2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[parsnips33]

What potential playoff matchups is everybody excited for? I've said it before, but I really want to see Bucks vs Nets

Also a Clippers Mavs rematch would be fun

I have a few Nets ones I'd like to see. Heat/Nets would be interesting strategically I think. Hawks/Nets would be POINTS. Suns/Clippers for CP3 vs his old team. Portland/Denver just always seems to be fun.

I didn't even think of the CP3 Clips connection, Lob City feels like a lifetime ago

[bondom34]

This is not a glitch.

[Texas Chuck]

Giannis been holding them back....

[Prez]

This is not a glitch.

They can't handle the Jruth.

[bondom34]

OK this is a good call by the social media person.

Read on Twitter

[Clyde Frazier]

Read on Twitter

I laughed.

[eminence]

Lol, Gobert "I'm not chasing blocks, unless I have 9"

[bondom34]

Since I don't know if/when SGA plays again this season, here's a ranking o players sine 96-97 w/ at least 300 FGA and a 54% eFG sorted by lowest percentage of shots assisted on.

[Clyde Frazier]

Since I don't know if/when SGA plays again this season, here's a ranking o players sine 96-97 w/ at least 300 FGA and a 54% eFG sorted by lowest percentage of shots assisted on.

So is Mark Daigneault a good coach? They can't seem to lose enough games no matter how hard they try with these lineups lol

[ShotCreator]

Matisse Thybulle has had the greatest defensive start to a career for any guard ever.

I just felt I needed to put that out into the universe as an opinion.

He was probably elite as a rookie. Fringe-DPOY kind of guy as a low min sophomore. Ridiculous.

[bondom34]

Since I don't know if/when SGA plays again this season, here's a ranking o players sine 96-97 w/ at least 300 FGA and a 54% eFG sorted by lowest percentage of shots assisted on.

So is Mark Daigneault a good coach? They can't seem to lose enough games no matter how hard they try with these lineups lol

I'm not really the smartest at xs and os, but I think so? They play hard, play together and defend pretty well at times and for the most part it feels like he's gotten the best out of just about everyone on the team (Bazley has been rough). And it's possibly personnel related I guess but their shot profile improved. There were no expectations so hard to judge, but so far I like him.

[Texas Chuck]

Matisse Thybulle has had the greatest defensive start to a career for any guard ever.

I just felt I needed to put that out into the universe as an opinion.

He was probably elite as a rookie. Fringe-DPOY kind of guy as a low min sophomore. Ridiculous.

Uh what?

And I would say Lu Dort has had a better defensive start just from his own generation.

[Jaivl]

Matisse Thybulle has had the greatest defensive start to a career for any guard ever.

I just felt I needed to put that out into the universe as an opinion.

He was probably elite as a rookie. Fringe-DPOY kind of guy as a low min sophomore. Ridiculous.

Uh what?

And I would say Lu Dort has had a better defensive start just from his own generation.

Nah, not even close. IDK about the low-minute DPOY claims, but Thybulle is tiers above Dort. He's special.

[ShotCreator]

Matisse Thybulle has had the greatest defensive start to a career for any guard ever.

I just felt I needed to put that out into the universe as an opinion.

He was probably elite as a rookie. Fringe-DPOY kind of guy as a low min sophomore. Ridiculous.

Uh what?

And I would say Lu Dort has had a better defensive start just from his own generation.

I watched Lu’s entire season. He’s not actually elite at anything except moving for his size. He has amazing foot speed. His hands and general instincts are just solid.

He just has a good combination of traits and he hustles, which is a skill.

But the entire reason anyone would ever say anything like this is his performance agains Harden, which was impressive but it was really a perfect storm.

Lu would never stifle the scoring of say, prime Kawhi or Chris Paul, because the versatility form all 3 levels is completely different. Harden’s predictability on slashing or shooting caught him up and Lu is strong enough to contain drives and disciplined enough to not foul on 3’s. I made that sound insanely easy, and it’s not at all. But if you have the body he does, it was just that simple.



Lu did not have that kind of impact last year or even this year because he’s not that level of defender. He had a monster situational defensive series like 16 LeBron in the finals.

Thybulle is pretty much the greatest point of attack defender I’ve ever seen.

He makes what Kawhi was look tame. His hands are better than Covington’s.

He plays a tax free style of insanely aggressive defense because he has the skill and quickness to do it.

Thybulle is literally doing what people thought Jordan did, except he doesn’t sacrifice positioning. He is the closest you will ever see, or I have ever seen to actually attacking an offense.

Tony Allen’s steal game came from the occasional strip and a ton of pick 6’s that he was god level at timing perfectly.

Thybulle is on another level from even that. He’s unscreenable and moves better laterally than anyone in the league on top of it.

Matisse is just on another level of talent compared to anybody else defensively. He’s a ball swarming cheat code.

[penbeast0]

Had thought of this seeing guys seem to bounce back some.

Westbrook's numbers have seemed to turn around (though I think the quad might have been the real issue not totally sure, he's been having some really strong games from what I can gather from box scores and numbers bounced back to a point where he's been I think solid?), and looks like Dray the same. And seems like Tatum might have had some issues as well.

So seems like it might be causing some issues for at least some guys getting back. Been pleasantly surprised seeing Westbrook's play not be so awful lol (and hope he's been OK for the Wizards penbeast). Seems like maybe 2 of the 3 if not all 3 were having some issues recovering.

From what I've seen, and I haven't been watching them that consistently this year I admit, Westbrook wasn't finishing well earlier and couldn't hit a 3 to save his life. That's improved. He was always going full bore at all times (which is great) and has continued to have tons of WTF ARE YOU DOING moments each game (which is not) but I don't think that's too different than what he was like in his prime.

[bondom34]

Had thought of this seeing guys seem to bounce back some.

Westbrook's numbers have seemed to turn around (though I think the quad might have been the real issue not totally sure, he's been having some really strong games from what I can gather from box scores and numbers bounced back to a point where he's been I think solid?), and looks like Dray the same. And seems like Tatum might have had some issues as well.

So seems like it might be causing some issues for at least some guys getting back. Been pleasantly surprised seeing Westbrook's play not be so awful lol (and hope he's been OK for the Wizards penbeast). Seems like maybe 2 of the 3 if not all 3 were having some issues recovering.

From what I've seen, and I haven't been watching them that consistently this year I admit, Westbrook wasn't finishing well earlier and couldn't hit a 3 to save his life. That's improved. He was always going full bore at all times (which is great) and has continued to have tons of WTF ARE YOU DOING moments each game (which is not) but I don't think that's too different than what he was like in his prime.

Well glad he's better somewhat since it was depressing seeing him the first month or so. He's a lot worse than his prime, but he won't ever not go full bore.

Think the thing is his current pace full bore just isn't close to what it used to be. I haven't seen as much in the last few months either, but looking at him when I have seen him his athletic decline is pretty sharp, though he still a bit athletic, he's just not near what he used to be. Hope he's at least decent for you guys the rest of the way. Covid hit those guys really hard too, and hopefully helps the young guys. Saw a clip of him w/ Hachimura that was good to see.

Still my favorite player all time, but seeing him now compared to when he was in OKC just is so far off of his prime even 4 or 5 years ago, though I'll always root for him. Just a random thought too but I still hope someday he's appreciated more for his prime. Was a legit top 5 player for a while and fell off so fast.

[eminence]

I'm honestly offended Gobert isn't even close to MVP conversation

[bondom34]

Won't lie, I've really soured on MVP talk in general (feels like it more circles around saying players don't deserve it than saying someone does), but was thinking about it and I don't know where I'd put Gobert but the field is so strange this year it seems there are pluses and minuses to most everyone and its weird having Utah this good and no candidates really heavily considered.

[bondom34]

Also something I was kind of thinking about and just was reminded of, but anchoring effect can be real (maybe it's just to me but not sure). How a guy starts a season seems to really skew how he's viewed and happened with a bunch of guys this year.

[frica]

Look which old man has crept up to 1%: