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Dirk wrote:OKC is surging...

OKC is an interesting case. What is making the playoffs worth?

I've always had a championship or bust mentality, which I still do. But, the opposite side of that coin is, I remember 2011 well. Mavs blew like a 23 point 3rd quarter lead to the Blazers in the 1st round. They had the Lakers looming in round 2, who at the time were 2-time defending champs. The Mavs coming off of basically 5 years of disappointing playoff appearances. Who in their right mind would of said, "Yeah, the Mavs can win it all this year?" And that doesn't even take into account the probability they'd face LeBron, Wade & Bosh in the Finals. Ya know?

So, just a playoff appearance is worth something. Because you never know. But, I do think NBA teams have, especially recently with the Warriors (in particular after Durant joined) teams have not tried to compete. Why mortgage the future just to finish runner up to the Warriors? There is something to be said for knowing where you stack up vs the competition.

If I'm the Thunder, then I'm looking at CP3 as a depreciating asset. His contract is massive, but I think it'll actually be harder to trade him as time goes by because he's not getting any younger, and whoever would trade for CP3 would do it for the immediate benefit & just stomach the god awful final years of his contract. OKC needs to recoup whatever value they can get for CP3 now. Not wait.

I think a similar mentality should be applied to Gallinari & Adams. Not to mention, if I'm the Thunder I want more playing time for Ferguson & Bazley. I want Gilgeous-Alexander to slide into that #1 option & see how he handles it. I'd want to move Schroder, as well. Make room for the youngsters. I wouldn't even want the playoffs. I'd want to get up into the top 7-8 of this draft if possible. Selling off those pieces accomplishes that.

End of the day, I think you have to fall back on the prevailing wisdom that the worst place to be in the NBA is in the middle. OKC can keep fighting & it's admirable, but you don't want to be in that 7th-10th seed range. That's the worse place to be. I think Sam Presti made those moves this summer with a bigger picture in mind, and I don't think he's going to change course just because the Thunder are performing better than expectation.

All of that said, it's really only the Lakers, the Clippers, and the Mavericks who have impressed me this year in the West. I think OKC could beat the Rockets in a 1st round playoff series. I think they could handle the Jazz or the Nuggets, and we know even the Mavs have their own playoff concerns. It wouldn't be crazy to hold on for one more season & see how it goes. Plus, how glorious would it be for OKC to knock off the Clippers in the playoffs after PG begged to get out & everyone wrote OKC off for the lottery?

Rockets going after Robert Covington.

I think we should too. That's your starting PF right there.

Delon Wright + Justin Jackson for Covington works salary wise. Make it happen.

Covington immediately starts over Powell or Maxi IMO. Day 1 starter at PF for me.

arkuo wrote:Rockets going after Robert Covington.

I think we should too. That's your starting PF right there.

Delon Wright + Justin Jackson for Covington works salary wise. Make it happen.

Covington immediately starts over Powell or Maxi IMO. Day 1 starter at PF for me.

Powell plays Center and Maxi subs in at Center for him, unless Boban is on the floor with him.

Porzingis is our PF. That's common knowledge.

What are you talking about?

Watch when we play Philadelphia next Friday. Porzingis won't be guarding Embiid. Have you seen how small Porzingis plays? We don't want him guarding Embiid.

Convington would be an upgrade over DFS. He'd play SF here.

Holy Mackerel!! After I just got done praising ORL for piling up 10 block shots on the Bucks & giving them a bit of a scare. They go out & score 9 points vs LAL. Smh.

No Fultz tonight. He's actually a significant piece of their offense, given what he can do breaking down defenders, but holy moly. That's pitiful. I wonder what the record is for fewest points in a quarter by an NBA team. 9!!

Geez. Wish I hadn't asked. The Mavs are tied with Golden State for that lowlight. Dallas scored 2 points in a quarter back in April of '97, and Golden State matched the feat with 2 points in a quarter in February of '04.

Isaac looks very smooth in some of his moves on offense (impact defense is a given at this point)


Other things I watched

--- Cavs go on 22-0 run over Rockets. Harden somehow is able to hit 3 or 4 3pointers in a row to hang around and then they finish them off.
Westbrook bricking wide open is always hilarious to me


--- Kings win another close game, late comeback, game winner, Holmes shining again with his defense

By the way, I still like Noel


--- Grizzlies demoralise Suns
Ja Morant


JJJ


--- Graham is not human https://streamable.com/dn779

--- Knicks finally beat another team on the road. Despite not fouling right here

Did someone say Richaun Holmes???[quote="Dirk"]

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Don't know where else to put this, maybe Luka year 2 discussion? But, ESPN Daily did a podcast recently with Zach Lowe talking about how defenses have changed their approach to James Harden recently.

Very good listen: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/play?id=28265548


Cliffs: So, basically, Trae Young went into Denver in November, put up 42 pts & got the win. Denver's HC Mike Malone decided he wasn't going to let one player beat him again. So 3 games later, HOU comes to town, and DEN starts picking up Harden with a double team at halfcourt. They make him a passer. DEN wins 105-95.

Then HOU's next game is vs LAC and they do the same thing, and they beat HOU. Then HOU's next game is vs DAL, and we do the same thing, and we beat HOU. HOU losses 3 games in a row, when this new defensive strategy is deployed.

Now, ATL tried to do the same thing, but didn't have the personnel to pull it off, so Harden goes for 60 in 3 qtrs and the Rockets win by 47. The Raptors turned it up a notch and started picking up Harden with a double team 60 feet away from the basket. They limit Harden to 11 FGA and 6 FTA for the game. Unfortunately, for TOR the Rockets' role players McLemore, Rivers, Tucker, and House combined to shoot 19/43 on 3PM and HOU won. Although, Zach Lowe says some of those 3 pt shots came without a Raptors' defender within 10 feet of the shooter.

Outside of this being interesting, and possibly explaining why HOU is 5-5 in its last 10, and why they slipped to 6th in the West recently, I'm thinking of how this could impact Luka.

They say the reason teams feel comfortable doing this is because Westbrook won't beat them with his 3 point shooting. In fact, Westbrook has been driving & kicking, and teams have been betting on their ability to get back and close out.

I guess this would make Seth Curry and/or THJ very valuable if teams started taking this approach with Luka. Something like this is coming for Luka & the Mavs. Luka is the Mavs, and I don't think teams are going to continue to let them beat them by himself. This where that Bradley Beal-type is essential if the Mavs are going to win a title. Hell, even Bogdan Bogdanovic can look like a Bradley Beal, if he's getting wide open jump shots all night.

Zach Lowe did say you can see how disgusted Harden looks having to pass. He said, "you can almost seem the disdain dripping from his fingers" LOL! He said on some possessions you can tell Harden is thinking "I don't care if they send 4 guys at me, I'm shooting this time". I think NBA teams can see that it frustrates Harden, so they keep doing it even when HOU's role players are killing them. I would hope Luka wouldn't be equally as frustrated. It can't be fun to have the ball taken out of your hands every possession, though.

DJ_3_Ball wrote:Outside of this being interesting, and possibly explaining why HOU is 5-5 in its last 10, and why they slipped to 6th in the West recently, I'm thinking of how this could impact Luka.

They say the reason teams feel comfortable doing this is because Westbrook won't beat them with his 3 point shooting. In fact, Westbrook has been driving & kicking, and teams have been betting on their ability to get back and close out.

I guess this would make Seth Curry and/or THJ very valuable if teams started taking this approach with Luka. Something like this is coming for Luka & the Mavs. Luka is the Mavs, and I don't think teams are going to continue to let them beat them by himself. This where that Bradley Beal-type is essential if the Mavs are going to win a title. Hell, even Bogdan Bogdanovic can look like a Bradley Beal, if he's getting wide open jump shots all night.

Zach Lowe did say you can see how disgusted Harden looks having to pass. He said, "you can almost seem the disdain dripping from his fingers" LOL! He said on some possessions you can tell Harden is thinking "I don't care if they send 4 guys at me, I'm shooting this time". I think NBA teams can see that it frustrates Harden, so they keep doing it even when HOU's role players are killing them. I would hope Luka wouldn't be equally as frustrated. It can't be fun to have the ball taken out of your hands every possession, though.

It's funny to me how all these stars are frustrated and are publicly complaining about being double-teamed. In last month I can think of Harden and Booker complaining to media about it. What are you complaining about exactly? Luka on the other hand not long ago said that being double-teamed is good, because it means Mavs play 4 on 3 basketball. Luka has never complained about being double-teamed, not now, not in Europe.
I am not surprised that Booker is frustrated by it, but Harden should've been following Luka's attitude. He is good enough of a ball handler that he should have had no problem getting his teammates into good situations and occasionally also draw a foul (if not him, who?) Once he starts doing that and enjoying the massacre of "4 on 3 basketball", they will stop double-teaming him as often.

I think that Luka will not be double-teamed as hard as Harden, because they don't seem to be having problems beating it. Not long ago one of the head coaches said that the way Mavs play (=shooting tons of threes) makes it very hard to commit to double-teaming Luka, but that occasionally they just have to go for it, because he is so impactful.

Bottom line, as long as Mavs have so many no-hesitation catch and shoot players waiting at the 3-pt line, Luka will not be facing Harden-like D. You can't give up uncontested 40% 3-pt attempts (or 45%+ in the corner and Luka can make those passes) as they lead to even higher point production per possession than already top of the league Mavs offense.

DJ_3_Ball wrote: The Raptors turned it up a notch and started picking up Harden with a double team 60 feet away from the basket. They limit Harden to 11 FGA and 6 FTA for the game. Unfortunately, for TOR the Rockets' role players McLemore, Rivers, Tucker, and House combined to shoot 19/43 on 3PM and HOU won. Although, Zach Lowe says some of those 3 pt shots came without a Raptors' defender within 10 feet of the shooter.

Outside of this being interesting, and possibly explaining why HOU is 5-5 in its last 10, and why they slipped to 6th in the West recently, I'm thinking of how this could impact Luka.

They say the reason teams feel comfortable doing this is because Westbrook won't beat them with his 3 point shooting. In fact, Westbrook has been driving & kicking, and teams have been betting on their ability to get back and close out.

Check this:https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1915899#p80146170

ejs78 wrote:Did someone say Richaun Holmes???

Dirk wrote:

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Check this: https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1918299&p=80297007#p80295723

In other news, Greg Popovich decided to play Rudy Gay at center against the Cavs.

We need an All Things NBA thread, because I post stuff here, but it's suppose to be for playoff teams I think.

Anyways, holy cow! The other guy I wanted in the 2018 draft, Jaren Jackson Jr, just had a statement game tonight. 43 points, 26 points in the 3rd quarter alone. He had 9 of those on Giannis. He drew a charge on Giannis, and most of the rest of the damage he did using & abusing Brook Lopez. My oh My!

That kid is gonna be an ABSOLUTE BEAST!!!



Edit: Btw, if you didn't see it, Jackson Jr hit a couple of 3s from, I swear, Little Rock. He has an unorthodox form, but he has range & sure is effective. Besides, as the great Sir Charles once said, "The only difference between a good shot & a bad shot, is if it goes in or not"

And all that in 29 minutes. He still can't get his rebounding to the levels everyone has been hoping they would be and staying on court is work in progress. Very high ceiling for this guy.

J_T wrote:And all that in 29 minutes. He still can't get his rebounding to the levels everyone has been hoping they would be and staying on court is work in progress. Very high ceiling for this guy.

Yeah, but he struggled rebounding in college too. JJJ averaged 5.8 rpg as a freshman with Michigan State, which was well outside the top 100 rebounders in the country that year. Hopefully he develops into a better rebounder, but I think he'll top out as an average rebounder, maybe slightly above average. It doesn't look like an elite rebounder is in the cards for him.

I'm more disappointed about the dip in blocked shots. Because JJJ was elite in college as a shot blocker, 5th in the country and #1 on a per min basis. Obviously, he's trying to stay out of foul trouble, but I hope with time he learns how to keep the defensive aggression without picking up the cheap fouls.

Agreed. Very high ceiling for this kid. I wish the Mavs would of had two Top 5 picks that year.

arkuo wrote:In other news, Greg Popovich decided to play Rudy Gay at center against the Cavs.

lol yeah, I saw that. Good that he's experimenting though. Gay might not be a bad add for the Mavs.

If Luka returns after Christmas, and plays as well as he had before (which I would assume he would), then I'm thinking the Mavs will have around a 24-13 record (.648 winning pct) prior to their Jan 10th home game vs LAL. That would put them on pace for 53 wins this season, and a .648 winning pct looks to be good for the 5th seed.

The Mavs went on an 11-2 streak before Luka went down. I don't know how many of those streaks they have left in them this season. I think the 53 wins is realistic and even more than that probable. But, it's hard to see the Mavs doing better than 53 wins when they drop winnable games like they did vs MIA and vs BOS, and when they tend to start out games slow & try to fight back in the 2nd half too often.

If pieces like Jrue Holiday, Davis Bertans, and others are out of reach, how is it reasonable to see the Mavs finish higher than 5th/6th? Wonder Boy is the only refrain. That and KP is starting to come into his own.

I'm thinking the Mavs could pull out of a first round series vs HOU on the road. I don't like our chances vs DEN or UTH, if they have the homecourt advantage.

Wondering what others think. Where do you see the Mavs finishing in the West. Who would you not want to face in the first round, and who would you favor?

My dream scenario is the Lakers finish 1st, the Clippers 2nd, (whoever is the 3rd seed wins their first round series), and the Mavs finish 4th/5th and win their first round series. I think the Mavs could win a 2nd round series vs the Lakers. I think they'd be a significant dog vs the Clippers.

Hopefully, the Mavs go on another 11-2 streak & we can start thinking about the 2nd/3rd seed again, but until then, thinking along these lines makes more sense.

Jeff Green got waived by the Jazz today.

Vet minimum signing for us? Plays stretch four (PF) but is also 33 years old. I think for the vet minimum signing he should be okay IF and ONLY IF we arent making any other moves for that last roster spot.

I think we were fortunate Utah lost a close one to Miami last night.

Looking at their schedule & ours, it was feeling like by the Jan 4th vs CHA game we would fall behind UTH & down to the 6th seed. That loss might allow us to stay in the 5th seed awhile longer.

The back-to-back vs LAL & vs PHI the next night on Jan 10th & 11th will be tough, though.

Utah also just bolstered their bench with Clarkston.

Seasons are full of ups & downs, so I don't want to overreact. 2 weeks ago it felt like the Mavs were about to show the NBA we were for real, a legit top 4 seed in the West, maybe even 2nd or 3rd. Now, it really feels like we're gonna be the 6th seed, and that could easily mean LAC in the first round or facing off vs DEN with DEN having the homecourt advantage where they are just death & taxes.

Christmas Game One
Boston vs Toronto
Boston has loss 8 straight to Toronto in Toronto. Boston is playing well with the exception of Tatum!

Happy Holidays!!

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This Clippers/Lakers game is living up to the hype. Has that intense feel of 2 teams who don't really like each other that much too.

DJ_3_Ball wrote:This Clippers/Lakers game is living up to the hype. Has that intense feel of 2 teams who don't really like each other that much too.

Same for GS HOU... two amazing teams playing at their best...



Rockets got burnnnt!