Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V1.0

[Pointgod]

SGA was the 11th pick. And OKC didn’t even draft him, they traded for him. Without him, none of their tanking would have worked.

Jalen Williams was selected by thrm with the 12 pick.

Chet Holmgren, the only guy they drafted high in a tanking season at #2, isn’t the main piece nor even the second best player most days.

So it goes to show you can build a contender with smart drafting and trades, and you don’t need top 3 picks year after year. Gives some hope to the Raptors.

So trade a mvp caliber player to get 5 picks and a blue chip prospect that eventually turns into top 5 SG of all time.

Get the 2nd pick in a draft. Get the 7th pick and flip it for a DPOY caliber player.

Seems easy enough.

It’s so disingenuous to say that OKC isn’t an example of success through tanking. Their whole model was prioritizing picks and youth over established players. This is a team that blew a 44 win team by trading Chris Paul, Dennis Schroeder, Danillio Galanari and Steven Adams so they could go 22-50 the next year. Team compete would have had a meltdown if we started rebuilding the same way after our 48 win season.

Yes they didn’t need to hit on all of own picks except I’d argue hitting on Chet, Dort, Wiggins, Cason Wallace, Jaylin Williams are a big factor in their success. And you don’t get multiple opportunities to hit and miss on multiple players without employing a tanking strategy. Imagine where this team would be if they had just kept status quo with the Chris Paul version of this team.

[EH15]

It also started when they (correctly) parted with Serge right before his walk year. Serge lead to Sabonis/Dipo, which lead to PG, which lead to SGA+JDub+picks.

[billy_hoyle]

SGA was the 11th pick. And OKC didn’t even draft him, they traded for him. Without him, none of their tanking would have worked.

Jalen Williams was selected by thrm with the 12 pick.

Chet Holmgren, the only guy they drafted high in a tanking season at #2, isn’t the main piece nor even the second best player most days.

So it goes to show you can build a contender with smart drafting and trades, and you don’t need top 3 picks year after year. Gives some hope to the Raptors.

So trade a mvp caliber player to get 5 picks and a blue chip prospect that eventually turns into top 5 SG of all time.

Get the 2nd pick in a draft. Get the 7th pick and flip it for a DPOY caliber player.

Seems easy enough.

It’s so disingenuous to say that OKC isn’t an example of success through tanking. Their whole model was prioritizing picks and youth over established players. This is a team that blew a 44 win team by trading Chris Paul, Dennis Schroeder, Danillio Galanari and Steven Adams so they could go 22-50 the next year. Team compete would have had a meltdown if we started rebuilding the same way after our 48 win season.

Yes they didn’t need to hit on all of own picks except I’d argue hitting on Chet, Dort, Wiggins, Cason Wallace, Jaylin Williams are a big factor in their success. And you don’t get multiple opportunities to hit and miss on multiple players without employing a tanking strategy. Imagine where this team would be if they had just kept status quo with the Chris Paul version of this team.

I think it's way more disingenuous to say that OKC is good because of a tank.

As others have stated, only one of their rotation players is a top 5 pick.

We have three.

Our Tampa tank + this year is essentially more tanking than they did. We ended up with the 2021 ROY and whoever we get this year, they ended up with Chet and Caruso.

I think we did pretty well, relative to say Utah, we didn't do well compared to OKC, who keep nailing trades and post-top 10 picks.

OKC is good and will continue to be good mainly due to SGA and JDub.

[billy_hoyle]

It also started when they (correctly) parted with Serge right before his walk year. Serge lead to Sabonis/Dipo, which lead to PG, which lead to SGA+JDub+picks.

We did trade Siakam and OG in their walk year. That has resulted in Ingram, Ochai, Walter, Mogbo, RJ and IQ.

Should we see how that group plays together...maybe even 1 game.

[DelAbbot]

SGA was the 11th pick. And OKC didn’t even draft him, they traded for him. Without him, none of their tanking would have worked.

Jalen Williams was selected by thrm with the 12 pick.

Chet Holmgren, the only guy they drafted high in a tanking season at #2, isn’t the main piece nor even the second best player most days.

So it goes to show you can build a contender with smart drafting and trades, and you don’t need top 3 picks year after year. Gives some hope to the Raptors.

So trade a mvp caliber player to get 5 picks and a blue chip prospect that eventually turns into top 5 SG of all time.

Get the 2nd pick in a draft. Get the 7th pick and flip it for a DPOY caliber player.

Seems easy enough.

It’s so disingenuous to say that OKC isn’t an example of success through tanking. Their whole model was prioritizing picks and youth over established players. This is a team that blew a 44 win team by trading Chris Paul, Dennis Schroeder, Danillio Galanari and Steven Adams so they could go 22-50 the next year. Team compete would have had a meltdown if we started rebuilding the same way after our 48 win season.

Yes they didn’t need to hit on all of own picks except I’d argue hitting on Chet, Dort, Wiggins, Cason Wallace, Jaylin Williams are a big factor in their success. And you don’t get multiple opportunities to hit and miss on multiple players without employing a tanking strategy. Imagine where this team would be if they had just kept status quo with the Chris Paul version of this team.

100% his account got hacked by los, because Prestige has always been on tWo's side.

[Tha Cynic]

I think you’re just getting old lol. Jokic is definitely not the closest thing too.

Disagree. Jokic has refined humour, and so does SGA. Giannis is kind of awkward with his humour but he’s just likeable. A guy like Ant just sounds like a teenager and acts like one off the court too. The way he plays is also very passive so he never actually fit that mold.

If you compare these guys to previous superstars, they’re more like superstars who were in their prime and a bit more mature with the way they spoke. They kind of came into the league like that and stayed like that. You can hear the humble in the way they speak. A lot of American players develop that more as they grow older.

Nah, I think you’re legit just getting older lol.

Jokic’s whole gimmick was showing that he didn’t care about anything to do with the nba outside of just playing the game. Clearly that facade fell apart after losing to the wolves and OKC in back to back years, he clearly does care.

Guys like that can never be the face of the league.

You gotta win atleast a 2 peat or consistently be in the finals. SGA might have a chance at that.

It’s just dry humour lol. He was never trying to make people think he didn’t care - the expectation is people would know he’s just messing around, which I’m sure the majority of people understood.

Of all the players in the league, no one comes close to Jokic imo as a guy they can market as the top player. SGA and Giannis follow behind, but they’re not quite at Jokic’s level. This is all moot as none of these guys will be marketed by the NbA on their current teams anyway.

[WaltFrazier]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=0YpMScWXY2zRUqR8fH-usg

Willis Reed won MVP, ASG MVP and Finals MVP in 1970

[Boogie!]

Og classic

[bballsparkin]

Lol, KAT is a bum. I'd want him on the bench for my rec league team for that lazy playing. Let alone the NBA ECF.

[bballsparkin]

If only the Knick's could merge KAT and Robinson together. That would be the perfect big.

[Pointgod]

If only the Knick's could merge KAT and Robinson together. That would be the perfect big.

KAT is such an idiot sometimes lol. He’s cooking the Pacers then takes two dumb fouls like how does your brain malfunction so badly?

[sidsid]

OGs 3 has disappeared in the last couple games and Siakam's finishing short around the basket. They've been playing long hard minutes, plus pace. Neither team has great options at the forward positions outside of them, but it's one of those things where you have to find a rotation answers to bring back the effectiveness.

[Tripod]

Siakam leads Indy starters with 3 FGM.

Not gonna win many games like that.

[Agimat]

The "best" player not showing up thus far

[Tripod]

Matherin gets to the line a lot

[WaltFrazier]

Hart is absolutely killing the Knicks now and Thibs is too stupid to yank him. His turnovers lost game 4. Robinson or achiuwa would be better here

[sidsid]

The "best" player not showing up thus far

Not focused on process. They've had the Brunson/KAT lineup out there most of the 4th and Haliburton hasn't honed in on just hammering it. This looked a lot like game 1. A regular season type game for the Pacers.

[ash_k]

Pacers and superstar Hali's 2 for 7 playing with fire a little..really confident of that homecourt.

[Raptaurus]

So trade a mvp caliber player to get 5 picks and a blue chip prospect that eventually turns into top 5 SG of all time.

Get the 2nd pick in a draft. Get the 7th pick and flip it for a DPOY caliber player.

Seems easy enough.

It’s so disingenuous to say that OKC isn’t an example of success through tanking. Their whole model was prioritizing picks and youth over established players. This is a team that blew a 44 win team by trading Chris Paul, Dennis Schroeder, Danillio Galanari and Steven Adams so they could go 22-50 the next year. Team compete would have had a meltdown if we started rebuilding the same way after our 48 win season.

Yes they didn’t need to hit on all of own picks except I’d argue hitting on Chet, Dort, Wiggins, Cason Wallace, Jaylin Williams are a big factor in their success. And you don’t get multiple opportunities to hit and miss on multiple players without employing a tanking strategy. Imagine where this team would be if they had just kept status quo with the Chris Paul version of this team.

I think it's way more disingenuous to say that OKC is good because of a tank.

As others have stated, only one of their rotation players is a top 5 pick.

We have three.

Our Tampa tank + this year is essentially more tanking than they did. We ended up with the 2021 ROY and whoever we get this year, they ended up with Chet and Caruso.

I think we did pretty well, relative to say Utah, we didn't do well compared to OKC, who keep nailing trades and post-top 10 picks.

OKC is good and will continue to be good mainly due to SGA and JDub.

I think the point is that Presti prioritized rebuilding when he traded a top 20 PG for a rookie SGA and a ton of picks/swaps. He could have easily just retooled and gotten veteran guys at the level of RJ, IQ, BI, and Bruce Brown. They still had Westbrook and probably could have continued to have a ceiling of a first round playoff team.

So yeah, they had a ton of draft picks - of which some were their own while others were pawned off from other teams by trading their veterans. They slowly rebuilt their team over the years. And yes, its not all about drafting as they also some good signings/trades to strengthen theur defence.

[WaltFrazier]

The "best" player not showing up thus far

8 points.