2023-24 NBA Season Discussion

[rk2023]

Chet’s been playing some very impressive defense this playoffs. Granted, the Pels without Zion are a pitiful Offense and Luka is compromised - but you can only do your job against who’s in your schedule. And done his job (and then some), he has. The Mavs weren’t finding anything good at the rim tonight

[GSP]

I dont know if theres a better Luka defender than Dort. He is a UNIT absolute tank and Luka cant physically bully him like he can other great perimeter defenders where he can abuse his size and hes just quick and explosive enough to recover from fakes and harrass his dribble

[Special_Puppy]

OKC's core of SGA/JDub/Chet is incredibly intriguing now and in the future. They fit seamlessly together.

I said this before, but this OKC team is both younger and has a higher net rating than the 2010 Thunder. Absolutely scary

[Colbinii]

OKC's core of SGA/JDub/Chet is incredibly intriguing now and in the future. They fit seamlessly together.

I said this before, but this OKC team is both younger and has a higher net rating than the 2010 Thunder. Absolutely scary

No they aren't, what?

Below are their BBRef ages.

Durant and Westbrook were 21 and Harden was 20.

SGA is 25, Jalen is 22 and Chet is 21.

[GSP]

OKC's core of SGA/JDub/Chet is incredibly intriguing now and in the future. They fit seamlessly together.

I said this before, but this OKC team is both younger and has a higher net rating than the 2010 Thunder. Absolutely scary

10 Okc was still mainly a carryjob by Kd tho and their "big 3" was younger. Harden just a rookie who wasnt even double digit scoring not a redshirt one like Chet and Chet,Jdubb now are better than Russ or Harden in 10 by a large amount

The big difference Imo is coaching and depth. Daigneault is a way better coach than Brooks and Dort,Giddey,Cason,Joe,Wiggins,Jaylin is far better supporting cast than what they had around Kd,Russ,Harden

[GSP]

OKC's core of SGA/JDub/Chet is incredibly intriguing now and in the future. They fit seamlessly together.

I said this before, but this OKC team is both younger and has a higher net rating than the 2010 Thunder. Absolutely scary

No they aren't, what?

Below are their BBRef ages.

Durant and Westbrook were 21 and Harden was 20.

SGA is 25, Jalen is 22 and Chet is 21.

I think he meant the overall rosters age not big 3s. Krstic and Collison and some benchwarmers in their 30s bumped their rosters age up. Hayward is the only guy on this Okc roster in their 30s and one of 3 older than 25

[Special_Puppy]

I said this before, but this OKC team is both younger and has a higher net rating than the 2010 Thunder. Absolutely scary

No they aren't, what?

Below are their BBRef ages.

Durant and Westbrook were 21 and Harden was 20.

SGA is 25, Jalen is 22 and Chet is 21.

I think he meant the overall rosters age not big 3s. Krstic and Collison and some benchwarmers in their 30s bumped their rosters age up. Hayward is the only guy on this Okc roster in their 30s and one of 3 older than 25

Yeah exactly

Read on Twitter

[Colbinii]

No they aren't, what?

Below are their BBRef ages.

Durant and Westbrook were 21 and Harden was 20.

SGA is 25, Jalen is 22 and Chet is 21.

I think he meant the overall rosters age not big 3s. Krstic and Collison and some benchwarmers in their 30s bumped their rosters age up. Hayward is the only guy on this Okc roster in their 30s and one of 3 older than 25

Yeah exactly

Read on Twitter

That's cool, but the core 3 are much older.

I may like this one better, but both are A+ tier rebuilding cores.

[Special_Puppy]

I think he meant the overall rosters age not big 3s. Krstic and Collison and some benchwarmers in their 30s bumped their rosters age up. Hayward is the only guy on this Okc roster in their 30s and one of 3 older than 25

Yeah exactly

Read on Twitter

That's cool, but the core 3 are much older.

I may like this one better, but both are A+ tier rebuilding cores.

This team strikes a much better balance between star power and depth than the KD+Russ Thunder

[sp6r=underrated]

Which player improved the most for you this year in comparison to your expectations?

Which player regressed for you most this year compared to your expectations?

Table normal aging curve decline/improvements unless it was unexpected.

[jalengreen]

Which player improved the most for you this year in comparison to your expectations?

Which player regressed for you most this year compared to your expectations?

Table normal aging curve decline/improvements unless it was unexpected.

Brunson prolly, didn't think he'd take a superstar leap like this.

As for regression, no great answers immediately come to mind for me... Brook Lopez, Gordon Hayward, Bruce Brown seem to have fallen off cliffs (though Lopez is obviously ancient so doesn't belong here; I wasn't expecting it but I probably should've). Zach Collins surprised me, thought he closed the season out well for the Spurs last year but seemed to be pretty trash this year. Oh, Andrew Wiggins was a pretty wild one as well. Maybe even Looney. Both of em looked cooked but neither of them are at the age where they should be.

[rk2023]

Which player improved the most for you this year in comparison to your expectations?

Which player regressed for you most this year compared to your expectations?

Table normal aging curve decline/improvements unless it was unexpected.

Can’t really think about the latter too much.

Improvement wise:
• JDub
• Brunson
• Hartenstein
• Derrick & Coby White
• Maxey
• Sengun (maybe?)
• Cade

[AEnigma]

Which player improved the most for you this year in comparison to your expectations?

I think most players are pretty predictable year to year, and even unexpected improvements past a presumed peak (e.g. looking at 2018 Harden relative to 2017 Harden) can be foreseeable. Tougher to predict the young guys though, so for me, Chet was the most significant surprise. I expected him to be an elite rookie, but he is just an elite player. If Evan Mobley put up his exact season, he might have won MIP and been talked about as the future franchise face of the Cavaliers.

Other unexpected leaps: Jalen Suggs figuring out his shot, Jalen Williams rapidly developing as a secondary playmaker, and Coby White going from bench sparkplug to legitimate second option.

Which player regressed for you most this year compared to your expectations?

Table normal aging curve decline/improvements unless it was unexpected.

Will echo Andrew Wiggins. He plays like he did last year and the Warriors make the playoffs.

[sp6r=underrated]

The Wiggins call out made me think of Trae Young. I wouldn't put him as most disappointing but compare to where I thought he'd be in 2022 this year was a downer.

[Special_Puppy]

Might violate the age curve thing, but Maxey was wonderful this year. Again might violate the age curve thing, but Butler might be the most disappointing. He’s aged pretty gracefully so far but this year he is really looking 35

[falcolombardi]

Pretty much everyone in okc main rotation sans giddey could be a collective mip award

[The-Power]

Derrick White continues his insane scoring efficiency. What a player he has become. For Tatum, meanwhile, his scoring struggles continue. It isn't hurting the Celtics yet – but they still need him to play up to his ability eventually.

Giddey is looking unplayable and if they advance – and Minnesota advances – he will definitely be unplayable. The rest of the OKC team is just fun to watch, though. I'm also curious to see if Luka can play up to his level eventually. It's been a rough playoffs for him thus far and that needs to change for Dallas to make a deep run.

[Colbinii]

Which player improved the most for you this year in comparison to your expectations?

Anthony Edwards, Derrick White, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Suggs

Which player regressed for you most this year compared to your expectations?

Jamal Murray [Injury?], Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Desmond Bane/Jaren Jackson Jr

[Colbinii]

Derrick White continues his insane scoring efficiency. What a player he has become. For Tatum, meanwhile, his scoring struggles continue. It isn't hurting the Celtics yet – but they still need him to play up to his ability eventually.

Giddey is looking unplayable and if they advance – and Minnesota advances – he will definitely be unplayable. The rest of the OKC team is just fun to watch, though. I'm also curious to see if Luka can play up to his level eventually. It's been a rough playoffs for him thus far and that needs to change for Dallas to make a deep run.

One thing I can tip my cap to is Giddey being unplayable. I said they should have traded him prior to the deadline for as much value as possible, and it may very well come back and bite them.

[sp6r=underrated]

Yeah exactly

Read on Twitter

That's cool, but the core 3 are much older.

I may like this one better, but both are A+ tier rebuilding cores.

This team strikes a much better balance between star power and depth than the KD+Russ Thunder

I'm not sure any team in history had a much better balance than OKC. Those clubs were elite.

Even after Harden left the Thunder hit a 9 SRS. The crazy thing is from 2012-17. The only series in which Kawhi was healthy and SAS was outscored was against the 2012 Thunder. In 2016 they played 2 10+ SRS teams back to back and played them to a draw by point differential. I'm convinced if you ran things over 100 times most times they win a title.

This isn't meant as a knock on the current Thunder but the Durant era Thunder have a very credible case as the best core never to win a title.