The Official 2021-2022 NBA Season Thread

[albionmoonlight]

Fun!

Go Pels!

[miami_fan]

It's a four point game. Take the easy two if you can get it.

[Brian Swartz]

Chalk up Jordan Poole as the latest to demonstrate that I don't understand modern basketball. I didn't see anything from him at Michigan that made me think he would make it in the NBA. I thought Charles Matthews would unquestionably be a better pro, and .... yeah, that didn't happen.

[larrymcg421]

JAYSON TATUM!

[larrymcg421]

[miami_fan]

You can admit it Celts fans. You were terrified when Marcus Smart caught that ball at the three point line. Full credit to him for not just launching the three and then finding Tatum for the winner.

[Atocep]

Marcus Smart winning DPOY seems like a career achievement thing more than an award for what he did specifically this year. He's a great defender, but it's hard to justify him over Adabayo and Gobert or even Jaren Jackson.

Matisse Thybulle getting a single 3rd place vote feels criminal and finishing 11th feels criminal.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

You can admit it Celts fans. You were terrified when Marcus Smart caught that ball at the three point line. Full credit to him for not just launching the three and then finding Tatum for the winner.

Someone apparently forgot to tell the Nets defenders this who flew by him like they were caught in the vortex of a high-cat hurricane.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Marcus Smart winning DPOY seems like a career achievement thing more than an award for what he did specifically this year. He's a great defender, but it's hard to justify him over Adabayo and Gobert or even Jaren Jackson.

Matisse Thybulle getting a single 3rd place vote feels criminal and finishing 11th feels criminal.

Youngin's never get the respect early, though he is special. Once he presumably starts for the full season next year, I bet he will be top 5. I think it's a cool coincidence that he shares the same birthday as Draymond.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Marcus Smart winning DPOY seems like a career achievement thing more than an award for what he did specifically this year. He's a great defender, but it's hard to justify him over Adabayo and Gobert or even Jaren Jackson.

Matisse Thybulle getting a single 3rd place vote feels criminal and finishing 11th feels criminal.

I don't mind Smart winning DPOY. You could make a case for him the easiest being that he is the best defensive player on the best defensive team. I would have chosen Bam Adebayo but I am biased. The fact that Bam was not in the top three is ludicrous. I can't speak to whether Mikael Bridges is deserving or not as I did not see enough of him. But Gobert is definitely living off past glory.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Marcus Smart winning DPOY seems like a career achievement thing more than an award for what he did specifically this year. He's a great defender, but it's hard to justify him over Adabayo and Gobert or even Jaren Jackson.

Matisse Thybulle getting a single 3rd place vote feels criminal and finishing 11th feels criminal.

I'd say Team Achievement over Career Achievement, and I do think a little of the "no guard has won in 25 years" narrative helped. Bam's problem was health - he played in 56 games vs 71 for Marcus. I'm not sure where the line is drawn (56 is right on the border for me, while the 46 Draymond played definitely seemed like too little), but I think it's completely valid to say being on the court for 20% more minutes is a difference maker if it's close between two great players. For Gobert he's still amazing in certain matchups and the slippage in Utah's D is not on him, but he had to be pulled off the floor in the playoffs last year. Hard for me to see someone be a 3 time DPoY if they aren't versatile enough to play in all situations. JJJ should get one soon enough if he stays healthy, but he does have a problem with fouling and it leads to some low minutes per game. Thybulle's a bench guy, and with the voting system I don't think he (or 3-4 more guys who were "6th-10th") should have gotten any votes.

Re: Smart catching the ball Sunday I have no problem with him taking catch & shoot 3's, it's off the dribble ones I hate him taking. I was actually more scared when Jaylen was trying to attack and nearly trapped himself on the baseline. Thought that might be a time to use a timeout, but it worked because we ended with a (tough, athletic) layup around a bad defender who can't rim protect at all vs probably a Tatum jumper over Durant or Claxton if we called timeout.

[Ksyrup]

Does anyone have any clue as to why NBA TV is blacked out for me? Memphis is not my "home" team and none of the regional channels showing it are working either (which I wouldn't expect). It's just totally bizarre that a playoff game is blacked out.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Does anyone have any clue as to why NBA TV is blacked out for me? Memphis is not my "home" team and none of the regional channels showing it are working either (which I wouldn't expect). It's just totally bizarre that a playoff game is blacked out.

Are you sure the Grizzlies are not your home team? I typed in a random Louisville zip code(40018) and Bally Sports Ohio supposedly the home of the Cavs and the Grizzlies there. The bad news is it looks like you can only get Bally Sports Ohio through Direct TV in that zip code. Here is the link I used. Hopefully it helps.

Don't Miss Your Favorite Teams on Bally Sports

[Ksyrup]

So I did a bit of googling and found the answer. We don't have just one "home" team, we have three - Grizzlies, Pacers and Cavs. However, I'm pretty certain that the only regional sports channel I can actually view a game on is for the sPacers. It used to be Cleveland. I have no way of watching Grizzlies games even though they are blacked out here. When a game is blacked out, DTV automatically tuned to a channel showing the game. It found none tonight.

Why Lexington needs 3 home teams, with Memphis 6 hours away, Cleveland 5 and Indy 3, is beyond me.

[stevew]

This New Orleans team is punching way above their weight, but is fun to watch.

[korme]

These playoffs have been so much fun so far

[NobodyHere]

I admit I LOLed

there are thousands of Taco Bell hot sauce packets cheering for the Jazz tonight pic.twitter.com/2t2ScBWpxy

— tim cato (@tim_cato) April 22, 2022

[larrymcg421]

Epic collapse by the Timberwolves.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Epic collapse by the Timberwolves.

Eh, can it really be an epic collapse if it is the Timberwolves are the ones doing the collapsing?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Epic collapse by the Timberwolves.

To be fair, they won the NBA Title last week vs the Clippers and they’re still basking in the afterglow

[miami_fan]

Has the whole Donovan Mitchell does not pass to Rudy Gobert been a long setup just to able to run that play that might save their season?

[miami_fan]

I have not seen anything to suggest that Steve Nash would be a good NBA head coach. I think he should lose his job because of that but it would be harsh given the Kyrie affected regular season. If Nash is going to remain the head coach, the team really need to hire whoever the 2022 versions of Tex Winter, Johnny Bach and Jim Cleamons to help him until he figures this thing out.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I have not seen anything to suggest that Steve Nash would be a good NBA head coach. I think he should lose his job because of that but it would be harsh given the Kyrie affected regular season. If Nash is going to remain the head coach, the team really need to hire whoever the 2022 versions of Tex Winter, Johnny Bach and Jim Cleamons to help him until he figures this thing out.

I'm not saying Nash is a good coach by any means, but I think it's an organizational level issue in Brooklyn. Boston has a great support system and analytics department to feed Udoka information and develop him as a head coach. In Brooklyn it's largely been about having better players than the other team while letting Kyrie do what he wants.

[albionmoonlight]

New Orleans will always be a football town (Saints followed by LSU).

But this is the sort of run/team that really can help the NBA set down some roots there and make some longer-term fans.

This isn't a team with an unlikable superstar (Anthony Davis) or a superstar who does not want to be there (Chris Paul). This is a young DGAF team that is having a great time and bringing the fans along for the ride. And while I assume that the Suns will figure it out and end up winning this series, I think that the Pels have already done enough to make this season a huge success.

[stevew]

I really enjoy Nance Jr and the Pels do a great job of streaming young players in.

[miami_fan]

Scott Foster tried his best to get his name trending like Angel Hernandez but alas Boston winning lets him off the hook.

[Atocep]

It feels weird to me that we're now far enough away from Jordan's career that we have people that never saw him play trying to make the argument that Kobe was better.

[sovereignstar v2]

Uh. So that Ja Morant dunk I just witnessed.

[sovereignstar v2]

https://twitter.com/DkySports/status...XSt2bfEEQ&s=19

[molson]

Originally Posted by Atocep

It feels weird to me that we're now far enough away from Jordan's career that we have people that never saw him play trying to make the argument that Kobe was better.

I love this thought exercise.

Jordan is now as far back as Bill Russell was in 1988.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

It feels weird to me that we're now far enough away from Jordan's career that we have people that never saw him play trying to make the argument that Kobe was better.

Especially when we are supposed to be looking at the game through more analytical eyes. I get it though.

[Ksyrup]

Patrick Beverely trash talking Morant with the "you're too small" stuff, followed by Morant scoring 13 straight points including the game-winner during which Beverely fouls out, is pretty damn funny.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Uh. So that Ja Morant dunk I just witnessed.

Extra points for the officials who did not feel the need to call a block or charge.

[miami_fan]

Doc is getting nervous.

[Brian Swartz]

Never been a fan of him personally, but it seems that Chris Paul guy might be pretty good at this basketball thing.

[Qwikshot]

Really liked the Bucks beatdown of the Celtics today. That should cut down on the Bill Simmons victory crowning. I like Bill when he's objective, but once Boston teams enter the equation he can't help himself.

I'm pissed about Embiid's injury. I hope they can hold out against Miami.

But I'll be glad if the Celtics don't move forward.

[stevew]

That ejection on Draymond was really bad. It was clearly a flagrant but not a flagrant 2

[BishopMVP]

Bucks/Celtics game 1 was fun. It's jarring to watch the physicality in Celtics games these days then see the other series, but the Bucks came out and matched/exceeded it. Still Giannis was a monster but our overall D held up and the Jay's played terribly on offense and it was only a 12 point loss, so it should be a great series. Gonna be tough to win if we can't get more points in the paint, but at a minimum those two should shoot better from outside.

Can't wait to see Doc blame his loss to the Heat on Embiid's injury when he left him in in a blowout then started DeAndre Jordan tonight. He'll be great paired with LeBron and the Lakers shitshow next year.

[miami_fan]

The refs are allowing way too much physicality for anyone to take a chance with a flop.

[Atocep]

For the life of me I don't understand the appeal of Mike Brown as a head coach.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Atocep

For the life of me I don't understand the appeal of Mike Brown as a head coach.

Yeah I dunno

[Brian Swartz]

Safer than taking a risk on an unknown.

[miami_fan]

Also according to reports, it was either him or Mark Jackson. If those are the options, I am going with Mike Brown as well

[Brian Swartz]

What do you have against Jackson? I know he's been somewhat controversial, but I also think he did a pretty good job at Golden State.

[albionmoonlight]

It's funny how NFL and NBA culture are so different in those regards.

NFL teams want the youngest most up-and-coming offensive coach they can find.

NBA teams gravitate towards coaches who have multiple head coaching jobs before.

Wonder why?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

What do you have against Jackson? I know he's been somewhat controversial, but I also think he did a pretty good job at Golden State.

lol. He tried to be a defense first coach with the studs he had. Kerr took over the next year and won a title, Steph started winning MVP awards, and they started smashing records.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

What do you have against Jackson? I know he's been somewhat controversial, but I also think he did a pretty good job at Golden State.

I don 't have anything against Jackson. I don't think he would be good for the Kings. According to the reports, the Kings' owner wanted Jackson. The GM wanted Brown. That alone makes it a situation I would not want Jackson involved in.

I see Jackson as a better fit for a team like the Nets minus Kyrie. I don't mean they should fire Nash and replace him with Jackson. I wouldn't be against that idea but that is a different discussion and Kyrie is not going anywhere so it is a moot point. I mean a more veteran laden team with a level of professionalism to match his expectations. I know guys like Steph and Klay were very early in their Warrior careers but they had and have professionalism beyond their years since they have been around the pro game their entire lives. The rest of the Warrior roster had pros' pros throughout it. That is not a trait that runs through that Kings roster. I don't think Jackson would do well having to draw professionalism out of the players

Re: his time with the Warriors. I have already said I would hire him but he does have questions to answer and explanations to give about how things ended there. It is rare for an owner to fire a coach who has gone from 23 to 47 and then to 51 wins in his first three years on the job all with David Lee and Steph Curry being the lone All Stars. It is even rarer for the owner to say they have to get rid of you because you could not get along with 200+ members of the organization.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Lathum

He tried to be a defense first coach with the studs he had. Kerr took over the next year and won a title, Steph started winning MVP awards, and they started smashing records.

They were on an upwards trajectory with Jackson. You can think Kerr was the right person for the job at that time and also think Jackson didn't do a bad job with the team prior to that. Draymond Green was a second-year player, Klay Thompson a third-year player in 2013. It was Igoudala's first year with the team. If he had been there long enough for the team to stop improving, then yes you can fault Jackson for that, but that isn't what happened.

The issues of conflict within the organization is a much more valid concern for sure.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

They were on an upwards trajectory with Jackson. You can think Kerr was the right person for the job at that time and also think Jackson didn't do a bad job with the team prior to that. Draymond Green was a second-year player, Klay Thompson a third-year player in 2013. It was Igoudala's first year with the team. If he had been there long enough for the team to stop improving, then yes you can fault Jackson for that, but that isn't what happened.

The issues of conflict within the organization is a much more valid concern for sure.

There is a reason he was fired and hasn't gotten a job since. When you get fired and the team the next season wins 67 games and a title it is more than an upward trajectory.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

It's funny how NFL and NBA culture are so different in those regards.

NFL teams want the youngest most up-and-coming offensive coach they can find.

NBA teams gravitate towards coaches who have multiple head coaching jobs before.

Wonder why?

I can remember Dick Motta, Kevin Loughery, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Bill Fitch, Larry Brown, etc, all coaching multiple mediocre teams. Rinse and repeat.