The NBENFANT Thread (NBA): 2023-2024 Edition!

[Wizenheimer]

apparently, the Lakers are going to sign Derrick Williams to a 10 day contract

a former #2 pick is down to signing a 10-day contract. He was taken before Kahwi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Reggie Jackson, Tobias Harris, Chandler Parson, Nikola Vucevic, Nikola Mirotic, Enes Kanter, & Isaiah Thomas. Good job Minnesota

of course, that was the same draft when Portland took Nolan Smith before Jimmy Butler, Chandler Parsons, Reggie Jackson, Kenneth Faried, Cory Joseph, Bojan Bogdanovic, E'Twaun Moore, & Isaiah Thomas. Good job Portland

[DusterBuster]

apparently, the Lakers are going to sign Derrick Williams to a 10 day contract

a former #2 pick is down to signing a 10-day contract. He was taken before Kahwi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Reggie Jackson, Tobias Harris, Chandler Parson, Nikola Vucevic, Nikola Mirotic, Enes Kanter, & Isaiah Thomas. Good job Minnesota

That was another gem of a transaction by David Kahn. That guy didn't get the national attention with the likes of Billy King, but for my money, he was one of the all time worst NBA GMs. The amount of draft blunders and horrendous trades that guy made is mindboggling.

Here's a fun article looking at how god awful he was at running that team....

https://94feetreport.com/david-kahn-a-complete-analysis-of-one-of-the-worst-general-managers-in-nba-history-c6664f13a61b

[Wizenheimer]

apparently, the Lakers are going to sign Derrick Williams to a 10 day contract

a former #2 pick is down to signing a 10-day contract. He was taken before Kahwi Leonard, Jimmy Butler, Klay Thompson, Reggie Jackson, Tobias Harris, Chandler Parson, Nikola Vucevic, Nikola Mirotic, Enes Kanter, & Isaiah Thomas. Good job Minnesota

That was another gem of a transaction by David Kahn. That guy didn't get the national attention with the likes of Billy King, but for my money, he was one of the all time worst NBA GMs. The amount of draft blunders and horrendous trades that guy made is mindboggling.

Here's a fun article looking at how god awful he was at running that team....

https://94feetreport.com/david-kahn-a-complete-analysis-of-one-of-the-worst-general-managers-in-nba-history-c6664f13a61b

I knew Kahn was bad but that article sure fleshes it out....yeeeeesh!

one thing connected to that was how Dwight Jaynes kept saying Kahn was underrated. He also thought the Wolver were going great places with Kahn as GM and Adelman as coach. But then he was friends with both

[DaVoiceMaster]

I was hoping to read something about the whole Batum fiasco

[Wizenheimer]

in another "how far have they fallen" episode, Brandon Jennings has signed a 10-day with the Bucks....although I'm really not sure he ever reached a significant enough level to fall far

by signing with the Bucks he completes a circle. That's where he started. But he was definitely a flash-in-the-pan. In his 6th game in the NBA he had 32 points, 9 assists, and 5 rebounds. That was impressive, but not as impressive as his next game when he scored 55 points and had 5 reb & 5 assists. That was his 7th NBA game...55 points. It was all downhill from there. That was over 6 years and 550 games ago

Note: Wilt scored 55 in his 8th game for Jennings beat him by 1. Wilt had 29 rebounds in that game. In his 6th NBA game, Wilt had 39 points and 43 rebounds; in his 40th game he had 44 point & 43 rebounds. In his 46th game he had 58 points and 42 rebounds. In the 24th game of his 3rd season, 78 points and 43 rebounds. It was the 76th of his 3rd season when he had 100 points and 25 rebounds

[Norm2953]

Its interesting to check out ticket prices on the resale market and I see teams in the lottery
can't give away tickets for Portland's game in Memphis has seats going for $2.

It does appear those road games might have some Blazer fans in attendance
if they happen to be in the area.

[JasonStern]

Read on Twitter

[DusterBuster]

It'll be interesting to see what the WCPO race looks like after tonight. A ton of games on the docket for teams below the Blazers:

MIN @ WAS
OKC @ ATL
LAC @ CHI
NOP v CHA
SAS vs ORL
DEN @ LAL
UTA vs DET

Most of these should be easy wins for the Western Conf teams. Minny has the hardest opponent in Washington and with how the Lakers are currently playing, Denver could have a long night ahead as well. Utah vs Detroit could also be interesting. Other than that, it's probably safe to pencil wins for OKC, Clippers, and Spurs.

[The Sebastian Express]

I mean. OKC did play last night. They had to play regular minutes to squeak out a win against Sacramento. It's possible this could end up being a loss.

And Adams is out.

[The Sebastian Express]

I'm going to say..

Washington.

Tossup between OKC/ATL (though Bazemore is out so that could play a big role) just because of the schedule and OKC's last game.

I'm actually going to go with ORL here, could be very wrong.

Clippers.
Utah.

Hm...

Lakers upset.

[Wizenheimer]

Avery Bradley is out 6-8 weeks with an injury which means the rest of the regular season and likely the playoffs for the Clippers

Maybe the Blazers should just get some credit for winning the Survivor contest. Staying healthy may be as important as having talent

[zzaj]

Avery Bradley is out 6-8 weeks with an injury which means the rest of the regular season and likely the playoffs for the Clippers

Maybe the Blazers should just get some credit for winning the Survivor contest. Staying healthy may be as important as having talent

I say it before every season, but the teams with the most health win...especially amongst the middle-tier teams. It's why injury prone players are so hard to gauge in terms of value. What is the worth of an All Star caliber player if they are only playing 50-60 games season to season? Guys like Anthony Davis, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, and Kyrie Irving come to mind...

[DusterBuster]

Avery Bradley is out 6-8 weeks with an injury which means the rest of the regular season and likely the playoffs for the Clippers

Maybe the Blazers should just get some credit for winning the Survivor contest. Staying healthy may be as important as having talent

Yep, just the luck of good health is right up there with having great talent. The Blazers had this same streak of good health in the 15/16 season when they had 44 wins and beat the Clips in the first round.

[DusterBuster]

So far things are shaping up better than expected. OKC down 12 to Atlanta at the half. Minny down 6 nearing the close of the 3rd Q.

Still a while to go.

[The Sebastian Express]

Atlanta got their tank on in the second half but Charlotte has taken a slim lead over NO!

[Wizenheimer]

Avery Bradley is out 6-8 weeks with an injury which means the rest of the regular season and likely the playoffs for the Clippers

Maybe the Blazers should just get some credit for winning the Survivor contest. Staying healthy may be as important as having talent

Yep, just the luck of good health is right up there with having great talent. The Blazers had this same streak of good health in the 15/16 season when they had 44 wins and beat the Clips in the first round.

ok then

2013-14 (54 wins, 2nd round):

Nicolas Batum 82
Damian Lillard 82
Wesley Matthews 82
Robin Lopez 82
Mo Williams 74
Thomas Robinson 70
LaMarcus Aldridge 69
Dorell Wright 68

1999-90 (59 wins, W.Conf. Finals):

Scottie Pippen 82
Steve Smith 82
Greg Anthony 82
Rasheed Wallace 81
Damon Stoudamire 78
Detlef Schrempf 77
Jermaine O'Neal 70
Arvydas Sabonis 66
Bonzi Wells 66
Brian Grant 63
Stacey Augmon 59

(O'Neal had several DNP-CD's)

1998-99 - strike season, 50 game schedule (35 wins, W.Conf. Finals):

Damon Stoudamire 50
Arvydas Sabonis 50
Greg Anthony 50
Rasheed Wallace 49
Jim Jackson 49
Brian Grant 48
Walt Williams 48
Stacey Augmon 48
Isaiah Rider 47
Kelvin Cato 43

1991-92 (57 wins, NBA Finals):

Terry Porter 82
Kevin Duckworth 82
Clifford Robinson 82
Danny Ainge 81
Buck Williams 80
Jerome Kersey 77
Clyde Drexler 76
Robert Pack 72
Alaa Abdelnaby 71

1990-91 (63 wins, W.Conf. Finals):

Clyde Drexler 82
Clifford Robinson 82
Terry Porter 81
Kevin Duckworth 81
Buck Williams 80
Danny Ainge 80
Danny Young 75
Jerome Kersey 73

1989-90 (59 wins, NBA Finals):

Jerome Kersey 82
Buck Williams 82
Kevin Duckworth 82
Clifford Robinson 82
Danny Young 82
Terry Porter 80
Wayne Cooper 79
Drazen Petrovic 77
Clyde Drexler 73

1976-77 (49 wins, NBA Champions):

Bob Gross 82
Larry Steele 81
Herm Gilliam 80
Maurice Lucas 79
Johnny Davis 79
Lionel Hollins 76
Dave Twardzik 74
Corky Calhoun 70
Wally Walker 66
Bill Walton 65

one thing appears true; there seems a definite correlation between great health and Portland's most successful teams. Walton missed 17 games during the title season but the team was completely healthy during the playoff, including even the notoriously injury prone Lloyd Neal. Another thing that's apparent was that those Drexler era teams were filled with iron men, especially since they considered to be the most physical team in the league

so yeah, health is important...maybe critical. Now, there were probably several healthy Blazer teams that just sucked. But it's obvious that good health is the adjunct to great talent
*********************************************************************************************

one thing about that Blazer championship team....

assists/36:

Lionel Hollins 5.1
Dave Twardzik 4.6
Bill Walton 3.9
Bob Gross 3.9
Larry Steele 3.7
Herm Gilliam 3.7
Johnny Davis 3.7
Maurice Lucas 2.9
Wally Walker 2.9
Robin Jones 2.7

also, 1990-91:

Terry Porter 8.8
Clyde Drexler 6.2
Danny Ainge 6.0
Danny Young 5.7
Jerome Kersey 3.5
Clifford Robinson 2.8
Buck Williams 1.4
Kevin Duckworth 1.3

and 1999-00:

Damon Stoudamire 6.1
Scottie Pippen 5.3
Greg Anthony 4.8
Detlef Schrempf 4.3
Bonzi Wells 3.0
Steve Smith 2.8
Stacey Augmon 2.8
Arvydas Sabonis 2.5
Rasheed Wallace 1.8

compare that to this year's team:

Damian Lillard 6.4
Shabazz Napier 3.5
C.J. McCollum 3.2
Evan Turner 3.1
Jusuf Nurkic 2.5
Caleb Swanigan 2.5
Pat Connaughton 2.4
Jake Layman 2.4
Meyers Leonard 2.0
Zach Collins 1.8

if there is one thing (other than talent) that sets those Blazer teams apart from the current one it's passing. the Walton team had 7 guys doing better then the 2nd best current Blazer. Passing is still a critical component of a great team, and it needs to come from multiple players. I think one of the biggest things holding Portland back is the lack of players other then Dame who can consistently create offense for teammates. Obviously the current team needs more talent and we're also talking different era's but Portland needs to find another consistent facilitator.

[DusterBuster]

Atlanta got their tank on in the second half but Charlotte has taken a slim lead over NO!

So much for that. Every west conf team won tonight (or has a big enough lead that it'll hold til the end of the night).

[The Sebastian Express]

Atlanta got their tank on in the second half but Charlotte has taken a slim lead over NO!

So much for that. Every west conf team won tonight (or has a big enough lead that it'll hold til the end of the night).

Charlotte and Washington! Why do this!

[DusterBuster]

Atlanta got their tank on in the second half but Charlotte has taken a slim lead over NO!

So much for that. Every west conf team won tonight (or has a big enough lead that it'll hold til the end of the night).

Charlotte and Washington! Why do this!

Leastern Conference strikes again.

[Shem]

Avery Bradley is out 6-8 weeks with an injury which means the rest of the regular season and likely the playoffs for the Clippers

Maybe the Blazers should just get some credit for winning the Survivor contest. Staying healthy may be as important as having talent

Klay Thompson is going to be out several games. Sprained right thumb. Oh look... none of those games will be against the Blazers.