NBA Season 2022-23

[Who]

Some interesting comments from Masai Ujiri Raptors GM

Ultimately though, not everything is going to change. He wants to rebuild the culture — going backwards to its heyday, rather than finding a new one. Ujiri still believes in the team’s current foundational philosophy, dubbed Vision 6-9.

“Until you win, it’s always going to be some kind of a failure, or not successful. We believe in it,” he said. “We believe in what we’re doing [with Vision 6-9].”

Sounds like they are going to continue amassing a team full of combo forwards.

When asked about Toronto’s leaders, Siakam and Fred VanVleet, Ujiri was complimentary, but far from effusive in his praise.

“I think they’ve been good,” he said. “Fred struggled the first half of the season and I think his body got right, he got right. I always say when Fred’s body is right, he’s right. He did well. Pascal had an all-star season, all-NBA season, hopefully. We just have to figure out how all of that fits with our team going forward.”

Translation: Players can have good seasons without bringing their teams along with them.

I don't know. Was there much difference between VanVleet early and late in the season? He seemed pretty disappointing throughout due to his off-kilter jump-shot.

If anyone seemed to get a softer landing from Ujiri, it was O.G. Anunoby, (“he is one of the best two-way players in the NBA”) Jakob Poeltl, (“I call players like that a championship piece”) and Scottie Barnes. (“There’s so many things, so many pulls, but I think Scottie understands the discipline, Scottie understands his talent, Scottie understands what’s at stake. And I think you started to see that growth and change a little bit over he course of the season.”)

Good praise for Anunoby and Poeltl.

I saw some criticism (not from Ujiri) elsewhere about S Barnes lack of work in the off-season last summer but that Barnes is already working on his game down in Florida already this summer. So that is one to watch for next season. See if S Barnes can have a breakthrough campaign.

It sounds like Gary Trent Jr is the most vulnerable to not being re-signed by the Raps. He is a nice starting quality SG and shot maker. I wonder where he will end up. And whether it is with an okay price tag or not. I'd be interested in him with Celtics if roster changes opened up playin time at SG for him. It would be nice to have a perimeter shooter.

Sounds like VanVleet is in mixed ground. Fair bit of unhappiness with him but Ujiri is big fan of his so it could go either way. Ujiri was also unhappy with MLSE (owners) from stopping his spending.

And there may have been problems between VanVleet and several Raptors - Siakam, Trent Jr, S Barnes. Perceived selfishness (bad shot selection) of VanVleet and players not responding to his leadership. Sounds like Toronto may need to breakup that locker room in order to restora peace & happiness there with VanVleet and Trent Jr the two most likely to be moved on. With the 6-9 project continuing with the combo forwards plus Poeltl.

Also sounds like Anunoby is safer there than Siakam.

Also talk of Nick Nurse enabling VanVleet and refusing to hold him accountable which caused problems with the other players in the locker room. A big part of why he was fired along with his lack of definitive exciting offensive system. They wanted more movement, speed and teamwork.

[LilRip]

As an aside, JT seems to really have a lot of pull among his contemporaries. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen players pay respects to JT in a way that you don’t really see a lot of other guys getting. So far, that’s Dame, Beal (obviously lol), Draymond, Kyrie, KD… am I missing anyone? But that’s a good list!

[Who]

https://www.bulletsforever.com/2023/4/17/23684964/injuries-cost-the-wizards-more-than-nine-wins-but

Interesting article looking at how each team in the league was effected by injuries. Who was the most banged up. Who was the most healthy. Who lost the most games because of injuries and who jumped up the table by avoiding injuries.

[Who]

The four-man lineup of Allen, Garland, Mitchell and Mobley was +10.2 in their 1,729 possessions together in the regular season. They won 51 games and finished with the second-best Net Rating in the league. That is not a fluke.

That is impressive.

[Who]

Doc Rivers says it was ‘challenging’ coaching James Harden

“It was challenging. More because we were fighting two things, and not like visually fighting. James was so good at playing one way, and the way I believe you have to play to win, in some ways is different because it’s a lot of giving up the ball, moving the ball and coming back to the ball.”

[RJ87]

Doc Rivers says it was ‘challenging’ coaching James Harden

“It was challenging. More because we were fighting two things, and not like visually fighting. James was so good at playing one way, and the way I believe you have to play to win, in some ways is different because it’s a lot of giving up the ball, moving the ball and coming back to the ball.”

You could see it. And then there was talk about James wanting to get back to "playing like himself" next season after Philly got eliminated.

Doc has faults, but he's right in this regard. Philly can't run a Harden-centric offense with Embiid in the mix. And then you have Maxey who is developing. It makes no sense.

[Moranis]

Harden has more success than Doc, so I'm going to side with Harden.

[Roy H.]

Harden has more success than Doc, so I'm going to side with Harden.

How do you measure success?

Doc has a ring, Harden doesn't.

[radiohead]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10079075-nba-title-odds-2024-nuggets-bucks-celtics-open-as-early-favorites

There you go. Oddsmakers expect Boston to be in the thick of things next season.

[Goldstar88]

Miami made an offer for Kyrie irving at the trade deadline


According to NBA insider Shams Charania, this year’s Eastern Conference champions would like to ad a third star next to Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo. He revealed that Miami made an offer to the Nets for Kyrie Irving before the trade deadline before the star point guard was traded to the Mavericks. “They’re going to explore seeing what the star market is out there,” Charania said on FanDuel TV. “Just to give you a glimpse of what they looked at over the last several months – they made an offer to the Nets for Kyrie Irving at the deadline from what I’m told, right before he got traded to the Mavericks before the deadline… Do they circle back on Kyrie Irving?” – via TalkBasket

[SparzWizard]

If they get Kyrie while retaining Jimmy Butler and Bam, they're right back in the mix. Except they'll be a much higher seed than the 8th seed.

[A Future of Stevens]

If they get Kyrie while retaining Jimmy Butler and Bam, they're right back in the mix. Except they'll be a much higher seed than the 8th seed.

I wonder what effect Kyrie would have on the "Heat Culture." Would it be strong enough to override his negative effects? Or would Kyrie dilute the benefits of Heat Culture and harm their bottom line?

[Vermont Green]

If they get Kyrie while retaining Jimmy Butler and Bam, they're right back in the mix. Except they'll be a much higher seed than the 8th seed.

I wonder what effect Kyrie would have on the "Heat Culture." Would it be strong enough to override his negative effects? Or would Kyrie dilute the benefits of Heat Culture and harm their bottom line?

This is the key question of course but I think with what MIA has in place, players, coach, management, they could keep Kyrie in line for at least long enough to be a serious title contender in the short term.

MIA probably offered Herro and maybe Martin and some other young players.  That seems very comparable to Dinwiddie, Finney-Smith, and picks.  Seems BKN could have done better trading with MIA.  Maybe they didn't want to help a conference rival.

[Who]

Dallas said they won't help anyone get Kyrie in a sign and trade. They will not co-operate. So no way MIA can get Kyrie this summer. Or Phoenix.

[Who]

Combining the Beal trade idea from the other thread and MIA going after a 3rd star and trying to get Kyrie last trade deadline.

Beal would be a great target for MIA. They do need more shot creation next to Jimmy. They do need a secondary scorer & playmaker. Beal would also play great off of Bam's passing. Beal does his best work off the move rather than off the bounce. So he would work very well with both players. And Bam provides a different skill-set to the two scorers to give their Big 3 good balance.

A trade package would probably be something like Herro, D Robinson and a bunch of 1st rounders. Give WAS something to rebuild with. A young SG similar to Beal but not as good and a bunch of 1sts.