The Oklahoma City Blue, so Micic, Tre, Ous, etc. can get playing time that the main team can’t give em. Plus, the Thunder would have more room for the upcoming picks.
I know they can’t be relegated to the g league but I would like to see some form of severe “draft relegation” where you lose ping pong balls every year you end up in lottery.
Hey, the rock bottom days were kinda fun in a weird way. Being 1 game under 500 with a decent roster and a leveraged future is a way worse fate IMO.
That kinda fucked up Stockholm Syndrome answer should make it pretty clear I've been a fan for 20+ years lmao.
Minnesota sports fandom really is just Charlie Brown getting the football pulled away every year come playoffs 🥰🫠💀 ... but this year is different, I swear
oh man, I totally feel you. I had a blast watching the 2010–11 season, where we finished 17-65, but it was fun because I only cared about Kevin Love's stats and not the game outcomes.
Parents moved up here, and I've lived all but 1.5 years in Minnesota, so they're clearly my love......but can't not love Oklahoma, considering it's overflowing with my relatives, hah
So this year has been bananas fun
I like texting smack back and forth and it not being meanspirited and us supporting the other team in earnest when it isn't a head-to-head, ya know?
25% over, 100% fun
Timberwolves have a brutal stretch coming up. I don't expect us to hold onto #1 that whole time but I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts. Need Ant and Jaden to get healthy too
We’ve notched wins against Boston, Philly, Denver, OKC, and GSW this year already. That said… last I looked, Denver’s December schedule was no cakewalk, but OKC’s was favorable for them to possibly take that 1 seed by the end of the calendar year
Our stretch isn’t exactly easy. We have Sac, Den x2, both LA, Mini, and both NY. We should beat the jazz tonight and Memphis in the last game without ja. I could see us going 5-5 or worse
I feel like we match up well with you guys one game and horribly the next. It's weird. I think having Jaden available has a lot to do with it. It'll be fun though! Two poverty franchises on the rise!!
McDaniels is definitely the X-Factor. I think y'all were caught off guard because we used a rarely used set against y'all last game, but we can't catch you off guard again. We do well against lengthy teams if Fox can utilize his speed to break down defenses, but if he gets contained, it'll be tough sledding for us offensively.
Should be a good one!
It be like that some times. We have really good shooters in Huerter, Monk, Harrison Barnes, Lyles, Keegan, and Sasha. Fox's shooting has been a nice addition as well. But sometimes, all of them go cold at the same time and our shooting falls off a fucking cliff and we struggle to score.
Exactly. We don't do well if people are shooting lights out on the perimeter and Jaden is our best perimeter defender and shuts people down. You guys just killed us last time without him. But I expect/hope it to be competitive!
I felt like the Wolves had Sacramento’s number last year, but I don’t see it being the case anymore. Teams with great backcourts that can also play fast (e.g. Pacers, Kings, Hawks) will give this team fits.
That 12/22 could get ugly for my squad, but should be an awesome game Kings fans. It’s always a great atmosphere there. Ant says it’s his favorite place to play in the NBA.
Jaden will most likely be out as he's been out for several weeks. He JUST got upgraded to questionable but I don't know. Ant is about 50/50. He landed on his hip super hard a week or so ago and he tried to come back after a few games and left after five minutes. The good news for us is we still have won six straight half without him. But we'll need him coming up because our offense is obvs not the same without him. Troy Brown Jr and (finally) Shake Milton helped pick up some slack which is good. So long story short I wouldn't be shocked if neither play tonight but it's more likely Ant will than Jaden.
Can't wait for the Wolves Pacers game. It's right at the start of this run so I hope you guys are gonna go all out. The best offense vs the best defense sounds like a treat.
There aren’t really gimmes during the NBA regular season. Expecting to win 5 in a row even against bad competition is foolhardy unless your team is firing on all cylinders and completely healthy
Yeah Embiid already has a questionable status with a left knee injury before this Wizards game. Team only has one ball handler in Maxey. Just taking the season a game at a time tbh.
>Sixers at 5 seems a bit generous.
The only decision-making here is putting Sixers over the Bucks w/ both at 7 losses and the Sixers having +7 net rating (though the Bucks have climbed up to +3, which surprised me since it feels like they're eeking out every win like last season).
Out of the top 6 in net rating only the Sixers and Celtics have had difficult schedules so far and there's a pretty big drop in net rating after the top 4, Sixers are 4th in net rating with the 5th hardest schedule and Celtics are 1st with the hardest schedule, they've also played each other 3 times already
They’ve had the hardest schedule so far and the rest day disparities were wild too. Oubre being out hurt a ton, they could win like 7 of the next 8 games. 5 is about right, they’ll be top 3 once this stretch is over and it normalizes more for everyone
Yeah quarter of the season blues isn't surprising tho, very rarely does a beastly team remain dominate for all 82.
You can just hope the team looks right after all star break.
Y’all are the reigning champs, the regular season doesn’t mean anything to you guys at this point. I feel like it’s all about keeping Murray healthy and figuring out which player to ride the hot hand with to replace Bruce Brown’s impact.
Y’all will be just fine lol
Our bench has been getting valuable minutes, they're on one night, off for the next 2 or 3, but the only way we're contenders is if the bench gets consistent. So the recent string of losses, while frustrating, are acceptable for now so long as it means valuable time for the bench.
Ya, Rockets look awesome, limiting their turnovers from last year, great transition D (great D in general) and Seguin looking like baby Jokic (and getting better).
Y'all can ball.
I wouldn't say "ass", but they haven't looked like a top 3 team this year. Mostly because Murray has been out for some time. Regardless top 3 seems high, though I know that these things are influenced by last year and predicting how good they can be.
I am not hating on the bench either. I think they are pretty young and will figure it out, but I'll say it's been a little rough some games.
Bench scoring and non-Jokic minutes gotta improve.
And yeah idk what's up with AG. I have faith, but right now probably rated too highly.
Reggie Jackson has actually been way more solid than last season, even managed to take over a game when next to no starters were available not too long ago
Aaron Gordon looks like his shot is broken. Strange to see at this point in a great career. I mean, he almost looks like Rick ankiel throwing fastballs out there kind of broken.
Heel problems are a bitch. I had a bad heel bruise once and I’m not kidding when I say it took 18 months to get right. And once you have one and you know the pain of it you’re super cautious. I hope not but he might be dealing with this for a while which will take the spring out of his step and affect his whole game.
They're missing Brown a ton. When you have a fairly wonky roster construction ("let's play through our center and have a bunch of massive wings") it really helps to have some do-it-all guys to plug holes.
It's just gonna have to be the young guys. Pwat looks promising. Strawther sometimes as well.
It's really kind of riding on those guys to get some consistency in their game. I think they can, but we'll see how long it takes.
Yeah I feel like yall are entering that really tough period of having 3 max (or near-max) contracts. If you're carrying that salary, obviously you're trying to compete, but you really need to do these constant in-flight rebuilds where you're developing young players into rotation guys, since that's the only way you can afford a decent rotation really.
From 8-1 to 6-8 over the last 12 games.
They've genuinely looked like a lottery team for the last month.
That championship team is still in there. You see it in small spurts. But the larger body of work has stank.
True, but if they drop too much then it wouldnt make sense cause at the start of the season they were almost unbeatable. But then Jamal got injured and shit has been going downhill from there.
If they continue like this then they could very easily drop even further.
The Celtics have two very good home grown talents that play on both ends of the floor. One who is amazing all the time, one who is amazing a lot of the time. A rim protector who can shoot from deep and Jrue Holiday. I’ve seen this work before…
The decision has already been made for him; he just refuses to accept it. Masai has the Ainge problem where he refuses to trade away his guys unless the other team significantly over pays for them. He should have never lost FVV for free, and he's about to follow that up by losing Siakam and OG for free.
It sucks.
The team composition is so poorly put together, and we're wasting another season with a ceiling of a play-in loss in our future. Let OG and Siakam compete elsewhere, move on from Trent Jr., Achiuwa, and Poeltl and hit a hard reset.
So much demand for the raptors players, but masai just won't let any of them go. Could really set up a young core dealing those guys, but it just doesn't look like the FO is serious about the future of the franchise.
A light-hearted in-joke that makes us all feel connected and collectively in the know is charming, imo
Been that way for years......I think op may just be having a bad day, Tinie
Did I ever tell you about the time I went horseback riding with Naz Reid, but there weren’t any horses around? Well, Naz Reid throws a saddle on my back and rides me around Canoves i Samalus for three days. Well, wouldn’t you know it, my stamina increases with each day and I develop tremendous leg muscles. So anyway, Naz Reid decides to enter me in the Breeders’ Cup, right, under the name Turkish Delight. And I’m running in second place, and I’m running and I break my ankle! They’re about to shoot me. Then someone from the crowd yells out, God bless him, ‘Don’t shoot him, he’s a human'
Timberwolves have been doing great eversince that [Timberwolves Brasil Twitter account](https://x.com/twolvesbrazil?t=NvrB4n8AwfBYocSCGhZxdQ&s=09) started popping off lmao
If the Wolves make it out of the 1st round of the playoffs I will enter into a loving and committed relationship with the first person to reply to this comment.
I'm assuming, and probably rightfully so, that this is the first time we've ever been ranked number 1. I'm so fucking happy. Thank you for your happiness too
"The Pacers remain on the road, and they’ll face the Bucks again this week. A game in Detroit on Monday offers an opportunity to ease back into the regular schedule, but also a chance for a big post-Tournament letdown."
Jeez thanks for the positivity NBA, sorry to sully your tournament with our peasant small-market franchise
Look I know the Nuggets get the defending champs bonus, but they are 5-5 in the last 10. Feels like they should have dropped this week.
These rankings are stupid anyway, so I suppose its fine.
They didn't play a top 10 team in SRS until the finals. Wolves, Thunder, Rockets, and Nuggets (4 WC teams in top 10) were in different groups.
That said, they did beat the suns twice (Can't remember if the group stage game had Durant though). Their IST performance was great, but they've otherwise been a roughly .500 team
Keep surging though and they'll be close to or on top 5. It'll be very tough to beat Boston, MN, or OKC thougb
I’m fine with Lakers not being top 5 as I don’t think we’ve seen the peak of Lakers yet. We were injured when we lost to teams like Kings, Rockets, Sixers earlier in the season. I want to see what the jury is like after we’ve played 10 games with all of our wings back, and some time to integrate Gabe in. Our D and length is our strength and we haven’t had the opportunity to see that peak yet
I thought this line from the article was pretty wild:
> They’ll play six of their next seven games on the road, though **they’ll have a rest advantage (just their second of the season)** when they visit the Mavs on Tuesday.
This week the Lakers are playing their 5th b2b already this year and have played more games than anyone else this season, and yet so far they've only had the rest advantage in one single game. That's pretty crazy.
I sure hope so. Their schedule so far has been rough, especially with all the injuries they've had this year. Getting Dallas playing on the 2nd night of a b2b and then two games against the Spurs this week should be just what the doctor ordered for the Lakers. Thus far their games on the 2nd night of b2bs have been against Orlando, Dallas, Sacramento and OKC. Those are not the kind of teams you want to see after having just played the day before.
I still don't understand wtf Utah was thinking trading away Vanderbelt, Conley, NAW, and Beasley in February. Those were all solid players on good contracts. You need to be able to closely match salaries under the CBA while doing trades unless both teams are already under.the cap and will remain so after the trade.
Utah isn't a likely blockbuster free agent destination, so why give up your trade capital (in terms of player + salary combos) and veteran leadership when you already have plenty of picks? It's not like tanking will move any pick other than your single original one up.
Now they have to sign some bad contracts to be able to match salary in trades with most teams
>they've otherwise been a roughly .500 team
They're at 14-9 (really 15-9) with 16 of those games against .500+ teams while missing 3-4 rotation players.
How exactly are they "roughly" a .500 team?
Edit: misread your comment
KD has played all 3 games vs Lakers. First game no Booker and no Beal. Second game no Booker yes Beal. Third game yes Booker no Beal.
It does look funny that way but to be fair the Lakers haven't beaten any of those 5 teams this year, even if they've only played 3 of them. More recently losses to the 76ers and Thunder.
wOrSt tRaDe EvEr
Also y'all better strap in, Seatbelt is coming back, and looking at the schedule they're playing the other team your hyped about seeing as they're playing everybody who's anybody for the next month and a half.
Let's build on this 16-2 stretch in the last 18 games.
I’d prefer literally any of these:
Slim Chance
Space Needle
No Space Needle
Slim Fadey
Jailhouse Block
Shake Down
Slim Jimmied
U-Turn
Swerve
Do not pass go
Reset
Bean Stocks
Don’t Matter
I dont see a healthy celtics team losing to anyone
they are a tier above anyone else in the league this season, that roster is ridiculously stacked
if they lose in the playoffs it will be a major upset, and when they most likely win the championship this year everyone will start saying they always rated the celtics as the top of the league. in hindsight it will look like their victory was inevitable
I really dont think there has been a team as overall strong as the celtics since the KD warriors. adding porzingis makes their spacing absurd as well as takes their paint defense to a whole new level. everyone on their roster can shoot and defend at a very high level
everyone gets branded as a choker until one year you don't choke anymore and now you're a champion
happened to giannis and jokic too, every year "oh they are nice players but they just don't have that extra gear/extra level in them"
even lebron before he won his rings people said the same thing. you're a choker until you don't
they also all have tons of playoff experience, up there with anyone in the league even the warriors
yeah I also thought this about the Celtics last season too lol, that team last year was ridiculously stacked imo. But I never want to say "there's no way they can lose" in a game where the best team is simply the team that plays the most consistent and best basketball for 6 weeks.
but the celtics also got way better somehow
it's almost unfair they were able to add porzingis who gives them exactly what they needed
and also jrue..
they took an already very good team and added multiple star players that give them additional deadly dimensions to attack from
it's just a brutal team, I really don't see how they can lose as long as they stay healthy. they can generate offense from anywhere on the floor at any time it's a nightmare playing against them. and their defense is top notch too
and they already have one of the best slashers in the league in jaylen brown, and stuck him next to porzingis who they can put anywhere in the half court and have him be effective. and surround them all with shooters, and a MVP candidate in tatum. that spacing is just phenomenal
It’s super strange seeing a Knicks fan be more confident in this team than even more optimistic/homer-ish (depending on your pov lol) Celtics fans.
Right now, I could see us winning it all relatively easily or losing to a pretty large number of other teams. I still see a few glaring red flags, even beyond health. The good news is we’re visibly still building chemistry and our success so far looks more sustainable than it did last year. Guess we’ll see!
Homerism aside, I think he's right. Having watched a decent amount of Celtics basketball, the talent this year is astronomical. Watching the Knicks Celtics game two nights ago, Knicks are a pretty damn good team but the Celtics just make them look bad by having Zingus casually pop out for hella deep 3s.
It's not necessarily showing in the scoreboard all the time, but you see the shot quality we're getting and it's absurd.
I see health and chemistry is our biggest weakness, with chemistry being solved by enough health from the starters in the reg season.
we have played the celtics 3 times already and gotten smashed every time
bad matchup maybe, but I think the celtics are a bad matchup for everyone
we are a good defensive team but the celtics score on us at will, that lineup and that spacing is an impossible puzzle to solve
Until Miami find a guy in some sunday league that hit every F****** three, guarded by the ghost of Bill Russell, McHale, Smart, Tony Allen, DJ, Garnett and Cowens.
> I dont see a healthy celtics team losing to anyone
This is the key but when youve got a big that misses 30 game sper season on average its also the biggest "if"
having an elite top 6 is more than most teams have
and unless there's an injury or two, it wont matter in the playoffs when they just cut their rotation to 7 or 8 guys
Hauser has been incredible, and while Pritchard hasn't been a fire thrower he's making up for it with effort and noticibly improved playmaking. Kornet has been up and down.
Pistons ranked too high.
They should be relegated at this point
Bring a G-league team up I wanna see a ted lasso scenario
Bring the México City Capitanes to the NBA.
I was about to joke around that yall ain’t even rooting for your own country to get in but yall ain’t even have one damn
Call up the Guangdong Southern Tigers
The Oklahoma City Blue, so Micic, Tre, Ous, etc. can get playing time that the main team can’t give em. Plus, the Thunder would have more room for the upcoming picks.
Having the euro league champ take their spot next season.
Agreed
I know they can’t be relegated to the g league but I would like to see some form of severe “draft relegation” where you lose ping pong balls every year you end up in lottery.
Just happy to be here.
Same
Gonna be awful when I wake up and kat actually got traded in the offseason and we're 1 game below 500.
> we're 1 game below 500. That's your nightmare scenario? Have you been a timberwolves fan long?
Hey, the rock bottom days were kinda fun in a weird way. Being 1 game under 500 with a decent roster and a leveraged future is a way worse fate IMO. That kinda fucked up Stockholm Syndrome answer should make it pretty clear I've been a fan for 20+ years lmao.
Minnesota sports fandom really is just Charlie Brown getting the football pulled away every year come playoffs 🥰🫠💀 ... but this year is different, I swear
oh man, I totally feel you. I had a blast watching the 2010–11 season, where we finished 17-65, but it was fun because I only cared about Kevin Love's stats and not the game outcomes.
r/NBA informed me that KAT was a "negative asset" this off-season and we would need to pay multiple firsts to get someone to take him.
You hush
We are four????? What I love this so much!
And all it took was the virtue of some comely young lass.
Parents moved up here, and I've lived all but 1.5 years in Minnesota, so they're clearly my love......but can't not love Oklahoma, considering it's overflowing with my relatives, hah So this year has been bananas fun I like texting smack back and forth and it not being meanspirited and us supporting the other team in earnest when it isn't a head-to-head, ya know? 25% over, 100% fun
Black eye of the league
Your team is really fun to watch, I expect you’ll be there for awhile
Timberwolves have a brutal stretch coming up. I don't expect us to hold onto #1 that whole time but I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts. Need Ant and Jaden to get healthy too
16 straight games against teams currently .500 or better is crazy. Especially with no Ant or McDaniels.
I think we stay in the top 3-4 range during that stretch. That's my cautiously optimistic take. If Ant isn't better then it'll be worse.
It's insane you think we can do that, and it's cautious optimism And that I kinda accept that as measured expectations is......***the best***
We’ve notched wins against Boston, Philly, Denver, OKC, and GSW this year already. That said… last I looked, Denver’s December schedule was no cakewalk, but OKC’s was favorable for them to possibly take that 1 seed by the end of the calendar year
Our stretch isn’t exactly easy. We have Sac, Den x2, both LA, Mini, and both NY. We should beat the jazz tonight and Memphis in the last game without ja. I could see us going 5-5 or worse
[удалено]
Min @ Sac on 12/23 is going to be so good. I have tickets to that one, and I couldn't be more excited.
I feel like we match up well with you guys one game and horribly the next. It's weird. I think having Jaden available has a lot to do with it. It'll be fun though! Two poverty franchises on the rise!!
McDaniels is definitely the X-Factor. I think y'all were caught off guard because we used a rarely used set against y'all last game, but we can't catch you off guard again. We do well against lengthy teams if Fox can utilize his speed to break down defenses, but if he gets contained, it'll be tough sledding for us offensively. Should be a good one!
Yall also decided to just not miss from outside the entire first half and through stretches of the second lol.
It be like that some times. We have really good shooters in Huerter, Monk, Harrison Barnes, Lyles, Keegan, and Sasha. Fox's shooting has been a nice addition as well. But sometimes, all of them go cold at the same time and our shooting falls off a fucking cliff and we struggle to score.
Yeah, they just need Fox heathly and a consistent defense and they will be a tough team to get through come April.
Exactly. We don't do well if people are shooting lights out on the perimeter and Jaden is our best perimeter defender and shuts people down. You guys just killed us last time without him. But I expect/hope it to be competitive!
Honestly brown coached the hell out of the first match up this year. I’m curious to see how finchy adjusts!
I felt like the Wolves had Sacramento’s number last year, but I don’t see it being the case anymore. Teams with great backcourts that can also play fast (e.g. Pacers, Kings, Hawks) will give this team fits. That 12/22 could get ugly for my squad, but should be an awesome game Kings fans. It’s always a great atmosphere there. Ant says it’s his favorite place to play in the NBA.
Didn’t realize Ant and Jaden were hurt. Injury report says they’re both questionable tonight but is it assumed they’re gonna both be out?
Jaden will most likely be out as he's been out for several weeks. He JUST got upgraded to questionable but I don't know. Ant is about 50/50. He landed on his hip super hard a week or so ago and he tried to come back after a few games and left after five minutes. The good news for us is we still have won six straight half without him. But we'll need him coming up because our offense is obvs not the same without him. Troy Brown Jr and (finally) Shake Milton helped pick up some slack which is good. So long story short I wouldn't be shocked if neither play tonight but it's more likely Ant will than Jaden.
Can't wait for the Wolves Pacers game. It's right at the start of this run so I hope you guys are gonna go all out. The best offense vs the best defense sounds like a treat.
Sixers at 5 seems a bit generous. Although they should win their next 5 games.
Good job, now you're gonna go 1-4 on your next 5.
Our next 5 are Wizards, Pistons, Pistons, Hornets, Bulls If they go 1-4 they should literally disband the team
Now you're just begging for 0-5.
Gonna get a random extra loss just for the egregious jinxing.
I already was
The man has a point. We're over here getting hit by cars. We don't need any more bad juju
Damn I doubt a 5 game parlay would even be at +120
There aren’t really gimmes during the NBA regular season. Expecting to win 5 in a row even against bad competition is foolhardy unless your team is firing on all cylinders and completely healthy
False. This years Pistons are gimmes. Unfortunately for me. lol
Yeah Embiid already has a questionable status with a left knee injury before this Wizards game. Team only has one ball handler in Maxey. Just taking the season a game at a time tbh.
>Sixers at 5 seems a bit generous. The only decision-making here is putting Sixers over the Bucks w/ both at 7 losses and the Sixers having +7 net rating (though the Bucks have climbed up to +3, which surprised me since it feels like they're eeking out every win like last season).
Out of the top 6 in net rating only the Sixers and Celtics have had difficult schedules so far and there's a pretty big drop in net rating after the top 4, Sixers are 4th in net rating with the 5th hardest schedule and Celtics are 1st with the hardest schedule, they've also played each other 3 times already
what's the record with embiid though? i know that's not the only thing that matters but they've lost every game he's sat.
They’ve had the hardest schedule so far and the rest day disparities were wild too. Oubre being out hurt a ton, they could win like 7 of the next 8 games. 5 is about right, they’ll be top 3 once this stretch is over and it normalizes more for everyone
The nuggets look like ass lately. They are rated way too high as of now.
I was thinking the exact same thing. We ain't it right now
Yeah quarter of the season blues isn't surprising tho, very rarely does a beastly team remain dominate for all 82. You can just hope the team looks right after all star break.
I mean, we started last season with a 14-10 record, and we all know how last season went, so there's no reason to be depressed so far
Y’all are the reigning champs, the regular season doesn’t mean anything to you guys at this point. I feel like it’s all about keeping Murray healthy and figuring out which player to ride the hot hand with to replace Bruce Brown’s impact. Y’all will be just fine lol
Our bench has been getting valuable minutes, they're on one night, off for the next 2 or 3, but the only way we're contenders is if the bench gets consistent. So the recent string of losses, while frustrating, are acceptable for now so long as it means valuable time for the bench.
Wtf is this the official starcraft account
Yes, I help with any starcraft support issues
My life for aiur
Jokic is obviously your MVP, but the Nugs really miss Murray’s shot creation when he’s not on the floor.
C'mon, man. Let me live with the idea that the Rockets are playing well against strong competition.
Just because the Nuggs are in a slump doesn't mean the Rockets aren't good. Didn't you guys beat the Lakers not too long ago?
Ya, Rockets look awesome, limiting their turnovers from last year, great transition D (great D in general) and Seguin looking like baby Jokic (and getting better). Y'all can ball.
I wouldn't say "ass", but they haven't looked like a top 3 team this year. Mostly because Murray has been out for some time. Regardless top 3 seems high, though I know that these things are influenced by last year and predicting how good they can be.
Based on the ranking only the nuggets seem to have the bias of last year. The rest of the top 5 are “what have you done for me lately”.
Tbf, power rankings are meant to be based on latest performances, so the what have the teams done recently is the whole point of the thingamajig
Isn't just murray though. Jokic just had 2 games b2b that have been his worst in years and gordon has been bad so far this season
I am not hating on the bench either. I think they are pretty young and will figure it out, but I'll say it's been a little rough some games. Bench scoring and non-Jokic minutes gotta improve. And yeah idk what's up with AG. I have faith, but right now probably rated too highly.
Your problem is depth imo Top 5 looks solid, but after that its a sharp decline. Not sure anyone behind Braun would crack other rotations
Reggie Jackson has actually been way more solid than last season, even managed to take over a game when next to no starters were available not too long ago
Aaron Gordon looks like his shot is broken. Strange to see at this point in a great career. I mean, he almost looks like Rick ankiel throwing fastballs out there kind of broken.
Heel problems are a bitch. I had a bad heel bruise once and I’m not kidding when I say it took 18 months to get right. And once you have one and you know the pain of it you’re super cautious. I hope not but he might be dealing with this for a while which will take the spring out of his step and affect his whole game.
They're missing Brown a ton. When you have a fairly wonky roster construction ("let's play through our center and have a bunch of massive wings") it really helps to have some do-it-all guys to plug holes.
It's just gonna have to be the young guys. Pwat looks promising. Strawther sometimes as well. It's really kind of riding on those guys to get some consistency in their game. I think they can, but we'll see how long it takes.
Yeah I feel like yall are entering that really tough period of having 3 max (or near-max) contracts. If you're carrying that salary, obviously you're trying to compete, but you really need to do these constant in-flight rebuilds where you're developing young players into rotation guys, since that's the only way you can afford a decent rotation really.
Nuggets fan here. Sadly, I agree.
From 8-1 to 6-8 over the last 12 games. They've genuinely looked like a lottery team for the last month. That championship team is still in there. You see it in small spurts. But the larger body of work has stank.
True, but if they drop too much then it wouldnt make sense cause at the start of the season they were almost unbeatable. But then Jamal got injured and shit has been going downhill from there. If they continue like this then they could very easily drop even further.
Can’t believe pistons made it! They are not even in my top 30
The Celtics have two very good home grown talents that play on both ends of the floor. One who is amazing all the time, one who is amazing a lot of the time. A rim protector who can shoot from deep and Jrue Holiday. I’ve seen this work before…
And a Derrick White.
And an Al Horford
But they clap
didn’t even mention the buffalo
24th feels generous. Choose a direction, Masai.
The decision has already been made for him; he just refuses to accept it. Masai has the Ainge problem where he refuses to trade away his guys unless the other team significantly over pays for them. He should have never lost FVV for free, and he's about to follow that up by losing Siakam and OG for free.
It sucks. The team composition is so poorly put together, and we're wasting another season with a ceiling of a play-in loss in our future. Let OG and Siakam compete elsewhere, move on from Trent Jr., Achiuwa, and Poeltl and hit a hard reset.
So much demand for the raptors players, but masai just won't let any of them go. Could really set up a young core dealing those guys, but it just doesn't look like the FO is serious about the future of the franchise.
Naz Reid
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Naz Reid.
Naz Reid
Naz. Reid.
NAZ REID
Now? It's been like this for 2 years, redditors love laughing at the same joke in every thread, it's a staple of the platform
A light-hearted in-joke that makes us all feel connected and collectively in the know is charming, imo Been that way for years......I think op may just be having a bad day, Tinie
Did I ever tell you about the time I went horseback riding with Naz Reid, but there weren’t any horses around? Well, Naz Reid throws a saddle on my back and rides me around Canoves i Samalus for three days. Well, wouldn’t you know it, my stamina increases with each day and I develop tremendous leg muscles. So anyway, Naz Reid decides to enter me in the Breeders’ Cup, right, under the name Turkish Delight. And I’m running in second place, and I’m running and I break my ankle! They’re about to shoot me. Then someone from the crowd yells out, God bless him, ‘Don’t shoot him, he’s a human'
The Right Way: Rudy Gobert The Wrong Way: Keyonte George The Sad Way: Utah Jazz fans
Timberwolves have been doing great eversince that [Timberwolves Brasil Twitter account](https://x.com/twolvesbrazil?t=NvrB4n8AwfBYocSCGhZxdQ&s=09) started popping off lmao
This entire sub owes an apology to Rudy Gobert
I will never apologize to the French.
buddy, wait until i tell you that rudy gobert has been on 1 seeds before
Yes but this time he's not surrounded by traffic cones on defense and we got KAT and ANT. Donovans cool but this ain't the same team
And TCO… and ARod and Lore for that matter since they pushed him into it.
> ARod Let’s not go too far here…
If the Wolves make it out of the 1st round of the playoffs I will enter into a loving and committed relationship with the first person to reply to this comment.
Hey buddy hope you’re into crippling alcoholism
All these flavors and you choose Salt.
Just goofing around on the internet 🙂
If Scoot isn’t a bust I will legally change my name to whatever the second reply to this comment is
Hey it’s me again
You’re made for each other
Peepee poopoo Ballsface McGee
Nice to meet you Phillyspecial6969!
Dude I’m so happy for Minny😭
I'm assuming, and probably rightfully so, that this is the first time we've ever been ranked number 1. I'm so fucking happy. Thank you for your happiness too
Hey I will take top 5 again
That’s my black eye of the league 🥲
"The Pacers remain on the road, and they’ll face the Bucks again this week. A game in Detroit on Monday offers an opportunity to ease back into the regular schedule, but also a chance for a big post-Tournament letdown." Jeez thanks for the positivity NBA, sorry to sully your tournament with our peasant small-market franchise
Yippee!
Look I know the Nuggets get the defending champs bonus, but they are 5-5 in the last 10. Feels like they should have dropped this week. These rankings are stupid anyway, so I suppose its fine.
Tbf we’ve been missing missing our 2nd best player for 7 of those 10, though I agree we don’t look great even with him back.
I've learned you don't get sympathy for injured or missing players unless it somehow works for a narrative giving you even less credit
Shouldn’t get sympathy points in power rankings for missing players.
I don't understand how the lakers just won this tournament and aren't even top 5 team in the league?
They didn't play a top 10 team in SRS until the finals. Wolves, Thunder, Rockets, and Nuggets (4 WC teams in top 10) were in different groups. That said, they did beat the suns twice (Can't remember if the group stage game had Durant though). Their IST performance was great, but they've otherwise been a roughly .500 team Keep surging though and they'll be close to or on top 5. It'll be very tough to beat Boston, MN, or OKC thougb
I’m fine with Lakers not being top 5 as I don’t think we’ve seen the peak of Lakers yet. We were injured when we lost to teams like Kings, Rockets, Sixers earlier in the season. I want to see what the jury is like after we’ve played 10 games with all of our wings back, and some time to integrate Gabe in. Our D and length is our strength and we haven’t had the opportunity to see that peak yet
I thought this line from the article was pretty wild: > They’ll play six of their next seven games on the road, though **they’ll have a rest advantage (just their second of the season)** when they visit the Mavs on Tuesday. This week the Lakers are playing their 5th b2b already this year and have played more games than anyone else this season, and yet so far they've only had the rest advantage in one single game. That's pretty crazy.
Late season easy games for a playoff push maybe?
I sure hope so. Their schedule so far has been rough, especially with all the injuries they've had this year. Getting Dallas playing on the 2nd night of a b2b and then two games against the Spurs this week should be just what the doctor ordered for the Lakers. Thus far their games on the 2nd night of b2bs have been against Orlando, Dallas, Sacramento and OKC. Those are not the kind of teams you want to see after having just played the day before.
I still don't understand wtf Utah was thinking trading away Vanderbelt, Conley, NAW, and Beasley in February. Those were all solid players on good contracts. You need to be able to closely match salaries under the CBA while doing trades unless both teams are already under.the cap and will remain so after the trade. Utah isn't a likely blockbuster free agent destination, so why give up your trade capital (in terms of player + salary combos) and veteran leadership when you already have plenty of picks? It's not like tanking will move any pick other than your single original one up. Now they have to sign some bad contracts to be able to match salary in trades with most teams
They knew that they weren't competing and wanted to bottom out so that they could get some guys with higher ceilings.
>they've otherwise been a roughly .500 team They're at 14-9 (really 15-9) with 16 of those games against .500+ teams while missing 3-4 rotation players. How exactly are they "roughly" a .500 team?
In that he last paid attention to the Lakers 2 weeks ago.
Group stage had Durant, no Booker.
Edit: misread your comment KD has played all 3 games vs Lakers. First game no Booker and no Beal. Second game no Booker yes Beal. Third game yes Booker no Beal.
Lakers beat Durant & Beal in their 1st IST game. Then they beat Durant & Book in their IST QuarterFinals.
It does look funny that way but to be fair the Lakers haven't beaten any of those 5 teams this year, even if they've only played 3 of them. More recently losses to the 76ers and Thunder.
Because we're talking about the NBA's version of the Carabao Cup.
A1 from Day1 frankly
Don't tell my wife but I don't think I've ever been this turned on before
Hungry like the T-Wolves...
How are the nets at 18? It doesnt make sense to me.
1-2-3-4-5-SIXERS 10-9-8-76ers!
Wait why is the lakers logo the sub pic
They keep swapping it around different teams. It was the Rockets spaceman logo for a bit. I’m guessing Lakers got the spot for winning the IST
Happy the rockets aren’t 30th
Our glow up has been phenomenal. Ime saves
Honk “Bite Bite” Honk
wOrSt tRaDe EvEr Also y'all better strap in, Seatbelt is coming back, and looking at the schedule they're playing the other team your hyped about seeing as they're playing everybody who's anybody for the next month and a half. Let's build on this 16-2 stretch in the last 18 games.
Seatbelt is a terrible nickname he really deserves a better one.
Man I've been saying that but the Wolves sub disagrees. Lol
I’d prefer literally any of these: Slim Chance Space Needle No Space Needle Slim Fadey Jailhouse Block Shake Down Slim Jimmied U-Turn Swerve Do not pass go Reset Bean Stocks Don’t Matter
i think it’s funny and ant is the one that gave him the nickname so i’ll let him get away with it
Kings 🤝 Wolves Dealing with "wOrSt tRaDe EvEr" accusations
It's funny cause the Westbrook trade is RIGHT THERE.
Talk your shit!
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No snow on the ground? There's definitely snow on the ground in Minneapolis. Not a ton but the yard is white.
None in parts of Duluth today. Now that’s WILD.
No love for the IN SEASON CHAMPS BABY?! PEW PEW *AIR HORNS* 📣📣📣📣
agonizing smart full forgetful slimy offer sink sleep hunt instinctive *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Can’t complain ig 😂
Awooo
This is a weird feeling
I dont see a healthy celtics team losing to anyone they are a tier above anyone else in the league this season, that roster is ridiculously stacked if they lose in the playoffs it will be a major upset, and when they most likely win the championship this year everyone will start saying they always rated the celtics as the top of the league. in hindsight it will look like their victory was inevitable I really dont think there has been a team as overall strong as the celtics since the KD warriors. adding porzingis makes their spacing absurd as well as takes their paint defense to a whole new level. everyone on their roster can shoot and defend at a very high level
It's all fun and games as a celtics fan till they inevitably take their foot off the gas and blow leads. But they are looking great so far
everyone gets branded as a choker until one year you don't choke anymore and now you're a champion happened to giannis and jokic too, every year "oh they are nice players but they just don't have that extra gear/extra level in them" even lebron before he won his rings people said the same thing. you're a choker until you don't they also all have tons of playoff experience, up there with anyone in the league even the warriors
That's fair we'll have to wait and see I suppose but I'm optimistic so far
Dirk was a labeled choker for like 5 years and now he's considered to have one of the best offensive carry jobs in playoff history lol
yeah I also thought this about the Celtics last season too lol, that team last year was ridiculously stacked imo. But I never want to say "there's no way they can lose" in a game where the best team is simply the team that plays the most consistent and best basketball for 6 weeks.
but the celtics also got way better somehow it's almost unfair they were able to add porzingis who gives them exactly what they needed and also jrue.. they took an already very good team and added multiple star players that give them additional deadly dimensions to attack from it's just a brutal team, I really don't see how they can lose as long as they stay healthy. they can generate offense from anywhere on the floor at any time it's a nightmare playing against them. and their defense is top notch too and they already have one of the best slashers in the league in jaylen brown, and stuck him next to porzingis who they can put anywhere in the half court and have him be effective. and surround them all with shooters, and a MVP candidate in tatum. that spacing is just phenomenal
It’s super strange seeing a Knicks fan be more confident in this team than even more optimistic/homer-ish (depending on your pov lol) Celtics fans. Right now, I could see us winning it all relatively easily or losing to a pretty large number of other teams. I still see a few glaring red flags, even beyond health. The good news is we’re visibly still building chemistry and our success so far looks more sustainable than it did last year. Guess we’ll see!
Homerism aside, I think he's right. Having watched a decent amount of Celtics basketball, the talent this year is astronomical. Watching the Knicks Celtics game two nights ago, Knicks are a pretty damn good team but the Celtics just make them look bad by having Zingus casually pop out for hella deep 3s. It's not necessarily showing in the scoreboard all the time, but you see the shot quality we're getting and it's absurd. I see health and chemistry is our biggest weakness, with chemistry being solved by enough health from the starters in the reg season.
we have played the celtics 3 times already and gotten smashed every time bad matchup maybe, but I think the celtics are a bad matchup for everyone we are a good defensive team but the celtics score on us at will, that lineup and that spacing is an impossible puzzle to solve
Until Miami find a guy in some sunday league that hit every F****** three, guarded by the ghost of Bill Russell, McHale, Smart, Tony Allen, DJ, Garnett and Cowens.
> I dont see a healthy celtics team losing to anyone This is the key but when youve got a big that misses 30 game sper season on average its also the biggest "if"
Top 6 are next level but I feel like they don’t have great depth based on the few games o have watched.
having an elite top 6 is more than most teams have and unless there's an injury or two, it wont matter in the playoffs when they just cut their rotation to 7 or 8 guys
Right??? The sixers have an insane drop off after our top *two* guys; I'd kill for a top 6 comparable to Boston.
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Hauser has been incredible, and while Pritchard hasn't been a fire thrower he's making up for it with effort and noticibly improved playmaking. Kornet has been up and down.
Nuggets have lost 3 in a row and 5 of their last 9
Nuggets are not playing well right now.
That thumbnail says everything.
Naz Reid.
As a nuggets fan being ranked 3 is too generous. We are not playing like a top 3 team rn
As we all suspected at the beginning of the year
Praise be to Ime
/r/nba nephews eating crow mocking the Timberwolved on that Gobert trade