NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Who]

Btw, Daryl Morey canned after spending six seasons with the 76ers. Guess the yearly early playoff exits did 'em no justice, including getting swept in the second round per Shams.

I saw a thread on RealGM about Morey talking about 24 years of Morey-ball and 0 Championships to show for it. 0 Finals apperances too.

Here is the RealGM post

Daryl Morey's Moreyball system, has been in use in the NBA for 24 seasons.

4 seasons with the Boston Celtics, with Moreyball being used to judge player's performances, potential draft picks, and free agents.

14 seasons with the Houston Rockets, which included:

1 season as the Houston Rockets' Assistant General Manager, being in charge of player and roster decisions, while being the team's "de facto GM".

13 seasons as the Houston Rockets' General Manager.

6 seasons as the President of Basketball Operations, for the Philadelphia 76ers.

24 seasons in total of Moreyball, with three different teams, and in those 24 seasons of Moreyball being implemented, it has produced a grand total of zero NBA Finals appearances, and zero NBA championships won.

Remember when about 90% of US sports media called Daryl Morey a genius, and constantly claimed that the use of Moreyball was a superior method of building an NBA roster, as compared to all other methods of roster building?

It's strange, but for some odd reason, those claims from US sports media, about the unparalleled ingeniousness and superiority of Moreyball, just don't seem to be all the rage anymore.

Not sure what the 4 years of Boston is about. Is that the last 4yrs when we went 3 point mad? That we copied Morey's plan from Houston? Is that what the poster was on about?

Anyway, I am going to ignore that.

So we have 14 years in Houston + 6 years in Philly. 20 years of utilizing his Morey-ball and failing.

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Here was a good comment in defense of Morey

He's been a GM since 2008. He's 910/612 for a near 60% winning percentage.

In that time here are the franchises with more wins.

Boston.

That's it...Spurs are 2 games behind at 908.

If you want to argue he is overrated go for it I guess. But the resume is rock solid, he's been an elite GM for two decades and trying to argue otherwise is preposterous.

A winning record in 17 of 19 years and a 500 record in another is FAR from mediocre.

Below is another good take on Morey

"Moreyball" is sort of like BJJ in current MMA.

It's no longer something that gives you (much of) an edge in and of itself (exceptions exist), but if you don't have it at all, you'll sink quickly.

The philosophy of the game has been pulled fairly radically from where it was in yesteryear, and his teams have been consistently and meaningfully on the happy side of the winning continuum for a long time.

It's hard to not call that success.

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Some other good comments

I don't think you can call someone elite if you've been around that long and haven't won it all, let alone made it to a Finals.

Agreed 100%. Can't call Morey elite.

Because if you're an executive and you've spent 24 seasons without even making the Finals once, uou have failed.

[Celtics2021]

Btw, Daryl Morey canned after spending six seasons with the 76ers. Guess the yearly early playoff exits did 'em no justice, including getting swept in the second round per Shams.

I saw a thread on RealGM about Morey talking about 24 years of Morey-ball and 0 Championships to show for it. 0 Finals apperances too.

Here is the RealGM post

Daryl Morey's Moreyball system, has been in use in the NBA for 24 seasons.

4 seasons with the Boston Celtics, with Moreyball being used to judge player's performances, potential draft picks, and free agents.

14 seasons with the Houston Rockets, which included:

1 season as the Houston Rockets' Assistant General Manager, being in charge of player and roster decisions, while being the team's "de facto GM".

13 seasons as the Houston Rockets' General Manager.

6 seasons as the President of Basketball Operations, for the Philadelphia 76ers.

24 seasons in total of Moreyball, with three different teams, and in those 24 seasons of Moreyball being implemented, it has produced a grand total of zero NBA Finals appearances, and zero NBA championships won.

Remember when about 90% of US sports media called Daryl Morey a genius, and constantly claimed that the use of Moreyball was a superior method of building an NBA roster, as compared to all other methods of roster building?

It's strange, but for some odd reason, those claims from US sports media, about the unparalleled ingeniousness and superiority of Moreyball, just don't seem to be all the rage anymore.

Not sure what the 4 years of Boston is about. Is that the last 4yrs when we went 3 point mad? That we copied Morey's plan from Houston? Is that what the poster was on about?

Anyway, I am going to ignore that.

So we have 14 years in Houston + 6 years in Philly. 20 years of utilizing his Morey-ball and failing.

------------

Here was a good comment in defense of Morey

He's been a GM since 2008. He's 910/612 for a near 60% winning percentage.

In that time here are the franchises with more wins.

Boston.

That's it...Spurs are 2 games behind at 908.

If you want to argue he is overrated go for it I guess. But the resume is rock solid, he's been an elite GM for two decades and trying to argue otherwise is preposterous.

Morey had Mike Zarren?s role (Senior VP of basketball operations) from the 2002-2003 season to the 2005-2006 season.  He came on in that role a year before Ainge.  So the mediocre end of the Pierce-Walker tandem, but was gone a full 14 months prior to the Ray Allen trade.  Draft picks while he was here included Jefferson, Perkins, Marcus Banks, Gerald Green, Devonte West, Tony Allen, Justin Reed, and Ryan Gomes.  He was responsible for drafting strategy, so it is reasonable to put some of the credit and blame for those picks (depending on which one, but mostly credit when you look at the list) on him.

[Who]

Jalen Duren

Round 1

Wendell Carter Jr = 11ppg 7rpg 3apg 1.7bpg 62.5% TS
Duren = 10.6ppg 9.4rpg 2.1apg 1.3bpg 0.3spg 58.2%

Round 2

JAllen = 12.8ppg 4.8rpg 1.5apg 1.5bpg 0.5s 68.5% TS
Duren = 9.5ppg 7.0rpg 2.0apg 0.8bpg 1.0spg 48.4% TS


I thought Wendell Carter Jr was outplaying Duren over the first 5 games or so. Duren outplayed him last 2 games.

J Allen and Duren have been evenly matched so far.

Not what you expect for guy who averaged 19.5ppg 10.5rpg in the regular season and looking for $250mil.

[slamtheking]

Jalen Duren

Round 1

Wendell Carter Jr = 11ppg 7rpg 3apg 1.7bpg 62.5% TS
Duren = 10.6ppg 9.4rpg 2.1apg 1.3bpg 0.3spg 58.2%

Round 2

JAllen = 12.8ppg 4.8rpg 1.5apg 1.5bpg 0.5s 68.5% TS
Duren = 9.5ppg 7.0rpg 2.0apg 0.8bpg 1.0spg 48.4% TS


I thought Wendell Carter Jr was outplaying Duren over the first 5 games or so. Duren outplayed him last 2 games.

J Allen and Duren have been evenly matched so far.

Not what you expect for guy who averaged 19.5ppg 10.5rpg in the regular season and looking for $250mil.

I have to admit I'm not seeing what others see in him that proclaim him an all-star.  I see him as a worse version of Mobley for the Cavs.  There's talent but it's so inconsistent I don't see him as dependable building block on a contender. 

[Who]

Jalen Duren

Round 1

Wendell Carter Jr = 11ppg 7rpg 3apg 1.7bpg 62.5% TS
Duren = 10.6ppg 9.4rpg 2.1apg 1.3bpg 0.3spg 58.2%

Round 2

JAllen = 12.8ppg 4.8rpg 1.5apg 1.5bpg 0.5s 68.5% TS
Duren = 9.5ppg 7.0rpg 2.0apg 0.8bpg 1.0spg 48.4% TS


I thought Wendell Carter Jr was outplaying Duren over the first 5 games or so. Duren outplayed him last 2 games.

J Allen and Duren have been evenly matched so far.

Not what you expect for guy who averaged 19.5ppg 10.5rpg in the regular season and looking for $250mil.

I have to admit I'm not seeing what others see in him that proclaim him an all-star.  I see him as a worse version of Mobley for the Cavs.  There's talent but it's so inconsistent I don't see him as dependable building block on a contender.

I considered him a middle of the pack starting center before the season. On a similar level as a Jarrett Allen.

I still have no idea how he managed to score 19.5ppg in the regular season. His offensive game is so limited. He is a basic rim runner / garbage man. The odd drive from FT line extended. That's it. Solid passer as well. But ... how does that get you 19.5ppg?

He was getting a lot of credit for DET's winning. Not because he was causing the winning but because he was the next best guy. Sort of like Mo Williams on LeBron's Cavs. Mo was an average starting PG, an offensive minded PG, who got to be an All-Star because he was on a dominant regular season team due to LeBron. Same with Duren. A dominant regular season team due to Cade + strength in depth.

So Duren as the 2nd best piece gets an unfair amount of the credit when it should be (a) more to Cade / LeBron who both were doing a huge amount of the real work (b) shared more around the team because they win with strength and depth rather than a top heavy roster of stars.

Based on these playoffs, I am going back to my earlier stance on Duren that he is a middle of the pack starting center.

[Who]

Based on these playoffs, I am going back to my earlier stance on Duren that he is a middle of the pack starting center.

Porzingis and Myles Turner dropping out my top 10 centers leaves the back end of my top 10 a bit light.

Top 8 = Jokic, Wemby, Embiid, Towns, Sengun, Gobert, D Sabonis, D Clingan. Edit: I had Bam on my PF list. He would be here if listed as a center behind Towns.

Then you have some players similar to Duren = Zubac, Z Edey, Hartenstein, J Allen, D Lively ... Queta, M Diabate, N Claxton. Add in Porzingis and M Turner somewhere in there and you are getting close to a top 20.

Okongwu. Mark Williams. Alex Sarr. Edit: Vucevic
D Gafford. Ayton. Mitchell Robinson. Poeltl. K Ware. Wendell Carter.

Those last guys make roughly a top 30.

[Donoghus]

FYI for Friday.

Barry Jackson
@flasportsbuzz
NBA announces that Prime is getting game 6 of both the Pistons and Spurs series at 7 and 9:30 EST Friday. Biggest non-NFL live game inventory in Amazon Prime history.

[Moranis]

52% of Duren's shots were inside 3 feet.  Inside 10 feet he has like 95%.  He scores inside almost exclusively and he gets fouled a lot and actually hit his foul shots.  He led the league in TS% at 68.8%. The Pistons were also significantly better with him on the court this year. 

In the playoffs he is still getting almost all his shots inside, but he isnt hitting them at near the percentage as the regular season. He also isn't getting fouled as much.  His TS% is done to 54.5 in the playoffs and the Pistons are actually better with him on the bench. 

He just isn't shooting well.  Maybe that is better defenses or maybe it is something else. He didn't have these efficiency drops against the Knicks last year. 

[Who]

52% of Duren's shots were inside 3 feet.  Inside 10 feet he has like 95%.  He scores inside almost exclusively and he gets fouled a lot and actually hit his foul shots.  He led the league in TS% at 68.8%. The Pistons were also significantly better with him on the court this year. 

In the playoffs he is still getting almost all his shots inside, but he isnt hitting them at near the percentage as the regular season. He also isn't getting fouled as much.  His TS% is done to 54.5 in the playoffs and the Pistons are actually better with him on the bench. 

He just isn't shooting well.  Maybe that is better defenses or maybe it is something else. He didn't have these efficiency drops against the Knicks last year.

The efficiency doesn't bother me much. It is the volume.

Duren was averaging 11.5 FGA + 6.1 FTA in the regular season. He is down to 7.9 FGA + 3.3 FTA in the playoffs.

He can't create his own offense. He is a basic rim runner / garbage man. I still don't understand how teams managed to concede enough shots during the regular season to such a limited offensive player to concede 19.5ppg.

[Celtics2021]

FYI for Friday.

Barry Jackson
@flasportsbuzz
NBA announces that Prime is getting game 6 of both the Pistons and Spurs series at 7 and 9:30 EST Friday. Biggest non-NFL live game inventory in Amazon Prime history.

I would have been very disappointed were the Celtics still in it.  My disdain for Bezos might even outstrip my love for the Celtics.

[Donoghus]

FYI for Friday.

Barry Jackson
@flasportsbuzz
NBA announces that Prime is getting game 6 of both the Pistons and Spurs series at 7 and 9:30 EST Friday. Biggest non-NFL live game inventory in Amazon Prime history.

I would have been very disappointed were the Celtics still in it.  My disdain for Bezos might even outstrip my love for the Celtics.

That should be the last of the Prime this season. NBC & ABC/ESPN will be splitting conference finals.

[Donoghus]

This stuff is so ridiculous.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48755780/los-angeles-lakers-lebron-james-needs-return-la-why-not-simple

It was March 31, and the Lakers had just completed arguably their most impressive win of the season with a 127-113 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The victory avenged a 30-point loss to the Cavs on Jan. 28 and capped a 32-day stretch in which L.A. went 16-2 to surge up the Western Conference standings.

The win was the 1,229th of James' career and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most victories by any player in NBA history (combined regular season and playoffs). Not to mention, it came on a night when Luka Doncic topped 15,000 career points and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000.

Still, James' celebratory mood didn't last long.

Lakers coach JJ Redick had announced all the individual accomplishments in the postgame locker room, eliciting a cascading round of applause by L.A. players and assistant coaches.

And then Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president of basketball operations and general manager, addressed the team. He had the game ball in his hands.

Rather than hand it to Hachimura or Doncic or James, Pelinka walked to the front of the room and presented the ball to Redick, who had just presided over his 100th coaching win.

James has a "great" relationship with Redick, sources close to him say -- with one telling ESPN that Redick's hiring is "one thing the Lakers got right."

But James, who played the past eight seasons in Los Angeles and helped deliver the franchise its 17th championship in 2020, saw Pelinka's priority in that moment as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted, sources said.

Adding to James' ire, sources said, was the fact that the past dozen or so wins in that stretch came with James willingly taking a supporting offensive role behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.

It was a nearly unprecedented move, and especially so for a player of James' caliber; he was still named to the All-Star team in his record-setting 23rd season. Rarer still, considering he had been the face of the franchise for nearly a decade.

And so -- without even stopping to change clothes -- James marched off into the L.A. night, simmering from another perceived indignation delivered by the organization that, as one source close to him told ESPN, tried to "push him out the door," after acquiring Doncic last season.

[slamtheking]

This stuff is so ridiculous.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48755780/los-angeles-lakers-lebron-james-needs-return-la-why-not-simple

It was March 31, and the Lakers had just completed arguably their most impressive win of the season with a 127-113 triumph over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The victory avenged a 30-point loss to the Cavs on Jan. 28 and capped a 32-day stretch in which L.A. went 16-2 to surge up the Western Conference standings.

The win was the 1,229th of James' career and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most victories by any player in NBA history (combined regular season and playoffs). Not to mention, it came on a night when Luka Doncic topped 15,000 career points and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000.

Still, James' celebratory mood didn't last long.

Lakers coach JJ Redick had announced all the individual accomplishments in the postgame locker room, eliciting a cascading round of applause by L.A. players and assistant coaches.

And then Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president of basketball operations and general manager, addressed the team. He had the game ball in his hands.

Rather than hand it to Hachimura or Doncic or James, Pelinka walked to the front of the room and presented the ball to Redick, who had just presided over his 100th coaching win.

James has a "great" relationship with Redick, sources close to him say -- with one telling ESPN that Redick's hiring is "one thing the Lakers got right."

But James, who played the past eight seasons in Los Angeles and helped deliver the franchise its 17th championship in 2020, saw Pelinka's priority in that moment as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted, sources said.

Adding to James' ire, sources said, was the fact that the past dozen or so wins in that stretch came with James willingly taking a supporting offensive role behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.

It was a nearly unprecedented move, and especially so for a player of James' caliber; he was still named to the All-Star team in his record-setting 23rd season. Rarer still, considering he had been the face of the franchise for nearly a decade.

And so -- without even stopping to change clothes -- James marched off into the L.A. night, simmering from another perceived indignation delivered by the organization that, as one source close to him told ESPN, tried to "push him out the door," after acquiring Doncic last season.

a dumb move by Pelinka but let me break out the world's smallest violin to play for Bron as he sulks.

[Moranis]

I'd  be p---ed if that was me.  You set the all time record for games played and they give the game ball to the head coach because he won 100 games.  Redick should have immediately given the ball to James.  Pelinka is tone deaf as is most of LABS front office.

[Phantom255x]

Yeah in fairness to Lebron, I'd be ticked too.

But as a Lakers hater, I'm grabbing my popcorn. I think Lebron is leaving. Unless somehow another Nico Harrison exists (or Lebron takes a paycut), it'll be tough for LAL to add another star and Doncic has reportedly already said he wants them to keep Reaves. Well, no one will want Knecht, Vanderbilt, etc. in trades so there's no real avenue for them to get much help and to close the gap with OKC/SAS or even DEN/MIN who are in the same tier as LAL

Even before the season we read a lot of reports/rumors from Haynes, Rich Paul's group, etc. implying Lebron didn't like Doncic being seen as the #1 and the next heir to the organization. Which he is, but there's definitely some stuff happening behind the scenes. Jeanie clearly doesn't like Lebron "having control" in that organization either, which is funny because LBJ was huge in getting them a 2020 title and I mean, it's Lebron.