Daily Discussion Thread | February 26, 2023

12 comments

1. Dubs needs to beat the wolves. It’ll be tough w/o Steph, Wiggs and maybe Dray. But I hope everyone steps up.

   Hopefully, Poole plays well and scores 30+ points. We need him to step up offensively, so Klay can have a breather.

2. Today I think holding on to the seven seed is winning given all the injuries and how the season is went. Two home games to win one versus teams that have been mostly healthy all season floating around 500 what we’ve been mostly injured doing the same I’d like a healthy version of our team versus any of those teams twice at home.

   Excuse me if that seems pessimistic loserspeak or unambitious. But if we got steph and wiggs out for another week and a half I’m rooting for the seventh seed for the win. Kings or Grizz in the first round.

3. Anyone else see the Lakers six seed chatter off and on the last week? Madness. The Lakers ain’t making the playoffs imo. I’d be surprised if something didn’t happen for them to miss the play in all together. Folks are actually peciling them in to jump 7… seven… SEVEN.

   #SEVEN TEAMS.

   …

   The plan is simple they’re just gonna play better than every team and no other teams are gonna play good. If every other team went 500. If a single team ahead of them goes 12-8 over the last 20 they’d have to go 14-6 lol. Okay I mean its all just terrible math. They got better but like 5% better tbh. Lakers and OKC are neck and neck tbh… OKC may have the better constructed team.

   This is cosmic truth. The basketball gods have a true disdain for LakerNation and LeBronStans. Only pain will follow. Dubs win. Lakers lose. My spirit soars.

   My stupid non Dubs hot take. OKC finishes the season ahead of the Lakers.

4. Call me a homer, whatever. I still think we’re winning it all. This team is more talented than last years team. Why- Klay is playing way better and that mental barrier of coming back has been broken. Looney is better – We didn’t realize how good he was until he turned into a fucking beast on the boards last year in the playoffs. He’s playing more minutes than ever. But for that reason we also have to preserve his and Dray’s bodies for the playoffs since we don’t have depth there. Kuminga has been unlocked – he plays well defensively, his effort is up, and he’s smarter offensively. Donta is playing as good as we could have asked for, very solid 2 way player, high IQ player, and shooting at 41% from 3. JP has regressed but theres still enough in the season for him to sorta figure things out.

   We missed our best 2 players (who are Top-10 all time / GOAT offensive player and AS starter caliber players, respectively) for too many games this season.

   We are still the best starting lineup in the NBA, by FAR. The issue for the early part of the season was the bench playing like trash – understandable since there were so many new guys, inexperienced guys. Halfway through the season they really have gelled, but since that time our starters have just been inconsistently available.

   There should be no doubt that the starters all playing together will take no more than a week to start clicking. Its all mental for us. I think Dray-Steph-Klay will come together one day and be like, yo boyz, this might be the last run. Lets get it. Just a reminder, healthy dray klay and steph starting all games of a playoff series have never been defeated.

5. It’s wild that my immediate Bronny NBA comp is DDV.

   Edit: anyone got a better one that isn’t hoisted off an draft pod or nba draft twitter?

6. I know it’s common for teams to play off Draymond, but how often are we seeing the level of top-blocking (multiple guys) employed by the Lakers in combination with that? Is that a strategy we’re likely to see more of?

7. Super important game against the TWolves.. we NEED this win, same record than them, this win is a double value game.

   Pelicans lost yesterday, that was a good result for us. Today we have many western matchups, Lakers/Mavs, Kings/Thunder, Rockets/Blazers and Clippers/Nuggets.

8. I was an unmitigated Wiseman supporter from draft day. Picked him over Melo and no one seems to remember that Melo was giving jaggov interviews, had a broken shot (for at least three years of pro ball), and didn’t look that sweet in Australia. With James, there was tape on his movement in college that made him look like a unicorn. Running full speed down court catching a fast pass and dunking the shit out of it. 7’2″. So for three years I assumed gradual improvement and ultimate all star status. He didn’t get there. And it’s not our player development. We hired expensive guys just for him. It’s not lack of playing time. The narrative “he needs to get reps on a losing team”? He got that, rookie year. He doesn’t fit in with our system bc hes a center or something. Bogut. Wiseman sucked. Kerr would’ve played him if he was playable. Remember that quote from Andre pre season about how they were working on stuff and Andre was like “yeah he is still missing some really fundamental things”. Come on. I am not gate keeping the daily Wiseman updates. I am saying that the Ws had every reason to play him and an unassailable pile of evidence that Wiseman was a zero. So say whatever you want about his games with the Pistons but be aware of what it would’ve cost this team in terms of personnel to have Hassan Whiteside Junior on the Ws in 23-24

9. Not so optimistic on this one. It’s a road game while being severely undermanned. Yes we suck on road and are easily less talented and less deep than Wolves this game, but all I am begging for is effort. Don’t just walk around like you don’t give a shit. Crash the defensive glass, giving OREBs and second chance pts is frustating, and it’s even more frustating when the opposing team grabs the OREBs right in front of our own player. Please grab the defensive glass and run hard on every transition opportunity.

   JP, please don’t lay an egg. We’ve got Gobert, hope there will be some good opportunities against his drop defense (gonna be tough with McDaniels being back and Ant playing good D)

10. What are the mods doing to combat the daily bots coming to the sub to push bootleg merchandise?

11. Been a hot minute since I went to Chase this early for a game.

12. Bro lol I forgot about Michael Carter-Williams as a player I thought he retired but good for him getting a new contract with Orlando.