2025 NBA Season

[harizen]

Though they are rank at number 14 in the west -https://www.nba.com/standings, but they are still close to the number 8, still positive to be in the top 8 spot, and so it could be possible for the Warriors once Curry and Thompson come back.

I'm now closing the possibilities for New Orleans Pelicans to make a playoff appearance even Zion will make a comeback. They need to have a decent win-loss record from now on but teams on 8-13th spots are surely making their way up too. They are 4 wins behind the 8th spot and 8 wins behind the 7th. Looking at those teams from 8th to 13th, these are really tough.

And for Warriors? 100% no playoff appearance for them even Curry and Thompson will comeback. We are near half-way in the season.

And here I am again, who wants to bet at me if Pelicans will make it to the playoffs for BTC0.005 to BTC0.01? Since currently, they are 4 wins behind the 8th and Zion will make a comeback, might others think that there is a chance for them to acquired a playoff ticket. Quote this post.

[Oasisman]

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Though they are rank at number 14 in the west -https://www.nba.com/standings, but they are still close to the number 8, still positive to be in the top 8 spot, and so it could be possible for the Warriors once Curry and Thompson come back.

For the Pelicans they might have a shot to chase for the 8th seed but that would be a bloody battle on the way to that spot, as they are going to bet teams such as Spurs, Blazers, and Suns. These teams are a very experienced team in terms of securing a spot in the playoffs. So imho, in this situation Pelicans only have a very slim chance to make it to the playoffs even with Zion back to the starting line up. While on the other hand, I already have lost the expectation for the Warriors to catch up in the Western Conference even with Curry and Thompson both back in the line up.

[Reid]

Midseason Report Card Grades for Every NBA Team

Another NBA regular season is halfway gone, which can mean only one thing: a fresh batch of report cards for each and every team.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2871319-midseason-report-card-grades-for-every-nba-team#slide0

Thanks again mich for the great link.
I am not done reading it all since it is very long but thumbs up to the effort of Dan Favale who wrote this.

Here are some points that I am intrigued with.

One of the biggest come back if ever since the Indiana Pacers is already doing well now.

Victor Oladipo has yet to play this season. (That'll change on Jan. 29.) Malcolm Brogdon has missed 12 games. Jeremy Lamb has missed 11. Myles Turner has missed eight. Even Domantas Sabonis has dealt with a left knee issue

"Stat lines look like typos" LOL   Yeah, they might really win 70+ games. Awesome!

Giannis Antetokounmpo is at the center of it all. He is the rightful MVP favorite, and his stat lines look like typos. He's helped the Bucks' spacing by jacking threes at a career-high clip. His efficiency isn't great (32.5 percent), but the volume is paramount. Defenses will be inclined to cover him if he doesn't hesitate, which he's not

"A" for the Lakers but "A+" for the Bucks. Yeah, that is perfect grading system.  

[rdbase]

Zion Williamson will make his season debut with the New Orleans Pelicans in the coming days or weeks, but will not have much playing time. The head coach of the Pelicans, Alvin Gentry, confirmed the news while speaking to reporters, stating that Williamson will play very limited minutes upon his return

Source: https://www.talkbasket.net/64225-zion-williamson-will-play-very-limited-minutes-upon-his-return

Pelicans have 7-3 in their last 10 games. Will this return make their team to playoffs? Your thoughts?

Quick follow up here, Zion is set to return next Wednesday against San Antonio at home and according to their GM he won't have any minute restrictions though i'm pretty sure they won't play him a bunch (i would say less than 30min a game), esp not on back-to-backs etc.

As for the Pelicans making the playoffs, hard to say at this point, they are not far away though just 4 games behind the 8th spot...it's a possibility imo.
I do believe they will have a better second half of the season.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2863298-pelicans-zion-williamson-expected-to-make-nba-debut-jan-22-after-knee-injury

Yeah it was said yesterday he would be cleared for play vs the spurs. It is hot news as the pelicans are just four games out of a seed.

[danherbias07]

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Utah was a really good defensive team in the beginning of the year, now their offense is clicking making them dangerous.  They are a fun team to watch for sure, dont think its Clarkson's more a well balanced team thing they got going on there.

I don't really know what is the mind of Quin Snyder but he is really changing everything.
Yeah just like you said everything had switched. From a defensive point of view to an offensive one.

I just want to quote something from a recent post here with a link.

Midseason Report Card Grades for Every NBA Team

Another NBA regular season is halfway gone, which can mean only one thing: a fresh batch of report cards for each and every team.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2871319-midseason-report-card-grades-for-every-nba-team#slide0

In the 18 games since he's rejoined the opening lineup, the team is 15-3 with the league's best offense and effective field-goal percentage. The defense has slipped, but the Jazz will take it when they're still in the top 10 and not flush with wing stoppers or first-rate backup bigs, and when Bojan Bogdanovic and Donovan Mitchell are blowing defenses to smithereens.

Flipping Dante Exum and two second-rounders to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Jordan Clarkson has turned out to be just as impactful. His three-point touch has been up-and-down since his arrival, but Utah's bench went from 25th in point differential per 100 possessions beforehand to 13th since. The off-the-dribble variance he gives the second-string rotation is a big reason why.

You got it right.

[Ranly123]

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Though they are rank at number 14 in the west -https://www.nba.com/standings, but they are still close to the number 8, still positive to be in the top 8 spot, and so it could be possible for the Warriors once Curry and Thompson come back.

For the Pelicans they might have a shot to chase for the 8th seed but that would be a bloody battle on the way to that spot, as they are going to bet teams such as Spurs, Blazers, and Suns. These teams are a very experienced team in terms of securing a spot in the playoffs. So imho, in this situation Pelicans only have a very slim chance to make it to the playoffs even with Zion back to the starting line up. While on the other hand, I already have lost the expectation for the Warriors to catch up in the Western Conference even with Curry and Thompson both back in the line up.

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie. I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

[Finestream]

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie.

Hype is normal because we are talking about the number 1 overall pick.

I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well, Dallas are also a young team but they are in the playoff ranking now, so it's not impossible for the Pelicans to bounce back by winning games once their best player comes back, they are young but full of talent, I believe.

[TravelMug]

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Though they are rank at number 14 in the west -https://www.nba.com/standings, but they are still close to the number 8, still positive to be in the top 8 spot, and so it could be possible for the Warriors once Curry and Thompson come back.

~ snip ~

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie. I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well that's what you call hype, we still don't know if he has the tools to make it big in the NBA, that's why people are eager to see him play.

So we can't say for certain that they're not going to secure a spot in the playoff. They are just a couple of games behind the 8th and final position. So anything is possible, Feb-March will be critical for them so it's going to be exciting and I'm sure he want to prove his critiques wrong.

[Russlenat]

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie.

Hype is normal because we are talking about the number 1 overall pick.

I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well, Dallas are also a young team but they are in the playoff ranking now, so it's not impossible for the Pelicans to bounce back by winning games once their best player comes back, they are young but full of talent, I believe.

Dallas are young and exciting team, Pelicans can be Dallas once they are fully healthy and they improve their chemistry.
I saw how Dallas play, although they have a young superstar (which is LUKA) but the play does not heavily rely on him so he got a room to breath and that help him become a very good player.

[Ranly123]

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie.

Hype is normal because we are talking about the number 1 overall pick.

I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well, Dallas are also a young team but they are in the playoff ranking now, so it's not impossible for the Pelicans to bounce back by winning games once their best player comes back, they are young but full of talent, I believe.

Do you really believe that their number 1 rookie is their best player? Well, I don't think so since he hasn't proven anything yet and his playstyle is not suitable to carry a team. Anyways, that's based only on my own observation when he was in college.

[Questat]

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie.

Hype is normal because we are talking about the number 1 overall pick.

I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well, Dallas are also a young team but they are in the playoff ranking now, so it's not impossible for the Pelicans to bounce back by winning games once their best player comes back, they are young but full of talent, I believe.

Do you really believe that their number 1 rookie is their best player? Well, I don't think so since he hasn't proven anything yet and his playstyle is not suitable to carry a team. Anyways, that's based only on my own observation when he was in college.

The fact that people are hyping Zion Williamson, they seem to believe that he will give his team a boost.
Well we haven't seen him played yet in regular season yet but he had an awesome pre season stats with an average of 23.3 points.
https://www.foxsports.com/nba/zion-williamson-player-stats?seasonType=3

he has to bring that in regular season...

[Golftech]

What to expect from a young core with an injured super hyped rookie.

Hype is normal because we are talking about the number 1 overall pick.

I don't think the Pelicans will be able to secure a spot in the playoffs since they are less experienced team.

Well, Dallas are also a young team but they are in the playoff ranking now, so it's not impossible for the Pelicans to bounce back by winning games once their best player comes back, they are young but full of talent, I believe.

Do you really believe that their number 1 rookie is their best player? Well, I don't think so since he hasn't proven anything yet and his playstyle is not suitable to carry a team. Anyways, that's based only on my own observation when he was in college.

He's presence might give them some lift but not that big to have an impact to their stats. There are lots of adjustment and with how Ball managing
the play the focus might not be for Zion as they already have working system. But it will be depends from how the coaching staff will manage and
adjust for new rotations in order to make some good working one for him.

[Captain Corporate]

 Pelicans still have a lot of time to improve, all of their players are young and they are still getting better every single year, I doubt this is just the ceiling they will reach, even Dallas became a good team with just one Doncic addition and they got KP this year and suddenly became very good. So with more improvements on players like Lonzo and Ingram and addition of Zion could make this team a playoff team if they play a full season without injuries, with 3-5 years like that and they can actually become a contender. Not saying this will definitely happen but its actually a possibility if they are coached well and improve well enough.

[RealMalatesta]

I doubt the hype is because dude is just a number one overall, there has been plenty of number one overalls in the past 10 years and only few of them got the attention Zion got. Dude has been known as a "youtube phenom" ever since he was in high school, when he got to Duke everyone was wondering if he was so good on videos because he played weak rivals or would he be good even in Duke and dude actually played very well in Duke as well, not saying that matters the most but he passed the test in front of him.

Of course now he has to play in NBA and show how good he is but it looks like dude can actually jump very well and he is thick so he can actually be an insane rebounder, nobody thinks he can be a superstar like Lebron, Harden, Giannis or whoever at that level but dude can %100 guaranteed to be a good player, possibly all-star for 10+ years, thats not something you can get very easily so he is very valuable.

[Reid]

Wow, I love seeing when you guys are heating up the talk about an upcoming young gun specially the number 1 draft pick.

Well, he is strong, no doubts about that.
I want to see the mentality though when he comes back.
Can he really take the pressure of so much expectation that is lurking around.
I bet he can read everything in Twitter and is giving him goosebumps.

This aint college basketball anymore. This is NBA which will also tell his future. He needs a lot of courage on his debut. Show it to everyone.  

[NavI_027]

Don't get me wrong guys, Zion is a good rookie. But whatever you'll say, his efficiency will definitely decrese due to his previous injury (in physical or mental aspect). So I guess it's better if we don't expect too much at this moment, let's give him some time to cope first. I just hope things will turn good for him because many fans and I'm sure that his team as well is rooting on him, I hope he will not choke throughout his career. .

Wow, I love seeing when you guys are heating up the talk about an upcoming young gun specially the number 1 draft pick.

I also love the atmosphere as long as it will remain a friendly debate. How funny to think that we suddenly became sports analysts because of that rookie.

Guys, I think Ja Morant is better than Zion. (Lol sorry for creating additional issue , just kidding)

[Naida_BR]

Who can stop Giannis?
He is keep rolling with amazing plays and performances something that I didn't expect happening when the season started.
I believe that he has accomplished to have other legends such as Curry and Lebron being under his shadow.

[wheelz1200]

Zion Williamson will make his season debut with the New Orleans Pelicans in the coming days or weeks, but will not have much playing time. The head coach of the Pelicans, Alvin Gentry, confirmed the news while speaking to reporters, stating that Williamson will play very limited minutes upon his return

Source: https://www.talkbasket.net/64225-zion-williamson-will-play-very-limited-minutes-upon-his-return

Pelicans have 7-3 in their last 10 games. Will this return make their team to playoffs? Your thoughts?

Quick follow up here, Zion is set to return next Wednesday against San Antonio at home and according to their GM he won't have any minute restrictions though i'm pretty sure they won't play him a bunch (i would say less than 30min a game), esp not on back-to-backs etc.

As for the Pelicans making the playoffs, hard to say at this point, they are not far away though just 4 games behind the 8th spot...it's a possibility imo.
I do believe they will have a better second half of the season.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2863298-pelicans-zion-williamson-expected-to-make-nba-debut-jan-22-after-knee-injury

We have to observe first because Zion has been lay off for many games, if he is still confident then we would surely see his old self again and he can help the young pelicans to improve their standing.

Though they are rank at number 14 in the west -https://www.nba.com/standings, but they are still close to the number 8, still positive to be in the top 8 spot, and so it could be possible for the Warriors once Curry and Thompson come back.

Golden state has no chance really.  They have the worst record in the nba and are 11 games out of the loss column.  They would need to win 11 straight and the 8th seed and everyone ahead of golden state to loss 11 straight games...just for them to be tied for 8th...in other words, not going to happen.  Book it.

[bamboylee]

Who can stop Giannis?
He is keep rolling with amazing plays and performances something that I didn't expect happening when the season started.
I believe that he has accomplished to have other legends such as Curry and Lebron being under his shadow.

He got impressive stats but he does not accomplish anything yet. He needs to get that elusive ring yet before you can say he had accomplished something. Oh, before the ring, he needs to bring his team to NBA Finals first. And saying Giannis is over Curry and Lebron is an overstatement. Those two have already achieved a lot while changing the game. They made an impact on the NBA. You cannot say that yet with Giannis.

[Maotezi]

Who can stop Giannis?
He is keep rolling with amazing plays and performances something that I didn't expect happening when the season started.
I believe that he has accomplished to have other legends such as Curry and Lebron being under his shadow.

I do not understand that you are surprised by his game, he is a player of great trump cards, who did not stop with his vestion, but is progressing with the training day by day.
Curry is a different topic and I don't think he can compare the two, with Leobron outperforming