I really like this. I would say I’m much higher on the 76ers, Grizz, and Knicks, all of which I would put on higher tiers. I’m much lower on the Kings, Lakers, and Warriors. In terms of tiering, I’d probably swap the 76ers + Knicks with the Kings + Lakers. I’d also swap the Warriors + Grizz.
Personally, I think a healthy 76ers could be in tier 1, but I believe, because VORP is a cumulative stat, it does tend to do a good job at highlighting who has been/hasn’t been injured lately.
Also on the Starting 5 on the topic of Tatum criticism:
Interviewer:
It seems to me that Jayson has to deal with unfair criticism-
Joe Mazzulla:
-Gets to deal with.
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Joe’s Response:
He gets to deal with it. It’s the ultimate compliment. You know, and that’s what we talked about. Like, this is what you asked for. You asked to be one of the best players in the NBA on the best team in the NBA, with an opportunity, uh you know to be an icon for the league for a long, long time. This is what you asked for.
There are basketball things he needs to work on to take his game to the next level, but when people criticize him for the absolute dumbest shit, (i.e. liking Kobe Bryant or being a cornball), it’s a good mentality to have.
People aren’t talking about this sort of stuff if he wasn’t one of the top like 8 players in the NBA.
Probably there or Monowl, Nebraska
Booker is better at offense in the areas that lend itself for better team involvement and team creation. Brown is better at finishing plays. I would say that Booker is also pretty good as just a play finisher off the ball and Brown is ok as someone who can create offense for the rest of his team. What Booker is good at offensively is more important and harder to develop imo.
Brown is the better defender and it’s not even close, even though Booker has improved there and underrated.
Overall, what Booker is better at is more important, so you 100% have to give it to Booker. However, I don’t think the gap is as big as many would probably believe due to how good Brown can be at stopping great players that can play 2-4.
No, because there’s nothing on an NBA court to compare to.
He might win MIP, but I will die on a hill saying it’s dumb when obvious high end talent wins that award.
I don’t see Chet winning DPOY, but he’ll be in the discussion because he’ll be the anchor for a top 5 defense. Though, if Hartenstein starts at the 5 and Chet starts at the 4, I can see Chet falling out of the conversation entirely.
I think 5 games is too low. We have to remember that there were basically 2 different Spurs teams last year:
The first team was horrendous and the 2nd team was bad, but was also winning at a 28-win pace, (6 wins better than their overall record). January to April isn’t a small sample either.
I think improving 5 wins from that 28-win pace makes sense, which would mean an overall total of an 11 win improvement.
They were winning at about a 33 win pace post All-Star break last year.
End of season data sometimes can get a little fickle because there are a lot of teams that stop trying, but with the added talent, I do think 33 wins is totally feasible for them.
Their over/under is 35.5, which is also reasonable to think. I’m just a little higher on their competition in the West though.
I’m going to hit the under, but not by much. I’ll say 34 wins this year, which is 12 more wins compared to last year.
I think Lauri is the better player right now and, even if Sengun ends up the better player, I still think Markkanen would be the easier player to build around.
Unless you’re as talented as Jokic, I’m not a huge fan of the offense first big men that are at best “fine” on defense.
It was when Middleton wasn’t healthy.
Unfortunately, the Celtics have a lot less cake now that Grant Williams and Jared Sullinger are gone
You mean when I fell asleep and Luka + Embiid got traded to the Celtics for Luke Kornet and Jordan Walsh, that was real?
I think if Bam was given this opportunity and if Spoelstra was the one providing it, then I think the Heat organization would be fine with it.
Bam is also an ironman, so I wouldn’t have concerns about his status to play in the following season.
I think you can still have the World Cup be auditions, but just have one guy that’s also teaching/leading the team who has experience and talent.
lol fair
lol fine
what do you think USA needs to win the World Cup and how do you get that thing?
Which is why the proposal is trying to get 1 top end talent to care.
If SGA continues to do what he is doing, then historically, he’ll be considered better than Westbrook. However, it’s silly to make that comparison now when SGA only has 2 years of playing at this level.
For sure. Also, in the above example, I look at Milwaukee and Philly and don’t think they should be on separate tiers. However, Giannis (7.2) is going to have a much higher VORP than Embiid (4.5) because Embiid was injured in the regular season and Giannis was injured in the post-season. However, if you look at their playoff VORP from last year, Embiid’s was actually higher because of when the injuries occurred.
Giannis, Middleton, and Dame are a healthier trio than Embiid, George, and Maxey, but, lately, how much more?
What I think would be interesting is to calculate what would have been a player’s VORP over the course of the past 3 years, (based on their BPM), had they played what should be average minutes for them and compare it to what their actual VORP was. I feel like that could give you insight into who is actualizing their value and how predictive their VORP is based on how available they are.