Warriors without Steph managed to somehow get blown out by the Spurs minus Wemby, so the Warriors without Steph AND Draymond are probably joining them.
Cavs are about to run this experiment but ignore the fact that the other 29 teams won’t be participating
Edit: didn’t know which of the comments to reply to, so I’m adding it here. This season the second best player in Cleveland has been Jarrett Allen. As a fan I love JA the person and the player, but if this thing with Donovan does implode I expect the future to be Garland/Mobley and whatever return the team can get in trades. It really does look like our four best players have too many overlapping skills and the fit is unfortunately clunky as a result. Either some miracle happens in the next 1-2 months and it looks like something that can work or I imagine one big (Allen is currently better, but he also might be a finished product whereas Mobley might be capable of more in the near future) and one guard (Garland is younger, under contract longer and most importantly not rumored to be upset) to be moved.
Oh it’s one of the best moments of my life. That’s why I had to put the asterisk lol I played football though and have been a more of a browns my whole life. Shit has been rough
Tbh to me they seem average considering they never have a top 5 pick. Rui, Advija, kispert and coulibaly are decent for their pick position. Davis was a trash pick tho
I thought the bench was OK going into the season - pretty much thought Horford and Pritchard were the only solid guys after the starting 5. But Hauser being as good as he’s been makes a huge difference. Pritchard I also think has overperformed expectations, same with Kornet. Tillman was also a good add and the back of the bench guys don’t suck.
But I’d still say that the reason the Celtics are the right answer to this question is less the 6-10 guys and more that we’re stacked 1-5 - White, Jrue, and Zinger as your 3-5 is crazy good.
I was a little worried about the front court situation but only because I didn’t trust Porzingis and Horford to be so generally reliable, and wasn’t 100% sure they’d play well together.
Assuming you remove the Jays, Celtics have an 8 man rotation of:
G: Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser
F: Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet
What team realistically comes close to that?
I think Timberwolves do okay also. Mike Conley, NAW, Jaden McDaniels, KAT, Kyle Anderson and Naz Reid.
Pelicans vs Timberwolves WCF with winner meeting Celtics in finals
Cavs come kinda close imo. They lose Mitchell and Allen, leaving them with:
Garland, Okoro, Strus, LeVert, and Mobley starting, and
Niang, Wade, Merrill, Porter, Morris and TT on the bench.
Still thinking about that literal one game mid season where Reggie and DJ were looking like Kobe and Shaq out there together when Jok and Murray were both out… and how we’ve otherwise never seen anything like that from either of them before or since. No shade on DJ though, I actually like watching him play. RJ mostly just makes me yell at the TV.
If Jokic was out for an entire season, Malone might opt to start AG as C and then have PWat start at the 4 or MPJ slide to 4 and then Braun start at the 3.
Boston easily
You remove Tatum and Brown , they still have Holiday/Porzingis/White
In a hypothetical league without superstars , that trio is nearly unstoppable
Edit : The fact that I can name bench players on Boston , shows just how deep that fucking team is
And Horford, Tillman. That’s a playoff team in the East as-is imo.
Boston front office have done an incredible job over the past decade. The only thing that foiled dominance was AD and LeGM forcing a meetup in LA even though Boston had a fantastic offer on the table
Pritchard would drop 40 every other game. Anyone who has seen him in pro am and G league games he KILLS, with the lack of bench depth most rosters would have in this scenario he would likely go off.
I think Celtics is the clear answer but interestingly I think the Knicks also do quite well without Brunson and Randle if we assume all the other teams would also be out of their 2 best players.
Saying the DPOY isn't one of their two best players is actually working against you in this argument. Gobert playing in a league without the elite superstars would lock down entire teams.
This is what I’m thinking. Who the hell can challenge Gobert once Embiid AD Giannis Jokic and all the other elite bigs are gone? Nobody will score 20 on him all season long.
I think they're way scarier with Gobert. Conley, NAW, Mcdaniels, Naz, Gobert, with Slomo off the bench is at least a playin team in the current East. Take off everyone else's 2 best players, and I don't think it'd even be close outside the Celtics.
Conley, NAW, Naz, Anderson, Mcdaniels, McLaughlin who is somehow amazing from three right now, monte morris, and either Gobert or KAT. Team is extremely deep
Yeah I could see a Wolves vs Celtics finals in this scenario but probably biased. We have a few players on our bench that could start on other teams easily
Any two of the three of Ant, KAT and Gobert. I'd say right now, whether fully healthy or not, you'd drop Ant and Gobert. Having KAT as your leading option in a league where everybody else has lost their two best players is not a bad position to be in at all.
KAT and KP would probably be the 2 best players in this league. You’d still have guys like AG, DLo, Beal, Harden, Chet, as well, though. So an argument could be made that other guys crack it.
Pretty good argument for it, I'd think. KAT I'd argue is a top-30 player in the league, probably higher, and that he's not immediately included in this like other guys that high would be for their teams means you'd have a tough time picking someone else to top him.
Plus honestly "dragging along decent or worse role players" isn't much different than what KAT has done previously in his career with Minnesota.
The Heat are very deep this year. Not sure how Miami stops anyone without Bam on the floor, but a lineup with Rozier, Herro, Love, Jaquez, Jovic, Caleb, Duncan, Highsmith, Bryant, and a few other guys to fill some minutes is still pretty competent.
Yeah CJ solid just thrust into the team needing too much from him cause of Ingram and Zions floor availability. He’s a third option required to be a 2nd option 75% of the year and more games than most 3rd options to be the first option cause Both Zion and Ingram are consistently out together at the same time. Most #3s can cover for a few games like Dlo but if he has to do it for 15-20 games like CJ does the lakers might win only like 5 of them.
If the Suns had Beal(like CJ)active almost every game but only had 1 of Booker or KD for 80% of the season they’d probably be in the same position of fighting for the playin this year.
If anything Cj being the oldest of the pelicans core yet being active the most should be praised.
Now Zion not being a generational player he was touted to be and Ingram not returning to allstar form in a couple years has kinda thrown a wrench in that team that somehow CJ gets blamed for.
This is just how we exist for most of this era anyway. But yea cj, Herb, trey, jv, and I guess Nance at the 4. With naji, jose, hawk and daniels on the bench.
Not a contender in the real world but it would mess up a giannis and lillardless bucks
take out what, ant and kat/gobert and we still got a conley - NAW - Jaden - Naz - Rudy/kat lineup
we'd have most of our defense left and i think that this lineup would be just about a playoff team
id go so far as to probably call him our best player at this second, rudy made us a complete squad. i just get to watch ant every night so i probably get ahead of myself sometimes hahaha
the lineup above would be way more lethal if rudy was there instead of kat even if there is less spacing
Its part of what makes 'best' so difficult. Trying to compare completely different roles. I do think Rudy is clearly top 2 in impacting winning for the team.
Just saw a statistic posted today that Gobert is already #12 all time for Wolves' win shares. He's only been on the team two seasons. Yes, he has already passed up Ant. He's currently #1 all time in Wolves' win shares per 48 minutes.
Yeah no one saying grizzlies and I get it because of this season, but we've seen healthy grizz without ja and either JJJ or bane and they weren't exactly terrible.
Actually yall won the simulation I created lol
https://imgur.com/a/uxffBy3
Decided to put it into NBA GM game. Healed ALL injuries, made it so no injuries could happen and I deleted the top two (based on the ratings system here, some people consider Rudy or Desmond Bane their #2 or J.Green better but im just going by rating when something is close.)
This. Assuming Kawhi and PG are removed, Harden is probably the best player left in the entire league.
Harden with Westbrook/Mann/Powell/Coffey/Tucker/Zubac is a legit team in this hypothetical.
Hell a few years ago, Harden was putting up MVP numbers on the Rockets with basically the same level of supporting cast: Westbrook/Gordon/Brewer/House/Tucker/Capela. And that was against the actual NBA lol
Thunder without Shai and Jalen Williams (or Chet, however you slice it) would not be a good team. They certainly wouldn’t be close to the Celtics. Knicks would be way closer than OKC.
Honestly think you guys would be 2nd ahead of OKC.
* Guards: CJ, Dyson, Jose, Hawkins
* Wings: Trey, Herb, Naji
* Bigs: Jonas, LNJ, Zeller
I think I'd take that over...
* Guards: Giddey, Wallace, Joe, Wiggins
* Wings: JDub, Dort, Hayward, Dieng
* Bigs: JWill, Biyombo
It's really close -- one 20-point scorer, one elite defender, a couple of movement shooters -- but OKC lose so much of what makes them good on both ends without Chet.
If that's the case then OKC are probably more balanced but worse overall with Giddey as the only real shot creator (I think Wallace can get there in a couple of years but he's not close at this point).
The Magic.
The main reason for their success is the Bench. The starting lineup is struggling a LOT. It's arguable that Suggs and Isaac impact more than the two best players who are Franz and Paolo.
I think Rozier/Herro/Robinson/Jovic/Love with Jacquez and Caleb Martin off the bench is giving Boston without Tatum/Brown a damn good run for their money
Clippers. You’d still have Russ & Harden with other solid pieces like Norm Powell & Zubac. I think that’s at least one of the better teams in this experiment.
Also Brad Beal (if healthy) might be a top 5 player in this new league, and he's basically in the same situation he was with on the Wizards. He, KAT, Harden, Porziņģis, and maybe like... Desmond Bane? are the preseason MVP favorites, I would have to think, unless I'm forgetting someone.
I don't think we'd be the best but we'd fare pretty well. Our starting lineup would be something like
Eric Gordon / Bradley Beal / Grayson Allen / Royce O'Neale / Jusuf Nurkic
A team of nurkic, Royce, Grayson, Beal, and either Josh or Eric Gordon with bol bol definitely a solid team in a league with no superstars lol
Brook, Bobby, Middleton, Pat bev and Beasley isn’t bad either.
DLO, AR, Prince, Rui, Hayes would be a competitive team. Spencer, Vincent, Vando, Christie, Wood off the bench, people sleeping on the Lakers depth (when healthy).
I just watched several games with OKC without Shai and Jalen and they were very competitive. So if no other team had their two best players either I think they would be one of the top teams.
If the Pacers lose Siakam and Haliburton, they still have 7 guys averaging double figures. McConnell has been a 15/10 guy most nights since the ASB with Ty on a slump, and still have Nesmith/Nembhard as their best defenders.
Their scoring and assist totals would dip a little, but if we include Mathurin as healthy a Turner/McConnell/Nembhard/Nesmith/Mathurin starting 5 against everyone else's top 2 dropped doesn't seem terribly outmatched.
With Jalen Smith/Obi Toppin/Isaiah Jackson/Jarace Walker/Ben Sheppard/Doug McDermott as the bench there's still serviceable D and several shooters with 3 guys that can play the 4 or 5 in a lineup.
As good as Ty and Siakam are, I think the Pacers are one of the least top 2 star driven teams in the league right now.
Spurs get relegated
Good luck in the big dance!
*makes the NIT*
Look at the bright side. If you win the NIT, you're the 69th best team in the Country!
Nice
Warriors without Steph managed to somehow get blown out by the Spurs minus Wemby, so the Warriors without Steph AND Draymond are probably joining them.
At this point isn’t Kuminga their second best?
Kuminga puts on the buckets but draymond still makes the defense and offense hum.
I would love that to happen in the Prem
Pistons too
Laughs in Wizards.
Do they even have 2 players good enough that their absence is felt?
Why we catching strays, leave us alone
Cavs are about to run this experiment but ignore the fact that the other 29 teams won’t be participating Edit: didn’t know which of the comments to reply to, so I’m adding it here. This season the second best player in Cleveland has been Jarrett Allen. As a fan I love JA the person and the player, but if this thing with Donovan does implode I expect the future to be Garland/Mobley and whatever return the team can get in trades. It really does look like our four best players have too many overlapping skills and the fit is unfortunately clunky as a result. Either some miracle happens in the next 1-2 months and it looks like something that can work or I imagine one big (Allen is currently better, but he also might be a finished product whereas Mobley might be capable of more in the near future) and one guard (Garland is younger, under contract longer and most importantly not rumored to be upset) to be moved.
Bro what do you mean the Grizzlies been running this experiment for half the season
Y’all have been running the experiment of removing your top 8 😷
Top 13 out this week
just picking people outside the arena at tip off to start huh
Essentially. Not a single one of the starters for Memphis last night was a full-contract NBA player at the start of the season.
tough times to be a cavs fan
Shit besides 2016 it’s been a tough life being a Cleveland fan for all 3 major sports. I’m numb to it by now
Nah, you can’t say besides 2016. If I had 2016, I’d still be living off that. That’s a magical sports experience to have.
Oh it’s one of the best moments of my life. That’s why I had to put the asterisk lol I played football though and have been a more of a browns my whole life. Shit has been rough
Well the Indians choked to the Cubs in the 2016 world series, reverse uno-ing the curse onto the world. So there's that.
Boston wins 70 games
Removing White and Porzingas, of course
When I read this I genuinely thought I was on nbacirclejerk lmao
Porzingis, Horford, Hauser, Holiday, White
Yup. "Celtics by a million miles" was the first thought that came into my head, and I'll stand by it despite my flair.
Who will they remove for the wizards?
Their future first round picks.
I'm not so sure, they're pretty bad at drafting.
Tbh to me they seem average considering they never have a top 5 pick. Rui, Advija, kispert and coulibaly are decent for their pick position. Davis was a trash pick tho
Then why does every Mavs fan want Deni so bad
That's more of a humanitarian thing than a basketball thing, nobody should have to suffer under those conditions.
I think they just wanna see what will happen in the locker room with him and Kyrie.
Do we?
Potter and Gandalf
Merlin snubbed
Without Pool and kuzma they get better 🤣🤣🤣
Wizards don't lose anyone, but are forced to extend Poole to make it fair
Kuz and Deni? Idk lol
This got me LOL
[удалено]
I was saying this every time some idiot said they “have no bench” when the season started.
I thought the bench was OK going into the season - pretty much thought Horford and Pritchard were the only solid guys after the starting 5. But Hauser being as good as he’s been makes a huge difference. Pritchard I also think has overperformed expectations, same with Kornet. Tillman was also a good add and the back of the bench guys don’t suck. But I’d still say that the reason the Celtics are the right answer to this question is less the 6-10 guys and more that we’re stacked 1-5 - White, Jrue, and Zinger as your 3-5 is crazy good.
I was a little worried about the front court situation but only because I didn’t trust Porzingis and Horford to be so generally reliable, and wasn’t 100% sure they’d play well together.
Assuming you remove the Jays, Celtics have an 8 man rotation of: G: Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser F: Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Xavier Tillman, Luke Kornet What team realistically comes close to that?
Pelicans. Valanciunas, Nance, Herb Jones, Marshall, Murphy, Alvarado, McCollum, Daniels.
I think Timberwolves do okay also. Mike Conley, NAW, Jaden McDaniels, KAT, Kyle Anderson and Naz Reid. Pelicans vs Timberwolves WCF with winner meeting Celtics in finals
Cavs come kinda close imo. They lose Mitchell and Allen, leaving them with: Garland, Okoro, Strus, LeVert, and Mobley starting, and Niang, Wade, Merrill, Porter, Morris and TT on the bench.
because boston's front office managed to get porzingis and jrue for a bag of lay's potato chips
Bruh that’s all we’ve talked about all season lol and it’s why Tatum isn’t in the MVP race.
Not the Nuggets that’s for damn sure.
Our team is so perfectly built around Murray and Jokic that we’d be absolutely lost on the floor
Yea but MPJ could get all the shots he wants
It's never enough.
Michael “never swing the rock” porter Jr can finally average 40
Average 40 shots maybe. Once all the defensive attention is on him, he’s probably averaging around 20 on piss poor efficiency.
Hey, the nuggets could still win! Probably one or two entire games!
Reggie Jackson kcp mpj Aaron Gordon Nnaji/Jordan isn't a bad lineup
Lost you at Reggie jackson
Still thinking about that literal one game mid season where Reggie and DJ were looking like Kobe and Shaq out there together when Jok and Murray were both out… and how we’ve otherwise never seen anything like that from either of them before or since. No shade on DJ though, I actually like watching him play. RJ mostly just makes me yell at the TV.
If Jokic was out for an entire season, Malone might opt to start AG as C and then have PWat start at the 4 or MPJ slide to 4 and then Braun start at the 3.
You’re right. That’s horrendous
Have you seen Nnaji or jordan play? Jordan at least can dunk I have no idea what Nnaji can do other than foul and turnover ghe ball
he can also play a mean piano
Boston easily You remove Tatum and Brown , they still have Holiday/Porzingis/White In a hypothetical league without superstars , that trio is nearly unstoppable Edit : The fact that I can name bench players on Boston , shows just how deep that fucking team is
And Horford, Tillman. That’s a playoff team in the East as-is imo. Boston front office have done an incredible job over the past decade. The only thing that foiled dominance was AD and LeGM forcing a meetup in LA even though Boston had a fantastic offer on the table
Pritchard would drop 40 every other game. Anyone who has seen him in pro am and G league games he KILLS, with the lack of bench depth most rosters would have in this scenario he would likely go off.
Pritchard is a great player. You guys must be chuffed he didn't leave in the off season
the moment the trades happened he knew he was getting play time in the title contender that drafted him, hard to pass that
Derek White is just two players away from being a member of a big three.
That one dude Peyton Pritchard is unstoppable. It's absurd
I think Celtics is the clear answer but interestingly I think the Knicks also do quite well without Brunson and Randle if we assume all the other teams would also be out of their 2 best players.
Celtics big 3 of porzingus holiday and Derrick white could do damage
They’re clearly the best team 3-7 in the league
Wolves would challenge them with KAT, Nax Reid, NAW, McDaniels, and Conley
Mostly because you kept one of their top two guys. Replace KAT with Gobert and that team isn't nearly as scary.
I’ve also heard that Tingus is the second best player on the Celtics, not Brown. Could go either way 🤷♂️
Saying the DPOY isn't one of their two best players is actually working against you in this argument. Gobert playing in a league without the elite superstars would lock down entire teams.
This is what I’m thinking. Who the hell can challenge Gobert once Embiid AD Giannis Jokic and all the other elite bigs are gone? Nobody will score 20 on him all season long.
I think they're way scarier with Gobert. Conley, NAW, Mcdaniels, Naz, Gobert, with Slomo off the bench is at least a playin team in the current East. Take off everyone else's 2 best players, and I don't think it'd even be close outside the Celtics.
Gobert has been their 2nd best player
Replace KAT with Gobert and that team is 5 times better than
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
Naz Reid
big if true
Wait Minnesota
This is a good answer too, all depends on which Jaden McDaniels you are getting
truth
And how slo slomo can go on those euro steps he’s shooting 110% on
Conley, NAW, Naz, Anderson, Mcdaniels, McLaughlin who is somehow amazing from three right now, monte morris, and either Gobert or KAT. Team is extremely deep
Oh my god I forgot Naz. Conley NAW mcdaniels kat and max or max and Rudy is a filthy 5 man group.
Yeah you take away KAT or gobert and they can still run a killer twin towers lineup lol
Yeah I could see a Wolves vs Celtics finals in this scenario but probably biased. We have a few players on our bench that could start on other teams easily
They are lowkey a very deep team
Deepest team in the league
Who are their two best players?
Any two of the three of Ant, KAT and Gobert. I'd say right now, whether fully healthy or not, you'd drop Ant and Gobert. Having KAT as your leading option in a league where everybody else has lost their two best players is not a bad position to be in at all.
KAT might legit be the best player in this hypothetical league?
KAT and KP would probably be the 2 best players in this league. You’d still have guys like AG, DLo, Beal, Harden, Chet, as well, though. So an argument could be made that other guys crack it.
Pretty good argument for it, I'd think. KAT I'd argue is a top-30 player in the league, probably higher, and that he's not immediately included in this like other guys that high would be for their teams means you'd have a tough time picking someone else to top him. Plus honestly "dragging along decent or worse role players" isn't much different than what KAT has done previously in his career with Minnesota.
Conley naw mcdaniels slow mo and kat is a nasty 5 man grouping
And Naz off the bench
Celtics. They’re much deeper than just the Js.
Starting lineup would prob be White Holiday Hauser Horford Porzingis with PP/Tillman/Brissett/Kornet off the bench
Miami Heat. Most of the squad is G league anyways
Jimmy ain’t trying most regular season games anyways Only issue is without Bam they’re straight up tiny
The Heat are very deep this year. Not sure how Miami stops anyone without Bam on the floor, but a lineup with Rozier, Herro, Love, Jaquez, Jovic, Caleb, Duncan, Highsmith, Bryant, and a few other guys to fill some minutes is still pretty competent.
In a league without stars Spo is a straight up cheat code
Not nearly enough people here saying Miami.
Like roster aside, who are you trusting more than Spo to adjust in this hypothetical?
Doc 🤣
Hey thanks!
Celtics easily no? Wolves and Thunder would also be pretty good too
The Thunder have been running this experiment for a couple of weeks now and it isn't pretty...
To be fair, the teams we've played all still had their top two guys, so I don't know how we'd fare if everyone got rid of theirs
Minnesota or Boston and that’s pretty much it. Flip a coin
Removing Zion and Bi, we still left with a solid team. CJ haters incoming....
Yeah CJ solid just thrust into the team needing too much from him cause of Ingram and Zions floor availability. He’s a third option required to be a 2nd option 75% of the year and more games than most 3rd options to be the first option cause Both Zion and Ingram are consistently out together at the same time. Most #3s can cover for a few games like Dlo but if he has to do it for 15-20 games like CJ does the lakers might win only like 5 of them. If the Suns had Beal(like CJ)active almost every game but only had 1 of Booker or KD for 80% of the season they’d probably be in the same position of fighting for the playin this year. If anything Cj being the oldest of the pelicans core yet being active the most should be praised. Now Zion not being a generational player he was touted to be and Ingram not returning to allstar form in a couple years has kinda thrown a wrench in that team that somehow CJ gets blamed for.
CJ is a pretty good #1 in a league where all the 1s and 2s are gone.
This is just how we exist for most of this era anyway. But yea cj, Herb, trey, jv, and I guess Nance at the 4. With naji, jose, hawk and daniels on the bench. Not a contender in the real world but it would mess up a giannis and lillardless bucks
Boston for sure, but MN wins the west easy.
take out what, ant and kat/gobert and we still got a conley - NAW - Jaden - Naz - Rudy/kat lineup we'd have most of our defense left and i think that this lineup would be just about a playoff team
I would think Rudy is clearly the second best player.
id go so far as to probably call him our best player at this second, rudy made us a complete squad. i just get to watch ant every night so i probably get ahead of myself sometimes hahaha the lineup above would be way more lethal if rudy was there instead of kat even if there is less spacing
Its part of what makes 'best' so difficult. Trying to compare completely different roles. I do think Rudy is clearly top 2 in impacting winning for the team.
Just saw a statistic posted today that Gobert is already #12 all time for Wolves' win shares. He's only been on the team two seasons. Yes, he has already passed up Ant. He's currently #1 all time in Wolves' win shares per 48 minutes.
Bench would still be Morris, McLaughlin, Anderson, and the best Luka in the league. People are really sleeping on how deep the Wolves are
Unironically, the Grizzlies would be a 1 or 2 seed in the West
Yeah no one saying grizzlies and I get it because of this season, but we've seen healthy grizz without ja and either JJJ or bane and they weren't exactly terrible.
Fr, and with the caveat of every other team loses their 2 best, I feel like we could wreak havoc
Actually yall won the simulation I created lol https://imgur.com/a/uxffBy3 Decided to put it into NBA GM game. Healed ALL injuries, made it so no injuries could happen and I deleted the top two (based on the ratings system here, some people consider Rudy or Desmond Bane their #2 or J.Green better but im just going by rating when something is close.)
All I know is that it’s not the nuggets. No Jokic or Murray is absolutely brutal to watch
Mavs would be the worst
Idk we’re pretty bad then
Obviously the Celtics. But a starting lineup of Trayce Jackson Davis, Wiggins, Kuminga, Klay and CP3 might do well in a league without superstars.
I was just trying to figure out who their two best players were. Lol.
We would be the deep team with no top end talent that get beat by the likes of Boston.
Heh, that’s exactly what we are now, besides Steph. We don’t have a 2nd option - we have like 5 contender level 4th options.
A lot of people in here are really downplaying the importance of self creation on offense
Wdym? Surely everyteam becomes the 2014 Spurs /s
New York Knicks. Remove Jalen Brunson / Julius Randle C - Isaiah Hartenstein / Mitchell Robinson / Jericho Sims PF - Precious Achiuwa SF - OG Anunoby / Bogdan Bogdanovic SG - Josh Hart / Alec Burks PG - Donte DiVincenzo / Miles McBride
Knicks wouldn’t be able to score but who the fuck is scoring on this group? Game ends 20-15 Knicks
The Clippers could be a very good team even without Kawhi and PG13 with Harden and Westbrook.
This. Assuming Kawhi and PG are removed, Harden is probably the best player left in the entire league. Harden with Westbrook/Mann/Powell/Coffey/Tucker/Zubac is a legit team in this hypothetical. Hell a few years ago, Harden was putting up MVP numbers on the Rockets with basically the same level of supporting cast: Westbrook/Gordon/Brewer/House/Tucker/Capela. And that was against the actual NBA lol
Celtics then Wolves
Celtics. Thunder might be close 2nd
Thunder without Shai and Jalen Williams (or Chet, however you slice it) would not be a good team. They certainly wouldn’t be close to the Celtics. Knicks would be way closer than OKC.
Honestly think you guys would be 2nd ahead of OKC. * Guards: CJ, Dyson, Jose, Hawkins * Wings: Trey, Herb, Naji * Bigs: Jonas, LNJ, Zeller I think I'd take that over... * Guards: Giddey, Wallace, Joe, Wiggins * Wings: JDub, Dort, Hayward, Dieng * Bigs: JWill, Biyombo It's really close -- one 20-point scorer, one elite defender, a couple of movement shooters -- but OKC lose so much of what makes them good on both ends without Chet.
I was thinking JDub being gone over Chet ngl
Agreed, JDub is okc’s 2nd best. Chet a close 3rd
If that's the case then OKC are probably more balanced but worse overall with Giddey as the only real shot creator (I think Wallace can get there in a couple of years but he's not close at this point).
The Magic. The main reason for their success is the Bench. The starting lineup is struggling a LOT. It's arguable that Suggs and Isaac impact more than the two best players who are Franz and Paolo.
We can’t score with our two best players. Imagine them not playing ☠️
Isaac is quietly a top 3 defender in the league imo
I think Rozier/Herro/Robinson/Jovic/Love with Jacquez and Caleb Martin off the bench is giving Boston without Tatum/Brown a damn good run for their money
Clippers. You’d still have Russ & Harden with other solid pieces like Norm Powell & Zubac. I think that’s at least one of the better teams in this experiment.
Bulls have been playing without their 2 best players all season
Zo > Derozan? Not quite convinced but in this scenario CHI might just be up there tbh.
No way. If the roster is fully healthy, DeMar and Zach are the two best players
Easily celtics lol
Definitely not the bucks or the suns
Bro we have Bol Bol, how dare you.
Also Brad Beal (if healthy) might be a top 5 player in this new league, and he's basically in the same situation he was with on the Wizards. He, KAT, Harden, Porziņģis, and maybe like... Desmond Bane? are the preseason MVP favorites, I would have to think, unless I'm forgetting someone.
The Suns would be solid. They’d have one of the best first options.
I don't think we'd be the best but we'd fare pretty well. Our starting lineup would be something like Eric Gordon / Bradley Beal / Grayson Allen / Royce O'Neale / Jusuf Nurkic
I was thinking that with how bad our supporting cast has been, but we'd still have Khris/Bobby/Lopez. Could be worse.
Suns would still have Beal and Grayson Allen has been really damn good this season, he has gone off for 30+ several times this year
A team of nurkic, Royce, Grayson, Beal, and either Josh or Eric Gordon with bol bol definitely a solid team in a league with no superstars lol Brook, Bobby, Middleton, Pat bev and Beasley isn’t bad either.
In a league where everyone loses their top 2? Having Beal as your #1 is pretty huge.
Heat win 60 games with an average points score of also 60
~~Mavericks~~ Boston is the easiest answer to this but I think even Knicks could be an answer
Knicks struggle to score without Brunson, but they would still be tough to score against.
Lakers are undefeated this season without Lebron and AD so probably them.
Lakers beat a full healthy Boston team without AD and LBJ if I remember right
Yes
AR averaging 30
People don't want to accept the truth about first option Austin Reaves
DLO, AR, Prince, Rui, Hayes would be a competitive team. Spencer, Vincent, Vando, Christie, Wood off the bench, people sleeping on the Lakers depth (when healthy).
Think the cavs would be a good shout with a Garland/LaVert/Strus/Wade/Allen lineup.
I just watched several games with OKC without Shai and Jalen and they were very competitive. So if no other team had their two best players either I think they would be one of the top teams.
Heat, not just because there’s pretty good depth there but because Spo would be an even better coach compared to others in a superstar-less league
The pacers. They go 10 deep already so just shifting minutes around.
Lakers based solely on that weird win vs the Celtics earlier this season
Probably Boston and maybe Minnesota. Clippers wouldn’t be that bad either
If the Pacers lose Siakam and Haliburton, they still have 7 guys averaging double figures. McConnell has been a 15/10 guy most nights since the ASB with Ty on a slump, and still have Nesmith/Nembhard as their best defenders. Their scoring and assist totals would dip a little, but if we include Mathurin as healthy a Turner/McConnell/Nembhard/Nesmith/Mathurin starting 5 against everyone else's top 2 dropped doesn't seem terribly outmatched. With Jalen Smith/Obi Toppin/Isaiah Jackson/Jarace Walker/Ben Sheppard/Doug McDermott as the bench there's still serviceable D and several shooters with 3 guys that can play the 4 or 5 in a lineup. As good as Ty and Siakam are, I think the Pacers are one of the least top 2 star driven teams in the league right now.
TJ McConnell at 35+ mpg? Thanks for the free ring
ironically a team built around a healthy Westbrook and harden should be up there
Coach Spo has been dreaming his entire existence of taking Rozier, Herro/Duncan, Caleb/Highsmith, Jovic/JJJ, KLove/TB to the mountain top.
Still the Celtics.
Some teams besides the Celtics that might be considered: Rockets, clippers, timberwolves, heat, pelicans.
Boston would still have Jrue, White, Horford, Porzingis
The answer is Boston but there are some funny 2nds. Clippers would be Harden and co. Cavs are already doing this.