Around the NBA 10

Liver_Pooty · Post #461 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:43 pm

I want to wait and see how Thomas reacts to his bench role when Ball eventually comes back before I consider anything. I know he stated hes fine with whatever role Walton gives him.... But we will see.

catch20two · Post #462 » by **catch20two** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:49 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:I want to wait and see how Thomas reacts to his bench role when Ball eventually comes back before I consider anything. I know he stated hes fine with whatever role Walton gives him.... But we will see.

He’s coming off the bench already. Ingram is starting at PG.

catch20two · Post #463 » by **catch20two** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 5:52 pm

I don’t see any case where IT will start on any team unless it’s a losing team. Possibly returning to Phoenix may be a option for him if there’s no bridges burned over there.

It’s all unfortunate for IT after everything but he’s going to have to swallow his pride a bit or completely choke on it and see his exile from the league.

316Hornets · Post #464 » by **316Hornets** » Sat Feb 17, 2018 1:51 am

As much as we all complain about being a treadmilling team, Denver has been one too and their future looks pretty bright right now. So, maybe picking around 10th each year isn't such a detriment if you have a front office that knows what they are doing.

https://www.denverstiffs.com/2018/2/13/16993994/the-denver-nuggets-are-ascending-from-basketball-purgatory-nikola-jokic-gary-harris-jamal-murray

Vanderbilt_Grad · Post #465 » by **Vanderbilt_Grad** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:26 am

Read on Twitter

316Hornets · Post #466 » by **316Hornets** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:27 pm

I'm surprised by the NBA's fine on Cuban. It's such a large amount and it's not like he said anything people aren't already aware of. What exactly is 'Trust the Process' supposed to mean? This is just Silver's way of trying to cover-up an issue that has been ongoing for years.

MPM · Post #467 » by **MPM** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 1:35 pm

316Hornets wrote:I'm surprised by the NBA's fine on Cuban. It's such a large amount and it's not like he said anything people aren't already aware of. What exactly is 'Trust the Process' supposed to mean? This is just Silver's way of trying to cover-up an issue that has been ongoing for years.

Agreed. Not entirely surprised (although 600 large is huge), but disappointed in the NBA. The strategy is a direct byproduct of the broken system they have in place - one that not only allows tanking, but encourages it. It's a bad look to penalize honesty while turning a blind eye to those who wink/nod their way into the lottery. 'Trust the Process' has always been a euphemism for 'Be Patient with the Tank' - Cuban should have been like a teenager talking in code about pot - rather than saying, 'losing is our best option' he should have said 'going to the frogurt shop is our best option' and he would be 600K richer.

I'm no fan of Cuban, but I'm a fan of speaking the truth and he spoke the truth (and got hammered for it). Boo Silver.

BTW, I'm all for the Mavs' version of 'Trust the Process' being 'We're going to the frogurt shop!'

EDIT - fwiw, I think the NBA would have been better served by a response that acknowledged that the current system is flawed and needs to be fixed, while still fining Cuban a reasonable amount for actions they felt were detrimental to the core business. Would have been the smart PR move - it's not like there are tons of fans out there that aren't aware that teams tank every year.

Post #468 » by **fatlever** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:31 pm

I'd like a small Jamaican salad please with a Mexican brownie for dessert

Sent from my SM-G920V using RealGM mobile app

MPM · Post #469 » by **MPM** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:20 pm

fatlever wrote:I'd like a small Jamaican salad please with a Mexican brownie for dessert

Sent from my SM-G920V using RealGM mobile app

'

Post All-Star Break, we need a 'Best Euphemisms for Tanking' thread

catch20two · Post #470 » by **catch20two** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:43 pm

After watching the Pacers go from Vogel to McMillan and trading Paul George for Oladipo I thought maybe they’d be one of the worst teams in the league this season.

Gotta give Bird credit for orchestrating the way how the team plays and operates from the president helm of the Pacers. He’s the common denominator in their success.

Post #471 » by **yosemiteben** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 10:36 pm

Agreed, never would have thought the Pacers would have the year they've had.

Braggins · Post #472 » by **Braggins** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:45 pm

The Pacers are such an impressive organization. They have been able to consistently be a playoff team forever and construct multiple borderline legit contenders while being in a small market, never tanking, never signing big name free agents, and never having a true top tier superstar on the roster. They are pretty much the only franchise in the league that has been able to accomplish that. If they ever got a great coach and a Tim Duncan level player they'd pretty much be the Spurs.

catch20two wrote:Gotta give Bird credit for orchestrating the way how the team plays and operates from the president helm of the Pacers. He’s the common denominator in their success.

Hes the inverse of MJ for Charlotte.

catch20two · Post #473 » by **catch20two** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:58 pm

Braggins wrote:The Pacers are such an impressive organization. They have been able to consistently be a playoff team forever and construct multiple borderline legit contenders while being in a small market, never tanking, never signing big name free agents, and never having a true top tier superstar on the roster. They are pretty much the only franchise in the league that has been able to accomplish that. If they ever got a great coach and a Tim Duncan level player they'd pretty much be the Spurs.

catch20two wrote:Gotta give Bird credit for orchestrating the way how the team plays and operates from the president helm of the Pacers. He’s the common denominator in their success.

Hes the inverse of MJ for Charlotte.

Let’s not forget that the Pacers know how to develop late lottery/late 1st round/2nd round picks like Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and Myles Turner. That’s the most important part.

Braggins · Post #474 » by **Braggins** » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:58 pm

Just throwing this out there, but any fans of the Hornets that think the NBA should do something to end tanking should also consider that all the free wins from tanking teams in the second half of the season is pretty much the only reason this team ever has a chance to make the playoffs. Its the main reason we made the playoffs in Big Al's first season and literally the only reason we have any chance to make it this year.

All those teams that are blatantly tanking now and have lost like 90% of their games the last month or so were beating us regularly in the first half of the season when they were trying to win. There is no way we could win enough games to close out this season, even with the insanely easy schedule, if all the weaker teams we get to face were actually trying to compete.

Basically, be careful what you wish for.

Liver_Pooty · Post #475 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 5:06 am

Watching Anthony Davis tonight almost made me sick.

catch20two · Post #476 » by **catch20two** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:43 am

Take the goddamn flyer and turn it into a kite. I want Trey Burke as our backup PG next season.

Joest2003 · Post #477 » by **Joest2003** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 2:59 pm

Liver_Pooty wrote:Watching Anthony Davis tonight almost made me sick.

I'm all set with watching Davis ugly a** unibrow put up 40-50 nightly while still loosing games and never making or going anywhere in the playoffs.
We're already in that position.

Most overrated player in the NBA. you can't be a top 5-10 player and have your team be that bad every year.

Liver_Pooty · Post #478 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Tue Feb 27, 2018 3:20 pm

Joest2003 wrote:
Liver_Pooty wrote:Watching Anthony Davis tonight almost made me sick.

I'm all set with watching Davis ugly a** unibrow put up 40-50 nightly while still loosing games and never making or going anywhere in the playoffs.
We're already in that position.

Most overrated player in the NBA. you can't be a top 5-10 player and have your team be that bad every year.

They are 5th in the west and on a 6 game winning streak

catch20two · Post #479 » by **catch20two** » Thu Mar 1, 2018 6:06 pm

This John Wall conundrum speaks to my long-term belief that in the modern NBA you don’t need a high assist PG rather than just having a team full of selfless players that are willing to move the ball until they get the right shot.

That’s why I’ve never been one of those people that argued for a pass-first PG as much as I’ve argued for impact players that can create their own offense.

catch20two · Post #480 » by **catch20two** » Sun Mar 4, 2018 1:29 am

Kinda on topic with my post above I like what the Nuggets are doing. They don’t play a true point guard in their starting lineup or off the bench. Their assist leader is their starting center Jokic followed by their backup guard Will Barton who spent most of his career as a SG/SF.

It’s interesting to see because I remember a time when Barton was considered a selfish player. It made me wonder what if Clifford was smart enough to roll Lamb out not necessarily as the backup PG but as the backup primary ballhandler whenever Kemba and Batum are both on the bench.

A lot of this season we were handicapped by MCW’s play and manipulated into the thought process of “it’s not like we have a better backup PG option”. These are areas where Clifford hurts the team and it’s been a constant throughout his time here.

Kudos to Mike Malone. The Nuggets are 34-28.