Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

[The Explorer]

Another NBA owner who cares about winning and has a desire to win championships. Don't even know what that feels like as a Bulls fan.

Marc Lasry recalled telling Michael Jordan that he wants this season's Milwaukee Bucks to win 70 games and best the Chicago Bulls' 72-10 record.

The conversation took place last week in Paris, where the Bucks beat the Hornets 116-103.

"When I was in Paris, I was talking to Michael about this and I said, 'Well, what do you think? I think we've got a real shot at doing what you guys have done [win 70 games]. This is a really unique team.' And he goes, 'Look, my advice to you is don't focus on beating our record, focus on winning a championship.' And I said, 'Wow, that's great. Thank you for that. Just so you know we're going to focus on beating your record and winning a championship.' I think we should do everything, but that's me," said Lasry of the conversation between him and Jordan.

Lasry joked that he wished the Bucks won 80 games this season.

"I was hoping we'd get to 80. ... I know everybody's happy at 70, but I was going for 80. When we ended up losing a couple more games, I was like, 'Damn.' But we'll see. I'm the wrong person to talk to because I actually think we're really good, we have all these capabilities, and what's actually unique about our team is how much it's a team."

[MAQ]

Thinks it is bad to a Bulls fan? Try the Twolves. Not only an always poor team with no history, but last night they blew a 17 point lead with 3 minutes left in the game. Even the Bulls don't do that.

I read that in 8000+ times that has happened in the NBA where a team has a lead that big, that late, none had ever lost. Effectively, the only team that could do that would be Minnesota.

Man they are terrible. I would stay far, far away from Towns.

Wouldn't be surprised to see it happen two more times in the next 5 years. The prevealence of the 3 point shot vs past history makes it more likely (though still extremely unlikely) to happen.

[imagge]

Thinks it is bad to a Bulls fan? Try the Twolves. Not only an always poor team with no history, but last night they blew a 17 point lead with 3 minutes left in the game. Even the Bulls don't do that.

I read that in 8000+ times that has happened in the NBA where a team has a lead that big, that late, none had ever lost. Effectively, the only team that could do that would be Minnesota.

Man they are terrible. I would stay far, far away from Towns.

Wouldn't be surprised to see it happen two more times in the next 5 years. The prevealence of the 3 point shot vs past history makes it more likely (though still extremely unlikely) to happen.

So the stench of the organization is on 1 player? No you don't stay away from Towns if they want to trade him.

[imagge]

26 pts 11 rebs and a 27 PER is not something you stay away if he is available Bulls Fans

[PaKii94]

Man they are terrible. I would stay far, far away from Towns.

I don't trust teams that are built solely through the draft, because ownership tends to get too locked into its players. Towns and Wiggins are perfect examples. Towns is a french fry. There's some nutrition underneath the surface, because he's an efficient scorer and a rebounder, but there's a lot of surface oil too. Wiggins is a potato chip. He's nothing but empty calories.

Under normal circumstances, if you have a french fry and a potato chip as your two foundational players, you recognize the problem and trade one of them (along with some other assets) for a baked potato. You can't live on junk food alone. But because these guys were high Minnesota draft picks, #1s no less, the Wolves can't face the possibility. They feel locked into their decision.

So they suck, year after year after year.

I'd much rather have my burrito full of skills. Even though it's leaked some it's filling this year

[coldfish]

26 pts 11 rebs and a 27 PER is not something you stay away if he is available Bulls Fans

He is going to get a ton in trade and get a supermax. This guy is literally a boat anchor, much like Wiggins. Would I trade Felicio and a 1st for Towns? Of course. Anything that Chicago could actually get him with would be franchise destroying.

[Mech Engineer]

Thinks it is bad to a Bulls fan? Try the Twolves. Not only an always poor team with no history, but last night they blew a 17 point lead with 3 minutes left in the game. Even the Bulls don't do that.

Say what you want about Thibs. He was trying to establish a winning culture there. But, the so-called organization couldn't change or were scared to own up to their failings.

As you said, building through drafts is a failing idea almost all the time except for a few cases like GS or Thunder with Westbrook/KD/ Harden. It is a copout for cheap organizations and organizations who are scared of change.

Plus, monopoly of these franchises have let them get away with this. What will people in Minneapolis do during winter? They will keep going to these games and these businesses rarely fail. With the business model of promoting star players, there is always an all-star type in every organization.

The fact that these players can keep producing empty stats and win some games keeps the money coming in forever. And, league wide deals help get more money in. Lavine, Towns, Aaron Gordon, etc...a lot of these guys are on losing teams but those franchises have no competition in those markets.

[dice]

Man they are terrible. I would stay far, far away from Towns.

I don't trust teams that are built solely through the draft, because ownership tends to get too locked into its players. Towns and Wiggins are perfect examples. Towns is a french fry. There's some nutrition underneath the surface, because he's an efficient scorer and a rebounder, but there's a lot of surface oil too. Wiggins is a potato chip. He's nothing but empty calories.

Under normal circumstances, if you have a french fry and a potato chip as your two foundational players, you recognize the problem and trade one of them (along with some other assets) for a baked potato. You can't live on junk food alone. But because these guys were high Minnesota draft picks, #1s no less, the Wolves can't face the possibility. They feel locked into their decision.

So they suck, year after year after year.

all i read in this post was a 6 word excuse to eat french fries

[dice]

w/ giannis out:

middleton 51/10/6/2to in 35 min
bledsoe 34/6/10/2to in 30 min

giannis holding back his teammates?

[MrFortune3]

26 pts 11 rebs and a 27 PER is not something you stay away if he is available Bulls Fans

I'm going to say this and many are going to get mad.

From a pure talent and potential perspective, Karl Anthony Towns is top 3-5 in the NBA. His effort and leadership skills are complete dog ****.

From a franchise impacting and complete player perspective, Jimmy Butler is a better player than him.

You cannot bring a KAT to this franchise with this FO and win a damn thing. You might not even make the playoffs. KAT is not the guy that is going to drag you team to the playoffs on his back and elevate your franchise. He's a dude who puts up great numbers and is highly regarded but doesn't pass the sniff test.
Minnesota isn't even tanking this year and they are the 5th worst team in the NBA with 2 #1 overall picks in KAT and Wiggins on max deals.

They don't even have the excuse that they don't have talent. Their talent just doesn't give a damn about being great and winning.

[MrFortune3]

Man they are terrible. I would stay far, far away from Towns.

I don't trust teams that are built solely through the draft, because ownership tends to get too locked into its players. Towns and Wiggins are perfect examples. Towns is a french fry. There's some nutrition underneath the surface, because he's an efficient scorer and a rebounder, but there's a lot of surface oil too. Wiggins is a potato chip. He's nothing but empty calories.

Under normal circumstances, if you have a french fry and a potato chip as your two foundational players, you recognize the problem and trade one of them (along with some other assets) for a baked potato. You can't live on junk food alone. But because these guys were high Minnesota draft picks, #1s no less, the Wolves can't face the possibility. They feel locked into their decision.

So they suck, year after year after year.

I'd much rather have my burrito full of skills. Even though it's leaked some it's filling this year

What I take from this is that I need to eat some french fries, some potato chips and wash it down with a Burrito

[Ice Man]

w/ giannis out:

middleton 51/10/6/2to in 35 min
bledsoe 34/6/10/2to in 30 min

giannis holding back his teammates?

Well of course he does, in the sense that when he's out other people get more usage, and therefore are likely to score more points. I doubt that he makes them worse when he's on the court though.

[Mech Engineer]

26 pts 11 rebs and a 27 PER is not something you stay away if he is available Bulls Fans

I'm going to say this and many are going to get mad.

From a pure talent and potential perspective, Karl Anthony Towns is top 3-5 in the NBA. His effort and leadership skills are complete dog ****.

From a franchise impacting and complete player perspective, Jimmy Butler is a better player than him.

You cannot bring a KAT to this franchise with this FO and win a damn thing. You might not even make the playoffs. KAT is not the guy that is going to drag you team to the playoffs on his back and elevate your franchise. He's a dude who puts up great numbers and is highly regarded but doesn't pass the sniff test.
Minnesota isn't even tanking this year and they are the 5th worst team in the NBA with 2 #1 overall picks in KAT and Wiggins on max deals.

They don't even have the excuse that they don't have talent. Their talent just doesn't give a damn about being great and winning.

Agree. But, how can you say KAT is a top 5 talent and doesn't impact winning? The NBA has seen a lot of top 5 talent type players who didn't win anything. Off-course, you need a great team to win and that's always there. But, some of these guys are so used to their heavy usage and they are even efficient with high usage but cannot function when the high usage drops off on a more talented team. Even LeBron, Bosh had those issues in Miami.

That's why Melo never won anything as he couldn't understand a lower usage role and still be efficient/contribute as a positive player for 38-40 minutes. Jimmy might be less talented but he wants to win and pushes every button to get wins. And, we all know these windows of winning are small for most stars/teams. Maybe KAT grows up but it doesn't look like it.

[TheSuzerain]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

[dice]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

[PaKii94]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

Kids nowadays are missing the nuances of ball. The intangibles that bring winning. Some people innately have it while others have to slowly develop it. The AAU, get numbers, get paid mentality is much more prevalent. The numbers can be impressive but what makes them impactful is when they come and how they come. Is it a bonus to the team or is it numbers while being a detriment to the team. That's something Lavine is learning too.

[Mech Engineer]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

Garnett did it but he accepted a relatively smaller role in Boston. It is just not easy to be a positive force without the ball consistently and that's what these guys lack.

[TheSuzerain]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

KG made the playoffs in years 2-9 of his career, all in Minny.

[dice]

KAT reminds me of AD. Gaudy stats. Huge talent.

But they still regularly miss the playoffs.

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

KG made the playoffs in years 2-9 of his career, all in Minny.

true. he made the playoffs the strong majority of the time but only got out of the first round once in 12 seasons there

[Mech Engineer]

so did kevin garnett...before he left for a real team and won a title

that said, KD and AD play(ed) defense

KG made the playoffs in years 2-9 of his career, all in Minny.

true. he made the playoffs the strong majority of the time but only got out of the first round once in 12 seasons there

In general, from what I have seen, making tha playoffs as first round fodder is ok if you are a young, upcoming team. But, if you don't grow from that, it's pretty much a worthless achievement.

While winning championships is not the measure of a great player, taking the team to 2nd round, conference finals etc... consistently shows HOF worthiness. Guys like Barkley. Malone, David Robinson all struggled with that initially.