***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

[New World Order]

@ KCC acting like the Lakers are absolute killers when Lebron plays.

They suck when he plays.

They suck when he doesn't play.

They just suck.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by New World Order

@ KCC acting like the Lakers are absolute killers when Lebron plays.

Killers? They're bad and I've said so all season here. Now they might be a bit better now that they replaced one of the literal worst players in the league (Westbrook) and their bunch of scrubs with actual shooters/defenders to play around LeBron (what a concept!), but they're still only something like 6th-8th best team at best in the West with LeBron/AD playing. A surefire 1st round exit if they even get lucky to get in and through the play-in.

And now obviously without a top 10 player in LeBron in the league not playing for multiple weeks, they're going to be a total disaster (see the on/off stats). There is very little reason to think they'll finish in the top 10 in that conference without him around.

[KCUnited]

Brons borderline looking rickets might be catching up to him

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Brons borderline looking rickets might be catching up to him

Or 20 years straight worth of high level, high minutes basketball: https://www.basketball-reference.com...mp_career.html

[Eureka]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

KD staying healthy is the last hope.

Hope for what?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Not even close, huh? You can hate LeBron all you want for whatever specious reasons you want, but it won't change the fact that he's still one of best and most impacful players in the league when he's healthy at age 38. One look at the Lakers' on/off numbers with him should tell you that much:



https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ks-foot-injury

And the Spurs, Rockets, and Pistons are all purposely losing games for Wemby. Yeah, I think it's pretty safe to say they are doing jack shit without him playing.

Yes, the team that LeBron built was a pile of steaming garbage.

This isn't that team.

But you know that and you simply refuse to acknowledge it. Just like you did 2 weeks ago when "The Lakers are Trash" when your sweet baboo was sitting out after stat chasing.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Killers? They're bad and I've said so all season here. Now they might be a bit better now that they replaced one of the literal worst players in the league (Westbrook) and their bunch of scrubs with actual shooters/defenders to play around LeBron (what a concept!), but they're still only something like 6th-8th best team at best in the West with LeBron/AD playing. A surefire 1st round exit if they even get lucky to get in and through the play-in.

And now obviously without a top 10 player in LeBron in the league not playing for multiple weeks, they're going to be a total disaster (see the on/off stats). There is very little reason to think they'll finish in the top 10 in that conference without him around.

They were 4-1 against a solid slate of opponents with a top scoring margin in the league since the trades were made and they got Davis/James back.

They weren't a great team, but with a full roster they were absolutely a team that would've made it through the play-in tournament and potentially even played their way out of it altogether.

And yes, they could've (maybe still can) make some noise in the 1st round. That's NOT an appealing 1st round matchup.

It's a decent roster now once we got all the chaff James desperately had to have off the roster like Westbrook and Beverley.

His ability to absolutely wreck rosters is truly staggering. But of course you'll never blame him for it. Guy demands roster input and then you give him a pass when he doesn't have a ****ing clue what he's doing.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yes, the team that LeBron built was a pile of steaming garbage.

This isn't that team.

But you know that and you simply refuse to acknowledge it. Just like you did 2 weeks ago when "The Lakers are Trash" when your sweet baboo was sitting out after stat chasing.

So LeBron is to blame for the roster as constructed before the season but Pelinka gets the credit for fixing it? Shouldn't they both share the blame/credit for all of it if LeBron has as much influence in these roster decisions as you say he does?

I would also suggest it's telling that every team LeBron has played on for 20 years built around LeBron with shooters until this one. Did LeBron suddenly change his roster building strategy with the 2021 Lakers?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

So LeBron is to blame for the roster as constructed before the season but Pelinka gets the credit for fixing it? Shouldn't they both share the blame/credit for all of it if LeBron has as much influence in these roster decisions as you say he does?

Wait, did you just completely change the argument?

You said that this is worst team in the NBA and were disingenuously using season stats to prove it.

Now you've changed the argument entirely after getting called out on it.

Stanning 24/7 365 for Lebron is hard work

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

They were 4-1 against a solid slate of opponents with a top scoring margin in the league since the trades were made and they got Davis/James back.

Yes, with their two top 10 players in the NBA. Now that they're going to be missing one (and certainly the most important one, again see the on/off stats), they're still going to make the play-in? Their season was done as soon as LeBron broke his foot the other night.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Wait, did you just completely change the argument?

You said that this is worst team in the NBA and were disingenuously using season stats to prove it.

They've been nearly the worst team in the league without LeBron on the floor this year as those stats showed. You really believe the additions of mediocre players like Russell, Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley are going to alter that significantly and save them from missing the play-in without LeBron?

That roster is going to go under .500 without him and probably well below .500. They're done.

[Titty Meat]

Morant assaulted a 17 year old & pulled a gun on him. The NBA is a great representation of what wokeness is Lmao

[KC_Connection]

What an idiot. Morant better cut out the wannabe gangster stuff or he's going to find his way out of the league.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

What an idiot. Morant better cut out the wannabe gangster stuff or he's going to find his way out of the league.

Four days later, Morant repeatedly punched a teenage boy in the head during a pickup basketball game at Morant’s house, the boy told police. Morant and his friend struck the 17-year-old so hard they knocked him to the ground and left him with a “large knot” on the side of his head, according to a police report narrative written by deputies who said they observed the boy’s injuries.

The teenager told detectives from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office that, after the fight, Morant went into his house and re-emerged with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants and his hand on the weapon, according to police interviews obtained by The Post, which have not previously been reported.

In an interview with police, Morant said he acted in self-defense. “I swung first,” he told detectives, but he believed the boy had been the aggressor because he threw a ball at Morant’s head and then stepped toward him, pulling up his pants. “The ball was to me the first hit,” Morant told police. During the interview, detectives mentioned the boy’s allegation that Morant flashed a gun but did not ask Morant whether it was true.

Morant told police that as the boy left, he shouted, “I’m gonna come back and light this place up like fireworks.” Weeks after the incident, according to records obtained by The Post, Morant filed a police report about the boy’s comment, saying the teenager had threatened his family.

In a statement, Morant’s agent, Jim Tanner, characterized the allegations as “unsubstantiated rumors and gossip are being put out by people motivated to tear Ja down and tarnish his reputation for their own financial gain.” The boy and his mother filed a lawsuit against Morant over the incident, his family attorney confirmed. The existence of the suit, which is under seal, was reported earlier this year by TMZ.

“Any and every allegation involving a firearm has been fully investigated and could not be corroborated. This includes the NBA investigation last month, in which they found no evidence,” Tanner said. The incident with the teenage boy, Tanner said, “was purely self-defense. Again, after this was fully investigated by law enforcement, they came to the decision not to charge Ja with any crime.”

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

So LeBron is to blame for the roster as constructed before the season but Pelinka gets the credit for fixing it? Shouldn't they both share the blame/credit for all of it if LeBron has as much influence in these roster decisions as you say he does?

I would also suggest it's telling that every team LeBron has played on for 20 years built around LeBron with shooters until this one. Did LeBron suddenly change his roster building strategy with the 2021 Lakers?

Is there any indication whatsoever that LeBron had a hand in the trades that were made?

Because there were LOUD rumblings that he fueled the Westbrook and Beverly debacles.