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Sports NBA Thread: 2023-2024 Season
- Thread starter awyp
- Start date
I know it's one regular season game, but I'm a little disappointed in the Celtic's offense tonight. Against the Champs, why are they still just isolating or shooting threes against an incredibly long team? Move their feet!
Why it gotta be against Spurs :(
Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
He’s winning MVP this year fosho. Putting up numbers comparable to Wilt is insane (even if it was against the Spurs)
I feel bad for Wemby tho bc no matter how great he becomes in the future, being stuck on that Spurs team means he’ll be losing more often than winning
To be honest I agree with the MVP portion, I will say spurs have a storied franchise and 1 year with pop is like 5 years with an average coach so I think he'll learn a lot regardless of how bad this year will be.
side note: KAT had 62 points yesterday as well, I lowkey am gonna say a hot take, who's actually Batman and Robin on the Twolves lol....
Kat is NOT Batman bro lol
Give him a few years. Spurs are one of the best drafters and recruiters. They were the Heat before the Heat.
The way the game is officiated, the increased pace, spacing, and overall skillset of players. It's an offense first league. Denver Nuggets became the first champion to break the defense wins championships conventions.
I'm not going to lie personally I'd like to see the offensive players get less calls, because defense is just extremely difficult to play right now. In other words the league is too soft and I don't like it. I prefer early 2010 style any day of the week.
Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
Defense is virtually non-existent these days; the sheer number of 60+ point games by the leagues stars shows how much offense dominates the NBA right now
On another note, the Heat are on a 7 game losing streak. Hope they can turn things around soon.
And on yet another note, the Lakers should swap Darvin Ham for Adrian Griffin
They should bring back the hand check lol
as a heat lifer, it kills me. i don't doubt we will still make the playoffs, but our offensive flow is concerning
swap a 2nd year head coach for a first year head coach who got fired for also losing the locker room and drove away Terry Stotts? That sounds like trading Charmeleon for Charmander.
Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
It’s more about the fit, I think Adrian Griffin is someone who has a lot of potential but couldn’t execute properly on the Bucks (nor earn the respect of his superstar players). I personally liked his coaching style and think he could be a better fit than the remaining coaching options available for the Lakers. There’s an old article that really had me sold on him from a few years ago that’s still applicable even now
https://www.silverscreenandroll.com...ch-interview-analysis-profile-scouting-report
Fair point. Reading about his assistant positions make him sound way better than whatever happened in Milwaukee, but I'd still be hesitant for the Lakers to make that move simply because it's asinine imo to hire rookie young coaches for what is supposed to be championship or bust. LeBron is also a control freak. He's gotten more coaches fired than any player I can think of, and I'm not sure why he'd be much different from Ham in that same scenario if he couldn't garner the respect of Giannis. Ham was hired to be a motivator who could strongly relate to players. That's almost exactly like Griffin's pedigree, and if defense is what you want from a coach,
Why fire Vogel?
Why fire Ham?
and why hire someone who coached a bottom 10 defense in the other conference?
We're also halfway past the season as well. Coach shuffling is usually a bad mistake unless you have a coach so unbearably bad that that you'll just have LeBron be LeCoach (I mean he kinda is).
Why fire Vogel?
Why fire Ham?
and why hire someone who coached a bottom 10 defense in the other conference?
We're also halfway past the season as well. Coach shuffling is usually a bad mistake unless you have a coach so unbearably bad that that you'll just have LeBron be LeCoach (I mean he kinda is).
Please don't come at me for my take, but I don't think a new coach will solve LAL's issues, and like you said, a terrible decision for middle of the season. They should create a package for Murray and do whatever it takes. I also think they would be in a much better position if Gabe Vincent didn't get hurt. He's a high IQ player both offensively and defensively with a respectable shot and he has shown he can run the offense. As a Heat, I miss him.
Speaking of Heat, we finally snapped that L-streak!
Speaking of Heat, we finally snapped that L-streak!
Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
I have an even hotter take about the Lakers.
It's not Ham's fault. It's not the players' fault.
I think the Lakers franchise and LeGM have made counterproductive moves the past few years to get them in their current position. Even the moves before the 2020 championship.
Notice the teams above them in the standings: Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Denver, Sacramento, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, and let's throw in Memphis because we know they'd have a better record if they started with Ja.
The common denominator for all of these teams is that their franchises built them through drafting and starting youth movements. They have young, talented players who are built for the modern regular season of high pace, scoring, and wing athleticism.
What did the Lakers do?
Traded away Ingram, Hart, Kazuma. All individually great today. Randle is better than anyone they have today other than Lebron and AD. Let go of Zubac, who is now a starting center across the street on a team consistently beating them year after year. Same for Westbrook, who is now thriving off the bench. Caruso and Lonzo became the league's two favorite defensive guards. Caldwell-Pope won a ring on the team that swept them last season. Malik Monk is one of the best sixth men for another youth movement team above them.
Cycling through damn near 4 coaches now with one of them winning them a ring. All to appease LeGM. Mortgaging their future picks, young players, and veteran coaches every year, shuffling the roster every year as LeBron ages. Yeah, he can still get numbers, but they're less impactful without a young, capable core to support him. It's not that Ham is that bad of a coach, or Reaves, Russel, Vanderbilt, etc. are bad players.
Being in constant win now mode with LeBron has drained the organization of assets year after year, with very few huge draft hits. With little development into youth. That leaves them with middling roleplayers who all fell out of favor at their respective teams and two stars who primarily rely on 2's. Any team with decent wings and average 3-point shooting can beat them.
But all the past young players they let go, are now beating their ass.
Their signings have always been strange to me. Christian Wood fell out of Dallas' and Houston's rotation. Reddish was a journeyman likely because he can't shoot. Washington, one of the worst lead organizations of the league, wanted to get rid of Hachimura for some reason. Vanderbilt fell out of Minnesota's rotation the last couple of the years. No offense to the Heat fan above me, but I imagine Miami didn't want to bring Vincent back because they weren't going to overpay what is likely more of a system player who was easily replaceable, and like magic, he suddenly can't shoot on the Lakers and running his best Kendrick Nunn impression. D'Angelo is another journeyman constantly falling out of favor. Lastly, Austin was a great draft hit, but the scouting report has brought him down to Earth and teams are targeting him constantly on defense. If we're being real, his playoff success is more likely flukish.
So... when we account for the fact that they have the same roster that took them to the WCF, and this is the healthiest Davis and LeBron have been at least up to the halfway point, why the heck do they have almost the same exact record with Westbrook?
Who really is to blame? Is it Ham? Is it the players? Or is it LeGM and the organizational decisions for the last few years?
Edit: of course the same day I make this post they beat the beat team in the league without LeBron and AD.
It's not Ham's fault. It's not the players' fault.
I think the Lakers franchise and LeGM have made counterproductive moves the past few years to get them in their current position. Even the moves before the 2020 championship.
Notice the teams above them in the standings: Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Denver, Sacramento, Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, and let's throw in Memphis because we know they'd have a better record if they started with Ja.
The common denominator for all of these teams is that their franchises built them through drafting and starting youth movements. They have young, talented players who are built for the modern regular season of high pace, scoring, and wing athleticism.
What did the Lakers do?
Traded away Ingram, Hart, Kazuma. All individually great today. Randle is better than anyone they have today other than Lebron and AD. Let go of Zubac, who is now a starting center across the street on a team consistently beating them year after year. Same for Westbrook, who is now thriving off the bench. Caruso and Lonzo became the league's two favorite defensive guards. Caldwell-Pope won a ring on the team that swept them last season. Malik Monk is one of the best sixth men for another youth movement team above them.
Cycling through damn near 4 coaches now with one of them winning them a ring. All to appease LeGM. Mortgaging their future picks, young players, and veteran coaches every year, shuffling the roster every year as LeBron ages. Yeah, he can still get numbers, but they're less impactful without a young, capable core to support him. It's not that Ham is that bad of a coach, or Reaves, Russel, Vanderbilt, etc. are bad players.
Being in constant win now mode with LeBron has drained the organization of assets year after year, with very few huge draft hits. With little development into youth. That leaves them with middling roleplayers who all fell out of favor at their respective teams and two stars who primarily rely on 2's. Any team with decent wings and average 3-point shooting can beat them.
But all the past young players they let go, are now beating their ass.
Their signings have always been strange to me. Christian Wood fell out of Dallas' and Houston's rotation. Reddish was a journeyman likely because he can't shoot. Washington, one of the worst lead organizations of the league, wanted to get rid of Hachimura for some reason. Vanderbilt fell out of Minnesota's rotation the last couple of the years. No offense to the Heat fan above me, but I imagine Miami didn't want to bring Vincent back because they weren't going to overpay what is likely more of a system player who was easily replaceable, and like magic, he suddenly can't shoot on the Lakers and running his best Kendrick Nunn impression. D'Angelo is another journeyman constantly falling out of favor. Lastly, Austin was a great draft hit, but the scouting report has brought him down to Earth and teams are targeting him constantly on defense. If we're being real, his playoff success is more likely flukish.
So... when we account for the fact that they have the same roster that took them to the WCF, and this is the healthiest Davis and LeBron have been at least up to the halfway point, why the heck do they have almost the same exact record with Westbrook?
Who really is to blame? Is it Ham? Is it the players? Or is it LeGM and the organizational decisions for the last few years?
Edit: of course the same day I make this post they beat the beat team in the league without LeBron and AD.
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Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
Jaylen Brown on fraud watch right about now
Ngl you hit everything on the head except trashing Austins defense, its actually not bad for his size. I also think Austin Reeves is a diamond in the ruff cus bro is a straight up catch on any team, bro really shined and I don't think its a fluke I think he's a solid 3rd / 2nd best player on any team.
Celtics are weird man....like they on paper should be the best team in the league but it just doesn't work all the time...I think the East might be wide open again for whichever team has the most momentum in the playoffs.
Zest of Life
Banned deucer.
I trust in the Zombie Heat to make another deep playoff run and bounce them Celts out again in the ECF
I find him usually targeted more often than not from athletic wings, and usually it's in transition. He could of course improve because he is still a young talent, but I don't trust him with heavy minutes in the playoffs.
If you don't believe the eye test, he has almost all negative net ratings in every two man line-up, and it's all defense. He also regressed on that end for Team USA.
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/a...610612747&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=NET_RATING
Also... trade LeBron. That whole team and organization will feel the relief from Lebron's cryptic pressuring. Had D'Angelo crying on the bench? Good lord.
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