NBA 23/24:season

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121313630#Comment_121313630

Injury (Leonard, Paul) and attitude (Harden) will have a major say in that.

Also classic “there’s only one ball” scenarios.

Plus they’re so iso heavy their style will be a problem, not sure how that’s going to work….it could be horrible to watch too.

3 players with MVPs (League and Finals) on one team is a bit of a head scratcher though.

ButtersSuki

Boston won by 51….with 8 players scoring in double figures. You don’t see either of those very often.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121313630#Comment_121313630

The strangest thing about the Lakers this year is that Russell is now Sybil s big contributor and such a big part of the rotation - I wouldn’t bank on that lasting very long.

Lakers on paper had a very good off season, but that hasn’t really translated into on court performances yet. Will be interesting to see how they progress.

Corvo

Kawhi spends so much time out that I sometimes forget how good he is.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121313899#Comment_121313899

He was incredible in last year's play offs....before he got injured.

To be able to play at the level he does when he's not injured is astonishing. To be out of the game for so long and so regularly, and still retain your touch, explosiveness, feel etc......not to mention the difficulties in just retaining aerobic fitness.....it really shows these guys are on a different planet athletically to us mere mortals.

ButtersSuki

Was listening to the Real Ones podcast the other day and Raja Bell mentioned Pat Burke again (not the first time he's done this). I played with Pat.

#I'mOld

#Humblebrag (lol)

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121313824#Comment_121313824

Well it's not been a bad 5 game block. 3 - 2 with a neutral points differential against opponents who are a combined 13 - 9. Big road trip ahead, see how they go there.

Still need LeBron to win games in the clutch, still need AD to stay healthy but none of that is surprising. Team seems a lot better and more cohesive a unit to what it was a year ago, that's for sure.

ButtersSuki

Have you seen the courts for the in-season tournament?

I wouldn't recommend drinking and eating fast food watching games on some of those courts. The stripe down the middle of each courts denotes the road to Vegas apparently.....🙄

Going to Knicks and Suns (definitely) and possibly Nets Heat in NY in a few weeks. I'm there for 2 weeks but the game schedules are awful when I'm there. I'm only going to the Knicks Suns games to see the Suns TBH.

Osmosis Jones

I like that the in-season tournament is mostly just based on already scheduled games from the 82.

I like the idea of the themed courts as a way to highlight these games (I love any excuse for a court redesign) but most of those courts are ugly. I get that they're to match with this year's City Edition jerseys but they're just so gaudy.

Carcharodon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121317601#Comment_121317601

Yea, people are going to hate on the tournament before it begins, just human nature these days, look for the negative first and just hate. No guarantee it will be a success but I want it to work and as you said the fact games are already based on scheduled games is good, I would of rathered they reduced regular season games by 10 or something but never happening due to tv money

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318165#Comment_121318165

This hate word?

Lots of people just think it's pointless. The object of every season is to make the playoffs and try win a championship.

They already created the play in to add extra games. Now it's a nothing tournament. How can anybody get excited about that?

I think it's just ruining the regular season which I love.

I'm not a hater just somebody who is happy as things have been for many years.

I just don't see what this will add to the season. It's nearly like something that would entice me not to watch for a couple of weeks. I presume it won't affect the standings. If that's the case I'll just give it a miss like I do the all-star stuff.

That doesn't make me a hater, just somebody who is not interested in it.

ButtersSuki

Jesus, I just woke up to see Wemby went for 38 and 10 v Phoenix…..in his 4th NBA game. Wow.

Carcharodon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318222#Comment_121318222

Fair enough, you don’t like it, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I’ll just wait until it plays out to give my opinion, I may very well not like it but I hope it’s a success, nothing wrong with adding another competition for nba teams for me, it gives anothe team an opportunity to win something like other sports do, obviously it won’t be the main objective of the top tier teams but for mid teams it gives a little extra motivation for these teams as it gives them an opportunity to win something now rather than the constant building for the future stuff

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318222#Comment_121318222

I'm not sure how it's ruining the regular season when all it's doing is making certain regular season games also count towards the In-Season Tournament standings.

For example, tonight's games are all part of the tournament. They count towards the regular season standings like any other game, but they also contribute to the Tournament stats.

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318243#Comment_121318243

He's looking exactly as "cheat code" as the remaining 29 teams could possibly fear.

Looking forward to seeing him match up with some strong frontcourts to see if they can stop him.

hole in my lovelywall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318487#Comment_121318487

Unreal, already.

He can only get better.

He’s so well spoken too. Seems very well trained, and smart.

Here’s hoping he won’t succumb to any serious injury.

pjohnson

I wonder when Spurs will push the contend button Pop will want another go, thats why he signed the 5 year deal.

They have a truckload of cap space so could theortically become very aggressive if they want.

Corvo

Any good point guard worth his salt will want to play with Wemby. You can feed him all day and you know he'll cover you on the perimeter at times and erase mistakes in the paint.

I can see them pushing that compete button very quickly - 12 - 24 months.

Osmosis Jones

Another reason to like the in-season tournament is that it gives a chance for players on the worse/younger teams to experience meaningful matches.

I doubt Portland win 25 games this year so the 4 games against these opponents are the only time I'll see them play some high-stakes basketball.

Zero-Cool

I wasn't a fan of this tournament but whatever motivates the players to play harder (or play at all), I'm all for. I'm all for shortening the regular season as a lot of games just don't have much stake for players. If this drives players to push that extra bit, I'm all for it.

eagle eye

I'd see this tournament as the perfect time to rest starters.

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121322835#Comment_121322835

You know it's still a regular season game right? It still counts as 1 of 82.

ButtersSuki

Just watched highlights from last night’s games. Those courts are very hard on the eyes, it is not an enjoyable or enhanced experience. It’s too distracting tbh.

ButtersSuki

I watched the full SA v Phoenix game the other night. One thing Wemby does that isn’t captured in stats but is way more obvious with him than even Gobert is you see players (guards especially) go into the lane on a drive and then see him or catch a glimpse of him in their peripheral vision and even though they’ve beaten their primary defender they change direction and leave the lane completely or pass etc. He might never lead the league in blocked shots but he stops so many shots before they actually become shots just by his presence. Even Booker had one where he blew by his defender and normally would take the lay up but made a bad pass as soon as he saw Wemby covering.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121322966#Comment_121322966

If it's a tournament does the later rounds count as regular season games?

If they do then do fixtures get reset afterwards so that the best teams don't meet each other more times?

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121323303#Comment_121323303

Not sure how they structure it so teams aren't playing opposition too often, but yeah every game (including quarter and semi finals) aside from the actual final itself will be part of the 82 regular season games.

The final itself is not part of the 82, that game will exist outside the regular season and be solely for the trophy.

2smiggy

https://twitter.com/TheHoopCentral/status/1723196561591865392?t=cjJ6__w-ULS91BqKMiQMDg&s=19

..

Whoever goes furthest out of Denver and Dallas wins the championship.

Celtics look like they have a procession to the Eastern finals.

Bucks are muck.

hole in my lovelywall

Would love to see Luka in serious MVP contention this year. He’s earned it.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121357136#Comment_121357136

I love Luka, he's probably my favourite player to watch (along with Curry and Jokic maybe); but Dallas' great start shouldn't I feel be seen as indicative of how their season will go. They're still far too dependent on him.