Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V1.0

[WaltFrazier]

It’s weird how much younger he looks in that raptors finals considering it wasn’t that long ago

6 years isn't long? I always think of it like this - Kawhi has played 6 seasons with Clippers. That is pretty long, guys age in that time

[WaltFrazier]

Why is bridges completely non existent in their offense?

Partly him not being aggressive, partly Thibs lack of structured offense

[WaltFrazier]

Why is everyone so on board with OKC? It's their first Finals. At least the Pacers can say they have a player that won a championship recently.

It's because the Thunder in that last series have shown that they can score against elite defense, while being elite themselves.

The Pacers were getting scored on and losing to Delon Wright bench rotations.

The Pacers like to run, and turn teams over. The Thunder love to do that too. The only advantages the Pacers have is their ball movement and 3 point shooting. And the former isn't going to matter much because of how the Knicks simple offense ended up trucking them anyway.

Yeah OKC plays the same game, but with better defense. They will overwhelm Indy with size, scoring, depth and just being better at everything

[Pointgod]

Trade KAT for KD. And move away from the 17 seconds of Brunson offense (which likely means moving on from Thibs).

Brother have you seen KD’s teams do absolutely nothing? Jesus the Knicks made the ECF in their first year with zero depth. Why the hell would they trade Towns? If anything I’d explore Hart and Bridges because they stunk up the joint. And probably Robinson too because he’s expiring

It’s extremely difficult to win at the highest level in this league with below average defense at the 1 and 5. It’s also extremely difficult to ride a small guard at the highest level. Knicks desperately need a true first option and to prioritize defense at the 5. KD is still an all-NBA player and would be the best player to put on a Knicks jersey.

Play KAT at the 4 and start a defensive 5( not Mitch Robinson) like they did in Minnesota. They also need a SG like an Andrew Nehmard that can relieve pressure from Brunson. Most of all they need better than 15 points in a deciding game from their 24 million dollar man

[WaltFrazier]

Knicks added two great wing defenders and yet their team couldn’t stop anyone. You’re seeing the problem with paying so much money to these guys. Brunson and Towns were just so bad especially Towns. Pacers ran layup lines in many games in this series.

I like their team and they aren’t far away but Towns needs to be moved and I have my doubts about Brunson as the main guy. Just seems too iso heavy and lots of guys standing around. Pacers play beautiful basketball.

The wing defenders couldn't thrive because Towns and Brunson were both so bad on D. It was too much to cover up, and teams just spammed putting Towns or Brunson in pnr action

[Los_29]

Why is everyone so on board with OKC? It's their first Finals. At least the Pacers can say they have a player that won a championship recently.

It's because the Thunder in that last series have shown that they can score against elite defense, while being elite themselves.

The Pacers were getting scored on and losing to Delon Wright bench rotations.

The Pacers like to run, and turn teams over. The Thunder love to do that too. The only advantages the Pacers have is their ball movement and 3 point shooting. And the former isn't going to matter much because of how the Knicks simple offense ended up trucking them anyway.

Yeah OKC plays the same game, but with better defense. They will overwhelm Indy with size, scoring, depth and just being better at everything

Pacers have been written off in every series so far. Even some had the Bucks beating them. I think we need to give them some respect. They beat a very good Knicks team.

I favour the Thunder but the Pacers are a very good team and they always have 1-2 guys that step up. They are a deep team and complement one another extremely well.

Knicks have some tough choices to make. They are going to be paying two 3+D players a ridiculous amount of money while Towns gets chewed up on the defensive end and Brunson tries to iso on every possession. Ugly team to watch at times. Don’t have any picks to trade either. They are a good team though just a bit too flawed.

[WaltFrazier]

Brother have you seen KD’s teams do absolutely nothing? Jesus the Knicks made the ECF in their first year with zero depth. Why the hell would they trade Towns? If anything I’d explore Hart and Bridges because they stunk up the joint. And probably Robinson too because he’s expiring

It’s extremely difficult to win at the highest level in this league with below average defense at the 1 and 5. It’s also extremely difficult to ride a small guard at the highest level. Knicks desperately need a true first option and to prioritize defense at the 5. KD is still an all-NBA player and would be the best player to put on a Knicks jersey.

Play KAT at the 4 and start a defensive 5( not Mitch Robinson) like they did in Minnesota. They also need a SG like an Andrew Nehmard that can relieve pressure from Brunson. Most of all they need better than 15 points in a deciding game from their 24 million dollar man

Is there a better defensive C than Robinson?

But a slightly less great defender who has more offense than Robinson, I agree would help.

[WaltFrazier]

It's because the Thunder in that last series have shown that they can score against elite defense, while being elite themselves.

The Pacers were getting scored on and losing to Delon Wright bench rotations.

The Pacers like to run, and turn teams over. The Thunder love to do that too. The only advantages the Pacers have is their ball movement and 3 point shooting. And the former isn't going to matter much because of how the Knicks simple offense ended up trucking them anyway.

Yeah OKC plays the same game, but with better defense. They will overwhelm Indy with size, scoring, depth and just being better at everything

Pacers have been written off in every series so far. Even some had the Bucks beating them. I think we need to give them some respect. They beat a very good Knicks team.

I favour the Thunder but the Pacers are a very good team and they always have 1-2 guys that step up. They are a deep team and complement one another extremely well.

Knicks have some tough choices to make. They are going to be paying two 3+D players a ridiculous amount of money while Towns gets chewed up on the defensive end and Brunson tries to iso on every possession. Ugly team to watch at times. Don’t have any picks to trade either. They are a good team though just a bit too flawed.

I do respect Pacers but still predict OKC in 5. They're just that much better than other teams.

[HumbleRen]

Read on Twitter

?s=46

Good company.

OKC in 5 though.

[Los_29]

Knicks added two great wing defenders and yet their team couldn’t stop anyone. You’re seeing the problem with paying so much money to these guys. Brunson and Towns were just so bad especially Towns. Pacers ran layup lines in many games in this series.

I like their team and they aren’t far away but Towns needs to be moved and I have my doubts about Brunson as the main guy. Just seems too iso heavy and lots of guys standing around. Pacers play beautiful basketball.

The wing defenders couldn't thrive because Towns and Brunson were both so bad on D. It was too much to cover up, and teams just spammed putting Towns or Brunson in pnr action

Then that tells me they shouldn’t be paid so much money. Pascal and Nesmith torched them in this series. Offensively, they often looked invisible out there. I partly blame Brunson for that though.

Sometimes I think that wing defenders aren’t the most important roles on defense. I think it starts with the big man. Can’t think of many teams with great defensive bigs that have bad team defense. Could be wrong though.

[Los_29]

Yeah OKC plays the same game, but with better defense. They will overwhelm Indy with size, scoring, depth and just being better at everything

Pacers have been written off in every series so far. Even some had the Bucks beating them. I think we need to give them some respect. They beat a very good Knicks team.

I favour the Thunder but the Pacers are a very good team and they always have 1-2 guys that step up. They are a deep team and complement one another extremely well.

Knicks have some tough choices to make. They are going to be paying two 3+D players a ridiculous amount of money while Towns gets chewed up on the defensive end and Brunson tries to iso on every possession. Ugly team to watch at times. Don’t have any picks to trade either. They are a good team though just a bit too flawed.

I do respect Pacers but still predict OKC in 5. They're just that much better than other teams.

Yeah I agree. I think the Pacers might be able to steal one on the road and take one at home. Thunder in 6.

[douggood]

nyk were in a pretty good position last offseason, took one offseason to spend their wad and now are all dried out.

[Los_29]

nyk were in a pretty good position last offseason, took one offseason to spend their wad and now are all dried out.

And they spent it on Kat and Bridges. Really poor use of assets from the Knicks.

[Los_29]

We need a voting thread on who we would rather see win.

OKC with 2 Canadians
Pacers with 2 and Pascal

Canadian team is in such great shape. We have the best player in the world. We’ve never been able to say that.

[ash_k]

Masai thinking if only Udoka had signed : That vision of OG& ECFMVP Pascal would have materialized

[UnderdogRaptors]

Knicks will blow it up

[MiamiSPX]

And so it begins....

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[Pointgod]

It’s extremely difficult to win at the highest level in this league with below average defense at the 1 and 5. It’s also extremely difficult to ride a small guard at the highest level. Knicks desperately need a true first option and to prioritize defense at the 5. KD is still an all-NBA player and would be the best player to put on a Knicks jersey.

Play KAT at the 4 and start a defensive 5( not Mitch Robinson) like they did in Minnesota. They also need a SG like an Andrew Nehmard that can relieve pressure from Brunson. Most of all they need better than 15 points in a deciding game from their 24 million dollar man

Is there a better defensive C than Robinson?

But a slightly less great defender who has more offense than Robinson, I agree would help.

If you go by defensive ratings, there are a few better C’s than Robinson. Last year the Wolves had the best defensive rating in the league with Towns at PF. A lot of it is the Gobert and Jalen McDaniels but the team dropped to 6th with Randle replacing Towns which shows that Towns isn’t the only problem.

The Knicks needed more from Bridges, Hart and their bench.

[ATLTimekeeper]

KAT, OG and Robinson were getting torched in transition. They can all be a part of a great defense but they aren't fast up and down the court. I think the Pacers style really was just an awful blend for the Knicks, and then Brunson showed his true colours that Nembhard had full real estate. Reminded me of DeMar taking a cheap shot at Jordan Clarkson in his last Raptor game. You can't be the man and be a punk like that to a lesser talent. I think the Knicks are cooked with this iteration. They'll need to bring in some over the hill vet to give them a new attitude.

[MoneyBall]

We need a voting thread on who we would rather see win.

OKC with 2 Canadians
Pacers with 2 and Pascal

Canadian team is in such great shape. We have the best player in the world. We’ve never been able to say that.

*Second best. Joker is still king.