2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[kraidstar]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

I have no idea why he is even here

[Who]

Wow, Wembayama had one of those 5x5 games on Saturday against the Lakers.

27pts
10reb
8ast
5blk
5stl

I've seen guys like Kirilenko and Draymond get those 5x5s but how many of them did so with a 25-10 game to go with it.

[Phantom255x]

ESPN now has Bronny James being drafted in the 2025 Draft, not 2024 anymore.

Not really controversial, but I personally don't see anything in him. It's only because of his name and being Lebron's son he even has a hint of hype.

[Moranis]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

just stating the facts. Media voted for Wilt, players voted for Bill.

Edit: Not every year, but 2 of Bill's MVP's he wasn't 1st team All nba

[Celtics2021]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

just stating the facts. Media voted for Wilt, players voted for Bill.

Mmhmm.  You and Jack Webb I bet. 

[Silas]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

just stating the facts. Media voted for Wilt, players voted for Bill.

Mmhmm.  You and Jack Webb I bet. 

Wonder how many on this Forum caught the Dragnet connection?

[Yuckabuck33]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

just stating the facts. Media voted for Wilt, players voted for Bill.

Red Auerbach himself wrote in "On and Off the Court" that he had to educate the Boston media about the things Bill Russell did that contributed to winning, because they only understood scoring and focused on Cousy. I think we can say that the media vote was not trustworthy but the players knew better what was up in the game.

[trickybilly]

Off topic, but does anyone have stats on who draws doubles the most? I assume it's Giannis, but list would be interesting

[Moranis]

By today's standards, Bill Russell would be lucky to have won 1 MVP, never mind 5. 

and Wilt would have won 7 instead of just 3.

I kind of like the old school way.

Bill only won the number of mvp he did because the media didn't vote. It is why there are seasons where Bill was MVP but Wilt was 1st team All NBA. Different groups voting.

If you’re about to suggest that Bill Russell didn’t his MVPs for the sake of being argumentative, I recommend you reconsider.

just stating the facts. Media voted for Wilt, players voted for Bill.

Red Auerbach himself wrote in "On and Off the Court" that he had to educate the Boston media about the things Bill Russell did that contributed to winning, because they only understood scoring and focused on Cousy. I think we can say that the media vote was not trustworthy but the players knew better what was up in the game.

Perhaps, but it isn't like the Warriors didn't benefit greatly from Wilt. I mean they went from 32-40 the year before Wilt to 49-26 in Wilt's rookie year.  Wilt averaged 50/26 on a 49-31 team and didn't win the MVP.  Bill was obviously the anchor of the greatest dynasty in the sports history, but the C's also had a much deeper and better roster on the whole.  If you swapped Wilt and Bill, the results would have been reversed.  Wilt would have won all the titles and Bill wouldn't have. 

And as we've seen recently, the players should never be trusted to vote for any award of substance.  They always vote feelings above all else.

[Roy H.]

  If you swapped Wilt and Bill, the results would have been reversed.  Wilt would have won all the titles and Bill wouldn't have.

Doubtful.  Wilt played with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Gail Goodrich and still managed to lose.  As Bill Simmons put it:

Russell played with four members of the NBA's Top 50 at 50 (Havlicek, Cousy, Sharman, and Sam Jones); Wilt played with six members (Baylor, West, Greer, Cunningham, Arizin, and Thurmond). And Russell's teammates from 1957 to 1969 were selected to twenty-six All-Star games, while Wilt's teammates from 1960 to 1973 were selected to twenty-four. Let's never mention the supporting-cast card again with Russell and Chamberlain

Boston's supporting cast may have been better, but that talent gap isn't why Russell won 11 times and Wilt won twice (once before Russell retired).

[Moranis]

  If you swapped Wilt and Bill, the results would have been reversed.  Wilt would have won all the titles and Bill wouldn't have.

Doubtful.  Wilt played with Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Gail Goodrich and still managed to lose.  As Bill Simmons put it:

Russell played with four members of the NBA's Top 50 at 50 (Havlicek, Cousy, Sharman, and Sam Jones); Wilt played with six members (Baylor, West, Greer, Cunningham, Arizin, and Thurmond). And Russell's teammates from 1957 to 1969 were selected to twenty-six All-Star games, while Wilt's teammates from 1960 to 1973 were selected to twenty-four. Let's never mention the supporting-cast card again with Russell and Chamberlain

Boston's supporting cast may have been better, but that talent gap isn't why Russell won 11 times and Wilt won twice (once before Russell retired).

the only years that really matter are the ones in the 60's when they were both in their prime. In that the supporting casts just weren't equal.  When Wilt had a supporting cast close in talent during that period, the Sixers ended up with the greatest team in NBA history up to that point and beat the C's in 5 games in the playoffs.  Had Cunningham not gotten hurt in the playoffs the next year, the Sixers likely win that year as well and maybe Wilt doesn't leave Philly for LA. 

[SparzWizard]

Rigged game at the end between Pistons/Knicks. Donte Divicenzo should've been called for a foul, instead they gave an and-1 to the Knicks and the win. So much contact too.

[Who]

Off topic, but does anyone have stats on who draws doubles the most? I assume it's Giannis, but list would be interesting

It is usually Luka Doncic.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=most+double+team+player+per+possession+2023%2F2024

Luka slightly ahead of Giannis but in 7 less games. They are number 1 and number 2.

[ozgod]

ESPN now has Bronny James being drafted in the 2025 Draft, not 2024 anymore.

Not really controversial, but I personally don't see anything in him. It's only because of his name and being Lebron's son he even has a hint of hype.

I was reading an article about that, it's in his best interest as well. He's not ready for the NBA right now, whether it was because of his heart condition or just not good enough, and he would be better served staying in college for at least another season, maybe even a third. He's averaging 6ppg and he's not finishing games because there are deemed to be 5 better players in USC's roster to do that.

And that's ok...everyone develops at their own pace. If you compare him to Isaiah Collier, Collier is clearly NBA ready. Bronny is not. And if the Trojans don't think he's ready then why would any NBA team? The Athletic's John Hollinger suggests his ceiling might be like that of Gary Harris, who played 2 seasons at Michigan State and is in his 11th season as a backup guard for the Magic. If Bronny can replicate Gary Harris's career he'll have done pretty well.

It's interesting...I remember when MJ's kids were going into college, Jeffrey didn't have much buzz around him as he never really showed anything remotely like his dad's ability in high school, so he ended up walking on at Illinois in 2007 or 2008 and he just petered out after that...his younger brother Marcus played for UCF a year or so after and he was better but nothing special. Both were a bit smaller than MJ physically, and clearly didn't have the drive their dad did. But because social media was in its infancy there wasn't this huge focus on them like Bronny has. Plus MJ had retired nearly a decade ago, so there was some separation between his career and that of his kids. LeBum's still playing right now, and is probably still better than Bronny right now.

In a way it's unfair on the kid, he didn't ask to be LeBum's kid and have the James surname, but he does so he will forever be overshadowed by his famous father. Imagine being at work in a company your dad built, kind of like Succession...and everything you do gets compared to your dad. You're never really you, you're just "so and so's son or daughter". But that's life, on the flip side, he'll always be looked after, he'll never want for anything. Except maybe the privacy to choose his own path in life.

[Birdman]

Bronny got the hype because of his father..unfortunately for him, he isn’t not that good..how many sons have we seen that got lot of hype cause of who their dad was in sports