The NBA Thread.

https://x.com/maskedinla/status/1765858079831376296?s=46&t=-g4-4SHxx6dZ80rS7hnjTA

Lol

 

KAT having surgery. Steph leaves a game early with an ankle injury. LeBron has been nursing an ankle issue for a while now.

The West has stayed pretty injury free besides the expected guys (Beal, Kyrie). Every spot is a tight race, so should be interesting to see how this impacts the standings.

Also, Celtics go from looking unstoppable to losing to Denver… again. They’ve reached the point where anything less than a title will be a disappointment, and idk if they’re good enough to beat Denver.

 

Nick Wright pointing out how weird Darvin Ham's rotation decisions are:

Lakers starters built a 12 point lead in the first 5 minutes of the game against the Kings Wednesday night (that lead eventually grew to 19), then didn't play another minute together until the start of the second half, where they were now down by 17.

Cam Reddish CLOSED the game against the Nuggets last Saturday (I called it out as weird in here), then he was a DNP - Coach's decision against the Kings on Wednesday. And the thing is, he MIGHT actually be useful against the Kings! They need someone who can stay in front of Fox, and with Vanderbilt out, Reddish might be the best candidate... but Ham doesn't play him!

Ham doesn't know what he's [uck fay]ing doing.

 

Stephen A has been annoying the hell out of me lately, but listening to him pronounce Vegeta over and over may push me over the edge.

https://x.com/stephenasmith/status/1766239271302684687?s=46&t=-g4-4SHxx6dZ80rS7hnjTA

 

AD was an absolute terror last night. Almost had a 5x5 game, but even without it, 25x25 with 10 stocks is pretty damn awesome.

 

Looking back at some of the top 10 rankings for players going into this season, it's interesting how much seems to have changed.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...is-eye-no-1-lebron-james-falls-out-of-top-10/

This one has:

1. Jokic
2. Giannis
3. Steph
4. Luka
5. KD
6. Embiid
7. Tatum
8. Booker
9. Jimmy
10. Dame

Embiid is 3rd at worst right now. Steph probably isn't in the top 5. Tatum is hard to judge because his team is killing it, but all the guys around him are awesome. Dame and Booker obviously don't belong in the top 10, and if not for Jimmy's playoffs heroics of late, he'd be out too.

Shai belongs in that 8-10 range at best until he does work in the postseason. LeBron or AD (maybe both) should be in there. ANT is probably just outside the top 10. Could possible make a case for Kawhi in the top 10.

I think I'd go:

1. Jokic
2. Giannis
3. Embiid
4. Luka
5. AD
6. KD
7. Tatum
8. LeBron
9. Steph
10. Jimmy

Those last 3 are tough. Hard to exclude LeBron when you probably take him over anyone not named Jokic or Giannis in a playoff series. Hard to exclude Steph because he's Steph, but they're also the 10 seed. And then the Jimmy/Shai discussion is really tough. Shai is obviously having the better season, but Jimmy has the playoff success behind him.

AD at 5 felt high when I typed it, but he's having an absolute monster season.

 

https://x.com/thedunkcentral/status/1767924964315799962?s=46&t=-g4-4SHxx6dZ80rS7hnjTA

1. Nikola Jokic
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo
3. Luka Doncic
4. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
5. Joel Embiid
6. Kawhi Leonard
7. Stephen Curry
8. Jayson Tatum
9. Kevin Durant
10. Devin Booker
11. Anthony Davis
12. LeBron James
13. Jimmy Butler
14. Tyrese Haliburton
15. Donovan Mitchell

 

Shai at 4 is WILD to me, although this seems like more of a “this season” ranking.

 

In other words... Lakers are [uck fay]ed. lol

 

I don't see how they can rank Shai higher, especially 3 spots higher, than Tatum unless they think Shai is just that much of a late bloomer and is just now taking off. Or it's a this season type ranking like you said, but then Embiid shouldn't be that high with how many games he's missed/going to miss. Looks like that's just a ranking of their favorite players.

Though to be fair, without looking at the rosters, I'd bet Tatum's supporting cast has been far superior to SGA's throughout both of their tenures.

I don't put Booker anywhere near my top 10, but that's admittedly personal bias because [uck fay] him and I can't stand him.

 

Kings just have the Lakers number this season. Bron finally took over on offense and they cut it to 9. Then, on the next 6 Kings possessions:

Kings 3
Kings 3
Turnover
Kings 2
Kings 3
Kings 3

 

Embiid was having one of the greatest seasons of all time prior to getting injured, so I don't mind him being up that high despite the injury if it's a this season thing.

The difference between Shai and Tatum is that the Celtics are absolutely loaded all around Tatum, and the Thunder are young and tearing it up way earlier than anyone expected. If it's a just this season thing, I'm fine with Shai being up there, but they should definitely clarify what they're even ranking.

And yeah, Booker ain't top 10.

 

Harrison Barnes out here doing his Reed Shepherd impression. Was 7-10 from 3 a second ago.

 

I get that the Lakers don't care if they end up in the 8 seed because there's a good chance it means they get to face the Thunder in round 1.

The problem with that line of thinking is that it could also lead to them playing Denver in round 1. The other problem is that one bad shooting night against the 10 seed could sink them, and if they end up playing 1 game against the Kings for the 8 seed, it's probably 1, 2, 3, Cancun.

 

Lol, Boston has 7 of the top 10 in net rating. Jaylen Brown is 12th (Isaiah Joe is 11th). Derrick White actually leads the league right now in Offensive Rating with 122.7 over Jokic and Haliburton's 122.2.

Obviously just one metric, but damn.

 

Shai above Tatum is not a weird thing at all. He is a top-2 MVP candidate lol

 

If it’s just a “who’s playing the best this season” ranking, then sure. But if it’s taking anything outside of this season into consideration, then yeah, it’s weird.

Shai has also been getting cooked for stat padding. Fouling dudes while down 10+ so he can get the ball back and score again lol

 

Boston has backed themselves into a corner where anything short of a title will be a disappointment. If they miss the Finals, it will be really bad.

 

He did this last season too, his team is better now. I have no issue with their top 5 or with saying he's one of the 5 best players in the NBA

 

Having Shai outside of the top 10 while the 9th seed in the West gets 2 of the top 8 is much wilder. There is absolutely no case whatsoever outside of Lakerland for AD above Shai lol