Dropped into the league next year in place of the Rockets. How many wins?

[Kblaze8855]

https://i.ibb.co/J7NRrfK/IMG-8928.jpg


Of their top 7 guys in minutes all of them are 23-30 with Finleys 30 being the oldest.


Keep Don Nelson as coach who gets the offseason to adjust his offense and defense as well as freedom to swap any two bench players for anyone in the league who did not play over 25 minutes a game last year.


How does it go?

[highwhey]

45 wins? it's not a bad team at all, got elite shooting and playmaking. defense would be iffy.

[Real Men Wear Green]

45 wins. This team's advantage was that they had taken a step towards the modern style with a jumpshooting big that spaces the floor, pushing the tempo and taking fast shots. These days there's nothing special about that and they would actually have to see if they can speed up. Defense would be awful.

[FKAri]

Depends what offensive scheme they run and how big they're going to play. Is Josh Howard starting? Is Marquis Daniels? If they run it back like the 04 Mavs they're missing the playoffs.

[warriorfan]

https://i.ibb.co/J7NRrfK/IMG-8928.jpg


Of their top 7 guys in minutes all of them are 23-30 with Finleys 30 being the oldest.


Keep Don Nelson as coach who gets the offseason to adjust his offense and defense as well as freedom to swap any two bench players for anyone in the league who did not play over 25 minutes a game last year.


How does it go?

Make it to the Finals?

Are they worse than the form of the Pacers team that should have been up 3 games vs Porzingusless Boston?



edit: Didn’t see the Rockets part. Saw the roster/coaching and figured if they played high pace like the Pacers did this year they could do similar

[Kblaze8855]

45 wins. This team's advantage was that they had taken a step towards the modern style with a jumpshooting big that spaces the floor, pushing the tempo and taking fast shots. These days there's nothing special about that and they would actually have to see if they can speed up. Defense would be awful.


I imagine they take their pick of the best energy shot blocking bigmen not playing major minutes(either of the current Mavs bigmen might work) and a good wing defender who can shoot. They would definitely wish Caruso played 3 less minutes last year.

[Dbrog]

Probably pretty great in this league tbh. In many ways fit better than back then. Granted Dirk was just starting to become the Dirk we came to know, but to my recollection was still unable to backdown small guards and would settle for jumpers. Nash wasn't Nash yet either though he would do much better with teams taking 50 threes per game.

I mean half those dudes in the pic would be shooting 38%+ from 3 and Najera, Daniels, and young Jamison would be pretty solid on D and not get punished down low in today's guard-heavy offenses. Bradley likely wouldn't play but Fortson would own the glass in their games. I'm not entirely sure Walker could stay on the floor as he would be constantly exploited.

I would imagine then winning 50ish games and potentially making a 2024 Mavs type run.

[Reggie43]

Nash and Dirk became Mvp level players when the rule changes took effect. Probably an easy 55 wins or more granted they take a few defenders on the bench.

[Kblaze8855]

Nash at 29 going on 30 was the same person he would be in Phoenix a few months later. The league just hated the 03 and 04 pistons, Pacers, Nets, Spurs and so on having playoff games with 39 points entering the 4th quarter and made an effort to open it up. Nash didn’t just develop mvp skills in like 3 months. The difference between 04 and 05 and 06 was considered drastic for how perimeter players took over and became unstoppable. But compared to now? Nash would feel like the difficulty settings were dropped to rookie.

[ImKobe]

They'd be a Play-In team in today's NBA at best. Would need better 3&D guys around Nash & Dirk. Offense wouldn't be #1 in the league like it was in '04.

[tpols]

People saying 45 wins... that would make them the 11 seed and lotto. A team starting 4 All Stars, 2 MVP talents, with some of the best shooters ever literally built for todays era... that's a crazy take. They'd easily be a 60 win or more team.

[ArbitraryWater]

Make it to the Finals?

Are they worse than the form of the Pacers team that should have been up 3 games vs Porzingusless Boston?



edit: Didn’t see the Rockets part. Saw the roster/coaching and figured if they played high pace like the Pacers did this year they could do similar

The Rockets part has nothing to do with this, what are you taking about? :D


Anyway, Id say about 50 wins.

Theyre prob not that much worse than the current Mavs? They would def get outscored though.

[ArbitraryWater]

People saying 45 wins... that would make them the 11 seed and lotto. A team starting 4 All Stars, 2 MVP talents, with some of the best shooters ever literally built for todays era... that's a crazy take. They'd easily be a 60 win or more team.


Okay so why didnt they win 60 wins?

[tpols]

Okay so why didnt they win 60 wins?

2004 was pre-rule changes. The very next year they won 58, and then 60, and then 67... and that was with no Nash and no Finley. So 60 with them would be light work.

[warriorfan]

The Rockets part has nothing to do with this, what are you taking about? :D


Anyway, Id say about 50 wins.

Theyre prob not that much worse than the current Mavs? They would def get outscored though.

Well like I said I pictured them in place of the Pacers this year due to playstyle and thought they could have a similar run to what the Pacers had and even wind up in the Finals.

If they were replacing the rockets and going through the Western Conference things would probably be different

[jayfan]

Similar to this year's Pacers.


.

[FultzNationRISE]

https://i.ibb.co/J7NRrfK/IMG-8928.jpg


Of their top 7 guys in minutes all of them are 23-30 with Finleys 30 being the oldest.


Keep Don Nelson as coach who gets the offseason to adjust his offense and defense as well as freedom to swap any two bench players for anyone in the league who did not play over 25 minutes a game last year.


How does it go?

This option definitely gives them potential. Boost their defense with a Gafford or Mitchel Robinson up front plus a Christian Braun on the wing and thats gonna be an interesting team, particularly in this era.

[AlternativeAcc.]

Offensively I think they'd be ok, but they'd be one of the worst defenses in the league. Probably 25-30 wins. 1 offseason isn't really enough time to truly adjust to a 20 year drastic evolution of the game where every team today is optimized for it and used to playing that way. Plus there's just so much skill in today's game. Nash and Dirk wouldn't be that unique. Part of why Nash won MVPs was because he was pioneering that style of play. Now it's been seen a million times.

[Im Still Ballin]

They'd be great. Maybe 55-60 wins depending on injuries, strength of schedule, and who they pick up per the stipulation in the OP. Hard to put a number on it. They'd have as good of a chance as Minnesota, Denver, Dallas, and OKC.

[L.Kizzle]

50+ wins. Close to 60.
They did that the season the Pistons won the title. Now the league is wide open.
I think of how the Suns of this season were supposed to turn out.
Nash would have a field day in 2024. Finley is Anthony Edward's in 2024.