2024 NBA Season

[mirakal]

Guys, I was thinking, with James Harden going to the Brooklyn Nets, do you think the team will be more competitive? They can beat the Lakers for example?

Until now, it seems to me that everything is going well, let's see how the team will fit in some time.

Yes.

They are upgraded with that roster but that doesn't mean that they can be assured of beating strong teams like the Lakers.

There chances has just increase in winning the championship, and we can verify that based on the odds for championship which they are currently at the number 2 now, lakers still at the number 1. Which means, Lakers are favorites in the West and Nets are in the East and if these two will meet, Nets will be the underdog,.. I'm sure some bettors would like that.

I see them on Eastern conference at the top 5 but they're not that much different from the top 1-4 standings.

You misunderstood me, what I'm talking is about the betting odds for the NBA Futures, not the current standing.

Here's the update betting odds _ https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/

[SquallLeonhart]

Harden still looks fat, there is no denying that, but dude had a 30+ point triple double as well, which confuses everyone. I mean you have to accept the fact that dude may have dropped 44 points on first game of the season, had a 30+ point TD this game, but he still looks a lot fatter than he used to as well these are not stuff that contradicts each other.

Shaq was one of the fattest basketball players I have ever seen, on his biggest Shaq could be about 400 pounds, never officially declared at that weight but he did looked that fat on his fattest periods, but he was one of the best players ever as well. So, just because someone is fat doesn't mean they will be bad. However I believe if Harden is this good with this body, if he slimmed down he could be even better. I also think Kyrie not being there really helped him, Harden is a ball dominant player and if Kyrie has the ball that eliminated Harden instantly.

The biggest problem Harden has and weirdly enough what houston had when coached by MDA was the fact that Harden stands when he doesn't have the ball because the possession should have ended already. The logic of playing very quick means Harden has the ball, brings the ball up, either scores or passes, when he passes others shoot and if it is a make then great, if not then they get back on defense quicker but that's about it.

On very rare occasions Harden passes, and the person who got the ball doesn't shoot, in that situation Rockets just passed around or players tried to find a shot, but Harden was just waiting at the top of the key and that's it, nothing more, just... waits. He did that on Nets too last night, I feel like he should try to learn to move without the ball, that way he could potentially be still awesome when kyrie comes back and dribbles the ball a million times.

[Viscore]

if not then they get back on defense quicker but that's about it.

Sorry but I believe Harden doesn't know how to play defense, he is just a pure scorer and a good passer, and I understand that because no one is really perfect, there's always a weakness, Harden is a good shooter outside and inside and he is very smart on getting the one who will guard him into foul trouble.

[OgNasty]

Is today the day we see the new Nets Big 3? Part of me thinks Kyrie isn’t done with his prima donna attention grasping thing yet but you never know. He’s probably also looking forward to collecting paychecks again after getting hit with over $800K in fines so maybe we’ll get the show we deserve today.

[stomachgrowls]

if not then they get back on defense quicker but that's about it.

Sorry but I believe Harden doesn't know how to play defense, he is just a pure scorer and a good passer, and I understand that because no one is really perfect, there's always a weakness, Harden is a good shooter outside and inside and he is very smart on getting the one who will guard him into foul trouble.

Definitely right!

When it comes to defense then Harden isnt the type of player who can do such role but when it comes to scoring then we wont really have any questions.
When it comes in talks of perfect player then i do rather consider Lebron which can do all roles from offense or defense etc.

Is today the day we see the new Nets Big 3? Part of me thinks Kyrie isn’t done with his prima donna attention grasping thing yet but you never know. He’s probably also looking forward to collecting paychecks again after getting hit with over $800K in fines so maybe we’ll get the show we deserve today.

Lets see if we would able to witness that one and i agree on that line about collecting paychecks. 

Well 800k wont really be that much of an issue yet he can cover it up in no time but still that one really hurts.

[gagux123]

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Thank you so much for your opinions guys, it's always good to see what other users think about it.
I also agree that it is a little early to know if Brooklyn Nets will be a super team, only time will tell.

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

[Rikafip]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

Albeit that's always the possibility, I don't think that something similar will happen to Nets. Iirc Lakers had many issues that season with injuries and that's something you can't really control, then they changed the coach etc, it was a mess overall. So in case Durant/Harden/Kyrie gets injured, then I could see Nets struggling to reach playoffs but otherwise, I would really be surprised not to see them at least in the Conference final.

Sorry but I believe Harden doesn't know how to play defense, he is just a pure scorer and a good passer, and I understand that because no one is really perfect, there's always a weakness, Harden is a good shooter outside and inside and he is very smart on getting the one who will guard him into foul trouble.

That's one of the misconceptions that Harden is unable to play defense. Sure, he will never be two-way type of player, so someone like Kawhi, but his defense is still pretty solid, especially in the last few years. Problem is that he is so dominant offensively that the fact that he simply ain't as good defensively sticks out, so he seems like a worse defensively that he actually is. The only player that I can think of who was on that level (and beyond) offensively while still an elite defensive player was Jordan. Younger generations probably don't know how good MJ was in that aspect of the game. When he decided that someone won't score, that was it.

[gagux123]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

Albeit that's always the possibility, I don't think that something similar will happen to Nets. Iirc Lakers had many issues that season with injuries and that's something you can't really control, then they changed the coach etc, it was a mess overall. So in case Durant/Harden/Kyrie gets injured, then I could see Nets struggling to reach playoffs but otherwise, I would really be surprised not to see them at least in the Conference final.

Yes, sure, you said something that I didn't remember about the injuries.
I also agree that the Nets have a great chance of reaching the final of the conference too, if any of the players (Durant, Harden and Irving) suffer an injury during the season, I think the chances would decrease considerably.
We also have to consider that if that happens, reserve players will have to do their part to try to make up for this possible loss.

[chaser15]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

You also have to remember that the 2012-13 Lakers are hit with lots of injuries.

Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Ron Artest, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, to name a few.

It's different to the Nets today. The team played last season on the bubble without their superstars but look at their performance. And although some of their good players were traded because of the James Harden deal, there are still players left on the roster that played good in the bubble.

[gagux123]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

You also have to remember that the 2012-13 Lakers are hit with lots of injuries.

Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Ron Artest, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, to name a few.

It's different to the Nets today. The team played last season on the bubble without their superstars but look at their performance. And although some of their good players were traded because of the James Harden deal, there are still players left on the roster that played good in the bubble.

Yes, have no doubts, as I said just above, I didn't even remember that this season the Lakers had several players injured. But I remember that this Lakers team, one of his goals to be assembled was to beat the Miami Heat at that time (Lebron, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Birdman and others players)
But one thing I would like to say, Nets need to have reserve players who take responsibility, as perhaps some star of the team can be injured.

[Botnake]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

You also have to remember that the 2012-13 Lakers are hit with lots of injuries.

Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Ron Artest, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, to name a few.

It's different to the Nets today. The team played last season on the bubble without their superstars but look at their performance. And although some of their good players were traded because of the James Harden deal, there are still players left on the roster that played good in the bubble.

Yes, have no doubts, as I said just above, I didn't even remember that this season the Lakers had several players injured. But I remember that this Lakers team, one of his goals to be assembled was to beat the Miami Heat at that time (Lebron, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Ray Allen, Birdman and others players)
But one thing I would like to say,

When Lebron made the Heat a superteam, Lakers was already not a championship contender team, it was the Spurs who dominated the West that time and Heat and Spurs face many times in the NBA Finals.

Nets need to have reserve players who take responsibility, as perhaps some star of the team can be injured.

They have the players to do that, the management is not stupid for form a big 3 if they will sacrifice the other role players of the team.
Let's just watch and see the outcome of this big experiment.

[ultrloa]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

You also have to remember that the 2012-13 Lakers are hit with lots of injuries.

Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Ron Artest, Steve Blake, Derek Fisher, to name a few.

It's different to the Nets today. The team played last season on the bubble without their superstars but look at their performance. And although some of their good players were traded because of the James Harden deal, there are still players left on the roster that played good in the bubble.

Nets need to have reserve players who take responsibility, as perhaps some star of the team can be injured.

We already saw what is the result of one player is out in nets right? They manage to win even though kyrie is out of the picture and their two superstar creates a big numbers to help their team win on their last game so I don't think their will be still a problem with that since once kyrie came back for sure it's a big trouble for their opponent. Although we can't deny that they drop their good piece but for sure the coaching staff knows on what they are doing on their rooster.

[chaser15]

But one thing I would like to say, Nets need to have reserve players who take responsibility, as perhaps some star of the team can be injured.

I hope so too that some of their bench players will able to step up once their superstars got injured. They are the only backups they need as they can't sign a player anymore to add to their roster unless via trade.

Nets already gambled their future just to acquire James Harden. They lose even their draft picks right. Good or bad decision for the Nets (I'm on the latter), we will see this at the end of the season.

[Febo]

Sorry but I believe Harden doesn't know how to play defense, he is just a pure scorer and a good passer, and I understand that because no one is really perfect, there's always a weakness, Harden is a good shooter outside and inside and he is very smart on getting the one who will guard him into foul trouble.

That's one of the misconceptions that Harden is unable to play defense.

Yup. I dont understand why so many say he dont play defence. He is one of better defenders. Ha always have a lot of steals. He looked not interested much at Huston this season but I just looked he had huge 4 steals in last game for Nets. His average this season is 1.2 what put him on rank.40. I do expect he will climb up.

[akirasendo17]

I think he plays defense, but mainly he is more focused on scoring, instead of defense, you can see that in lots of hardens play, yes he got a block and got still but that's just in some plays if you see other star players they do all around, LeBron, KD, the Klaw, they do balance playing, that is why they easily saw hardens playing less defense, I think that's what hardens need to be better than before, he is already great but if he can play like them he will be more unstoppable.

[Fredomago]

I think he plays defense, but mainly he is more focused on scoring, instead of defense, you can see that in lots of hardens play, yes he got a block and got still but that's just in some plays if you see other star players they do all around, LeBron, KD, the Klaw, they do balance playing, that is why they easily saw hardens playing less defense, I think that's what hardens need to be better than before, he is already great but if he can play like them he will be more unstoppable.

You said it right! if Harden focus in adjusting himself to play smartly and not just focus handling the ball and create
an offensive attacks, he need  being more flexible helping the entire team winning the game.

Not all relies with offensive capabilities, MJ as a great example always inside the top defender when he still playing. He loves competing with great players from his generation.

Knowing when to adjust and how to you can play as role players would be great move
for him if he really aiming to win the title.

[jaberwock]

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

I will never let down that 2012-2013 in my life, that was a weird weird year. Steve Nash at PG (even though he was 38 years old), Kobe at SG, Ron Artest at SF, Pau Gasol at PF and Dwight Howard at Center positions. That was by far the best starting five in the entire league and they were seen as sure fire champions before the year started. What happened?

Well, first Steve Nash missed over 30 games and he was 38 years old as well, even though he was decent he was nowhere near his MVP years, that is 10 years before that, Kobe gets the worst injury in his career that basically ended his career, he lingered few more years with some more injuries but retired, Ron Artes was surely not enough, Pau missed bunch of games as well but came back strong on playoffs but he wasn't enough neither and Dwight was just a big baby and didn't played like he used to. It was really a horrible year for a Laker fan, we were all really really angry about that year.

[OgNasty]

Steph Curry is a killer... Not seeing him play for so long you can forget that he’s the best shooter with a basketball mankind has ever produced. Watching him take down the Lakers last night was something special. Still banging clutch shots and doing whatever craziness is needed to help his team win. I never enjoy watching LeBron miss a game winner, but was glad to see Steph get credit for nailing the game winner last night.

[Vaculin]

Steph Curry is a killer... Not seeing him play for so long you can forget that he’s the best shooter with a basketball mankind has ever produced. Watching him take down the Lakers last night was something special. Still banging clutch shots and doing whatever craziness is needed to help his team win. I never enjoy watching LeBron miss a game winner, but was glad to see Steph get credit for nailing the game winner last night.

He was really clutch, we can see that, but Lebron is the opposite, if the game is close, don't give the ball to him as he will either pass the ball or will shoot a fade away 3 point shot, a very low percentage shot consider his 3 point shooting statistics.

[boyptc]

You misunderstood me, what I'm talking is about the betting odds for the NBA Futures, not the current standing.

Here's the update betting odds _ https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/odds/futures/

Hey yeah, I misunderstood you. I've took a peek on the standings instead of the odds /nba futures.

Thank you so much for your opinions guys, it's always good to see what other users think about it.
I also agree that it is a little early to know if Brooklyn Nets will be a super team, only time will tell.

Something I'm worried about, is the Nets becoming the Lakers of the 2012-2013 season, with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, they were a good team, but unfortunately they only made 45/37 .549 w

It's still a long run for the Nets to compare with the past roster of Lakers that you've said for that particular season. I think we just have to have fun and see if this is truly a greater team or they'll be ending up the same with that LAL's 12-13 season strong roster yet went to the unexpected outcome.