***Official 2022-2023 NBA Thread***

[dirk digler]

Can't believe the regular season starts tonight. Just seemed like the Finals ended a couple weeks ago.



Philly vs Celtics: 6:30PM CST TNT

GSW vs Lakers: 9:00PM CST TNT

[dirk digler]

Didn't see this posted yet but sounds like Morant is going to get a long ass suspension.

Adam Silver on Ja Morant: “We’ve uncovered a fair amount of additional information. We probably could have brought it to a head now, but we’ve made the decision that it would be unfair to these players and these teams to announce that decision in the middle of this series.”

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) June 1, 2023

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Nuggets are a good team but their path this year has been historically easy

Yea, if you only pay attention to seeding and ignore the fact that they went through KD/Booker and AD/Lebron.

[Sassy Squatch]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Yea, if you only pay attention to seeding and ignore the fact that they went through KD/Booker and AD/Lebron.

Phoenix may have been too hasty to fire Monty. They're the only team to put up much resistance against the Nuggets and that was with Paul out.

[The Franchise]

Anyone other than KCC want to tell me how I should feel about the Suns hiring Vogel?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Anyone other than KCC want to tell me how I should feel about the Suns hiring Vogel?

Eh, it's definitely a "meh" hiring.

I think the more important thing is the depth they add around their superstars.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Phoenix may have been too hasty to fire Monty. They're the only team to put up much resistance against the Nuggets and that was with Paul out.

Yea, that series is looking like it was basically the Finals.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Anyone other than KCC want to tell me how I should feel about the Suns hiring Vogel?

I feel like this postseason it became really clear that teams need coaches who can flat out coach vs those who players really like. Arguably a trend accelerated by lebron when he lobbed david blatt directly under the bus (I still think the dude got a really raw deal). Because I don’t know that there’s been a postseason quite like this where we saw good teams get ridiculously outcoached.

Much as people hate seeing these two teams in the finals, they’re just really good teams with outstanding coaching.

[chiefzilla1501]

You’ve gotta really like that the teams that did the best were the ones who had good plans to neutralize high usage guys. And the ones who struggled were ones who couldn’t find a creative way to adjust out of it. How many good teams got destroyed by high usage stars with a bunch of other guys just standing around on offense. How many teams had guards being left wide the **** open and still couldn’t drain the openest 3 imaginable. Good year for solid team bball.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Superturtle

Eh. Tatum rolling his ankle and subsequently having to overrely on Brown really ****ed them in game 7

Decent chance those guys choke anyway based on how they played for most of that series. In contrast, Giannis was so hurt that he literally missed games against the Heat. If he doesn't, Bucks don't lose that one.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Yea, if you only pay attention to seeding and ignore the fact that they went through KD/Booker and AD/Lebron.

The Lakers were all name this year and it’s well known that Lebron is still good but he’s not prime Lebron anymore. They were a 7th seed for a reason. They looked like it.

And it’s no surprise that any team with Benedict Durant on it went down in flames.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by RunKC

The Lakers were all name this year and it’s well known that Lebron is still good but he’s not prime Lebron anymore. They were a 7th seed for a reason. They looked like it.

And it’s no surprise that any team with Benedict Durant on it went down in flames.

Holy shit these are some bad takes.

The Lakers and Suns looked like the next best teams in the entire league after the Nuggets.

The Lakers looked like a 7th seed going all the way to the CF in the tougher conference?

The Suns are probably the only team that could've beaten the Nuggets, and 2 of their starters were injured. In hindsight, they hardly "went down in flames".

What the **** were you watching?

[tyecopeland]

Originally Posted by RunKC

The Lakers were all name this year and it’s well known that Lebron is still good but he’s not prime Lebron anymore. They were a 7th seed for a reason. They looked like it.

And it’s no surprise that any team with Benedict Durant on it went down in flames.

They were a 7 seed because for 2/3 of the year they had Russell Westbrick on the roster. After the trade deadline they were one of the top 3 teams in the west

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Holy shit these are some bad takes.

The Lakers and Suns looked like the next best teams in the entire league after the Nuggets.

The Lakers looked like a 7th seed going all the way to the CF in the tougher conference?

The Suns are probably the only team that could've beaten the Nuggets, and 2 of their starters were injured. In hindsight, they hardly "went down in flames".

What the **** were you watching?

So you agree that the Nuggets had it easy?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by RunKC

So you agree that the Nuggets had it easy?

Even with those injuries, the Suns still had a legitimate contender with KD/Booker healthy, so no, I wouldn't call it "easy".

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Holy shit these are some bad takes.

The Lakers and Suns looked like the next best teams in the entire league after the Nuggets.

The Lakers looked like a 7th seed going all the way to the CF in the tougher conference?

The Suns are probably the only team that could've beaten the Nuggets, and 2 of their starters were injured. In hindsight, they hardly "went down in flames".

What the **** were you watching?

I feel like the Lakers had a shot.

Russell was just a complete disaster and they waited too long in G1 to make some defensive adjustments.

But I'll say that LAL, while maybe not the 2nd best team in these playoffs, PLAYED like the 2nd best team on aggregate. Boston is the only team that had moments that looked like they could've taken down Denver, but they also shit the bed.

The Lakers had a guy who could slow down Jokic and frankly, nobody else does. But they had fundamental failings at key times that kept them from getting there (all of which have been well catalogued in this thread).

Every time I watch Denver they just look...inexorable. And not in a Tyreek Hill flying past guys sort of way, but in an Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the terminator sort of way. Just this steady drumbeat forward and no matter how hard you punch them in the jaw, they just keep advancing. Up 20? No matter - you'll only be up 10 by the next quarter. And then you'll only be up 2. And then you'll make a mistake and the mercilessly efficient and single minded Nuggets will splash a 3 and that'll be that.

They're the anti-Warriors. The Warriors would spend 40 minutes looking like hell but they'd have 8 minutes where they rain fire and that would be enough. Denver never looks much better than they look at their worst and never look much worse than they look at their best. They're just a steady march forward and it's just rare that a team can play 48 minutes against that without slitting their own throats eventually.