ATL - NBA to investigate Lowry/Ball deals for tampering, pg. 81

[Ron Swanson]

Embiid to me is still the best player in the East not named Giannis, so I'm not ruling out the Sixers until I see what they do with Simmons. If Morey is as stubborn as I think he is and they keep him while largely running back the same roster, then yeah, they're a distant 3rd and more in line Miami and Atlanta than they are close to either us or Brooklyn.

[soxperry]

Random thought, but at what point does Miami not become a sexy option? I’ve been a few times and it’s not that great. The buildings are falling apart and the city is quite literally sinking slowly into the ocean. I was reading comments on Tuckers post this morning while taking a poop, and there’s so many people saying he’s leaving for a better city. I get the nightlife aspect, but I think Miami gets way too much love just cause of the beaches and weather. The rest is kinda meh.

Lol my man.. The nightlife aspect is THE thing. They are living in the moment, they dont care about sinking real estate.

I was listening to something non sports related yesterday and they described Miami as the North American capital city for all of Latin America. So arguably the most beautiful women on earth, for my tastes at least, are all flocking to this one place. Youre young, rich, high social status, and in peak physical shape. The fact that this occurs in an ocean front setting is just gravy.

Damn, wish we had more latina women here in Australia. We got middle eastern women though that draw a striking resemblance.

Yes, if you can ignore the massive eye brows

[msiris]

I think that Collins deal is gross because you can't convince me he's a more impactful player than Bobby Portis.

They are very similar. One is way cheaper

[soxperry]

[list=][/list]

Read on Twitter

How the **** did they buyout that contract? He had like 2 years and $75 million left. That's absurd.

They're trying to tank so having a reason to be bad helps out for perception. Also they got paid handsomely for taking him on (got a first and got rid of a bad contract in the process).

Yeah, they pretty much just bought the #16 pick. Man, they are going to be interesting going forward if they are committed to the tank.

[soxperry]

Embiid to me is still the best player in the East not named Giannis, so I'm not ruling out the Sixers until I see what they do with Simmons. If Morey is as stubborn as I think he is and they keep him while largely running back the same roster, then yeah, they're a distant 3rd and more in line Miami and Atlanta than they are close to either us or Brooklyn.

Better than Durant?? Nah

But i agree with the rest. If they can make the right Simmons trade they could be very very good.

[RogerMurdock]

Read on Twitter

[Ron Swanson]

I guess I'm not buying this weird consensus of anointed Durant the best player in the world after 30 RS games playing with his super-friends, and 1 playoff series vs. us. Once again, Embiid just had a monster postseason run after coming up #2 in MVP voting, but it all got overshadowed just because Doc is a moron and Beta Ben was too scared to throw down a wide open dunk. It's eerily similar to all the casuals dunking on Giannis after losing before the Finals in each of the last two previous years (and Embiid even played better than Giannis did).

[Gianstoppable]

Man the East is going to be so good next year:

Top 4
Milwaukee
BKN
Miami
Philly

Next 4
Boston
ATL
Chicago
NYK

That will be a tough playoffs

I guess Boston might be feisty. What the **** are the Bulls going to do? If Ball and Caruso were the two best defensive guards ever that team would still be a joke on D.

Didnt people say the Nets and Hawks were a joke on defense? Bulls are no slouch but they wont win it all obviously but they took a HUGE step up

[greekbuck34]

No way they get an all star and picks for Simmons right now. All the GMs know they are desparate to trade him because the more years they keep him the more they waste Embiids prime and who knows how many healthy playoff seasons he has left.

Keeping Simmons one more season would be a disaster for them. Just take a look at the sixers board. They are hating him. Booing your own all star at home will only makes matters worse and drop his value even farther. The players are also done with him. Danny Green is not re-signing with them because he can't stand him anymore.

[Wisky4life]

Calling it now.

Damian Lillard to the Celtics, this time next year.

There is no way he stays eith the team they put together and Celtics are clearing room.

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[DingleJerry]

Couldn't Kemba and a truck load of picks been something for Simmons that made sense? Seems Philly is expecting way too much, but OKC has so many picks they have to trade some of them at some point.

[machu46]

Couldn't Kemba and a truck load of picks been something for Simmons that made sense? Seems Philly is expecting way too much, but OKC has so many picks they have to trade some of them at some point.

I don't think OKC wants to jeopardize the value of their picks by bringing in a player like Simmons and Philly certainly would not want to be paying Kemba his contract.

[MickeyDavis]

The Thunder picks will be great IF they end up being lottery picks. Late round picks don't mean a whole lot, sure you can get lucky but it's unlikely. Down the road those Clippers picks could be juicy. First rounder the Thunder have in addition to their own:

2022
Clippers - unprotected - not a lottery pick unless they implode (I know KL will be out)

Suns - Top 12 protected. If not conveyed, then the a 2023 pick will be top 10 protected, a 2024 will be top-eight protected or will become unprotected in 2025.

Pistons - Top 16 protected in 2022, top 18 protected in 2023 and 2024, top 13protected in 2025, top 11 protected in 2026, top 9 protected in 2027 before converted to a second round pick.

2023
Clippers - unprotected

Nuggets - Top-14 protected. If not conveyed, protection with be top-14 in 2024 and 2025 before converting to 2025 and 2026 second rounders.

Heat - If not conveyed, it will have the same protections in 2024 and 2025 before becoming unprotected in 2026.

Wizards - Top 14 protected in 2023, top 12 protected in 2024, top 10 protected in 2025 and top 8 protected in 2026 before converting to a 2027 second round pick.

2024
Rockets - Top-four protected. If not conveyed, will convert to 2024 and 2025 second round picks.

Clippers- unprotected

2025
Rockets/Clippers - Thunder have right to swap between Houston (Protected top-10) or Los Angeles picks.

Sixers - Top-six protected. If not conveyed, will be top-four protected in 2026 and 2027. If not conveyed, Sixers will convey a 2027 second round pick.

2026
Rockets - Top-four protected. If not conveyed, converts to a 2026 second-round pick.

Clippers - unprotected

[Finn]

Random thought, but at what point does Miami not become a sexy option? I’ve been a few times and it’s not that great. The buildings are falling apart and the city is quite literally sinking slowly into the ocean. I was reading comments on Tuckers post this morning while taking a poop, and there’s so many people saying he’s leaving for a better city. I get the nightlife aspect, but I think Miami gets way too much love just cause of the beaches and weather. The rest is kinda meh.

Remind me not to borrow your electronics...

[crowhead76]

Man the East is going to be so good next year:

Top 4
Milwaukee
BKN
Miami
Philly

Next 4
Boston
ATL
Chicago
NYK

That will be a tough playoffs

I guess Boston might be feisty. What the **** are the Bulls going to do? If Ball and Caruso were the two best defensive guards ever that team would still be a joke on D.

Didnt people say the Nets and Hawks were a joke on defense? Bulls are no slouch but they wont win it all obviously but they took a HUGE step up

This is how some of these rosters look as of this morning, also included the Lakers

Bulls
Ball / Caruso /
Lavine / White / Dosunmu
DeRozan / Brown Jr
Markkanen / Williams
Vucevich / Bradley

Hawks
Young - Wright - Cooper
Bogdonovich - Huerter
Hunter - Johnson - Hill
Collins - Gallinari - Reddish
Capela - Okongwu - Dieng

Knicks
Walker / Rose / McBride
Fournier / Quickley / Grimes
Barrett / Burks / Jokubatiis
Randle / Topin / Gibson / Knox
Noel / Robinson / (2)Sims

Nets
Irving / Carter / Zegarowski
Harden / Mills / Thomas
Durrant / Harris / Brown
Griffin / Johnson / Edwards / Gray
Jordan / Claxton / Sharpe

Celtics
Smart / Pritchard / Dunn / Begarin
Brown / Richardson / Langford / Edwards
Tatum / Nesmith
Williams / Parker
Horford / Williams / Kanter

Heat
Lowry / Strus / Vincent
Robinson / Herro
Butler /
Tucker / Morris / Okpala
Bam / Dedmon /

76ers
Simmons / Maxey
Curry / Milton / Springer / Joe
Thybulle / Korkmaz
Harris / Niang / Reed / Petrusev
Embiid / Drummond / Bassey

Lakers
Westbrook / Nunn / Reaves
Ellington / Monk / Ayayi
LeBron / Bazemore / Horton-Tucker
Davis / Carmelo / Ariza
Gasol / Howard

[soxperry]

I guess I'm not buying this weird consensus of anointed Durant the best player in the world after 30 RS games playing with his super-friends, and 1 playoff series vs. us. Once again, Embiid just had a monster postseason run after coming up #2 in MVP voting, but it all got overshadowed just because Doc is a moron and Beta Ben was too scared to throw down a wide open dunk. It's eerily similar to all the casuals dunking on Giannis after losing before the Finals in each of the last two previous years (and Embiid even played better than Giannis did).

Embiid had a monster playoff run? He beat an 8 seed and then lost to Atlanta. Durant almost took down the nba champs, practically on his own. His game 5 was absolutely incredible.

48 minutes, 49 points, 16/23, 17 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks.

To me, his performance cant be praised enough. Of course, not everyone should agree with me but to call it weird that hes getting serious respect for an actual monster performance against a great team is, to me, actually the weird thing.

[Ron Swanson]

I guess I'm not buying this weird consensus of anointed Durant the best player in the world after 30 RS games playing with his super-friends, and 1 playoff series vs. us. Once again, Embiid just had a monster postseason run after coming up #2 in MVP voting, but it all got overshadowed just because Doc is a moron and Beta Ben was too scared to throw down a wide open dunk. It's eerily similar to all the casuals dunking on Giannis after losing before the Finals in each of the last two previous years (and Embiid even played better than Giannis did).

Embiid had a monster playoff run? He beat an 8 seed and then lost to Atlanta. Durant almost took down the nba champs, practically on his own.

Ok? Look at his numbers. Embiid nearly willed the Sixers to the ECF with Seth Curry as their next best player. And this "Durant almost beat the Bucks by himself" narrative has gotten really out of hand. Their role players outside of Joe Harris were awesome, he had a healthy Irving for damn near 4 games, and proceeded to lose 4 of 5 games once Irving went down. No one's saying he wasn't awesome in Game 5 (aka the only game he won "practically by himself").

[DingleJerry]

But really, if you had the choice to play 1 game tomorrow you're not taking KD over Embiid. Absolute no brainer imo. It's not like KD is first emerging as this great player, he's been the 2-4th best player in the world for 10 years, all he needed to do was show he's healthy and not ruined by the achilles and he more than did that.

Best player in world, yea I'm still giving it to LBJ if everyone is healthy. But over Embiid should be a consensus.

[Ron Swanson]

I hate the "who would you take in one game" argument as much as I hate the "who wins in a 1-on-1" argument. Last time I checked, NBA basketball is 5-on-5 and we don't play 1-game seasons or playoff series. And Lebron absolutely isn't the best player in the world anymore even when he's "healthy". I don't know how anyone could watch the last 2-3 years and come to any sort of conclusion otherwise.

[DingleJerry]

I hate the "who would you take in one game" argument as much as I hate the "who wins in a 1-on-1" argument. Last time I checked, NBA basketball is 5-on-5 and we don't play 1-game seasons or playoff series. And Lebron absolutely isn't the best player in the world anymore even when he's "healthy". I don't know how anyone could watch the last 2-3 years and come to any sort of conclusion otherwise.

One on one yea is different. But who would you take to play right now if healthy is the simplest way to pick who you think the best player is.

I don't know how anyone can watch the last few years (again, when healthy is important caveat) and not conclude LBJ is the best player. His team was walking to the 1/2 seed and he was going to win MVP easily last season, after just winning the championship a few months before that as the clear best player in the world when he did it. While putting up great traditional stats and great advanced.

But carry on, I remember you telling me the same thing about 3-4 years ago too and you were proven wrong. I know he has to hit a cliff at some point in terms of play/ability (and to a degree he is, due to getting hurt now when he never did before), but I'll believe it when I see it. There is no doubt in my mind if I had a game 7 to play at this moment and all players are healthy, and I had the number 1 pick I'm taking him. To play a full year and bank on getting through it all unhurt, different discussion.