***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

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

These are the only players who have led the league in VORP more than Nikola Jokic (3):

LeBron (9), MJ (9), Kareem (7), Erving (4), Bird (4)

Yeah, but scoring or something.

[Iconic]

Dunno why Jokic kept deferring to a gassed Murray when he had some wide open looks

[Pitt Gorilla]

30-17-17

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Teams hunt Steph every possession on defense too. It doesn't mean he's not an elite basketball player capable of being the best player in a series, right?

The major difference though is Steph had the greatest teams around him ever assembled. Jokic had an entire team full of scrubs (without Jamal Murray and Porter) around him.

That is nonsense. The 2015\2016 and 2021\22 Warriors team like any team that wins a championship except the Raptors*** were great but no where near the greatest. Won't argue about the KD years they were great and was just thinking about this today if KD hadn't left they might have 3-4 more championships. He should have stayed.

BTW Lebron has won 3 of his championships playing alongside 3 different Top 75 players. Steph has won 2 without any and won 2 with just KD. Shit that 2012 Heat team had 3 Top 75 players on it and another top 100 in Bosh. cmon man

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

So, again, it was simply "his turn?" There's really no other legitimate argument I can find.

The honest answer, probably but Joel did average almost 10 more points per game than Jokic who had a paltry 24ppg. Really Joel should have won it last year because team success IMHO should play apart in it. Jokic had good stats on a shit team that got basically swept in the first round.

I go back to the year Westbrook won MVP by averaging a triple double. Was he the best player in the league? Nope that was Harden but Westbrook was stat hunting on a shit team that got bounced by Harden's Rockets in the first round 4-1.

MJ and Lebron probably should have won it every in their prime but they didn't because the voters thought someone else get it that time instead of the obvious best player. Just the way it is.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

So, again, it was simply "his turn?" There's really no other legitimate argument I can find.

Arguably yes. Joel should have won it last year. Jokic probably had the slight edge this year.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

That is nonsense. The 2015\2016 and 2021\22 Warriors team like any team that wins a championship except the Raptors*** were great but no where near the greatest. Won't argue about the KD years they were great and was just thinking about this today if KD hadn't left they might have 3-4 more championships. He should have stayed.

BTW Lebron has won 3 of his championships playing alongside 3 different Top 75 players. Steph has won 2 without any and won 2 with just KD. Shit that 2012 Heat team had 3 Top 75 players on it and another top 100 in Bosh. cmon man

Hold on, you're actually arguing that the Warriors weren't completely stacked in the years they won titles? Did you miss the fact that Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green (all sure fire HOFs) all exist?

Even in the non-Durant years, the 2015 team had Curry, Klay, Draymond, Iggy (one of the best defenders in the league who literally won Finals MVP over an underachieving Steph for holding LeBron to 36 PPG which you may have forgotten), Barnes and Bogut. And the 2022 team, while not quite as strong as what came before it, still had Klay, Draymond, Wiggins (who played at a ridiculously high level throughout the playoffs on both ends), Looney, and Poole (when he was still good and not just a clown).

Those are incredibly strong two-way teams filled with shooting and high level defense. You can't possibly be comparing these teams to the slugs that Jokic had to work with last season, right? He played the entire Warriors series with Aaron Gordon and Monte Morris as his best players.

Criticizing Jokic for being a mediocre defender (such that he somehow can't be a MVP despite being a historically great offensive player) when your favorite player plays none of it himself and is completely reliant on others to do it for him is sure something.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

The honest answer, probably but Joel did average almost 10 more points per game than Jokic who had a paltry 24ppg. Really Joel should have won it last year because team success IMHO should play apart in it. Jokic had good stats on a shit team that got basically swept in the first round.

Embiid should have won in none of those years. Jokic has been the best player in the league for three years running now by a wide margin.

I go back to the year Westbrook won MVP by averaging a triple double. Was he the best player in the league? Nope that was Harden but Westbrook was stat hunting on a shit team that got bounced by Harden's Rockets in the first round 4-1.

If Westbrook wasn't the best player in the league, he was certainly close. The guy was a ridiculously effective two-way player five to six years ago. He doesn't resemble that player any longer.

MJ and Lebron probably should have won it every in their prime but they didn't because the voters thought someone else get it that time instead of the obvious best player. Just the way it is.

LeBron and MJ should have each won it about eight to nine times in a row. The fact that they weren't allowed to shouldn't cause continued voting stupidity in future years but that's exactly what happened here. They didn't want to give it to Jokic three times in a row because those two didn't get to do that either.

[WilliamTheIrish]

I’m certain this has been debated in this thread or other NBA season threads. But here goes:

What exactly is Julius Randle? He’s got a lot of skill. And while I haven’t watched him his entire career, he seems out of place all the time.

Point forward? Stretch 4? He’s definitely not a 5. Has the build to be a power forward, whatever that might be in todays NBA game. I don’t follow the knocks much at all and catch the Saturday games during the regular season and I’m interested in what you guys might think.


So what is Julius Randle?

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

I’m certain this has been debated in this thread or other NBA season threads. But here goes:

What exactly is Julius Randle? He’s got a lot of skill. And while I haven’t watched him his entire career, he seems out of place all the time.

Point forward? Stretch 4? He’s definitely not a 5. Has the build to be a power forward, whatever that might be in todays NBA game. I don’t follow the knocks much at all and catch the Saturday games during the regular season and I’m interested in what you guys might think.


So what is Julius Randle?

He's today's version of a power forward, IMO.

[Chief Pagan]

How are the tornadoes doing?

[Megatron96]

Good gravy, this is a terrible game.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Good gravy, this is a terrible game.

The tornados are going to win if they keep this up


*You'll only get this if you're in the KC area*

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Good gravy, this is a terrible game.

As long as the Lakers continue to lead, it will be a great game.

[lcarus]

I just want to see a good game and all these 2nd round games so far have been blowouts. In this era of teams chucking 50 threes every game, I guess this is how it's gonna go most of the time. Series might go 6 or 7 games but every game is a 15-25 point laugher. Kinda sucks to be honest. The first round had some good games at least.