NBA Season 2021-22

[Surferdad]

Will the Warriors be favorites to win it all once Klay and Wiseman come back? I’m leaning towards yes...

Insert "Kevin Durant - My Next Chapter" meme of the Golden State Warriors here

Imagine the Warriors go 73-9 this season. I thought the West got loaded and the Warriors dynasty ended after 2019. Looks like they're back in the mix, again, for the top seed...and not so much the Lakers (at least for now) lol

They've had a cupcake schedule so far, mostly home games against inferior competition.  I heard that the combined record of their opponents so far is in the 0.300 range.

It hasn’t been the most difficult competition, but 7 of their 12 games have been against opponents with winning records and/or would have a winning record but for their losses against the Warriors.  I’d be surprised if their opponent’s winning percentage were as low as you say, although I haven’t done the math.  9 of 12 have been at home tho, that’s true.l

The combined record of their opponents so far is 47-76 which is a 0.382 winning pct.  (They played OKC twice, but I didn't count their record twice in my calculation...it wouldn't change the winning pct much since OKC is 5-6.)

If you count OKC twice, and remove the Warriors games from their opponents’ records (which tells us how good they are when they don’t play OKC), it’s .418, assuming your record above is accurate.  Not great, but going 11-1 against even that schedule is pretty impressive for a team that was an 8-seed last year.

To be clear, GSW did what they had to do against *mostly* inferior competition and at home. It's a sign of a champ and I'm not taking that away from them.

[hpantazo]

Anthony Davis ripping into the Lakers after last night's loss:

"We sucked," Davis said when asked about the third. "No defense. Can't score. That's not just this third quarter, it's every third quarter we've played this season. We come out slow, lackadaisical offensively and defensively. We got to get it together. Why? I can't tell you. But we got to do a better job."

"We got to decide who we want to be. A championship team? That's not us right now," Davis said. "We're not winning a championship the way we're playing."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32619059/anthony-davis-rips-los-angeles-lakers-embarrassing-loss-minnesota-timberwolves

I love it! Does AD make it past this season as a Laker?

[gouki88]

I know lots of people like to salivate over LaMelo Ball and how he's looking this season, but how about Anthony Edwards? Averaging 24/6/3, improved his passing and defence, looks physically imposing (supposedly grew to 6'6") and has some unteachable confidence. Once his efficiency improves a bit he's going to be a genuine nightmare match-up

[Pvictor11]

I'm watching Bulls vs Clippers and am very impressed by how much Lavine and Derozan work off the ball. Lavine is Always running the baseline trying to confuse the defence and get open for a 3. Would really like to see the Js move more of the ball and work more to get open and make the defences move.

They also run a lot of pnr with Lavine and Derozan as ball händlers, while Ball sits at the corner.
It seems to me that the Bulls offense could be a very good inspiration for how to play with the Js.
I find Both teams quite similars: ball/smart are good defenders and passers, but not great shooters (ball being the better shooter and Smart a better defender); Lavine/Brown athletic SGs with good size; Derozan/Tatum the mid range lovers; Vucevic/Al good passing bigs who can shoot an ocasional 3 and work on the PnP.

Our defense is betting better and being on par with the bulls and the best of the league, but our offense could be a lot better with some little tweaks. I'm not expecting Warriors type offense, but a little more ball movement and off ball actions would make this team a lot better to watch. I hate ISOs. Everybody that played a little basketball in Life knows that is not fun watching a guy dribble for 20 seconds, shoot a contested jumper that fronts the rim and you have to run your lungs out to stop the break. This is not enjoyable at ali and I think some guys on the team might feel that in some Jaylen and Jayson plays.

[knuckleballer]

I'm watching Bulls vs Clippers and am very impressed by how much Lavine and Derozan work off the ball. Lavine is Always running the baseline trying to confuse the defence and get open for a 3. Would really like to see the Js move more of the ball and work more to get open and make the defences move.

They also run a lot of pnr with Lavine and Derozan as ball händlers, while Ball sits at the corner.
It seems to me that the Bulls offense could be a very good inspiration for how to play with the Js.
I find Both teams quite similars: ball/smart are good defenders and passers, but not great shooters (ball being the better shooter and Smart a better defender); Lavine/Brown athletic SGs with good size; Derozan/Tatum the mid range lovers; Vucevic/Al good passing bigs who can shoot an ocasional 3 and work on the PnP.

Our defense is betting better and being on par with the bulls and the best of the league, but our offense could be a lot better with some little tweaks. I'm not expecting Warriors type offense, but a little more ball movement and off ball actions would make this team a lot better to watch. I hate ISOs. Everybody that played a little basketball in Life knows that is not fun watching a guy dribble for 20 seconds, shoot a contested jumper that fronts the rim and you have to run your lungs out to stop the break. This is not enjoyable at ali and I think some guys on the team might feel that in some Jaylen and Jayson plays.

Sorry to nitpick, but Lonzo is turning into a good shooter.  He’s up to 42% from 3 this year on 83 shots.  His free throw percentage is up to 83%.  I would have loved to have been able to get him last offseason.

I agree with everything else you said.  TP for making good points.

[celticsclay]

After enduring lengthy road trips from hornets and pacers, East back to bullying the west again. Starting to feel hard imagining this completely flipping course. Very deep conference in the East this year.

[Donoghus]

This is a new one for me.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
·
19s
NBA has fined Timberwolves $250K for organizing offseason practice outside of team market. Minnesota had team activities in Miami in early September.

[gouki88]

This is a new one for me.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
·
19s
NBA has fined Timberwolves $250K for organizing offseason practice outside of team market. Minnesota had team activities in Miami in early September.

What? That seems like a relatively steep fine for the offence of ... practicing

[#1P4P]

This is a new one for me.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
·
19s
NBA has fined Timberwolves $250K for organizing offseason practice outside of team market. Minnesota had team activities in Miami in early September.

What? That seems like a relatively steep fine for the offence of ... practicing

Terry Rozier held September practices in Miami for Hornets players. The Hornets didn’t sanction it and it must’ve been for this reason, someone in Minnesota didn’t read the fine print. Either way, Minny must be hittin’ the NBA with the AI “Practice” comments right now.

[SparzWizard]

This is a new one for me.

Adrian Wojnarowski
@wojespn
·
19s
NBA has fined Timberwolves $250K for organizing offseason practice outside of team market. Minnesota had team activities in Miami in early September.

What? That seems like a relatively steep fine for the offence of ... practicing

Terry Rozier held September practices in Miami for Hornets players. The Hornets didn’t sanction it and it must’ve been for this reason, someone in Minnesota didn’t read the fine print. Either way, Minny must be hittin’ the NBA with the AI “Practice” comments right now.

Practice? We talkin' about practice?!

[Kiorrik]

Watching Bulls Lakers

One of the announcers has just unironically used the sentence:

"Russell Westbrook is having a hard time adjusting to playing off the ball"

No doy.

[celticsclay]

Watching Bulls Lakers

One of the announcers has just unironically used the sentence:

"Russell Westbrook is having a hard time adjusting to playing off the ball"

No doy.

Man I am honestly surprised how bad the Lakers are without Lebron. Against the bulls without Vucevic I feel they clearly have the best player on the floor. I am not sure if Westbrook is better than Lavine, but the rest of their teams seem to have similar levels of role players. Maybe they just really need Caruso?

I will add I thought they would fade the second half of season cause they have one of oldest teams in NBA history, but a couple of these guys are reading fading fast. DAJ is basically unplayable right now and can't see him lasting through the season. Westbrook definitely seems to have lost a step. Not sure what Rondo has left.

[gouki88]

Watching Bulls Lakers

One of the announcers has just unironically used the sentence:

"Russell Westbrook is having a hard time adjusting to playing off the ball"

No doy.

Man I am honestly surprised how bad the Lakers are without Lebron. Against the bulls without Vucevic I feel they clearly have the best player on the floor. I am not sure if Westbrook is better than Lavine, but the rest of their teams seem to have similar levels of role players. Maybe they just really need Caruso?

I will add I thought they would fade the second half of season cause they have one of oldest teams in NBA history, but a couple of these guys are reading fading fast. DAJ is basically unplayable right now and can't see him lasting through the season. Westbrook definitely seems to have lost a step. Not sure what Rondo has left.

No perimeter defence, very little floor spacing and a weak coach in Vogel. An injury to LBJ or AD derails them, as we are seeing right now

[celticsclay]

Watching Bulls Lakers

One of the announcers has just unironically used the sentence:

"Russell Westbrook is having a hard time adjusting to playing off the ball"

No doy.

Man I am honestly surprised how bad the Lakers are without Lebron. Against the bulls without Vucevic I feel they clearly have the best player on the floor. I am not sure if Westbrook is better than Lavine, but the rest of their teams seem to have similar levels of role players. Maybe they just really need Caruso?

I will add I thought they would fade the second half of season cause they have one of oldest teams in NBA history, but a couple of these guys are reading fading fast. DAJ is basically unplayable right now and can't see him lasting through the season. Westbrook definitely seems to have lost a step. Not sure what Rondo has left.

No perimeter defence, very little floor spacing and a weak coach in Vogel. An injury to LBJ or AD derails them, as we are seeing right now

Yeah Bradley and Bazemore were at one point good perimeter defenders, but I think they are both below average. DAJ and Howard were also at one point good interior defenders. I do believe Davis still is.

[hpantazo]

Watching Bulls Lakers

One of the announcers has just unironically used the sentence:

"Russell Westbrook is having a hard time adjusting to playing off the ball"

No doy.

Man I am honestly surprised how bad the Lakers are without Lebron. Against the bulls without Vucevic I feel they clearly have the best player on the floor. I am not sure if Westbrook is better than Lavine, but the rest of their teams seem to have similar levels of role players. Maybe they just really need Caruso?

I will add I thought they would fade the second half of season cause they have one of oldest teams in NBA history, but a couple of these guys are reading fading fast. DAJ is basically unplayable right now and can't see him lasting through the season. Westbrook definitely seems to have lost a step. Not sure what Rondo has left.

No perimeter defence, very little floor spacing and a weak coach in Vogel. An injury to LBJ or AD derails them, as we are seeing right now

Yeah Bradley and Bazemore were at one point good perimeter defenders, but I think they are both below average. DAJ and Howard were also at one point good interior defenders. I do believe Davis still is.

AD should get out of there while he's still in his prime.