Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

jc23 · Post #1041 » by **jc23** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 9:58 am

Charles- "is lebron wearing a do-rag?"

Kenny- "yeah, why?"

Charles- "cause he dont have enough hair for it to do anything"

lol

Post #1042 » by **dougthonus** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:12 pm

MrFortune3 wrote:You mean the same Jimmy that most claimed was not a superstar

Trying to think where I'd place Jimmy in all the players in the league, and I think he's around #10, I don't know if that makes him a superstar, but he's definitely in that mix.

not a good leader

This still seems kind of true. I mean, he finally found a team that he gets a long with, but that doesn't make him a good leader. I'm not sure how relevant this is really though, at least as an argument against him. He obviously isn't an unworkable cancer or anything (which I think is really your point). Under the right circumstances he can be a good leader, but he's definitely not a guy you drop in and rises all boats (a good leader would do that).

couldn't be the #1 on a championship contender

This argument against Jimmy is poor, because it fails all but four or five guys in the league in most years and its made to complain about really great players.

While the argument isn't explicitly true, Jimmy is probably better than the #1 on the 2004 Pistons, what is the last team that had a best player that was worse than Jimmy that won the title? Maybe 07/08 Celtics (highly debatable) otherwise the Pistons. Probably 90%+ of the years the champion has a player better than Jimmy on it. The years that isn't true, they have multiple (at least 3) players nearly as Jimmy on it.

Again, not a valid argument to make against a player almost ever though. Not unless you are trading him for a player that's better than him.

The Heat, in the weak ass East conference, were on a 49 win pace this season. They may put together an absolutely magical playoff run, but this is a team that was a half notch ahead of a treadmill team in the regular season and not one you would have ever said "championship contender" about prior to the playoffs. I'm not really convinced they're a real championship contender either. I think they'd never make it out of the 2nd round in the West. I'm actively pulling for them to win it all, but it'd be perhaps the flukiest title ever if they did.

would be overpaid once extended and we would be in treadmill hell with?

Worth noting the Bulls would have likely had to lock him up on a super max for 5 years instead of a regular max for 4 and that statement still would likely be true. He also demanded a trade from Philly and Minnesota and may have done so with us if he didn't see enough immediate progress (which we had no way to make). Again, not necessarily an argument against him. We are on a path to be below a treadmill team now.

If the Bulls were able to guy Nunn, Robinson,and Herro off the scrap heap like the Heat, they'd have probably had a good team this year too, so our failure in building around a guy like Jimmy was really our failure to get good enough players with our scrap assets like Miami has recently done.

Supermax is really a curse for the NBA, and they should think about removing it, but the NBA contract situation is full of idiosyncrasies that should be removed.

Andi Obst · Post #1043 » by **Andi Obst** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 12:33 pm

First two games made it look like we could see a long and entertaining series, but now the Rockets are done obviously. I kind of think the Rockets will not come back as strong from this, seems like there are a lot of issues within the organization.

Battle for LA (in Orlando) will certainly be more competitive. Can't wait.

Post #1044 » by **dougthonus** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 2:01 pm

Little Nathan wrote:First two games made it look like we could see a long and entertaining series, but now the Rockets are done obviously. I kind of think the Rockets will not come back as strong from this, seems like there are a lot of issues within the organization.

Battle for LA (in Orlando) will certainly be more competitive. Can't wait.

I thought the Rockets were done once they traded Paul for Westbrook. What a ridiculous coup that is going to be for the Thunder whom may end up getting amazingly good picks from both the George and Westbrook trade long term and saved a ton of money and may still get another pick for Chris Paul and didn't even regress for a year.

MrSparkle · Post #1045 » by **MrSparkle** » Fri Sep 11, 2020 5:44 pm

The Westbrook trade reminds me of when Phoenix/Kerr acquired Shaq at the deadline, and it took them from a struggling team "with the old magic," to being the dagger in heart and essentially closing the chapter. D'Antoni's system thrives on that 1 central 3P-pass threat (Nash/Harden) and 4 mobile, fast guys who can run, shoot and defend switches quickly. Shaq messed up the concept.

The Rockets actually look good when Westbrook is on the bench. By playing a guy who can't make the open 3P (automatically), needs to take the ball out of Harden's hands to get in a rhythm, it just kills their momentum which is basically how D'Antoni's good teams always won. Blister you with quick baskets all generated from the lead man. It's a 1-trick pony, and I thought healthy CP3 was the best 2nd-fiddle possible. I believe Morey gambled against his health, which seemed in decline after the Durant SuperWarriors 4-2 loss (which is a ridiculous reason in hindsight, for an organizational fallout).

Anyway, they seem to be toast. I expected them to push LA to their limits, but this last game had terrible body language. You could tell they've lost the mental game, so at this point, it'd take a miracle to make it a 7-gm series.

Tough call on their future. Do you expect Westbrook to have a resurgent 2nd season? Or do you shop him? They could go for something wild and left-field; I wouldn't say Westbrook is untradeable. HOU does best with stocked wings and a secondary pass-PG. Russ I think can bring an edge to the up-and-coming younger teams, who also don't have anybody better to spend their cap space on.

PHX #10, Oubre & Rubio

Or maybe DEN #22 (return to HOU), Harris, Barton, Morris

Jvaughn · Post #1046 » by **Jvaughn** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:11 am

Porter Jr. sure would've looked good in that Bulls jersey. Smh lol

Southpaw · Post #1047 » by **Southpaw** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:18 am

MPJ has come up huge late in this game

R3AL1TY · Post #1048 » by **R3AL1TY** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:19 am

Morris shouldn't have wake up Milsap

kodo · Post #1049 » by **kodo** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:25 am

Southpaw wrote:MPJ has come up huge late in this game

Agreed. I like that he contributed on both ends, the huge pull-up 3 and then the block on the 7 footer at the rim.
And then icing every FT. Nice from a rookie.

Mech Engineer · Post #1050 » by **Mech Engineer** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 1:42 am

Southpaw wrote:MPJ has come up huge late in this game

He literally shut the door on the Clippers....kudos to the Nuggets. I thought they will fold in the last few minutes.

Leslie Forman · Post #1051 » by **Leslie Forman** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:19 am

MrSparkle wrote:I wouldn't say Westbrook is untradeable. HOU does best with stocked wings and a secondary pass-PG. Russ I think can bring an edge to the up-and-coming younger teams, who also don't have anybody better to spend their cap space on.

PHX #10, Oubre & Rubio

Or maybe DEN #22 (return to HOU), Harris, Barton, Morris

Westbrook is definitely one of the most untradeable guys in the league. That contract is horrendous and he is getting very bad, very quickly. He's aging about as gracefully as Ben Wallace.

He is a straight up negative asset now and he's only going to keep declining. I've defended Morey on here before, but I can't defend that trade in any way. It looked pretty bad at the time, and it is only looking worse now. I think I'd rather have Tobias Harris than him. Maybe that's a trade Morey can make.

MrSparkle · Post #1052 » by **MrSparkle** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:21 am

Leslie Forman wrote:
MrSparkle wrote:I wouldn't say Westbrook is untradeable. HOU does best with stocked wings and a secondary pass-PG. Russ I think can bring an edge to the up-and-coming younger teams, who also don't have anybody better to spend their cap space on.

PHX #10, Oubre & Rubio

Or maybe DEN #22 (return to HOU), Harris, Barton, Morris

Westbrook is definitely one of the most untradeable guys in the league. That contract is horrendous and he is getting very bad, very quickly. He's aging about as gracefully as Ben Wallace.

He is a straight up negative asset now and he's only going to keep declining. I've defended Morey on here before, but I can't defend that trade in any way. It looked pretty bad at the time, and it is only looking worse now. I think I'd rather have Tobias Harris than him. Maybe that's a trade Morey can make.

That's actually probably something both sides would do.

Leslie Forman · Post #1053 » by **Leslie Forman** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 2:26 am

MrSparkle wrote:That's actually probably something both sides would do.

Westbrook+Gordon for Harris+Horford

It could be the new Ben Wallace for Larry Hughes. Maybe I'll put it up on the trade board lol.

R3AL1TY · Post #1054 » by **R3AL1TY** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:16 am

Siakam gotta step up for the Raptors to win this game. Playoff defensive pressure and length have turned him back into a 3rd-4th option type player lately.

Southpaw · Post #1055 » by **Southpaw** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:17 am

R3AL1TY wrote:Siakam gotta step up for the Raptors to win this game. Playoff defensive pressure and length have turn him back into a 3rd-4th option type player lately.

Agreed, they need him to win this game. He's been pretty bad in the playoffs as the first option.

Scary fall for Brown, Hope it's nothing serious.

Post #1056 » by **DASMACKDOWN** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:36 am

Pascal is going to take a lot of lumps in the media for a while.

He is going to have to really prove himself in the playoffs next year.

R3AL1TY · Post #1057 » by **R3AL1TY** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:42 am

DASMACKDOWN wrote:Pascal is going to take a lot of lumps in the media for a while.

He is going to have to really prove himself in the playoffs next year.

Yep, I can see him getting bashed for not being "the man" like Kawhi for a while, but that comes with the territory. He just gotta work on his half court/off the bounce game more. But Toronto is just one star away like most years from winning the chip or being in the Finals.

MrSparkle · Post #1058 » by **MrSparkle** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:54 am

Are Raptors the nicest group of basketball players ever or what? They really meet the cliche of good Canadian sportmanship.

Post #1059 » by **DASMACKDOWN** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:56 am

R3AL1TY wrote:
DASMACKDOWN wrote:Pascal is going to take a lot of lumps in the media for a while.

He is going to have to really prove himself in the playoffs next year.

Yep, I can see him getting bashed for not being "the man" like Kawhi for a while, but that comes with the territory. He just gotta work on his half court/off the bounce game more. But Toronto is just one star away like most years from winning the chip or being in the Finals.

The thing is I never thought he was the man. Pascal can be an excellent #2 like he was with Kawhi. But if they dont get a true #1, they will continue to have good regular season but I think others will leap them next year. It can be argued Bucks, Nets, Heat and Celtics can be a better team.

Post #1060 » by **DASMACKDOWN** » Sat Sep 12, 2020 3:58 am

Also goes to show you how things can change so fast. Nurse and Siakim are like legends a year ago. Now the Raptors are saying how trash Nurse and Siakim are lol