Around The League 2022-2023 season

[JF5]

When i was proposing Mitchell trade majority thought he was overrated and that Gobert is better than him... oh well...

There were 3 things about this.

1. Magic had to figure out what they had first before tossing all their assets to get him. So if Paolo didnt look like what he did now and looked like Jabari Smith you'd put yourself back into a situation where a 2nd Option on a Contending team without the proper accommodations is your best player AND you don't have X-amount of assets for the future to make your team better.

2. Mitchell has several massive warts as an offensive and defensive player you have to accommodate. Great scorer but he gives it up defensively and is an average to below average playmaker.

3. He's in the perfect situation in Cleveland which caters to all of his strengths and weaknesses. In Orlando you'd still have to shuffle pieces as their not as strong defensively and playmaking wise as Garland is a top tier passer.

- Also, there might be a few guys who are available during this offseason they'll covet more. We'll see what happens.

[pepe1991]

When i was proposing Mitchell trade majority thought he was overrated and that Gobert is better than him... oh well...

There were 3 things about this.

1. Magic had to figure out what they had first before tossing all their assets to get him. So if Paolo didnt look like what he did now and looked like Jabari Smith you'd put yourself back into a situation where a 2nd Option on a Contending team without the proper accommodations is your best player AND you don't have X-amount of assets for the future to make your team better.

2. Mitchell has several massive warts as an offensive and defensive player you have to accommodate. Great scorer but he gives it up defensively and is an average to below average playmaker.

3. He's in the perfect situation in Cleveland which caters to all of his strengths and weaknesses. In Orlando you'd still have to shuffle pieces as their not as strong defensively and playmaking wise as Garland is a top tier passer.

- Also, there might be a few guys who are available during this offseason they'll covet more. We'll see what happens.

Or

4) most people didn't watch him enough to figure how good he is.

5) Gobert is such a collosal liability on offense that nobody wanted to acknowledge, they penalized Jazz shortcommings on Mitchell's account, never taking in considirations that Gobert has stone hands, can't make FTs, at times is awful at screening, does incredible amount of dumb stuff in playoff games and can still be exposed on defense.

[VFX]

When i was proposing Mitchell trade majority thought he was overrated and that Gobert is better than him... oh well...

There were 3 things about this.

1. Magic had to figure out what they had first before tossing all their assets to get him. So if Paolo didnt look like what he did now and looked like Jabari Smith you'd put yourself back into a situation where a 2nd Option on a Contending team without the proper accommodations is your best player AND you don't have X-amount of assets for the future to make your team better.

2. Mitchell has several massive warts as an offensive and defensive player you have to accommodate. Great scorer but he gives it up defensively and is an average to below average playmaker.

3. He's in the perfect situation in Cleveland which caters to all of his strengths and weaknesses. In Orlando you'd still have to shuffle pieces as their not as strong defensively and playmaking wise as Garland is a top tier passer.

- Also, there might be a few guys who are available during this offseason they'll covet more. We'll see what happens.

Or

4) most people didn't watch him enough to figure how good he is.

5) Gobert is such a collosal liability on offense that nobody wanted to acknowledge, they penalized Jazz shortcommings on Mitchell's account, never taking in considirations that Gobert has stone hands, can't make FTs, at times is awful at screening, does incredible amount of dumb stuff in playoff games and can still be exposed on defense.

You can’t win a championship with Gobert as your highest (or second highest) paid player in 2023. How anyone has a job as a GM not knowing this is beyond me. He’s basically unplayable in the playoffs. Might be the worst trade ever in terms of roster construction I’ve ever seen. Poor Timberwolves.

Mitchell is the prototypical swingman required to score on volume in todays league. However, you also have to have a team built correctly in order to achieve anything substantial with him eating up the majority of your usage. I doubt Orlando would have been able to do this in the small window they had to possibly acquire him.

[eyriq]

The Bulls man... a core of DeRozan, Lavine, and Vucevic was such a shot in the dark to begin with and without a quality supporting cast it is just hopeless.

key for that team were:
Lonzo Ball
Pat Williams

Lonzo Ball has been injuried for a year. Pat Williams got worst.


Magic had copy past same issue with Vuc, Evan , Gordon, supported by Fultz and Isaac.

Fultz never developed, Isaac got hurt.


That's actually very common rebuild trap.
Wizards back in 2016-17 were one of hottest upcomming young teams with Wall, Beal, young Porter and Oubre , supported by Bogdanovic, Gortat , Morris. ( lost to Boston in 7 games in second round, Boston was 1# seed on East).

Next year they got rid of Bogdanovic to free up PT for Oubre, Wall got hurt after singing huge exstension and to this date Wizards are irrelevant. Oubre never developed into anything useful ( for them). Porter never took another leap.



Cleanup phase of rebuild where you remove "crutches" of supporting vets and give it up team to young players is more often than not phase of rebuild where wheels fall off. Case and point , Hawks 2021 go to second round to challenge eventual champions Bucks with Galo, Bogdan, Lou Williams, Capela supporting group, next year Capela is shell of former self ( and plays 2 games), Bogdan, Galo have worst year, and they fall off. And now they are in salary hell.

Great analysis. I wonder what our cleanup phase will look like. Our veterans aren't crutches. An organic rebuild that is building off a reboot like we are has some different wrinkles.

[JF5]

When i was proposing Mitchell trade majority thought he was overrated and that Gobert is better than him... oh well...

There were 3 things about this.

1. Magic had to figure out what they had first before tossing all their assets to get him. So if Paolo didnt look like what he did now and looked like Jabari Smith you'd put yourself back into a situation where a 2nd Option on a Contending team without the proper accommodations is your best player AND you don't have X-amount of assets for the future to make your team better.

2. Mitchell has several massive warts as an offensive and defensive player you have to accommodate. Great scorer but he gives it up defensively and is an average to below average playmaker.

3. He's in the perfect situation in Cleveland which caters to all of his strengths and weaknesses. In Orlando you'd still have to shuffle pieces as their not as strong defensively and playmaking wise as Garland is a top tier passer.

- Also, there might be a few guys who are available during this offseason they'll covet more. We'll see what happens.

Or

4) most people didn't watch him enough to figure how good he is.

5) Gobert is such a collosal liability on offense that nobody wanted to acknowledge, they penalized Jazz shortcommings on Mitchell's account, never taking in considirations that Gobert has stone hands, can't make FTs, at times is awful at screening, does incredible amount of dumb stuff in playoff games and can still be exposed on defense.

Mitchell is a 2nd Tier Star player. He's in the mold of a Paul George, (Prime) Carmelo Anthony, or Kyrie Irving.

People know how how good he is but he's not Luka, Giannis, Embiid, Jokic, Durant, or Curry level Superstar. That's what the team was aiming for and they found that in Paolo.

Now they could get that 2nd/3rd tier guy that compliments Paolo/Franz and the rest of the roster without really compromising the base structure of the squad and losing too many assets.

The Organization is really in the driver's sear right now. There's a really good possibility of a Kevin Durant wanting to play here and the Magic having all the assets necessary to fill the Nets quota of getting him.

[pepe1991]

There were 3 things about this.

1. Magic had to figure out what they had first before tossing all their assets to get him. So if Paolo didnt look like what he did now and looked like Jabari Smith you'd put yourself back into a situation where a 2nd Option on a Contending team without the proper accommodations is your best player AND you don't have X-amount of assets for the future to make your team better.

2. Mitchell has several massive warts as an offensive and defensive player you have to accommodate. Great scorer but he gives it up defensively and is an average to below average playmaker.

3. He's in the perfect situation in Cleveland which caters to all of his strengths and weaknesses. In Orlando you'd still have to shuffle pieces as their not as strong defensively and playmaking wise as Garland is a top tier passer.

- Also, there might be a few guys who are available during this offseason they'll covet more. We'll see what happens.

Or

4) most people didn't watch him enough to figure how good he is.

5) Gobert is such a collosal liability on offense that nobody wanted to acknowledge, they penalized Jazz shortcommings on Mitchell's account, never taking in considirations that Gobert has stone hands, can't make FTs, at times is awful at screening, does incredible amount of dumb stuff in playoff games and can still be exposed on defense.

Mitchell is a 2nd Tier Star player. He's in the mold of a Paul George, (Prime) Carmelo Anthony, or Kyrie Irving.

People know how how good he is but he's not Luka, Giannis, Embiid, Jokic, Durant, or Curry level Superstar. That's what the team was aiming for and they found that in Paolo.

Now they could get that 2nd/3rd tier guy that compliments Paolo/Franz and the rest of the roster without really compromising the base structure of the squad and losing too many assets.

The Organization is really in the driver's sear right now. There's a really good possibility of a Kevin Durant wanting to play here and the Magic having all the assets necessary to fill the Nets quota of getting him.

Claiming that Paolo Banchero, after 40ish games as a rookie is in ballpark of Giannis, Embiid, Durant or Curry is laughable and ridicilous , especially given record.
It will take years to sit back and argue player's actual impact on winning, change of culture and what he brings.


Also Paul George took his team to back to back ECF before he broke a leg and WCF in 2021 so saying he is "second tear star" is odd, to say a least. What's top tear star? One that gives you championships? Championships are team accomplishments, not single player duty. NBA today, talent vise, is so damn stacked that there is no star in the world who can "solo -carry" championship.



Second paragraph of Durant wanting to play here as "really good possibility" ... What's there to even say? Did he email you? It's even more ridicilous claim than first one. Last time i checked, Nets won 12 of last 13 games and are 1 win away from best record in basketball. You think he is dropping all that to play with rookie and sophmore on team with 5th worst record? And if he wants to play with young star and win title, there is that team in Memphis. Or you think Morant is "second tear star" since he didn't won championship? Unlike Banchero That level of delusion...

[JF5]

Claiming that Paolo Banchero, after 40ish games as a rookie is in ballpark of Giannis, Embiid, Durant or Curry is laughable and ridicilous , especially given record.
It will take years to sit back and argue player's actual impact on winning, change of culture and what he brings.

I kind of find this ironic coming from a poster who consistently claims without fail the trajectory of players and organizations years in advance before that player is a finished product. "Fultz will NEVER make 3 point shots" and "Suggs will be an absolute bust".

I'll will give you that he's not there yet (which I know you like picking apart and completely changing the narrative as to what a poster meant in the post). But within the next few years if he doesn't get hurt his trajectory has him being one of the best players in the NBA. Where he's at now has him being a top 20-25 player in the NBA and an all-star caliber player at the moment and he's just a rookie. You've already got guys like Draymond Green saying he's one of the next Superstars in the league.

Plus, he's already had an impact. The team just recently won 8/9 games. And since their 1-7 start they're 13-17... and specifically 10-13 in games that he plays. This is including 2 road wins against a Title contender against the Boston Celtics on back-to-back nights. If you're telling me he "doesn't have an effect on this teams culture/winning already" as a rookie I don't know what you're watching.

Also Paul George took his team to back to back ECF before he broke a leg and WCF in 2021 so saying he is "second tear star" is odd, to say a least. What's top tear star? One that gives you championships? Championships are team accomplishments, not single player duty. NBA today, talent vise, is so damn stacked that there is no star in the world who can "solo -carry" championship.

That's why I'm saying George is a second tier Star. Guys like that usually run into 1st Tier Stars in the Playoffs (LIke George did against LeBron during the Heat era 2010-2014) and would consistently lose to those guys because they weren't as great as those guys. 2nd tier stars with a really good supporting cast have a ceiling usually of the Semi-Conference Finals/Conference finals. Once in a while they make it to the finals but again, 1st tier guys mostly make it at the end.

Also, you're missing the fact in 2021 Kawhi Leonard was still playing up until the latter portion of the Utah Jazz series in the Semi-Conference finals. So that wasn't a situation where George "carried" that team deep into the playoffs by himself.

Second paragraph of Durant wanting to play here as "really good possibility" ... What's there to even say? Did he email you? It's even more ridicilous claim than first one. Last time i checked, Nets won 12 of last 13 games and are 1 win away from best record in basketball. You think he is dropping all that to play with rookie and sophmore on team with 5th worst record? And if he wants to play with young star and win title, there is that team in Memphis. Or you think Morant is "second tear star" since he didn't won championship? Unlike Banchero That level of delusion...

I mean Durant has already made it known he wants out of the Nets. Top that off they've made it known that they're most likely not going to be bring Irving back. They are winning now but if they fall short of anything less than a championship I can't see them trying to run it back given how toxic that situation has gotten.

Also, I'm not necessarily saying they'll get him there are other options. But Considering where other team are at when it comes to assets and young Star power the Magic have the edge compared to a lot of teams. Kevin Durant is aging, I think he would consider coming here knowing they have 2 other younger guys on this team that could carry the offense while keeping him fresh. To me it would be similar to how Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Heat in 2004 and played with Wade.

If the Magic fight for a play-in spot and show-out they'll probably be in-front of his list.

[tooler]

Okay but who is a bus driver here in this situation?

[thelead]

Man... what is going on with coach Clifford? Watch him just stand there staring at Ja:

Watch on YouTube

[pepe1991]

Man... what is going on with coach Clifford? Watch him just stand there staring at Ja:

Watch on YouTube

Isn't that obvious? lol

[basketballRob]

I still can't imagine why Portland wouldn't blow it up after they hired Mike Schmitz. They really have no future picks. They lose next year's pick if it's out of the lottery.

The only trade that makes sense for Portland is Lillard for Westbrook and the two first-round picks. I can't imagine a team giving a bunch of picks for him with his massive contract.

Hart can opt out next season, so he doesn't have value for them. Nurkic and Simons could yield them 3-4 picks.

Sent from my SM-G950U using RealGM mobile app

[tooler]

I love how we were so proud of ourselves for our 50 point quarter and two other teams have scored 51 point quarters this season. So stupid. I’m not saying the offensive explosion in the NBA is a bad thing, but it certainly feels less meaningful when teams and players score a ton of points.

Now with our team, offense is a struggle, so I’m happy whenever we actually do well.

[thelead]

Man... what is going on with coach Clifford? Watch him just stand there staring at Ja:

Watch on YouTube

Isn't that obvious? lol

Yeah but I didn’t think that Coach Cliff would be okay with this level of effort regardless of how good the draft is.

[richi_v25]

I can't believe the T-wolves are 11th in the West while having 3 all stars on their roster! They have a few more wins than us and our team is made up of a rookie who wasn't suppose to go first, a barely top 10 sophomore and then a bunch of cripples and injuries?

[drsd]

I can't believe the T-wolves are 11th in the West while having 3 all stars on their roster! They have a few more wins than us and our team is made up of a rookie who wasn't suppose to go first, a barely top 10 sophomore and then a bunch of cripples and injuries?

By metrics, the Wolves is better than the Clippers; the W/L column should sort itself out by season's end to have the Wolves at about the #9 seed, without a trade. As Minny suffers from many of the same structural problems as Chicago, with the same level of desperation, I do expect trades.

Orlando could particularly use Austin Rivers. And if he and Luka Garza are a package there are a bunch of options the Magic could consider in such a trade.

Jordan McLaughlin as a backup PG is not good. Anthony would be a huge upgrade for Minny.
Naz Reid can also be upgraded. Not sure if Bamba is an upgrade, but at least there is some hope here.


Not sure what the deck-chairs would be in a trade, as it seems unlikely picks would be part of bench-players being traded.


What is needed to balance a Anthony & Bamba for Rivers & Garza trade?

..

[drsd]

What an image from last night:

[pepe1991]

Warriors really lost in full strenght vs Suns without Booker, Chris Paul, Ayton... lol

Worth noting, Suns are 5-0 without Ayton

[CarraT]

Warriors really lost in full strenght vs Suns without Booker, Chris Paul, Ayton... lol

Worth noting, Suns are 5-0 without Ayton

Doesnt matter if a franchise player is missing or not anymore. Regular season is just a joke and the team with luckier shooting wins the game.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

I love how we were so proud of ourselves for our 50 point quarter and two other teams have scored 51 point quarters this season. So stupid. I’m not saying the offensive explosion in the NBA is a bad thing, but it certainly feels less meaningful when teams and players score a ton of points.

Now with our team, offense is a struggle, so I’m happy whenever we actually do well.

Regardless of what other teams do, the fact that we scored 50 points with our struggling offense, I'll take any little progress we can get. Same with Paolo's 20 points 3rd quarter against Memphis at home. Even though someone probably scored more, I'll take it. After watching this team go on scoring droughts for seasons on end, the small incremental progress is just awesome to see.

[pepe1991]

I love how we were so proud of ourselves for our 50 point quarter and two other teams have scored 51 point quarters this season. So stupid. I’m not saying the offensive explosion in the NBA is a bad thing, but it certainly feels less meaningful when teams and players score a ton of points.

Now with our team, offense is a struggle, so I’m happy whenever we actually do well.

Regardless of what other teams do, the fact that we scored 50 points with our struggling offense, I'll take any little progress we can get. Same with Paolo's 20 points 3 quarter against Memphis at home. Even though someone probably scored more, I'll take it. After watching this team go on scoring droughts for seasons on end, the small incremental progress is just awesome to see.

Harden few days ago was 1 rebound i think short off triple double... At a half.

Bunch of upper level role players average +18 ppg