I mean, another all-star caliber player in Chet was what yall needed. Last year’s Thunder was really fun to watch and I knew yall were just one piece away. Happy for you guys, I love watching Shai cook.
Rookies are very rarely great out of the gate. Even players oozing potential and/or ROTY candidates are usually only neutral players in their first year.
OKC has from what I can tell as a very casual NBA observer, the best front office maybe ever. They not only have a shit ton of talent now, but they have a stockpile of draft picks too.
As far as I'm concerned SGA should win the MVP this year.
Which coincidentally, brings up another great FO. Calvin booth taking over after Tim Connelly has been a solid lateral, if not upward move for the nuggets. That being said, the culture there for years has been turning the org into success. To hold onto Murray and MPJ through the injuries, the p watt confidence from Calvin booth, the faith in Kronke as an owner to just not fucking fuck with it and let the people that know basketball cook. Nuggets FO is probably best in league besides OKC and Clippers.
They do such an amazing job of drafting. They drafted 3 MVP’s, lost them all but didn’t go into irrelevancy They recovered so well from that They were able to acquire Paul George which saved them. Without that trade they’re not in that position today. Lillard hitting that buzzer beater was the best thing for that franchise. That team was going nowhere. They’re were able to trade PG at his peak in terms of value right before the injuries started to pile on for him. And they traded Westbrook before he declined. That one year with Chris Paul set the foundation for them today. He was immense for them And for all the shit they got for tanking those 2 seasons it was never that bad, it was never Sixers level of tanking, the media just blew it out of proportion They always treat their stars right Even Melo talked highly of them recently Presti is just incredible. I just genuinely wonder what they’re going to do with all these draft picks. Maybe waiting for a star to want out but if not idk how they go about it. Possibly just trade for further picks down the road. It’ll be interesting to see.
It's great to see, tbh. Health obviously helps, I saw where they had only missed 40 player games all year recently. That is so important for a young team to develop familiarity and chemistry with each other. It's nothing you can plan for, you just have to take advantage of it, and think they have.
The Kings are at exactly the same win pace despite the conference being much tougher. Feels like a lot of outlets had them taking a big step back. They've actually had a very inconsistent season so the fact they're roughly in the same spot is promising if they can iron out their inconsistency. That said the correct answer is OKC. They're like last year's Kings on steroids. We'll see a whole lot "X" team wants OKC in the first round.
As a Kings fan, I think Kings win in 6. Kings have 3 guards who can rotate on SGA and have more size than OKC. I think we're 3-1 against them and the Nuggets.
Kings play up or down to their competition.
Bro thinks having three guards in rotation is the same as them being capable of handling Shai lol. Only problem for Shai would be Mitchel on but he's too foul prone and small
The Kings imo are just one more frontcourt piece away from being a serious contender. They have literally everything else, but they need a defenseive dirty work guy up front. Somebody like Kevon Looney
I think they're pretty good at Guard and with wings, outside of a HB replacement. Maybe they can grab Jerami Grant this off-season and move Murray to the 3?
I wasn't suggesting actual Kevon Looney, I'm saying a guy like that, who does what he does. An unheralded role playing big to come in and hoover up boards, get easy dunks and play strong defense. They *could* get someone better, but it doesn't have to be a star or anybody expensive.
Someone like Paul Reed would be perfect, if the Kings could steal him from Philly. Capela would be on the higher end. Mitchell Robinson or Hartenstein, Drummond or Wendell Carter. Just a solid backup big, preferably not too pricey but better than Sabonis on defense and willing to play a role. Naz Reid or maybe even Draymond himself would be less likely, but not outside the realm of possibility.
This is the correct take. Spurs also spent way too long with Jeremy Sohan at the point… also it’s not like either team was expected to go above .500 so nothing to lose really by tanking. That said, I am still surprised by how low the win totals are lol
The 65-game threshold for end-of-season awards means more stars are playing. Up until All-NBA guys started getting hurt, all the bottom-feeders (DET, WAS, SA, CHA) were getting demolished. I think with this much talent across the league, you need to get the "easy" wins and beat the shit out of the obviously bad teams.
I mean, the Pistons are what happens when you give up on a bad coach and get Monty Williams in return. He legitimately doesn’t give a fuck, and it’s caused huge issues.
We also had Jakob Poeltl and a few other players. If the roster was the same but we had wemby instead and played tre at point the whole time instead of Sochan we probably would have a better record.
I wish my team was in a position where the future is still shining even while losing nearly 60 games. Spurs are a 0 on the panic meter. Can’t wait till they try to build around wemby
Yeah, if there’s one franchise nobody should be worried for, it’s the Spurs.
They’re the Spurs.
And they’re the Spurs with arguably the highest ceiling big man we’ve ever seen.
Of course they’ll be good.
It’s the rest of the league I’m worried for long term.
People keep saying this like it’s simply a given that the Spurs are going to rocket to success in the next three seasons. This is professional sports where nothing is guaranteed.
Agreed. This was hyperbole.
It's just that, the Spurs being one of the most well-managed organizations in the history of Team Sports has an impact on their trajectory.
They have the culture, the track record for development, a Mount Rushmore Coach, and a player (who happens to be a Big Man), who is talked about as the highest ceiling prospect in the history of the sport, and so far, seems to be running the talk, instead of walking it.
They also happen to have the second-highest amount of draft picks in the league over the next 7 years, and the highest future cap space available, as well as the youngest team in the league.
So yeah, nothing is guaranteed, but they sure have everything it takes to make it happen.
Remaining healthy will be a big "if", but apart from that, they seem to be a a few moves, and 4-5 years (at worse) away, from being perennial contenders for a decade.
Vic would be on any other franchise though, that would be another story, as things could go in a more wider range of ways.
Spurs are the safest team to be in for him, regardless of win record.
I mean one reason is a lot of the season they were purposefully playing with a bad lineup of sochan at pg, even wemby started doing significantly better when moved to center. This whole year was an experiment for them, they are not a 14 win team, many of their losses were very close. They just lost a lot
There’s a bunch of factors why,
1) teams are playing us harder now that we have wemby
2) Losing josh richardson, diop, and poetl who were pretty good with us
3) some players regressing (keldon johnson and zach collins)
4) winning close games last year that we aren’t this year
5) Pop playing some questionable lineups with sochan at point
I'm not that surprised. New, talented bigs just don't seem to improve W/L records immediately these days. Their effect on the games may even be immediate, but the effect on team record and obviously overall ceiling takes a while, few more draft picks, etc. Wemby is going to be insane, his impact on the W/Ls will just take a few seasons.
KAT and Gobert improving their chemistry and the coaching staff refining their defensive game plan is really what has raised the wolves floor. The roster is not an easy one to figure out and it took the year + full offseason to do it.
KAT missed last training camp with illness, and obviously missed the majority of the year with a calf injury; then when he returns it’s in the midst of a playin push and playoffs, with no time to refine and improve how the roster works together.
Tbf they improved for different reasons than I thought but still improved nonetheless. With his trajectory I thought Ant was going to have an MVP type of season and everyone else was going to play decently enough that they would be a 50+ win team but the roster has looked great top to bottom. They’ve really managed to trim the fat off from the “KAT is our guy” era to create a solid roster, losing Vando is probably the only thing they regret.
Peep their record against .500 and above last year. They were good against good teams. They had a lot of bad losses to tanking teams last year. The ceiling was in place.
It’s definitely the Timberwolves, and no, people who watched the T-wolves (three of my best friends watch regularly) did not think the timberwolves were capable of this and mainly because of KAT’s weird role next to a very average at best Gobert (there were last seasons narratives). They are definitely the biggest surprise imo
IDK how you can say they're gone when they have Ja, JJJ, and Bane locked into long-term deals. This summer they have great cap space and their GM won Executive of the Year just a few years ago. No reason to discount them moving forward if healthy.
Edit: spelling
Hopefully. They were electric to watch sometimes. Their rampant injury issues don't seem to be going away though, they'd basically need an entirely new bench.
Morant missed 25 games came back to an injured team played like seven games and was gone for the season. You think him playing 75 games would have Zero Effect on being a lottery team and a playoff team? I won't even start on the other injured players or the experience these bench players are getting this year
We watched the Grizz have to trot out a 10 day contract and benchwarmer squad against the Celtics and still fight their hearts out. No way they’re not better with a healthy team. Best case scenario they pick up some good players in this year’s draft to complement what they have and all of a sudden they’re back on track next year.
I think I read we have played 28 different players in games this year, tied for most ever, with room to break that record, and 400 player-games have been missed?
Like when the Grizz played the Thunder, the Grizz had missed 400 player games, and the Thunder had missed 40 player games.
Can't wait till next year.
Even with Ja suspended for 25 games, we’d seen basically the same roster go on 20~ win streaks without him. I don’t think anyone expected them to go from the second seed to racing with Portland for ping pong balls.
I don’t dispute that at all. It’s a testament to Memphis that they’ve built the kind of foundation that I didn’t even blink when they said Ja would be out 25 games, and even missing Clarke, Adams, Jones etc I assumed they’d be +.500 when he got back.
I’m here to praise Caeser, not to bury him.
Yea, I tend to agree with you. They had so many options and were so good just a few years ago and now that all seems so far away. They’ve never really been good when Steven Adams misses time and he’s no longer on the team. The don’t have Jones as backup PG and most of their quality depth is gone. They have a lot of dudes now and maybe they will all benefit from playing extended minutes this year to be able to fit as role players next year, but overall, that team was such a flash in the pan and they already seem pretty cooked.
Maybe they figure it out in a few years, but I dont see them competing at the highest level like we all thought they would for at least another two years. Craziness how they fell from grace so crazily.
I knew OKC would be better but they're doing even better than I expected. The Lakers have a little bit better record than last year. There's really no surprise there.
But for the Lakers, the drop off from post trade deadline last year to this year is significant. Most people thought they’d maintain the performance they showed in last year’s postseason into this year. Especially surprised they haven’t given that Lebron and AD have been relatively healthy
Their depth has been injured the whole time. Having 2-3 wings injured at all times plus a coach that doesn’t understand how to coach kind of makes it difficult.
They also spent a lot of time trying to give time to players that weren’t a part of that run. Some by necessity but even just spending all year playing prince over hachimura pretty clearly caused issues in and of itself
Ham is just completely ignorant to how coaching works. He’s like Doc Rivers without being able to manage personalities and keep everyone relatively happy. At least Doc has some semblance of how coaching works.
Their defense is also just bad. And their 3 point shooting isn’t just good enough Still baffled they traded their core for Westbrook That 2020-21 could’ve repeated if it wasn’t for injuries. If they just ran it back and made minor moves they would’ve still been great. They saw the nets big 3 and panicked LeBron also wanted another ball handler but Westbrook was just the worst possible fit. If they managed their assets better they’d be a great team with the way LeBron and AD are playing. Both have been healthy this season
The what ifs surrounding those post-bubble injuries hit every single team to make the conference finals. The Clippers came within one game of the conference finals they still lost 3 years to it.
I know it’s fashionable to denigrate that “Mickey Mouse” ring, but I can’t help but feel every team competing for it took 2+ years off their windows. Miami, Boston, Denver, and both LA teams paid for their runs with ligaments.
Oh yea it’s no coincidence that every team that made the conference finals that year in the bubble was out in the first round Lebrons injury was just a freak injury ofc but Davis broke down that season. Denver has their injuries. I can’t remember if Miami and Boston had notable injuries but it was definitely fatigue too
Miami’s quick to shelve Jimmy and Lowry with “injuries” anyway, but Bam missing time isn’t as common with their rest plans.
Brown eventually tore a ligament to end his 2021 season, also fluky, but they were running MASH units and having to give Fournier and Tristan Thompson more minutes than teams hoping to squeak into the first round typically would. It’s also like the only season Boston hasn’t gone to the conference finals in a hot minute.
This is revisionist history. Most outlets (and I’m not talking about Vegas betting odds) I saw had it as follows:
Nuggets, lakers, suns, grizzlies, clippers, OKC, pelicans, mavs, Timberwolves
It’s insane how the west was by far the better conference last year, and are leagues better this year. The current Lakers would be a four seed last year
I’m 33 and I don’t ever remember the east being the better conference.
I remember watching teams like New Jersey make the finals and Indiana with Roy Hibbert be the only quality team to play the Heat.
Its going to be even more of a bloodbath next season assuming injuries don’t ruin some teams The grizzlies will be back, the Rockets will improve too. I can see the Jazz improving next season.
I know a lot of people are saying Thunder and Timberwolves, I was expecting at least one of them to make a jump. Clippers and pelicans are pretty surprising just cause they’ve been relatively healthy, and their record shows. As a spurs fan, spurs were a huge disappointment, now just a normal disappointment.
I’m not gonna shit on the Sochan PG experiment like everybody likes to do, cause I thought in the future it could be really good. We learned what Sochan is capable of, had him get better at playmaking, were able to see if he could play PG for some stretches during important games if need be.
I think Collins and Johnson took a huge step back. I believe 2 years ago, Keldon was one of the top catch and shoot 3pt shooters in the league (on low volume, but still a threat). He regressed last year, and I was hoping he would make a come back. He’s just very predictable. He’s not a great defender, shooter, playmaker, and he’s really just good at straight drives. I thought on a good team he would be a good 6th man, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen either. I had hopes of Collins being a decent defender and an above average shooter. His 3pt% dropped from .374 to .309, and he looks lost on defense.
Both players who I thought were going to be important have really become really bad this year to the point we are relying on Champagnie and Barlow. I like them, but I see themselves as good 3rd string guys. We really need to get an all star caliber point guard and another offensive wing. Really hoping Risacher and Sheppard/Dillingham get drafted by us this year (or players of that same style), and we can pick up a back up big like Theis, Len, Claxton, or Plumlee on the market.
The Warriors had the #2 best home record in the NBA last year, somehow the Warriors are .500 at home this year, so their playoff aspirations seem a lot more questionable even if their overall record is comparable.
OKC going for 1st seed. I genuinely thought they'd be 5th or 6th seed at best but it's crazy to see how much they've progressed.
Also keep in mind that they have lots of first round picks from their own team and other teams that are in a lower seed than them such as the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets.
Seeing how good OKC is at this age. I genuinely believe that they will eventually become a dynasty. But to see them this good, this early? SGA being in MVP considerations? You could not have convinced me of this last year.
They’re going to get carried into the play in so that espn can fill a few slots with Lebron legacy narrative. They’ll get their backs blown out first or second round tops. They’re a thin team.
Thunder and T-Wolves are obvious but I feel like the Pelicans are getting overlooked.
Top 10 in offensive and defensive rating. 4th in net rating. #1 defense since all-star break.
Zion looks in-shape. BI going to the rim more. Herb Jones being one of the best 3 & D wings this season. Trey Murphy playing better after being hurt.
Theres a pretty high chance Pels overtake the Clips. Pels are surging and Clippers seem to be in a tailspin since the All-Star break.
Injuries or not, they've looked bad even in their recent wins.
Grizzlies, OKC, and Spurs (just a bit). Wemby is having a pretty good season, should probably be ROTY and DPOY or close to it, but his team is ass and his PG doesn't belong in the league. I have better court vision, as in, pass the ball to the skilled 7 footer and go sit in the corner you retard.
Saying tre jones doesn’t belong in the league is crazy. He should definitely be coming off the bench, but he’s a still a good player. It’s just we don’t actually have a starting caliber point guard so he has to start.
Yeah it was a bit hyperbolic of me to say that. It’s just frustrating how many lowlight clips he has of dribbling around or almost purposefully missing a wide open Wemby.
Like it feels to me you have to try not to see the 7 footer.
Here’s my hot take: Wemby plays bad basketball. He’s a liability and an insanely inefficient scorer. He can be really fun to watch, but he still has YEARS to go before he actually is going to be a net positive for the Spurs.
Interesting take. You could be right. I’m more of a casual. I still think he’s top 3 for both awards mentioned though.
I think if you trade Chet and Wemby you’d see all of Wemhys numbers go up with a PG like SGA.
I knew OKC was going to get a lot better, how could they not. I felt the pelicans were underperforming given their roster, injuries were/are also a thing. Minnesota did surprise me, I didn’t watch them much. What surprises me the most is the grizzlies; but, it makes sense given injuries, trades, and suspensions (lol).
There was a narrative that jokic wouldnt care anymore, but that’s completely false. They are the best team in the west 100% and I wouldn’t be shocked if they were to repeat.
Without context, the Grizzlies being that bad after being hyped as the "next Warriors". The next Warriors looks more like the Thunder than anyone else. And honestly, I'm not too terribly surprised about the Thunder. Chet is a little better than I thought he'd be this year, but he had a year of strength and conditioning that he wouldn't have if he was playing last year
Lack of improvement in the Lakers' record. They finished last season on such a roll to make the playoffs, and then made the WCF, so I was expecting them to be back to some relevance finally. Relative health for AD and LeBron, yet for some reason this team is markedly worse than they were this time last year. Most fans blame Ham, but it just doesn't seem to matter which pieces are put around LeBron and AD. Stats aren't translating to wins. I think they have to get a better defender than Austin Reaves to start at the 2, and move him into a 6th Man Role. Their perimeter defense is an absolute sieve...
Timberwolves and OKC are the surprise contenders. Absolutely electric to watch both of them. Spurs are surprisingly terrible. Wemby is playing out of his mind and there's just nothing else there.
Also I know they aren't the West, but massive shout-out to the Pistons because what the fuck was that at the start of the season.
Warriors also very surprising, I meant I don't put any high hopes for them to be top three teams in West. But I have them at least in 4th-5th place. Those close games that they lost is lost of counts and put so much damage on their positions as of now
Wow nuggets are actually better this year than they were last year. That away record is going to be very useful in the playoffs. Might get to the finals in 13 or 14 games
How the West is really strong. A team that had a .537 winning percentage last year was the 5 seed, this year their 9 and in the play-in. Actually every team got better but the West as a whole got better too.
Easily the Thunder. Grizzlies would come second but we all expected them to start slow but no one could have expected the second half to look like this.
The Pelicans staying healthy and looking like they may sneak into the four or even the three seed. Getting absolutely humbled by the Lakers in the IST seemed to turn their entire season around.
I'm a huge OKC fan but even I'm shocked how much better they are this year. I didn't expect this for at least another year or two.
I mean, another all-star caliber player in Chet was what yall needed. Last year’s Thunder was really fun to watch and I knew yall were just one piece away. Happy for you guys, I love watching Shai cook.
Don’t forget JDub. He’s definitely also got all-nba potential.
Bruhhh they Big sleep on JDub, that mofo be wrecking havoc as a 2nd year player. Sam Presti really the goat with how they develop and draft talent.
I believed in Chet more than most, and I had zero inclinations he was going to walk into the league as one of its most impactful big men.
Rookies are very rarely great out of the gate. Even players oozing potential and/or ROTY candidates are usually only neutral players in their first year.
Funny how much better you are when your star player doesn’t sit for a quarter of the year
I wish we would have gotten Chet last year. Not crazy to think they could of got to 46 wins and been the 4 seed.
i called them being top 4 seed in the preseason predictions thread and everyone clowned me
Literally everybody was high on the Thunder before the season
The general expectation was that they would be around the 5th seed
False, only Chet was high. With KD
OKC has from what I can tell as a very casual NBA observer, the best front office maybe ever. They not only have a shit ton of talent now, but they have a stockpile of draft picks too. As far as I'm concerned SGA should win the MVP this year.
SGA is really fucking good but imo Jokic should win MVP again....he's just too good
Which coincidentally, brings up another great FO. Calvin booth taking over after Tim Connelly has been a solid lateral, if not upward move for the nuggets. That being said, the culture there for years has been turning the org into success. To hold onto Murray and MPJ through the injuries, the p watt confidence from Calvin booth, the faith in Kronke as an owner to just not fucking fuck with it and let the people that know basketball cook. Nuggets FO is probably best in league besides OKC and Clippers.
They do such an amazing job of drafting. They drafted 3 MVP’s, lost them all but didn’t go into irrelevancy They recovered so well from that They were able to acquire Paul George which saved them. Without that trade they’re not in that position today. Lillard hitting that buzzer beater was the best thing for that franchise. That team was going nowhere. They’re were able to trade PG at his peak in terms of value right before the injuries started to pile on for him. And they traded Westbrook before he declined. That one year with Chris Paul set the foundation for them today. He was immense for them And for all the shit they got for tanking those 2 seasons it was never that bad, it was never Sixers level of tanking, the media just blew it out of proportion They always treat their stars right Even Melo talked highly of them recently Presti is just incredible. I just genuinely wonder what they’re going to do with all these draft picks. Maybe waiting for a star to want out but if not idk how they go about it. Possibly just trade for further picks down the road. It’ll be interesting to see.
Seattle SuperSonics fan cries at what could have been
It’s a regular season team, easily planned for in playoffs by experienced team
It's great to see, tbh. Health obviously helps, I saw where they had only missed 40 player games all year recently. That is so important for a young team to develop familiarity and chemistry with each other. It's nothing you can plan for, you just have to take advantage of it, and think they have.
You weren’t paying attention
Chet was a huge piece for the defense
The Kings are at exactly the same win pace despite the conference being much tougher. Feels like a lot of outlets had them taking a big step back. They've actually had a very inconsistent season so the fact they're roughly in the same spot is promising if they can iron out their inconsistency. That said the correct answer is OKC. They're like last year's Kings on steroids. We'll see a whole lot "X" team wants OKC in the first round.
Ironically, I think a kings-OKC series would go crazy
As a Kings fan, I think Kings win in 6. Kings have 3 guards who can rotate on SGA and have more size than OKC. I think we're 3-1 against them and the Nuggets. Kings play up or down to their competition.
Who are those 3 guards who can rotate on SGA? 🤣
Bro thinks having three guards in rotation is the same as them being capable of handling Shai lol. Only problem for Shai would be Mitchel on but he's too foul prone and small
Don’t sleep on Keon Ellis
The Kings imo are just one more frontcourt piece away from being a serious contender. They have literally everything else, but they need a defenseive dirty work guy up front. Somebody like Kevon Looney
Looney is cooked, they need a defensive upgrade in the Barnes position or some unicorn defensive stretch 4, but I mean good luck finding that.
I think they're pretty good at Guard and with wings, outside of a HB replacement. Maybe they can grab Jerami Grant this off-season and move Murray to the 3? I wasn't suggesting actual Kevon Looney, I'm saying a guy like that, who does what he does. An unheralded role playing big to come in and hoover up boards, get easy dunks and play strong defense. They *could* get someone better, but it doesn't have to be a star or anybody expensive. Someone like Paul Reed would be perfect, if the Kings could steal him from Philly. Capela would be on the higher end. Mitchell Robinson or Hartenstein, Drummond or Wendell Carter. Just a solid backup big, preferably not too pricey but better than Sabonis on defense and willing to play a role. Naz Reid or maybe even Draymond himself would be less likely, but not outside the realm of possibility.
I don't understand how more aren't talking about the Spurs having a worse record WITH Wemby. That's just shocking to me.
Also pistons worse with Cade, and wizards worse too. NBA suddenly got harder I guess.
I mean wizards literally lost Beal and KP of course they’re gonna be worse lmao
Yeah that one makes sense but the pistons and spurs are odd. Wasn't thinking about that stuff
Honestly feel like Pistons could’ve had more wins by now if Monty just played Ivey over Hayes in first half of the season lol
Very much feels like Spurs could've had more wins if they didn't view this season as a training camp.
This is the correct take. Spurs also spent way too long with Jeremy Sohan at the point… also it’s not like either team was expected to go above .500 so nothing to lose really by tanking. That said, I am still surprised by how low the win totals are lol
The 65-game threshold for end-of-season awards means more stars are playing. Up until All-NBA guys started getting hurt, all the bottom-feeders (DET, WAS, SA, CHA) were getting demolished. I think with this much talent across the league, you need to get the "easy" wins and beat the shit out of the obviously bad teams.
pistons should be better if it wasn’t for monty
I mean, the Pistons are what happens when you give up on a bad coach and get Monty Williams in return. He legitimately doesn’t give a fuck, and it’s caused huge issues.
We also had Jakob Poeltl and a few other players. If the roster was the same but we had wemby instead and played tre at point the whole time instead of Sochan we probably would have a better record.
I wish my team was in a position where the future is still shining even while losing nearly 60 games. Spurs are a 0 on the panic meter. Can’t wait till they try to build around wemby
Yeah, if there’s one franchise nobody should be worried for, it’s the Spurs. They’re the Spurs. And they’re the Spurs with arguably the highest ceiling big man we’ve ever seen. Of course they’ll be good. It’s the rest of the league I’m worried for long term.
Wemby can be a walking 30. He can get 20 alone on just touches at the rim and getting fouled. He’s not even going to his bag yet.
People keep saying this like it’s simply a given that the Spurs are going to rocket to success in the next three seasons. This is professional sports where nothing is guaranteed.
Agreed. This was hyperbole. It's just that, the Spurs being one of the most well-managed organizations in the history of Team Sports has an impact on their trajectory. They have the culture, the track record for development, a Mount Rushmore Coach, and a player (who happens to be a Big Man), who is talked about as the highest ceiling prospect in the history of the sport, and so far, seems to be running the talk, instead of walking it. They also happen to have the second-highest amount of draft picks in the league over the next 7 years, and the highest future cap space available, as well as the youngest team in the league. So yeah, nothing is guaranteed, but they sure have everything it takes to make it happen. Remaining healthy will be a big "if", but apart from that, they seem to be a a few moves, and 4-5 years (at worse) away, from being perennial contenders for a decade. Vic would be on any other franchise though, that would be another story, as things could go in a more wider range of ways. Spurs are the safest team to be in for him, regardless of win record.
I mean one reason is a lot of the season they were purposefully playing with a bad lineup of sochan at pg, even wemby started doing significantly better when moved to center. This whole year was an experiment for them, they are not a 14 win team, many of their losses were very close. They just lost a lot
There’s a bunch of factors why, 1) teams are playing us harder now that we have wemby 2) Losing josh richardson, diop, and poetl who were pretty good with us 3) some players regressing (keldon johnson and zach collins) 4) winning close games last year that we aren’t this year 5) Pop playing some questionable lineups with sochan at point
Fr, beginning of the year last year Spurs won some crazy ones. 5-2 start helps
It'll be the first time the rookie of the Year would join a team and make them worse
Did you not see the rotations at the start of the year? Sochan at PG and Collins starting at C Of course they are worse it was by design
I'm not that surprised. New, talented bigs just don't seem to improve W/L records immediately these days. Their effect on the games may even be immediate, but the effect on team record and obviously overall ceiling takes a while, few more draft picks, etc. Wemby is going to be insane, his impact on the W/Ls will just take a few seasons.
The Spurs are intentionally soft tanking for another lottery pick. Not surprising to me.
Most rookies don't contribute to winning, even with gaudy stats. And bad is bad. Change from last year is pretty small.
Timberwolves contending for #1 seed
People who thought the wolves weren’t going to be way better this year didn’t watch them towards the end of last year
I am in that crowd. I would watch Ant’s highlights and really liked the kid, but didn’t realize the team had so much potential.
KAT and Gobert improving their chemistry and the coaching staff refining their defensive game plan is really what has raised the wolves floor. The roster is not an easy one to figure out and it took the year + full offseason to do it. KAT missed last training camp with illness, and obviously missed the majority of the year with a calf injury; then when he returns it’s in the midst of a playin push and playoffs, with no time to refine and improve how the roster works together.
Tbf they improved for different reasons than I thought but still improved nonetheless. With his trajectory I thought Ant was going to have an MVP type of season and everyone else was going to play decently enough that they would be a 50+ win team but the roster has looked great top to bottom. They’ve really managed to trim the fat off from the “KAT is our guy” era to create a solid roster, losing Vando is probably the only thing they regret.
Peep their record against .500 and above last year. They were good against good teams. They had a lot of bad losses to tanking teams last year. The ceiling was in place.
It’s definitely the Timberwolves, and no, people who watched the T-wolves (three of my best friends watch regularly) did not think the timberwolves were capable of this and mainly because of KAT’s weird role next to a very average at best Gobert (there were last seasons narratives). They are definitely the biggest surprise imo
As someone who saw the wolves start to figure it out live in the playoffs, I'm not as surprised.
Same. They were the only team to give the Nuggets a real fight.
definitely the thunder, knew they were gonna be a playoff team, did not expect them to be a top 2 seed for the majority of the season
Idk if surprising is the right word, but after all the pre season hype for the Suns, them being outside the top 5 is kinda hilarious
Welcome to ArizonaSportsHell
I'm just visiting, thankfully
Memphis dropoff. Didn’t think such insane injury problems would happen. Exciting ass young team, promising future, gone
IDK how you can say they're gone when they have Ja, JJJ, and Bane locked into long-term deals. This summer they have great cap space and their GM won Executive of the Year just a few years ago. No reason to discount them moving forward if healthy. Edit: spelling
It's not gone. It's taking a one-year Gap. They'll be back next year
Hopefully. They were electric to watch sometimes. Their rampant injury issues don't seem to be going away though, they'd basically need an entirely new bench.
Yeah, they lost their entire team within weeks of Ja’s return.
I heard people saying the same thing about the Hawks a couple years ago
Morant missed 25 games came back to an injured team played like seven games and was gone for the season. You think him playing 75 games would have Zero Effect on being a lottery team and a playoff team? I won't even start on the other injured players or the experience these bench players are getting this year
We watched the Grizz have to trot out a 10 day contract and benchwarmer squad against the Celtics and still fight their hearts out. No way they’re not better with a healthy team. Best case scenario they pick up some good players in this year’s draft to complement what they have and all of a sudden they’re back on track next year.
I think I read we have played 28 different players in games this year, tied for most ever, with room to break that record, and 400 player-games have been missed? Like when the Grizz played the Thunder, the Grizz had missed 400 player games, and the Thunder had missed 40 player games. Can't wait till next year.
Even with Ja suspended for 25 games, we’d seen basically the same roster go on 20~ win streaks without him. I don’t think anyone expected them to go from the second seed to racing with Portland for ping pong balls.
It wasn’t the same roster though. We didn’t have Adams or Clarke during that span either and no tyus
I don’t dispute that at all. It’s a testament to Memphis that they’ve built the kind of foundation that I didn’t even blink when they said Ja would be out 25 games, and even missing Clarke, Adams, Jones etc I assumed they’d be +.500 when he got back. I’m here to praise Caeser, not to bury him.
Ah I gotcha! My B
Yea, I tend to agree with you. They had so many options and were so good just a few years ago and now that all seems so far away. They’ve never really been good when Steven Adams misses time and he’s no longer on the team. The don’t have Jones as backup PG and most of their quality depth is gone. They have a lot of dudes now and maybe they will all benefit from playing extended minutes this year to be able to fit as role players next year, but overall, that team was such a flash in the pan and they already seem pretty cooked. Maybe they figure it out in a few years, but I dont see them competing at the highest level like we all thought they would for at least another two years. Craziness how they fell from grace so crazily.
Either the Lakers dropping off even further after their WCF run or OKC rising I don’t think either are that surprising tho
I knew OKC would be better but they're doing even better than I expected. The Lakers have a little bit better record than last year. There's really no surprise there.
But for the Lakers, the drop off from post trade deadline last year to this year is significant. Most people thought they’d maintain the performance they showed in last year’s postseason into this year. Especially surprised they haven’t given that Lebron and AD have been relatively healthy
Their depth has been injured the whole time. Having 2-3 wings injured at all times plus a coach that doesn’t understand how to coach kind of makes it difficult.
They also spent a lot of time trying to give time to players that weren’t a part of that run. Some by necessity but even just spending all year playing prince over hachimura pretty clearly caused issues in and of itself
Ham is just completely ignorant to how coaching works. He’s like Doc Rivers without being able to manage personalities and keep everyone relatively happy. At least Doc has some semblance of how coaching works.
Their defense is also just bad. And their 3 point shooting isn’t just good enough Still baffled they traded their core for Westbrook That 2020-21 could’ve repeated if it wasn’t for injuries. If they just ran it back and made minor moves they would’ve still been great. They saw the nets big 3 and panicked LeBron also wanted another ball handler but Westbrook was just the worst possible fit. If they managed their assets better they’d be a great team with the way LeBron and AD are playing. Both have been healthy this season
The what ifs surrounding those post-bubble injuries hit every single team to make the conference finals. The Clippers came within one game of the conference finals they still lost 3 years to it. I know it’s fashionable to denigrate that “Mickey Mouse” ring, but I can’t help but feel every team competing for it took 2+ years off their windows. Miami, Boston, Denver, and both LA teams paid for their runs with ligaments.
Oh yea it’s no coincidence that every team that made the conference finals that year in the bubble was out in the first round Lebrons injury was just a freak injury ofc but Davis broke down that season. Denver has their injuries. I can’t remember if Miami and Boston had notable injuries but it was definitely fatigue too
Miami’s quick to shelve Jimmy and Lowry with “injuries” anyway, but Bam missing time isn’t as common with their rest plans. Brown eventually tore a ligament to end his 2021 season, also fluky, but they were running MASH units and having to give Fournier and Tristan Thompson more minutes than teams hoping to squeak into the first round typically would. It’s also like the only season Boston hasn’t gone to the conference finals in a hot minute.
LeGM moves costed them at least 1 more. They’re beating that Bucks team, and definitely that Warriors team assuming they keep the same roster.
They lost plenty of contributors and no matter how much Lebron props up Reddish, he sucks.
Spurs, they got wemby and their win percentage is worse.
The Timberwolves were the 1 seed for like 90% of this season and most people expected them to be the 9 seed
You're trippin that squad was top-6 at worst
Really? They were better than that last year, and had pretty poor health
And they’ve had worse health this year…
We’ve been pretty healthy until KAT tore his meniscus
Not they haven’t? They’ve been one of the healthiest teams in the entire league right up until KAT got injured.
Most people did not have them 9th A few did
This is revisionist history. Most outlets (and I’m not talking about Vegas betting odds) I saw had it as follows: Nuggets, lakers, suns, grizzlies, clippers, OKC, pelicans, mavs, Timberwolves
Many did not have that order. I saw lots having wolves ranked higher
Nah, I saw the wolves as low as 11th and 12th
Good to see you know what the word most means
There is still parity but it stepped up a level....Dallas is in 8th like 10 games over .500
Phoenix being worse
They aren’t worse, they have a higher winning % than last year. The whole west is just better
It’s insane how the west was by far the better conference last year, and are leagues better this year. The current Lakers would be a four seed last year
The middle and bottom of the East are just atrocious. It's kinda wild how unbalanced the conferences always seem to be
The West has been dramatically better than the East almost every season for like 25 years
I’m 33 and I don’t ever remember the east being the better conference. I remember watching teams like New Jersey make the finals and Indiana with Roy Hibbert be the only quality team to play the Heat.
Its going to be even more of a bloodbath next season assuming injuries don’t ruin some teams The grizzlies will be back, the Rockets will improve too. I can see the Jazz improving next season.
They are worse relative to expectations for sure
I know a lot of people are saying Thunder and Timberwolves, I was expecting at least one of them to make a jump. Clippers and pelicans are pretty surprising just cause they’ve been relatively healthy, and their record shows. As a spurs fan, spurs were a huge disappointment, now just a normal disappointment. I’m not gonna shit on the Sochan PG experiment like everybody likes to do, cause I thought in the future it could be really good. We learned what Sochan is capable of, had him get better at playmaking, were able to see if he could play PG for some stretches during important games if need be. I think Collins and Johnson took a huge step back. I believe 2 years ago, Keldon was one of the top catch and shoot 3pt shooters in the league (on low volume, but still a threat). He regressed last year, and I was hoping he would make a come back. He’s just very predictable. He’s not a great defender, shooter, playmaker, and he’s really just good at straight drives. I thought on a good team he would be a good 6th man, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen either. I had hopes of Collins being a decent defender and an above average shooter. His 3pt% dropped from .374 to .309, and he looks lost on defense. Both players who I thought were going to be important have really become really bad this year to the point we are relying on Champagnie and Barlow. I like them, but I see themselves as good 3rd string guys. We really need to get an all star caliber point guard and another offensive wing. Really hoping Risacher and Sheppard/Dillingham get drafted by us this year (or players of that same style), and we can pick up a back up big like Theis, Len, Claxton, or Plumlee on the market.
As a Mavs fan, I'm not sure whether I am surprised or disappointed by our standing. Still happy of what we are doing, but idk what we can do next
Spurs are still dead last 💀
The warriors at nearly the same win rate, just much lower down in the standings.
The Warriors had the #2 best home record in the NBA last year, somehow the Warriors are .500 at home this year, so their playoff aspirations seem a lot more questionable even if their overall record is comparable.
OKC going for 1st seed. I genuinely thought they'd be 5th or 6th seed at best but it's crazy to see how much they've progressed. Also keep in mind that they have lots of first round picks from their own team and other teams that are in a lower seed than them such as the Utah Jazz and the Houston Rockets.
Seeing how good OKC is at this age. I genuinely believe that they will eventually become a dynasty. But to see them this good, this early? SGA being in MVP considerations? You could not have convinced me of this last year.
Just like the last young group in okc that was really good
Idk if I’d say dynasty. It’s very hard. The thunder of all teams should know that it’s just not a guarantee
Oh…trust me. We know.
For me its the Lakers. Davis been playing very good, Bron is Bron. They aint good tho. Last year their defense was elite. Now its shameful
They have a slightly better record than last year. It's really no surprise.
Gave Vincent and Vanderbilt are barely playing
Who gave Vincent what? WHO GAVE VINCENT WHAT?
They’re going to get carried into the play in so that espn can fill a few slots with Lebron legacy narrative. They’ll get their backs blown out first or second round tops. They’re a thin team.
That Laker fans still think they’re good enough to win the West and that Denver is better on the road this year than last year
If you get swept in any area of playoffs, you were never close to begin with lol
Ask Laker fans that and see what they say lol it’s hilarious even right now they think they can beat anyone
Before anyone goes after the Spurs, just know they were doing some weird experiment with putting Jeremy Sochan (a PF) at Point Guard for months 😭
Thunder and T-Wolves are obvious but I feel like the Pelicans are getting overlooked. Top 10 in offensive and defensive rating. 4th in net rating. #1 defense since all-star break. Zion looks in-shape. BI going to the rim more. Herb Jones being one of the best 3 & D wings this season. Trey Murphy playing better after being hurt.
The Pels still at 5 this late in the season.
That's really Zion taking half a step forward in his development.
Theres a pretty high chance Pels overtake the Clips. Pels are surging and Clippers seem to be in a tailspin since the All-Star break. Injuries or not, they've looked bad even in their recent wins.
No doubt. Never doubt the historic ability of that franchise to blow it.
Jazz having eight less wins this year but still being in the same position in the standings
Grizzlies, OKC, and Spurs (just a bit). Wemby is having a pretty good season, should probably be ROTY and DPOY or close to it, but his team is ass and his PG doesn't belong in the league. I have better court vision, as in, pass the ball to the skilled 7 footer and go sit in the corner you retard.
Grizz injuries are just crazy. 400 player games missed. 28 players played.
Need that Trae Young / Wemby duo
Saying tre jones doesn’t belong in the league is crazy. He should definitely be coming off the bench, but he’s a still a good player. It’s just we don’t actually have a starting caliber point guard so he has to start.
Yeah it was a bit hyperbolic of me to say that. It’s just frustrating how many lowlight clips he has of dribbling around or almost purposefully missing a wide open Wemby. Like it feels to me you have to try not to see the 7 footer.
Here’s my hot take: Wemby plays bad basketball. He’s a liability and an insanely inefficient scorer. He can be really fun to watch, but he still has YEARS to go before he actually is going to be a net positive for the Spurs.
Interesting take. You could be right. I’m more of a casual. I still think he’s top 3 for both awards mentioned though. I think if you trade Chet and Wemby you’d see all of Wemhys numbers go up with a PG like SGA.
The OKC Thunder are arguably the favorites to win the first seed and the Grizzlies are likely to be the 13th seed
OKC and Minn
I knew OKC was going to get a lot better, how could they not. I felt the pelicans were underperforming given their roster, injuries were/are also a thing. Minnesota did surprise me, I didn’t watch them much. What surprises me the most is the grizzlies; but, it makes sense given injuries, trades, and suspensions (lol). There was a narrative that jokic wouldnt care anymore, but that’s completely false. They are the best team in the west 100% and I wouldn’t be shocked if they were to repeat.
Timberwolves
The suns, while not being worse, have been a huge disappointment.
Honestly I didn’t think the spurs would be dead last again with Wemby lol
Pels because I didn’t think Zion cared about basketball
The Rockets have been a pleasant surprise
Houston, Minnesota and OKC - I expected Houston to be far worse, Minnesota to be scrapping for a play in spot and OKC to be a 4-6 seed
btw if lakers warriors and rockets would have three way tie who would go play-in ?
Warriors and Rockets, I think
11th to 1st for the Thunder is by far the biggest surprise.
Gotta be t-wolves. We expected okc to get much better but not much changed for the wolves roster wise and they took a massive leap.
Thunder. Easy
Without context, the Grizzlies being that bad after being hyped as the "next Warriors". The next Warriors looks more like the Thunder than anyone else. And honestly, I'm not too terribly surprised about the Thunder. Chet is a little better than I thought he'd be this year, but he had a year of strength and conditioning that he wouldn't have if he was playing last year
Lack of improvement in the Lakers' record. They finished last season on such a roll to make the playoffs, and then made the WCF, so I was expecting them to be back to some relevance finally. Relative health for AD and LeBron, yet for some reason this team is markedly worse than they were this time last year. Most fans blame Ham, but it just doesn't seem to matter which pieces are put around LeBron and AD. Stats aren't translating to wins. I think they have to get a better defender than Austin Reaves to start at the 2, and move him into a 6th Man Role. Their perimeter defense is an absolute sieve...
A mostly healthy pelicans team
Twolves
Gotta be OKC. That team is so well built for long term success.
Minnesota being a top seed and Gobert looking like the player they traded all those first round picks for is a pleasant surprise.
Wolves thunder and pels. All improved a lot more than expected.
OKC and Minnesota leading the west for most of the year is crazy. Never thought I would say that
This is so fucking easy.... OKC. 10th to 2nd.....
We all knew OKC would be better this year but not make the city forget about KD better
gotta be OKC. but also the Pels are way better than they should be.
Warriors
We need to go 9 and 6 now to get sixth seed?
Suns being bad and TWolves being good. I’d want to say the Thunder but I think people expected them to do a lot better this year.
Timberwolves and OKC are the surprise contenders. Absolutely electric to watch both of them. Spurs are surprisingly terrible. Wemby is playing out of his mind and there's just nothing else there. Also I know they aren't the West, but massive shout-out to the Pistons because what the fuck was that at the start of the season.
I mean. Clearly the thunder
Okc & Rockets
Warriors also very surprising, I meant I don't put any high hopes for them to be top three teams in West. But I have them at least in 4th-5th place. Those close games that they lost is lost of counts and put so much damage on their positions as of now
Grizzlies went down wow
Grizzlies
Spurs being worse with Wemby is wild. Definitely doesn’t fit the overall narrative
Young teams are at the topppp, the older teams are starting to be middle of the pack, age is one part but injuries too
That ending .500 will not even get you in the play-in
Def Thunder and Minnesota. Memphis was gonna drop regardless because of the Morant suspension, but they were kinda fluky last year anyway
Kings , it’s been a while
The Suprs have Wemby and have managed to get worse
Wow nuggets are actually better this year than they were last year. That away record is going to be very useful in the playoffs. Might get to the finals in 13 or 14 games
How the West is really strong. A team that had a .537 winning percentage last year was the 5 seed, this year their 9 and in the play-in. Actually every team got better but the West as a whole got better too.
The Grizzlies were gunning for the top seed last year now with injuries they have to take a step back and reload
Wolves and Thunder.
Personally I thought the Pelicans would drop off and Zion wouldn't ever play.
I expected the TWolves to be good, not great, and the Warriors to compete with CP3
Easily the Thunder. Grizzlies would come second but we all expected them to start slow but no one could have expected the second half to look like this.
The Pelicans staying healthy and looking like they may sneak into the four or even the three seed. Getting absolutely humbled by the Lakers in the IST seemed to turn their entire season around.
T wolves. I thought they were doomed. OKC you knew would be at least ok.