Yeah, it's clearly not an identical situation, but it's the best we've got with the slate of young teams. Don't make me root for Orlando and their 1980s style offense.
Interesting - I actually had NOP and Dallas in your order and then flipped them at the last minute because I was cranky at NOP for beating the Dubs and costing us a chance at the 8 seed. But that's more our fault than their's, I suppose.
It's undoubtedly Petty Peasant status, but I take a little joy in Sabonis following our suit to crash out of the playoffs. People here sometimes like to pump up how great Mike Brown is compared to Kerr -- but Brown went from 3rd seed being upset, to 9th seed not making the playoffs -- if the Warriors are in a tough spot, the Kings are in a nightmare.
Seeing how the playoffs are shaping up, we need BIG changes. Like I said before, idc if the big 3 don't retire together, I'm not sentimental like that, I think we need to move on from maybe both Dray and Klay to make the shift in focus a lot easier. I guarantee Steph wouldn't make a peep about it either, he's a pros pro
Sac-Pels game replaying on TNT at 10. Focusing on betting. The NBA says it has a strict policy against betting, but meanwhile they are sponsoring the telecast of tonight’s game with a focus on betting and angles whatever that means.
A very interesting comment by the broadcasters. pelicans had a very poor home record and they asked CJ McCollum if it is to do with the tact that they don’t practice at the Pelicans facility when at home unlike for road games, where they practice at the same facility as the game is played. This game against Sac they came in morning and practiced here. Very strange - did not realize they practiced elsewhere. I don’t this would describe the Dubs home issues this season though.
Or, it's really mostly variance. Even for teams that would expect a 60% winrate at home, that still maths out to at least one such team ending with a losing record at home almost every year. NBA games are close enough for 5 game swings over 82 to happen pretty frequently even without accounting for injury and other luck factors.
Variance over 41 games is hard to explain especially when it leads to an unexpected result - like thr losing record at home for Dubs. In the case of the dubs it may just be they were just mediocre.
That, too. But the Kings being frauds shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise. They had the same record and a worse net rating than the Warriors, who were themselves frauds.
All in all youth and athleticism matters for a good defensive team and we have less with each passing year.
Please MDY don't trade our future for a "star".
Remember after next two years we will be bottom dwellers for at least 3/4 years. That means if we trade our first couple of picks in the next 5 years it will probably be two in the 1-4 territory. We can't afford that unless we get back one of the top players.
Even if we get PG I seriously doubt we can even be in the mix for top 6 in the West.
Is it worth it that we prolong our misery for maybe 5 more years due to the picks we would have to attach to PG trade(or any other out of his prime all star), just to have a chance in the play in? Not to mention injuries.
>Remember after next two years we will be bottom dwellers for at least 3/4 years. That means if we trade our first couple of picks in the next 5 years it will probably be two in the 1-4 territory. We can't afford that unless we get back one of the top players.
And we can't afford that why? I don't need to know anything about, say, the 2028 draft to know that the first pick in that draft will never be better than Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are right now.
Plus of course we can always sell that "star" (whether deserving of quotation marks or not) once Steph and Dray are gone, recouperate a few picks and then tough it out.
Even the worst-case scenario isn't really backbreaking for a good org: three years after the last piece of the infamous Boston-Brooklyn trade conveyed, Brooklyn was - as the oversimplified popular narrative goes - a toe's length away from the title.
What do the best teams in the league have in common? They have stretch 5s.
BOS - KP, Horford
DEN - Jokic
OKC - Chet, Big Jaylin Williams
MIN - KAT, Naz Reid
Even MIL (Portis, Lopez), NO (JV, Nance), DAL (Kleber), IND (Turner, Smith)
Warriors tried with Saric but his D was just too bad.
I like TJD. But he and Draymond starting together just aren't ever going to have enough shooting to work in the playoffs. Plus, with JK basically a 4, it's very hard to see how they would work together. Not sure what a realistic solution is.
I recently suggested making a run at Big Jaylin Williams this offseason, since he's coming off the bench now and might be a victim of the coming OKC roster crunch, and was confidently told by a fellow commenter that he's barely an NBA player. IDK about that ... I think he could work on the Warriors. Probably more gettable than most of the guys on this list.
Valanciunas, Sengun, and Vucevic aren't good three point shooters, but that doesn't mean they can't hit threes. So even they can be a threat outside the arc if you leave them alone for too long.
I don't think any team would be a "lock" for a top 6 in the West if their second best player misses a third of the season, except maybe Denver. Relatedly, fwiw, the Warriors probably get a top 6 seed in the West if Draymond didn't need a vacation.
The West is tough, and if the next couple years are anything like this one, I expect the top seeds to go to the teams that get through the regular season the healthiest.
Pels are a close second in the league at defending the 3 and Kings are next to last. Big defenders on little guards. We had same problem. Kings/Dubs good match up for them.
Draymond Green said Sacramento would have won easily.
Good pick, Dray
Pelicans have an opportunity to do the inverse of what the Kings did: they can avenge their 2023 play in loss in their 2024 first round series
Keon Ellis followed up his dominant performance with a 0-1-0 stat line 💪
Just teasing haha, I respect how he played against us
OK, time to rank the playoff teams from least to most likeable/rootable.
Western Conference
8. Lakers - duh
7. Clippers - only saved from the bottom spot by the need to deny LeBron a fifth ring
6. Phoenix - looking forward to all Steph's peers getting knocked out early
5. New Orleans - pretty mid kind of team, and no Zion
4. Dallas - eh, I don't really dig their style of play
3. Minnesota - TWolves have been my second favorite team quite often, but I strongly dislike Gobert
2. Denver - basically the perfectly synergistic team, rooting for a battle of the titans against Boston in the finals
1. OKC - too similar to the rise of the Dubs to not feel affection for, let's see what the kids can do
Eastern Conference
8. Philadelphia - they still have the Harden stink on them
7. Cleveland - annoyed that they beat the Dubs early in the year, I don't find them compelling
6. Milwaukee - the Phoenix of the east, hella top-heavy, they can have the same ranking
5. Orlando - young team that I have trouble caring much about
4. Boston - I'm not really rooting for them, but I do want to see them play Denver in the finals, so I can't really put them lower
3. Miami - put the fear of death in the Celtics once again guys
2. Knicks - I find guys playing 48 minutes of lockdown D oddly compelling
1. Pacers - you know that an OKC-Pacers finals would be entertaining as hell
Boston is always last in all things of the heart.
Ew at the OKC/Dubs comparison. Dubs didn’t tank. They also didn’t trade for a future superstar.
Yeah, it's clearly not an identical situation, but it's the best we've got with the slate of young teams. Don't make me root for Orlando and their 1980s style offense.
Mostly agree, but I’d flip NOP and Dallas. I don’t like Luka’s whining. I’d also swap Miami and the Knicks because I love Bam.
Interesting - I actually had NOP and Dallas in your order and then flipped them at the last minute because I was cranky at NOP for beating the Dubs and costing us a chance at the 8 seed. But that's more our fault than their's, I suppose.
It's undoubtedly Petty Peasant status, but I take a little joy in Sabonis following our suit to crash out of the playoffs. People here sometimes like to pump up how great Mike Brown is compared to Kerr -- but Brown went from 3rd seed being upset, to 9th seed not making the playoffs -- if the Warriors are in a tough spot, the Kings are in a nightmare.
Well they had two key injuries down the stretch.
So what do pre-lottery-draw '24 draft assignment look like now that playins are done?
Which seed is our incoming 2nd round pick? (we don't own our own).
So Kings got their revenge against big brother and then pooped the pants?
We really screwed up that game against Kings. I think MB outcoached Kerr
Seeing how the playoffs are shaping up, we need BIG changes. Like I said before, idc if the big 3 don't retire together, I'm not sentimental like that, I think we need to move on from maybe both Dray and Klay to make the shift in focus a lot easier. I guarantee Steph wouldn't make a peep about it either, he's a pros pro
Sac-Pels game replaying on TNT at 10. Focusing on betting. The NBA says it has a strict policy against betting, but meanwhile they are sponsoring the telecast of tonight’s game with a focus on betting and angles whatever that means.
A very interesting comment by the broadcasters. pelicans had a very poor home record and they asked CJ McCollum if it is to do with the tact that they don’t practice at the Pelicans facility when at home unlike for road games, where they practice at the same facility as the game is played. This game against Sac they came in morning and practiced here. Very strange - did not realize they practiced elsewhere. I don’t this would describe the Dubs home issues this season though.
FYI - CJ did not think this was the issue
Or, it's really mostly variance. Even for teams that would expect a 60% winrate at home, that still maths out to at least one such team ending with a losing record at home almost every year. NBA games are close enough for 5 game swings over 82 to happen pretty frequently even without accounting for injury and other luck factors.
Variance over 41 games is hard to explain especially when it leads to an unexpected result - like thr losing record at home for Dubs. In the case of the dubs it may just be they were just mediocre.
> it's really mostly variance
This!
So kings were really frauds and we lost to them - thinking about it now makes me real sad
More like the Pelicans defense shut down the Kings shooters and our defense couldn't do what the Pels did.
That, too. But the Kings being frauds shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise. They had the same record and a worse net rating than the Warriors, who were themselves frauds.
Absolutely - that suggests a huge drop off from 8 to 9 to 10
All in all youth and athleticism matters for a good defensive team and we have less with each passing year.
Please MDY don't trade our future for a "star".
Remember after next two years we will be bottom dwellers for at least 3/4 years. That means if we trade our first couple of picks in the next 5 years it will probably be two in the 1-4 territory. We can't afford that unless we get back one of the top players.
Even if we get PG I seriously doubt we can even be in the mix for top 6 in the West.
Is it worth it that we prolong our misery for maybe 5 more years due to the picks we would have to attach to PG trade(or any other out of his prime all star), just to have a chance in the play in? Not to mention injuries.
>Remember after next two years we will be bottom dwellers for at least 3/4 years. That means if we trade our first couple of picks in the next 5 years it will probably be two in the 1-4 territory. We can't afford that unless we get back one of the top players.
And we can't afford that why? I don't need to know anything about, say, the 2028 draft to know that the first pick in that draft will never be better than Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are right now.
Plus of course we can always sell that "star" (whether deserving of quotation marks or not) once Steph and Dray are gone, recouperate a few picks and then tough it out.
Even the worst-case scenario isn't really backbreaking for a good org: three years after the last piece of the infamous Boston-Brooklyn trade conveyed, Brooklyn was - as the oversimplified popular narrative goes - a toe's length away from the title.
*MDJ
There’s an edit button if you click the 3 dots next to your post.
What do the best teams in the league have in common? They have stretch 5s.
BOS - KP, Horford
DEN - Jokic
OKC - Chet, Big Jaylin Williams
MIN - KAT, Naz Reid
Even MIL (Portis, Lopez), NO (JV, Nance), DAL (Kleber), IND (Turner, Smith)
Warriors tried with Saric but his D was just too bad.
I like TJD. But he and Draymond starting together just aren't ever going to have enough shooting to work in the playoffs. Plus, with JK basically a 4, it's very hard to see how they would work together. Not sure what a realistic solution is.
I recently suggested making a run at Big Jaylin Williams this offseason, since he's coming off the bench now and might be a victim of the coming OKC roster crunch, and was confidently told by a fellow commenter that he's barely an NBA player. IDK about that ... I think he could work on the Warriors. Probably more gettable than most of the guys on this list.
Valanciunas, Sengun, and Vucevic aren't good three point shooters, but that doesn't mean they can't hit threes. So even they can be a threat outside the arc if you leave them alone for too long.
That's how I'd describe Draymond, as well.
Dump Dray, bring in George and Jalen Smith.
For whom though and how many draft picks it would cost in your opinion?
Would you think that team is a lock for top 6 in the West due to the combined age of the top players?
I don't think any team would be a "lock" for a top 6 in the West if their second best player misses a third of the season, except maybe Denver. Relatedly, fwiw, the Warriors probably get a top 6 seed in the West if Draymond didn't need a vacation.
The West is tough, and if the next couple years are anything like this one, I expect the top seeds to go to the teams that get through the regular season the healthiest.
East:
Celtics vs. Heat
Knicks vs. 76ers
Bucks vs. Pacers
Cavaliers vs. Magic
West:
Thunder vs. Pelicans
Nuggets vs. Lakers
Timberwolves vs. Suns
Clippers vs. Mavericks
Did any lower seed away teams win play-in games?
Lakers beat the Pels in New Orleans and got the #7 seed three nights ago.
Thanks
Lakers
Thanks
Im just mad and hating I didn't really care who won
Pelicans beat the Kings 105-98 and get the #8 seed in the West.
No Zion, Kings Kangzed it right up.
0-6 against the Pelicans in one season is something
the spent all their energy on ending the dynasty
I dunno if it was due to the Pelicans' defense, but the Kings had a lot of trouble shooting the threes tonight.
Pels are a close second in the league at defending the 3 and Kings are next to last. Big defenders on little guards. We had same problem. Kings/Dubs good match up for them.
Who are first in defending threes?