Around the NBA

[Nick K]

from Phil Ford...Zone Coverage



"Speaking on the Run Your Race podcast, the former Nuggets guard Bruce Brown who signed with the Indiana Pacers this off season dropped a quote that’s music to Wolves fans’ ears. He tried to stay politically correct by saying the Phoenix Suns were technically their toughest series on their way to the NBA Championship. However, he dropped the facade and declared the Timberwolves their toughest opponent in the playoffs.

It’s an interesting thought exercise from the mouth of one of the guys who absolutely shredded the Timberwolves for five games in the first round. The Wolves were also down two of their seven best players in the Nuggets series. Naz Reid had broken his wrist attempting to dunk on some fools while Jaden McDaniels broke his hand punching a wall during the final game of the regular season. They also lost Kyle Anderson for Game 5. Therefore, to say the 8th-seeded Wolves played them the hardest while missing several key players says a lot about the young squad. It also begs this question heading into the 2023-24 season: Are the Minnesota Timberwolves quietly contenders?"

Hell yea!

[TimberKat]

from Phil Ford...Zone Coverage



"Speaking on the Run Your Race podcast, the former Nuggets guard Bruce Brown who signed with the Indiana Pacers this off season dropped a quote that’s music to Wolves fans’ ears. He tried to stay politically correct by saying the Phoenix Suns were technically their toughest series on their way to the NBA Championship. However, he dropped the facade and declared the Timberwolves their toughest opponent in the playoffs.

It’s an interesting thought exercise from the mouth of one of the guys who absolutely shredded the Timberwolves for five games in the first round. The Wolves were also down two of their seven best players in the Nuggets series. Naz Reid had broken his wrist attempting to dunk on some fools while Jaden McDaniels broke his hand punching a wall during the final game of the regular season. They also lost Kyle Anderson for Game 5. Therefore, to say the 8th-seeded Wolves played them the hardest while missing several key players says a lot about the young squad. It also begs this question heading into the 2023-24 season: Are the Minnesota Timberwolves quietly contenders?"

Hell yea!

Yes, that is one reason why I think the current group with the bench upgrade should make a deep run this year. The only wild card is can Conley hold up for another year and impact of JMcd's contract status. I hope by 2024, Minott or Miller will take KA's spot. I already gave up on Moore to relieve Conley.

[TimberKat]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

[KGdaBom]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I love it. I wonder how much proof it takes to declare a player withholding their services. What if they play and intentionally play bad?

[TimberKat]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I love it. I wonder how much proof it takes to declare a player withholding their services. What if they play and intentionally play bad?

Yes, you have to pull a Simmons. Get 6 fouls in 4 mins and call it a night. Would any team want a player like that? Maybe.

[Calinks]

I was half joking when I said we gave the Nuggets the best series but I think we did in many ways. I seriously think that if we could get KAT's head on straight and find a way to make him consistently effective in the playoffs we could have made a ton of noise. If Gordan couldn't have shut him down like he did early, it would have been a real problem for Denver. I think its a solvable issue. The staff and Tows should be working around the clock to find a way to exploit his offense in the post season. If they had to worry about Ant AND Towsn possibly going off for 30 it would be a different story.

[shrink]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I love it. I wonder how much proof it takes to declare a player withholding their services. What if they play and intentionally play bad?

It’s an improvement, but only a half measure against those entitled superstars.

Ben Simmons wasn’t in his last year, so this rule wouldn’t force him to honor his contract and show up.

And Harden has already demonstrated what he will do to get traded. In HOU, he demanded a trade over the summer, and Morey wanted to wait for better offers. So Harden showed up, but he showed up out of shape, and made it a habit to stay out late at strip clubs. He was there on the team, but he intentionally didn’t put in much effort until they gave into his trade request. And I don’t know how they could ever create a rule regulating effort.

[thinktank]

I was half joking when I said we gave the Nuggets the best series but I think we did in many ways. I seriously think that if we could get KAT's head on straight and find a way to make him consistently effective in the playoffs we could have made a ton of noise. If Gordan couldn't have shut him down like he did early, it would have been a real problem for Denver. I think its a solvable issue. The staff and Tows should be working around the clock to find a way to exploit his offense in the post season. If they had to worry about Ant AND Towsn possibly going off for 30 it would be a different story.

Agreed. KAT has to up his O production because that’s the end where he provides the most value. If he was a badass defender it would be a different story.

[TimberKat]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I love it. I wonder how much proof it takes to declare a player withholding their services. What if they play and intentionally play bad?

It’s an improvement, but only a half measure against those entitled superstars.

Ben Simmons wasn’t in his last year, so this rule wouldn’t force him to honor his contract and show up.

And Harden has already demonstrated what he will do to get traded. In HOU, he demanded a trade over the summer, and Morey wanted to wait for better offers. So Harden showed up, but he showed up out of shape, and made it a habit to stay out late at strip clubs. He was there on the team, but he intentionally didn’t put in much effort until they gave into his trade request. And I don’t know how they could ever create a rule regulating effort.

My new bonus rule. Each team gets two 20M bonus that they could give to anyone that qualify and could change each year instead of max contracts. If you get traded, you lose it. So Harden makes 20+20. He show up out of shape, team takes it away or assign to a different player. So Harden, are you willing to lose 20M to get traded? If yes, I honor his request.

[TimberKat]

Some interesting comments from McHale about Harden:
"
McHale has seen Harden play with matches before. He’d been at the Houston helm for a year when Morey acquired Harden from the Thunder in 2012.

“You know, when we first got him from Oklahoma City, he was actually pretty easy to coach really,” McHale told Heavy. “He came from being the third option in Oklahoma City with (Russell) Westbrook and (Kevin) Durant being ahead of him. He came in and we put in a couple of sets he liked that they ran there for him. He came off screens. He got off the ball. Never was a great lane runner. Never threw the ball ahead a lot. But he did more little things back then. Like he would set screens, come off screens, stuff like that.

“But as he started playing better, it became harder. He wanted the ball in his hands, he didn’t want to come off actions, he just started becoming more one-dimensional. ‘Give me the ball, put a 1-4 flat or give me a pick and roll, and just let me make every decision.’

... it works great in the regular season, but when they can load up defensively and do different stuff, you have to have different prongs to your offense. So it became harder to get James to do a lot of the little things.


...

The problems grew in the 2015 playoffs when McHale benched Harden in the fourth quarter as Houston staved off elimination in Game 6 against the Clippers. Harden played well in the Game 7 victory, but the Rockets lost the conference finals in five to Golden State, which beat Cleveland for the NBA crown.
"

Ant needs to diversify his game and start throwing lobs. Otherwise, will end up as the next Harden.

[Domejandro]

Ant needs to diversify his game and start throwing lobs. Otherwise, will end up as the next Harden.

Throwing lobs isn't the primary problem being outlined there, it is an unwillingness to be flexible within a team environment. James Harden was tremendous at throwing lobs, during his prime.

[TimberKat]

Ant needs to diversify his game and start throwing lobs. Otherwise, will end up as the next Harden.

Throwing lobs isn't the primary problem being outlined there, it is an unwillingness to be flexible within a team environment. James Harden was tremendous at throwing lobs, during his prime.

I don't mean literally just throwing lobs but willingness to play within a team concept. While he was great in the FIBA game vs Germany with scoring and on ball defense. I also see a couple Ant bring up the ball and never pass and shoot and miss. He lost Wagner in the corner and give up a three. I am putting him under the microscope and expect great things from him. He needs to do this Jordan aspect to get to the super star level:

Watch on YouTube

[Klomp]

I don't mean literally just throwing lobs but willingness to play within a team concept. While he was great in the FIBA game vs Germany with scoring and on ball defense. I also see a couple Ant bring up the ball and never pass and shoot and miss. He lost Wagner in the corner and give up a three. I am putting him under the microscope and expect great things from him. He needs to do this Jordan aspect to get to the super star level:

Watch on YouTube

I'm sorry, but if you think he's not willing to play within the team concept, I question what exactly you are grasping. A missed shot and open teammate does not mean he's selfish or operating outside of a team concept. All it means is that on that play, his shot didn't go in.

I understand having high expectations, but this isn't a 33-year old 3-time NBA champion like the video you shared. This is a 22-year old who is still arguably learning the game on a team that's battled for the first round a couple of times. Give him some time.

[younggunsmn]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I've got a bag of popcorn following this James Harden/Morey situation, it's going to be fun.
He can't really hold out, so I expect him to go full Jimmy Butler plus just plain play awful until they trade him (that's how he got out of Houston).

He took a paycut to come back with the wink/wink from Morey that he'd get taken care of long term.
Now Morey won't pay him (and no one else really wants to either lol).
I can see why he's pissed. But he also made his own bed with how he handled his own free agency the past 2 years.

[TimberKat]

Looks like the new CBA will address the Butler situation. I wished we had this clause back then.

"There's an obscure clause in the collective bargaining agreement that says the following: 'A player who is in the last year of his contract.' Okay, so that's James Harden. He's on an expiring contract," said Zach Lowe on his podcast.

"'Who withholds his playing services for more than 30 days after the start of the last season covered by his contract shall be deemed', I'm paraphrasing now, 'should be deemed to have violated his contract. Accordingly, such a player shall not be a veteran free agent and shall not be entitled to negotiate or sign a contract with any other professional basketball team unless and until the team from which the player last played expressly agrees otherwise.'

I've got a bag of popcorn following this James Harden/Morey situation, it's going to be fun.
He can't really hold out, so I expect him to go full Jimmy Butler plus just plain play awful until they trade him (that's how he got out of Houston).

He took a paycut to come back with the wink/wink from Morey that he'd get taken care of long term.
Now Morey won't pay him (and no one else really wants to either lol).
I can see why he's pissed. But he also made his own bed with how he handled his own free agency the past 2 years.

ESPN had a good article on this topic today. If you are over 30 and frequent night club customer, it would be wise to take the guaranteed money instead of the LBJ path. It doesn't matter where 76ers trade him to, no one will give him 50m for two more years. He will be 35 before start of next season. It sucks when something like his happen to your team that costed two future all stars ( although Thib may had drafted Frank Ntilikina instead). It's certainly one of biggest entertainment draw of 2023. Now, if only we could get them on WWE SmackDown. Harden wins he gets a 1 year 50 mil extension.

[minimus]

Read on Twitter

Feel bad for young player... Hope he recovers and come back stronger!

[TimberKat]

Aaron Rogers just pulled a Gordon Hayward with NYJ. For once I was going to cheer for him but too bad. Not much to do with basketball other than another high profile player going to a big city green uniform team. Played less than 2 minutes before season ending injury.

[younggunsmn]

I love what the Suns are doing putting all their games on local over-the-air TV stations.
It will be a big financial hit, but will triple their reach and should really benefit their brand.
I'm really hoping the move succeeds.

I wonder what would happen if the Timberwolves did that. Even one game a week over the air free.
The financial barrier is very real for the casual fan, especially with the cord cutting and the Wolves being available on very few of those options.

[b7s4]

Damian Lillard trade: Bucks land All-Star in stunning three-team deal, Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton also moved

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/damian-lillard-trade-bucks-land-all-star-in-stunning-three-team-deal-jrue-holiday-deandre-ayton-also-moved/

Read on Twitter

Damian Lillard will be traded to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of a three-team deal including the Phoenix Suns, CBS Sports' Bill Reiter confirms. The Portland Trail Blazers will receive Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara and draft capital in the deal while Phoenix lands Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson. The move represents a significant surprise for Lillard, who has spent the offseason pushing for a trade to the Miami Heat, specifically. Instead, he lands with the Bucks more than two months after making a trade request.

Here are the details of the blockbuster deal:

Bucks receive: Damian Lillard
Blazers receive: Jrue Holiday, Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Bucks' 2029 first-round pick (unprotected), swap rights on Bucks' 2028 and 2030 picks
Suns receive: Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson

The Blazers are expected to trade the veteran All-Star Holiday to another team as Portland begins a rebuild around No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson.

Lillard, a seven-time All-Star, can provide the Bucks with tremendous spacing thanks to his infamous long-range shooting. Only Stephen Curry and James Harden can top the 2,387 3-pointers he's made since entering the league. While his career mark of 37.2% from long range isn't necessarily elite on paper, he's consistently had to take difficult shots because of the personnel around him.

Now he'll join Giannis Antetokounmpo, who demands as much attention in the paint as any player in the league and regularly draws double and triple-teams on drives. Lillard and Khris Middleton should be able to feast on open looks for a dynamic Bucks squad that'll be tough to stop when healthy in 2023-24.

When Lillard initially asked for a trade in July, it quickly became clear that he had his heart set on a single team: the Miami Heat. "Truthfully, he wants to play in Miami. Period," Lillard's agent, Aaron Goodwin, told the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson. The stance was so aggressive that the NBA needed to send out a memo to all 30 teams stating that it had "advised Goodwin and Lillard that any future comments, made privately to teams or publicly, suggesting Lillard will not fully perform the services called for under his player contract in the event of a trade will subject Lillard to discipline by the NBA." In the end, the Bucks defied Lillard's wish to land with the Heat and made the trade themselves.

Lillard posted on social media that he plans to eventually address Blazers fans "truthfully."

Now the Heat are left to pick up the pieces after an offseason built around a trade they ultimately couldn't make. Miami still has two open roster spots that it was likely holding for the sake of flexibility in a possible deal. The Heat lost key free agents Max Strus and Gabe Vincent in July, and with pretty much every notable free agent off the board, they have no means of replacing them externally. Miami's push for a third Finals trip in five years just grew significantly more difficult.

The Blazers, meanwhile, will finally move on after more than a decade with Lillard as their franchise player. In 11 seasons, Lillard guided the Blazers to the playoffs eight times. They never made it beyond the Western Conference Finals, though, and after two years in the lottery, it was finally time for the two sides to part. Portland will now rebuild around Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, while Lillard starts the next phase of his career in Milwaukee.

[Note30]

Good deal for both teams. No idea why the Suns were in it, but pretty great deal for both teams Blazers and Bucks. Suns kinda got fleeced for no reason?

But yeah nuts.