The NBA Thread

Everyone will say OKC will get things done, its very interesting.

Pacers have been to the ECF before and have known what it takes. I like how deep they are but even at times some of those guys struggled to have an impact vs the Knicks that we had guys like Mathurin coming alive lol. They're going to need to have the series of their lives and be able to handle the Thunders full court ball pressure and hope that they are off shooting the 3 at various times. Because they have half a dozen guys at any given time who can get them when needed.

OKC played a very immature Wolves team, and it's funny it took a Denver team with multiple injuries to starters and going of practically a one man bench to push them to 7 games with their guys. And were a few lapses from the opposition away from a few loses and an early exit. I think even the Knicks would have made an interesting matchup with the talent they have overall and the battle down low towards the post, Chet/Hart on Towns and the Knicks bigs.

They have justified taking on Caruso for that bench role, he played a big part in that Denver series, and also effective in that Wolves series. It'll be interesting when they have to pay guys on top of the picks that have stockpiled, as you can only have 15 rostered players which is an unmovable object.

Boston had the same thing last decade. Utah have a mountain of picks from trading their guys.
 
Should be a great finals. Haliburton proving that pass first PGs can still be insanely valuable. Carlisle is such a good coach.

The NBA will be crying in their cups about the TV ratings given it's two small market teams, but if you're a real basketball head this is a great matchup. Two teams that thrive on depth and unselfishness but go about it in contrasting ways. I hope Shai's foul baiting doesn't get rewarded like it has in the first three rounds though, James Harden watches the dude and I bet he's incensed by the way Shai is still getting his regular season whistle... didn't work that way for James.
 
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Also even though I like the vibes around the Nova Knicks, I reckon they're a way worse matchup for the Thunder. Brunson was clearly starting to wear down and dealing with the Thunder's full court pressure as a small guard would have led to a lot of embarrassing turnovers. Thibs wasn't creative enough offensively, they were so stagnant. If you get the ball out of Brunson's hands it's either a Towns drive or they just try to reset and get it to Brunson so he can go to work again. They would have gotten swept.

The Pacers are on a heater offensively and will keep changing things up and force the Thunder to adapt their coverages in a way the Knicks wouldn't have. And people have always underrated what a hard cover Haliburton is for any defence because he doesn't generate a lot of contact.

OKC should obviously be favourites but I think this could go to 6-7 games, I really do.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Also even though I like the vibes around the Nova Knicks, I reckon they're a way worse matchup for the Thunder. Brunson was clearly starting to wear down and dealing with the Thunder's full court pressure as a small guard would have led to a lot of embarrassing turnovers. Thibs wasn't creative enough offensively, they were so stagnant. If you get the ball out of Brunson's hands it's either a Towns drive or they just try to reset and get it to Brunson so he can go to work again. They would have gotten swept.

The Pacers are on a heater offensively and will keep changing things up and force the Thunder to adapt their coverages in a way the Knicks wouldn't have. And people have always underrated what a hard cover Haliburton is for any defence because he doesn't generate a lot of contact.

OKC should obviously be favourites but I think this could go to 6-7 games, I really do.
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I think you're right, will definitely go deep. Should be great viewing.
 
I don't think they would have gotten the most out of their bench either in such a series. Hart was a big struggle, and Achiuwa and McBride were vastly inconsistent. Then you're relying on some streaky Shamet shooting. Probably could have gotten more out of a guy like Bridges considering what they gave up to get him and his contributions would have been handy then. They probably either way could have run things through Towns more but the guy is so damn inconsistent he can get himself into foul trouble so quickly on the other hand, can get lazy in defense/transition. Know Wolves fans who have known it all too well in that regard.

And yeah I'm loving the small market matchup as well. Carlisle turning back the clock to when he coached the Mavs in a similar situation, an underdog a few times. His Pacers delivering a 4-1 beat down against the 64 win Cavs was up there with impressive series wins such as sweeping the Lakers or even toppling the 'star studded' Thunder 4-1 back in that 2011 run.

With the Thunder constantly leaving the Wolves open for spot up corner threes I at least hope the Pacers have been practising their shots ready for an in game situation if it presents itself lol.

I guess the Knicks agreed that changes needed to me made and have fired Thibs which I forgot to mention. They should have never lost that first game, even with the streaky shooting I didn't entirely like his use of timeouts late in the game to give the opposition a chance to catch their breath. Very interesting to see who they consider for coach next up. I know Malone will be linked to them being a New York homer but not sure if that's the answer too. Will see.
 
Really hope the Pacers win, they remind me of the 2013-14 "Beautiful Game" Spurs, my favourite ever team. What they do does revolve a bit more around Tyrese than the Spurs did around anyone player, but they make sure the opposition has to worry about everyone on the floor, and they have that same balanced scoring philosophy of giving up good shots for great shots. Everybody moves their feet and moves the ball, everybody does the little things, and those unstoppable scoring runs they go on aren't flukes. They're the floodgates opening as the reward for all the work they've been doing the rest of the game. Love the way they just go whether it's off a miss or a make too. Tyrese is the closest thing we have now to Magic.

This may be their best chance at it because the chemistry they have going throughout the rotation at the moment is hard to bottle and replicate year on year, two guys have a bit of a slump and that can really derail things.

Also like how the roster has been constructed around really shrewd moves rather than luck. Only luck they had really was the Kings being stupid enough to trade Tyrese.
 
id prefer they win also, bit off OKC after how they got rid of Giddey. Certainly was as finals series of attrition these two were lucky enough with injuries.
 
Beatell said:
id prefer they win also, bit off OKC after how they got rid of Giddey. Certainly was as finals series of attrition these two were lucky enough with injuries.
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Best thing to happen to Giddey in his career though… he needs to be the primary ball handler to be effective, which was never gonna happen in OKC, and with how he’s played in Chicago he’s gonna get a much bigger extension than if he stayed. At least 25-30 million a year and worse players have gotten the rookie max. Plenty of money to wipe his tears with anyway 😆

Also there’s some good looking women in Chicago, especially compared to Oklahoma…
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Best thing to happen to Giddey in his career though… he needs to be the primary ball handler to be effective, which was never gonna happen in OKC, and with how he’s played in Chicago he’s gonna get a much bigger extension than if he stayed. At least 25-30 million a year and worse players have gotten the rookie max. Plenty of money to wipe his tears with anyway 😆

Also there’s some good looking women in Chicago, especially compared to Oklahoma…
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bahaha yeah a classier town. Im a Bulls fan so im glad he is there now it did work out for him! He has been owning the floor for them, agree tehyve somewhat made him the man. His hands are silky as.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
Incredible passing vision, if he’d been gifted with a bit more athleticism he’d be elite.
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100%. I think there a a huge role for players who just take on the rim in the current game. So much standing back defending the perimeter when they drive they normally find an in. I wonder if it’s because it can be a hard physical play if they do defend it combined with the long season why they don’t do it?
 
That’s why I’m so excited for the Spurs to draft Dylan Harper, generational rim pressure by the looks of it. That opens up so many easy looks for everyone else… including a certain unicorn…
 
But would you trade that money for a chance at a championship?

Also think people have been listening to way too much Aussie media hype about Giddey. Extremely flawed and inefficient game and terrible defender, there's a reason why he was played off the court in the playoffs and the Thunder wanted nothing to do with him being a starter when minute.
The play in against the Hawks also left a lot to be desired. A lot of easy shots taken (despite being an overall poor finisher), poor defence, missed assignments.
I wouldn't take him over any of the guys drafted above him personally on a rookie extension and probably a few others below.

If their plan is to make him their main guy at the Bulls. Lol...good luck. Enjoy 10th place or worse finishes for the next several years.
 
R_A said:
But would you trade that money for a chance at a championship?
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I assume you're referring to a Giannis trade here lol. I'm against it. If you've got someone like Wemby you should be thinking about turning him into 3+ championships over the next decade or so, not pushing all the chips in now. Brian Horst isn't a dummy, so to get Giannis, besides the matching salaries you'd need to gut yourself: send Castle, the Harper pick & every other tradeable draft asset. That leaves you with Wemby, Giannis & Fox, which is an insane big three for sure, but then you have to just sort of pad the roster out with whatever else you can get. Maybe that gets you a title. But Giannis or Wemby goes down with one season ending injury and the window slams shut and you've pretty much torpedoed your future. Giannis has a play style which probably won't age that well too. So the potential outcomes are maybe one championship and Wemby stays based on that, or everything goes wrong and he looks for the exit door.

Definitely arguments in favour of it, Wemby being this good this young makes his rookie contract a massive weapon, it'll never be easier to fit in a massive contract for a second superstar... but yeah I'm wary of any move which involves a lot of risk.

Counter-intuitively I'm on board with a KD trade because Ishbia is a moron and is basically broadcasting to the league right now that he'll take whatever he can get for him (i.e. two first round picks may get it done, maybe even just the one lottery pick. As I said... moron). The dude is begging to be fleeced. Like keeping the #2 pick & Castle may actually be achievable in the trade, and if you don't believe in Vassell long term you can dump the salary now. KD as a rental until you have to pay Wemby's extension... that works with the cap as well in a way Giannis may not. That may actually make the two timelines thing - taking a crack at getting one ring now, and then a few more 3-5 years down the line - not totally unrealistic.

Either way you have to keep #2 and pick Dylan Harper. I'm a nerd and watch so much draft scouting stuff. The only draft prospects I've been higher on in the 2020's have been Flagg and of course Wemby. (Full disclosure: My personal #1 in 2020 was LaMelo Ball & I did not buy Edwards as a prospect one bit, and this has aged horribly; I loved Evan Mobley in 2021, I thought he was the clear #1, and was not sold on Cade - it's taken some time, but by now you'd have to say Cade was the correct #1; I was adamant Banchero was the best player in the 2022 draft and I think this has panned out to be correct, but I also thought Chet would be a bust, nope!; and I thought Scoot Henderson would be really good in 2023 and should go #2, womp womp. So my 'draft analyst' form is pretty 50/50... but I love Harper as a prospect, I legit think he can be James Harden but unselfish and with an off-ball game, and I'll be devastated if we trade the pick).
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
I assume you're referring to a Giannis trade here lol.
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Actually this could be in Giddey's example too heh.

I think there will be a whirlwind of new info that will come out because Free Agency is so far away. It'll be weird without Woj going forward but likewise with NFL Free Agency I just love the buzz around it I think even more so.
I might just sit and wait before making evaluations on who goes where. very big name player Free Agent is potentially going anywhere.

The Summer League is always a favourite of mine to watch in the off-season seeing all the young go getters go at it. I rarely even watch pre-season matches with NBA in comparison personally.

Going back to Giddey I think the Thunders plan was him to come off the bench, have that pigeoned hole role, and run free when suits (when a guy is hot/cold). I don't think Giddey's camp agreed with it but it's hard to disagree with the Thunders assessment considering the way guys like Chet and Jaylen have panned out. And they were in the same class too!
Then the trade happened. Caruso got 4 years, $80m which for age combined with his 3 and D role off the bench is about right for those sorts of guys. If you need to shed salary later down the track don't think about it now the main focus is to improve the team.
That wouldn't have been ridiculous for Giddey as a 'spark' off the bench.
In that regard you are potentially sacrificing that money to play for a team going nowhere any time soon but at least the opportunity is there so they did their due diligence.

HarVeeGee13 said:
Definitely arguments in favour of it, Wemby being this good this young makes his rookie contract a massive weapon, it'll never be easier to fit in a massive contract for a second superstar... but yeah I'm wary of any move which involves a lot of risk.
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The new CBA basically makes it impossible for teams to build 3 man super teams like we used to, with sign and trades etc. Now it's more like two guys with a very solid and undervalued third guy, and bench guys on cheap contracts.
The stars aligned for Denver a bit with the role guys still on cheap deals but when the CBA kicked in around then they lost guys like Brown, KCP and they had to ship Reggie Jackson and it's showed. Just gotta keep drafting well when you can. Hunt cheap veterans (Westbrook lol).
From my understanding it's very hard to stay in the second apron for more then 2-3 years in a row. The taxes end up being huge. Boston will learn this fate soon. With Tatum's injury they could probably trade someone like Porginzis in the mean time to get under the second apron. Do their best and be competitive and see how it goes.

In regards to Giannis/Durant. Prefer the Durant connection there do agree. I think regardless Spurs can afford to play a bit of hardball...see what the market ends up being don't give them your best offer type of thing. Castle would be the last guy I'd want to give up but we'll see.

2022...I think Chet landed in the right team. Big men being drafted early still scare me. I felt like it was a bit unpredictable whether they'd go for Paolo or Jabari Smith (felt like Smith had some steam there) then overnight it seems like they had a change of heart to take Paolo. Even Woj I think had no idea what was going on...

I'm happy that Cade has come into his own after a bit. They went from they're going no where should they get something for Cade with a bright future, first round playoffs.
 
Haliburton does it again! Kind of happy it won't now be a sweep like many thought. Definitely looked like he got involved more 2H.

Starting Wallace was certainly an interesting one. I'm guessing they wanted to use more mobile ball screens in the back court which makes Hart the odd one out.

Pacers had some nice double inside out double screens to get their middle lanes open. Countering OKC who have been doing a good job covering those passing lanes. Even the ones that missed from the corner were good looks, Thunder looked like they were ready for them. Resulted in a few too many turnovers because no one can handle the ball to the point where you had Turner bringing up the ball lol but they kept themselves in it despite that.

It's good Pacers' defence didnt waver as it had been good even without being given much of a chance for their full court pressure. As mentioned above OKC countered.

Wasn't foul watching much so don't know the reason but was surprised the Thunder sat much of their starters for a lengthy period in the 4th.
 
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