NBA Season 2024-25

[Neurotic Guy]

I am leaning towards Amen Thompson as the top wing defender in the NBA this season. Anunoby hasn't been as good. Neither as Jaden McDaniels in Minnesota. Or Mikal Bridges. I am going with Amen as the top wing defender in the NBA today.

I was thinking about my First Team All-NBA picks. I am going with Lu Dort as the 2nd wing alongside Amen. I give Amen the edge of Dort because of Amen's superior size / length. Wemby at center. Jaren Jackson as my big forward. Then Suggs at PG.

G: Suggs
G: Dort
F: Amen Thompson
F: Jaren Jackson
C: Wemby

All-defensive team, right?

[Who]

I am leaning towards Amen Thompson as the top wing defender in the NBA this season. Anunoby hasn't been as good. Neither as Jaden McDaniels in Minnesota. Or Mikal Bridges. I am going with Amen as the top wing defender in the NBA today.

I was thinking about my First Team All-NBA picks. I am going with Lu Dort as the 2nd wing alongside Amen. I give Amen the edge of Dort because of Amen's superior size / length. Wemby at center. Jaren Jackson as my big forward. Then Suggs at PG.

G: Suggs
G: Dort
F: Amen Thompson
F: Jaren Jackson
C: Wemby

All-defensive team, right?

Yep.

[Goldstar88]

Oh, look. Cavs get the Pacers without Haliburton. 

[SparzWizard]

Oh, look. Cavs get the Pacers without Haliburton. 

They weren't gonna lose back2back to the Pacers.

And nobody cares about the Cavs beating the Pacers without Haliburton. They only care if it's only Boston doing that to an undermanned team, making it unfair to the competition field 

[Vermont Green]

Oh, look. Cavs get the Pacers without Haliburton. 

They weren't gonna lose back2back to the Pacers.

And nobody cares about the Cavs beating the Pacers without Haliburton. They only care if it's only Boston doing that to an undermanned team, making it unfair to the competition field 

It seems that teams are starting to take CLE a little more seriously.  They are the first place team so a win vs. CLE has a little more juice than a typical Tuesday night game.  Wins are starting to get a little tougher for CLE now.  The team is playing great though, well coached and bought in.

[Vermont Green]

My stat of the day is Net Points off Turnovers.  This is points generated off turnovers minus points conceded off turnovers.  OKC leads this by a wide margin.  They generate the most and concede the fewest (lead at both ends of this).  These top 10 teams for this stat have an average of almost 25 wins.  Boston is 26th most in generating points off turnovers but is 2nd fewest in opponents points off turnovers.  They take care of the ball (even though it does not seem it all the time) but they are not getting a high level of easy buckets off turnovers.

I am not overly concerned by this, it does seem to reflect what we are seeing, that BOS could tick up the defense some, generate more turnovers to lead to easier buckets.  But I wonder how sustainable this gap is for OKC.  Being +10.4 per game in this stat is a huge advantage.

10.4      Oklahoma City Thunder
 4.5      New York Knicks
 4.3      Cleveland Cavaliers
 4.2      Houston Rockets
 2.1      Boston Celtics
 2.1      Philadelphia 76ers
 2.0      Sacramento Kings
 1.6      Golden State Warriors
 1.5      Denver Nuggets
 1.4      Orlando Magic

[Phantom255x]

Oh, look. Cavs get the Pacers without Haliburton. 

They weren't gonna lose back2back to the Pacers.

And nobody cares about the Cavs beating the Pacers without Haliburton. They only care if it's only Boston doing that to an undermanned team, making it unfair to the competition field 

It seems that teams are starting to take CLE a little more seriously.  They are the first place team so a win vs. CLE has a little more juice than a typical Tuesday night game.  Wins are starting to get a little tougher for CLE now.  The team is playing great though, well coached and bought in.

I also think Indiana is starting to figure it out a bit. 6-1 in their last 7, and 7-3 in their last 10. They are looking like the team I thought could be a real threat in the East to Boston and New York (of course, Cleveland has now cemented they are the biggest threat now and the team to beat in the East).

Their defense is still bad but their offense is back to being fast-paced and able to score in bunches quick. Mathurin is healthy for them and is becoming a big factor for them (he was hurt the 2nd half and playoffs of last season).

They won't be an easy early round opponent for any East team. I hope either them or Philly gets the 8 seed and faces Cleveland.

[Who]

My stat of the day is Net Points off Turnovers.  This is points generated off turnovers minus points conceded off turnovers.  OKC leads this by a wide margin.  They generate the most and concede the fewest (lead at both ends of this).

Another factor that reminds me of SGA as similar to MJ.

The Bulls were fantastic at forcing turnovers and also controlling the boards. They had huge margins in creating extra possessions. It was one of their most important attributes.

The other was avoiding turnovers and a lot of that was down to MJ who had unbelievably low turnover numbers for such a high usage offensive player. Same as SGA. High volume efficient scoring + strong playmaking and ball-handling + minimal turnovers. A fantastic combination.

The creation of turnovers was more of a team wide attribute but both SGA and MJ contributed a lot to that as well as both were among the league leaders in steals. But it is the offense and the avoidance of turnovers that really reminds me of SGA / MJ.

[Vermont Green]

My stat of the day is Net Points off Turnovers.  This is points generated off turnovers minus points conceded off turnovers.  OKC leads this by a wide margin.  They generate the most and concede the fewest (lead at both ends of this).

Another factor that reminds me of SGA as similar to MJ.

The Bulls were fantastic at forcing turnovers and also controlling the boards. They had huge margins in creating extra possessions. It was one of their most important attributes.

The other was avoiding turnovers and a lot of that was down to MJ who had unbelievably low turnover numbers for such a high usage offensive player. Same as SGA. High volume efficient scoring + strong playmaking and ball-handling + minimal turnovers. A fantastic combination.

The creation of turnovers was more of a team wide attribute but both SGA and MJ contributed a lot to that as well as both were among the league leaders in steals. But it is the offense and the avoidance of turnovers that really reminds me of SGA / MJ.

OKC is actually in the red on 2nd chance points, they get 13.3 (rank 18th) and give up 15.8 (rank 29th) so a net -2.5.  This eats into their extra possessions advantage some.  It is not surprising in that they basically play 4 guards and a center. 

[keevsnick]

My stat of the day is Net Points off Turnovers.  This is points generated off turnovers minus points conceded off turnovers.  OKC leads this by a wide margin.  They generate the most and concede the fewest (lead at both ends of this).  These top 10 teams for this stat have an average of almost 25 wins.  Boston is 26th most in generating points off turnovers but is 2nd fewest in opponents points off turnovers.  They take care of the ball (even though it does not seem it all the time) but they are not getting a high level of easy buckets off turnovers.

I am not overly concerned by this, it does seem to reflect what we are seeing, that BOS could tick up the defense some, generate more turnovers to lead to easier buckets.  But I wonder how sustainable this gap is for OKC.  Being +10.4 per game in this stat is a huge advantage.

10.4      Oklahoma City Thunder
 4.5      New York Knicks
 4.3      Cleveland Cavaliers
 4.2      Houston Rockets
 2.1      Boston Celtics
 2.1      Philadelphia 76ers
 2.0      Sacramento Kings
 1.6      Golden State Warriors
 1.5      Denver Nuggets
 1.4      Orlando Magic

The Celtics have for the last three season's been a team that just does not generate many turnovers. They generally play defense straight up, limit opponent threes and just make their man miss. I think they could stand to try and force more pressure, on nights when your opponent is hot from three not being able to force turnovers really hurts your chances to win.

[Vermont Green]

My stat of the day is Net Points off Turnovers.  This is points generated off turnovers minus points conceded off turnovers.  OKC leads this by a wide margin.  They generate the most and concede the fewest (lead at both ends of this).  These top 10 teams for this stat have an average of almost 25 wins.  Boston is 26th most in generating points off turnovers but is 2nd fewest in opponents points off turnovers.  They take care of the ball (even though it does not seem it all the time) but they are not getting a high level of easy buckets off turnovers.

I am not overly concerned by this, it does seem to reflect what we are seeing, that BOS could tick up the defense some, generate more turnovers to lead to easier buckets.  But I wonder how sustainable this gap is for OKC.  Being +10.4 per game in this stat is a huge advantage.

10.4      Oklahoma City Thunder
 4.5      New York Knicks
 4.3      Cleveland Cavaliers
 4.2      Houston Rockets
 2.1      Boston Celtics
 2.1      Philadelphia 76ers
 2.0      Sacramento Kings
 1.6      Golden State Warriors
 1.5      Denver Nuggets
 1.4      Orlando Magic

The Celtics have for the last three season's been a team that just does not generate many turnovers. They generally play defense straight up, limit opponent threes and just make their man miss. I think they could stand to try and force more pressure, on nights when your opponent is hot from three not being able to force turnovers really hurts your chances to win.

I get your point, I think.  Turnovers and/or points off turnovers aren't necessarily the perfect stat to reflect defense.  Sometimes, going for steals can lead to fouls or easy baskets.  Just playing straight up good defense and forcing tough shots, not giving up 2nd chance points, can be a winning formula also, especially if you are overall the more talented team.   I found the net of points off turnovers interesting in that OKC was so outside the norm of the rest of the league.  2.3X the next closest team.  They are certainly making this into a winning formula, but will it last?

[Phantom255x]

So Embiid was supposed to play tonight, but is still out. And now a lot of media including local PHI media are getting suspicious about things.

https://x.com/KyleNeubeck/status/1879598656321622047?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Joel Embiid sprained his foot falling over a security rope on Christmas, played in four more games and only missed a back-to-back on the rest of the road trip, and has now been out a week and a half with what has been deemed a "day to day" issue

https://x.com/CiavoNBA/status/1879600409867960406?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Embiid supposedly sprained his foot on Christmas Day ahead of the matchup against the Celtics, in which he played 31 minutes. He then played in 4 of the next 5 games, only missing half a back-to-back.

He has since missed 6 straight games with this injury.

A curious situation.

Also most of the team is hurt and PG13 + Maxey aren't being made available as often either. Didn't play last night, and are questionable tonight. What a mess.

[jpotter33]

Oh, look. Cavs get the Pacers without Haliburton. 

OKC got Philly in Philly without any of their Big 3, while we lucked out and got the entire Big 3 that has only played in like 3 or 4 games together lol

I swear the injury luck we had last year is like the opposite this year - though we did recently get no Jokic and no Fox in games.

[Donoghus]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
The Charlotte Hornets are trading 7-foot center Nick Richards and one second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.

[Who]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
The Charlotte Hornets are trading 7-foot center Nick Richards and one second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.

I thought the rumour was Nick Richards for Nurkic. A cap dump.

Why do they want Nick Richards when they already have Nurkic and Plumlee? Surely Okogie offers more to them on the wing than adding a 3rd center.