Around the NBA - Continued… again

[nykballa2k4]

No I just rather see an actual basketball play where a defender makes an attempt to play defense and not a dirty play where he just looks to slide under a guy going up to undercut him. Those collisions put players in serious risk of injury and it’s the same play that resulted in Randle dislocating his shoulder. It’s not defense

If you contest it's a foul on the defender. If a player is charging in like a bull, you can't match force with force. That's a foul. Crumple like paper is the only legal recourse.

Good defenders are still capable of making stops and challenging shots. The only guys who really go for those undercut attempts at drawing charges are the crappy poor defenders who can’t make a defensive play on the ball in the first place. The guys who can are actually playing defense on the ball.

Yeah, that's non-sense. The purpose of the charge call is that a defender is entitled to their space because they were there first. It's why offensive players are not supposed to be able to initiate contact and just run into/through guys towards the basket. You are not supposed to undercut a player already in air, but you certainly are allowed to block their on-ramp or stand in a space between a charging player and the basket.

[RHODEY]

RJ Barrett's stats in 23 games as a Raptor.

20.7 PPG
6.3 REB
3.9 AST
5 FTA
55.1% FG
40.9% 3PT
60% FT
61.61 TS%

Nice....I'm curious about IQ...dont think he's adjusted as well.

More points, assists and rebounds on lower efficiency. The kid can definitely ball. Got more faith in IQ than RJ.

Yes you are right , his numbers with the Raps are not bad...

[nykballa2k4]

I think they need to change how they call it based on if the defender is in a defensive stance or not. Nobody plays defense holding their nuts, that’s not a natural defensive stance and you aren’t defending anything but your own package so if you slide in the paint holding your nuts then you aren’t in a defensive stance and it will be a blocking call. A lot of guys will hesitate sliding in knowing they can’t really protect themselves anymore and will be forced to either make a play on the ball or get out the way

Okay so you want more poorly defended shots? The rules are entirely jacked up for the offense. Guys are pushing off. Traveling. Moving screen on every screen. The charge is like the ONLY thing these guys have.

Push offs, forearm shoves, moving screens and traveling should be taken out of the game too.

That doesn't mean that undercutting players about to elevate should be in the game either. All of this stuff needs to go.

There is a fine line between undercutting a guy (I think we used to call it "lower decking" ) and just impeding their ability to make an obvious easy highlight reel play.

The NBA's rabid thirsting for dunks is basically my biggest problem with the league. Dunks should be relatively rare and should be real achievements - not entitlements. Similarly open 3's should be the result of double teams or bad defense not this moving screen nonsense (which it sounds like you agree) and the defenders fear of being called for a bogus call when a player jumps back into the defender.

[Jeff Van Gully]

Nice....I'm curious about IQ...dont think he's adjusted as well.

More points, assists and rebounds on lower efficiency. The kid can definitely ball. Got more faith in IQ than RJ.

Yes you are right , his numbers with the Raps are not bad...

Yeah. This might be the ideal situation to continue to develop and figure things out.

We trying to win ball games on this side.

[Iron Mantis]

The 60% FT show that the other numbers are just flukes because he is just another streaky guy of NBA 2024.

You can't be improved up to 40% from three and 55 from the floor and shoot 60 from the line.

Time will tell.

Whatever Toronto is doing, his numbers are better in every area except FT%.

It seems like Toronto has given him the key to the franchise. You can see Scotties numbers are a bit down since the trade. Now that Barnes is probably done for the season you're gonna see super chucker RJ in full form.

RJ will def have to take more shots.

However, I'm putting my money on Quickley's usage and attempts also increasing as he will take on a bigger ball-handling role.

Barnes acted like the defacto PG most of the time. Now Quickley can get his shine on.

[MrDollarBills]

Vucevic loses his cool after getting fouled by Bobby Portis and slaps AJ Green in the face on a drive

[RHODEY]

Watch on YouTube

[HEZI]

If you contest it's a foul on the defender. If a player is charging in like a bull, you can't match force with force. That's a foul. Crumple like paper is the only legal recourse.

Good defenders are still capable of making stops and challenging shots. The only guys who really go for those undercut attempts at drawing charges are the crappy poor defenders who can’t make a defensive play on the ball in the first place. The guys who can are actually playing defense on the ball.

Yeah, that's non-sense. The purpose of the charge call is that a defender is entitled to their space because they were there first. It's why offensive players are not supposed to be able to initiate contact and just run into/through guys towards the basket. You are not supposed to undercut a player already in air, but you certainly are allowed to block their on-ramp or stand in a space between a charging player and the basket.

This is what it’s turned into, a bunch of poor defenders running to take a charge and putting the offensive player at risk of serious injury. You see these type of plays way too often in the NBA nowadays. The only nonsense here is these type of so called defensive plays

Watch on YouTube

[nykballa2k4]

Good defenders are still capable of making stops and challenging shots. The only guys who really go for those undercut attempts at drawing charges are the crappy poor defenders who can’t make a defensive play on the ball in the first place. The guys who can are actually playing defense on the ball.

Yeah, that's non-sense. The purpose of the charge call is that a defender is entitled to their space because they were there first. It's why offensive players are not supposed to be able to initiate contact and just run into/through guys towards the basket. You are not supposed to undercut a player already in air, but you certainly are allowed to block their on-ramp or stand in a space between a charging player and the basket.

This is what it’s turned into, a bunch of poor defenders running to take a charge and putting the offensive player at risk of serious injury. You see these type of plays way too often in the NBA nowadays. The only nonsense here is these type of so called defensive plays

Watch on YouTube

Miami is a dirty team full stop. Part of their famous "Heat Culture" is basically get into other guys landing space and use the reputation to call it defense.

We can go to Lowry getting away with hand checking all last playoffs.

We can look at Bam hunting ankles.

We can play the Miami Cheapshots greatest hits all day.

FWIW I believe it was against Miami initially that both Randle and Brunson got hurt last year separately. Also they injured Giannis in the 1st round.

It's just what they do.

[ctorres]

Lakers are fun to watch when they are making shots and playing well

[Jeffrey]

Remember when the center position was done and going small was what everybody needed to do

Always been a big man game... its just that big 5s are finally stretching to the 3 point line. They were, for obvious reasons lagging behind when it came to the perimeter game. Once KD came to the league and big men see what he was doing, it was only a matter of time kids wanted to emulate that.

BTW, American big man is seriously behind in the modern game.

Chet Holmgren is holding it down for America right now, but the skill gap is becoming alarming.

Rim runners are going to get phased out of the game. Guys wanting to play C/PF will need to have multi tool skillsets as the game continues to evolve. Spacing the floor and making reads are just as important as shot blocking and rebounding.

Agree with you. Chet is the start of big 5s but look at our across the Atlantic Ocean where they have been spacing the floor for a good 10+ years.

Sorry, Dirk was obviously the first one with sustained success and KD was just a better version of it. Now we're seeing 7'4 Wemby and 7'1 Chet literally playing 2 way ball. They are the next level of KD... the skill level the past 20 years has been ridiculous.

[DOT]

This will be the story of RJ‘s career. Good numbers on a losing squad. Now what can he do playing alongside guys better than him. He’s not a #1. Can he be a #2? He didn’t have the skill set to be a #3 here. What’s his ideal role?

The Raps are trying to figure out the best way to use him.

The good numbers on a losing squad bit kind of weird though, since he joined an already losing team that even Anunoby couldn't save this year.

OG and RJ are very different types of players with different roles on a winning team. OG plays well off of high usage guys, while RJ struggles in that role. That’s why it was a great trade

What you have wrong is that RJ's playing the role of a #2 to Barnes right now though. Although it's more like there's no true #1 between them and Quick

And it's not like he's just putting up raw numbers because he has the green light, he's shooting significantly fewer shots per36 in Toronto than he was here, plus his usage rate is down as well

But you know, we don't let silly things like facts get in the way of a good narrative here

It's a pretty clear win-win trade right now. OG's great for us (just can't stay healthy, story of his career), RJ's been really good for them too.

[Capn'O]

40,000 pts for LeBron. Unbelievable.

[ctorres]

40,000 pts for LeBron. Unbelievable.

I wanna be able to say that I enjoyed basketball in an era where someone had a legitimate case against MJ as the true GOAT

So if LeBron somehow wins won with this Lakers team, he has a very strong case

[Fat Kat]

The Raps are trying to figure out the best way to use him.

The good numbers on a losing squad bit kind of weird though, since he joined an already losing team that even Anunoby couldn't save this year.

OG and RJ are very different types of players with different roles on a winning team. OG plays well off of high usage guys, while RJ struggles in that role. That’s why it was a great trade

What you have wrong is that RJ's playing the role of a #2 to Barnes right now though. Although it's more like there's no true #1 between them and Quick

And it's not like he's just putting up raw numbers because he has the green light, he's shooting significantly fewer shots per36 in Toronto than he was here, plus his usage rate is down as well

But you know, we don't let silly things like facts get in the way of a good narrative here

It's a pretty clear win-win trade right now. OG's great for us (just can't stay healthy, story of his career), RJ's been really good for them too.

I don’t know what you’re babbling on about, but RJ is putting up good numbers on a losing team. Him being the #1 or #2 isn’t relevant because they’re losing, and you apparently have an affinity for losers.

[knicksNOTslick]

Yeah, that's non-sense. The purpose of the charge call is that a defender is entitled to their space because they were there first. It's why offensive players are not supposed to be able to initiate contact and just run into/through guys towards the basket. You are not supposed to undercut a player already in air, but you certainly are allowed to block their on-ramp or stand in a space between a charging player and the basket.

This is what it’s turned into, a bunch of poor defenders running to take a charge and putting the offensive player at risk of serious injury. You see these type of plays way too often in the NBA nowadays. The only nonsense here is these type of so called defensive plays

Watch on YouTube

Miami is a dirty team full stop. Part of their famous "Heat Culture" is basically get into other guys landing space and use the reputation to call it defense.

We can go to Lowry getting away with hand checking all last playoffs.

We can look at Bam hunting ankles.

We can play the Miami Cheapshots greatest hits all day.

FWIW I believe it was against Miami initially that both Randle and Brunson got hurt last year separately. Also they injured Giannis in the 1st round.

It's just what they do.

This is why I hate Miami. They get praised for their culture of being dirty players. It's all fine and good but once you're hurting players and causing injuries, that's a different story. Can't ever root for Miami ever and I wish the worst luck on that franchise.

It all started when PJ Brown flipped over Charlie Ward to cause that brawl in 97. Once a cheating franchise, always a cheating franchise.

[Buttah304]

Looks like a lot of fans bought too much stock in Dejounte Murray’s 3PT shot from earlier in the season.

Last 20 Games: 37/131 (28%) on 6.5 FGA

[WaltFrazier]

Vucevic loses his cool after getting fouled by Bobby Portis and slaps AJ Green in the face on a drive

Vuc lost his cool but Portis should have been called for foul on the other end

[WaltFrazier]

Big win for Denver . They were clutch down the stretch, Lakers and Lebron weren't

[sol537]

Headed for a Denver vs Boston finals or can Knicks get it together in time to make noise?