2022-23 NBA Season Thread

[pwaldo]

Does anybody have any faith in the Kings as a threat? It actually seems like the top of the West might be the "weakest" come playoff time. I don't trust a bunch of teams out West. Seems like the Celtics and Bucks are on another level and everyone else is on a bottom tier in the NBA.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Does anybody have any faith in the Kings as a threat? It actually seems like the top of the West might be the "weakest" come playoff time. I don't trust a bunch of teams out West. Seems like the Celtics and Bucks are on another level and everyone else is on a bottom tier in the NBA.

I don't know what to make of the West. Even Denver now is slumping. My Thunder have won six of seven though and looked great last night; Giddey had a triple double, and they played great team basketball in the 4th to put the Nets away. Fun time to watch them as they gather steam and definitely look like they're making a serious run in the play-in slots, if not more.

Celtics are showing signs of weakness out East again, though; their last loss to Houston was embarrassing, and they're only 5-5 in their last 10. I think it's Bucks vs. whomever at this point.

[qman316]

Does anybody have any faith in the Kings as a threat? It actually seems like the top of the West might be the "weakest" come playoff time. I don't trust a bunch of teams out West. Seems like the Celtics and Bucks are on another level and everyone else is on a bottom tier in the NBA.

Unfortunately I don’t, they are a good team and fun to watch but I think playoff inexperience will ultimate get them in the second round. The whole west is a mess, I don’t trust anyone at this point. The bucks look like the best team in the NBA, if they can stay healthy I think they win it all, their only competition might be a healthy Suns but the chances of them being healthy for a whole playoff run are slim.

[pwaldo]

Yeah I could see a scenario depending on who is the #7 and #8 seed for the West that the Nuggets AND Kings get upset if they are the 1 and 2 seeds. Just weird momentum all around for everyone in the West right now.

[WilyWestbrook0]

About two weeks left of the season. The Mavs are particularly in a state of desperation -- Luka is about to face a one game suspension for technical fouls accumulated, and the Mavs are now currently out of the play-in. All from a team that made the West Finals just last season. If they don't make it, I think it's safe to say they move on from the Kyrie experiment, and I expect Jason Kidd to be out as coach as well. Heck I think those things are high possibilities even if they DO make the play-in and make the playoffs. I don't see them winning a playoff series with their current mess.

[qman316]

About two weeks left of the season. The Mavs are particularly in a state of desperation -- Luka is about to face a one game suspension for technical fouls accumulated, and the Mavs are now currently out of the play-in. All from a team that made the West Finals just last season. If they don't make it, I think it's safe to say they move on from the Kyrie experiment, and I expect Jason Kidd to be out as coach as well. Heck I think those things are high possibilities even if they DO make the play-in and make the playoffs. I don't see them winning a playoff series with their current mess.

Agree with everything you said. The mavs need a complete roster overhaul. But yeah the Kyrie experiment is a complete failure, never thought it made sense from the beginning! The last two weeks of the season are going to be interesting, little to no room for error for about 6-8 teams all jumbled together in the west.

[pwaldo]

I really don't like this move for the Mavericks (other than keeping him away from the Lakers?) and if I was Luka I would leave once my contract runs out. I still don't know how they have surrounded him with a bunch of garbage players in the age of super teams and this is there best attempt. A guy who is super toxic and probably the biggest poison pill in all of sports. The only other guy who seems to be able to tolerate or be immune to him is Lebron and he is pretty toxic for different reasons than Irving. Why you would risk putting him with a guy who could become an all time great I will never understand but Cuban has been exposed as an idiot for several years now so it shouldn't be so shocking.

Called it. Luka need another good player to play with but Irving isn't it and they traded a bunch of pieces that helped things on the defensive end. It isn't sexy but defense wins games especially when Luka isn't great on D. The West is wide open right now so they have really blown it (other than keeping Irving away from the Lakers and I'm not even sure that would have worked out great for the Lakers). Also Jason Kidd sucks as a coach and as a human being.

[qman316]

I am so annoyed with the Thunder… why are they still sitting SGA on back to backs, they need every win they can get and if he isn’t playing it isn’t a great chance they pull it out. There is no reason to not be all in on trying to make the play in/playoffs, their record isn’t bad enough to snag a top overall pick, SGA has to be tired of tanking, I just don’t get it he is currently healthy and still young, no major injuries for him this year so far either, so what gives??? Hopefully they can still snag a play in spot but we will see!

[WilyWestbrook0]

I am so annoyed with the Thunder… why are they still sitting SGA on back to backs, they need every win they can get and if he isn’t playing it isn’t a great chance they pull it out. There is no reason to not be all in on trying to make the play in/playoffs, their record isn’t bad enough to snag a top overall pick, SGA has to be tired of tanking, I just don’t get it he is currently healthy and still young, no major injuries for him this year so far either, so what gives??? Hopefully they can still snag a play in spot but we will see!

Load management is such an overdone thing these days.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Details on the league's new seven-year collective bargaining agreement:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ning-agreement

We were just discussing load management, so now they're giving players incentive to play more with requiring games played eligibility for some of the player awards.

The in-season tournament is an attempt to make the regular season more meaningful. A number of fans on some sites I'm reading aren't fans of the idea. Any thoughts on that or other elements of the new agreement?