The Week 7 NBA Thread - where Coby White may soon go past Devin Booker

[Son of Skeletor]

Hello all, and welcome to Week 7 of the NBA - where the season proper will pause, and we'll all watch multi-millionaires play for a $500,000 prize pool.

Normally our benevolent overlord peternorth would be making this OP, however work, family commitments and possible super fun sexy times involving Taylor Swift has necessitated a temporary adjustment of existing protocol.

And by that I mean that Northy has passed me the ball, and that for now the inmates are running the asylum...

Above: peternorth regrets his administrative decisions



This week, I thought we'd kick off by having a look at team identities in the league for season 2023/24. With around a quarter of the season already done and dusted now, the wheat has become separated from the chaff, and the chaff in turn has been separated from the Washington Wizards.

Is your NBA team the typical working class stiff, struggling to score enough points to stay afloat? Or is it rather all duck and no dinner, whatever the hell that means? Let's find out together.



The 'We traded with stupid GMs and thus will be good for the next decade' contenders


Boston Celtics (15-4) - Off Rating: 7th, Def Rating: 3rd

OKC Thunder (13-6) - Off Rating: 4th, Def Rating: 5th



The 'Building around a good big guy is still a viable strategy' club, aka 'The Jokic vs Embiid perpetual shitfight' contenders


Philadelphia 76ers (12-7) - Off Rating: 2nd, Def Rating: 16th

Denver Nuggets (14-7) - Off Rating: 10th, Def Rating: 15th



The 'At least our Offence is still at 2021 levels' alleged superteams


Milwaukee Bucks (14-6) - Off Rating: 5th, Def Rating: 20th

Phoenix Suns ( 12-8) - Off Rating: 6th, Def Rating: 18th



The 'Best Defence is a Good Offence' League Pass darlings


Brooklyn Nets (10-9) - Off Rating: 9th, Def Rating: 22nd

Sacramento Kings (11-7) - Off Rating: 14th, Def Rating: 19th

Golden State Warriors (9-11) - Off Rating: 12th, Def Rating: 17th



The 'We can't shoot, but Offensive Rebounding and Defence will take you pretty far' anomaly


New York Knicks (12-7) - Off Rating: 11th, Def Rating: 4th



The 'Regular Season is for suckers' perennial possum-players and statistically average team


Miami Heat (11-9) - Off Rating: 13th, Def Rating: 14th



The 'Really Good Defence will cover our Offensive Sins' Cinderella stories


Minnesota Timberwolves (15-4) - Off Rating: 19th, Def Rating: 1st

Orlando Magic (14-6) - Off Rating: 17th, Def Rating: 2nd

Houston Rockets (8-9) - Off Rating: 16th, Def Rating: 6th



The 'Perhaps if we outscore our opponents then nobody will notice our Defence' playoff pretenders


Indiana Pacers (10-8) - Off Rating: 1st, Def Rating: 28th

Atlanta Hawks (9-10) - Off Rating: 3rd, Def Rating: 26th

Dallas Mavericks (11-8) - Off Rating: 8th, Def Rating: 23rd



The 'Are you sure these numbers are the right way around?' cursed franchises and possible winners of the Inaugural In-Season Cup


Los Angeles Clippers (9-10) - Off Rating: 15th, Def Rating: 7th

Los Angeles Lakers (12-9) - Off Rating: 24th, Def Rating: 12th

New Orleans Pelicans (11-10) - Off Rating: 18th, Def Rating: 9th



The 'If we didn't run off misses, we'd probably never score' constipated toilet teams


Cleveland Cavaliers (11-9) - Off Rating: 22nd, Def Rating: 11th

Toronto Raptors (9-11) - Off Rating: 25th, Def Rating: 10th

Memphis Grizzlies (5-14) - Off Rating: 29th, Def Rating: 8th

Portland Trail Blazers (6-13) - Off Rating: 30th, Def Rating: 13th



The 'At least when we lose, we have fun' duffers (whom may or may not have beaten the Pels recently)


Charlotte Hornets (6-12) - Off Rating: 20th, Def Rating: 30th

Washington Wizards (3-16) - Off Rating: 21st, Def Rating: 29th

Utah Jazz (7-13) - Off Rating: 23rd, Def Rating: 25th



The 'We couldn't score in a brothel' League Pass anathema (whom also may or may not have beaten the Pels recently)


Chicago Bulls (7-14) - Off Rating: 26th, Def Rating: 21st

San Antonio Spurs (3-16) - Off Rating: 28th, Def Rating: 27th

Detroit Pistons (2-18) - Off Rating: 27th, Def Rating: 24th




I'll be back with more nonsense next week. Except of course if the Lakers play the Pels in the Cup semi-final and shoot 300% more free throws, in which case I'll probably become so numb with apathy that I'll check myself into a mental hospital and volunteer for electro shock therapy.

Above: Pels fandom destroys lives



Here's the Tournament Schedule for all three people on Earth that really care. Enjoy your week.

 

[burge13]

For the success of the IST in making some regular games feel important, its all finished in mid December. The point of it was to add intrigue to the regular season and lessen the amount of pretty pointless games

Wouldnt it have been better to do this in Feb-March? Thats when the fatigue of the season sets in and we're just waiting for playoffs, at least for me. No need to add anything in the early season, people are just pumped the season has started. Wait until its all a bit tiresome to run the IST imo

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Only the best of the best have made the IST !

Seriously, it's a bit jarring there is no games on today (Sunday US time)

 

[Slysh]

For the success of the IST in making some regular games feel important, its all finished in mid December. The point of it was to add intrigue to the regular season and lessen the amount of pretty pointless games

Wouldnt it have been better to do this in Feb-March? Thats when the fatigue of the season sets in and we're just waiting for playoffs, at least for me. No need to add anything in the early season, people are just pumped the season has started. Wait until its all a bit tiresome to run the IST imo

The media has been praising the tournament big time saying what a success it’s been and I’m so confused on what I’m missing.

My only concern in these games when watching teams I like is hoping they get another regular season win. At no stage did I look at what results I need for my favourite teams to make it through. When most of my favourite teams didn’t make it through I did not care at all.

I still don’t get why us fans are supposed to care and as you pointed out I think you nailed the fact that the timing is so weird. Having it right at the start of the season when everyone is already excited and keen on games. The only time in the NBA when the season drags a little is the last month or so of the season when a bunch of teams are tanking and the best teams are coasting once they have seeding locked in.

No real prize, disgusting ugly courts, finishing at a weird time of the year. I don’t get the buzz around it and unless something changes I won’t care about it going forward.

 

[DT_35]

The same man leads the NBA in total points, rebounds AND assists

 

[burge13]

The media has been praising the tournament big time saying what a success it’s been and I’m so confused on what I’m missing.

My only concern in these games when watching teams I like is hoping they get another regular season win. At no stage did I look at what results I need for my favourite teams to make it through. When most of my favourite teams didn’t make it through I did not care at all.

I still don’t get why us fans are supposed to care and as you pointed out I think you nailed the fact that the timing is so weird. Having it right at the start of the season when everyone is already excited and keen on games. The only time in the NBA when the season drags a little is the last month or so of the season when a bunch of teams are tanking and the best teams are coasting once they have seeding locked in.

No real prize, disgusting ugly courts, finishing at a weird time of the year. I don’t get the buzz around it and unless something changes I won’t care about it going forward.

Yeah I think most praise is coming from media too. There isn't nearly as much coming from joe public imo

I never looked at IST specific results, as you say I look for the result in the overall state of the W/L. Honestly not fussed who wins it, why would I care millionaires won another 500k. This will never be a FA Cup type thing the fans care about.

The point differential rules made games matter, that same intensity should be the norm for all games anyway IMO. Really, if teams played until the end of games every time there'd be less need for the IST to begin with...

Timing for mine should be late Jan-late Feb. Play the final on All-star weekend maybe? Tanking teams are going to phone it in regardless but can't do it too late in the year once they've truly given up and send stars off for early surgeries etc

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Lol

Well said Ime !;

 

[peternorth]

Lol

Well said Ime !;

can take the man out of boston....

 

[hamG]

Lol

Well said Ime !;

A coach trying to coax a player into a physical confrontation is a bit lame. Hold me back bro.

 

[Gak Attack]

A coach trying to coax a player into a physical confrontation is a bit lame. Hold me back bro.

Bron did walk over to him not the other way around. That's his point.

 

[tigs2010]

The same man leads the NBA in total points, rebounds AND assists

The only thing more impressive is that it's not really a shock

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Bron did walk over to him not the other way around. That's his point.

LeBron has been whining/pleading to the refs for years, which I think was the point Ime was making.

To be fair Tatum has also being doing it lately in the last few weeks and it's getting on my nerves (he deserved to be ejected the other day vs Philly)

Refs are too spineless to ever give Lebron a tech foul though generally.

Luka used to do it a lot a couple of years ago, but thankfully has cut back on it quite a lot (although I still reckon he gets hacked and not rewarded with FTs as much as he should)

 

[apollo_creed]

Love the thread title PN.

 

[tigs2010]

Not convinced the in season tournament was worth a full day off and multiple days of stand alone finals.

 

[hotchilli]

Not convinced the in season tournament was worth a full day off and multiple days of stand alone finals.

Yeah but at the same time it does feel like they have to fully commit to showcasing it.

 

[DT_35]

Timberwolves have only had 1 B2B. Work that one out

 

[Look2Me4Guidance]

Will the In Season Tournament winner become the In Season World Champion?

 

[Son of Skeletor]

Timberwolves have only had 1 B2B. Work that one out

At a cursory glance, it's a combination of things.

Most back to backs occur during a home-stand stretch or a road trip. They did have two significant home game stretches already, but those games were spaced out for whatever reason. I think if you're going to have back to backs, most people would agree that this is the least onerous way to do it, since you're not traveling in between. They do have several home back to backs coming up in the second half of the season.

The only real geographical road trip they've had where back-to-backs would make sense was to California/Arizona, where they did play three times in four days against the Dubs x 2 and Suns. Undoubtedly they'll have some of these to come too.

The third combination for a back-to-back is home/away or away/home, but Minny is probably less likely than most to have these because all their nearest geographical neighbours play in a different conference. One example is that they play at Detroit on Jan 17, then host the Griz Jan 18. I'd wager the East Conf, Texas and Californian teams do these home/away back to backs more often.

Which obviously leads to the final factor, is that Minny, along with most teams in the 'NorthWest' clusterf*ck division, have to travel further that a lot of teams over the course of a season. Denver's probably in that group too, although you are more advantageously located to play the majority of West Conf teams. So one would expect Minny's schedule would often be funkier than the norm.

 

[peternorth]

Love the thread title PN.

I take no credit for the title and OP belongs to SOS

 

[tigs2010]

Nice for Jaquez to get some recognition as East rookie of the month. Also nice that both Wemby and Chet are in the other conference.

Do we agree with Chet over Wemby in the West?

 

[Gak Attack]

In season would be a lot better at the back end making some of the tankers possibly actually try in games.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Not convinced the in season tournament was worth a full day off and multiple days of stand alone finals.

Some players and teams need the rest though.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Jrue Holiday picks Halibirton's pocket and finishes it with a bucket at the other end.

So happy he is a Celtic

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Solid end to the first half for the Celts, led by Derrick White and Jayson Tatum.

 

[Elmer_Judd]

Refs lifting big time for the Pacers.

I don't see how a player in the defensive key who makes no attempt to play defence and flops and draws the charge should be rewarded. That's just blatant cheating.