy team and they got swept in that round.

Luck is part of the sport.

Pacers are bizarro version of the Magic.

Offense in the right places defense in the right places.

Vets that actually know their role and contribute. Role players that arent pretending to be starters.

[Skybox]

It's hard to overcome a 4-1 lead.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

And your point is?

Pacers advanced. Pacers advanced last year as well.
Pacers are underrated team.

Pacers for past two years only played 1 healthy team and they got swept in that round.

Luck is part of the sport.

Pacers are bizarro version of the Magic.

Offense in the right places defense in the right places.

Vets that actually know their role and contribute. Role players that arent pretending to be starters.

Yeah...they're not just some finesse/speed team, they roughed up the Cavs. Pressed them full-court, ran them into the ground defensively as well as on the end everybody talks about. They don't look tough, but they are - up and down the roster. CLE has a lot to think about this summer.

KCP & a good pick for Allen isn't outrageous to ponder. Biggest hurdle is both teams eyeing each other as direct rivals this time next year.

It occurred to me that Haliburton's comp might be Penny...closer than anyone I can think of. People said Penny looked like Magic, but other than height, that really wasn't the same. Penny was big, fast, and much more explosive than Magic. Haliburton plays a similar style, imo.

[Skybox]

I'm drafting Ryan Nembhard in the late second...just for the genes. His brother is a stone cold playoff killer of a role player.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Watching these playoffs, I just want a team full of players that show up.

[pepe1991]

Randle proving me wrong

Yea... after watching his bricks for 10 years, guy started balling at age of 31 with solid BBIQ & good shot selection

btw 8 MEN LINEUP. That's playoff formula. Can we NOT next time in playoffs play 11 men in first 3 games and bull**** around?

[drsd]

Aprons were necessary to reduce the competitive advantage of spending more than others. If you value parity you should be a fan of the aprons.

And-1

No team can be dominant for more than a 4-year run now without a reshuffle. Managment, and not hard cash, will matter a lot to create future dynasty-type teams. OKC has te assets to be the first such dynasty in the new CBA.

But, and more likely, the league will now be like the NBA in the 1970s, where every year there is a new champion. That is good for fans. It is not good for the BA bottom line. I would guess the next CBA will correct this in some fasion.

Either way, by 2035: some NBA player will be making USD$100M a year. The current CBA guarentees that.

[pepe1991]

Aprons were necessary to reduce the competitive advantage of spending more than others. If you value parity you should be a fan of the aprons.

And-1

No team can be dominant for more than a 4-year run now without a reshuffle. Managment, and not hard cash, will matter a lot to create future dynasty-type teams. OKC has te assets to be the first such dynasty in the new CBA.

But, and more likely, the league will now be like the NBA in the 1970s, where every year there is a new champion. That is good for fans. It is not good for the BA bottom line. I would guess the next CBA will correct this in some fasion.

Either way, by 2035: some NBA player will be making USD$100M a year. The current CBA guarentees that.

And how is that helpful ? it just enables cheap owners and gives them basketball reasons to not pay luxury tax.

More people cared about NBA during Warriors peak & Heat peak than today. Parity is only interesting on paper in sports, vast majoirty of "casual" fans prefer top teams to fight for titles. It's like soccer, best product is Real vs Barcelona / Bayern vs United weather somebody likes it or not, that's where most people are engaged in product.

NBA in 1970s was worthless product. It was so bad that half of the stars went to play for another league (ABA). Even best player of it's era ( Kareem) handpicked Knicks and Lakers to be traded there because he converted to islam and wanted to play in city that has major muslim population. And that trade finally moved NBA into light.
70s are the worst NBA era by far. Unwatchable, dying product, stars running away, titles with no meaning, nameless "stars" , finals MVP that nobody even know who they are today like Dennis Johnson , Wes Unseld , Willis Reed, Jo Jo White. Some of those dudes hardly have wiki page today.

I saw on reddit that more people in US watch preseson of NFL than NBA playoffs
But hey, parity .

Problem with new CBA is giving people what they think they want. But let's be real, if you are in finals and OKC and Pacers play, vast majority of potential viewers, who aren't OKC nor Pacers fans- simply won't actually tune in to watch it.
People LOVE to hate watch stuff. People either LOVE or HATE big market teams and biggest stars. More people tune in to hate on Lebron than watch good basketball. That's just reality.

[Optimus_Steel]

I remember Suggs punking Garland last season. That guy doesn't have the toughness to win a championship.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

I agree. He crumbles under pressure. Remember how Suggs showed him up? Then he had an 8 sec violation in a late game situation because he got rattled by Suggs.

[Optimus_Steel]

Did we beat the crap out of Celtics? Discuss.

I was in New England this week for work. Celtics fans do think we beat them up. Not in a malicious way but just in a physical way that took its toll. They talk very highly of our team, they think we are in the cusp.

[cedric76]

Aprons were necessary to reduce the competitive advantage of spending more than others. If you value parity you should be a fan of the aprons.

And-1

No team can be dominant for more than a 4-year run now without a reshuffle. Managment, and not hard cash, will matter a lot to create future dynasty-type teams. OKC has te assets to be the first such dynasty in the new CBA.

But, and more likely, the league will now be like the NBA in the 1970s, where every year there is a new champion. That is good for fans. It is not good for the BA bottom line. I would guess the next CBA will correct this in some fasion.

Either way, by 2035: some NBA player will be making USD$100M a year. The current CBA guarentees that.

You can if you plan well ahead, this is what Jett is doing.

And this is why it s important for us to NOT overspend on a guard.
We need our new guard to make less than 25 M per year to keep us away from the 2nd apron.
Jeff, unlike most people here, can't be short sighted

[pepe1991]

I remember Suggs punking Garland last season. That guy doesn't have the toughness to win a championship.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

I agree. He crumbles under pressure. Remember how Suggs showed him up? Then he had an 8 sec violation in a late game situation because he got rattled by Suggs.

Who crumbled Suggs , Franz and Banchero in second half of game 7? Isaac Okoro, Mitchell or Garland?
Oooor... things in basketball happen, for multiple reasons, not just one guy defending you, including s**y decisions by teammates, own mistakes, poor decisions by coach etc?


reminder: Paolo 3-14 FG in second half
Suggs 1-6 in second half
Franz 0-9 in second half


Cumulative 4-29 from "big 3".

You can do it for every team that loses series.

Garland, like any nba player has his strengths and weaknesses.
Just for sake of "Garland sucking" vs Magic, - 15 ppg , 5 apg, 45% FG, 40% for 3.
He only truly sucked in game 7 and game 3. In 5/7 games he played really well.

This whole "Suggs lockdown" narrative is fans bias, Suggs had :
worst FG%
worst 3%
averaged less PPG
averaged less APG
averaged more TOs
had lower EFG%
had lower TS%
drew less FTA

even whole steals argument is on shaky lags ( Garland 7, Suggs 9 for a series, on 38 assists for Garland and only 23 for Suggs, on Garland's 19 TOs to Suggs 20 )


Again, "crumbling under pressure" is armchair basketball analytics.
Did Jimmy Butler "crumbled" ? Oh no, he didn't, because basketball narratives don't allow you to think Jimmy Butler ever could.
Wanna run some numbers? In last 2 games Butler plus minus was -47, on 0-4 for 3 and only scoring 9 FGA total.

Reality: Warriors without Steph never had a chance. In same way last year's Cavs never had chance vs Celts without Allen, Jerome, Wade.
Just like this year series ended when in game 2 they were still without Hunter, Mobley, Garland.

Just like we had no shot vs Celtics without Moe & Suggs, and probably wouldn't have with them, but with them Celtics wouldn't sit Jrue for half of a series and Tatum for a game.

I'm so sick and tired of not- MVP- candidates being torn apart for having poor games. Those standards are for top 3 best players in the world, even for them it's not really fair, for rest of a league players will have bad and good games.
For f*** sake, OG Anunoby just had 1-12 FG game, Porzingis sucks whole playoffs, and on other side Luke Kornet was on triple double watch with 7 blocks. And nobody in right mind will still think Kornet is better than Porzingis. Everybody can see that something is wrong with Porzingis.

Final conclusion: Garland is fine player, on East he is all star type player. He wasn't healthy vs Pacers, he didn't "crumble" against us, Cavs still *probably* should trade him and Allen because Mobley should be C and they can get cheaper PG/SG next to Mitchell without losing much offense.

[pepe1991]

btw OKC vs Nuggets should be finals. Basketball at some other level.

[drsd]

btw OKC vs Nuggets should be finals. Basketball at some other level.

Jokić failed to get a triple double; what a scrub!

Two of the three best basketball players on Earth are shining in this series.

[pepe1991]

btw OKC vs Nuggets should be finals. Basketball at some other level.

Jokić failed to get a triple double; what a scrub!

Two of the three best basketball players on Earth are shining in this series.

It's hilarious that Nuggets can beat anybody with minimal help off bench and in games where Porter doesn't look like Magic version of Jeff Green.

If they win title this year, that will be one of most impressive single man carry jobs in nba history. Could propel Joker in GOAT conversations.

[drsd]

btw OKC vs Nuggets should be finals. Basketball at some other level.

Jokić failed to get a triple double; what a scrub!

Two of the three best basketball players on Earth are shining in this series.

It's hilarious that Nuggets can beat anybody with minimal help off bench and in games where Porter doesn't look like Magic version of Jeff Green.

If they win title this year, that will be one of most impressive single man carry jobs in nba history. Could propel Joker in GOAT conversations.

Jokić makes Braun look like a league leading guard. It is friggen amazing.

[pepe1991]

Jokić failed to get a triple double; what a scrub!

Two of the three best basketball players on Earth are shining in this series.

It's hilarious that Nuggets can beat anybody with minimal help off bench and in games where Porter doesn't look like Magic version of Jeff Green.

If they win title this year, that will be one of most impressive single man carry jobs in nba history. Could propel Joker in GOAT conversations.

Jokić makes Braun look like a league leading guard. It is friggen amazing.

Should KCP send him $5M from Magic's deal ?

[drsd]

If they win title this year, that will be one of most impressive single man carry jobs in nba history. Could propel Joker in GOAT conversations.

Starters:
PG: 37yo old Jason Kidd goes 7.9/8.2/4.4
SG: DeShawn Stevenson goes 5.3/1.1/1.5
SF: Caron Butler/Shawn Marion split for a ~13/1/1.5
C: Tyson Chandler goes 10.1/0.4/9.4

Bench led by a very good Jason Terry at 15.8/4.1/1.9
And fudge all else off of the bench.

And the Mavs won a title riding Dirk Nowitzki in a I-won't-lose mentality.

[pepe1991]

If they win title this year, that will be one of most impressive single man carry jobs in nba history. Could propel Joker in GOAT conversations.

Starters:
PG: 37yo old Jason Kidd goes 7.9/8.2/4.4
SG: DeShawn Stevenson goes 5.3/1.1/1.5
SF: Caron Butler/Shawn Marion split for a ~13/1/1.5
C: Tyson Chandler goes 10.1/0.4/9.4

Bench led by a very good Jason Terry at 15.8/4.1/1.9
And fudge all else off of the bench.

And the Mavs won a title riding Dirk Nowitzki in a I-won't-lose mentality.

My favorite title run ever!

Dirk with a cold , still too ice cold for Lebron

[drsd]

(Dallas) My favorite title run ever!

Dirk with a cold , still too ice cold for Lebron

For me, a split betweem 2018–19 Toronto Raptors and 2020–21 Milwaukee Bucks.
What I loved by both those seasons was that neither team won by winning a three-point shooting contest. Both were big-B Basketball teams.