2023-24 Running NBA thread

Speaking of a joke (and Joker), REALLY weak of Embiid tonight.

 

November 2019 for the 19-20 season. Only other time was his rookie year. 2-for-8

 

LeBron 36-20-12

Lakers 145, Warriors 144 (2OT)

 

More than halfway through the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the No. 1 seed in the West. I'm sure everyone had that on their bingo card.

 

And they promptly lose to the Detroit Pistons, one of the worst teams of all time, who were playing without Cade Cunningham, their only adequate player.

 

Just wanted to get this on record...

The Lakers have back to back losses to Houston and Atlanta, dipping below .500 after 49 games. LeBron and AD have generally been healthy and have played very well.

When Darvin Ham gets canned, I don't want to see a bunch of "OMG, it's GM LeBron," "Coach killer" shit. There is no excuse for this team being this bad.

 

The Rockets one was sort of understandable. Houston is good at home (17-8) and right there with the Lakers in the standings. Atlanta? Oof. You can't lose both of those.

We're in the NBA silly season right now, though, with a lot of dudes resting/hurt leading to things like the Pistons beating OKC and the Blazers blowing out Philly.

 

Knicks went 14-2 in January.

 

The Ringer had a good piece on their issues, about Ham's weird favoring of Prince over Vanderbilt and some others. I don't think there's a magic bullet that makes this team like a Top 4 unit, but they're probably more of a couple games over .500 squad than a couple games under.

 

It's Vogel's fault
It's Westbrook's fault
It's Ham's fault

Of the three, Ham has the most responsibility for the pile of ick they find themselves in. He just seems lost and, at times, making moves like he put money on the opposition. Even with that said, I'm not sure any coach could make this a good, consistent group.

Too many of the guys they rely upon are deficient at one end of the floor (primarily defense). D-Lo, Rui, Wood, Reaves and, yes, LeBron are one-way guys. Vanderbilt is in Tony Allen territory on offense, Cam Reddish is not good, and Gabe Vincent has contributed nothing due to injury. Good luck opening your Chopped basket and making a contending dish with that.

What's more, it just seems like a horrible environment to play in. Rumors that the coach is going to get fired. Guys not believing in the coach. All but two guys being the constant subject of trade rumors, with one of the exempt parties making it known day after day that y'all aren't good enough, he'd be happy to replace you, and even happier if he could replace you with his <6 ppg freshman son who he said is better than most of you TODAY.

That team's culture sucks and culture is usually set by the coach and the best player. Ham isn't setting any culture other than this. AD? LeBron has no problem making it known that everyone is letting him down all while he's slowing down and becoming a one-way player most nights. It's always been the case that when the team wins, he wins, and when the team loses, everyone else didn't hold up their end of the bargain. That was fine - hell, probably even true - four years ago because he was still bringing so much to the table and producing night after night after goddamned night. Now? Those other guys don't give a rat's ass about the pelts or the miles on the odometer. They see a guy taking multiple possessions off, being openly frustrated, and calling everyone out in his free time.

 

Be careful, they said many of the same things when "that youngster" Spoelstra was in charge. Now look at him.