NBA 25/26
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yeah it is. he's a bit of a freak
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They’ve tried for a while to label certain guys as the unicorn, but they finally found a real one.
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A few injuries over the last couple of days - Ant Man, Luka, Trae Young, AD (yes it’s true)
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I wonder how well Wembys body will hold up over the years. He's so freakishly built I hope he's able to enjoy a long and healthy career.
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Toronto started today with a front court of RJ Barrett, Ingram and Barnes - max height 6’8
They got out rebounded (by the best rebounding team in the league) 53-23 for the game
I think Barrett started in the backcourt, but they did have the huge rookie, Murray-Boyles at 6’7 starting in the front court…
In 19 minutes Stevie Adams got the same number of offensive rebounds alone (8) that the Raptors starting front court got in total.
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@ACT-Crusader said in NBA 25/26:
Toronto started today with a front court of RJ Barrett, Ingram and Barnes - max height 6’8
They got out rebounded (by the best rebounding team in the league) 53-23 for the game
I think Barrett started in the backcourt,
Jeez bro, it’s not like I actually watched the game, it’s the regular season still!
I just saw the top 3 bloke on the box score then checked the height of the rookie to see if I was missing something
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Spurs first 5-0 start in franchise history.
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Just walked past Doug Christie near the Kings arena.
All decked out in his training gear, I thought it was a player when I first saw him. Never ceases to amaze me how tall these guys are when you see them irl. I'm over 6 foot but they are freakishly tall.
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Fox due to make his season debut tomorrow v Pelicans.
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Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
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@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
Ideally they can sell him on playing less minutes to maximise his on court output in a shorter time. That would keep him fresher for longer
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@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
Ideally they can sell him on playing less minutes to maximise his on court output in a shorter time. That would keep him fresher for longer
Yup. I know he is and always has been a statistical monster but if they keep winning in his absence they will need for him to play a more complimentary (rather than starring) role when he returns.
It was one of the things that made Tim Duncan such a champ, he had no problem coexisting with other stars as he aged.
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@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
Ideally they can sell him on playing less minutes to maximise his on court output in a shorter time. That would keep him fresher for longer
Yup. I know he is and always has been a statistical monster but if they keep winning in his absence they will need for him to play a more complimentary (rather than starring) role when he returns.
It was one of the things that made Tim Duncan such a champ, he had no problem coexisting with other stars as he aged.
He is still the second option on the offense. But he doesn't need to bear the responsibility of carrying the team anymore. I think he'll probably embrace it, because he was already deferring when Luka arrived last season
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@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
I’m no LBJ fanboy by any stretch, but he’s still a top 10 player in the league it’s a very long season and there are injuries (ala Austin right now) where they will need any one of their stars to step up.
We are yet to see LBJ with this version of fit Luka. They were showing signs late last season of what could be and that was with the unfit version.
There are plenty of minutes in a game for a big 3 to do their thing - and if JJ plays the supporting cast right, the Snowflake Lakers could make deep playoff run.
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@ACT-Crusader said in NBA 25/26:
@nonpartizan said in NBA 25/26:
Given Lakers great start to the season I think they are gonna struggle to incorporate LeBron back in the lineup down the road.
It's the hardest thing to have these iconic players still playing when their reputation and salary doesn't match what they can do in the present day. Not always in a statistical way either, more so in the way they disrupt the team chemistry and take minutes away from younger players.
I’m no LBJ fanboy by any stretch, but he’s still a top 10 player in the league it’s a very long season and there are injuries (ala Austin right now) where they will need any one of their stars to step up.
We are yet to see LBJ with this version of fit Luka. They were showing signs late last season of what could be and that was with the unfit version.
There are plenty of minutes in a game for a big 3 to do their thing - and if JJ plays the supporting cast right, the Snowflake Lakers could make deep playoff run.
On the subject of Luka/LeBron, one thing I'm loving about this iteration of the NBA compared to the one I grew up watching is the international superstars.
Even as recently as 2007 when Dirk won MVP and went out in the first round there were still those jibes of "Euros are soft" and this belief that they were just suited to being role players, spot up shooters, hustle guys etc. Or they just couldn't do it when it mattered and things got tough. Hence why a guy like Porzingis got heavily booed when the Knicks drafted him.
Luka being THE guy in LA is another barrier being crossed. Gasol was a huge part of those last two rings that Kobe won but I never got the sense that he got the amount of credit he deserved. Before he arrived they never got out of the first round in 2006 & 07. With Luka being the first option on the Lakers and him essentially edging LeBron out of the role of top dog, European players have truly arrived.
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Yes and the Lakers having a foreign superstar who is the franchise player is an extension of that progression. Only season they had a foreign player lead the team in scoring was Divac back when they were terrible after Magic retired.
The progression has been from where drafting foreign players was done by forward thinking GMs like Jerry Krause or RC Buford when they were looking for complimentary players. Those picks were in many cases roundly criticized* and now foreign players are considered on par with Americans.
*Or at least viewed skeptically.
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Btw, slight sidebar - I always wondered to what extent Divac picking Bagley over Luka was because if Luka was a bust it would look like a homer pick. I think the fact he was Slovenian was a complicating factor for him because being a Serb it might look like he just favoured Luka for reasons of geography. It's funny because Luka is the exact type of player that would have been drafted by the Kings when Divac was playing for them.
