Around the NBA (Part Two)

[Klomp]

Last 3 games have been against the Jazz and Wizards...playing the Thunder on Friday will be interesting

You can only play who’s in front of you. It looks like Brunson was out too though.

Precisely.

Klomp was previously touting how Minnesota was 9-4 before the loss against OKC -- four straight defeats prior to that stretch, two of which against teams worse than the Wolves. A loss tonight would make it 9-6, which isn't nearly as impressive.

Right, because Houston, Dallas and the California teams are totally on par with Washington and Utah....

[Baseline81]

Right, because Houston, Dallas and the California teams are totally on par with Washington and Utah....

This is your rebuttable?

Okay then.

Wolves weren't able to beat Toronto, either time. The mighty Raptors are currently 0.5 games ahead of Washington. Additionally, Portland has a winning record thus far against Minnesota. And they're not much better (13th in the Western Conference) than Utah (14th).

[cmoss84]

Amir Coffee is a better NBA player than college. Happy for the guy.

[Calinks]

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[BlacJacMac]

Jimmy Butler suspended for 7 games.

Has any player ever worn out more welcomes? Especially after always getting what he wants?

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/43276332/heat-suspend-jimmy-butler-listen-trade-offers

[winforlose]

Magic keep dropping like flies. Maybe their trick is to make their team disappear? Suggs this time.

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[Klomp]

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[minimus]

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[winforlose]

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1. Lonzo Ball went 2 of 4 from the field, 1 of 3 from deep for 5 points in 24 minutes. You guys all talk about how hard it is to play Conley with Jaden and Rudy. At least Conley hits his 3s at a decent clip. Lonzo is shooting around 30% for the season on low volume.

2. It wasn’t Lonzo that changed things. They stopped switching, had Vuc close out, doubled CP3, and got away with multiple fouls. The 3 was a reckless close out. Before the reckless close out Lonzo grabs the screener and shoves him out of the way. On a different play Ball held CP3 on a drive. Lonzo’s reckless close out alone should have lost them the game. This defense was far from elite.

Lonzo is at this point all defense, that is literally the worst thing we could trade for. Even if injury wasn’t an issue, we need high volume 3 point shooting, floor spacing, and PNR game with at the rim or mid range finish. Lonzo has shown nothing offensively this season, which means he has shown nothing offensively in over 3 years.

[minimus]

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1. Lonzo Ball went 2 of 4 from the field, 1 of 3 from deep for 5 points in 24 minutes. You guys all talk about how hard it is to play Conley with Jaden and Rudy. At least Conley hits his 3s at a decent clip. Lonzo is shooting around 30% for the season on low volume.

2. It wasn’t Lonzo that changed things. They stopped switching, had Vuc close out, doubled CP3, and got away with multiple fouls. The 3 was a reckless close out. Before the reckless close out Lonzo grabs the screener and shoves him out of the way. On a different play Ball held CP3 on a drive. Lonzo’s reckless close out alone should have lost them the game. This defense was far from elite.

Lonzo is at this point all defense, that is literally the worst thing we could trade for. Even if injury wasn’t an issue, we need high volume 3 point shooting, floor spacing, and PNR game with at the rim or mid range finish. Lonzo has shown nothing offensively this season, which means he has shown nothing offensively in over 3 years.

I truly believe that between DDV, Edwards new found 3pt shooting and Reid (and hopefully Rob) MIN have enough firepower, but this roster lacks decision makers (on both ends of the floor) and ballhandlers. I am not concerned about Lonzo's low volume, low percentage 3pt shooting, as long as he facilitates, initiate fast breaks and defends.

[minimus]

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16pts, 13rbs (9 offensive!!!), 5 asts.

[Klomp]

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[TimberKat]

If you are Suns' GM, what do you do? Trade KD for Randle and DDV ?(I know that is not possible)

[shrink]

If you are Suns' GM, what do you do? Trade KD for Randle and DDV ?(I know that is not possible)

They are in bad bad shape. They need both Beal to agree to a trade, and for another team to be willing to take on his worst contract in the NBA, and the Suns don’t have assets left to incentivize it. Benching Beal may encourage him to accept a trade - DET might be nice for us.

Failing that, they have to try to rebuild. They need to go to HOU, and ask what they can trade them to get some of those (now very valuable) future picks back. Fortunately HOU is doing well, so they may be interested in adding a Suns’ star ahead of schedule. The Suns have to hope it’s returning Durant to Texas, but I don’t think they can even say no if they get a legit offer for Booker, then peddle KD elsewhere. A blatant tank may also encourage Beal to accept a trade. But they can’t tank without their picks, so if they can’t move Beal right away, the rebuild has to start with a trade with HOU.

[winforlose]

First Zion comes back just in time to play us. Now Paolo Banchero is looking like he is coming back in time to play us.

[winforlose]

Hornets are the worst team in the NBA in transition points. They beat the Suns in transition 26 to 4 on route to a 114-105 victory. It snapped a 10 game losing streak for the Hornets and a 10 game home losing streak for the Hornets. Suns look so bad right now.

[Klomp]

Suns look so bad right now.

Started the season 8-1. Almost like the early season successes or failures don't necessarily mean a team will end the team the same way.

[winforlose]

Suns look so bad right now.

Started the season 8-1. Almost like the early season successes or failures don't necessarily mean a team will end the team the same way.

First 2-3 weeks are all about individual talent of players. Schemes still are not learned, cardio still isn’t all the way back, ect… I was much more worried about us as we progressed. Randle and Ant don’t play well together. Ant has a ton of clutch points because in most games he WILL NOT PASS THE BALL in the clutch moments. For every one game that wins it usually loses 2 or 3.

We are 19-17 that adds up to 36. Do you really want to argue that 36 games is early season?

[Klomp]

We are 19-17 that adds up to 36. Do you really want to argue that 36 games is early season?

We are 11-7 since Thanksgiving, a step up from the 8-10 start. It might not be to the level we were last year, but not sure that was ever realistic.

[winforlose]

We are 19-17 that adds up to 36. Do you really want to argue that 36 games is early season?

We are 11-7 since Thanksgiving, a step up from the 8-10 start. It might not be to the level we were last year, but not sure that was ever realistic.

Dude, we are one of the healthiest teams, we play a ton of games on rest advantages, we have played teams missing a ton of players (sometimes also on rest disadvantages,) and we have lost multiple games in a row to teams we should beat. We look bad in our wins and worse in our loses. Can you honestly say you expect this version of the Wolves to return to the WCF?