Around the NBA: 2018/2019 edition

[pepe1991]

Dennis Smith doesn't impress me .. certainly not enough for him to keep getting brought up as an Isaac replacement.

It's situation that will be better to look at after this or even next year. Non of them had good opening night.
When you look Ayton or even Dončić first games ever you see how much overall talented they are ,especially on offense than both of guys who are in second seasons.

It's kind a unfair but to most rookies, their measurable success becomes depended on how guys drafed around them perform.
Hezonja was viewed as total bust because Turner, Johnson and Winslow were better in rookie year, looking today, he was not that bad of a pick at all, but ofc Booker was biggest misssed oportunity for half of the lottery teams.

That 2017 draft really isn't looking like big deal. Fultz sucks, Ball is brickshooter, Jackson is meh, Fox has nice potentia l but nobody cares since he is on Kings,Lauri is now hurt, Frank is raw, Isaac is raw, Smith has no efficiency. Just kind a mess all around with Mitchell and Tatum being that much better than anybody else.

[pepe1991]

Finally had a chance to take better look at Pele - Rockets game.
As i said on Mario thread, Payton made better decision with picking team. Playing with ***t makes you look like one, playing along side legit great players, makes you better.

Davis , Mirotić , Holiday open a floor, people double team Davis, Payton will have open driving lines every game.

[nymets1]

Rockets didn't look anywhere close to the #2 seed in the WEST. They got crushed on their homecourt. If they don't fix their issues, Rockets are not a top team 4 in the West. There's something to be said about losing Ariza and adding Carmelo who is basically just an ISO scorer and no defense. Carmelo will be a problem all year if he's just ISO, no defense and can't get used to his bench role.

[pepe1991]

Dončić, time to skip some of that Texas hamburgers

he really got fat

[MagicFan101]

Dončić, time to skip some of that Texas hamburgers

he really got fat

Texas hamburgers?

Umm ... that isn’t what I would say we are known for out here!

[pepe1991]

Dončić, time to skip some of that Texas hamburgers

he really got fat

Texas hamburgers?

Umm ... that isn’t what I would say we are known for out here!

Have no clue, i googled texas cuisine and hamburgers were right behind tex mex and BBQ. Pretty solid food from nutrition perspective. So i guessed it was hamburgers
Anyway, he has to trim down a bit . Looks chubby and it impacts his game.

[BadMofoPimp]

Finally had a chance to take better look at Pele - Rockets game.
As i said on Mario thread, Payton made better decision with picking team. Playing with ***t makes you look like one, playing along side legit great players, makes you better.

Davis , Mirotić , Holiday open a floor, people double team Davis, Payton will have open driving lines every game.

Wait. Elf was no scoring machine driving down open lanes lighting it up last night. He was 5-13 from the field with 0-2 from 3 and 0-2 from FT line. Thus, he hasn't improved as a scorer, but Elf did what he has always done with the Magic, and that is rack up assists and rebounds!

[pepe1991]

Finally had a chance to take better look at Pele - Rockets game.
As i said on Mario thread, Payton made better decision with picking team. Playing with ***t makes you look like one, playing along side legit great players, makes you better.

Davis , Mirotić , Holiday open a floor, people double team Davis, Payton will have open driving lines every game.

Wait. Elf was no scoring machine driving down open lanes lighting it up last night. He was 5-13 from the field with 0-2 from 3 and 0-2 from FT line. Thus, he hasn't improved as a scorer, but Elf did what he has always done with the Magic, and that is rack up assists and rebounds!

My feelings about Payton as starter are well documented here

Their guards off bench don't exist. But because Davis is that great and because rest of starters can produce at high level, he will be good for them as long as they don't need him to do much.

[woosah]

Finally had a chance to take better look at Pele - Rockets game.
As i said on Mario thread, Payton made better decision with picking team. Playing with ***t makes you look like one, playing along side legit great players, makes you better.

Davis , Mirotić , Holiday open a floor, people double team Davis, Payton will have open driving lines every game.

Wait. Elf was no scoring machine driving down open lanes lighting it up last night. He was 5-13 from the field with 0-2 from 3 and 0-2 from FT line. Thus, he hasn't improved as a scorer, but Elf did what he has always done with the Magic, and that is rack up assists and rebounds!

yup, Dell recruited Elf to do exactly what he did here-- push the pace, score in transition and find the open guy-- and they thought it would be a great fit. Funny how he wasn't supposed to be playing with the starters originally. But yeah playing with good players makes you good. Ray Felton looks amazing when he plays with Westbrook.

[BadMofoPimp]

Finally had a chance to take better look at Pele - Rockets game.
As i said on Mario thread, Payton made better decision with picking team. Playing with ***t makes you look like one, playing along side legit great players, makes you better.

Davis , Mirotić , Holiday open a floor, people double team Davis, Payton will have open driving lines every game.

Wait. Elf was no scoring machine driving down open lanes lighting it up last night. He was 5-13 from the field with 0-2 from 3 and 0-2 from FT line. Thus, he hasn't improved as a scorer, but Elf did what he has always done with the Magic, and that is rack up assists and rebounds!

My feelings about Payton as starter are well documented here

Their guards off bench don't exist. But because Davis is that great and because rest of starters can produce at high level, he will be good for them as long as they don't need him to do much.

Grabbing 10 boards and 10 assists is more than not doing much in my personal opinion, but when the team ain't winning aka Magic, then people tend to focus on things players don't do too well (shooting).

[pepe1991]

Wait. Elf was no scoring machine driving down open lanes lighting it up last night. He was 5-13 from the field with 0-2 from 3 and 0-2 from FT line. Thus, he hasn't improved as a scorer, but Elf did what he has always done with the Magic, and that is rack up assists and rebounds!

My feelings about Payton as starter are well documented here

Their guards off bench don't exist. But because Davis is that great and because rest of starters can produce at high level, he will be good for them as long as they don't need him to do much.

Grabbing 10 boards and 10 assists is more than not doing much in my personal opinion, but when the team ain't winning aka Magic, then people tend to focus on things players don't do too well (shooting).

It's not just winning, it's who you play with.
When you throw semi bad pass in middle to Vučević or Ibaka he will fumble it ( especially to Biyombo :lol) , throw semi bad pass to Davis and he'll catch, turn and dunk.
There are countless situations in basketball like that, were superstar turns ***t into gold . Especially guy like Davis who top 5 player today and maybe best two way player overall.

Last night ,by importance how imortant was Payton to his team?
1- Davis
2. Mirotić
3 - Randle
4- Moore
5- Payton

On Magic, if you are 5th best player in single game, it means team lost by 56 points.
We all know that playing with better players makes you better. it's no brainer.

[BadMofoPimp]

My feelings about Payton as starter are well documented here

Their guards off bench don't exist. But because Davis is that great and because rest of starters can produce at high level, he will be good for them as long as they don't need him to do much.

Grabbing 10 boards and 10 assists is more than not doing much in my personal opinion, but when the team ain't winning aka Magic, then people tend to focus on things players don't do too well (shooting).

It's not just winning, it's who you play with.
When you throw semi bad pass in middle to Vučević or Ibaka he will fumble it ( especially to Biyombo :lol) , throw semi bad pass to Davis and he'll catch, turn and dunk.
There are countless situations in basketball like that, were superstar turns ***t into gold . Especially guy like Davis who top 5 player today and maybe best two way player overall.

Last night ,by importance how imortant was Payton to his team?
1- Davis
2. Mirotić
3 - Randle
4- Moore
5- Payton

On Magic, if you are 5th best player in single game, it means team lost by 56 points.
We all know that playing with better players makes you better. it's no brainer.

I think you are over-exaggerating as you are excited, but Elf is the same ole Elf and he looks to get similar stats that he got with the Magic even though he is playing with Davis and Mirotic. He got 10rbds and 10asts all the time with the Magic regardless of the one or two times a game a player "fumbles" the ball.

[woosah]

Meh the real story of the houston game was the points in the paint for nola. Everyone ate real good in the paint. The real test for nola is how they will find the w when the opponent is hitting their 3's or when they have a good defensive inside presence (like vs Utah or maybe Detroit).

[OrlChamps2030]

My feelings about Payton as starter are well documented here

Their guards off bench don't exist. But because Davis is that great and because rest of starters can produce at high level, he will be good for them as long as they don't need him to do much.

Grabbing 10 boards and 10 assists is more than not doing much in my personal opinion, but when the team ain't winning aka Magic, then people tend to focus on things players don't do too well (shooting).

It's not just winning, it's who you play with.
When you throw semi bad pass in middle to Vučević or Ibaka he will fumble it ( especially to Biyombo :lol) , throw semi bad pass to Davis and he'll catch, turn and dunk.
There are countless situations in basketball like that, were superstar turns ***t into gold . Especially guy like Davis who top 5 player today and maybe best two way player overall.

Last night ,by importance how imortant was Payton to his team?
1- Davis
2. Mirotić
3 - Randle
4- Moore
5- Payton

On Magic, if you are 5th best player in single game, it means team lost by 56 points.
We all know that playing with better players makes you better. it's no brainer.

Low key randle was a great pick up for the pelicans. I expect him to have a really nice year, he had a good year last year too

Mirotic was a great pick up too, hardly low key though, he would probably be the best offensive player on our team lol

[pepe1991]

Meh the real story of the houston game was the points in the paint for nola. Everyone ate real good in the paint. The real test for nola is how they will find the w when the opponent is hitting their 3's or when they have a good defensive inside presence (like vs Utah or maybe Detroit).

Rockets defense was also pretty ugly,especially with Melo.

[PrimeThyme]

Dennis Smith doesn't impress me .. certainly not enough for him to keep getting brought up as an Isaac replacement.

Yeah I’ve been banging this drum on these boards for quite some time, he just doesn't impress me enough either and he was somebody that I wanted coming out of college. I just don’t think the impact and ceiling will ever come close to what Isaacs is. I know like last year people will just look at his ppg like last night and see 13 but when you dig into the stats and see he did it on 17 fga while only shooting 25% from 3 (after 31% last year) it dosent make it nearly as impressive.

Im still pretty ecstatic with the Isaac pick especially now that we have Mo to pair him next to. I’m just still holding out hope that we see him get more run with BIG in that second unit so he can actually be involved in the offense.

[woosah]

Meh the real story of the houston game was the points in the paint for nola. Everyone ate real good in the paint. The real test for nola is how they will find the w when the opponent is hitting their 3's or when they have a good defensive inside presence (like vs Utah or maybe Detroit).

Rockets defense was also pretty ugly,especially with Melo.

Yeah they are going to miss Trevor and Luc, but they are probably counting on outscoring people.

[pepe1991]

Meh the real story of the houston game was the points in the paint for nola. Everyone ate real good in the paint. The real test for nola is how they will find the w when the opponent is hitting their 3's or when they have a good defensive inside presence (like vs Utah or maybe Detroit).

Rockets defense was also pretty ugly,especially with Melo.

Yeah they are going to miss Trevor and Luc, but they are probably counting on outscoring people.

They got stoped last night, -17 at rebounds, -16 in assists.
Took 48 threes, only made 16.

In general whole game is probably just outliner. Randle 25 points in 24 min is not sustainable, Mirotić shooting like Curry probably won't stick and Moore won't look like T mac on most of nights .

I'll shift more focus to Hornets , as Magic face them on Friday ( game i probably won't be able to watch :/ )
They missed two game winning shots vs Bucks.
All their starters but Kemba were trash. Zeller ,as C had 5 points 3 rebounds in 21 min.
But Monk, Parker and MKG gave them nice boost off bench. It's also Clifford vs old team, as interesting matchup.

[woosah]

Rockets defense was also pretty ugly,especially with Melo.

Yeah they are going to miss Trevor and Luc, but they are probably counting on outscoring people.

They got stoped last night, -17 at rebounds, -16 in assists.
Took 48 threes, only made 16.

In general whole game is probably just outliner. Randle 25 points in 24 min is not sustainable, Mirotić shooting like Curry probably won't stick and Moore won't look like T mac on most of nights .

I'll shift more focus to Hornets , as Magic face them on Friday ( game i probably won't be able to watch :/ )
They missed two game winning shots vs Bucks.
All their starters but Kemba were trash. Zeller ,as C had 5 points 3 rebounds in 21 min.
But Monk, Parker and MKG gave them nice boost off bench. It's also Clifford vs old team, as interesting matchup.

Jrue isn't going to score 10 a game all season either. I don't know what you're really trying to say. They played according to plan last night and had success. Gentry said after the game he could see this from Payton because of how they play. He's not the focal point, nor should he be on a team with Anthony friggin Davis lol but i know you think he has no talent so you have to credit others when he shows something. We know what it is.

Charlotte game will be interesting i guess. Borrego vs Clifford. Which former assistant will shine?

[pepe1991]

Yeah they are going to miss Trevor and Luc, but they are probably counting on outscoring people.

They got stoped last night, -17 at rebounds, -16 in assists.
Took 48 threes, only made 16.

In general whole game is probably just outliner. Randle 25 points in 24 min is not sustainable, Mirotić shooting like Curry probably won't stick and Moore won't look like T mac on most of nights .

I'll shift more focus to Hornets , as Magic face them on Friday ( game i probably won't be able to watch :/ )
They missed two game winning shots vs Bucks.
All their starters but Kemba were trash. Zeller ,as C had 5 points 3 rebounds in 21 min.
But Monk, Parker and MKG gave them nice boost off bench. It's also Clifford vs old team, as interesting matchup.

Jrue isn't going to score 10 a game all season either. I don't know what you're really trying to say. They played according to plan last night and had success. Gentry said after the game he could see this from Payton because of how they play. He's not the focal point, nor should he be on a team with Anthony friggin Davis lol but i know you think he has no talent so you have to credit others when he shows something. We know what it is.

Charlotte game will be interesting i guess. Borrego vs Clifford. Which former assistant will shine?

I don't even know what was my orginal point

In general i think that Payton is more or less, same player he was with Magic, but with better team around him he won't be as exposed as he was here. I still don't think he is starter in NBA.