Anyone else remember when the NBA app left captions on during live games? Looks like it’s happening again, how do we turn it off??
Johnnys a bad man doing nasty things oooftt
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Dear Basketball Gods,
Can we please have 70+ injury-free games from Lamelo and Brandon this season?
Regards,
Saladin and all Hornets fans.
( Poor Jock Landale got nutmegged in this 
)
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Completely disagree with the Josh Green write up. His shooting wasn’t good enough last year, he has to find a way to impact scoring more from the corner and / or get downhill to get to the line.
And the Hornets roster changes suggest that we’re looking to win more , not preferring to lose. Albeit we’ll have to do it via heavy scoring because defensively we look very suspect . Which brings me back to the first point.
If he can be the defensive presence on the perimeter , AND start sinking the corner threes , drawing fouls, then he’ll be very useful to Lee.
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Opening games start Wednesday morning. Going to be an interesting season!
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This year is going to be interesting.
OKC are the clear favourite and deservedly so. They are the best team, they barely scratched the surface of their capabilities through the playoffs (due to inexperience) and I think they’ll be better prepared for what opposition teams throw at them this season.
I think the Conference Finalists are going to be OKC and Denver out of the west. Denver have improved their team and I think they are deep enough to cover any games that Murray misses. It also helps that they have one of the best players in the world available.
The East is too wide open. I’ll go with Cleveland and New York. They are a ‘safe bet’ but there isn’t much between them and the rest. I like Atlanta, Orlando and Detroit and wouldn’t be surprised if one of them makes it into Conference Finals against Cleveland. I think Boston will do better than expected and probably still reach a play-in spot. Indiana won’t be too far away from there.
The interesting story lines I’m looking for are…
- Can KD lead a non-stacked team to the finals? I think for the first time since his OKC days, he’s around high level talent that can get somewhere with time. It’s just whether they are patient enough to see it through. Sengun is far better than I expected. Thompson is a defensive beast. They have a good mix of talent and veterans (DFS, Adams and Capela) on that team to get them through the season.
- Is Giannis going to hang around Milwaukee? How Milwaukee go is directly tied to Giannis’ availability. If he misses 10 games, they win 2 of them. If he plays, they win 6 of them. That’s a pretty big swing out East. I don’t think he’ll get traded unless Milwauke are struggling for a play-in spot.
- How does the Luka, Lebron and AR mix work? I think we’ll be challenging for a play-in spot. We did well to finish 3rd last season and you could argue there is improvement in that team given Luka wasn’t really settled, but other teams have just gotten better and as good as the 3rd spot was last year, 2 more losses and we’re in the play-in. It’s going to be fun watching Luka this season. Early in the year, we’ll see what AR and Luka look like and whether that can be a Kyrie and Luka dynamic. Ayton is going to be interesting to watch.
- Is the Wemby era here yet? We know it’ll happen eventually. Is he an MVP candidate this year or is it next year? A play-in should be minimum for them if Wemby is healthy. Would love to see a playoff series with him. He’ll make it tough to scheme against across 7 games.
- Is New York good enough to make a Finals series? Did they get the coaching appointment / sacking right? If they don’t make a Conference Finals, then it’s a wasted year. Having a weakened Boston and Indiana in the conference gives them a great unique chance like the last time they reached the Finals.
- Is this Ant Man’s breakout to superstardom? He’s been great up to this point, but hasn’t necessarily put together an ‘MVP calibre’ type season. Last season was his most consistent year and I think he can take another step up.
- Does Embiid finally get on the court often enough to give the 6ers a chance? Unlikely. He’s got a long way to go to repair his stance in the game. A playoff run is a possiblity, but it needs a healthy Embiid to make that run.
- Do the Golden State oldies get through the season? I like the team and after the Jimmy Butler trade, they were one of the best few performing teams leading into the playoffs. It’s just whether Jimmy and Curry play enough games and they get into a decent seed.
- What’s going to happen with the Khawi / Clippers stuff? It’s not going to be resolved in the next few months. And I’d say, if it isn’t sorted by the All Star Break, it won’t be sorted until after the Finals series for the optics. They could finish anywhere between a conference semi final and play-in.
One thing I’m watching is the Anthony Davis situation in Dallas. One thing their fans probably aren’t used to yet is the peaks of valleys of his game through a year. He’ll have those awesome few weeks where he dominates like he did in New Orleans. Then have a few games where he’s a bit more timid around the basket. And the missed games due to ‘unlucky’ situations is frustrating as well. If he gets traded to a team out east, it could really shift things enough to trouble Cleveland and New York as well as Boston and Indiana the year after. I love AD, but he needs someone else to be the main offensive weapon on the team. And Cooper Flagg won’t be ready for it this season.
For me, the surprise team will be Toronto. I think they can jump into the playoff race. I doubt they go far, but it’ll be like the Detroit leap where they are good enough to push a team in the first round of the playoffs.
Portland is an interesting watch. If they weren’t in the West, I’d pick them for a jump. But it’s tougher to win enough extra games to make enough of a jump in the west. They’ll rely on a team to fall hard (the Clippers, Lakers and Memphis are good candidates for this) for them to make a jump. But Wemby and the Spurs are a better chance to take one of those spots.
It’s going to be interesting watching who takes the next superstar step. We’re past the Curry, Lebron and KD era. They are still great to watch, but we are now in the Giannis, Jokic, SGA and Luka era. Can Wemby make a jump? Who is next to carry the league into the next 5 years? Can the NBA continue without an American as its best player? Can AntMan take enough of a leap?
It’s going to be an interesting watch of a season.
Don’t need a crystal ball to know that the Knicks will suck
We get about 2 weeks of some joy once every 10-15 years and then normality returns.
Maybe scrape into playoffs and get embarrassed first round this year
Pretty much favourite to win the east, would be a major surprise if they weren’t serious contenders for the East at least
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Seen this script before
If you could win rings for shooting yourself in the foot we would need to have 15 hands.
Just an incompetent organisation
Possible addition of Bam will help.
Kuminga, Moody and B-Podz cover his salary, but I doubt Golden State do that and I’m sure Miami would want draft picks included as well. I don’t think Miami want the Draymond Green and Moody package even if there are picks involved. That doesn’t benefit Miami at all. Kuminga can’t be traded until mid January anyway which probably means this year’s chances are messed up a bit. Then you go into 26-27 hoping that Steph, Jimmy and Draymond can get through to the playoffs at ages 36 to 38. I’m not sure they have enough to challenge once Wemby and OKC take turns owning the west without ‘rebuilding’ after they are gone.
I think Big Perk has just played around with the trade machine and said whatever causes interest. He’s been around Stephen A too long.
I actually think Golden State are a better chance going with the depth they have and splitting Kuminga and Moody into two other more valuable role players to play alongside Curry, Butler and Green.
Great video on Lachlan’s road to a Bulls roster spot.
Luka and AR will work fine. Add LeBron and it won’t work. He’s a selfish, ball dominant stat-padder who plays for himself. It would not surprise me whatsoever that LAL start the season well with him “injured”, then he will look to come back and they start to lose. The Lakers are better off without the toxicity he brings to a franchise, not to mention his scrub kid wasting a roster spot.
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Alex Caruso still just allowed to belt the snot out of whoever he is guarding.
Going to a second OT, tight first game
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Another year of SGA shooting free throws. Glad I cancelled my subscription.
Clumsy foul from kd cost em the game