2021-2022 NBA Game Thread!

ElUno20

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I see a better shooting God Shammgod’s floor game coupled with a young Steve Francis’ finishing ability at the rim.
Stevey Franchise. Man you brought back so many memories. Yes, i can see that young francis when he was athletic.

Grizz have to get out that 3 spot though. Denver or Dallas is not a good 1rd matchup
 

Euclis20

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What is Ja Morant? Ive described him to casual nba fans in my life as like a bigger more athletic Iverson or more controlled d rose mix but now i think... just better than Michael Jeffrey Jordan. I think that's a better description
Honestly, he's just Derrick Rose before the injury (Ja is 22, same as Rose the year before his first knee injury). No need to aim higher or add in different flavors. It doesn't seem like a strong enough description given how Rose's career unfolded, but the guy was 1st team all-NBA and the league MVP at age 22 (he won largely because of LeBron fatigue, but still) and the best player on a 62 win Bulls team that made it to the conference finals. Like Morant, he was a hyper athletic big (but not oversized) point guard, not a very good outside shooter, and excelled at finishing at and above the rim. When he was 22 he finished 7th in ppg (Morant is currently 7th) and 10th in apg (Morant is currently 14th). Morant may be a tad bit quicker than Rose, and the latter may have been a bit stronger, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a better comp for 22 year old Morant than 22 year old Rose.

View: https://youtu.be/jazZWXqiVBQ


Half of those highlights are identical to what Ja has done in his career. Man, those strong cuts with the ball...my biggest NBA non-Celtics related wish for the next decade is that Ja stays healthy.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Ja Morant is Ja Morant.

Or at least he's going to be. I dunno, do we sit and discuss who Jayson Tatum is?
 

BaseballJones

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Stevey Franchise. Man you brought back so many memories. Yes, i can see that young francis when he was athletic.

Grizz have to get out that 3 spot though. Denver or Dallas is not a good 1rd matchup
It's amazing how things have changed for some franchises in just a few years.

In 2018-19:

- Phoenix finished last in the West at 19-63.
- Memphis finished 4th to last in the West at 33-49.

In 2017-18:

- Phoenix finished last in the West at 21-61.
- Memphis finished 2nd to last in the West at 22-60.

Now they're at the top of the West. Great job by both those franchises.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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Given the attention to stuff like pick swaps six years out as well as other future assets, it feels like the media, bloggers and fans tend to miss how dynamic the league is with roster turnover. A lot of stars stay put but a lot move around too. If you are a veteran player with above average skills and a reasonable contract, short-term leases in your city of employ seems like a smart strategy.

Again, simply look at the teams over from the '19-20 season to now. Four of the top twenty scorers by PPG (Harden, Westbrook, McCollum and DeRozan) have moved on to new teams and some have moved twice (Westbrook). If I wanted to get technical, I could argue that the number is actually five because Wiggins was traded near the deadline that season.
 

Auger34

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Honestly, he's just Derrick Rose before the injury (Ja is 22, same as Rose the year before his first knee injury). No need to aim higher or add in different flavors. It doesn't seem like a strong enough description given how Rose's career unfolded, but the guy was 1st team all-NBA and the league MVP at age 22 (he won largely because of LeBron fatigue, but still) and the best player on a 62 win Bulls team that made it to the conference finals. Like Morant, he was a hyper athletic big (but not oversized) point guard, not a very good outside shooter, and excelled at finishing at and above the rim. When he was 22 he finished 7th in ppg (Morant is currently 7th) and 10th in apg (Morant is currently 14th). Morant may be a tad bit quicker than Rose, and the latter may have been a bit stronger, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a better comp for 22 year old Morant than 22 year old Rose.

View: https://youtu.be/jazZWXqiVBQ


Half of those highlights are identical to what Ja has done in his career. Man, those strong cuts with the ball...my biggest NBA non-Celtics related wish for the next decade is that Ja stays healthy.
Yeah, exactly. Rose before the injuries was awesome. They have incredibly similar playing styles and I agree that Morant is probably quicker changing direction while Rose was stronger and had a thicker frame.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Given the attention to stuff like pick swaps six years out as well as other future assets, it feels like the media, bloggers and fans tend to miss how dynamic the league is with roster turnover. A lot of stars stay put but a lot move around too. If you are a veteran player with above average skills and a reasonable contract, short-term leases in your city of employ seems like a smart strategy.

Again, simply look at the teams over from the '19-20 season to now. Four of the top twenty scorers by PPG (Harden, Westbrook, McCollum and DeRozan) have moved on to new teams and some have moved twice (Westbrook). If I wanted to get technical, I could argue that the number is actually five because Wiggins was traded near the deadline that season.
Contracts are (mostly) 4 years long. The league is built on turnover. There are very few crippling contracts in the association because of this. If a team is constantly at the bottom, it's because of poor drafting, poor development, poor FA signings, poor decisions on who to keep/let walk or a combo of all of those. That's not really your point though.

To your point, yeah. It's incredibly smart for a player to leave during FA if they see the writing on the wall for their current team. The only downside is maybe fans like you less. If you happen to be one of those stars who makes a lot of money on endorsements, going year to year the last 4-5 years of your career would be genius if your goal is to win titles.
 

Cesar Crespo

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Yeah, exactly. Rose before the injuries was awesome. They have incredibly similar playing styles and I agree that Morant is probably quicker changing direction while Rose was stronger and had a thicker frame.
I was going to say Morant is a better 3 point shooter, but at similar points in their career... that's only kind of true. Morant has mostly been stagnant from 3 his first 3 seasons while Rose showed real improvement in year 3. He also showed significant improvement from the FT line in year 3, while Morant again has mostly remained stagnant. Rose had regressed from 3 again prior to his year 4 injury, but was still shooting at a better clip than his first 2 years. Who knows how his shot would have developed had he not been injured.

I worry about Ja's health long term because of his insane hops, but I really hope he stays healthy. If people were to rank players under the age of 25, I'm guessing a small minority would take Morant over Doncic.

I think Tatum vs Morant is the more interesting argument, and that was brought up earlier this year.

Now I'm curious who the top 10 players are (factoring in upside/potential) under the age of 25. I haven't looked in some time. I know Anthony Edwards wasn't in my top tier last year but he's definitely there now. Ja was already there. Tatum, LaMelo, Doncic, Zion.

Those are the obvious ones, probably forgetting someone obvious too.

edit: like Trae Young.
 

HomeRunBaker

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LeBron is getting really really frustrated with his teammates. Not sure he signed up for playing with Some of these clowns.
 

Cellar-Door

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26-9 run in Lebron's 3rd quarter shift. He isn't what he was, but the man is still an absolute monster when he turns it up.
 

Auger34

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It’s amazing how bad Russ is…I mean, I don’t think anyone expected that line-up to work in the playoffs but I also don’t think anyone expected him to look as awful as he has thus far either
 

Devizier

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I mean, it’s no coincidence that Lebron has been openly shopping for his next team. At this point it’s basically pro forma.
 

Kliq

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IDK if Westbrook is really any worse than he was over the past few years. The issue is that in order for him to be actually kind of good, he needs to be the PG all the time and have the ball in his hands. That isn't going to happen (and rightfully so) with LeBron on the team, so he is just kind of left to do nothing. He can't shoot threes and he does not really know how to play off-ball. Westbrook can be an above-average NBA player in the right situation. The Lakers never realized that he couldn't be that player on their team, and the result is this albatross.
 

ElUno20

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IDK if Westbrook is really any worse than he was over the past few years. The issue is that in order for him to be actually kind of good, he needs to be the PG all the time and have the ball in his hands. That isn't going to happen (and rightfully so) with LeBron on the team, so he is just kind of left to do nothing. He can't shoot threes and he does not really know how to play off-ball. Westbrook can be an above-average NBA player in the right situation. The Lakers never realized that he couldn't be that player on their team, and the result is this albatross.
Exactly. Russ needs the ball and time. His style is more of a volume puncher to wear the opponent down. Contrast that with what lebron thrives playing with (efficient, specialized role players) and it's a disaster.
 

Kliq

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Exactly. Russ needs the ball and time. His style is more of a volume puncher to wear the opponent down. Contrast that with what lebron thrives playing with (efficient, specialized role players) and it's a disaster.
I think the logic behind the move was that Westbrook could play a lot of minutes without LeBron and drive a certain level of competency out of the team, similar to what he was able to do in Washington. That would allow LeBron to coast a bit more and remain fresh for the playoffs. The issue is that especially without Davis, the Lakers really are not good enough to win any games without LeBron doing a lot of the heavy lifting. So LeBron and Westbrook are sharing the floor all the time and Westbrook is put into a role he is not going to succeed in.

So many of the Lakers problems comes from how so much of the team has been designed around LeBron. Obviously you want to build around your best player; but LeBron ditched the younger players in favor of veterans he felt comfortable around, regardless of their ability at this stage of their career. Westbrook was added not because he was a great fit with the rest of the Lakers, but rather because he was seen as a vessel to protect LeBron for the post-season.
 

ElUno20

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I think the logic behind the move was that Westbrook could play a lot of minutes without LeBron and drive a certain level of competency out of the team, similar to what he was able to do in Washington. That would allow LeBron to coast a bit more and remain fresh for the playoffs. The issue is that especially without Davis, the Lakers really are not good enough to win any games without LeBron doing a lot of the heavy lifting. So LeBron and Westbrook are sharing the floor all the time and Westbrook is put into a role he is not going to succeed in.

So many of the Lakers problems comes from how so much of the team has been designed around LeBron. Obviously you want to build around your best player; but LeBron ditched the younger players in favor of veterans he felt comfortable around, regardless of their ability at this stage of their career. Westbrook was added not because he was a great fit with the rest of the Lakers, but rather because he was seen as a vessel to protect LeBron for the post-season.
The mistake they made was misunderstanding lebron, imo. He has rarely shown the ability to dial it back and not dominate the ball and be the floor general. Everyone healthy, he'd still be pounding the rock and forcing Russ in this role. The only difference would be they'd win more games because AD was playing.

To me, that's what makes next year so hard and why lebron has to go. He can still put up these huge numbers so he isnt taking a backseat to anyone. However, they dont really have the ability to build his typical role player super team around him so they're stuck in the same spot.
 

Kliq

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The mistake they made was misunderstanding lebron, imo. He has rarely shown the ability to dial it back and not dominate the ball and be the floor general. Everyone healthy, he'd still be pounding the rock and forcing Russ in this role. The only difference would be they'd win more games because AD was playing.

To me, that's what makes next year so hard and why lebron has to go. He can still put up these huge numbers so he isnt taking a backseat to anyone. However, they dont really have the ability to build his typical role player super team around him so they're stuck in the same spot.
IDK if LeBron has to go, but to your point, Davis has taken a lot of flack because he hasn't "taken over" for LeBron. I guess the original philosophy for some Laker fans/pundits was that as LeBron got older, Davis would take over the role of carrying the franchise. To defend Davis, he has never gotten that opportunity. The team has been built around LeBron's strengths and instincts, not Davis. LeBron dominates the ball and is the key decision maker. LeBron is the one taking the last shot. LeBron is the one bringing in his cronies as role players. How is Davis able to assume that mantle when LeBron clearly has no interest in giving that up?

Remember when Davis first joined the Lakers and LeBron made a big deal about how he wanted to help Davis win the MVP? That talk is long gone, just a tool to convince people that the Lakers were going to be AD's team (and Davis is an easy scapegoat at the moment due to being injured) when LeBron was the one pulling the strings. To LeBron, Davis is just Chris Bosh or Kevin Love, a useful player that can help LeBron win a title, but certainly not the heir apparent.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Exactly. Russ needs the ball and time. His style is more of a volume puncher to wear the opponent down. Contrast that with what lebron thrives playing with (efficient, specialized role players) and it's a disaster.
It isn’t only Russ that is the problem. LeBron is out there trying to win games with Stanley Johnson and Austin Reaves.
 

Kliq

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Well they got rid of some of their better role players to get Westbrook, so it is kind of still a Westbrook problem.
 

terrynever

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As a true 76ers fan, I am already considering scenarios that can screw up this potential title run. Injuries, for sure. Tired arms for Embiid and Harden from shooting 25 free throws a night. Maxey turns into Fultz. It has to be something bizarre.
 

ElUno20

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As a true 76ers fan, I am already considering scenarios that can screw up this potential title run. Injuries, for sure. Tired arms for Embiid and Harden from shooting 25 free throws a night. Maxey turns into Fultz. It has to be something bizarre.
Scenarios? Doc Rivers. That's it. You want more? Career playofff loser James Harden.

Just hope Embiid is healthy and can carry those losers.
 

TripleOT

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As a true 76ers fan, I am already considering scenarios that can screw up this potential title run. Injuries, for sure. Tired arms for Embiid and Harden from shooting 25 free throws a night. Maxey turns into Fultz. It has to be something bizarre.
A Harden hammy injury is certainly a possibility. Even if fully healthy, the Sixers might not have enough outside shooting. Also, Harden and Embiid have a history of losing playoff series they probably should have won. Maybe things will be different for them now that they have teamed up.
 

Euclis20

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Scenarios? Doc Rivers. That's it. You want more? Career playofff loser James Harden.

Just hope Embiid is healthy and can carry those losers.
And the fact that the biggest game of Embiid's career was a round 2 loss in which he shot 6-18 (though he was 8-9 from the line). He doesn't have the long line of collapses and disappointments that have dogged Doc and Harden, but he also hasn't done anything worth writing home about in the playoffs.
 

Cellar-Door

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yeah the case against the 76ers is some combination of:
1. Badly outcoached
2. Not getting calls in the playoffs makes Harden and Embiid less dominant
3. Injuries
4. KD/Kyrie bury them under and avalanche of efficient scoring.
 

HomeRunBaker

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When did Doc Rivers become an awful coach? Are we talking about the same guy who will be inducted as a coach whenever it’s his time?
 

Auger34

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When did Doc Rivers become an awful coach? Are we talking about the same guy who will be inducted as a coach whenever it’s his time?
I’m not trying to be glib, and I don’t think Rigers is an awful coach (or one of the 15 best ever but that’s beside the point), but I think it’s because of the multiple blown 3-1 leads where he barely made any adjustments
 

ElUno20

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When did Doc Rivers become an awful coach? Are we talking about the same guy who will be inducted as a coach whenever it’s his time?
I think Doc is overrated af. He's next level at getting bum ass players to meet the moment and play above their heads. However, he's awful with star players and expectations. And i love Doc as a person but watching him coach the Clippers for 7 years took years off my life.

I know I'm in the minority and im wrong, etc but that's just me. Any replacement level coach with the talent that he's had would produce the same results.
 

ElUno20

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I’m not trying to be glib, and I don’t think Rigers is an awful coach (or one of the 15 best ever but that’s beside the point), but I think it’s because of the multiple blown 3-1 leads where he barely made any adjustments
The bigger issue to me, each time, is Doc builds a culture of entitlement and passiveness that's hard to come back from when shit gets real.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I think Doc is overrated af. He's next level at getting bum ass players to meet the moment and play above their heads. However, he's awful with star players and expectations. And i love Doc as a person but watching him coach the Clippers for 7 years took years off my life.

I know I'm in the minority and im wrong, etc but that's just me. Any replacement level coach with the talent that he's had would produce the same results.
Awful with star players after Pierce and Garnett gave him all the credit in the world for holding that clown bus together during their tenure here? That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that one. The guys done it all…..won COY when he took a team in Orlando with 5 Undrafted rookie free agents in their rotation and got them to .500 when their was talk of them challenging the Sixers 9-win season…..Celtics years speak for themselves in being voted COY again…..kept the entire Clippers organization together during the Sterling fiasco (and should have won COY a third time). I mean if you want to blame Doc for Kawhi and George going 0-12 or whatever it was in that infamous 4Q go ahead. The players play and they simply didn’t execute in those losses. Does the coach get credit for getting them a 3-1 lead or only the blame when the stars don’t perform and they lose?
 

terrynever

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76ers next four games will be revealing: Home to Cavs on Friday, at Miami on Saturday, home to Bulls on Monday, home to Brooklyn on Thursday.
Tobias is now the fourth option and he’s trying to find his role. When Embiid goes out, Doc is putting Harris with Harden but this is where Philly is weak. 6-foot-8 Paul Millsap remains the backup center while Willie Carley-Stein awaits his turn. Forward Georges Niang tries hard but his defense is exploitable. The fifth guy in this second unit is usually Danny Green or Shake Milton. Doc has other options that he will audition soon.
 
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DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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It feels like Doc Rivers is both a very good manager of people and also a middling Xs and Os NBA coach. In the NBA that Doc played and coached in during his early career, the former seemed more important than the latter. In the current NBA, it feels like both are of equal importance.

What Doc did with the big three Celtics was masterful though imo. That mix of personalities feels like it could have imploded at any time.