2021-22 NBA Season Discussion

[falcolombardi]

is smart even as impirtant to boston defense as tatum or timelord?

[MO12msu]

Was perplexed when Zach Lowe brought up Smart as a legit candidate on his podcast a couple weeks ago. I know a lot of NBA writers just follow his lead on this stuff so they probably felt legitimized when he didn't shut Smart's case down.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Marcus Smart winning DPOY is akin to Devin Booker winning MVP.

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Congrats to him though, nonetheless!

[falcolombardi]

how did celtics defense hold without timelord? maybe as the one constant (and tatum)of the league best defense they decided to reward smart?

[Colbinii]

This is absolutely insane. This is like if Royce O'Neal won the award last year.

[jalengreen]

the warriors did have one of the easiest schedules in the league to start the season. they were still impressive ofc but that's probably worth mentioning. (altho they also didnt have klay fwiw)

It can certainly be mentioned and analyzed objectively, but I'd note that while people were saying "It's only because weak competition", the beatdown they put on the Nets in that run said something very different.

While one can argue in retrospect that those Nets weren't truly elite given their record, KD was seen by many as the pre-season favorite for MVP, and the beat-down the Warriors gave them in Brooklyn which left the stadium crowd giving Steph Curry MVP chants was a big moment.

to be clear i was specifically referring to the discussion around their offense and early season offensive rating and i dont think what they did versus a starting lineup of mills/harden/brown/blake/kd does a whole lot to change my mind on that end.

[falcolombardi]

smart pick is more proof than media members are not any better than players at picking awards

[GSP]

Give me Jalen Brunson over Fred Vanfleet.........Brunson is one of the biggest draft steals i can remember.........

[SeniorWalker]

Jokic vs Draymond is perhaps one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting, match-ups of these early playoffs so far. Really interested to see how effective Dray can be on him individually.


I'm a little surprised that Jokic appears a bit rattled so far in this series. He's playing well but he's allowing GSW players to troll him/get in his head and they are deliberately trying to provoke him. I hope he sees this after tonight.

[Texas Chuck]

Smart winning is about one thing and one thing only: people do not like Rudy Gobert. Who is the best defensive player every year, but the media doesn't like him and so they hunted for anyone else.

It's an absolute joke.

[clearlynotjesse]

Gobert always has someone to blame after an open three and he's always right

[falcolombardi]

jokic has been somewhat dissapointing so far

he looks really nervous/out of control out there, airballing 3's, getting into unnecesarry entanglements and imo not being aggresive enough and settling a bit with handoffs and spot up 3's

reminds me of his series vs lakers in the bubble

[Peregrine01]

Jokic vs Draymond is perhaps one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting, match-ups of these early playoffs so far. Really interested to see how effective Dray can be on him individually.


I'm a little surprised that Jokic appears a bit rattled so far in this series. He's playing well but he's allowing GSW players to troll him/get in his head and they are deliberately trying to provoke him. I hope he sees this after tonight.

Jokic isn't being played straight up by Dray or Loon. Warriors are sending a double once he puts it on the floor. He's made the right reads and passes but Nuggets can't convert. I think the Warriors even invite this because these long range bricks just pick up the pace of the whole game.

[SeniorWalker]

jokic has been somewhat dissapointing so far

he looks really nervous/out of control out there, airballing 3's, getting into unnecesarry entanglements and imo not being aggresive enough and settling a bit with handoffs and spot up 3's

reminds me of his series vs lakers in the bubble

I don't think he's played poorly but the surprising thing is he has seemed to struggle keeping his composure. A few warriors players have come at him and he's really responded in a way that suggests he's bothered by them, which is what you can't do in the playoffs if you're the star of the team.

[Peregrine01]

jokic has been somewhat dissapointing so far

he looks really nervous/out of control out there, airballing 3's, getting into unnecesarry entanglements and imo not being aggresive enough and settling a bit with handoffs and spot up 3's

reminds me of his series vs lakers in the bubble

Have to disagree with this take. He's making the right reads out of doubles but his teammates can't hit and it's leading to wide-open breakouts on the other end. Then his team keeps falling for the trap of taking the shots that the Warriors want them to take and not getting him the ball and slowing the game down. Nuggets are just completely outmatched. In fact, I'm not sure any team is beating them when they're playing like this.

[falcolombardi]

jokic has been somewhat dissapointing so far

he looks really nervous/out of control out there, airballing 3's, getting into unnecesarry entanglements and imo not being aggresive enough and settling a bit with handoffs and spot up 3's

reminds me of his series vs lakers in the bubble

I don't think he's played poorly but the surprising thing is he has seemed to struggle keeping his composure. A few warriors players have come at him and he's really responded in a way that suggests he's bothered by them, which is what you can't do in the playoffs if you're the star of the team.

poorly is not the right word, in a vacuum he is playing well

but i feel like he is losing focus a bit and falling into warriors plan to limit him/keep him as out of the game as possible,

to say nothingh of the composture (he is being 2020 howard'd again)

[GSP]

Smart winning is about one thing and one thing only: people do not like Rudy Gobert. Who is the best defensive player every year, but the media doesn't like him and so they hunted for anyone else.

It's an absolute joke.

Rudy has made All Nba the past 4-5 seasons and has 3 of the last 5 Dpoys.....how does the media hate him? youre acting like he has no accolades.....in fact hes been one of the most credentialed players in the league

Maybe they just got tired of seeing lineups like Maxi Kleber at the 5 negate his defensive impact?

[SeniorWalker]

Smart winning is about one thing and one thing only: people do not like Rudy Gobert. Who is the best defensive player every year, but the media doesn't like him and so they hunted for anyone else.

It's an absolute joke.

Rudy has made All Nba the past 4-5 seasons and has 3 of the last 5 Dpoys.....how does the media hate him?

Maybe they just got tired of seeing lineups like Maxi Kleber at the 5 negate his defensive impact?

Have to agree. For every skip Bayless, there's at least a Zach Lowe or someone who is a disciple of advanced statistical impact. They're a dime a dozen now and rudy gets plenty of love from all over. He's a 3 time winner, it's just not valid to say he doesn't get a lot of love.

He definitely has his haters but he has plenty of lovers as well and that's why he's won so much.

I also think there's is legitimate question about him having a critical, exploitable weakness, though many here and elsewhere will deny it and say it's "all his teammates" fault.

[sp6r=underrated]

God Jokic is being wasted on Denver. So depressing watching this club

[GSP]

Jokic playoff on/off could be in negatives after this series is over. He just cant defend in the playoffs.