NBA 2019-2020 season thread

[DefenseWinsChamps]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

[fairweatherfan]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

How often have we seen teams get IT, Bradley, or Smart on a big guy in the post and disrupt their whole offense trying to exploit it? It fails more often than it works, seems like - even when they get a bucket or two out of it their rhythm is off. It was basically a whole game of that last night.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

How often have we seen teams get IT, Bradley, or Smart on a big guy in the post and disrupt their whole offense trying to exploit it? It fails more often than it works, seems like - even when they get a bucket or two out of it their rhythm is off. It was basically a whole game of that last night.

It has to be the right guys. Notice I qualified it with "tenacious undersized defenders" with confidence from coaching staff.

It has worked quite a bit with Smart. He's successfully defender a lot of bigger guys in big games. Bradley is not the same kind of defender. IT is not a defender at all.

You have to have the right team. Harden is actually a pretty good defender in the post. Covington, Tucker, etc. are good defenders in the post too. Those are different players than Bradley or IT.

[celticsclay]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

How often have we seen teams get IT, Bradley, or Smart on a big guy in the post and disrupt their whole offense trying to exploit it? It fails more often than it works, seems like - even when they get a bucket or two out of it their rhythm is off. It was basically a whole game of that last night.

It has to be the right guys. Notice I qualified it with "tenacious undersized defenders" with confidence from coaching staff.

It has worked quite a bit with Smart. He's successfully defender a lot of bigger guys in big games. Bradley is not the same kind of defender. IT is not a defender at all.

You have to have the right team. Harden is actually a pretty good defender in the post. Covington, Tucker, etc. are good defenders in the post too. Those are different players than Bradley or IT.

I think it can work for spurts, but again, i think the problem is doing it 5-6 games in a row. If Smart was asked to do this all the time for a whole playoff run he would probably get injured. The same thing with the Rockets, you ask 35 year old Tucker to body up against Howard, Davis, Jokic, Gobert for 22 games over 6 weeks he is going to be completely destroyed.

Also for it is worth, I don't think NBA wants this kind of thing to take over either. They don't want elite talented players being unable to stay on the floor and having 100 3's shot a game. Maybe even this offseason they will do something like expand the paint. Many have speculated this all-star game feel of teams just shooting three is not interesting and a factor in declining ratings.

[fairweatherfan]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

How often have we seen teams get IT, Bradley, or Smart on a big guy in the post and disrupt their whole offense trying to exploit it? It fails more often than it works, seems like - even when they get a bucket or two out of it their rhythm is off. It was basically a whole game of that last night.

It has to be the right guys. Notice I qualified it with "tenacious undersized defenders" with confidence from coaching staff.

It has worked quite a bit with Smart. He's successfully defender a lot of bigger guys in big games. Bradley is not the same kind of defender. IT is not a defender at all.

You have to have the right team. Harden is actually a pretty good defender in the post. Covington, Tucker, etc. are good defenders in the post too. Those are different players than Bradley or IT.

I'm saying that even with IT or Bradley in the post trying to exploit it seemed to hurt teams more often than it helped them. Smart is obviously a superior defender in that situation so it's even worse, which is partly why teams don't go after it as often anymore.

Now that might not hold up over an extended series, but my broader point was small defenders on big men can disrupt a team's offense simply by looking too easy to score on. The bigger team almost needs to adjust to it by consciously not attacking those matchups each time they appear because it's often counterproductive to try.

[liam]

For real, maybe they are on to something. The Lakers have one of the biggest teams inside in the NBA that can take advantage of matchups. The Rockets still beat them in LA. They didn't play any of their big man options.

I've always thought the tenacious undersized defender can be better with confidence from coaching staff against big men, especially in the modern NBA when bigs don't have great footwork or patience.

Maybe the Rockets are on to something. Maybe the Cs are too rotating Smart, Ojeleye, and G Williams in.

How often have we seen teams get IT, Bradley, or Smart on a big guy in the post and disrupt their whole offense trying to exploit it? It fails more often than it works, seems like - even when they get a bucket or two out of it their rhythm is off. It was basically a whole game of that last night.

It has to be the right guys. Notice I qualified it with "tenacious undersized defenders" with confidence from coaching staff.

It has worked quite a bit with Smart. He's successfully defender a lot of bigger guys in big games. Bradley is not the same kind of defender. IT is not a defender at all.

You have to have the right team. Harden is actually a pretty good defender in the post. Covington, Tucker, etc. are good defenders in the post too. Those are different players than Bradley or IT.

I think it can work for spurts, but again, i think the problem is doing it 5-6 games in a row. If Smart was asked to do this all the time for a whole playoff run he would probably get injured. The same thing with the Rockets, you ask 35 year old Tucker to body up against Howard, Davis, Jokic, Gobert for 22 games over 6 weeks he is going to be completely destroyed.

Also for it is worth, I don't think NBA wants this kind of thing to take over either. They don't want elite talented players being unable to stay on the floor and having 100 3's shot a game. Maybe even this offseason they will do something like expand the paint. Many have speculated this all-star game feel of teams just shooting three is not interesting and a factor in declining ratings.

The size of the court should be expanded and they should stop with all these weak "touch" fouls to speed up the game and make it flow better. The players are so big and quick that the court looks too small. Maybe move the 3 point line out a little.

[KGs Knee]

I expect the Rockets plan of using PJ Tucker at center will be successful. He is a very strong man. He will be better able to hold his position and defend bigger opponents than most of those opponents will be able to defend on the perimeter on the other end of the floor.

It will kill any centers who are plodders / semi-mobile defenders. It will take them right off the court.

It is the athletic mobile defensive bigs that can cover a more limited offensive threat like Tucker than Houston may have issue with. But even then, they'll be able to get a lot more switches and force that mobile big onto more dangerous offensive threats (Westbrook, Harden, E.Gordon) much easier than before because it's harder to leave a guy like Tucker open than a garbage man big like Capela or Tyson Chandler.

I fully expect this strategy to be successful. It puts Houston back in the Championship mix (with Harden & Westbrook as cornerstones) although maybe not this year because I think they are a bit light on bodies. They need a bit more depth SF-PF-C to help maintain pressure on opponents for 48 minutes.

But ... they are really onto something here. They have found a way to unlock Westbrook and Harden as a dynamic duo. How to make them together.

And ... how to further exploit the decline in post play / interior scoring / offensive rebounding. They have identified the next opportunity. The next evolution at exploiting these rule changes.

Houston are ahead of the curve.

I really hope none of this actually proves to be true.

The league needs to do something to incentive post play again. We can't have a league where legit bigs can't be played because of previous rule changes. While this is just personal opinion, I always found the battles the 7 foot behemoths would have in the paint to be the most enjoyable part of basketball.

Expand the court, move the three point line back like 5 feet and make it so three point shots are actually more difficult to make than two point shots. Oh, and bring back the illegal defense rule. No more of this weak zone defense crap. Bring back man to man defense.

[celticsclay]

I expect the Rockets plan of using PJ Tucker at center will be successful. He is a very strong man. He will be better able to hold his position and defend bigger opponents than most of those opponents will be able to defend on the perimeter on the other end of the floor.

It will kill any centers who are plodders / semi-mobile defenders. It will take them right off the court.

It is the athletic mobile defensive bigs that can cover a more limited offensive threat like Tucker than Houston may have issue with. But even then, they'll be able to get a lot more switches and force that mobile big onto more dangerous offensive threats (Westbrook, Harden, E.Gordon) much easier than before because it's harder to leave a guy like Tucker open than a garbage man big like Capela or Tyson Chandler.

I fully expect this strategy to be successful. It puts Houston back in the Championship mix (with Harden & Westbrook as cornerstones) although maybe not this year because I think they are a bit light on bodies. They need a bit more depth SF-PF-C to help maintain pressure on opponents for 48 minutes.

But ... they are really onto something here. They have found a way to unlock Westbrook and Harden as a dynamic duo. How to make them together.

And ... how to further exploit the decline in post play / interior scoring / offensive rebounding. They have identified the next opportunity. The next evolution at exploiting these rule changes.

Houston are ahead of the curve.

I really hope none of this actually proves to be true.

The league needs to do something to incentive post play again. We can't have a league where legit bigs can't be played because of previous rule changes. While this is just personal opinion, I always found the battles the 7 foot behemoths would have in the paint to be the most enjoyable part of basketball.

Expand the court, move the three point line back like 5 feet and make it so three point shots are actually more difficult to make than two point shots. Oh, and bring back the illegal defense rule. No more of this weak zone defense crap. Bring back man to man defense.

I am ok with this. We are in an era where Trae Young may end up with more points after two seasons than Lebron James had.It will make a mockery of the record books if we don't change it.

[RPGenerate]

Eliminate the corner 3pt shots. It has too much value for such an easy shot.

[gouki88]

Indy down 1 to the Raptors with Siakam questionable to return. Hopefully they don't mess up ... again

[gouki88]

Indy down 1 to the Raptors with Siakam questionable to return. Hopefully they don't mess up ... again

Nevermind, Siakam is in.

Darn it!

[SHAQATTACK]

I expect the Rockets plan of using PJ Tucker at center will be successful. He is a very strong man. He will be better able to hold his position and defend bigger opponents than most of those opponents will be able to defend on the perimeter on the other end of the floor.

It will kill any centers who are plodders / semi-mobile defenders. It will take them right off the court.

It is the athletic mobile defensive bigs that can cover a more limited offensive threat like Tucker than Houston may have issue with. But even then, they'll be able to get a lot more switches and force that mobile big onto more dangerous offensive threats (Westbrook, Harden, E.Gordon) much easier than before because it's harder to leave a guy like Tucker open than a garbage man big like Capela or Tyson Chandler.

I fully expect this strategy to be successful. It puts Houston back in the Championship mix (with Harden & Westbrook as cornerstones) although maybe not this year because I think they are a bit light on bodies. They need a bit more depth SF-PF-C to help maintain pressure on opponents for 48 minutes.

But ... they are really onto something here. They have found a way to unlock Westbrook and Harden as a dynamic duo. How to make them together.

And ... how to further exploit the decline in post play / interior scoring / offensive rebounding. They have identified the next opportunity. The next evolution at exploiting these rule changes.

Houston are ahead of the curve.

I really hope none of this actually proves to be true.

The league needs to do something to incentive post play again. We can't have a league where legit bigs can't be played because of previous rule changes. While this is just personal opinion, I always found the battles the 7 foot behemoths would have in the paint to be the most enjoyable part of basketball.

Expand the court, move the three point line back like 5 feet and make it so three point shots are actually more difficult to make than two point shots. Oh, and bring back the illegal defense rule. No more of this weak zone defense crap. Bring back man to man defense.

TP!

[CelticSooner]

Raptors won't lose again I guess.

[gouki88]

Raptors won't lose again I guess.

Bad review call against Oladipo for my mind

[Jiri Welsch]

The rich get richer

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1225981839942279168?s=20