2021-22 NBA Season Discussion

[falcolombardi]

daily reminder that in other sports having playoffs at all is considered unfair, anti competitive and a gimmick

in soccer, leagues that try a play off format instead of the regular 38 game season are seen as gimmicky and criticized for giving a 8th seed the chsnce of beating a 1st seed after being worse for half a year

it all comes down to status quo that in usa a play-off is seen as the rightful/fairest/ideal way to determine a champion

and i say this as a fan of play offs format in every sport

[sp6r=underrated]

daily reminder that in other sports having playoffs at all is considered unfair, anti competitive and a gimmick

in soccer, leagues that try a play off format instead of the regular 38 game season are seen as gimmicky and criticized for giving a 8th seed the chsnce of beating a 1st seed after being worse for half a year

it all comes down to status quo that in usa a play-off is seen as the rightful/fairest/ideal way to determine a champion

and i say this as a fan of play offs format in every sport

Complete and total agreement. One thing I loved was the pre College Football Playoffs, pre BCS, old school bowl system.

Under that system
Rose: Pac 10 winner vs Big 10 winner
Orange: Big East winner vs at large
Cotton: SWC Winner vs at large
Sugar: SEC winner vs at large

American journalists hated this system and lobbied to kill it for decades. The reason I loved it that it was transparently absurd. Of course the format was incapable of deciding the best teams so it forced people to take the RS seriously.

The playoffs, and I like them do a quite poor job of deciding who the best teams are. If you really wanted a playoffs to decide a champion you'd have way less teams and way longer series. And even then I suspect the RS would still identify the best team more accurately.

As I said they are great for enjoyment but the illusion the old top 8 system was a fair and valid way of deciding the best team doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

[MartinToVaught]

The Play-Ins are a monumental success because they provide middling teams a reason to try there hardest late in the season. It's an excellent entertainment.

The Clippers tried their hardest all season and got rewarded with nothing but a swift kick to the nuts, while a team that started 1-12 and is 10 games under .500 made the playoffs. The play-in has made the regular season even more worthless than it already was.

The 2022 Clippers losing in the play-in is far less "unfair" than 2015:

The Clippers won 57 RS games. The Cavs won 53 RS games. The Clipper played in a much tougher conference.

The Clippers faced a 55 Win Spurs team (6.34 SRS) and then a 56 Win Rockets team (3.82 SRS). The Cavs got to play a 40 Win Celtics team (-.40 SRS) and then a 50 win Bulls team (2.54).

That was a lot more unfair. 8 teams per conference is a lot more unfair than the play-in.

The play-in incetivizes teams to play as hard as they can in the RS. It discourages all but the worst teams from tanking.

I don't think this year's Clippers missing the playoffs is "unfair" - they played the games and lost fair and square. There wasn't any Tim Donaghy-style officiating or anything that would have rigged the outcome, so it wasn't unfair by definition.

I'm just saying that the regular season is objectively less meaningful than it's ever been now that a team that's 10 games under .500 can make the playoffs over a team with a significantly better record in the same conference. Instead of making the regular season matter more, this system has made 1-2 random games in April more meaningful than all 82 of the games before them. All it takes is an injury, illness or off night at the wrong time to completely derail an entire season of hard work. Now, the same thing can be said for March Madness, but we accept it in college basketball because it applies to every team in the tournament, not just the 15 and 16 seeds.

I just think the play-in is a poorly-thought-out idea that doesn't do what its proponents said it would do. It reminds me of when division champions used to be given priority over teams with better records for seeding, ostensibly to incentivize winning your division. They ended up having to change the system when a 44-win Nuggets team got a 3 seed just for barely winning the terrible Northwest Division and the Clippers and Grizzlies had a tank-off for the ages to try to draw them in the first round instead of the 60-win Mavs.

[falcolombardi]

gobert may be the most inpactful player in a game where he has 1(!) field goal

why he is not being fed more touches in the pick and roll or looking for him in deep seals against the small ball mavs i got no idea

[Jaivl]

Gobert is quite good at that defense thing.

[Doctor MJ]

daily reminder that in other sports having playoffs at all is considered unfair, anti competitive and a gimmick

in soccer, leagues that try a play off format instead of the regular 38 game season are seen as gimmicky and criticized for giving a 8th seed the chsnce of beating a 1st seed after being worse for half a year

it all comes down to status quo that in usa a play-off is seen as the rightful/fairest/ideal way to determine a champion

and i say this as a fan of play offs format in every sport

I mean, in soccer the World Cup matters above all, and it’s a single elimination tournament in the end in a sport where tons of luck is involved from game to game, and where talented nations often feel like they have no thought out strategy as they throw plays together who are used to playing star on other teams.

So while I wish the NBA’s veneration if the regular season champ were more like Euro club leagues, I think there’s a good argument that soccer fans already accept way more lack of competitive meaning without ever taking issue with the structures.

I think so much of it is what the followers of the sport got used to in a less critically-minded time.


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[falcolombardi]

Gobert is quite good at that defense thing.

sad thingh is he will still be mocked for his low scoring when literally nobody passes him the ball

i am stsrting to wonder if his teammates actually hate him

[Fadeaway_J]

Gobert is quite good at that defense thing.

sad thingh is he will still be mocked for his low scoring when literally nobody passes him the ball

i am stsrting to wonder if his teammates actually hate him

My friend and I were just talking about this.

He's not Joel Embiid but he's more than good enough as a roll man to not be completely ignored like he is.

[MO12msu]

This is the like the 4th time I've watched Donovan Mitchell with overt tunnel vision at the end of a game this season.

[falcolombardi]

mitchell 32 points in 29 field goals, gobert 1 field goal the whole game

how the hell does that even happen?

[sp6r=underrated]

Mitchell's game was one of the most astonishing displays of selfishness I've seen in recent years.

I like JVG. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea. But he failed as a commentator not calling that out

[falcolombardi]

Mitchell's game was one of the most astonishing displays of selfishness I've seen in recent years.

I like JVG. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea. But he failed as a commentator not calling that out

he took hard shot after hard shot needlessly

he made a fair bit of them to his credit, but that doesnt excuse how many easier shots he could have passed to teammates

[Fadeaway_J]

This is the like the 4th time I've watched Donovan Mitchell with overt tunnel vision at the end of a game this season.

To be fair, the tunnel vision wasn't just at the end of the game.

[sp6r=underrated]

Mitchell's game was one of the most astonishing displays of selfishness I've seen in recent years.

I like JVG. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea. But he failed as a commentator not calling that out

he took hard shot after hard shot needlessly

he made a fair bit of them to his credit, but that doesnt excuse how many easier shots he could have passed to teammates

I don't give credit when you have availble easy shots that any PG could identify. It didn't require Jokic level vision to see the passing opportunities available.

His teammates aren't incompetent. If he had passed to Gobert this could have been a 12+ game through the 2nd Q on

[falcolombardi]

Mitchell's game was one of the most astonishing displays of selfishness I've seen in recent years.

I like JVG. I know he isn't everyone's cup of tea. But he failed as a commentator not calling that out

he took hard shot after hard shot needlessly

he made a fair bit of them to his credit, but that doesnt excuse how many easier shots he could have passed to teammates

I don't give credit when you have availble easy shots that any PG could identify. It didn't require Jokic level vision to see the passing opportunities available.

His teammates aren't incompetent. If he had passed to Gobert this could have been a 12+ game through the 2nd Q on

i agree with you, this is the kind of game where gobert would have been blamed for the loss for not scoring more even when he shut down the paint and rebounded the hell of the ball

while donovan would be defended causw he had a impressive stretch of (self csused) hard shots made and scored a lot of points ineficiently, even if his scoring was low value and he made his team worse by not passing

[MO12msu]

This is the like the 4th time I've watched Donovan Mitchell with overt tunnel vision at the end of a game this season.

To be fair, the tunnel vision wasn't just at the end of the game.

Absolutely. But even other games I've watched, you'll see them go through stretches where he penetrates the defense and makes the correct pass that gets the ball popping around the perimeter for open shots. But then the 4th quarter comes around and he goes in overdrive where he thinks he HAS to jack a pull up 3 or drive into multiple bodies and chuck a contested shot at the rim.

Like you guys are saying, it's also insane how I can't even remember a pass to Rudy that entire game. And he was open multiple times.

[jalengreen]

how often is the best player on the floor someone without a field goal? that was incredible lol

[sp6r=underrated]

he took hard shot after hard shot needlessly

he made a fair bit of them to his credit, but that doesnt excuse how many easier shots he could have passed to teammates

I don't give credit when you have availble easy shots that any PG could identify. It didn't require Jokic level vision to see the passing opportunities available.

His teammates aren't incompetent. If he had passed to Gobert this could have been a 12+ game through the 2nd Q on

i agree with you, this is the kind of game where gobert would have been blamed for the loss for not scoring more even when he shut down the paint and rebounded the hell of the ball

while donovan would be defended causw he had a impressive stretch of (self csused) hard shots made and scored a lot of points ineficiently, even if his scoring was low value and he made his team worse by not passing

you summarize it well

[Colbinii]

Memphis vs Minnesota: Memphis 5 games - Confidence level 90%

I lived in Minnesota and they were some of the happiest years of my life. I really want to pick Minnesota but expect them to be fully overwhelmed. This is the second most lopsided matchup of the first round.

Glad we are both happy for Minnesota now.

[sp6r=underrated]

Memphis vs Minnesota: Memphis 5 games - Confidence level 90%

I lived in Minnesota and they were some of the happiest years of my life. I really want to pick Minnesota but expect them to be fully overwhelmed. This is the second most lopsided matchup of the first round.

Glad we are both happy for Minnesota now.

Now if the Nuggets could somehow win?