Around the NBA (2019-20 season)

[TunaFish]

We are reaching a moment of crisis in Phoenix and Houston today. Not sure where this is heading but Florida is in no better shape. As much as I hate to try to tamp down any enthusiasm for basketball, this has the potential to disrupt plans for a continuation of the season.

[skywalker33]

NBA, it's been said, has put together the best plan to keep it's game afloat while protecting it's players. Add in the fact players that can opt out without repercussion is also impressive. Hard not to advocating at least trying it given how Korean baseball, MMA and others seem to be succeeding.

[TunaFish]

NBA, it's been said, has put together the best plan to keep it's game afloat while protecting it's players. Add in the fact players that can opt out without repercussion is also impressive. Hard not to advocating at least trying it given how Korean baseball, MMA and others seem to be succeeding.

Agree and I want to watch some basketball as well. The problem is this virus seems to be out of control in the South and the threat is straining hospitals in major cities. Players are testing positive day by day.

I like the idea of a bubble and hope it works but I am pessimistic that they can pull this off.

[TunaFish]

The Suns have released some of there assistant coaches including Steve Blake. Details are unclear and you have to wonder if this was a cost savings move.

I am posting this because I remember Steve playing for the Nuggets at one time. He was pretty good point guard though limited. He didn't stay long either.

[psimanic1]

Harris and Barton out, Murray questionable..
MPJ should get more time for sure.
Something like Monte, Craig, MPJ/Grant, Millsap, Jokic maybe?

[skywalker33]

Harris and Barton out, Murray questionable..
MPJ should get more time for sure.
Something like Monte, Craig, MPJ/Grant, Millsap, Jokic maybe?

So much for Murray's Iron-Man reputation...and where did Harris and Barton get their injuries ??

[skywalker33]

Found this interesting, think these are just since the restart but I think you'll like.

Denver Nuggets are:

#1 in Scoring
#1 in Rebounds
#3 in Assists
#4 in Blocks (this one surprised me)
#3 in Steals

https://stats.nba.com/

[NuggetsWY]

Found this interesting, think these are just since the restart but I think you'll like.

Denver Nuggets are:

#1 in Scoring
#1 in Rebounds
#3 in Assists
#4 in Blocks (this one surprised me)
#3 in Steals

https://stats.nba.com/

Being last in defense, we need those stats and they are impressive (and a little shocking).

[The Rebel]

Call me crazy but I dont think the Lakers want to see the trailblazers in the playoffs this year. The Portland bigs are good enough to slow down that advantage and Lillard and CJ more than equal LeBron right now. I can see it going 6 or 7 and I honestly don't think the Lakers win it.

[skywalker33]

Call me crazy but I dont think the Lakers want to see the trailblazers in the playoffs this year. The Portland bigs are good enough to slow down that advantage and Lillard and CJ more than equal LeBron right now. I can see it going 6 or 7 and I honestly don't think the Lakers win it.

I agree the Lakers seem to be vulnerable, LBJ has started his battle with Father Time, AD continues to prove he's more Robin than Batman and they decimated their bench and future with the NOP trade. Rondo coming back may help but he's getting up there in age and doesn't have any chemistry within the bubble, still POR would be a tough match-up for anyone IMO.

[THE J0KER]

With healthy Nurkic, and the arrival of Carmelo and Whiteside, and rookie Trent Jr becoming 3pt machine from nowhere, and of course with Lillard rises again in TOP10 mode - this Portland team are arguable better than 2019 which reached WC final!

But personally I expecting a routine win for Lakers. LeBron is on a mission after disappointing (and even humiliating) last season to prove himself once again, and he knows when you are 35+ old you don't have time to lose anymore, and also every next season can be your last as a legit MVP contender. Anthony Davis is equally motivated before availability for the super-max contract after so many monstrous individual seasons but with pathetic team results. The rest of the team is smartly built around them and seems that Kuzma enjoys no-crowd pressure and looks in bubble better than ever this season, while Howard and McGee become their defensive X-factor this season, while Danny Green being Danny Green.

I really think Denver doing mistakes now in trying to switch Clippers for Lakers in SF round (to switch seed with Rockets). Clippers are a long-term project of Balmer, which is already happy for creating superteam overnight. He is there to stay in the next 20 seasons to have TOP5 team every year. He is probably now more focussed on that upcoming 1B new LA arena than the final 2020 result. So why we are going intentionally to chose TOP2 GOAT in one of his last ring attempts together with a team-success hungry co-star?

[psimanic1]

With healthy Nurkic, and the arrival of Carmelo and Whiteside, and rookie Trent Jr becoming 3pt machine from nowhere, and of course with Lillard rises again in TOP10 mode - this Portland team are arguable better than 2019 which reached WC final!

But personally I expecting a routine win for Lakers. LeBron is on a mission after disappointing (and even humiliating) last season to prove himself once again, and he knows when you are 35+ old you don't have time to lose anymore, and also every next season can be your last as a legit MVP contender. Anthony Davis is equally motivated before availability for the super-max contract after so many monstrous individual seasons but with pathetic team results. The rest of the team is smartly built around them and seems that Kuzma enjoys no-crowd pressure and looks in bubble better than ever this season, while Howard and McGee become their defensive X-factor this season, while Danny Green being Danny Green.

I really think Denver doing mistakes now in trying to switch Clippers for Lakers in SF round (to switch seed with Rockets). Clippers are a long-term project of Balmer, which is already happy for creating superteam overnight. He is there to stay in the next 20 seasons to have TOP5 team every year. He is probably now more focussed on that upcoming 1B new LA arena than the final 2020 result. So why we are going intentionally to chose TOP2 GOAT in one of his last ring attempts together with a team-success hungry co-star?

Don't think they are...They lost a lot of defense and got a bit of offense, Trent was there so he would still play more this year probably even i they didnt lose Aminu, Harkles and Kanter. Having Kanter from bench is better for team as a team than someone like Whiteside who doesn't want to play from the bench and you never know what would you get from him.
On paper, they should be better, but you can't just add names and think team will play better, you need those guys that are doing small stuff, like we have in Craig for example. Sure, Melo over Craig would look better on paper, but how would it affect the team?

[THE J0KER]

On the East PO seeding race is already over:

Read on Twitter

[The Rebel]

With healthy Nurkic, and the arrival of Carmelo and Whiteside, and rookie Trent Jr becoming 3pt machine from nowhere, and of course with Lillard rises again in TOP10 mode - this Portland team are arguable better than 2019 which reached WC final!

But personally I expecting a routine win for Lakers. LeBron is on a mission after disappointing (and even humiliating) last season to prove himself once again, and he knows when you are 35+ old you don't have time to lose anymore, and also every next season can be your last as a legit MVP contender. Anthony Davis is equally motivated before availability for the super-max contract after so many monstrous individual seasons but with pathetic team results. The rest of the team is smartly built around them and seems that Kuzma enjoys no-crowd pressure and looks in bubble better than ever this season, while Howard and McGee become their defensive X-factor this season, while Danny Green being Danny Green.

I really think Denver doing mistakes now in trying to switch Clippers for Lakers in SF round (to switch seed with Rockets). Clippers are a long-term project of Balmer, which is already happy for creating superteam overnight. He is there to stay in the next 20 seasons to have TOP5 team every year. He is probably now more focussed on that upcoming 1B new LA arena than the final 2020 result. So why we are going intentionally to chose TOP2 GOAT in one of his last ring attempts together with a team-success hungry co-star?

Call me crazy but I would take Nurkic, Collins, and the rest of the Trailblazers big rotation over Davis, Howard, and the Lakers rotations. If McCullom is healthy than I think it is a very competitive series and I think the Trailblazers can win it.


Maybe it is because up until this season Lebron had a losing record against the Nuggets and I watched every game of him struggling to keep up with Melo while Melo was here. Maybe it is the insane media hype and superstar treatment from the refs I have seen Lebron get since he started in the league. Maybe it is the way the media has always protected Lebron and always blamed his coaches and teammates for his failures. Maybe it is because he had to have a stacked roster with 2 other all stars to even make the finals in some historically weak conferences. Maybe it was watching all those games where he would stay in late during a blowout to chase his stats and they way his fan boys push those stats to argue his greatness. Maybe it is all of them, but I have never understood the way people fear Lebron. When I was a kid I feared Bird and Magic getting irritated and destroying the Nuggets even when we had some damn good teams. In the 90s I would watch Bulls games hoping someone would piss off Jordan, than watching him going off. Shaq always seemed mad on the court and was fun to watch, hell even Kobe when he got pissed was someone you feared. You just knew Duncan could destroy even our very good rotation of bigs whenever he felt like it. I have never felt that way about Lebron, even during the Heatle days I was more afraid of Wade taking off. Lebron was the best player in the game for years, but I have never worried about him going into playoff mode and just taking over a series, maybe because he has only done it a couple of times. Personally I prefer matching up against the Lakers over the Clippers.

Say what you will about the ownership situation with the Clippers, but they have a team that we struggle with. It is not so much Kawhi and George, those 2 will get their numbers. The issue is that Beverly knows how to guard Murray, Jackson is too fast for Morris and Craig, Harrell is too fast for Millsap and Plumlee and too strong for Grant, for some reason Jokic and Plumlee struggle to contain Zubac. If we had Harris to guard Williams and Jackson, I may feel a little better, but overall I think that is a long series and I am not sure if we win it.

The Lakers don't have the role players, for them winning is going to have to be Lebron and Davis taking over the game on both ends. Oddly Rondo is a playoff performer and knows how to set up Davis so him being back may help them, but guys like Kuzma, McGee, Howard, and the like don't have the games to really make me fear them in a 7 game series. I think it would be close, but I see many ways to beat them.

[The Rebel]

With Divac out in Sacramento it will be interesting to see if they do with Bogdanovic and Hield, Hield seems to be a favorite of ownership or at least was. they are basically the same age so there is not benefit to keeping one or the other as they seem to be very similar tier type of players although I prefer Bogdanovic personally. I find it odd that a couple of days after Kings ownership gave the vote of confidence in Vlade and after Hield said he would not play the same roll next year suddenly Divac is forced to step down. It could be interesting with the rest of the team as well, they have some talent but they had injury issues and I do not think that Walton is all that good of a coach.

[skywalker33]

With Divac out in Sacramento it will be interesting to see if they do with Bogdanovic and Hield, Hield seems to be a favorite of ownership or at least was. they are basically the same age so there is not benefit to keeping one or the other as they seem to be very similar tier type of players although I prefer Bogdanovic personally. I find it odd that a couple of days after Kings ownership gave the vote of confidence in Vlade and after Hield said he would not play the same roll next year suddenly Divac is forced to step down. It could be interesting with the rest of the team as well, they have some talent but they had injury issues and I do not think that Walton is all that good of a coach.

Well, I wouldn’t mind proposing a deal for Bogdanovich for Barton (prefer Harris but don’t think SAC would because of $$ and injury history). Bogs could fill our SG need although not sure of his defensive prowess.

[TunaFish]

With Divac out in Sacramento it will be interesting to see if they do with Bogdanovic and Hield, Hield seems to be a favorite of ownership or at least was. they are basically the same age so there is not benefit to keeping one or the other as they seem to be very similar tier type of players although I prefer Bogdanovic personally. I find it odd that a couple of days after Kings ownership gave the vote of confidence in Vlade and after Hield said he would not play the same roll next year suddenly Divac is forced to step down. It could be interesting with the rest of the team as well, they have some talent but they had injury issues and I do not think that Walton is all that good of a coach.

Well, I wouldn’t mind proposing a deal for Bogdanovich for Barton (prefer Harris but don’t think SAC would because of $$ and injury history). Bogs could fill our SG need although not sure of his defensive prowess.

Defensibly he is average because of his size but slow to react. Good basketball IQ. He is not Garry Harris on defense and his scoring average is about the same. However, Garry is always injured lately, so a change may be in the works.

Let's wait and see if Garry is back and effective in the playoffs before we send him packing.

[skywalker33]

With Divac out in Sacramento it will be interesting to see if they do with Bogdanovic and Hield, Hield seems to be a favorite of ownership or at least was. they are basically the same age so there is not benefit to keeping one or the other as they seem to be very similar tier type of players although I prefer Bogdanovic personally. I find it odd that a couple of days after Kings ownership gave the vote of confidence in Vlade and after Hield said he would not play the same roll next year suddenly Divac is forced to step down. It could be interesting with the rest of the team as well, they have some talent but they had injury issues and I do not think that Walton is all that good of a coach.

Well, I wouldn’t mind proposing a deal for Bogdanovich for Barton (prefer Harris but don’t think SAC would because of $$ and injury history). Bogs could fill our SG need although not sure of his defensive prowess.

Defensibly he is average because of his size but slow to react. Good basketball IQ. He is not Garry Harris on defense and his scoring average is about the same. However, Garry is always injured lately, so a change may be in the works.

Let's wait and see if Garry is back and effective in the playoffs before we send him packing.

I can concur with everything except the underlined, Bogdanovic has the ability to take over a game with his shooting, Harris has rarely shown that ability.

[THE J0KER]

Despite no real home advantage in a bubble, I expecting all better-seeded teams to win their 1st round series, with exception of Pacers(4)-Heat(5) series where Heat is favorite with Sabonis out. Eventual shocker can be Sixers vs Celtics series, but I doubt they can survive without Simmons best of seven series against such good opponent. But one injury or COVID19 positive test of the team best player can change the status of the series favorite overnight.

[The Rebel]

With Divac out in Sacramento it will be interesting to see if they do with Bogdanovic and Hield, Hield seems to be a favorite of ownership or at least was. they are basically the same age so there is not benefit to keeping one or the other as they seem to be very similar tier type of players although I prefer Bogdanovic personally. I find it odd that a couple of days after Kings ownership gave the vote of confidence in Vlade and after Hield said he would not play the same roll next year suddenly Divac is forced to step down. It could be interesting with the rest of the team as well, they have some talent but they had injury issues and I do not think that Walton is all that good of a coach.

Well, I wouldn’t mind proposing a deal for Bogdanovich for Barton (prefer Harris but don’t think SAC would because of $$ and injury history). Bogs could fill our SG need although not sure of his defensive prowess.

Defensibly he is average because of his size but slow to react. Good basketball IQ. He is not Garry Harris on defense and his scoring average is about the same. However, Garry is always injured lately, so a change may be in the works.

Let's wait and see if Garry is back and effective in the playoffs before we send him packing.

While Bogdanovich at least tries on defense but I think we lose to much on defense with him in the starting lineup. I do think he makes a great 6th man for us though, he can create for himself and play off the ball, and already has great chemistry with Jokic.

I am not so quick to dump Harris, while he has to improve his shooting, the defense he brings is a huge need. IF you cannot find a good perimeter defender to replace him than I think we have to keep him.