2024-2025 NBA Season Thread • Page 571

I never wanna say it because it does sound like whining, and it's not, but i genuienly believe a part of the Celtics collapse against the Knicks is simply the amount of basketball that team had played. Between the finals last year, half the team going on to play in the Olympics (go ahead fire off your Tatum jokes), and all that tacked on to them having deep runs in the previous three years. Just a loooooot of basketball.

 

There could be all the science in the world to shorten the season but they never will because more games = more money. These networks just paid billions of dollars to air the games they want more not less. Not to mention revenues from the arenas.

 

1. bucks

a healthy Giannis and bucks probably sweep that series

 

no man

 

1. Thunder, very easily of the 7
2. Bucks, maybe biased but G7 in Brooklyn and losing Giannis for the end of the Hawks series and still getting to Phoenix was Good Stuff. Plus the all timer highlight of the G5 Jrue to Giannis oop.
3. Raptors even tho Norm Powell still keeps me up at night
4. Nuggets
5. Warriors
6. Celtics
7. Lakers a bozo title for a bozo franchise

 

i obvi love the bucks but the argument that none of the teams involved in those conference finals have been back (clippers, suns, hawks, bucks) and several have been disasters since does kinda make me ding it a bit. i think in a vacuum that bucks season was insanely good but it does feel like a bit of an aberration

if I were to tier rank them, id say Thunder S tier, Celtics and Nuggets A tier, Bucks B tier, Raptors and Warriors C tier, Lakers D

 

i like the lakers more than most in here but idk how you can have them anywhere other than last without it just being glazing lebron

 

the Thunder very easily have the most impressive title since the ‘16 Cavs, which is why i can’t get over having had it end with such a depressing what if when it felt certain we were destined for an all time classic

 

It’s impressive in its own weird way but is such an aberration of circumstance that it barely even belongs in the conversation

 

I think I'd have that Warriors ring higher than most. Vintage Curry, beating an up-and-coming Celtics team that would go on to win the championship two seasons later, Andrew Wiggins goes super saiyan out of nowhere, had some good stuff.

 

I think that Celtics team is underrated, they really stormed through the league and pretty much waltzed through the playoffs, especially the finals.

 

Although by this line of thought, which I agree with, it validates the bubble title a little more in hindsight. Of the conference semi finalists who maintained their same core over the next few years:

Lakers: make the 2023 WCF
Nuggets: beat the lakers in those WCF and win the title
Clippers: make the 2021 conference finals
Heat: make the 2023 finals
Bucks: win the 2021 title
Celtics: win the 2024 title

Rockets and Raptors wouldn’t go on to much more success but Toronto had just won the title and Houston was coming off a few years of decent runs and almost took out the KD warriors.

 

It’s amazing how poorly NBA “media” covers/supports their own league. I say “media” because the actual journalists covering it do a good job. But those people are largely blocked out by all the crap on social media. All these former players and studio “analysts” do nothing but shit all over the league. It’s mostly ESPN. And it’s insane to me that the league puts up with it. Not a chance in hell the NFL would let them talk about their league like this.

 

i rated them properly at 2

 

eh i think the warriors team is properly rated. it was just a weird transitional era for the league. in the playoffs they faced a heavily injured, basically just jokic nuggets and an ahead of schedule/kinda peak but still too soon grizz, and then an ahead of schedule but not peak mavs. they ducked all of the best teams in the conference and then faced a good but definitely ahead of schedule considering how things would end up for them celtics team. i love that warriors team bc the last hurrah for steph and getting another without KD but i don’t think they were ultimately a great team with kinda washed klay and kinda washed draymond and relying on outlier wiggins and poole runs. it’s wishful thinking and shoulda coulda wouldas but i would have loved to see how the finals would have played out if khris doesn’t basically have a career ending injury and the bucks face that warriors team.

 

I want you to know I read it.

 

I’m seeing a lot of talk about Hornets trading down a few spots. Nets or Pelicans apparently are the teams calling.

What would a return for the pick look like? A future first? A decent player?

 

I hate this guy

 

Interesting

 

Happy with this. IMHO he’s our starting center. Most reliable scoring around the rim. Incredible energy. Looked good with the limited time he had with AD.

 

Is Dallas expected to move PJ?

 

Yeah to Milwaukee for kuzma