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NBA 2025-26

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This is the first year since George W Bush has been in office that I haven't watched a single Bulls game. It's so boring and the same shit every year. I'm so glad they finally did something. But, we'll see who replaces them. In a better world, The Reinsdorfs would announce they were selling the team. I'd take anyone over them, even Mark Cuban who came close to buying The Cubs at one point.
 
The Lakers lost by 36 to OKC last night, despite attempting 31 FTs (of which they missed 17) to OKC’s 14, and their fans are blaming the refs for the loss. You can’t make this shit up

Additionally I may spend too much time on Twitter
 
https://www.si.com/nba/bulls/onsi/n...dorf-said-about-billy-donovan-is-concerning-8

Well, all the excitement I had for the Bulls left during Michael Reinsodorf's press conference where he basically said Billy Donovan is staying the coach and whoever is hired as GM has to deal with it. Mikey Reinsdorf has huge Michael Scott vibes which has always terrified me. He seems oblivious and beyond stupid every time he speaks.

Billy is a great college coach, but he's not fucking Phil Jackson. His NBA coaching record is barely over .500 thanks to those early OKC teams, and he has a record under .500 as Bulls coach. It's idiotic to tie the team to this guy. I'm hoping Billy saves us all and steps down to take a College job or something. He has said that he doesn't want to be part of a rebuild, so that's my hope.
 
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TIL the NBA Cup Final, which does not count for stats or record purposes does count for post-season awards purposes.
 
LOL at Mike Breen using his professional voice but quietly seething as Richard Jefferson tells him he has an in at Augusta National, but he doesn't play golf.
 
The playoff picture with one game remaining:

East:
Detroit, Boston, New York and Cleveland are locked in at 1-4, in that order.

Atlanta has clinched a top 6 spot. A win (@ Miami) OR a loss by Toronto (vs Brooklyn) will make them the 5 seed. A Toronto win AND an Atlanta loss would make Toronto 5 and Atlanta 6.

Assuming this doesn't happen, Toronto, Orlando (@ Boston) and Philadelphia (vs Milwaukee) are then fighting for the 6-spot and the top 2 play-in spots.

Wins by Toronto and Orlando would place TOR 6/ORL 7/PHI 8, regardless of the Sixers' result.
Wins by just Orlando and Philly would place ORL 6/PHI 7/TOR 8.
Wins by just Toronto and Philly would place TOR 6/PHI 7/ORL 8.
If just Orlando wins, that would place ORL 6/TOR 7/PHI 8.
If just Philly wins, that would place PHI 6/TOR 7/ORL 8.

Charlotte (@ New York) and Miami (vs Atlanta) currently sit 9 and 10, but Miami can jump them with a win and a Charlotte loss.


West:
Oklahoma City and San Antonio are locked in at 1 and 2.
Houston and Minnesota are locked in at 5 and 6.

Denver and the Lakers currently sit 3 and 4, but a Lakers win (vs Utah) and Nuggets loss (@ San Antonio) would flip those seedings.

In the play-in, Phoenix and Golden State are locked in at 7 and 10.

The 8 and 9 spots are between Portland (vs Sacramento) and the Clippers (vs Golden State), with the Clippers needing a win and a loss by Portland to jump up.
 
With the Hawks and Spurs clinching spots, thus ensuring the playoff debuts of Wemby and Zaccharie Risacher, Zion Williamson is now one of only three #1 overall picks since the merger that has never played in a postseason game.

One is Cooper Flagg who was just drafted this season. The other is Anthony Bennett.

Obviously Zion is not in Anthony Bennett discussions but what should the discussion around him be at this point? You definitely can't sneeze at the numbers but in seven years he has played in 30 or less games four times, including one season he missed entirely.
 
With the Hawks and Spurs clinching spots, thus ensuring the playoff debuts of Wemby and Zaccharie Risacher, Zion Williamson is now one of only three #1 overall picks since the merger that has never played in a postseason game.

One is Cooper Flagg who was just drafted this season. The other is Anthony Bennett.

Obviously Zion is not in Anthony Bennett discussions but what should the discussion around him be at this point? You definitely can't sneeze at the numbers but in seven years he has played in 30 or less games four times, including one season he missed entirely.
Is he a worse Larry Johnson? I can't think of a lot of comps.
 
Hawks/Knicks and Raptors/Cavs will be first round matchups in the East.
 
End-of-season win-share stuff that maybe only Alf cares about:

Formula is: ((Player's cumulative game score)/(Team's cumulative game score))*Team wins
  1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 14.23477493
  2. Nikola Jokić 11.81215432
  3. Luka Dončić 11.67578444
  4. Victor Wembanyama 11.0730902
  5. Donovan Mitchell 9.635294118
  6. Kevin Durant 9.558550779
  7. Jamal Murray 9.557391601
  8. Jaylen Brown 9.507224335
  9. Jalen Duren 9.428032684
  10. Jalen Brunson 9.363957597
  11. Cade Cunningham 9.172532998
  12. Tyrese Maxey 9.103075292
  13. Kawhi Leonard 8.832367039
  14. Chet Holmgren 8.435422183
  15. Amen Thompson 8.370565046
  16. Payton Pritchard 8.30998963
  17. Karl-Anthony Towns 8.304893993
  18. Alperen Şengün 8.127501408
  19. De'Aaron Fox 8.086147381
  20. Jalen Johnson 8.043554844
  21. Scottie Barnes 7.924053224
  22. James Harden 7.848295406
  23. Desmond Bane 7.507990624
  24. Julius Randle 7.462184711
  25. Derrick White 7.39827169
 
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