***Official NBA Thread***

[Ali TT]

The criticism is that he has lost multiple playoff series due to him performing poorly - I) against weaker teams that his team was favoured to win against or II) got absolutely destroyed by some stronger playoff teams with Dame hardly putting up a fight.

Yeah but it's easy for better teams to shut down one man teams in the play offs. Doesn't mean that the one player is overrated or necessarily under-performed. Lillard has never had a superstar level teammate like Giannis so will be interesting to see how they get on.

 

[duffer]

yeah saw that the 76s are interested, hopefully they are

Philly, Clips and Boston the three suitors according to woj

 

[social]

Suns & Ayton must really have hated each other

 

[Teja.]

Hmm, none of his playoff exits fit this imo

In 2018 first round, they were the 3rd seed and were generous odds favourites to win (-250) the series against 6th seed New Orleans. They were swept in large part due to Dame having a 18/4/4 series with 4 turnovers a game shooting an atrocious 35% from the field and 30% from 3 on 8 attempts a game.

He was several degrees worse than CJ who put up 25/3/3 at 52/41/77 and Aminu with 17/9/2 at 53/41/90 on his own team both of them combined not having as many turnovers as him. Didn’t score more than 20 points in a single game despite multiple close winnable games.

 

[OverratedSanity]

In 2018 first round, they were the 3rd seed and were generous odds favourites to win (-250) the series against 6th seed New Orleans. They were swept in large part due to Dame having a 18/4/4 series with 4 turnovers a game shooting an atrocious 35% from the field and 30% from 3 on 8 attempts a game.

They won 49 games that season and pels won 48. The seeding is pretty misleading. He was pretty bad individually but his poor splits were exacerbated by the pelicans selling out to stop dame, which the blazers couldn't handle because they ran a ton of one v one actions. Unlike Curry (who's much better than Dame obviously) who has a excellent secondary playmakers like Draymond who can exploit the 4 v 3s he creates.

I think he's played with the least amount of talent around him for any superstar this era. He'll work great with Giannis imo (who himself will benefit a lot from a great shooter like Dame).

 

[Teja.]

Suns & Ayton must really have hated each other

I think the expectations were too high from him early on. He is a heck of a talent who was putting up 18/11 on default from day 1 and is actually a decent defender. He also had a very good finals run in 2021. He was just expected to be this powerhouse old school center who is at the rim on both ends when he isn’t that type of player.

Think he’d thrive in a setting where there’s a developing team, every year is not championship or bust and he isn’t the most convenient scapegoat whenever things go sideways.

 

[Teja.]

They won 49 games that season and pels won 48. The seeding is pretty misleading. He was pretty bad individually but his poor splits were exacerbated by the pelicans selling out to stop dame, which the blazers couldn't handle because they ran a ton of one v one actions. Unlike Curry (who's much better than Dame obviously) who has a excellent secondary playmakers like Draymond who can exploit the 4 v 3s he creates.

I think he's played with the least amount of talent around him for any superstar this era. He'll work great with Giannis imo (who himself will benefit a lot from a great shooter like Dame).

Man, they still entered the series comfortable odds favourites regardless of the win gap. The series was still winnable early on. The first game had a 2 point gap for example, with Dame going 2/8 in the 4th quarter while the rest of the team fought back. There are mitigating factors about defensive attention but they exist for most No.1 options not on stacked teams but they still get chewed up for bad performances.

I don't disagree that he's a great player but I see him as a Top 15-ish player with his own limitations and mildly overrated. Obviously, any team would love to have a second best player as good as him. I think the Nuggets should still be favs though.

 

[Ali TT]

Man, they still entered the series comfortable odds favourites regardless of the win gap. The series was still winnable early on. The first game had a 2 point gap for example, with Dame going 2/8 in the 4th quarter while the rest of the team fought back. There are mitigating factors about defensive attention but they exist for most No.1 options not on stacked teams but they still get chewed up for bad performances.

I don't disagree that he's a great player but I see him as a Top 15-ish player with his own limitations and mildly overrated. Obviously, any team would love to have a second best player as good as him. I think the Nuggets should still be favs though.

Top 15 all time? No chance

 

[Anil]

Man, they still entered the series comfortable odds favourites regardless of the win gap. The series was still winnable early on. The first game had a 2 point gap for example, with Dame going 2/8 in the 4th quarter while the rest of the team fought back. There are mitigating factors about defensive attention but they exist for most No.1 options not on stacked teams but they still get chewed up for bad performances.

I don't disagree that he's a great player but I see him as a Top 15-ish player with his own limitations and mildly overrated. Obviously, any team would love to have a second best player as good as him. I think the Nuggets should still be favs though.

Do you mean top 15 among current players or all time? The former is probably accurate…

 

[Teja.]

Top 15 all time? No chance

Do you mean top 15 among current players or all time? The former is probably accurate…

Current obviously!

 

[Ali TT]

Current obviously!

Phew

 

[Smudge]

Most likely with 2 guards, 2 forwards and 1 center in the starting lineup, with a gaggle of other players seeing minutes off the bench.








But that's not important right now.

Look at old Leslie Neilsen over here.

 

[andruid]

Portland have flipped Jrue Holiday to Boston for quite a haul. I like the upgrade in the guard positions for Boston but not the cost of the trade

 

[Anil]

Yeah Williams and Brogdon a big price to pay for Holiday at this stage of his career…they have an excellent starting five if everyone stays healthy but the team is pretty thin behind the stars…

 

[social]

Williams is injury prone & Brogdon was 6th man who wanted out

They’re big favourites to come out of the East again

 

[duffer]

Boston felt they absolutely had to make that trade to keep up with Milwaukee.

So amped for this season

 

[Anil]

Nuggets, Phoenix, Lakers and maybe the Clippers (if the Brittle Bros can get through a season without breaking something) the cream of the West...I don't know about Memphis this season...Sacramento similar to the Cavs, a solid young team full of promise but not quite a contender yet...
Bucks, Celtics again leading the pack in the East, the Heat has over performed significantly in the last 2-3 years but I don't see how they can keep it up without significant roster upgrades...and Harden looks set to drag the Sixers season down as he maneuvers his way out of there...the Cavs are good but I still don't see them beating the Bucks or the Celtics in a playoff series...

 

[Teja.]

Jrue is a player whose shooting % has taken an absolute beating in the playoffs every season in MIL (3 seasons total). It reduces for almost every player but I think his has to be one of the highest for a decent sample size and the most notable in the recent past. This is a pattern every single year as well, always drops several levels in the playoffs as a shooter.

For 3 seasons from the 2020-21 season:

FG - 49.4% in regular season vs 39.6% in playoffs
3P - 39.6% in regular season vs 30.8% in playoffs
EFG - 56.5% in regular season vs 45% in playoffs
TS% - 59% in regular season vs 47.6% in playoffs

Basically turns from a decent to good shooter to a much below average shooter. His defence still makes him a decent player but not a great trade IMO.

 

[Anil]

Butler’s new look!

 

[duffer]

Nuggets to host Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, “Inside The NBA” team on Banner Night at Ball Arena

The Nuggets are about to get a taste of what Deion Sanders and CU football have brought to Boulder this fall. Namely, big names, big music and one big party — this one in honor of the defending NBA…

www.denverpost.com

Banner night in Denver? Gawd, I've read that a thousand times and it still hasn't sunk in