2024-25 NBA running thread

[Starman]

Turmoil at Target Center tonight as the Pistons and T-Wolves tangle for a 15-minute shoving match resulting in numerous ejections (7-8 I believe)

Pistons lead by 12 halfway through the 2Q.

 

[Webster]

Knicks announcers all wearing crazy blazers to honor Clyde Frazier's 80th birthday is outstanding

 

[swingline]

Man I didn't need to read that between Teams calls. Cutting onions here.

That last line was perfection. I didn't shed a tear until then.

 

[Chef2]

Brian Bratwurst says Durant has played his last game in PHX.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

He'll be happy at his next stop for sure

 

[Cosmo]

See ya. This has been an extremely unpleasant team of which to be a fan. Can't blame KD for it, but this experiment has been a disaster. I'd say rip it to the studs and start again around Booker, but I'm not sure Book is capable of being the lead dog on any sort of team with championship aspirations. Oh well, we'll always have Chris Paul shirtting down his leg during the most crucial stretch of Game 4 in Milwaukee in 2021.

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[PCLoadLetter]

He'll be happy at his next stop for sure

In fairness to KD, he's been happy in Phoenix. They just tried frantically to trade him at the deadline because the team is trash. He's probably not all that thrilled with them now, though.

See ya. This has been an extremely unpleasant team of which to be a fan. Can't blame KD for it, but this experiment has been a disaster. I'd say rip it to the studs and start again around Booker, but I'm not sure Book is capable of being the lead dog on any sort of team with championship aspirations. Oh well, we'll always have Chris Paul shirtting down his leg during the most crucial stretch of Game 4 in Milwaukee in 2021.

Just a miserable team to watch. I've never seen a team that doesn't seem to give a shirt quite like this Suns team. They can be down two with ten seconds left and they'll make the same half-assed, lazy turnovers you see from a team that's up 30.

I think it's probably tough to win in the NBA when your team is built around two legit star player best described as "chill dudes who just love to hoop." This team needs a Jimmy Butler/Draymond Green type in the worst way.

My expectation is they tear it down as much as possible in the off-season. They've made it clear Booker is off the table and I get that, although I think there's a strong argument to move him. KD is gone -- quite possibly to Houston, who now has the draft picks that Phoenix traded to get KD in the first place. Once they get a first rounder they'll probably have to stick one in Bradley Beal's pocket to unload him. A Wiz reunion wouldn't surprise me.

I was totally on-board with the KD and Beal trades when they happened, but this has absolutely been a disaster. The owner has made it clear he is not interested in a rebuild, but they need to blow it up and at least get below the second apron as they reload.

 

[John]

An owner not interested in a rebuild after this spectacular cork-up is destined to get played by much smarter franchises for years to come. I look forward to watching it.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

An owner not interested in a rebuild after this spectacular cork-up is destined to get played by much smarter franchises for years to come. I look forward to watching it.

Here's Mat Ishbia's argument in a nutshell, and I think it has some merit:

People like to argue in favor of a tear-it-apart rebuild with some kind of seven year plan to be competitive. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and it leaves you watching a garbage team for years, which is no fun for anyone.

On the other hand, the Suns can flip KD into quality players and picks, hope they can get something useful out of Beal, and run it back with Booker and a revamped lineup around him.

I have my concerns about building around Booker, but all things considered, I probably go with plan B. (Also, the fans love Booker and he is vocal about wanting to spend his whole career in Phoenix, so trading him would be a WILDLY unpopular move.)

People tend to fetishize the massive tank-and-rebuild strategy, and it's overrated. The Boston Celtics are the defending champs, and they've missed the playoffs once in 17 years. The trick isn't to game the system and be tactically terrible for years; the trick is to be smart with your personnel moves. I'd rather try to be smart.

 

[BrownScribe]

Tell the Blazers to be smart for once. It hasn't happened in decades.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Tell the Blazers to be smart for once. It hasn't happened in decades.

Yeah, the Blazers have three things that have worked against them:

1) A city free agents don't want to live in,
2) They've had unbelievably bad injury luck with rookies,
3) They're forking stupid.

This is the team that traded Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton and Toumani Camara -- a not-terrible haul, but they could have done better -- and then turned around and traded Holiday for two chronically injured guys and two terrible picks.

(Everyone thought Lillard was going to Miami but the Blazers refused, reportedly because they had no interest in Tyler Herro. Herro is averaging 24 ppg, he was an All-Star this year, and he's only 25.)