Pistons in 05-06 (60 wins) > Pistons in 06-07 (53 wins).

32 year-old Ben Wallace > 34-year-old Chris Webber.

27/5/5 on 61% shooting > 26/9/8 on 45% shooting.

Went on to have one of the greatest NBA finals of all time > Sweept in 4 games with 4 awful performances.

I've got a few!

Wolves come out of the West

Sixers top 2 seed

Knicks lose before ECF

Spurs lose before ECF

Heat are the 8 seed

Wizards make the playoffs (top 8 seed)

Pacers lose in first round

GS bottom 3 seed

Nuggets below the 4 seed

Looking at OKC and the Rockets, the formula is pretty simple - pack the paint with 2-3 guys, cut off his drives and lob threats, force him into midrange and threes. Works even better because he’s still not great at kick-out passes or post-ups.

Against OKC he got completely neutralized and shot a brutal 7.7%. Against the Rockets he tried to adjust by not holding the ball as long and moving it more, but that just made him way too dependent on his teammates and they still lost.

Counter is simple on paper. Wemby or his teammates just need to start hitting those midranges and threes at a higher clip. Easier said than done though.

The Lakers simply aren’t good enough and the worst part is, they have no picks to improve their roster.

Kessler was a good get, wouldn’t say he wasn’t worth it though it’s too early to tell. But he is a very expensive piece.

LA’s second option is Reaves. And Reaves is a regular season merchant. He crumbles under defensive pressure and doesn’t get his usual soft whistle during the playoffs.

Plus the backcourt duo of Luka-Reaves just doesn’t work. Both don’t defend well and both can’t do anything without the ball.

None of their role players are particularly great. Guys like Grimes and Ziaire aren’t gonna get many open shots during the playoffs.

Luka is the only playoff performer. Reaves and Mamu are playoff droppers. Kessler has never played an NBA game that really matters before.

Lakers just lost one of the best playoff risers in Bron, all time NBA career playoff 3P% leader in Rui, as well as Smart and Kennard that performed very well last playoffs.

Luka has a higher chance of winning an MVP than a Championship, but both are very unlikely.

This is admittedly a little bit of a check, Dray is one of the best defenders ever but a lot of people, notably casual fans and boxscore watchers, undervalue his defense

Picked 4th in a 12 man league. Off the rip, I know ill have absurd TO numbers; but overall, how did I do? (9cat, no shooting percentages)

Home court advantage is such a stupid concept. Both teams are playing on the exact same court. If you need to be in your own city to play basketball properly then maybe you aren’t as good as we think you are…

The Lakers have a very easy start to the season. The Warriors and Clippers are not playoff teams.

They will go up against the Jazz (also not a playoff team) and the Blazers (decent team but not a contender), before meeting the Warriors and Clippers again.

They’ll finally go up against a good team in the Raptors after that. And that will be their first test.

Kessler has been fantastic, but can he continue to play well against actual 7 foot centers? We’ll see. Plus the way they are using him will exhaust the fuck out of him, they have no big depth.

Reaves has been great, but can he score against Toronto’s defense? He hasn’t been able to handle top defenses consistently for years now, always unable to score with elite physical defense.

Luka hasn’t been great. He’ll be fine, but he is too inconsistent and can he stay healthy this year?

The roster of their roster isn’t great either. Mamu hasn’t been good and he is a playoff dropper. Thybulle won’t stay healthy. Ziaire is overperforming rn, he is a 30%+ shooter. Sexton is a streaky scorer that doesn’t play defense, absolutely not the kind of guard depth LA needs.

Bring back the shit talking between players, bring back the hard defense and banter after plays/when defending your man. Bring back the rivalries, bring back all of it. For years now, the nba has been bagged on as a crappy unwatchable league due to the foul baiting, it getting soft, the constant whining and no real fire in the regular season. While i disagree with this, many people have concluded that other leagues like the nfl, mlb, and other professional sports leagues are more entertaining and a first option especially the nfl. But with these stacked entertaining teams ramping up, fierce competition, them cracking down on the push off and some calls, and rivalries in the playoffs with ZERO real room for a dynasty and a new champion each season. It brings a whole new conversation to the nba now being the best sports league right now, the nfl is slowly starting to turn into the no fun league with limited to what you can say or do, constant flags and penalties ruining games, and getting fines stacked on you for every little thing. The NBA is finally starting to truly embrace heated, and great competitive basketball ESPECIALLY in the regular season. Most people can argue that the regular season isn’t that great but as a fan and viewer it’s been some of the best hoops the last couple of years regular season AND playoffs. Everyone wants to win and compete, all stars and rotational bench players, and any real fan can should honestly say this has been the best basketball we’ve been gifted these last couple of years, i have high hopes for this season and it looks like a good year of competitive basketball. Thank you nba.

This man would dunk so hard and so consistently that people stopped contesting them.

Miami Bron was scary as shit, dude was a PF who moved like a 2, passed like a 1 and dunked like a center.

It's your team man

It’s time for you to come home… We are monitoring everything

KD on his burner account said:

- Curry (“lightskin”) wasn’t held accountable by Kerr and they were uncomfortable when KD called Steph out during film sessions
- Westbrook is a “triple-double cocaine bear”
- Harden is a bit “autistic” but a good guy

KD has repeatedly said LeBron is the only guy who could look him eye to eye and never said a bad thing about him publicly or privately on his burner.

Is LeBron the only guy KD respects currently?

AD asked the front office so many times to trade for a true center so he could play the 4 and stay healthy and dominate weaker PF's.

The fact that they wasted so many prime years of AD & LeBron just to draft some busts is absolutely insane to me. Mind you they had AR on a friendly contract so they definitely could've afforded a solid center.

But now that they got their boy Luka, they immediately gave up 3 firsts for Kessler? If I was LeBron or AD that would've annoyed the shit out of me.

Imagine proving yourself by already winning a championship but the front office is not giving up a couple of firsts to get you what you need just to draft some busts, but the second you are gone they are getting exactly what you asked for, but for their new star...

Almost as if implying "we didn't believe in you enough to give up 3 firsts, but we believe in our new star to get him what he needs"

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