2024 NBA Season

[LogitechMouse]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason. I expected the Warriors to make some signings or something. Weird there aren’t more free agents finding homes.

Looks like most of the teams in the NBA don't need any additions to their rosters and they just gonna fix their rotations instead of adding more players to disrupt their chemistry, especially those star players. So far, the teams that we expect to reach the playoff tree are doing good and they also dominate the league this season like the Boston Celtics, I wonder if they could keep that up and make some more wins until the end of the season games. Also, they are expected to reach the NBA finals this year since the Bucks are likely to be choked because they chose an incompetent coach instead of adding more role players to help them win more games.

That's likely because the Bucks are struggling now, while the Sixers don't have Embiid anymore and might likely miss the remainder of the season. Their biggest rival now is the Miami Heat as they still can't figure out how to defeat this team. The last time they met, they were dominated and lost big time on their home court, and that's considering Jimmy Butler was out. You can't question Boston in the regular season since they are clearly dominating, but every team has its kryptonite, and it seems like the Heat were theirs.

TBH, I'm just hoping that the Celtics will win the title this season already.
I think they've been one step away from it for the past 2 years. Last season, they almost made an impossible 0-3 deficit comeback against the Heat. If only Tatum didn't get injured in the first minute of the game, the outcome might be different. 2 years ago, they were up against the Warriors in the NBA Finals, and lost in 6 games. Now that their roster is better, I'm hoping they can conquer the East, and win that title.

The Bucks are struggling, the Sixers might have some problems as well, and I don't see the Cavaliers as a competitor as well. The Knicks for me is their main problem just by looking at their new roster. As for the West, the Nuggets might be at the 4th spot, but they're still the defending champion, and nothing much change has happened to the team so I expect that they'll be the same as they were last year. Thunder? Timberwolves? Nah they're too young of a team to compete in the playoffs. The Clippers might have a better chance of winning at least.

I'm a Warrior fan, but I'm predicting that it will be Nuggets Vs. Celtics in the NBA Finals.

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[el kaka22]

I do not even wake up for all-star anymore, I just wake up next day, watch the dunk contents, watch the three point contest, and on Mondays just watch the All-Star game itself. I do not even watch the full game on repeat anymore, I just watch the highlights and that's usually more than enough, I get bored even while watching the highlights so it is not like it is a good thing to watch anymore, not for me at least.

I have always been quite against the situation as much as possible and because of this I feel like it is going to not be all that crazy. Just assume that it is going to be something rough, so we need to end up with a good return one way or another, and we could maybe see it change eventually, hopefully they will figure something out.

[Captain Corporate]

I agree with everyone and I am missing those good old ASG games as well, but the game is not the same, so the result will not be the same either. You can keep saying that NBA had better defense as much as you want, but the reality is that it didn't, it didn't had that much of a great defense, it had some defensive rules that allowed harder defense to be made, but that also resulted with a lot more injuries as well. These days, defense is still being done, I guarantee you that any defensive player of the year in the past 10 years, could be taken on the year they won it, and put in the 90's and would be one of the best there too. We are just seeing entertainment, nothing more. If you want "real" games that is played tough, you can wait until the finals, that should be fine.

[livingfree]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason.

This weekend was a break to all of them and Anthony Edwards did told that and they've just enjoyed it.

Nobody takes the all star game seriously anymore. I don’t blame the players for not giving it a good effort either. Nobody wants to get hurt during the game. It’s like playing basketball on vacation for them. I think they should focus more on 1v1 or skills challenges with winners of events getting a million dollars. That would have them competing and would limit injuries.

That's the reality for this past all star. An all star that has no defense, it's lovely to see how high the scores are but that's not what the fans like to see.

We're more into action with the set of balance of defense and offense. While these all stars are made for the players but they're forgetting that it's not all about the likes of these players but how they're giving back to their fans.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprise if soon there will be lesser audience when the all star comes because of how many were disappointed from this one.

[Baofeng]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason. I expected the Warriors to make some signings or something. Weird there aren’t more free agents finding homes.

Looks like most of the teams in the NBA don't need any additions to their rosters and they just gonna fix their rotations instead of adding more players to disrupt their chemistry, especially those star players. So far, the teams that we expect to reach the playoff tree are doing good and they also dominate the league this season like the Boston Celtics, I wonder if they could keep that up and make some more wins until the end of the season games. Also, they are expected to reach the NBA finals this year since the Bucks are likely to be choked because they chose an incompetent coach instead of adding more role players to help them win more games.

In the case of Bucks, yeah, Giannis will be tested here specially in the playoffs, it's obvious that they are not the same team anymore. I mean they have added Dame, and it's good, but the chemistry is still in question right now. There are games that they look solid and championship team, but most of the time, they were defeated by a low caliber team.

And then they changes coaches in the middle of the season, and this could really help them in a bad way if they don't know how to keep on winning under coach Rivers. And assuming they reach the playoff, we all know that coach Rivers have history of choking.

[OgNasty]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason. I expected the Warriors to make some signings or something. Weird there aren’t more free agents finding homes.

Looks like most of the teams in the NBA don't need any additions to their rosters and they just gonna fix their rotations instead of adding more players to disrupt their chemistry, especially those star players. So far, the teams that we expect to reach the playoff tree are doing good and they also dominate the league this season like the Boston Celtics, I wonder if they could keep that up and make some more wins until the end of the season games. Also, they are expected to reach the NBA finals this year since the Bucks are likely to be choked because they chose an incompetent coach instead of adding more role players to help them win more games.

In the case of Bucks, yeah, Giannis will be tested here specially in the playoffs, it's obvious that they are not the same team anymore. I mean they have added Dame, and it's good, but the chemistry is still in question right now. There are games that they look solid and championship team, but most of the time, they were defeated by a low caliber team.

And then they changes coaches in the middle of the season, and this could really help them in a bad way if they don't know how to keep on winning under coach Rivers. And assuming they reach the playoff, we all know that coach Rivers have history of choking.

Rivers has been getting hit pretty hard in the media this week. Especially after the JJ Redick comments. Add that to Dame leaving Giannis off his starting 5 if he could pick anyone and you have a recipe for some trouble brewing behind the scenes in Milwaukee. They have the talent to go all the way, but the chemistry needs work.

[Yaunfitda]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason. I expected the Warriors to make some signings or something. Weird there aren’t more free agents finding homes.

Looks like most of the teams in the NBA don't need any additions to their rosters and they just gonna fix their rotations instead of adding more players to disrupt their chemistry, especially those star players. So far, the teams that we expect to reach the playoff tree are doing good and they also dominate the league this season like the Boston Celtics, I wonder if they could keep that up and make some more wins until the end of the season games. Also, they are expected to reach the NBA finals this year since the Bucks are likely to be choked because they chose an incompetent coach instead of adding more role players to help them win more games.

In the case of Bucks, yeah, Giannis will be tested here specially in the playoffs, it's obvious that they are not the same team anymore. I mean they have added Dame, and it's good, but the chemistry is still in question right now. There are games that they look solid and championship team, but most of the time, they were defeated by a low caliber team.

And then they changes coaches in the middle of the season, and this could really help them in a bad way if they don't know how to keep on winning under coach Rivers. And assuming they reach the playoff, we all know that coach Rivers have history of choking.

Rivers has been getting hit pretty hard in the media this week. Especially after the JJ Redick comments. Add that to Dame leaving Giannis off his starting 5 if he could pick anyone and you have a recipe for some trouble brewing behind the scenes in Milwaukee. They have the talent to go all the way, but the chemistry needs work.

And there Pat Bev, defended his coach,



https://twitter.com/patbev21/status/1760007741354193237

However, I don't trust JJ here, I mean he is in the media in the last couple of years, so he will have to make some controversial statement just to be on the spot light. And I think as far as doing his job? He is good. But we will see if Rivers can get back after the All-Star, fresh and restart everything for the Bucks. I do agree about the chemistry, it's a different team now, not like the same when they had their run on the championship a couple of years ago. So there's thing that Rivers have to work, not just their defense.

[wheelz1200]

I agree with everyone and I am missing those good old ASG games as well, but the game is not the same, so the result will not be the same either. You can keep saying that NBA had better defense as much as you want, but the reality is that it didn't, it didn't had that much of a great defense, it had some defensive rules that allowed harder defense to be made, but that also resulted with a lot more injuries as well. These days, defense is still being done, I guarantee you that any defensive player of the year in the past 10 years, could be taken on the year they won it, and put in the 90's and would be one of the best there too. We are just seeing entertainment, nothing more. If you want "real" games that is played tough, you can wait until the finals, that should be fine.

It's not even close.  You can't even hand check now.  The one rule I do like that they put in was sliding underneath a jump shooter after he shoots.  Countless ankles have gotten mangled from that dirty play.  But in general I think most of these tricky tack fouls have changed the game too much.  Last big man I liked to watch was shaq.  Dude straight mangled people in the paint lol.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

I agree with everyone and I am missing those good old ASG games as well, but the game is not the same, so the result will not be the same either. You can keep saying that NBA had better defense as much as you want, but the reality is that it didn't, it didn't had that much of a great defense, it had some defensive rules that allowed harder defense to be made, but that also resulted with a lot more injuries as well. These days, defense is still being done, I guarantee you that any defensive player of the year in the past 10 years, could be taken on the year they won it, and put in the 90's and would be one of the best there too. We are just seeing entertainment, nothing more. If you want "real" games that is played tough, you can wait until the finals, that should be fine.

It's not even close.  You can't even hand check now.  The one rule I do like that they put in was sliding underneath a jump shooter after he shoots.  Countless ankles have gotten mangled from that dirty play.  But in general I think most of these tricky tack fouls have changed the game too much.  Last big man I liked to watch was shaq.  Dude straight mangled people in the paint lol.

They still occasionally hand check and refs are too stupid and can't decide if they want to blow the whistle or not, haha.
I miss the good old days when big trucks like Shaq, the mailman or David Robinson would power their way into the lane. Now it's all about looking fancy and shooting 3s.
I also miss the real trash talk. Now you are staring down your opponent and get a tech for it, when you complain about it you get another one and you are gone.
All these soft refs have ruined the game unfortunately.

[Oasisman]

I agree with everyone and I am missing those good old ASG games as well, but the game is not the same, so the result will not be the same either. You can keep saying that NBA had better defense as much as you want, but the reality is that it didn't, it didn't had that much of a great defense, it had some defensive rules that allowed harder defense to be made, but that also resulted with a lot more injuries as well. These days, defense is still being done, I guarantee you that any defensive player of the year in the past 10 years, could be taken on the year they won it, and put in the 90's and would be one of the best there too. We are just seeing entertainment, nothing more. If you want "real" games that is played tough, you can wait until the finals, that should be fine.

It's not even close.  You can't even hand check now.  The one rule I do like that they put in was sliding underneath a jump shooter after he shoots.  Countless ankles have gotten mangled from that dirty play.  But in general I think most of these tricky tack fouls have changed the game too much.  Last big man I liked to watch was shaq.  Dude straight mangled people in the paint lol.

They still occasionally hand check and refs are too stupid and can't decide if they want to blow the whistle or not, haha.
I miss the good old days when big trucks like Shaq, the mailman or David Robinson would power their way into the lane. Now it's all about looking fancy and shooting 3s.
I also miss the real trash talk. Now you are staring down your opponent and get a tech for it, when you complain about it you get another one and you are gone.
All these soft refs have ruined the game unfortunately.

We can't do much about it but to embrace the changes. It's not that the refs have become softer and softer, but the pace, athleticism of todays player, talents, and shooting abilities of the big men have also changed and I hate to admit it but today's player are much better than the old eras the except for the hard fouls and hard defense.
I think the NBA become soft because they want to protect their players, especially the superstars which gives them a good contribution to the league.

[Dave1]

I agree with everyone and I am missing those good old ASG games as well, but the game is not the same, so the result will not be the same either. You can keep saying that NBA had better defense as much as you want, but the reality is that it didn't, it didn't had that much of a great defense, it had some defensive rules that allowed harder defense to be made, but that also resulted with a lot more injuries as well. These days, defense is still being done, I guarantee you that any defensive player of the year in the past 10 years, could be taken on the year they won it, and put in the 90's and would be one of the best there too. We are just seeing entertainment, nothing more. If you want "real" games that is played tough, you can wait until the finals, that should be fine.

It's not even close.  You can't even hand check now.  The one rule I do like that they put in was sliding underneath a jump shooter after he shoots.  Countless ankles have gotten mangled from that dirty play.  But in general I think most of these tricky tack fouls have changed the game too much.  Last big man I liked to watch was shaq.  Dude straight mangled people in the paint lol.

They still occasionally hand check and refs are too stupid and can't decide if they want to blow the whistle or not, haha.
I miss the good old days when big trucks like Shaq, the mailman or David Robinson would power their way into the lane. Now it's all about looking fancy and shooting 3s.
I also miss the real trash talk. Now you are staring down your opponent and get a tech for it, when you complain about it you get another one and you are gone.
All these soft refs have ruined the game unfortunately.

I think there's still a lot of trash talking inside and outside the court. But this is a different era now, just a few of those kind of plays in the big men position. Maybe we can see Giannis bulldozing himself in the middle, but he is a freak. I mean he could be also the one that change the game as we haven't seen this kind of player, big, tall, and can run. David Robinson could have been doing this already, but when we see it done during their era, everyone was excited.

But now, centers are different, they are now shooting from the outside, making 3's. And it's probably the blame on the European's like Dirk early 2000's when they came and then shots from 3's and thus evolved as we have seen Jokic or even Embiid attempting to shoot from the outside.

[dwyane36]

But now, centers are different, they are now shooting from the outside, making 3's. And it's probably the blame on the European's like Dirk early 2000's when they came and then shots from 3's and thus evolved as we have seen Jokic or even Embiid attempting to shoot from the outside.

Dirk has played almost his entire career at the power forward position rather than the center position. So, I don't think he should be blamed for the current generation of centers playing more outside the paint.
Honestly, I somehow think that the NBA will sooner or later come to the point where centers who can dominate the paint will be valued again rather than those who can shoot 3-pointers.

[Baofeng]

Two more days until the return of NBA basketball. I think I’m going through withdrawals. There haven’t been many moves as far as signing players either. Hopefully the players return refreshed and healthy to make a run into the postseason. I expected the Warriors to make some signings or something. Weird there aren’t more free agents finding homes.

Looks like most of the teams in the NBA don't need any additions to their rosters and they just gonna fix their rotations instead of adding more players to disrupt their chemistry, especially those star players. So far, the teams that we expect to reach the playoff tree are doing good and they also dominate the league this season like the Boston Celtics, I wonder if they could keep that up and make some more wins until the end of the season games. Also, they are expected to reach the NBA finals this year since the Bucks are likely to be choked because they chose an incompetent coach instead of adding more role players to help them win more games.

In the case of Bucks, yeah, Giannis will be tested here specially in the playoffs, it's obvious that they are not the same team anymore. I mean they have added Dame, and it's good, but the chemistry is still in question right now. There are games that they look solid and championship team, but most of the time, they were defeated by a low caliber team.

And then they changes coaches in the middle of the season, and this could really help them in a bad way if they don't know how to keep on winning under coach Rivers. And assuming they reach the playoff, we all know that coach Rivers have history of choking.

Rivers has been getting hit pretty hard in the media this week. Especially after the JJ Redick comments. Add that to Dame leaving Giannis off his starting 5 if he could pick anyone and you have a recipe for some trouble brewing behind the scenes in Milwaukee. They have the talent to go all the way, but the chemistry needs work.

Yes, and I think we should expect it because of their poor showing under him. Just like when media criticize Harden as well when he joined the Clippers, everyone is on the offensive but now it's very different as they started to win games.

So let's see how Doc Rivers will respond in the second half of the season. Perhaps if he can rise to the occasion all his critics will be quiet including JJ Redick's attack on him. Although again, he has history of choking but hopefully Giannis or Bucks will not be the next player to suffer the fate like the Sixers or Clippers before under Rivers.

[arwin100]

But now, centers are different, they are now shooting from the outside, making 3's. And it's probably the blame on the European's like Dirk early 2000's when they came and then shots from 3's and thus evolved as we have seen Jokic or even Embiid attempting to shoot from the outside.

Dirk has played almost his entire career at the power forward position rather than the center position. So, I don't think he should be blamed for the current generation of centers playing more outside the paint.
Honestly, I somehow think that the NBA will sooner or later come to the point where centers who can dominate the paint will be valued again rather than those who can shoot 3-pointers.

For now it became a trend since they see how effective those centers shooting on rainbow line and teams looking at it as big help since they can rotate the ball well if there big man can able to shoot in that area. Dirk should not be blame regarding on how the game evolve since this is just another basketball evolution happened. And many players now want to shoot outside since it became a trend that's why those traditional centers has been out and get lesser demands on the teams. If there's another new generation big man will be drafted and play like classic dominant Shaq style then maybe we can see the want of team for getting their bigs will be changed again.

[danherbias07]

I also miss the real trash talk. Now you are staring down your opponent and get a tech for it, when you complain about it you get another one and you are gone.
All these soft refs have ruined the game unfortunately.

Which is why a lot of fans are telling the whole NBA to get soft. Yeah, they are also a culprit of that softness. They kept on changing the rules, while the players kept on finding holes.
Malone and Rodman before keep on being physical under the rim and yet the referees still see it as a normal contact, if it will happen now I guess they will be thrown out instantly.
The physicality is gone, if there is one, I think Jokic and Davis are the only ones left who still do the post-up games and be physical under the rim.

As a fan of defense, it's actually frustrating to see lesser players who are good at defending their opponents. I think Wemby will be the one who will revive it in his era. I hope he won't stick with those three-pointers. He should try to be like Tim Duncan who will dominate the paint and perimeters on both ends of the floor.
Chet Holmgren too. I mean, look at this stat.

Focus on the steals and blocks. Damn!

[fuguebtc]

Best of luck in your beat, the 76ers are struggling as of late because the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid is injured. So not sure how you come up that they are doing good lately. They are 3-7 in their last games.

Although they have build a solid run prior to Joel getting injured and that's why they sit on the 5th place. But I don't think that they can maintain that position if Joel is not going to play in the second half of the season.

Shit, I just forgot about that injury. 

Well, it is definitely true. If he is not back quickly, the team is going to suffer.
Even though I think everyone saw that tweet.


Twitter

But I think he is not going to actually recover that quickly.
I mean he might be ready to play.
But he will probably not be 100% fit.

But probably the biggest attraction is going to be the Lakers versus Warriors game on the 23rd February. I don't think anyone is going to miss that game.

By the way, I find it a little interesting that in the last match, the Warriors were able to win even though Stephen Curry did not score a lot of points but the match before that I think he got 40+ but they still ended up losing that game.

Curry doesn't need to score that high when his teammates are stepping up. If I recall correctly, that was a back-to-back game for them, so he might be a little tired after playing so hard in the game against the Clippers. Unfortunately, they melted down in the 4th quarter and lost to the Leonard-less Clippers.

The last time they played the Lakers, the game went to OT, and they lost by only 1 point. The line was -1.5 for the Warriors at that time; this time, it's -4.5. Obviously, bookies see their significant improvement, making them a high favorite. However, the Lakers have improved since signing Dinwiddie, so maybe it will be a close game again. I'm hoping the Warriors will avenge their previous loss though.

Yes, it is true that Stephen Curry does not need to go that big if his teammates are doing a good job.
But the thing is most of the time we say him doing the bulk of the job because his teammates in general do not contribute in every other match.
It is actually him that at the end of the day has to carry his team.

Can his team play well in a few matches? Of course but that's not the story every day.

[xLays]

^^ If Joel stays healthy this season for sure he can win back-to-back MVP awards like Joker did. But since he's injured and missing so many games, he's not totally eligible to win the MVP award this year. Injury also is the reason why Joel Embiid didn't won his rookie year rookie of the year award. But even with his injuries Joel Embiid can still carry his team when he comes back this season. And surely they will make playoffs thid year. But maybe in the 5th to 8th seed. Sixer struggled without Joel Embiid.

[Japinat]

^^ If Joel stays healthy this season for sure he can win back-to-back MVP awards like Joker did. But since he's injured and missing so many games, he's not totally eligible to win the MVP award this year. Injury also is the reason why Joel Embiid didn't won his rookie year rookie of the year award. But even with his injuries Joel Embiid can still carry his team when he comes back this season. And surely they will make playoffs thid year. But maybe in the 5th to 8th seed. Sixer struggled without Joel Embiid.

His return is still uncertain as to when, and since he has been out for a while now, he'll not anymore qualify for the MVP competition. I think the top 3 for me are SGA, Jokic, and Luka. These three are very consistent, but the one that really has a huge impact this season is SGA. Not because of his statistics alone but with how he turned his team to become the number 1 team.

[OgNasty]

I'm glad that we're getting some great matchups the first day back after all star break.  The matchup I'm most excited for is the Dallas Mavericks vs the Phoenix Suns.  Luka owned Booker in the post season a few years back and ever since then there has been bad blood between those two.  Luka had been spanking Booker each time they met, but Booker and the Suns got the best of the Mavericks the last time they met.  Tonight's game is on TNT and I'll probably try to catch at least the ending of it if possible.  This is my favorite rivalry in the NBA right now.  They genuinely dislike each other.

[Russlenat]

I'm glad that we're getting some great matchups the first day back after all star break.  The matchup I'm most excited for is the Dallas Mavericks vs the Phoenix Suns.  Luka owned Booker in the post season a few years back and ever since then there has been bad blood between those two.  Luka had been spanking Booker each time they met, but Booker and the Suns got the best of the Mavericks the last time they met.  Tonight's game is on TNT and I'll probably try to catch at least the ending of it if possible. 

Suns are facing a different Mavericks team now, since the addition of Washington and Gafford, they can't lose anymore. Currently on a 6 winning streak, the longest in the West, tied with the Celtics in overall. I think I can't bet against the Mavericks especially at home where they now have 3 consecutive wins.

This is my favorite rivalry in the NBA right now.  They genuinely dislike each other.

We can't miss the fun, Luka's famous statement that really Broke Booker and company that time, "Everybody acts tough when they're up", that was after game 5 and in game 6 and 7, it's all Luka. So Booker better be humble.