Zach

@lirishfwanime The bulk of his offensive value comes from scoring, which he does consistently at an extremely high level.

@elbow_a Pretty respectable would just move KD far lower on the first list.

Modern NBA Superlatives 1-5 (Yes It’s Ordered)

@lirishfwanime Slashers: 1. Giannis 2. Zion 3. LeBron 4. Russ 5. SGA Shooters: 1. Steph 2. KD 3. Klay 4. Dame 5. Kyrie Basketball IQ: 1. Jokic 2. LeBron 3. Green 4. Paul 5. Steph Offensive: 1. Steph 2. Jokic 3. LeBron 4. SGA 5. Luka Overall: 1. LeBron 2. Steph 3. Jokic 4. Wemby 5. SGA

@lirishfwanime Scorers: 1. KD 2. SGA 3. Steph 4. LeBron 5. Embiid Playmakers: 1. Jokic 2. LeBron 3. Steph 4. Luka 5. Paul Passers: 1. Jokic 2. LeBron 3. Luka 4. Paul 5. Haliburton Defenders: 1. Wemby 2. Draymond 3. AD 4. Gobert 5. Giannis

@kendrickj_ @databallr Agree with both of those statements but also in a vacuum is Jokic not the better defender? Also I’m a bit higher on how their defense projects in the postseason given how they usually ramp up defensive intensity around that time.

@elbow_a @databallr Yeah we're just not gonna agree on anything with your last sentence. I think Jokic is having one of his worst defensive seasons of his career and I think Luka is having his best in some time You're again doing the thing of judging defensive value outside of role in a scheme

Nick Wright’s argument: “Luka creates 20 more points per game. Is Wemby erasing 20? That’s a big number.” The trick is the swap. The discussion is about impact, then he replaces Luka’s side with a box score total. “20 points created” isn’t +20 impact. It’s just volume. Then he asks Victor Wembanyama’s defense to match that number, even though defensive stats aren't tracked like that. What he’s really doing is comparing offensive revenue to defensive profit. Offense has costs: possessions, turnovers, time on ball. Luka Doncic is generating points by using those team resources (very efficiently, I might add). Defense is different. Wemby isn’t spending possessions on defense in the same way to protect the rim, lower shot quality, and prevent offensive rebounds. If you believe Wemby is the 11th best offensive player in the league, I don't think it's really a question who's more valuable. Wemby is not only the most impactful defensive player in the league, he is in the middle of, at worst, a top 2 defensive peak in the modern era. If you were to swap Luka and Wemby on their respective teams, whose team would you expect to go further in the playoffs? I'm taking Lakers with Wemby instead of Luka. You see, Luka's value is dependent on having the ball in his hands, which is redundant with other great offensive players like LeBron and Austin Reaves. On offense, he's holding the ball 45% of the time. Wemby is less dependent on having the ball. His defensive impact will be there regardless of who he's playing with. Luka's having an awesome season, but Wemby is just more valuable overall on a possession to possession basis in my opinion.

@kendrickj_ @databallr He has a negative defensive on & on-off cumulatively, and negative FG% and Rim% on-off splits, think he gets a lot of value defensively from steals but it’s kind of like a Jokic thing where at best he’s a slight positive (I think he’s a worse defender than Jokic overall).

@elbow_a @databallr Yeah but he just...hasn't bled that value this season like that lol. Eye test wise, nor even the advanced analytics that I don't even like both concur lol (Ex. his D-DPM is literally right at 0, which is about all you can ask for for an S-tier offensive player of his caliber)

@kendrickj_ @databallr Agree with your point as a whole, but that’s not the point I was making. Luka bleeds value defensively by being below-average in numerous defensive categories relative to other guards.

@elbow_a @databallr One player will never shut down an entire offense lol, so every player MUST exist in help/recover schemes. You can use my logic for even elite defenders too. If Minny's scheme was to switch everything, Gobert would look like a substantially worse defender for example

@kendrickj_ @databallr If he were a better defender the adaptions wouldn’t have to be made (and the Lakers are also pretty solidly below-average on defense—again it’s not all on Luka but he’s part of that personnel).

@elbow_a @databallr For what he's asked to do within the Laker's scheme, which is when we overload the strong side he's to do what i laid out, he's been good at that Execution of role within a scheme is all that matters for defensive value, not nitpicking things that CAN'T do outside of that role

@kendrickj_ @databallr Agree with the first part, not the second part. I agree he’s improved hustle/communication-wise but obviously he has verticality limitations & he’s rather flat-footed for a guard, would probably be a neutral-to-negative defender.

@elbow_a @databallr And Luka is still a much better offensive player than Wemby and has been a pretty solid positive defensively pretty much all season, especially zoning up on the weakside and reading his two players he's guarding very well this year and making plays and rotating better Sooo...

@B3dub11 @PranavSriraman ?

@elbow_a @PranavSriraman People like u man

24 Embiid best player ever

@B3dub11 @PranavSriraman Obviously Wemby’s season hasn’t finished yet but I think I’d probably have him above the ‘21-‘23 versions of peak Embiid (I don’t say that lightly btw) currently, ‘24 Embiid leveled-up but I’m not sure how much confidence I have in that version durability-wise

@elbow_a @PranavSriraman Current wemby isn’t seeing 21, 22, 23, let alone 24 embiid

@kendrickj_ @databallr Cade is a much better offensive player and is a pretty solid positive on the defensive end (Chet isn’t a Top 40 offensive player). I’d say there’s a case to be made for Chet > Cade but players’ offensive/defensive impact isn’t the same just because the archetypes appear similar.

@elbow_a @databallr Didn't compare Wemby to Cade or Chet at all, so no idea why you went down that line of thinking I'm saying, give me one good reason why I can't use these same exact arguments to say Chet is better/more valuable than Cade

@kendrickj_ @databallr Because Wemby is a much better defensive player than both of them, and if you believe his offense is as good as Cade (I don’t think it is), his total impact sums up to quite literally one of the best basketball players on planet Earth.

@databallr Feel like you can say this about basically any elite defender compared to a ball dominant offensive player Wemby is great but i don't see how any of this is unique to Wemby. I could use these same exact arguments for Cade and like Chet lol

@Betsycashmoney @databallr Just talking about his archetype in a vacuum, when the bulk of your offensive value is predicated on-ball, there’s a limit on how well you scale up next to better and better teammates.

@databallr I agree with your point about the Lakers with Wemby, but in fairness-- much of that is the result of roster construction. You can't really penalize or blame Luka for the roster redundancy with Reaves/Bron. He didn't build the roster.

@costc_0 @TA1297 Not saying I can’t, just that I appreciate those who do add a unique perspective to the game though object analysis

@elbow_a @TA1297 You can’t analyze basketball yourself? What’s so complicated to you?

Bill Simmons has been one of the worst listens when it comes to the Celtics for a minute

@Betsycashmoney Yeah, which is why you see injuries happening at an all-time rate, just so much more ground to cover. And because it looks so easy at times the natural response for some kinds of people would be to blame the defense

@elbow_a This is true. But I'm not necessarily sure it's as simple as saying "That make it easier." Sure, SCORING is easier, but it's also is harder on the body, covering more ground-- and definitely harder on defenders too.

NBA "Old Heads" seem SO ANGRY compared to fans in other sports, and it drives much of the negativity in NBA discourse I've never seen an old NFL/MLB fan say "[Insert MVP] would be a scrub if he played in the 90s" But I see this shit ALL THE TIME from older NBA fans...? Why???

@costc_0 @TA1297 Actually decent basketball analysis, for one

@TA1297 Can someone tell me what NBA fans want to hear about basketball? They all seem to complain about every single person who has an opinion on the sport. Just the worst fans

@tejfbanalytics Am I missing something or is the opening game on Wednesday this year

so we have: •wednesday sept. 9: seahawks game •thursday sept. 10: 49ers-rams saturday sept. 12: ohio st-texas, oklahoma-michigan, arkansas-utah etc •sunday sept. 13: full NFL sunday •monday sept. 14: MNF

@LakerCentral365 To me he’s always been an at-times unabashedly contrarian/common sense persona but as for basketball analysis I don’t think he’s ever been elite in that department

How old are you?