Official 2025 NBA Playoffs Thread

[Mr. Body]

We are all Chicago/Miami fans now.

Either can beat them.

I have no idea how the Hawks won 40 games.

[scott]

Two guys who are equivalent shooters to Wemby, Fox, and soon Castle.

Yes, when you make 3 pointers you typically win. For example, the Spurs were 11-3 this year when making 18+ 3s this season. One strategy in the modern NBA is to make it so that games where you make three is not a rare occurrence.

The Spurs only made 18+ threes 14 times this year.

Compare that to:

Boston: 45 times, 38-7
Cleveland: 25 times, 23-2
OKC: 20 times, 18-2

It's not necessary though... On the flip side, the Rockets only did it 7 times, when they went 5-2.

I think everyone generally agrees that the Spurs can get by with one non-shooter in the lineup. I agree that Fox is enough of a 3P threat (he's right on the borderline of SpursBills metric, which I think was 2.5 3PM/100 IIRC, but they can correct me if I am wrong). He's not a guy teams are going to leave open and dare to shoot, which is what we can't have. Where we disagree is that you just assume Castle will be a good enough shooter, but I want to see it first. I actually believe he will develop a respectable 3 point shot... but I want to see it first. 28.5% ain't gonna cut it, but I like his willingness to shoot.

[Dejounte]

What’s weird is that scott and others took my argument, which specifically applied to the Spurs’ roster makeup (I consistently point out that building around Wemby requires certain archetypes), and brought it into another thread, misrepresented it with strawman fallacies, and made it sound like I value rebounding over three-point shooting for teams in general, which is entirely false. My entire argument is centered on the Spurs and Wemby. This whole thing feels dishonest from the start.

[CGD]

We are all Chicago/Miami fans now.

I say Chicago, they’ve been playing relatively well of late so hoping the momentum carries them to the 8th seed.

[exstatic]

I say Chicago, they’ve been playing relatively well of late so hoping the momentum carries them to the 8th seed.

That,and in four years, 2021-2024, no #10 has played in, only a handful of #9s.

[scott]

What’s weird is that scott and others took my argument, which specifically applied to the Spurs’ roster makeup (I consistently point out that building around Wemby requires certain archetypes), and brought it into another thread, misrepresented it with strawman fallacies, and made it sound like I value rebounding over three-point shooting for teams in general, which is entirely false. My entire argument is centered on the Spurs and Wemby. This whole thing feels dishonest from the start.

It's weirder to me that you find it weird. It's an interesting conversation, and I pointed out how Orlando's performance early in the first half was an illustration of that kind of team building philosophy going right... and then it quickly fell apart in the 2nd half when their offense went completely stagnant, which can happen when it's built in a one-dimensional way. Then they had a couple of guys get hot from 3 and completely bail out their stars who didn't show up today.

I don't know where you're getting this You Against the World vibe from... do you just have a problem with people having conflicting view points? No one was attacking anyone, no one was twisting anything... just folks having a conversation. Why do you feel attacked? What are these alleged misrepresentations?

[Dejounte]

It's weirder to me that you find it weird. It's an interesting conversation, and I pointed out how Orlando's performance early in the first half was an illustration of that kind of team building philosophy going right... and then it quickly fell apart in the 2nd half when their offense went completely stagnant, which can happen when it's built in a one-dimensional way. Then they had a couple of guys get hot from 3 and completely bail out their stars who didn't show up today.

I don't know where you're getting this You Against the World vibe from... do you just have a problem with people having conflicting view points? No one was attacking anyone, no one was twisting anything... just folks having a conversation. Why do you feel attacked? What are these alleged misrepresentations?

Bro you can’t be real with your last paragraph and gaslight me by pretending y’all didn’t act like smartasses on page 3 of this thread. Be real here and own up. I wasn’t even being harsh with the post you quoted. I’m calling it like it is. I’ve been handling conflicting viewpoints just fine? No need to start accusing me of things that aren’t true.

[onechance87]

Warriors got a steal with post in the second round.

[rankingtear]

GSW has their Mamu in Post.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

Warriors showing why Edey type centers are unplayable in these situations. Post walking into wide open threes, everyone attacking the rim at will. Centers in 2025 have to be able to guard in space or to be protected by everyone else.

[scott]

Bro you can’t be real with your last paragraph and gaslight me by pretending y’all didn’t act like smartasses on page 3 of this thread. Be real here and own up. I wasn’t even being harsh with the post you quoted. I’m calling it like it is. I’ve been handling conflicting viewpoints just fine? No need to start accusing me of things that aren’t true.

You know you're one of my favorites around here... but I think you're waaaaaay overreacting here. Everyone always acts like smartasses here... if you're going to take it personally you're gonna have a bad time on ST.

You made a post specifically mentioning me by name (and @'ing me, which hey, I actually appreciate) saying it's weird that I start attacking you in a different thread than where the conversation started. But I @'d you not as an attack, but because ORL's play in the first half was a direct positive affirmation of that point I thought you were trying to make in the draft thread (but hey, maybe I'm wrong?). Then it all fell apart, which of course I'm also going to point out. You find this "weird", but I find it as being part of what I find to be a good conversation.

If you take it personally... I don't know what to say other than... don't?

[scott]

Not a great look for JJJ's defensive creds when GSW starts by going 8/8 at the rim. Not all his fault... but, that's rough.

[poopbox]

Edey looking every bit like a stiff big who don't belong in the modern day nba.

[Mr. Body]

Not a great look for JJJ's defensive creds when GSW starts by going 8/8 at the rim. Not all his fault... but, that's rough.

Always been pretty badly overrated.

[poopbox]

Not a great look for JJJ's defensive creds when GSW starts by going 8/8 at the rim. Not all his fault... but, that's rough.

Almost none of it is his fault. Edey standing around being a field goal post is the biggest problem with their paint defense.

[exstatic]

Edey looking every bit like a stiff big who don't belong in the modern day nba.

It was always going to end that way. The couldn’t play him in the 4th Q in the regular season because he was hunted. That will be an all game thing in any post season games.

He’s exactly what I said he’d be, a change of pace guy like Boban.. Bobi had a PER of like 30, and could only play spot minutes. If you can’t defend in space, that”s all the minutes you’ll ever see.

[Dejounte]

It’s cool, man. If I’m being honest, I wanted the part in my post about rebounding to be clearly framed as specific to the Spurs, to bring clarity to my viewpoint instead of this back-and-forth. I definitely think I was being misrepresented since I had to debunk the point about having “no shooting is a good thing” being thought of as something I believed in. That was a gross misunderstanding that was probably the final nail in the coffin tbh.

[baseline bum]

God damn Jimmy Butler is such a big game player. If Steph can be that kind of player damn.

[spursistan]

taylor jenkins stock rising. I generally feel like he made that Memphis roster better than its overall talent level, especially in terms of regular season success. There is always a cap to team's ceiling when you are led by third-tier star players like Ja and JJJ (The Derozan-Lowry Model). We'll see what they'll do in the summer, but my prediction is that they'll be fighting for play-in spots instead of Top 3-4 seed from here on out.

[Mr. Body]

taylor jenkins stock rising. I generally feel like he made that Memphis roster better than its overall talent level, especially in terms of regular season success. There is always a cap to team's ceiling when you are led by third-tier star players like Ja and JJJ (The Derozan-Lowry Model). We'll see what they'll do in the summer, but my prediction is that they'll be fighting for play-in spots instead of Top 3-4 seed from here on out.

What I've been saying. It's a junk roster. Ja is second tier with his best days possibly behind him, JJJ is a super role player at best, and then the rest is just an assortment of parts. Not terrible, but certainly not great. Jenkins was getting blood out of a stone with these guys. I think they'll need to rebuild fairly soon.

[spursistan]

God damn Jimmy Butler is such a big game player. If Steph can be that kind of player damn.

Warriors would be down double digits without him tonight. Really surprised Rockets didn't get into his sweepstakes..

[spursistan]

Maybe losing to the tanking Spurs in a must-win was a bad omen, but this Warriors team is definitely nowhere near a contender. I could even see the inexperienced Rockets beating them..

[heyheymymy]

Post makes me think Anderson Varejao is out there

[mystargtr34]

Jimmy Butler is such a disgusting free throw merchant. Didn’t get touched and smoked the lay up from 2 feet and got a foul call lol. No challenges left for Grizz.

[spursistan]

Struggling against a Morant-less Grizz team while getting every whistle