Official 2024-25 NBA Season Thread

[The Accountant]

On Tuesday, Oct. 22, the defending champion Boston Celtics will host the New York Knicks. That game will be followed by the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Los Angeles Lakers.

What a great opening night!

[jcardstore]

So does anyone have any idea what the wolves are doing?

I get that Towns is owed a lot of money and isn’t very good but Gobert/Randle front court is vomit inducing.

Huge step back for a team that I assumed would be competing for a WCF title.

[daeve]

Pretty sure they're flipping Randle, keeping DD, and starting Naz Reid in KAT's place. This is to gain flexibility thru the primes of their young wing core of Ant+Mac.

[daeve]

I see it as a vote of confidence in Ant, but even moreso in J-Mac, Naz, and probably Gobert too.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by daeve

I see it as a vote of confidence in Ant, but even moreso in J-Mac, Naz, and probably Gobert too.

That’s pretty much just Utah 2.0 with less of a bench and a worse coach.

How much better is Ant than Utah Donovan.

They did save a boatload of money though

[rhigh2390]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

So does anyone have any idea what the wolves are doing?

I get that Towns is owed a lot of money and isn’t very good but Gobert/Randle front court is vomit inducing.

Huge step back for a team that I assumed would be competing for a WCF title.

My thoughts as well. They must be fine with the success last year and are fine with going back to being a middle of the pack West team. Kudos to NY though for getting rid of Randle. One of the most overrated players in the league.

[daeve]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

That’s pretty much just Utah 2.0 with less of a bench and a worse coach.

How much better is Ant than Utah Donovan.

They did save a boatload of money though

You're talking about a kid who turned 23 last month. No idea, but I think he is potentially going to be a top 5 player in the league real soon, and that's certainly worth building around.

They can now extend Gobert, NAW, and Naz. This core plus DD is pretty good on paper, then if Dillingham hits they are sitting very pretty.

Keeping those 3 around Ant is now very doable with KAT's contract gone and Randle as an expiring likely to be flipped.

[drobfan8]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

That’s pretty much just Utah 2.0 with less of a bench and a worse coach.

How much better is Ant than Utah Donovan.

They did save a boatload of money though

I feel like Ant is pretty much the same as Donovan.

Minny are exactly that. Utah 2.0

They're not good enough to win a title but will be a consistent 2nd round team. Then they'll blame Gobert for his weaknesses as holding them back and move him on. Only to get worse or need a full reset.

[daeve]

age-wise they're easy to compare because they both have summer/offseason birthdays. Ant is light years ahead of where Mitchell was thru age 22 seasons. Mitchell had a runner-up ROY finish at this age while Ant is coming off his 2nd all-star season and now 2nd team All-NBA with a 7th place MVP finish. He's got a huge head start and he defends.

[Nomad]

As my man says, doesn't matter where you start, matters where you finish up.

Relatively sure that neither will have a ring anytime soon.

[oshmeehan]

Nothing on AJ Griffin retiring at the age of 21?

[hxcmilkshake]

Originally Posted by oshmeehan

Nothing on AJ Griffin retiring at the age of 21?

It's either God or a jump shot, you can't have both

Sent from my SM-S928U using Tapatalk

[Nomad]

Dust off your Mathurin cards, he ready to rumble.

[drobfan8]

Originally Posted by daeve

age-wise they're easy to compare because they both have summer/offseason birthdays. Ant is light years ahead of where Mitchell was thru age 22 seasons. Mitchell had a runner-up ROY finish at this age while Ant is coming off his 2nd all-star season and now 2nd team All-NBA with a 7th place MVP finish. He's got a huge head start and he defends.

Light years ahead is farken hilarious.

Splitting hairs at best between the 2.

Ant should just be glad he has Gobert. Otherwise he wouldn't even sniff the conference finals.
The SG spot is brutal for being the best player on a championship squad. And we know Ant is lazy and talks too much smack. Ant got owned by Luka only recently too.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by daeve

age-wise they're easy to compare because they both have summer/offseason birthdays. Ant is light years ahead of where Mitchell was thru age 22 seasons. Mitchell had a runner-up ROY finish at this age while Ant is coming off his 2nd all-star season and now 2nd team All-NBA with a 7th place MVP finish. He's got a huge head start and he defends.

There's no sense in comparing age when Mitchell came into the league late and Ant early.

Ant at 22 was in year 4 and Mitchell year 2. If you compare each at year 4, it's pretty close. Mitchell was better offensively and Ant better defensively but they're nearly identical at that point in their career.

[daeve]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

There's no sense in comparing age when Mitchell came into the league late and Ant early.

Ant at 22 was in year 4 and Mitchell year 2. If you compare each at year 4, it's pretty close. Mitchell was better offensively and Ant better defensively but they're nearly identical at that point in their career.

Ok someone needs to tell LeBron his first 4 years of stats don't count then, because Kareem came into the league late.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by daeve

Ok someone needs to tell LeBron his first 4 years of stats don't count then, because Kareem came into the league late.

Where did I say or imply anything like that?

Why would you compare a 21 year old rookie with a 21 year old who’s been in the league for 3 years? NBA experience matters way more than raw age.

The only thing age affects is your prime window and career longevity

[jcardstore]

One of the biggest fallacies I see on these boards is the idea that just because you're young, means you have a greater runway for development.

This is 100% wrong. Every player develops differently, in a different context, different team, role, etc...

Everytime I see someone excuse the lack of player development because "he's young" I want to yell at the screen. Age has 0 to do with player development

[daeve]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

Where did I say or imply anything like that?

Why would you compare a 21 year old rookie with a 21 year old who’s been in the league for 3 years? NBA experience matters way more than raw age.

The only thing age affects is your prime window and career longevity

Ant is way further along developmentally than Donovan was at the same age, you agree. How is that not a big check mark in Ant's favor?

Ant has already made a WCF, Mitchell was lucky to get one win against Houston before getting knocked out at the same age.

Growth/development is not linear, yes, and yes there's no guarantee Ant keeps developing, but his growth at his age does point to very good things ahead. It's on him to keep working, 100%.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by daeve

Ant is way further along developmentally than Donovan was at the same age, you agree. How is that not a big check mark in Ant's favor?

Ant has already made a WCF, Mitchell was lucky to get one win against Houston before getting knocked out at the same age.

Growth/development is not linear, yes, and yes there's no guarantee Ant keeps developing, but his growth at his age does point to very good things ahead. It's on him to keep working, 100%.

Age is a measure of nothing, it proves nothing, and means nothing.

Simply being older or younger has 0 impact on player development. Learning the NBA, growing within your team and context, getting real life and practice reps impacts development

[tjforce]

Mitchell is 28. Edwards is 23.

They both have been named All-NBA once in their careers (2nd team for each).

That should sum it up at this point.

[jcardstore]

Mitchell coming into year 8, is what he is. Past 4-5 years players don't develop that much more, they just round out their games. Mitchell will never be an MVP caliber player, he's a fringe all NBA guy and that's what he will continue to be.

Edwards coming into year 5, this will be the year whether he separates himself from the low end all-nba tier to the perennial MVP tier. I don't see him as a perennial MVP player but I'm open to changing my mind about that based on this season.

[dunkindutchmen]

Originally Posted by jcardstore

One of the biggest fallacies I see on these boards is the idea that just because you're young, means you have a greater runway for development.

This is 100% wrong. Every player develops differently, in a different context, different team, role, etc...

Everytime I see someone excuse the lack of player development because "he's young" I want to yell at the screen. Age has 0 to do with player development

No, not quite, Dread Auerbach. The largest lobe in a human brain, the frontal lobe, is not fully developed until age 25. Specifically, the prefrontal cortex, which influences decision-making, reining in impulsivity, and understanding consequences.

Basketball is about making 100s of small decisions per game, most of them in very small windows. If a player is further along in sound decision making, or what someone might call instinct, at a young age, it's suggestive they are on a different trajectory.

Alternatively, maybe a player is very physically talented but prone to poor decision making, emotional decision making, but begins to turn the corner after age 25.... and yes, context and situation matter significantly.

There are a lot of other physiological differences between a player in his early 20s vs early 30s as well that I won't go into.

[jcardstore]

Originally Posted by dunkindutchmen

No, not quite, Dread Auerbach. The largest lobe in a human brain, the frontal lobe, is not fully developed until age 25. Specifically, the prefrontal cortex, which influences decision-making, reining in impulsivity, and understanding consequences.

Basketball is about making 100s of small decisions per game, most of them in very small windows. If a player is further along in sound decision making, or what someone might call instinct, at a young age, it's suggestive they are on a different trajectory.

Alternatively, maybe a player is very physically talented but prone to poor decision making, emotional decision making, but begins to turn the corner after age 25.... and yes, context and situation matter significantly.

There are a lot of other physiological differences between a player in his early 20s vs early 30s as well that I won't go into.

Which is why I said year 5 is when players are near full development in terms of their game. That coincides pretty nicely with age 25.

Also, what you're saying is true for the average person, but in the context of the NBA (where you're already the best of the best), you either have good decision making that you improve with game reps or you don't and you don't improve or you just improve marginally.

If you're not a good decision maker at 19 as an NBA player, you probably won't be at 25, at least not at an elite level.

This is why people on here are so bad at prospecting because they think that you magically improve by just being older. These boards are littered with people hyping trash players that were never going to be any good but were a mystery box because "they're young".

I always use the Kevin Knox example because it's just so perfect. I was pounding the table on how bad the guy was from day 1 but "he's young" and "he has an NBA build" blah blah blah.

Age sure didn't help him become a better decision maker. Nor does it for the vast majority of other players

[jcardstore]

Someone put together a list of NBA players who were poor decision makers at 20 but became great at 25.

I can't think of any, but if there are, it's a very short list.