NBA Season 2025-26

[Vermont Green]

A couple of nice wins for GSW to start the season.  I thought Al Horford would start.  They are going small.  Draymond (6'-6") and Kuminga (6'-7") the "bigs", Butler as the wing, and two guards (Curry and Podziemski).  I know Draymond Green plays bigger than his actual height, but still, that is a small line up.  And even with that, GSW has 10 ORebs to 7 for DEN.

[Who]

A couple of nice wins for GSW to start the season.  I thought Al Horford would start.  They are going small.  Draymond (6'-6") and Kuminga (6'-7") the "bigs", Butler as the wing, and two guards (Curry and Podziemski).  I know Draymond Green plays bigger than is actual height, but still, that is a small line up.  And even with that, GSW has 10 ORebs to 7 for DEN.

Then they went even smaller. They took out Jimmy and brought in Buddy Hield.

G: Steph .... then subbed for Podz
G: G Payton II
G: B Hield
F: Kuminga .... then subbed for Jimmy
C: Draymond ... then subbed for Horford

The 2nd small ball lineup was interesting. Swapping out a wing in Jimmy for a shooting guard in Buddy Hield to play at SF. Made them even smaller. More interesting again was staying small as they continued to change the lineup. Horford replaces Draymond. Then Podz replaces Steph and Jimmy replaces Kuminga. A one big (small big) one wing (not big forward) three guard lineup.

The matchups were interesting too [with that small ball starting lineup]. They had Kuminga checking J Murray on a lot of those early possessions. Their PF on the PG. Jimmy took the PF. Steph took Braun. Podz took Cam Johnson at SF. So even with an already undersized starting lineup, they effectively played smaller again by switching the assignments to put a big wing on J Murray and then had the other 3 guys defend up a position.

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I was looking through the lineup data to see how much they used double big lineups. They use Q Post at center alongside Draymond for 4 minutes at start of Q2. They were the only minutes Q Post played. So Horford & Draymond the only other bigs.

Horford and Draymond played 90secs together in Q2. None Q1. None Q3. Kept separate until the final 4 minutes of Q4. And played all overtime alongside one another. So they got about 10 minutes together due to the overtime. Only 5 minutes in regulation.

So 5 minutes Draymond / Horford and 4 minutes Draymond / Q Post. 9 minutes of two bigs. So 39 minutes of small ball. And they do not even have any big forwards. They have small forward guys. Guys who are 6-7 220-230lbs. Jimmy and Kuminga. Only 2 of them. The rest are all guards.

[Who]

Cam Johnson was largely invisible. Barely involved in the game. Barely touched the ball. 5pts 3rb 2ast in 32 minutes. 2-8 FGA.

One of the big advantages DEN were hoping to get from Cam Johnson vs MPJ was Cam's superior ball-handling and passing. Someone who can facilitate the offense more. MPJ offered nothing offensively if his shot wasn't falling. Cam was a guy who was not as reliant on his outside shot. He could pass. He could dribble. He could drive the ball.

That is something to watch moving forward. DEN gotta make room for him in their offense. Not just sideline him. Treat him like MPJ and ask him to sit in the corner. Shoot when open. Otherwise you don't touch the ball.

[Who]

Denver's bench was interesting last night. Both the guys who played and who didn't play.

First the guys who didn't play:

G: Jalen Pickett
G: Hunter Tyson
F: Julian Strawther
F: Zeke Nnaji
C: Daron Holmes II

All of their young guys. They played none of them. Strawther and Holmes recent 1st round picks. Jalen Pickett was found gold last season. A good role player combo guard. Equivalent of a 1st round pick. They have high hopes for him. Then Hunter Tyson who I thought was a 1st round pick but was actually an early 2nd rounder. Plus Zeke Nnaji who was a 1st round pick 5 years ago. A defensive PF to give them cover behind A Gordon.

Then the guys they did play

G: Bruce Brown Jr
G: Tim Hardaway Jr
F: Peyton Watson
C: Jonas Valanciunas

Peyton Watson a holdover from last year; the other 3 are all new FA additions. All four are vets. Good experience. They also played a young guy I am not familiar with named Spencer Jones who is a 6-7 225lbs SF. He got 6 minutes.

I was impressed with their 2nd unit. So they played those 4 guys plus Jamal Murray. So Jamal was the man. The offense ran through him. They had Jonas in the high post as a facilitator. They went small with Peyton Watson (6-7 200lbs) at PF alongside Jonas. Probably a good idea. Jonas is slow. He needs footspeed alongside him. I liked the small ball look with him. Then Tim Hardaway at 6-6 210lbs at SF. So little size at forward. But two guards with good size in J Murray and Bruce Brown. Good amount of shooting. Having a skilled center in Jonas is a big upgrade over D Jordan in opening up their offense. More shooting on the wing with Tim Hardaway Jr. Balance is good.

Denver have had a lot of problems with non-Jokic lineups. I like this group. Good talent. Good chemistry. Looks like it will work well for them.

Interesting that they used that same 2nd unit lineup with one change when they wanted more size. Took out Peyton Watson and brought in Aaron Gordon.

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Back to the 3rd stringers. Good talent there in terms of guys to slot in when someone goes down. It looks like DEN want to stay big in the backcourt. No true backup PG. Only one combo guard. So it looks like that decision is a fight between J Pickett and B Brown Jr. B Brown Jr winning that battle. A bit disappointing not to see Pickett but you can see what they are trying to do.

Those big backcourts were valuable in DEN's title run in helping to protect Jokic defensively. To shrink / squeeze the floor. To avoid other mismatches that pull Jokic out of position. Going back to that is a good decision.

[Goldstar88]

Wemby had 9 blocks tonight. 

[Moranis]

Luka has 34 less than 3 minutes into the 2nd half.  Wonder if he will hit 60

[Who]

* Porzingis looks good in that Hawks uniform. Suits him.
* Horford looks weird in a Warriors uni.

* B Ingram looks off in that #3 jersey.

[Who]

Bradley Beal 6pts in 20min last night.
He also had 5pts in 20min in the season opener.

Worrying start from him.

[Who]

I don't know about this new trend of not playing any PGs. Minnesota are doing it as well. They have dropped Mike Conley to the bench and are starting DiVincenzo instead.

G: Ant
G: DiVincenzo
F: J McDaniels
F: Randle
C: Gobert

I complained a lot last season about the lack of ball-handling & playmaking help for Ant on the Wolves team. The lack of guard play. Mike Conley is old and has declined. I agree with him dropping to the bench. He was a bad starter last season. Rob Dillingham is their lotto pick PG who they still refuse to play. An explosive scorer / shooter but very small and limited defensively. Bones Hyland is even getting minutes ahead of him off the bench. A taller PG but also a bad defensive PG.

All that said, I do not like the position they are putting Ant in. I remember Phil Jackson talking about the difference between Scottie Pippen and Kobe Bryant and why he liked Scottie initiating the offense but did not Kobe doing it. It was because Kobe had too much of a score-first mentality. He didn't move the ball as well. LAL was better having someone else initiate (D Fisher) and then using Kobe later in the play as a scorer / playmaker after some ball movement had already occurred. Ant is the same way. He has the same mentality. It is not good for Ant. It is not good for the team. They are asking him to play an unnatural role that goes against his instincts.

So I do not like Ant as the primary ball-handler. I am not convinced by Randle as the secondary ball-handler. Donte and McDaniels are fine as 3rd / 4th ball-handlers.

I'd love to see Minny make a trade to bring in a proper lead guard to balance out their team. They have plenty of young wings in Jaylen Clark and Terrence Shannon who can replace Donte. Trade Donte for a PG.

[Phantom255x]

Glad we won it all in 2024, because boy the West is LOADED and some of these guys like Wemby are SCARY. And I'll admit, I think the C's got lucky drawing Dallas in 2024. But last year it was OKC (hate the "refs advantage" but that is a LOADED team with an MVP talent), this year it could be OKC/DEN/HOU. In future years if Wemby stays healthy the Spurs are right back in the mix.

The field has improved and now there's even more superstar talent, in some cases even franchise or league-altering like Wemby

[Who]

Atlanta have a good 7 man team / 8 man rotation.

A quality 3 man guard rotation with Trae Young, Dyson Daniels and Nickael Alexander Walker (PG/SG). A quality 3 big man rotation of Porzingis, Jalen Johnson, and Okongwu (PF/C). Their SF rotation has Risacher and Luke Kennard as 8th man.

I don't trust Kennard. I like the other 7 guys. Kennard always seems to be a let-down whenever he is depended on to do anything. Especially in the playoffs. He just cannot defend anyone. He can't defend 2s. He can't defend 3s. He has to play very well offensively just to avoid being a net negative.

Anyway, beyond those top 7 guys ... I don't trust the rest of their roster and their top 7 guys have quite a few injury prone players like Porzingis. Porzinigis and Risacher were already out for the 2nd game this season forcing those 3rd stringers in. Those 3rd stringers have little quality.

G: Keaton Wallace
G: V Krejci
F: Caleb Houston, Durisic (?)
F: Jacob Toppin
C: Asa Newelll, Mo Gueye, N'Faly Dante,

There might be something in their 3rd string centers Gueye and draft pick Asa Newell. Newell looked interesting in SL. Gueye raw big man. Shot the three well the other night. Maybe he has worked on his game and is ready to step forward. Or maybe he just had a hot night and that 3 won't fall moving forward.

Anyway .... if you gotta rely on these guys stepping in regularly and playing considerable minutes over the course of a full season due to the injury risks of your top 7, this looks to me like a team that will achieve less than expected in the regular season. Closer to a .500 team than a 46-49 win team.