part two of the nba 2020-21 anything but regular season

season is cursed, nevertheless, the games are back tonight baby.

i am gonna watch luka mavs face the spurs who are good

Return of the Marc
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Man that Meyer's Leonard thing... wild. I've heard my fair share of slurs growing up, especially spending time in the Central Valley of California, but no one around me ever used that one. As a Jew I was familiar with it and aware of it, even its etymological origins (or one theory at least), but never casually.

The fact that he not only used it here, but paused and emphasized is very strange indeed. I wonder if Leondard's a flat earther or Q supporter.

i think he's a "dipshit"

leonard is by background a dumb hick who was clearly searching for a word that would be highly offensive. i doubt he is bright enough to know that this is one of the ones that gets you fired.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtLb_wTXEAMwcy1.jpg

ok, I am 12, lol.

meyers is also a famous anthem stander for troops, i dont doubt that he's a big dummy but hes also probably a n*z* just look out if he changes his number to 88 or 14

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LaMarcus Aldridge will not be with the Spurs moving forward, per Gregg Popovich pic.twitter.com/5CYUPYi76B

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) March 11, 2021

ESPN story with ⁦@wojespn⁩ on LaMarcus Aldridge’s looming divorce with the Spurs, who are optimistic that they will be able to trade the seven-time All-Star instead of buying him out: https://t.co/YkbJDu9TQB

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 11, 2021

"He's done everything we've asked," Popovich said. "At this point, we'd just like to do something that will work for him as much for our club, because he deserves that."

Is LMA fully cooked? Or is this as much money-related as production-related?

he is pretty cooked but i think its more that he wants to play for a contender and the spurs are in a big youth movement too

not sure what team could use him and easily trade for his salary, also just seems like he might have a hard time staying on the floor in the playoffs

seems like more of a buyout sitch to me but the spurs are talking like they can trade him idk

i have no idea what the trade would be. he's going to get bought out.

to denver for gary harris and a minor pick kinda makes sense

denver dumps a year of harris salary and get a backup center, spurs get a pick and make their friend lamarcus happy

btw did you guys know the knicks have the lowest payroll in the league, thats a big accomplishment for them

that denver trade isn't bad. depends a lot on your defensive evaluation of those guys.

yeah who knows what the nugs want out of life but it could work matts always complaining about hartenstein on here and they play slow so thats nice for aldridge

yeah. feel like i'd hate to ditch harris just because he could play important defensive minutes in certain playoff matchups, but maybe they don't have the luxury of carrying a guy whose salary is in the high teens just to do that.

lma to portland is a thought

can't really make that work in ye olde trade machine

i scrolled through all the teams who could reasonably be see to have a shot at making the second round and theres a shocking lack of big dead contracts out there

nba teams are maybe a little better at this than they used to be

the summer of '16 cap spike contracts being over makes a big difference

Lma for... Meyers Leonard and some stuff

LA's 3-point shooting improved lately, but he's absolutely cooked on D. he's not happy about playing off the bench but that is his best chance to play. there are some lower seed playoff/play-in teams in the east that could use him in a season-end push (cha, atl, nyk, was).

lol imagine his blue lives matter ass playing for pop

xp

meyers is out for the season anyway, he’s pure salary filler. i doubt he’d even report to whichever team took him on in a trade

lots of racist video game playing in his future

where do you go when you get banned from twitch?

its called dlive, its the app the captitol rioters used

idk a contenderish team that would really have space for lma that isn't gonna be off the bench

too bad the nets just signed blake lol

he'll prob go to portland and it'll be some feel good Coming Home thing and he'll suck but aww

say it ain't so, clay. but olshey might be sentimental about his past high first round picks, so I suppose it could happen.

i think he'll go to portland if he's bought out. may go back as a fa next year on a 1 year min or something.

The NBA has fined Miami’s Meyers Leonard $50,000 and he has been suspended from team activities for one week. Full league announcement: pic.twitter.com/ISEhD8pTGn

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 11, 2021

i dont really want to give advice to shitbag fuckheads but since i doubt theyre reading this anyway, knowing how commonplace shouting slurs is in the gaming you do with a headset, if you have a tendency to do that, and if you have something to lose in life, why not think about not streaming, then you can enjoy video games and racism on your own time with an anonymous account and still maintain good standing in your job for which you are paid 8 figures a year

but on the other hand whatever he got suspended for a week and mostly itll prob blow over for him, tho he did take some reputational damage, hes prob gonna have to do some annoying sensitivity training and record embarrassing commercials or whatever

lol must we

Udonis Haslem on the impact of Meyers Leonard's words on the Jewish community, "We apologize. That won't tolerated here. I felt that. I have a lot of Jewish friends. They call me Udonis Haslem-berg at times."

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) March 11, 2021

lmfao

udonis has the clout in miami to get away with that one

i appreciate his dedication to corny jokes but sometimes you gotta just keep it in reserve, wouldve been perfect for an event with season ticket holders for instance

lloolll

celts seem primed for a strong 2nd half push. kemba finding his legs, j tay a couple more weeks removed from covid, marcus back, time lord gonna keep stealing bad tristan minutes, teague will get cut, etc.

that was for the celts thread but w/e

yeah if they can find some health thatll be huge, plus maybe theyll make a trade too, and the bench could maybe play better than their worst possible, tho some of that has to do with having to fill bigger roles cause of the injuries, and tbh teague and thompson have been better recently, which not coincidentally coincided with kemba playing great

Hope Meyers Leonard ruptures both achilles on his next drive. On the other hand, lol at Haslem.

the Hawks also have potential to make a little run if they get healthy. i'm talking a run at the 7/8 seed tbc

yeah the bottom of the east, unsurprisingly, is wide open

this is one of those seasons where a team at .500 at the all-star break could absolutely win the east

and that team will be the one that i like

the pacers need tj warren and levert to start playing asap and they'll probbaly get back in the mix. the heat and raptors are better than their records.

could see the knicks and hornets falling out

knicks have gotten insanely lucky with opponent 3pt shooting so far

if anyone outside of the top 3 makes the ECF this year i'd be pretty stunned, i don't think boston, miami or toronto have enough juice this year

if the celtics upgrade their bench they have a shot imo

"i don't think boston, miami or toronto have enough juice this year"

agree but wouldn't be surprised by any of these making a deep run, either. 3 of the top coaches in the league and rosters that have made deep runs in the recent past. plus all three (actually prob not the raps) could have the best player on the floor on any given night/series.

i think the raptors are about as good as their record actually

yeah the raptors roster is not that great

neither is the east

they may trade lowry tho

at the moment there are 15 teams in the league who are between 5 and 10 games back from their conferences first seed, which i think is more middle class parity than usual and is leading to a lot of churn when they play each other, fewer bottom feeders giving up easy wins etc

yah its making for an interesting season imo

i just learned via tv ad that blake griffin is the host of a new prank show

its called pranksters

wait sorry its called double cross

just saw that ad. i would never watch that show but blake seems like he would be good on tv.

where can i find a strength of schedule forecast for the remainder of the season?

this seems like the simplest possible one: http://www.tankathon.com/remaining_schedule_strength

i know this is the last thing on anyone’s mind but mo bamba looks like a completely below average player out there

doesn't seem like it's going to happen for him

he might just need some more bamba

he has that thon maker thing going on where he’s really tall but the only thing he does is shoot corner threes poorly

if i were really tall i would shoot dunks

jimmy butler has been putting up lebron stat lines practically every night since coming back from covid

warriors have had a nico mannion-jordan poole-kelly oubre-eric paschall-juan toscano anderson line up out there for several minutes now, gotta be one of the worst 5s to see the floor in the league this season

steve kerr giving off point shaving vibes

i keep looking up and seeing nico mannion and wondering if i accidentally started streaming the g league

they’ve dropped 13 points this quarter with this line up out there, legit have no idea what kerr is trying to accomplish aside from winning money on the clippers -7

the warriors are the patriots with less of a track record

some guy named Bryn Forbes went 7/7 from 3 for the Bucks tonight

ahh time to tune in to the portland trailblazers taking on the [checks standings] second best team in the western conference phoenix suns

Steve Kerr throwing games I’m convinced! 🤣

— Phillip Thomas Jr (@SlowJamPhilly) March 12, 2021

Steve Kerr is point shaving. I’m convinced.

— Just Your Average Tall Nigga (@33_problems) March 12, 2021

Steve Kerr just threw the game by playing his bench this long smh the only nba player on the court was Oubre lmao

— Laron™ (@jluckett15) March 12, 2021

Steve Kerr should be arrested for benching curry for almost 7 minutes in the second quarter

— Daniel (@darniel__) March 12, 2021

steve kerr needs to be arrested i cannot believe what im seeing i feel like im in some far away land

— 👽 (@bIessedexpress) March 12, 2021

it would be cool if any of that mattered but they're getting blown off the floor with steph and draymond playing

well... oubre is -18 (my god), poole -12, mannion -11, toscano anderson -11 at halftime of a 16 point game. steph, dray and wiggins are -5 each. steph has had a bad half but it would be a competitive game if kerr hadn’t decided to put a summer league team onto the floor for half the second quarter

steph dray and wiggins played 17 mins each. could they have played 18 or 19? i guess so. they don't have enough good players.

especially since they're going to match steph and draymond's minutes. no staggering, no overlapping talent.

Kerr not playing wiseman cos he misses a covid test is lame. He was cleared to play

counterpoint: missing one's covid test is lame

Curry fired up at his teammates for the first time in his career?

i mean, staggering your starters so that you aren’t rolling out 4 bench players against a top 5 team when you have one of the worst benches in the NBA is like rudimentary level coaching. he just let it run for legitimately like 7 straight minutes as they could barely get a shot off on offense, didn’t call a timeout, it wasn’t defensible on any level

no i agree it's not defensible and i generally have no idea what the warriors are doing

Playing mannion over Lee in that 2nd q is just huhhhh. I never want to see mannion play again lol.

Almost seems like a classic Kerr stubborn move to be like see that’s what it looks like when we don’t play Wanamaker...

Seems like no one in the org knows what they’re doing atm

He got mad at me once 7 years ago and I still feel like a terrible person lol

— Sydel Curry-Lee (@SydelCurryLee) March 12, 2021

Now he’s playing wiseman hah oh boy

putting wiseman in was weak

breaking

Oklahoma City is trading guard Hamidou Diallo to Detroit for forward Svi Mykhailiuk and a 2027 second-round pick, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 13, 2021

Nice

league pass halftime content just did a top-10 play countdown. #2 was that zion baseline dunk from the other day. #1 was a 3-pointer by......tony snell.

yes the snell 3 was a game winner but really that order is inexcusable

highlight packagers love buzzer beaters which is lame cause out of context theyre mostly just normal plays but when youre watching highlights you want to see cool plays

yeah. there are proper buzzer beaters like that dame shot to beat the rockets in the playoffs years ago and there are game winners like tony snell hitting a normal three with a few seconds left on the clock.

zero chance that snell shot is cooler than dame’s three to beat the bulls a month or so ago

tho tbf it was the bulls so

it was not a cool shot at all

Game winners are cool but yah unless the shot itself is super just throw it in the top ten behind dunks, sick crossovers and sweet dimes.

embiid down?

i guess he walked off on his own but he might take a few games off

hope it's nothing, would be a bummer for that to happen this year

i have watched the clip and can report he hyper extended the shit out of his knee, did not look good

ouch

That sucks.

omg horrendous officiating at the end of grizz/nuggets

bizarre ending to nuggs/grizz, jokic makes an insane lefty across the body runner to put the nuggs up 4 with like 20 seconds left, grizz 3 to pull within 1, jokic gets blocked, then with 6 seconds left ja morant ?gets fouled? which the ref seemed to call with his left hand but then jokic gets the rebound and also gets fouled which the ref called with his right hand?? then the nuggets win

that final no call on ja's drive looks downright corrupt tbh - like the ref almost forgot to make sure the nuggs won

grizz inbounding down 1 with 6 seconds. they get it to ja in the paint, he goes in to jokic's body while shooting, whistle blows and baseline official raises his hand with the foul call. but then they decide the foul is against the grizz on dillon brooks running into jokic trying to get the rebound. replay clearly shows baseline official's hand raised well before brooks touches jokic. game over, nuggets win.

i don't think nba officiating is generally all that bad but it's plays like that which really erode confidence

it looked like other refs called him over and were like nonono, dont call that

Jokic stayed vertical. Do you honestly see Jokic committing a foul?

yeah that was not a foul imo

the way the refs called it was weird, grizz announcers were freaking out

Yah the ref screwed up but the right thing happened in the end so it’s no big deal imo. If it woulda been called the nuggets would have challenged it and won I’m sure.

his right arm didn't stay vertical, it swiped down and hit ja's elbow

denzel valentine plays a shocking amount of minutes for the bulls. what a woebegone franchise

xp at minimum it merited a review and it was probably a foul. they thought everyone would just accept that the whistle was blown on brooks.

ESPN Sources with @ramonashelburne: Philadelphia Sixers star Joel Embiid's MRI showed no structural damage to his left knee, just a bone bruise. ACL and meniscus are fine. No timeline yet on a return.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 13, 2021

yeah clearly not a foul didnt get him w his arm

The officials ruled there was no foul by Jokic on Ja Morant in the final seconds.

The Nuggets went on to win by 1. pic.twitter.com/rD0XILiSMG

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 13, 2021

i dont understand how theres a bone bruise but no sort of sprain at least but i am not a doctor, good for embiid wouldve sucked to be knocked out of such a great season

Sixers sources expect Embiid could miss two weeks with bruise, which is described as "deep."

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 13, 2021

his right arm didn't stay vertical, it swiped down and hit ja's elbow

looked like ja was playing for the foul there, not a great play since they let so much go at the end of games, and really not a great play to jump horizontally to try to draw it which also doesnt have a good shot at getting the call, gotta get the contact on the floor or on the way up, just flinging yrself at a guy is the classic westbrook prayer lol, looked like he had a dece look for a floater from ten feet

As far as I can tell this is entirely because the ref signaled verticality and the Memphis announcers are homers and thought it was a foul signal

yeah none of the players reacted like there was a call, there was no whistle

by the book, it’s questionable if jokic is “vertical” there, though it doesn’t seem like he actually made contact when he swiped down

looked like ja was playing for the foul there

yup. replays looked to me like jokic left his feet vertically, ja tried to bring his shooting motion into contact with jokic's right arm, but jokic pulled it out of the way and morant fell down. i'd say 'twas a good no-call.

Underrated play already imo

pic.twitter.com/5sduP4XZMJ

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 13, 2021

ridiculous pass

Pokusevski really should have gone in the lottery

yeah I enjoyed watching him yesterday, such a smooth dude

he was the perfect draft and stash guy although in 2021 that means draft and develop in the g league

he was basically the worst player in the NBA before they sent him down

Dejounte Murray has made two amazing high off the backboard shots already.

dejounte is basically nu jrue this year

hes not good enough offensively yet to be an all-star, but one of these years he might fuck around and avg 18 or 19 one year and sneak in. biggest obstacle is his unreliable 3pt range, but hes improved a ton at finishing and midrange.

big the lad anthony edwards

big night for*

big ups "the lad" anthony edwards

zion is wrecking the clippers hitting every shot

Clippers remain weird

lebron james is just over 36 years old and has logged 60,642 minutes played, meaning he has spent 0.3% of his life on an nba court while the clock was running

— Jon Bois (@jon_bois) March 16, 2021

same but for nintendo

They do not want to call a foul in the Nuggets-Pacers game and it’s making for an entertaining game that is also just generally against the rules

bagley fractured hand...

How much would you pay Michael Porter Jr this off-season? Is maxing him out of the question?

maxing him wld be fine imo tho maybe they cld get him for a lil less its only the first contract the max usually works out for players that have shown some promise as theyre still on the upswing of their development and if it doesnt work out the contract isnt going to turn into a total brick, around this time last year people were wondering if the not quite max contract the celtics gave jaylen brown was worth it lol, on the other hand mpj is a huge dumbass and everyone might hate him so that might change the calculus, but if its that big of a problem they shd prob just trade him

brandon ingram got maxed and i don't think they're dissimilar players. it would be cool if mpj could figure out how to get his average assists per game into the realm of whole numbers.

hes such a good shooter, hes "a big wing", and he can do general basketball stuff, hes made for 2021 nba

they'll pay him and should, the biggest concern should be that his back might break at any point

Yeah the injury concerns are the thing. As far as I know he still has drop foot

since the thread isn’t popping tonight i’m going to claim victory for myself and my companions (spottie?) in the offseason argument over whether the suns gave up too much for chris paul when they traded kelly oubre and a protected first

also keeping my eye on:

— colin sexton is a top 30 player and any stat that suggests otherwise is invalid
— trae young’s floor is kyrie irving

and of course the big one:

— the denver nuggets are now contenders in the west

who knows what i said at the time but i hope the record would show that i was pro cp3 to the suns, that was such a slam dunk of a transaction

i remember being in the minority!

j0rdan the receipt puller, damn

i was watching jazz/celtics pretty closely, not posting b/c no one needs to hear me liveblog my reactions to the celtics

fwiw i believe i was on the record as being pro cp3, one of the 5 greatest PGs to ever do it

my official reaction: 2020 nba offseason draft free agency etc

mostly goon and matt were against it. i was in on it but def didnt think theyd be this good at this point in the season.

-oubre is coming back to normal but his start to the season really hammered home how much he didnt really matter to the suns success.
-rubio has been slightly better of late but honestly he's looked like he may be out of the league in a year or two.

i never said they gave up too much for him i said it doesnt makes sense to sign an old guy for a young team, ownership just wants to make the playoffs this year, short term thinking, i stand by it

that’s how i feel about gordon hayward. i think the suns are good enough that losing the first this year will be worth it tho

are we doing a historical reenactment of this conversation they had young team that was starting to win then gave up two decent role players a first and all their cap room for a 35 year old chris paul, whatever the opposite of having a plan is thats it

the hayward signing also didnt makes sense tho at least hes not on the celtics anymore, on the other hand the celtics kinda suck since hes gone

wonder if the hornets wldve passed on hayward if they knew lamelo was gonna be this good, that they had something to live for

really tho they shouldve passed to get a shot at this years best draft ever

have you guys watched cade cunningham my god he is just good at everything and very composed looks like a seven year nba vet out there calmly dismantling his opponents

yeah i respect the hornets wanting to not be a trainwreck and they’re def like.... a pretty decent team. but they really picked the wrong year to not have a top 5 pick. they could’ve set themselves up for a long time if they got one of these guys

it's a pretty unpredictable situation. even the analysts who were super high on lamelo thought he would basically suck this year.

Pretty wild that the hornets landed the best pick and the best free agent really

jazz have had a top defense for the whole gobert era of course but this is the first time they've had a top offense too. maybe they're real this year

i think theyre legit contenders tho mitchell prob needs to be a little bit better than he has been so far for them to go all the way

I’m not buying in yet. Although everything could be open if brows injury lingers, and KDs.

it's a pretty unpredictable situation. even the analysts who were super high on lamelo thought he would basically suck this year.

the jazz are really good. they can put out an impressive amount of shooting. it's just tough for the team that has no major holes but also no top-5 to top-10 player. they have to succeed on their terms and they don't have a backup plan or second gear to go to.

so far (and it's insanely early) the 2020 draft looks like it was assessed pretty well. everyone said it was low on stars but pretty good on role players/depth. i am guessing it will end up on the low side for a metric like all star appearances by the draft class, but will have a bunch of guys who play well for 10 years.

i feel like sometimes when ppl think it’s a down draft it turns out to be better than that, but when ppl think it’s good it’s usually good
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, March 16, 2021 11:44 PM (seventeen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

the andrew wiggins draft was supposed to be the best ever lol

amazing to see wiggins-jabari parker go 1-2 then scroll down to 41 when jokic pops up, the nba draft not an exact science!

that's a rough one. jabari and exum never really having any continuity in their careers sank that draft (along with wiggins)

so much of it is going to come down to the seeding but i think they’re good enough to beat the clippers in round 2 and then go 6 or 7 in the west finals vs the lakers. i don’t think they will be able to beat lebron unless brow’s achilles thing is a true problem... but even then i’d prob just assume lebron is getting there. some smart NBA media people think the clippers are a bad match up for the jazz bcuz they stress the jazz’s wing players, but something about the clippers still just feels off to me

im sorry the lakers will not be advancing to the nba finals without anthony davis

the jazz having no plus wing defenders will be a problem in the playoffs, i don't think there's any question about that. will be a matter of matchups and luck tbh

they should try to do a trade

god damn i love damian lillard

I MEAN... WUT pic.twitter.com/zg4efbeSnH

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) March 17, 2021

that was really bad lol. you’d almost call it inexplicable except it just felt the entire time like the pelicans were in slow motion collapse that was going to end with smoking rubble

50 spot from dame bringing the blazers back from 17 down putting the blazers on his back the entire fourth quarter... i love some vintage dame post-midnight

he’s really just one of the treasures of the NBA in many ways

The Blazers were down by 17 points with 6 minutes left. They went on a 25-7 run to win the game.

Damian Lillard scored or assisted 18 of those points. He finished with:

50 PTS
10 AST
13-20 FG
6-13 3P
18-18 FT pic.twitter.com/npELwpXxgF

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 17, 2021

Damian Lillard scored 50 points on 20 shots tonight.

That’s the second most points on 20 FGA or fewer since 1983. pic.twitter.com/4QjXibuDr4

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 17, 2021

i meant to put that in the stats thread

in any event

Damian Lillard is in a different world right now. pic.twitter.com/IGWEo3rrLK

— ProCity Hoops (@ProCityHoops) March 17, 2021

ingram clunking midrange j after midrange j while melo is on Zion and the pelicans can’t get a bucket is...............

it’s a problem. they can’t go either or at the end of games it needs to be zion every possession

as much as i would like to continue the thread in praise of damian lillard, i just read this and i think we will have to talk about it

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/adrien-brody-pat-riley-hbo-lakers-series-1234931961/#!

show sounds pretty tight honestly

i mean there is a 100% chance i will watch the hell out of it, especially if it turns out terribly

I’m in.

he has the appropriate douchebag face for it

— trae young’s floor is kyrie irving

wait you think his floor or ceiling is kyrie? i thought you were not a trae fan

ha k3vin said trae young’s floor is kyrie which i thought was absurd

rating how good kyrie is is pretty hard tbf

ah well, if we're pulling receipts, you did suggest the Hawks maybe made a mistake taking Herro over Trae

'scuse Trae over Herro

did i say herro was better? those were different drafts tho

rating how good kyrie is is pretty hard tbf

― lag∞n, Wednesday, March 17, 2021 11:44 AM (two minutes ago)

it's true, almost impossible

i even made Herro one of my keepers in my fantasy league bc i trusted you :(

lmao

im just glad ive never said anything wrong about basketball but also im magnanimous so i will not point out the mistakes of others

No I forget exactly what you said but it was along the lines of Herro may turn out to be better in the long run or something. it was a crazy time though. COVID was challenging all of our assumptions

Hawks have won 6 straight and Trae has scored under 20 in the 3 of those. love to see it

ball movement is the true winning formula in the nba + having a guy who can get a decent shot when ball movement doesnt work + good defense + and if all else fails having lebron james

J0rdan S. wrote this on thread ( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) ) on board I Love Hoops on Sep 24, 2020

i've been posting this like once a week per playoffs basically but everyone knew going into the 2019 draft that it was shit after the top 2 and like a dozen GMs still let one of the 5 most elite shooters in the NBA almost slip out of the lottery. idk how you could have watched herro shoot and take step backs and be like, give me coby white. it's unconscionable. the hawks took two players who are worse. the t wolves traded up for a shooting guard who might not make it to his second contract. the cavs drafted a shooting guard who is demonstrably worse than herro. this is how bad franchises stay terrible.

J0rdan S. wrote this on thread ( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) ) on board I Love Hoops on Sep 24, 2020

how much better is trae young than tyler herro serious question

J0rdan S. wrote this on thread ( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) ) on board I Love Hoops on Sep 24, 2020

i feel like if you put herro on the hawks and gave him trae young's role he would average 29-10-5 w/ better efficiency

i went back and found these posts... i have no recollection of posting any of this haha. this was the day after herro put up 37 in the east finals which, in my defense, is still a more meaningful performance than anything trae young has done in his NBA career so far. but certainly i was under the influence of his cherubic stylings. de'andre hunter really challenging my statement in the first post, i'm curious to see how that one plays out over time.

herro has had a pretty mediocre year tho his counting stats are still pretty good for a bench player. i'll be interested to see how he looks in the playoffs this year bcuz often these sorta lou williams, jamal crawford style sixth men are less valuable in the playoffs than in the regular season but herro flipped that on its head in the bubble

fuck i fell asleep at halftime of Blazers Pels last night, natly televised shootout, shouldve known Id miss a vintage Dame game.

Watching the first half though, it seems clear that Brandon Ingram has got to go for Zion and the team to reach their potential. the eye test really makes him look like a classic good stats bad team guy, looking for his own shot, hyperactive out there. they should trade him for a more deferential #2 option while they can still sell high. also in the course of thinking about Pels trades I looked at Eric Bledsoe's b-ref page, and his nickname is Mini-LeBron dating back to when he was making waves in his first couple years. funny how that one worked out

"i have no recollection of posting any of this" should be the official tagline of this board

https://www.cjr.org/criticism/nba-covid-19-risks-pandemic-bubble.php

Since the end of the bubble, though, much of sports media is content to get back to entertainment. Jackie MacMullan, a writer for ESPN, was dismayed to appear on a debate show last month that made no mention of recent news that four members of the San Antonio Spurs had contracted the virus. “A year ago, one player on one team tested positive, and all sports across the world came to a screeching halt.” Now, she says, “we can’t even get it on the air.”

The NBA has sought to have it both ways in recent years, not only associating itself with the Movement for Black Lives but hiring a record number of women as referees and coaches. The pandemic, though, has made the league’s real priorities unmistakable. “The NBA’s no different from any other league,” MacMullan says. “The bubble was a nice little story, but reality has hit, and the bottom line rules, as it always has in sports.”

saw that. pretty bad article.

it all seemed pretty self evident? what did you disagree with?

lol'd at these posts:

i even made Herro one of my keepers in my fantasy league bc i trusted you :(

― Heez, Wednesday, March 17, 2021 8:47 AM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i went back and found these posts... i have no recollection of posting any of this haha. this was the day after herro put up 37 in the east finals which, in my defense, is still a more meaningful performance than anything trae young has done in his NBA career so far. but certainly i was under the influence of his cherubic stylings.

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, March 17, 2021 9:09 AM (thirty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

guess who my other keeper was- Michael Porter Jr.

i do agree that the idea of the NBA as especially progressive is a myth and that has been proven out many times imo. i’m not sure if the league’s handling of covid shows much at all tho — the league wants its money yes but the players are showing up so they can get paid just the same. plus the bubble turned out to be the safest method of playing sports during covid. the idea at the end that journalists can hold the NBA accountable for being money hungry or whatever... not sure i really understand what that means, in reality. it’s kinda like saying journalists should write more articles about how the sky is blue

seems a lot more like CJR is saying journalists should write more articles about how the NBA says the sky is blue but it's been green for some time now and that bears repeating

i think that the framing in that article that NFL reporters are more adversarial to the league they cover is bizarre. i don't think there's any connection to be made between the racial justice stuff and the pandemic stuff, and i think the implicit assumption that sports media is supposed to work like political media is largely wrong.

the article's thesis that NBA journalists never criticize the league is undermined by all of its sources being NBA journalists criticizing the league

and NBA media was (rightfully) scathing about the decision to hold the all-star game, at least everywhere I saw

Source: Rockets big man Christian Wood is expected to return tonight vs. Warriors. Houston is 0-17 since Wood, the Rockets’ leading scorer and rebounder, went down with a sprained right ankle.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) March 17, 2021

Kevin Porter looks good though

yeah he has had some nice games. talent not really the issue w him tho

The Thunder have traded Trevor Ariza to the Miami Heat for Meyers Leonard and a draft pick, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Leonard is signing his trade consent and the trade will go through.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 17, 2021

jeez

Former Maverick Shawn Bradley has just released a statement through the team announcing he was recently struck from behind by an automobile while riding his bicycle near his home in St. George, Utah, and suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 17, 2021

Sounds like from the neck down. Just horrible

ugh that fucking sucks

Man that’s rough

very sad to hear that

does trevor ariza have anything left? i have no recollection of what he looked like for portland last year. did he opt out of the bubble?

yah he opted out. he's got probably about the same as what iggy has left to offer.

Sources: Houston is trading PJ Tucker, Rodions Kurucs and Bucks’ 2022 first-round pick back to Milwaukee for DJ Augustin, DJ Wilson and 2023 unprotected first-round pick. Houston also gets right to swap its 2021 second-round pick for Milwaukee's FRP pick unless it falls 1-9.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 17, 2021

not sure i’ve ever seen a right to swap a second with a first trade before

seems good fo milwaukee

After going 0-17 in their last 17 games Houston had no further to fall anyway.

Very nice trade for Houston imo

tucker has sucked this year but seems like he cld stiil be helpful to a good team like the bucks

I could see Kurucs breaking out in Milwaukee

Very nice trade for Houston imo

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, March 17, 2021 7:14 PM (six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah houston getting first for tucker who as mentioned has sucked is good, tho the bucks 1st pick and houstons 2nd that theyre swapping it for prob wont be separated by that many picks

really cool alley oops to Harris

philly looks excellent, great passing. some euro I don't know made a cool no look to simmons who hit a corner three

Woj says Ariza will go to the Heat and OKC gets Meyers Leonard in return. Leonard is damned lucky he's 7 feet tall.

you dont know korkmaz? feel like all i do on here is talk about furkan korkmaz xp

I Love Kurkmaz

sorry!!

were talking about freakin furkan korkmaz over here!

https://i.imgur.com/mDAEI2F.png

nice trade by the rockets. that high second for low first swap is a cool idea for a rebuilding team.

i guess the idea is that tucker gets a bunch of open corner 3s again in milwaukee. we'll see.

Philly's been winning a lot and I am not even sure how they are doing it, tbh.

its because of korkmaz

Trevor Ariza has been traded 11 times in his 16-year career, the most by any player in NBA history (via @statmuse).

2004 ➡️ 2021:

Knicks.
Magic.
Lakers, Houston (FA).
Hornets.
Wizards.
Rockets, Suns (FA).
Wizards, Kings (FA).
Blazers.
Rockets.
Pistons.
Thunder.
Heat. pic.twitter.com/Y54OHl1lRp

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 18, 2021

sounds like leonard is never playing for the thunder unsurprisingly

the PJ tucker thing feels like brooke lopez insurance to me bcuz you’re not playing giannis, PJ tucker, and brooke lopez together in important playoff minutes. and you’re not taking giannis off the floor, so.....

the headline to pelton's trade grades points out that they could also try more switching defense with tucker which i'm not convinced is really going to do much for them, but i guess it's nice to try it.

meyers had season ending surgery like a month ago, he was always just gonna be salary filler

yeah he will just get waived unless they need to put him in another trade for some reason

plenty of time to game

yah PJ doesnt do too much other than give them some defensive flexibility. i could see him finishing a lot of games tho.

gives them more variety of cooked guys who might have a good night to choose from

korkmaz baby!!

lol donte was the defender and just ran himself out of the play

This game is so weird.

fell asleep during this game and woke up just before korkmaz's tying 3 with 0.4 on the clock.

mind you 76ers were lie 12 ahead when i fell asleep

They were stuck at 80-80 for what seemed forever.

i love giannis

classic rwb decision making

game on the line just wait for Westbrook’s reaction when he realizes nobody flared out pic.twitter.com/A4IZF6ATck

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 18, 2021

giannis tricking himself into thinking he should be taking threes in big moments might be a good longterm investment for the sixers in the end

otm, his shot still sucks

curry to the locker room. hopefully just a bruised tailbone

Damn hope Steph Curry is alright
pic.twitter.com/II5YNTJqTm

— 🏀 (@dribblecity) March 18, 2021

classic rwb decision making

― i was too much listening to your accent (Spottie), Wednesday, March 17, 2021 9:57 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

incredible

Brook Lopez actually looking alright since the ASG

grayson allen is satisfyingly terrible at NBA basketball

shouldn't be taking 13 shots against anybody

on tonight's espn broadcast i learned that jeff van gundy has 4 cats and that mark jackson is so afraid of cats that he made jeff lock them away somewhere before he would enter jeff's house, which only increases my opinion of the first broadcaster and decreases my (very low) opinion of the second.

grayson allen is a measurably worse version of matthew dellavedova

well, they’re both white

Michael Porter Jr. in the last 5 games:

🔥28 PTS - 13 REB - 65% FG
🔥20 PTS - 8 REB - 60% FG
🔥23 PTS - 8 REB - 78% FG
🔥21 PTS - 9 REB - 62% FG
🔥24 PTS - 11 REB - 64% FG pic.twitter.com/F6V464kVEX

— Elite Media Group (@TheEliteMedia_) March 18, 2021

well one less thing to worry about now that i know mark jackson won't come into my house

it’s a great feeling

cat down? man down.

Mama there goes that manx

MPJ can fucking SHOOT. Guys his size with that kind of shooting are so rare.

jokic-mpj-murray makes a lot of sense (offensively)

would you take john collins over mpj?

idk mpj prob more upside but also more risk

i feel like it depends on whether you feel like you can actually play collins with a 5 longterm or if he’s really a small ball 5 masquerading as a 4. bcuz at least with MPJ you know you will be able to play him with a center who can theoretically help clean up the mess. i feel like collins doesn’t have a clear role on defense whereas MPJ does even if he isn’t very good at it. i don’t have a great handle on how the collins-capela pairing has worked tho. maybe it’s feasible?

collins is an animal on offense but if ultimately he’s a small ball 5 if it’s a tougher fit than MPJ who is a classic 3/4 hybrid in today’s game

MPJ is improving pretty rapidly on defense tbh.

The nuggets could use more rim protection at the 4, which is why they picked Bol I presume. But Porter’s potential defensively to guard 3s and 4s would be more useful.

don’t think there’s much evidence that bol bol is an NBA player tbh

The Collins/Capela combo has been really good mostly bc Capela is a beast. He’s having a ridiculous year. Okongwu might be the long term answer at the 4, but I think they’ll need to max Collins bc Okongwu is a ways off

id be worried that collins is a raptors era derozan type where he is good enough to play big minutes but his deficiencies cap the teams ceiling

i harbour the same concern for sabonis fwiw

I’m more concerned about Trae’s ceiling in that regard

at least trae is a pg where his crap defence is less important

wizards on a b2b beat the jazz. jazz 5-6 their last 11

ol thibs might still know a lil something abt the famous round ball

also

In the Knicks' last three games, Julius Randle has sat for a total of 7.5 minutes in the second half.

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 19, 2021

oh i guess that was the other thread we were talking about randle but anyway

randle seems like a rugged dude, he can take some extra minutes

https://www.truehoop.com/p/some-nba-players-feel-covid-effects

Anthony "The Lad" Edwards has been playing well

Campazzo won that game basically

[bernie meme] I am once again expressing mild concern about jokic’s workload

imo they should pick a spot for him to sit out a game

grayson allen is satisfyingly terrible at NBA basketball

I was impressed with the Bulls last night. Obviously Lavine is having an insane season but they’re more than the sum of their parts. Very scrappy and connected on defense to my eyes. Still will never watch them against any other team.

they absolutely shit the bed v the spurs the other night, had a 23 pt lead at one point and still lost

Lebron ankle injury didn’t look great. He’ll prob miss like 1 game

i wonder if he's actually hurt. it basically never happens but that looked like one where you miss a week or two to me

Yah he punched a chair or something on the way out

Hawks 8 wins ina row. 4th in the east. And just starting to get healthy.

lakers should be fine without him haha xp

High-ankle sprain for LeBron James, out indefinitely, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 20, 2021

Nothing angers and saddens me more than not being available to and for my teammates! I’m hurt inside and out right now. 🤦🏾‍♂️. The road back from recovery begins now. Back soon like I never left. #ThekidfromAKRON🤴🏾

— LeBron James (@KingJames) March 21, 2021

doesnt sound great!

gonna be a tough first round match up for the clippers or nuggets lol

rough scene for the nba national tv schedule

Jokic MVP hype is officially on

seems to me that he's the clear favorite now, especially when you consider games missed

yeah the competition falling out

Lillard should be MVP runner-up to the Joker.

lamelo out for the rest of the season :[

lame!

hmmm

NO WAY.
Blake Griffin, who has not dunked since 2019, first bucket as a Brooklyn Net IS A DUNK

we have been bamboozled pic.twitter.com/l4hzz9AApa

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 22, 2021

Obi Toppin maybe not good in the nba

didn't understand the theory of him at all.

he’s like an actor playing frankenstein who they put in the NBA

i’ve seen him score in only one way which is to pump fake a three and get by a guy and go to the rim... he’s not a bad finisher. i just can’t understand how a team in the top 10 would pick a guy who moves around like that. people are giving way too much credit to the knicks front office, the toppin pick foretells doom to me

He just had back to back 0-0-0-0-0 games

yeah i mean they haven't really done anything except hire a competent coach. i feel this way about the bulls front office too (although they made a better pick this year). when these administrations have to make some significant decisions it could get ugly.

Only positive thing I see with the knicks is Randle having an amazing season

luka is melting my face rn

yeah i mean they haven't really done anything except hire a competent coach. i feel this way about the bulls front office too (although they made a better pick this year). when these administrations have to make some significant decisions it could get ugly.

blazers should pull dame out and let cj knock off some rust while some bench players get more experience.

damn feel so bad for him

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31110164/charlotte-hornets-lamelo-ball-expected-miss-rest-season-fractured-right-wrist-source-says

Doncic is now shooting 37% from 3, which the number where he’s pretty much just the best player in the nba

kyrie taking another week off

kyrie has unlocked the code to nba vacation

Had to take a break to film his Space Jam 2 scenes probably

RIP elgin baylor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjNS_oYE92E

Andrew Wiggins on the COVID vaccines: ‘I don’t really see myself getting it any time soon, unless I’m forced to.’

— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) March 23, 2021

ffs

apparently most of the blazers got their first doses the other day, which is cool and all but i could use a shot myself

prob fair though as i am many years younger than even the youngest player in the nba

it's remarkable that you've been posting to this site for over 15 years yet are still only 12 years old

i mean how do you think it feels for me, it's a very odd way to live

is clay a benjamin button

clay everlasting

Word on the street is that Bol hates denver and has basically checked out all season. I wish him well

interesting choice for a guy who has established absolutely no nba equity. i guess the predraft red flags had some merit.

Bucks have won 12 of their last 13, maybe they've figured things out

clay everlasting

― lag∞n, Monday, March 22, 2021 7:26 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah it is canon that i never die

Clay is a baby vampire, trapped forever in his childlike form

About 76,100 results for "HighBaller" (0.58 seconds)

trades trades trades trades

we need them NOW

lets have some traaaaaades!

*banging on table* we want trades

this is fucking bullshit, where are the trades

https://imgur.com/cHtG2Jh.jpg

so this goes to midnight or....?

tomorrow afternoon

Tampa bay drama brewing

Pascal Siakam wasn’t happy with Nick Nurse benching him for the entire 4th quarter vs Cleveland

Siakam confronted Nurse "loudly and aggressively with words beyond standard cursing. It got personal, lines were crossed and teammates had to intervene." 😳https://t.co/qbsQMzoaRg pic.twitter.com/SX3WLimcXa

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) March 24, 2021

wondering what falls outside the range of "standard cursing" for an athlete

not sure how it's possible but that the raptors have been playing in tampa bay is not something i've thought of since the season started!

second time this year siakam has gotten into trouble there

Happy for Caris

east 4-10 rn is crazy tight

theyre all bad though

Trade day!!

Javale!

hes back lol

Well I guess we know who will be leading the nuggets in blocks now

that's 3x NBA champion Javale McGee to you. auspicious omen for the Nugs

trades!

Bulls are sending Wendell Carter Jr. and two first-round picks to the Magic, per sources. https://t.co/MNvJ8GmfeL

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

Bulls are also sending Otto Porter in the deal to Magic, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

in essence three first round picks for nikola vucevic....... why

Javale is a huge upgrade on Hartenstein, I think this is a great move. Should be good in pick and rolls with campazzo, where Hart really struggled.

Bulls appear to be unbelievably desperate to make the playoffs

Chicago's leadership -- Arturas Karnisovas, Marc Eversley and Billy Donovan -- wanted to bring on productive, serious-minded veteran player to be a cornerstone for the Bulls. They get one with All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, who's been a pillar with Orlando.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

uh huh

i knew carter and bamba were in the same draft but forgot that they went 6/7

fournier to celts?

looks like it. great fit.

id imagine ross and gordon are next to go

reunite the 2012 nuggets

I find it incredibly hard to believe that the Celtics would take Fournier for a half season when they're 21-23 and pay the tax and future repeater. There is more.

— Ryan Bernardoni AC⚡️AB (@dangercart) March 25, 2021

😬 lol

If literally all the C's do is take Fournier into the TPE and drop someone to duck the tax, I would consider that a "worst of both worlds" deadline.

For that reason, I will assume that there is more.

— Ryan Bernardoni AC⚡️AB (@dangercart) March 25, 2021

if dumping tristan gets them out of the tax i wouldn't really care but it does seem likely there is more

if theyre using the tpe on fournier theres prob not another big move unless theyre trading smart... or kemba

of course they could be not using the tpe on fourneir and we just dont have all the details yet

Like there is NO WAY the girl can beat Kylo Ren without any training. Its just ridiculous

— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) December 24, 2015

The Orlando Magic are progressing on a trade to send Aaron Gordon to the Denver Nuggets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 25, 2021

Lol I love Evan.

I love to progress on things

Seems like a fair deal

Gary Harris, RJ Hampton and a first-round pick to the Magic for Aaron Gordon, source tells ESPN. https://t.co/VWMUVCokeS

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

love it

Nuggets also get Gary Clark in the deal, I like him a lot. Really struggled this season but looked great in the bubble

seems like a win win

pic.twitter.com/OaoPiFoopk

— Terrence Ross (@TerrenceRoss) March 25, 2021

The Oklahoma City Thunder are finalizing trading George Hill to the Philadelphia 76ers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 25, 2021

not quite kyle lowry

dece move for them tho

idk abt this!

Toronto has traded Norm Powell to Portland for Gary Trent and Rodney Hood, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

Knicks also send Iggy Brazdeikis to Philadelphia in the three-way deal, per sources.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

oh damn Iggy Brazdeikis

I don’t get the portland deal really

t. ferg to the knicks, it's over for the league

Don’t think of it as losing an Izzy Brazdeikis, think of it as gaining a T Ferg

Or even an Iggy Brazdeikis

Nuggets all of a sudden don’t have that many guards. Big moment for Facu Nation

rise up

Oklahoma City now has a projected 34 draft picks over the next 7 years.

17- First
17- Second

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) March 25, 2021

they're not actually gonna trade these picks. half of the players they draft will start a new franchise in seattle

i was gonna say

that’s like two extra teams

thats insane

the gordon trade is interesting... not sure what the returns have been on hampton but that's basically two firsts for aaron gordon who has mostly only been theoretically good his entire career. there is definitely a roster fit there tho

i think the portland trade makes sense... gary trent is a nice player but he looked limited to me in the playoffs last year. norm runs pretty hot and cold but his highs are much higher than trent's imo

I think the Nugs feel comfortable overpaying for Gordon a little if they thinking is he's the missing piece to really make their roster click. They are contenders

it's not clear to me what gordon is good at, exactly, aside from being athletic. his three pt shooting has shot up this year but idk what the value of that is given what's been going on around the league this year. his 2 pt % is kind of ghastly for someone w/ his athletic ability, he seems like a decent defender. i'm not sure it's a huge overpay exactly but i'm also not sure how much it moves the needle overall, altho he's almost certainly an upgrade over milsap, jaymichael etc. i don't fault them for doing it... i think he just leaves me kinda cold. but maybe orlando is such a bad basketball situation that you can't really judge him w/in that context

in any event, pretty great trade deadline for orlando

Are the 3 best players to move so far all exiting Orlando?

seeing some bulls fans i follow talking themselves into this vucevic thing..... sad

denver didnt get gordon for cheap but seems like he should be a good fit there, good switchable defender who can hit open 3s and attack closeouts hes a quality starter, i guess the question is if he can figure out how to and is happy with a complimentary role, obvs it was always kind of a free for all in orlando, the thing hes really just not good at is creating his own offense, but he wont have to in denver

xp i'm seeing media people who like it too! isn't it the exact type of trade we've seen fuck up a team over and over?

i wouldve been happy of the celtics had gotten gordon for a first and a recent draft pick, suspect the magic didnt like anyone on the celtics roster as much as hampton tho

I like the gordon trade, despite the questions around his ceiling as you guys have said he’s a good roster fit, it gives the nuggs a really solid, athletic, good shooting lineup around jokic which is what I think the future has to be

Hawks are trading Rajon Rondo to the Clippers for Lou Williams, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

hmm

ok lol

rondo been gaming this system for like ten years

clippers flailing

Clippers also send two future second-round picks to the Hawks in the deal, per source.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

Wtf does Lou will not get along with kawhi or something

worth a shot. lou doesn't help them much in the playoffs and maybe rondo will decide to try.

lolclippers for eternity

lou is not good is the thing

i'm cool with the hawks cutting lou. he went to my rival high school anyway. go generals

so lowry staring contest resolves itself and then we're done?

the more I think about the gordon deal the more I like it

Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkić will make his return to the lineup on Friday vs. Orlando. He's back from a right wrist fractured. Sources tell : Jusuf Nurkić

— Jusuf Nurkić (@bosnianbeast27) March 25, 2021

drummond getting bought out. is this the best player getting bought out ever?

lol nurk

Houston is trading Victor Oladipo to Miami, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

spoke it into existence

There it is

The Raptors are keeping Kyle Lowry, source tells ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

Masai's just a big softie

oladipo for cheap or lowry for $$$ is an interesting choice for miami

Sources: Houston traded Victor Oladipo to Miami for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and a draft swap.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 25, 2021

lou will getting back to magic city's wings

haha he really belongs in atlanta.

Boston is trading center Daniel Theis to Chicago, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 25, 2021

xp i'm seeing media people who like it too! isn't it the exact type of trade we've seen fuck up a team over and over?

― call all destroyer, Thursday, March 25, 2021 1:50 PM (one hour ago)

vuc has this year and 2 more left on his deal. if i'm setting the over/under for bulls playoff wins in that time at 6, who is taking the over? like... we've seen what a vuc led team can do in the east. is zack lavine pushing you into the second round? i just don't see it at all. are they gonna start emptying out all their assets to upgrade off that nucleus? i know vuc has been amazing this year but i'm just not a fan

lol brutal

Fertitta turned Harden to LeVert to Oladipo to Avery Bradley. God bless Rockets fans https://t.co/duIJabZKqw

— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) March 25, 2021

fertitta really taking that franchise into the abyss

Sources: Houston traded Victor Oladipo to Miami for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and a draft swap.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 25, 2021

so the rockets picking oladipo over lavert in the harden trade can officially be deemed a failure. the whole transaction worked out to a pick swap w/ the heat, that's a pretty brutal return for caris lavert.

the heat getting it done w/o having to give up a young player feels like a pretty great deal to me. olynyk has been important for them this year and was actually good in the finals last year when bam got hurt, but they got bjelica today too so they can spare him

Sixers are going to regret not getting Lowry. How many years of peak Embiid do they think they will get?

the clippers relying on playoff rondo to save the kawhi-PG nucleus from utter failure......... may god be with you

Melli on the Mavs is perfect. Euro heaven

what could go wrong xp

re: oladipo, yeah, maybe don't trade for a player who has been broadcasting loudly for months that he's either going to miami or free agency and expect to flip him for anything good.

When dust settles, the cost of acquiring impending free agent Evan Fournier will essentially be 4 second-round picks, Daniel Theis, Javonte Green, and Jeff Teague.

Celtic take on Wagner, duck the tax (for now), and maybe have slot for buyout guy. And TPEs. Always TPEs.

🤷🏻‍♂️

— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) March 25, 2021

i think its only 2 2nds fwiw

its sad they had to dump theis instead of thompson

wagner is kind of interesting?

i think its only 2 2nds fwiw

― lag∞n, Thursday, March 25, 2021 3:38 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i believe the other two were passed in the hayward trade exception thing

ah i see

love theis but he was a limited player and i'm not sure they would have re-signed him this offseason (actually i'm pretty sure they wouldn't have). i'm cool getting a look at wagner.

i hope theis blossoms on another team.

he'll be backing up vooch hes gonna have way less opportunity

it's not clear to me what gordon is good at, exactly, aside from being athletic. his three pt shooting has shot up this year but idk what the value of that is given what's been going on around the league this year. his 2 pt % is kind of ghastly for someone w/ his athletic ability, he seems like a decent defender. i'm not sure it's a huge overpay exactly but i'm also not sure how much it moves the needle overall, altho he's almost certainly an upgrade over milsap, jaymichael etc. i don't fault them for doing it... i think he just leaves me kinda cold. but maybe orlando is such a bad basketball situation that you can't really judge him w/in that context

The big thing about Gordon is will he be more engaged if he’s on a contender. He floats around games mostly.

yeah. the intel and background on him has not been amazing but denver seems like a good place to turn that around.

feel like its all about his ability to understand and embrace his role, cause he can def do some stuff, but not other stuff

Losing out on Hampton kind of hurts, he’s clearly an nba player with amazing upside. Reminds me of Derrick rode at times. But that’s why the deal is possible; good for both teams

it’s definitely a great deal for orlando. will likely work out for both sides tho

orlando basically turned the nucleus of a team 14 games under .500 into wendell carter, gary harris, three first round picks and two second round picks? pretty incredible

and rj hampton

def interested to see some of these guys in new situations. vooch and lavine both having all star seasons but have never been able to shake the empty stats on bad teams tag.

orlando basically turned the nucleus of a team 14 games under .500 into wendell carter, gary harris, three first round picks and two second round picks? pretty incredible

― J0rdan S., Thursday, March 25, 2021 6:58 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

tbf they have also made the playoffs with that team, but yeah they did good, and now to pray for cade (or whoever)

TRADE TIDBIT: The 2022 pick swap with Miami that the #Rockets received in the Oladipo trade is lottery-protected.

— David Weiner (@BimaThug) March 25, 2021

Amazing how the Rockets went from probably the most consistent playoff team in the entire league for almost 20 years straight to... whatever this is, almost overnight lol. Tilman wasted absolutely no time eclipsing Dolan and Sarver as the worst owner in the entire NBA.

it's going to be a very long road back for them

i saw the vision in flipping caris for oladipo and aiming to collect more assets at this deadline but my god did his trade value crater

pelton gave the rockets a B in his trade grade and part of the argument is that they wouldn't have gotten a better deal for caris. i have a really hard time believing that.

that seems basically impossible

You could always just keep Caris

yeah

I think Drummond should be on the Celtics

sure why not

malik monk just put up 21 points in 9 mins (4-5 from three) against the heat (in a game the hornets are winning by 30 in the first half lmao) after scoring a career high 36 points on 9-13 from three the last time these teams played

hes kinda putting it together this season after looking like a bust up til now

he’s another guy who looks good all of a sudden bcuz he’s shooting 40% from three after never being anywhere close to that in his career so idk. he at least looks like a guy who should be in the league tho

that third quarter was a good example of how the nuggets offense with jokic/murray/porter is basically just impossible to stop

lol, espn hyping hawks vs warriors with “trae x wiggins” graphic at the bottom of the screen. tv networks not loving having a bunch of injured stars

haha i saw that. i was imagining being the guy getting the "can you make a trae v. wiggins graphic for tonight" email and questioning my choice of career.

Zion went 16/19 1/1 6/7 and they lost. Has to be some kind of record for a losing effort.

whats going with the pels, seems like they have real talent and a good coach, the heck

i think griffin has done a pretty bad job there. it's not a coherent team.

their offense is good and their defense is bad, its a very young team tho

i think they psyched themselves out trying to figure out what would work around zion rather than just waiting a year and getting more info. trading jrue for 4 years of bucks draft control is a rebuilding move. trading for and extending steven adams is....not. i don't know what drafting jaxon hayes was. it's all been done thoughtlessly.

Watching wiseman is just painful right now.

Don’t think I’ve seen him smile once.

imo zion needs some kind of andre miller-esque lob-capable floor general, a bunch of shooters, and some kind of bruiser to take the dirty work off his shoulders, is that too obvious or

Lonzo is a good lobber. Seems like they all just need to be better defenders.

whats going with the pels, seems like they have real talent and a good coach, the heck

― class project pat (m bison), Friday, March 26, 2021 11:04 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

do they have a good coach? between playing as slow as they do and the truly indefensible late-game stuff where zion never touches the ball, I’m not sure!

he had been good b4!

stan might be cooked

it's shaping up to be an interesting race for 2nd for MVP btw

luka's heating up, dame and giannis both having great seasons, kawhi having maybe the best offensive season of his career. all guys who could plausibly claim second place in the MVP voting

jokic also in the mix

I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it

jokic in feb: 26.6/9.7/8.5 (vs 1.9 tunovers) on .550/.472/.965 (.648 ts%)
jokic in mar: 28.7/11.7/8.7 (vs 2.7 turnovers) on .585/.447/.841 (.644 ts%)

with all the usual caveats re single numbers blah blah blah

raptor WAR:
1) jokic 10.5
2) kawhi 7.1

hollinger estimaed wins added
1) jokic 18.0
2) giannis 12.9

RPM WAR
1) lebron 10.8
2) curry 9.7
3) giannis 9.2
4) jokic 8.0

bkref win shares
1) jokic 10.3
2) giannis 7.2

bkref VORP
1) jokic 5.7
2) giannis 3.8

I don't know how to find some of the other ones

harden is kind of a dark horse but no one will vote for him

kyrie should win, kyrie is the pandemic mvp

The cavs coaching staff went out of their way to say that Javale was super professional and a steady leader for the team. Is this what reality is like now

LMA to nets as they continue to stack up on cooked dudes

win this year or disappear in a puff of smoke

Are the Nets under a different salary cap or something I don't know how this works

well blake and lamarcus signed for the minimum

Does it really make sense to have Aldridge and Griffin

Nets are mad weird but who knows in the cursed ass season

Is lamarcus Aldridge a hall of famer?

not looking like it.

if Webber is an edge-case idk how Aldridge gets in

Webber is 98th all time in scoring and Aldridge is 51st

if he helps the nets win a chip this year, he's in. as it is, p good case to be made. 5-time all-nba is pretty good.

"NBA Champion Brooklyn Nets Blake Griffin" contains so many words that don't make any sense

who are some of these guys who started for the bucks tonight

Sam Merrill
Axel Toupane
Jordan Nwora
Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Brook Lopez

3Q, 9:00 — Wizards 74, Pistons 44

4Q, 12:00 — Wizards 79, Pistons 75

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) March 28, 2021

pelicans seem to finally be figuring out the concept just give zion the ball

Pelicans scoring plays final four minutes, with score 95-94 Mavs:

Zion FT
Zion FT
Ingram 2
Zion 2
Zion AST Alexander-Walker 3
Zion 2
Zion 2
Zion AST Alexander-Walker 3
Zion FT
Zion FT

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 28, 2021

crazy ending to CLE-SAC tonight with a harrison barnes buzzer beater off a full-court inbounds pass

These plays never work

HARRISON BARNES!!!!! How the hell did that work?? pic.twitter.com/ASKMftBZrq

— Tony Xypteras (@TonyXypteras) March 28, 2021

last one i can remember working

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNyjbkaYqI

drummond to lakers apparently?

shit is so corny

Cheering for anyone but lakers or nets to win this year

world’s dumbest arms race, hate it no thanks

probably time for them to take a look at buyout changes in the cba, i don’t think anyone likes this.

This happened because teams across the league wildly underrate Drummond

it happened bcuz his salary was $25 million (not wildly underrated) so no one wanted to or could trade for him and then after buy out he could choose to play for the defending champs based in LA

buyouts feel like fantasy basketball to me, tons of articles and podcasts and conversation are produced every year about them and then the guys involved play 9 mpg in the playoffs. the culture of it is just a lot of hot air

blake and LMA might play more bcuz the nets have a uniquely top loaded roster but if you’re relying on buyout guys it’s usually a bad sign. can guarantee there’s gonna be an important playoff game where those two get completely exposed by the bucks or sixers and the conversation shifts to, hmm might’ve been a bad idea to rely on buyout guys!

kinda funny that with bron and brow out the lakers are gonna be another bad team with drummond putting up 15 shots a game for a while

i prob have some weird bias here but i feel like ringhunting rarely works out (tho i guess only one team wins every year)

like the first time i was really aware of "old dudes changing teams to get an easy ring" was that lakers team with malone and payton getting dragged along and, well

nets really shouldve tried to make a trade for guys who can play defense, dont see blake or lma helping them too much as theyre both cooked and bad defenders

the lakers could realistically end up like the 6th seed if bron's injury lingers...

drummond not a great fit with the lakers as their best lineups will always be with brow at center, wonder if hell end up mostly playing backup center in the offs, having a guy who can do some stuff while brow sits could be pretty huge for them tho

it happened bcuz his salary was $25 million (not wildly underrated) so no one wanted to or could trade for him and then after buy out he could choose to play for the defending champs based in LA

like the first time i was really aware of "old dudes changing teams to get an easy ring" was that lakers team with malone and payton getting dragged along and, well

― Clay, Sunday, March 28, 2021 6:08 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

that team was actually really god until... the old guys got injured lol

Malone’s injury was a crazy fluke

not sure exactly what the mix is with drummond being so bad and hated around the nba but seems to be something like: doesnt fit into the modern nba style eg cannot defend the perimeter, is an unsound selfish player, is a weird guy maybe, overpaid too or at least was

eye test he seems to be one of those big first half guys who disappears when the defense adjusts

he put up ridiculous counting numbers his whole career including getting a bunch of blocks and steals

i think basically no one wants to have their style of play dictated by an old fashion low post center, and hes kind of a black hole which just makes its even more the drummond show, and even his defense around the basket isnt what it might seem teams get a lot of close in high percentage looks when he plays

if he turned into more of a mid/low usage defense/rebounding/roll man teams wld prob be more interested, but again 25m is not what those guys are getting paid these days, and thats even assuming he can fill the defensive role teams are looking for

he is a seriously great rebounder but i guess is just not made for these times

I just don’t know how a guy that rebounds, steals and blocks that much can be a bad defender. Like yah he may get cooked by guards on the pnr but all bigs do outside of a select few. Seems like his thing has always been motor and he’s playing for a future payday so I think he’ll be locked in.

The best teammate he’s ever had is like... Tobias Harris so being behind Bron and ad will be interesting to see.

I’m enjoying the aaron gordon experience

RoCo seems to have turned it around after a rough start to his pdx tenure

yeah covington figured something out, seems like it just took him awhile to feel comfortable on the team or w/ the offense, he's much more aggressive and looking for his now

new-look blazers with powell and nurk's return and cj looking like hisself.... that's a LOT of offense on this squad

what i have heard is that drummond's teams don't rebound any better with him on the floor than off it and he's not that good in pick and roll offense or pick and roll defense

Aaron Gordon looks very comfortable already, made the best pass I’ve ever seen from him

_it happened bcuz his salary was $25 million (not wildly underrated) so no one wanted to or could trade for him and then after buy out he could choose to play for the defending champs based in LA_


Celtics had a 30 million trade exception. Why didn’t they trade for him? Because they didn’t think he was that good.

I only watch the first half of that denver hawks game, but jokic pulling capela out to the three point line was killing the hawks' defense

Drummond brings back a semblance of the size advantage the Lakers were able to utilize so well last year especially with the second unit.

drummond might not be worth the max but hes def worth the min, especially for such a top heavy team

third one seems good

Some possible solutions to the buy out problem:
1. Change structures so nearly everyone is trying to win every game
2. If you take a buy out for less than full $ after contract guarantee date, ineligible for playoffs
3. Lux tax hit is equal to higher of new or old contract https://t.co/N6ufn0kyAw

— Ryan Bernardoni AC⚡️AB (@dangercart) March 29, 2021

__it happened bcuz his salary was $25 million (not wildly underrated) so no one wanted to or could trade for him and then after buy out he could choose to play for the defending champs based in LA_


Celtics had a 30 million trade exception. Why didn’t they trade for him? Because they didn’t think he was that good._


then they would’ve had to pay his massive salary when they were so close to the tax that they ended up salary dumping thiess in order to fit fournier who makes $10 million less than drummond. nobody wants to pay drummond a max salary (which is why he got traded to the cavs for a second round pick the first time around). i’m sure once he’s a FA next summer he’ll get a contract paying him $4 million like javale or any other decent back up center which is what he is now

We’re talking about the best rebounder in the NBA, on an expiring contract, and there were no takers. I’m saying this was a mistake.

be interesting to see what kind of contract he gets, full midlevel seems likely tho could def something higher like 13/2, see how he plays on the lakers

We’re talking about the best rebounder in the NBA, on an expiring contract, and there were no takers. I’m saying this was a mistake.

the pistons rebound rate this year dropped from 52.4% to......50% when drummond was off the court.

That’s a huge huge difference in rebound rate

52.4% would be 4th in the league

it moves it from 4th to like middle of the pack. that’s great but rebounding as a whole is a devalued skill relative to other things.

Are we arguing that there’s not a big difference between being 4th of 30 and 15th of 30

no it's about the value of rebounds.......?

Being top 4 in one of the 4 core elements of the game is good

ok... now what if the 4 core elements of the game had differing values? we're almost there...

what’s the value of being the worst shooter in the league at the rim have?

He’s the worst shooter at the rim? Pretty sure that isn’t true

The key thing I’m trying to stress here is that moving a basketball team from 50% rebounding rate to 52.4% is actually a lot. It means you’re an awesome rebounder.

he is indeed that with a baseline number of attempts

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting/?Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&DistanceRange=By%20Zone&sort=Restricted%20Area%20FG%20PCT&dir=-1&CF=Restricted%20Area%20FGA*GE*200&PerMode=Totals&DateTo=03%2F22%2F2021

The key thing I’m trying to stress here is that moving a basketball team from 50% rebounding rate to 52.4% is actually a lot. It means you’re an awesome rebounder.