Around the NBA 2019-20

[Qwigglez]

Embiid just had zero points in a loss in case anyone was still upset about Booker’s poor outing yesterday

Still beats zero points from Ayton the last 15 games.

[ATTL]

Embiid just had zero points in a loss in case anyone was still upset about Booker’s poor outing yesterday

Still beats zero points from Ayton the last 15 games.

Ayton has been a ghost out there since Sacramento. So much for his offseason improvement.

[Saberestar]

Bogdanovic and Hield, what a duo of killers...

Hield is the best shooter in the NBA right now (with Curry and Klay out). Booker is a more complete offensive player because he is a better creator and passer, but as a pure shooter Buddy is better.

Hield can be an All Star this season too. He deserves it.

Bogdanovic is a good sixth man, but he is pretty bad defensively (worse than Hield and this year's Book) and he is inconsistent on offense. You never know how he is gonna play....sometimes terrific and sometimes terrible. He lost the game for the Kings yesterday (5/20 shooting).

[sunsbg]

Embiid just had zero points in a loss in case anyone was still upset about Booker’s poor outing yesterday

Still beats zero points from Ayton the last 15 games.

Embiid looks overweight and injured. I hope Ayton will turn into a better player than him.

[Blonde]

Embiid just had zero points in a loss in case anyone was still upset about Booker’s poor outing yesterday

Still beats zero points from Ayton the last 15 games.

Embiid looks overweight and injured. I hope Ayton will turn into a better player than him.

Embiid is highly overrated on offense. Ayton can eclipse him on that side of the floor, though it will be hard if he can’t get to the line more (Joel lives at the line). But Ayton will never have the defensive impact that Joel has, few people do. Embiid is somewhere between a top 8-15 player when healthy, I wouldn’t bet on Ayton reaching that but maybe. He’s still young.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Embiid has a little oubre in him offensively where if he just avoided taking a few shots a game that are just dumb he'd really boost that part of his game. To Kelly's credit I think he's actually been a lot better about that this season.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

[suns12345]

Read on Twitter

Is that saying Sabonis is a superior defender? if so, that is surprising.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Read on Twitter

Is that saying Sabonis is a superior defender? if so, that is surprising.

IIRC the knock on Sabonis coming out was that he wouldn't be a good defender.

People really don't seem to understand how important size, intelligence and grit are in basketball. You don't need to be able to jump out of the gym or race down the floor to be a great defender.

Man it just sucks being pretty much spot on about the draft year after year and watching our FO trying to outsmart the obvious. I feel like there are a select few posters here who are able to pick out the winners year after year. And it's not hard. Most of it's just looking at the freaking stats!!

[suns12345]

Read on Twitter

Is that saying Sabonis is a superior defender? if so, that is surprising.

IIRC the knock on Sabonis coming out was that he wouldn't be a good defender.

People really don't seem to understand how important size, intelligence and grit are in basketball. You don't need to be able to jump out of the gym or race down the floor to be a great defender.

Man it just sucks being pretty much spot on about the draft year after year and watching our FO trying to outsmart the obvious. I feel like there are a select few posters here who are able to pick out the winners year after year. And it's not hard. Most of it's just looking at the freaking stats!!

I think you're right. I mentioned this somewhere else, but looking at the stats and making the obvious pick gets you sabonis level players 80-90% of the time (if you know what you're doing)

But picking the diamond in the rough type athletes might net you Giannis or Kawhi etc. (10% of the time) who didn't look amazing coming out but had potential (but for this approach you really have to know what you're doing)

Anyway, those percentages are obviously made up, but I think it comes down to philosophy on drafting on what you want. Build up your team with solid players like sabonis, or try to hit a home run and land a star. Especially when if you are'nt picking #1 or 2 every year (often the #1 and 2 pick combine good stats and athletic potential)

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

Is that saying Sabonis is a superior defender? if so, that is surprising.

IIRC the knock on Sabonis coming out was that he wouldn't be a good defender.

People really don't seem to understand how important size, intelligence and grit are in basketball. You don't need to be able to jump out of the gym or race down the floor to be a great defender.

Man it just sucks being pretty much spot on about the draft year after year and watching our FO trying to outsmart the obvious. I feel like there are a select few posters here who are able to pick out the winners year after year. And it's not hard. Most of it's just looking at the freaking stats!!

I think you're right. I mentioned this somewhere else, but looking at the stats and making the obvious pick gets you sabonis level players 80-90% of the time (if you know what you're doing)

But picking the diamond in the rough type athletes might net you Giannis or Kawhi etc. (10% of the time) who didn't look amazing coming out but had potential (but for this approach you really have to know what you're doing)

Anyway, those percentages are obviously made up, but I think it comes down to philosophy on drafting on what you want. Build up your team with solid players like sabonis, or try to hit a home run and land a star. Especially when if you are'nt picking #1 or 2 every year (often the #1 and 2 pick combine good stats and athletic potential)

I don't know what Giannis's stats looked like as an 18YO in Greece, but I know they were better than Bender's in Israel.

Kawhi actually WAS the obvious pick for us in the 2011 Draft based on stats. I remember most of the people on the board I frequented at the time wanted Kawhi. The combination of scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks reminded a lot of us of Marion.

But, yeah, I agree!

[suns12345]

IIRC the knock on Sabonis coming out was that he wouldn't be a good defender.

People really don't seem to understand how important size, intelligence and grit are in basketball. You don't need to be able to jump out of the gym or race down the floor to be a great defender.

Man it just sucks being pretty much spot on about the draft year after year and watching our FO trying to outsmart the obvious. I feel like there are a select few posters here who are able to pick out the winners year after year. And it's not hard. Most of it's just looking at the freaking stats!!

I think you're right. I mentioned this somewhere else, but looking at the stats and making the obvious pick gets you sabonis level players 80-90% of the time (if you know what you're doing)

But picking the diamond in the rough type athletes might net you Giannis or Kawhi etc. (10% of the time) who didn't look amazing coming out but had potential (but for this approach you really have to know what you're doing)

Anyway, those percentages are obviously made up, but I think it comes down to philosophy on drafting on what you want. Build up your team with solid players like sabonis, or try to hit a home run and land a star. Especially when if you are'nt picking #1 or 2 every year (often the #1 and 2 pick combine good stats and athletic potential)

I don't know what Giannis's stats looked like as an 18YO in Greece, but I know they were better than Bender's in Israel.

Kawhi actually WAS the obvious pick for us in the 2011 Draft based on stats. I remember most of the people on the board I frequented at the time wanted Kawhi. The combination of scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks reminded a lot of us of Marion.

But, yeah, I agree!

Fair enough. Not disagreeing at all. I didn't follow the NBA as closely back then so I wouldn't claim to know.

But regardless, I think the popular philosophy of drafting projects etc. is flawed. Some of the best players today had multiple years at college or were more refined coming out. I think modern GMs do over complicate it and fans that are switched on would be better at picking or at least just as good.

Of course fans have no pressure and their job isn't on the line. So maybe it's easier to think clearly haha

[lilfishi22]

IIRC the knock on Sabonis coming out was that he wouldn't be a good defender.

People really don't seem to understand how important size, intelligence and grit are in basketball. You don't need to be able to jump out of the gym or race down the floor to be a great defender.

Man it just sucks being pretty much spot on about the draft year after year and watching our FO trying to outsmart the obvious. I feel like there are a select few posters here who are able to pick out the winners year after year. And it's not hard. Most of it's just looking at the freaking stats!!

I think you're right. I mentioned this somewhere else, but looking at the stats and making the obvious pick gets you sabonis level players 80-90% of the time (if you know what you're doing)

But picking the diamond in the rough type athletes might net you Giannis or Kawhi etc. (10% of the time) who didn't look amazing coming out but had potential (but for this approach you really have to know what you're doing)

Anyway, those percentages are obviously made up, but I think it comes down to philosophy on drafting on what you want. Build up your team with solid players like sabonis, or try to hit a home run and land a star. Especially when if you are'nt picking #1 or 2 every year (often the #1 and 2 pick combine good stats and athletic potential)

I don't know what Giannis's stats looked like as an 18YO in Greece, but I know they were better than Bender's in Israel.

Kawhi actually WAS the obvious pick for us in the 2011 Draft based on stats. I remember most of the people on the board I frequented at the time wanted Kawhi. The combination of scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks reminded a lot of us of Marion.

But, yeah, I agree!

I wasn't as into the draft as I am now (we weren't that bad to care about the draft then) but IIRC, Kawhi was a largely unremarkable prospect. He was a good defensive wing but wasn't much of a notable scorer and wasn't much of a shooter. We had also just drafted Earl Clarke the season before and we had a young and starting to be productive Dudley playing behind Hill.

I don't think he was Kawhi was ever an obvious pick but my memory might not be perfect. Not to say Kieff was *our* guy either.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Is that saying Sabonis is a superior defender? if so, that is surprising.

Yes, far superior, which surprised me too. Given how efficient he is shooting (at least from close range), that makes him a lot more valuable than I had thought.

It must mean Myles Turner is not a good defender at all. Of course it's all a small sample size and it depends on who else is on the floor, but that seems to say a lot.

But, if, for example, Goga Bitadze is a fantastic defender and plays all his minutes with Sabonis and none with Turner, something like that could have a bit of an impact.

[Dual]

I'm watching Pacers vs Utah and TJ Warren's defense seems to be really bad.
I dont think he would be a good piece in our team this year for that matter tbh

[bwgood77]

Gary Harris is on fire. How long are Fox and Bagley out for?

[bwgood77]

Jamal Murray just had one of the most boneheaded possessions to end a game that I've ever seen. You have to find it and see it. Kings won in OT..came back. I guess they are tied with us for the 8th seed now.

[Revived]

Kings seem to have no trouble putting together a bunch of wins (some over very good teams) while massively shorthanded without Fox and Bagley.

[bwgood77]

Wow, Indiana kind of blew it against the Sixers, though it was close...but Simmons with a few steals in the last couple minutes. Brogdon looked a lot like Booker does. Sabonis also fouled out with a couple minutes left, so that hurt. Indiana will be tough once they get Oladipo back.

[stoo]

Bender