22-23 NBA Season Thread

[McCall]

People view different styles of play and eras differently and, since it's all  just opinion-based anyway, I'll never really question anyone who ranks any one of LeBron, Kobe, Wilt, Bill Russell, Dr. J, Magic or Bird as the greatest player ever...

 

... after Jordan.

[Gary]

As a Suns fan, this has me pumped up. You can tell the energy of Ishbia was there to pull the trigger. With Durant joining Booker, CP3 and Ayton, there’s a great chance at the Suns winning the Championship this year

[Digby]

Okay, guess I was wrong. Brooklyn is the new clearinghouse for solid role players, just as Bruce Ratner intended. Good of them to get some actual draft capital back this time, even though it's funny that their own picks will be great (but in Houston) and they're cutting their losses with these instead. 

 

Nice to see the new Suns owner guy displaying ambition here -- it's a title-quality roster but possibly with a really short window. CP3 already looks kind of washed and now their rotation's thinner, and while I'm not ready to bet against Durant, have to wonder when/if the age and injuries will finally start catching up to him. Or if his usual churlishness will be a good culture add to a locker room already with a few combustible personalities. But, those are worst-case scenarios. Can Booker be a guy who does his thing on a team that actually wins something worth a damn? 

 

Anyway, still can't believe that the team with I think the longest win streak in the league this year, that still had a very good shot at one or two series of home-court in the playoffs... just blew it all up in the middle of everything.

[Gary]

8 minutes ago, Digby said:

Okay, guess I was wrong. Brooklyn is the new clearinghouse for solid role players, just as Bruce Ratner intended. Good of them to get some actual draft capital back this time, even though it's funny that their own picks will be great (but in Houston) and they're cutting their losses with these instead. 

 

Nice to see the new Suns owner guy displaying ambition here -- it's a title-quality roster but possibly with a really short window. CP3 already looks kind of washed and now their rotation's thinner, and while I'm not ready to bet against Durant, have to wonder when/if the age and injuries will finally start catching up to him. Or if his usual churlishness will be a good culture add to a locker room already with a few combustible personalities. But, those are worst-case scenarios. Can Booker be a guy who does his thing on a team that actually wins something worth a damn? 

 

Anyway, still can't believe that the team with I think the longest win streak in the league this year, that still had a very good shot at one or two series of home-court in the playoffs... just blew it all up in the middle of everything.

They have a few players on this team that can be good role players. But I’ve heard they may not be done dealing today. I heard they might be trading Saric in a 3 team deal for John Collins in Atlanta. But nothing is ever certain 

[OnWis97]

Observations as a T-Wolves fan.

• Meh on Conley but D-Lo wasn't doing a lot anyway.
• The West gets stronger. That tends to happen when the Wolves have the opportunity to ascend to their ceiling (i.e., being a middling playoff team).
• Thank you, Nets, for becoming the butt of the NBA jokes for a while.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Andre Drummond

Seth Curry
Ben Simmons

Mikal Bridges

Cam Johnson 

Jae Crowder

7 first round picks

2 second round picks

1 first round pick swap   

 

That's what the Nets got for Harden, KD and Kyrie.

 

I think the Jazz may have done better moving just Rudy Gobert.

[TrueYankee26]

The 30 for 30 on the Nets' KD-Kyrie era will be legendary..

[Gary]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Andre Drummond

Seth Curry
Ben Simmons

Mikal Bridges

Cam Johnson 

Jae Crowder

7 first round picks

2 second round picks

1 first round pick swap   

 

That's what the Nets got for Harden, KD and Kyrie.

 

I think the Jazz may have done better moving just Rudy Gobert.

You can add 5 second round picks. The Bucks just acquired Jae Crowder from the Nets. They can have that cancer.

[Gary]

Pistons get James Wiseman, holy cow. They gave up Bey to the Hawks, but just imagine Cunningham, Ivey, Wiseman and Bogdanovic in the next few years. I’m excited for how this team might compete in the next few years.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Second time in his career KD landed on a team that had 64+ wins the prior season. Nice to be him!

 

This is the craziest trade deadline I've ever seen in the NBA.

 

The Lakers have a completely new roster and probably need to go 20-7 the rest of the way to make the playoffs. My bet? They won't. Anything is better than Westbrook, but D Lo is stretching that "anything."

 

I think this ends up the year the Suns finally win a title, though I'm prepared for any outcome, including the Warriors repeating or the Clips finally getting there.

 

The East is the lesser conference again. Sad it came and went so soon.

[gosioux76]

14 hours ago, sayahh said:

 

Can the Suns for sure beat Dallas, though?  

Uhh, is the Earth flat? 

[gosioux76]

On 2/8/2023 at 10:23 AM, Gary said:

I feel like it’s more of a generational conversation. Fans born in the 70s and 80s grew up with MJ and watching how amazing he was. I grew up in that generation and remember how electric he played. It just hit different. While LeBron is also an amazing player. He just didn’t have in my opinion what Jordan had. Like old school said he would’ve cut your throat to win a game. 
 

I do think that both are both are built from the same cloth and in 20 years he’s going to be a very rich man like Jordan and own a franchise. And honestly both are always going to be 1a and 1B in every conversation until the next generational player comes along and blows us away and has that 1c

 

This is an excellent point.  I definitely agree that which generation you're from plays a big role in how you view this discussion, which is part of what makes it so interesting. I was a massive NBA fan starting in the late '80s, just as the Eastern Conference power structure was shifting from the Celtics to the Pistons and MJ's Bulls were still an underdog nipping at their heels. The way MJ carried those teams, as he did most of his later championship teams, was what made him so enjoyable to watch. You couldn't take your eyes off him.  There might have been four other people wearing red uniforms when he dribbled past half court, but you still had the feeling that it was 1 on 5 and he was still going to destroy the other team.

 

I'll never dismiss LeBron's talent, nor his impact on the game or the world at large. He's a phenomenal human being and an exceptional athlete. But other than the 2016 NBA Finals, I can't recall a time when I was awed by his game in the same way as I was with MJ. 

 

Some of it just comes down to style. LeBron is dominant, but not flashy. He'll score 50 and make it look easy. That's a different type of skill that deserve appreciation, but might not elicit as much excitement. 

 

The only current player who even comes close to generating the excitement I felt while watching MJ would be Ja Morant. 

[The_Admiral]

On 2/8/2023 at 11:49 AM, Indigo said:

Jordan fans are probably some of the most insufferable fans to ever exist. If you think Jordan is the better player, that's fine. Everybody can descide who their personal GOAT is. Half of the country would agree. But trying to discredit the other player's every accomplishment by using the same tired "sIx RiNgZ" argument when it's not even applicable is extremely annoying.

I don't know. Kobe fans always seem to get unhinged pretty fast. 

 

I'm bumping up against No Politics, but believing Jordan was the best is right-coded while believing LeBron is the best is left-coded, which was always implicit until The Man Himself just straight-up said Jordan was better. 

[PERRIN]

4 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

The only current player who even comes close to generating the excitement I felt while watching MJ would be Ja Morant. 

It's Luka for me. Ja is always a flashy scoring threat, but Luka will single-handedly win games for his team, and the passion and fire he has for the game reminds me a bit of MJ. I could easily see Luka becoming the Kobe of today's era with the way he thrives and welcomes the spotlight, and if he keeps up his statistical dominance, he could easily end up being a top 15 player all-time.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

5 minutes ago, the admiral said:

but believing Jordan was the best is right-coded while believing LeBron is the best is left-coded

 

No.

 

Maybe Bird/Magic, but LeBron/MJ? No way. The most likely answer is the easiest, which is generational.

[Unocal]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Second time in his career KD landed on a team that had 64+ wins the prior season. Nice to be him!

 

This is the craziest trade deadline I've ever seen in the NBA.

 

The Lakers have a completely new roster and probably need to go 20-7 the rest of the way to make the playoffs. My bet? They won't. Anything is better than Westbrook, but D Lo is stretching that "anything."

 

I think this ends up the year the Suns finally win a title, though I'm prepared for any outcome, including the Warriors repeating or the Clips finally getting there.

 

The East is the lesser conference again. Sad it came and went so soon.

 

GSW's home/road splits are scary. 

[SailorOfSilence102]

11 hours ago, McCall said:

People view different styles of play and eras differently and, since it's all  just opinion-based anyway, I'll never really question anyone who ranks any one of LeBron, Kobe, Wilt, Bill Russell, Dr. J, Magic or Bird as the greatest player ever...

 

... after Jordan.

It's cool to see Dr. J love, I think him and Oscar weirdly have gotten kind of memory holed for a lot of recent NBA fans. If you look at just old basketball discussion, among players, writers and coaches and that type of stuff, those two were always really well regarded, Dr. J seemingly even more so then Kareem for a time, but people never really talk about either like that nowadays. I guess due to the fact that less and less people are around who saw them play, and the ABA as a whole kind of being forgotten about as we get further and further away from it. Kinda sad.

[IceCap]

2 hours ago, the admiral said:

I'm bumping up against No Politics, but believing Jordan was the best is right-coded while believing LeBron is the best is left-coded, which was always implicit until The Man Himself just straight-up said Jordan was better. 

Anyone who tries to make Jordan/LeBron about politics is a G-ddamned moron. 

 

18 hours ago, PittsburghSucks said:

 

The Passenger rides again. 

[FiddySicks]

7 hours ago, Gary said:

Pistons get James Wiseman, holy cow. They gave up Bey to the Hawks, but just imagine Cunningham, Ivey, Wiseman and Bogdanovic in the next few years. I’m excited for how this team might compete in the next few years.

Warriors basically salary dumping Wiseman doesn’t bother me because he hadn’t done anything with them and it didn’t really matter anyway. What does bother me a bit though, especially with them getting GPII right back, is they essentially got nothing for that #2 overall pick. Again, can’t really complain about recent results as a fan, but it does feel like one of the very few things they’ve done recently that hasn’t been a home run. 
 

As for Wiseman it’s probably good that he’s going to a weaker team where he’ll actually have the chance to develop rather than rotting on the bench surrounded by a championship roster. But even with his height and upside, he kind of already feels like a guy that’ll be out of the NBA in less than five seasons. He’s played like 60 total games since being drafted and none have been all that memorable. 

[who do you think]

12 hours ago, Digby said:

and while I'm not ready to bet against Durant

 

What? He's only ever won while being backpacked by the 73-win Warriors team he jumped right into.

 

8 hours ago, Gary said:

Pistons get James Wiseman, holy cow. They gave up Bey to the Hawks, but just imagine Cunningham, Ivey, Wiseman and Bogdanovic in the next few years. I’m excited for how this team might compete in the next few years.

 

555comeonnow

 

Darko to Orlando 2.0

 

4 hours ago, PERRIN said:

It's Luka for me. Ja is always a flashy scoring threat, but Luka will single-handedly win games for his team, and the passion and fire he has for the game reminds me a bit of MJ. I could easily see Luka becoming the Kobe of today's era with the way he thrives and welcomes the spotlight, and if he keeps up his statistical dominance, he could easily end up being a top 15 player all-time.

 

Doncic spearheaded the Mavs' game seven sexual misconduct in Phoenix last spring (where he reached 30 points himself before the entire Suns team did and laughed in their faces). I'd say that fits in as a MJ/Kobe type moment, should he reach that level.

 

Also the Celtics acquired Mike Muscala from whichever Home Depot he was working at, so... yeah.