Road to a Championship start here, 2022 Draft.

[Whole Truth]

Haven't done this in a while. Season check point. With NO's sitting a half game out of first. Denver face Suns, Grizz square off against GS.

With their loss to the 9-24 Cats, Lakers r bottom 7 sitting a game above the surging Magic & Wizards. Where would they be without 7 of their 13 wins coming against the Wiz, Pistons & Spurs.... They've had maybe 3 good wins healthy, while also getting a friendly whistle. Personally with all the tanking teams, I didn't think bottom 4 was an option. I'm wondering with Melo back if Cats can put a run together too... Lakers get Mavs Christmas for a potential NO's gift. The surging Magic on the 27th for potentially, the bottom 5 pick. If that happens, outside the Heat/Cats again, January could be a bad month for LA. Davis better get healthy quick.

As it stands... NO's would be swapping the 26th pick for the 7th pick + lotto luck. They would be facing Kings round 1, Suns Cloppers, Grizz/Denver Utah or one of the veteran PO teams via play in. Lakers r 5 games back of a PO spot with several tough teams like GS to hurddle via the play in if they manage to put it together..

Given the injuries and illnesses so far, this would be a fantastic outcome if the season ended like this today. Pretty happy overall, and still see a ton of room for internal improvement. :cheer:

Merry Christmas, to an even batter new year..

[Duke4life831]

As someone who has been pretty vocal about his criticisms about this team.

BI has missed over a month
Zion has missed some time
CJ has missed some time
Some key role players has missed some time

Im overly critical of this team because the more I watch them the higher and higher I think their ceiling is for this season. And its always easier to point out and talk about the negatives than the positives.

.5 game out from 1st place 32 games into the season. I mean just a round of applause for this team. This is a very fun team to watch and they're having great results as well.

Feel free to call out my over critical takes, my emotions definitely can get the best of me when rooting for BI/Zion. But Im with all of you and rooting hard for this team. Merry Christmas to Whole Truth, Funcrusher, NO-KG-AI, and the other Pels fans that might make their way over here haha. This team might need to make a small move at the trade deadline, but Im prepared for this team to make a deep playoff run this year and the next few years should be very fun to watch.

[Whole Truth]

As someone who has been pretty vocal about his criticisms about this team.

BI has missed over a month
Zion has missed some time
CJ has missed some time
Some key role players has missed some time

Im overly critical of this team because the more I watch them the higher and higher I think their ceiling is for this season. And its always easier to point out and talk about the negatives than the positives.

.5 game out from 1st place 32 games into the season. I mean just a round of applause for this team. This is a very fun team to watch and they're having great results as well.

Feel free to call out my over critical takes, my emotions definitely can get the best of me when rooting for BI/Zion. But Im with all of you and rooting hard for this team. Merry Christmas to Whole Truth, Funcrusher, NO-KG-AI, and the other Pels fans that might make their way over here haha. This team might need to make a small move at the trade deadline, but Im prepared for this team to make a deep playoff run this year and the next few years should be very fun to watch.

Unless this team was perfect, which they weren't, there was critisicm to be had. As a seperate opinion, I've agreed with most of your criticism & think it was warranted.

People who feel their **** doesn't stink, get complacent & overconfident Criticism keeps a man hmble & hungry. If open to it, criticism leads to growth.

Merry CHristmas Duke, all the best ..

[Duke4life831]

As someone who has been pretty vocal about his criticisms about this team.

BI has missed over a month
Zion has missed some time
CJ has missed some time
Some key role players has missed some time

Im overly critical of this team because the more I watch them the higher and higher I think their ceiling is for this season. And its always easier to point out and talk about the negatives than the positives.

.5 game out from 1st place 32 games into the season. I mean just a round of applause for this team. This is a very fun team to watch and they're having great results as well.

Feel free to call out my over critical takes, my emotions definitely can get the best of me when rooting for BI/Zion. But Im with all of you and rooting hard for this team. Merry Christmas to Whole Truth, Funcrusher, NO-KG-AI, and the other Pels fans that might make their way over here haha. This team might need to make a small move at the trade deadline, but Im prepared for this team to make a deep playoff run this year and the next few years should be very fun to watch.

Unless this team was perfect, which they weren't, there was critisicm to be had. As a seperate opinion, I've agreed with most of your criticism & think it was warranted.

People who feel their **** doesn't stink, get complacent & overconfident Criticism keeps a man hmble & hungry. If open to it, criticism leads to growth.

Merry CHristmas Duke, all the best ..

Oh ya, just saying I get how someone can come here and read a good chunk of my posts and then look at the injury situations and then look at the standings and it wouldnt make sense haha.

Back to being critical, this BI being so injury prone is becoming a legit issue. Dude is truly becoming another AD out there. Im at the point now where if I see him just a little hobbled in the game, Im instantly thinking "well he will be out for at least the next week or two". Then we get him back for 15 games, first few games back its a little bit of a struggle getting back into game shape. Then he gets all the way back and you think to yourself, "this is all star BI we are seeing, hell this is All NBA caliber BI we are seeing". Then he gets banged up again and its rinse and repeat 4-5 times a year it seems like. Its been like that for him since his second year in the league.

[Whole Truth]

Jax - no need to trade for a 3rd C, I'm here.

That 2 handed block was nasty.

Post physical C - Jonas
Small ball C - Nance

The defensive rim runner spot, is now filled - Jax

[Whole Truth]

Graham's play altered the slow start.

Kira looking solid in his return.

All in all, good half..

[Whole Truth]

That ;ate 3rd Q run for Indiana, Jonas was burnt at the 5 min mark but wasn't subbed till the last min..

[Whole Truth]

CJ & Jose combine to shoot 8 for 25, with 8 TO's. Jose 1-8 from 3 with some good looks & with half the team out, NO's still win by 20.

How..

Naji only starter +22, Graham +31 off the bench, the big men owning the boards & 2nd chance opportunity.

[NO-KG-AI]

I love that Jax thrives at the 4 the way he does TBH. Much needed lineup flexibility when he's actually playing well, hope it stays taht way.

Sidebar: I was just browsing PelicansReport and saw LAL1947 posting trade requests there, and can't for the life of me figure out why they won't activate my account or send me an activation e-mail. I must have slept with somebody's wife or husband.

[Whole Truth]

I love that Jax thrives at the 4 the way he does TBH. Much needed lineup flexibility when he's actually playing well, hope it stays taht way.

Sidebar: I was just browsing PelicansReport and saw LAL1947 posting trade requests there, and can't for the life of me figure out why they won't activate my account or send me an activation e-mail. I must have slept with somebody's wife or husband.

Including last season.. this is the best I've seen Jax look, small sample. If he can step up & present himself as an eventual Jonas replacement, Pels r in the game.

U want to log into Pels report to laugh at the offer, lol.. Pels lose that trade on availability alone & with Davis out for who knows how long, Lakers r already a stones throw away from being bottom 4, healthy for the most part of their current record, with good odds for Wemby or another good prospect to Daniels in what I think is a 10 deep draft. IMO, It's only a matter of time before Lebron joins Davis on the sidelines healthy or not

I don't know who LAL1947 is but it looks like he's asking for a favor, lol

[Whole Truth]

No Davis, Lakers r already undersized with him.. Magic r a big team with Lebron the only one Lakers have who can potentially contain Banchero in transition & if they have to rely on James to play defense, lakers will fade in the 2nd half of the game if they r fortunate enough to have a strong start. Unfortunately, can't rule out the refs helping LA control Magic size advantage in the paint.

I think Kings can atleast split with Denver.. NO's have the Wolves & Philly for potentially the 1 seed in the West heading into the new year.

Lakers lose to the bigger streaking Magic, they get the Heat at the back end of the B2B which could land them bottom 5 heading into the new year.

NO's would be swapping the 28th pick for a top 4 pick & lotto luck.. With no Davis in sight.

Lets go, Magic.

[NO-KG-AI]

Obvious the chatter is all Zion tonight, but you see plays from Jax that make you really believe he can be a big time player. Both his catch and shoot 3 from the corner that looked like a pure shooter and then the trap on the baseline that caused a travel are just special plays you never see guys his size really making, and he makes it look easy sometimes. And somehow he's always made the easy things look so difficult

[Whole Truth]

Obvious the chatter is all Zion tonight, but you see plays from Jax that make you really believe he can be a big time player. Both his catch and shoot 3 from the corner that looked like a pure shooter and then the trap on the baseline that caused a travel are just special plays you never see guys his size really making, and he makes it look easy sometimes. And somehow he's always made the easy things look so difficult

Jax's only issue is consistency.. Raw bigs take more time to develop than guards. The problem/question is, with the cap situation, the abundance of picks & the current state of the team in terms of contention, does it make sense to wait on his development ?

Pels have a legit shot at Wemba.. They get lucky enough to win the lotto, what's the odds they pickup Jax's option.

[Whole Truth]

That Zion 3, no defender was within 30ft of him, lol. He needs to take more to keep defenses honest, He looks as capable as Jonas if not more, so why is Jonas the only one setting up outsice?. They both should be playing inside out accordingly. They could be a deadly combo if they're both not trying to occupy the same space.

On that 3, Gobert was covering Jonas at the rim... Zion's man was in the post... Zion was alone & wide, wide open.

With both Jonas & Zion more efficient in the post, walling the post kills both their games. Jonas is the only one Pels have been sitting on the 3 pt line.. IMO, that needs to change.

[Whole Truth]

Magic dissappointed, Banchero was a no show with 5 fouls, Kings split with Denver as expected. Lakers are now closer to Spurs than the playin, bottom 6 after the Heat loss in the B2B. Pels regain top seed in the West, tied with Bucks for the overall 2 seed.

Lebron's negative comments post game talk to Davis' current health situation. If Davis was set to return, Lebron wouldn't be talking like that.

[Duke4life831]

Zion is just something else. He just refused to let them lose last night, that was very fun to watch.

Teams are really going hard with that wall defense at the moment. I am curious when we see BI back (seems like if more than when...) if we might see Trey stay in the starting lineup and Herb come off the bench. With that lineup its going to be much harder for defenses to build a wall to stop Zion.

[Duke4life831]

Curious where people stand when it comes to the draft. Lets say the Lakers pick doesnt go top 2 and lands somewhere between 3-8. What kind of player do you think they should go after? Outside of Wemby, Im not sure I really see a great fit/guy who should be able to contribute when it comes to the current rotation. If this pick lands outside of the top 2, do we think it most likely is used in a trade?

[Funcrusher]

Curious where people stand when it comes to the draft. Lets say the Lakers pick doesnt go top 2 and lands somewhere between 3-8. What kind of player do you think they should go after? Outside of Wemby, Im not sure I really see a great fit/guy who should be able to contribute when it comes to the current rotation. If this pick lands outside of the top 2, do we think it most likely is used in a trade?

Nah, this is a great draft even outside the top 2. Amen, Ausar, Black, GG, Smith Jr., KG, Cam Whit, etc. are all either too talented or good enough fits to where I personally don't see the value in trading the pick unless you can get, say, Lauri Markkanen with it or something. And Ive been vocal that I would personally love one of the Thompson twins on our team just for **** and giggles, though obviously im not Griff

[Whole Truth]

Curious where people stand when it comes to the draft. Lets say the Lakers pick doesnt go top 2 and lands somewhere between 3-8. What kind of player do you think they should go after? Outside of Wemby, Im not sure I really see a great fit/guy who should be able to contribute when it comes to the current rotation. If this pick lands outside of the top 2, do we think it most likely is used in a trade?

With NO's already having a 1A/B up against the cap & an abundance of depth. Depending on where outside the top 3. I'd be looking at Jonas or CJ's potential replacements & lean fit over BPA.

CJ - Smith, Black, Amen

Jonas - Jackson

I also generally don't like to take big men atop the draft but at this point would make another exception. NO's could probably get a C in free agency or even trade but not at the same potential & price tag... .

[Whole Truth]

Easily CJ's best game as a Pel. Congrates on breaking the 3pt shooting record.

Unfortunately, some posters take things too far & it creates negativity to legit criticism.

23 games played, CJ has shot 30% in the majority of them, he has his best game, a single game & people r calling people out, as if CJ has been playing this way all yr. The funniest & most fitting comment .. "next game if CJ goes back to shooting 30% people would just be waiting to jump on it", LMAO. I can only assume the intellect & age of these posters are sub 10yrs old.

Who was waiting for what to call people out ? 22 games to 1..

Any & all NO's fans should be happy to see CJ coming around. He was blistering hot from 3 but more importantly, his offense was in the flow of the game & not forced. People say that is what shooters need, to shoot their way out of slumps.. whats the ratio of bad to good games ? Jonas D can't play in inefficiency & Zion/BI r far more consistently efficient.. To put what I'm saying into perspective... Jonas has had individual games of 7-8 efficient 3's but it didn't take a bundle of cold nights for that outcome. I don't want this team playing inefficiently. If this production can be somewhat sustained, great but if it's x amount of games of cold shooting to get a good one.., I'm still singing the same tune.

Zion continues to roll. They say record plays into MVP votes. NO's went from Playin to #1 seed with BI down.. Boston with Tatum were a finalist last yr & Bucks r a former champ. Zion has lifted this NO's team without BI for more than half their season to the 1 seed in the West & 2 seed overall in returning to action. He should be very much in the mix for MVP.