2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[Who]

That is strange. BKN played 4 of their 5 starters only 10-16 minutes. They only played their bench. It was a close game with the starters in.

This is a new form of a load management.

You sometimes see teams do this directly before the playoffs to rest their stars over the final 1-2 games. Who does it before mid-season? This is nuts!

I don't like this at all.

[Moranis]

That is strange. BKN played 4 of their 5 starters only 10-16 minutes. They only played their bench. It was a close game with the starters in.

This is a new form of a load management.

You sometimes see teams do this directly before the playoffs to rest their stars over the final 1-2 games. Who does it before mid-season? This is nuts!

I don't like this at all.

It is also dumb.  Just don't play them at all 

[Kernewek]

Aside from Detroit, what are the biggest surprises of the season for everyone?

[Phantom255x]

Aside from Detroit, what are the biggest surprises of the season for everyone?

Probably the Wolves and Thunder being 1-2 in the West. They look legit and are young, exciting teams. Didn't think they'd rise this fast though. Hope they make deep runs, and maybe also one of them knocks the Lakers out early.

The East to me though seems as expected. Maybe Orlando is a slight surprise. But while the seeding order can change, the Top-4 was expected, the 2nd tier is mostly the same (NYK, CLE, IND, ORL) and the "bottom teams" as well.

Actually now that I think about it, the Suns have also been a huge surprise for me. I picked them to make the Finals lol (and lose to the C's in 6). But they've been a mess and Beal + others have been hurt too often. Kind of reminds me of BKN's failed superteam attempt with Durant headlining it again.

[Celtics2021]

Aside from Detroit, what are the biggest surprises of the season for everyone?

I’d say Minnesota.  After their mediocre regular season and early playoff exit, the talk was of how badly they messed up the Gobert trade and if they should just cut their losses and break it up.  Fast forward and they’ve been at the top of the league all year long.

[BitterJim]

That is strange. BKN played 4 of their 5 starters only 10-16 minutes. They only played their bench. It was a close game with the starters in.

This is a new form of a load management.

You sometimes see teams do this directly before the playoffs to rest their stars over the final 1-2 games. Who does it before mid-season? This is nuts!

I don't like this at all.

It is also dumb.  Just don't play them at all

Yeah, if you want to rest guys then let them skip all of the prep and warmups, too. 10-15 fewer minutes on the floor isn't that much rest compared to an actual off day.

I get it for Bridges because I don't think they could ever convince him to take a (healthy) game off, but are the other starters really the same way?

[Atzar]

Aside from Detroit, what are the biggest surprises of the season for everyone?

OKC looks like a real problem ahead of schedule.  SGA is arguably - or perhaps NOT arguably - a top 5 player in the league.  Chet Holmgren is the best rookie in basketball, despite all of the hoopla around Wemby down in San Antonio.  Maybe this season is still really about experience for their young guys, but IMO come this offseason, it's time for Presti to go shopping. 

On the negative side, I knew that Phoenix would be in trouble if their main guys missed games.  I just expected that to rear its head much later in the season.  Instead it's been a problem right from the outset. 

[michigan adam]

That is strange. BKN played 4 of their 5 starters only 10-16 minutes. They only played their bench. It was a close game with the starters in.

This is a new form of a load management.

You sometimes see teams do this directly before the playoffs to rest their stars over the final 1-2 games. Who does it before mid-season? This is nuts!

I don't like this at all.

It is also dumb.  Just don't play them at all

Yeah, if you want to rest guys then let them skip all of the prep and warmups, too. 10-15 fewer minutes on the floor isn't that much rest compared to an actual off day.

I get it for Bridges because I don't think they could ever convince him to take a (healthy) game off, but are the other starters really the same way?

Also "screws up" their stat averages while sitting them does not.  This has hurt the C's numbers some as well due to the large number of "blow outs".

[Who]

Aside from Detroit, what are the biggest surprises of the season for everyone?

I am surprised the Spurs stink as badly as they do. I thought they would be a bad but somewhat competitive team. Outside playoffs but not bottom 5 in the league bad.

A pleasant surprise is Orlando. I did not expect them to be this good.

Toronto and Brooklyn have been a little disappointing. I thought BKN would be a well above .500 team. Say a 46-48 win team. TOR I thought around .500 but they are well below that mark.

Minnesota and OKC have been nice surprises as well. I thought Minny would have a strong season. They played well last year with Towns missing most of the season so I expected them to improve by a good margin with a full season from him. So I had them as a top 5 team in the West but to be #1 is a surprise.

OKC I had as a play-in seed but they have been much better than that. Close to a title contender. Just outside title contention I think. Much further along than I had expected. Chet Holmgren has been much better much quicker than I envisioned.

Houston has been a nice surprise as well. I thought they would be near the bottom the West despite their FA spending. But they are a solid .500 type team.

[Birdman]

Minnesota is a surprise
Phoenix disappointed but had injuries
Spurs should be better

[Moranis]

Very little has surprised me this year.  Sure Detroit is worse than I thought, but I did think they were going to be bad, same with Spurs and Wizards.  I thought Minnesota was going to be good, though they've obviously exceeded my expectations on how good.  Thunder I thought would be an excellent regular season team as long as SGA is healthy.  Very deep squad that is put together well. I don't think they are quite there as a a playoff team and expect a 1st, maybe 2nd round exit from them. 

Atlanta is surpringly bad.  12-18 and just bad play all around. Did nit expect that with Snyder taking over

Individually, I expected Embiid to take a step back and he has only gotten better. 13 straight 30/10 games (and he has 5 other such games, so 18 of his 25 have been 30/10). He might actually challenge Jokic for MVP if he plays enough games and I never thought that would be possible this year with how locked in Nikola is. 

[moiso]

It seems like the Spurs have been tanking the whole season.  Pop doing weird things like starting Sochan at the point.  I think they are trying to add another high draft pick.

[Donoghus]

It seems like the Spurs have been tanking the whole season.  Pop doing weird things like starting Sochan at the point.  I think they are trying to add another high draft pick.

Wemby/Topic would be a fun combo.

[celticsclay]

Very little has surprised me this year.  Sure Detroit is worse than I thought, but I did think they were going to be bad, same with Spurs and Wizards.  I thought Minnesota was going to be good, though they've obviously exceeded my expectations on how good.  Thunder I thought would be an excellent regular season team as long as SGA is healthy.  Very deep squad that is put together well. I don't think they are quite there as a a playoff team and expect a 1st, maybe 2nd round exit from them. 

Atlanta is surpringly bad.  12-18 and just bad play all around. Did nit expect that with Snyder taking over

Individually, I expected Embiid to take a step back and he has only gotten better. 13 straight 30/10 games (and he has 5 other such games, so 18 of his 25 have been 30/10). He might actually challenge Jokic for MVP if he plays enough games and I never thought that would be possible this year with how locked in Nikola is.

MVP could be interesting. I think by end of playoffs a lot of the voters regretted voting for Embid (believe a few have actually said this). Does that swing things in jokic favor if there is a tie?

[Goldstar88]

Grizzlies were 4-0 since Morant returned. He was out tonight with an illness and they lost by 30+.