Around the NBA, 2020/21 Edition

[ogmagicfan]

Moses Brown with 17 points & 19 rebounds at halftime against the Celtics

I started adding moses to my fantasy teams on Tuesday March 16th when he posted 20 points, 16 rebounds, 5 blocks in 30 minutes played.

Likewise. Been keeping an eye on Moses for a while. Got him & Kevin Porter Jr. With Oladipo on the Heat and now Horford shut down they’re looking like the biggest post-All Star break additions.

[ogmagicfan]

The Spurs are no slouch so not really surprised they are putting it on the Bulls tonight. What is going to be interesting to watch is if they can actually defend the paint effectively now that they have a front court of perimeter shooting big men? I honestly don't think Vuc is going to catapult them.

A frontcourt of him & Markannen aren’t going to make the cut at all on defense. Probably why the Pelicans didnt trade for Lauri since him & Zion wouldve been a bad fit defensively. I wonder what changes the Bulls will make in the PF position this offseason.

[thelead]

They're already blaming their guards for Vuc's defense

[DiplomaticMagic]

Zion is quickly becoming a top 10 player

[Bensational]

Imagine the Bulls miss the playoffs but win a top 3 pick and get to add that to Vuc + LaVine + White.

[PrimeThyme]

Imagine the Bulls miss the playoffs but win a top 3 pick and get to add that to Vuc + LaVine + White.

It could happen. That risk was baked into the trade with the top 4 protection. They better use it on a DPOY type talent tho, because that's the only way you can have real success defensively with those 3 on the court.

White is a really bad defender. You saw some of that tonight. Lavine isn't as bad as he once was but still hurts you on that end. Vuc is who he is defensively. You have to use him, as Clifford did, in a very specific way to have success.

&& even then it only really resulted in a top 10 defense when we placed an elite shot-blocker and top 5 type defender next to him.

[MagicFan101]

They're already blaming their guards for Vuc's defense

I’ll be honest, if we were trading Vuc to help him find a better situation then Chicago really doesn’t make all that much sense to be.

Boston made a ton of sense. Chicago is a head scratcher for Vuc.

But thanks for the picks!!

[thelead]

They're already blaming their guards for Vuc's defense

I’ll be honest, if we were trading Vuc to help him find a better situation then Chicago really doesn’t make all that much sense to be.

Boston made a ton of sense. Chicago is a head scratcher for Vuc.

But thanks for the picks!!

Pulled from their board and hits the nail on the head as far as most of us are concerned:

You know, maybe I'm just being harsh on this guy. Maybe he actually has a huge impact on Orlando's success (or lack of, really) and it's all just the crap he's surrounded by that's been the cause of their struggles the whole time he's been there. So let's see how they've played with and without him. He's played 591 games and missed 101 games, so I'd say that's a pretty good sample size of them with and without him, over a loooong amount of time, with lots of different types of teammates and coaches. This is the kind of barometer that immediately makes a stud player look like Basketball Jesus. This is the stat where even a second-tier "star" like Jimmy Butler comes off like a superstar. Well…

Magic with Vucevic: 215-376, or a 29.8 win pace in an 82-game season
Magic without Vucevic: 32-69, or a 26 win pace

So yeah…they just went all-in on a guy who adds a whopping 4 wins to a 26-win team.

But wait a minute…a big chunk of those losses without him actually came in only one season, 2013-14, just his second in Orlando, when they went only 4-21 without him for some reason. Let's see the eight seasons he's played there without that one outlier year…

Magic with Vucevic: 196-338, or a 30.1 win pace
Magic without Vucevic: 28-48, or a 30.2 win pace

Uhhhh…yeah that's not good.

You know what? Let's go with those 4 wins. Yeah. That's better. Let's say this franchise just went all-in on a guy that adds 4 wins to a 26-win team.

Get that seventh spot in the trophy case ready, boys!

[Bensational]

They're already blaming their guards for Vuc's defense

I’ll be honest, if we were trading Vuc to help him find a better situation then Chicago really doesn’t make all that much sense to be.

Boston made a ton of sense. Chicago is a head scratcher for Vuc.

But thanks for the picks!!

Pulled from their board and hits the nail on the head as far as most of us are concerned:

You know, maybe I'm just being harsh on this guy. Maybe he actually has a huge impact on Orlando's success (or lack of, really) and it's all just the crap he's surrounded by that's been the cause of their struggles the whole time he's been there. So let's see how they've played with and without him. He's played 591 games and missed 101 games, so I'd say that's a pretty good sample size of them with and without him, over a loooong amount of time, with lots of different types of teammates and coaches. This is the kind of barometer that immediately makes a stud player look like Basketball Jesus. This is the stat where even a second-tier "star" like Jimmy Butler comes off like a superstar. Well…

Magic with Vucevic: 215-376, or a 29.8 win pace in an 82-game season
Magic without Vucevic: 32-69, or a 26 win pace

So yeah…they just went all-in on a guy who adds a whopping 4 wins to a 26-win team.

But wait a minute…a big chunk of those losses without him actually came in only one season, 2013-14, just his second in Orlando, when they went only 4-21 without him for some reason. Let's see the eight seasons he's played there without that one outlier year…

Magic with Vucevic: 196-338, or a 30.1 win pace
Magic without Vucevic: 28-48, or a 30.2 win pace

Uhhhh…yeah that's not good.

You know what? Let's go with those 4 wins. Yeah. That's better. Let's say this franchise just went all-in on a guy that adds 4 wins to a 26-win team.

Get that seventh spot in the trophy case ready, boys!

It will be interesting to see Vuc’s impact now start to be scrutinised by people who aren’t just Magic fans.

[RookieStar]

They're already blaming their guards for Vuc's defense

I’ll be honest, if we were trading Vuc to help him find a better situation then Chicago really doesn’t make all that much sense to be.

Boston made a ton of sense. Chicago is a head scratcher for Vuc.

But thanks for the picks!!

Pulled from their board and hits the nail on the head as far as most of us are concerned:

You know, maybe I'm just being harsh on this guy. Maybe he actually has a huge impact on Orlando's success (or lack of, really) and it's all just the crap he's surrounded by that's been the cause of their struggles the whole time he's been there. So let's see how they've played with and without him. He's played 591 games and missed 101 games, so I'd say that's a pretty good sample size of them with and without him, over a loooong amount of time, with lots of different types of teammates and coaches. This is the kind of barometer that immediately makes a stud player look like Basketball Jesus. This is the stat where even a second-tier "star" like Jimmy Butler comes off like a superstar. Well…

Magic with Vucevic: 215-376, or a 29.8 win pace in an 82-game season
Magic without Vucevic: 32-69, or a 26 win pace

So yeah…they just went all-in on a guy who adds a whopping 4 wins to a 26-win team.

But wait a minute…a big chunk of those losses without him actually came in only one season, 2013-14, just his second in Orlando, when they went only 4-21 without him for some reason. Let's see the eight seasons he's played there without that one outlier year…

Magic with Vucevic: 196-338, or a 30.1 win pace
Magic without Vucevic: 28-48, or a 30.2 win pace

Uhhhh…yeah that's not good.

You know what? Let's go with those 4 wins. Yeah. That's better. Let's say this franchise just went all-in on a guy that adds 4 wins to a 26-win team.

Get that seventh spot in the trophy case ready, boys!

ok I admit thays funny but cmon now. its just the 1st game with a bunch of olayers who havent played together. Give it 10 games then they will be clixking. They just have to know that they nust play around Vuc. He commands a double team which should benefit Lavine.

[Bensational]

Imagine the Bulls miss the playoffs but win a top 3 pick and get to add that to Vuc + LaVine + White.

It could happen. That risk was baked into the trade with the top 4 protection. They better use it on a DPOY type talent tho, because that's the only way you can have real success defensively with those 3 on the court.

White is a really bad defender. You saw some of that tonight. Lavine isn't as bad as he once was but still hurts you on that end. Vuc is who he is defensively. You have to use him, as Clifford did, in a very specific way to have success.

&& even then it only really resulted in a top 10 defense when we placed an elite shot-blocker and top 5 type defender next to him.

What kills me about those deals is that the Magic didn’t arrange more complex terms other than a blanket top 4 protection. Should’ve been something like, a pick swap if it lands 1-4, and complete transfer if it falls outside that range. I just don’t see the Bulls turning down a pick swap with a lottery bound team vs killing the deal of relinquishing absolute protections 1-4.

[GelbeWand09]

Imagine the Bulls miss the playoffs but win a top 3 pick and get to add that to Vuc + LaVine + White.

It could happen. That risk was baked into the trade with the top 4 protection. They better use it on a DPOY type talent tho, because that's the only way you can have real success defensively with those 3 on the court.

White is a really bad defender. You saw some of that tonight. Lavine isn't as bad as he once was but still hurts you on that end. Vuc is who he is defensively. You have to use him, as Clifford did, in a very specific way to have success.

&& even then it only really resulted in a top 10 defense when we placed an elite shot-blocker and top 5 type defender next to him.

Yea thats the only way he doesnt absolutely kills you on defense but the defense still wont be better than middle of the pack with ok to good defenders around him. C has way too much influence on your overall defense.
Without a Isaac light (i would try to get Collins from Portland & hope he stays healthy), with Lavine as another offense only player, they will never be a top 10 defense, which means statistically, they wont be a 45+ team anytime soon without a historic good offense, which wont happen, because Vuc isnt really eff. on offense.
TBH I'm not really rooting much for loses for them. I see a much higher chance one of those picks jumps to 4 than they becoming 15+ picks
I never liked Donovan as a coach but even to think about playing Vuc & Lauri together Its not only the defense, on offense they use many of the same spots too. With Young (maybe Aminu too) they should be ok enough on defense, to win games when both have good offensive nights, in case Coby doesnt shoot them out of those lol

For the rest of this season i think Evan could have a much bigger impact than Vuc, because he's gonna play in his perfect role & Boston is underachieving. Chicago just got a anti Vuc like team on defense this year.

[pepe1991]

i guess i was only one here who watched a game- but didn't post about it.

So at one point Bulls players outside Vuc shot 15-62 from the field and were down 32. But than Bulls went on some crazy run like 20-6 and closed in to 9 points.
Than Lavine re-injuried his injuried ankle and didn't play 4th quater.

Lauri and Vuc didn't even tank their defense, they were ok, but it's hard to stay competitive if opposing team makes 12 ouf of 17 mid range jumpers through 3 quaters. Lauri,however, was terrible on offense.

And at the end of a game in modern nba when you shoot 23% for 3 and other team shoots 40% you won't beat anybody.

I still don't see Bulls as good team, no playmaker in sight, main ballhandling duties are split between Lavine , White and Satoransky and non of them has advanced BBIQ required to play that. They really missed on Lonzo trade, would solve majority of their problems.

On Spurs, every time they needed something, Patty Mills was there to make some out of nowhere 3.
This is first time i watched and payed any attention to Keldon Johnson. Jesus Christ that guy is like a bulldozer. Probably strongest guard in nba. I was impressed.

[Rainwater]

Watching highlights of AG in Denver and just based off that one game it seems like he is going to excel big time over there. Playing with joker, he is cutting and playing off ball a lot more.

[Last Guardian]

I don't think Vuc will work out in Chicago, but AG in denver is a perfect fit.

[Nyce_1]

Watching highlights of AG in Denver and just based off that one game it seems like he is going to excel big time over there. Playing with joker, he is cutting and playing off ball a lot more.

it's his rightful role; off the ball, and in a bunch of space. we never had better options to FORCE HIM not to be on the ball, and we never had the shooters to open the floor.

oh well. Chuma is better served for this role and next to JI. would've been great to have all 3 flourish.

[Nyce_1]

Bulls @ Warriors tonight at 10pm. Steph is questionable.

[Magicfanatic82]

Bulls @ Warriors tonight at 10pm. Steph is questionable.

I think the Bulls finishing 8th worst should be the floor we want. I would love 5-7 pick but the odds are too good for them to keep the pick by jumping us into the top 4.

[KillMonger]

Zion is quickly becoming a top 10 player

He's a beast now but imo i think he would be even better if he got down to his Duke weight...he would be the same beast just more explosive which is scary.....but in some ways he's kinda like Giannis, the lack of a jumpshot will be what will stop him from really becoming a cheat code

[Ducklett]

Evan is 0-fer at half time lol.