Around The NBA : 2024-25 Season

[coldfish]

I wonder if Ainge will trade Markkanen this off season..?

Markkanen quietly got his bag and went back to the old Lauri.

Ainge isn't looking like the genius people make him out to be. He had a core of Donovan Mitchell & Rudy Gobert and this rebuild doesn't look like much, and Lauri is only 1 year younger than Mitchell.

The draft picks are almost certainly won't be any kind of core for Utah. The first one will be the 29th pick, and a couple are pick swaps and Utah would not trade their pick for a Cleveland pick.

I guess the main "benefit" of the trade is to get Utah to be so bad they can draft high, but the actual trade is pretty poor. It's basically Mitchell for Sexton & Lauri (who had to be maxed), since the picks look unlikely to yield even NBA players.

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

[Ice Man]

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

That, plus almost every evaluation of GMs is a sample size of one. OK, more than one move, but one situation over a limited number of years. Truth is, we don't know that if we extended our analysis to 300 years if Ainge would have more overall success than AKME, or anybody else in a head office.

[MrSparkle]

Markkanen quietly got his bag and went back to the old Lauri.

Ainge isn't looking like the genius people make him out to be. He had a core of Donovan Mitchell & Rudy Gobert and this rebuild doesn't look like much, and Lauri is only 1 year younger than Mitchell.

The draft picks are almost certainly won't be any kind of core for Utah. The first one will be the 29th pick, and a couple are pick swaps and Utah would not trade their pick for a Cleveland pick.

I guess the main "benefit" of the trade is to get Utah to be so bad they can draft high, but the actual trade is pretty poor. It's basically Mitchell for Sexton & Lauri (who had to be maxed), since the picks look unlikely to yield even NBA players.

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

Yeah, they've become quite an "asset-rich" mess. It's hilarious that he tried really hard to lose 2 seasons in a row, but kept flirting with the play-in until it was too late. Well, he got his full ugly tank, with every player regressing and losing player value, and now they have to really hope for a top-2 pick. 3-5 might be good too, but they won't cement their positions like Flagg or Harper would.

Crazy he skipped Matas. That one pick would've changed their trajectory quite a bit. Cody Williams looks like this generation's Marquis Teague.

[Dan Z]

Markkanen quietly got his bag and went back to the old Lauri.

Ainge isn't looking like the genius people make him out to be. He had a core of Donovan Mitchell & Rudy Gobert and this rebuild doesn't look like much, and Lauri is only 1 year younger than Mitchell.

The draft picks are almost certainly won't be any kind of core for Utah. The first one will be the 29th pick, and a couple are pick swaps and Utah would not trade their pick for a Cleveland pick.

I guess the main "benefit" of the trade is to get Utah to be so bad they can draft high, but the actual trade is pretty poor. It's basically Mitchell for Sexton & Lauri (who had to be maxed), since the picks look unlikely to yield even NBA players.

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

The Mitchell/Gobert teams had run their course. Didn't the two of them also have issues with one another?

The first year without them the team over achieved to start the season (Markkanen's all-star year). Ainge pivoted to a tank, but that was too late. The next year they tried to tank again, but didn't go all out for it (also that draft wasn't thought of as being very good). Then this year they came into it with the goal being a top pick and it looks like that's what they'll get.

Ainge also talked to teams about Markkanen and didn't make a trade. Were the offers bad? Too low? Or was Ainge asking for too much? Who knows...I wasn't in the room.

Utah took three of those picks and traded them to Phoenix for the Suns 2031 pick. I'm sure they'd like to get better asap, but their plan is a long term one.

Their pick this season will mean a lot going forward. If they get lucky and draft Flagg then they have someone to build around. If they fall in the draft and don't get a top talent then they'll continue to do what they can to build through the draft. I don't see any trades or free agents in the near future that will change that for them.

[Dan Z]

Ainge isn't looking like the genius people make him out to be. He had a core of Donovan Mitchell & Rudy Gobert and this rebuild doesn't look like much, and Lauri is only 1 year younger than Mitchell.

The draft picks are almost certainly won't be any kind of core for Utah. The first one will be the 29th pick, and a couple are pick swaps and Utah would not trade their pick for a Cleveland pick.

I guess the main "benefit" of the trade is to get Utah to be so bad they can draft high, but the actual trade is pretty poor. It's basically Mitchell for Sexton & Lauri (who had to be maxed), since the picks look unlikely to yield even NBA players.

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

Yeah, they've become quite an "asset-rich" mess. It's hilarious that he tried really hard to lose 2 seasons in a row, but kept flirting with the play-in until it was too late. Well, he got his full ugly tank, with every player regressing and losing player value, and now they have to really hope for a top-2 pick. 3-5 might be good too, but they won't cement their positions like Flagg or Harper would.

Crazy he skipped Matas. That one pick would've changed their trajectory quite a bit. Cody Williams looks like this generation's Marquis Teague.

I agree. The Cody Williams pick sets them back. Even if they didn't pick Matas there were other good players available at #10: Ware, McCain, Knecht, Carington, and Missi. OR he could've gone with Topic.

[DuckIII]

Cody Williams looks like this generation's Marquis Teague.

And looked like that before he was ever picked. So weird. I had done no scouting of him until before the draft but knew what a huge signing he was for Colorado and how highly touted he was. When I started looking at his tape before the draft I had the exact same reaction I had to seeing the much loved Kevin Knox: If had never heard his name it never would have occurred to me he was a NBA prospect at all. At least not more than any other generally talented college wing second rounder type who has an outside chance.

Absolutely zero “ooh, who’s that guy?” type reaction you get when you see someone who has the goods.

[pipfan]

I can't believe we got so lucky-Char, SA at #8 and Utah all REALLY could have used Matas

[sco]

Ainge isn't looking like the genius people make him out to be. He had a core of Donovan Mitchell & Rudy Gobert and this rebuild doesn't look like much, and Lauri is only 1 year younger than Mitchell.

The draft picks are almost certainly won't be any kind of core for Utah. The first one will be the 29th pick, and a couple are pick swaps and Utah would not trade their pick for a Cleveland pick.

I guess the main "benefit" of the trade is to get Utah to be so bad they can draft high, but the actual trade is pretty poor. It's basically Mitchell for Sexton & Lauri (who had to be maxed), since the picks look unlikely to yield even NBA players.

Tanking always looks better in theory than practice.

Yeah, they've become quite an "asset-rich" mess. It's hilarious that he tried really hard to lose 2 seasons in a row, but kept flirting with the play-in until it was too late. Well, he got his full ugly tank, with every player regressing and losing player value, and now they have to really hope for a top-2 pick. 3-5 might be good too, but they won't cement their positions like Flagg or Harper would.

Crazy he skipped Matas. That one pick would've changed their trajectory quite a bit. Cody Williams looks like this generation's Marquis Teague.

I hope that if we don't get Flagg, Utah gets him. They'll need to dump Lauri and Collins, probably at discounts, be sucky for 3 seasons.

[kodo]

I can't believe we got so lucky-Char, SA at #8 and Utah all REALLY could have used Matas

Ironically all of them skipped Matas @SF because of 3P shooting. But in the actual NBA:
Cody Williams: 25%
Ron Holland: 23%
Salaun: 28%
Buzelis: 36%

He's one of the best 3P shooters in the class now. The only rooks to have made 90+ 3s at 35%+:
Wells, Knecht, Risacher, Buzelis.

[MrSparkle]

Clippers/Warriors: great game, probably the only important one today. High stakes, but also all these geriatrics turning back the clock.

[jc23]

Lakers going to the wcf.

[Chi town]

Blazers believe in the Blazers and Chauncey with that extension.

[kodo]

Clippers/Warriors: great game, probably the only important one today. High stakes, but also all these geriatrics turning back the clock.

It's crazy they (LA) basically got to the same record as last year without PG13 at all and only 30 games from Kawhi.
They weren't a big story this season compared to everything else, but quietly impressive.

[Repeat 3-peat]

Nuggets vs Clippers may be the best first round matchup.

Assuming the Warriors get past Memphis, they would go against Houston, which would also be a great series. Amen Thompson defending Curry would be entertaining.

Basically, the West is insanely talented.

[Ice Man]

On tanking ... last year, there wasn't much evidence of that. The 10 teams that didn't make the play-in won 30.3% of their games before the ASG, 30.2% afterwards. But this year, there was some evidence. Their records were 33.4% before and 29.9% afterwards.

[Gant]

On tanking ... last year, there wasn't much evidence of that. The 10 teams that didn't make the play-in won 30.3% of their games before the ASG, 30.2% afterwards. But this year, there was some evidence. Their records were 33.4% before and 29.9% afterwards.

That's interesting. Last year's draft was considered to be very weak, and this year's is thought of as strong and deep.

I enjoy competitive tanking anyway. It's combines cleverness and drama with a steady stream of slapstick.

[Jcool0]

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[Ice Man]

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Every star coach ends up in disgrace. Except for Pops, Spo, and Kerr, because 1) they are still with the same franchise and 2) they are still riding the memories of being fortunate enough to win multiple titles with an all-time great.

So yeah, Billy is fine for me. Today's hot hire is tomorrow's Doc, Nurse, or Bud.

[jnrjr79]

Interesting nugget I saw on BlueSky from a Pellies writer there: he's heard that if Dumars is hired to be the new GM, his directive from ownership will be to keep the coach and try to trade Zion.

[MGB8]

Interesting nugget I saw on BlueSky from a Pellies writer there: he's heard that if Dumars is hired to be the new GM, his directive from ownership will be to keep the coach and try to trade Zion.

The question on Zion, and moreso for the Pels, is what direction are they looking to go, and if the return on Zion can work towards that.

Like, if I were Phoenix, I would be interested in Durant for Zion + Murray - gets the team younger plus Murray is more a PG. Adding Allen makes it work on trade checker, but maybe you do something like see if Orlando will bite on Bradley Beal for KCP plus some other salary to both NoLa and Phoenix to make it work. I’m not sure Phx is going to get anywhere near what they want for Durant - Zion has immense upside and Phoenix likely the best possible environment (especially if couple with getting out from under Beal’s deal / poor fit).