Around the League: 2024-25 Season

[pepe1991]

In first full year with Nuggets, in 68 games, Gordon got whooping 178 dunks.
In all the years with Magic- 398- over span of 6 and half seasons & 428 games.

His 2FGM went from mid 40% in terms of how many of them were assisted to mid 60s.

During Magic's contract year, he shot 45% of all shots inside 10 feet, in title run with Nuggets - 66%.


Bottom line, they did with Gordon what we didn't have balls, people, knowledge to do. Put him in line and give him honest straight up talk. "Bro you are one of most athletic 6'9 people to ever walk this planet, instead of pretending to be piss poor Paul George, be best version of Aaron Gordon".

In year(s) when his 3FGA was off, on Denver he simply shoots less (last year 29% for 3 but on just 1,9 attempts) , in years when it goes in he shoots more ( this year, 43% on 3,4 attempts) . Non of it is rocket science, that's why seasons like 5,9 attempts on 33% for 3 are so hard to understand nor explain, let alone defend.


Ofc Jokić bonus is still a thing, when you look back at role players that looked decent for them and where they are now, it's not hard to figure how much easier it is for rest of a team to contribute when team has strong anchor in Jokić & strong set play in Murray/Jokić pick&roll.

[eyriq]

According to net points:

JDub, Chet, and Joe had dunce worthy games, while Jokic and Gordon had vest worthy games. MPJ with a real stinker.

Porzingis, Brown, and Hauser on the dunce podium, Hart, KAT, and OG on the vest podium. Brunson with a stinker.

[three3d]

According to net points:

JDub, Chet, and Joe had dunce worthy games, while Jokic and Gordon had vest worthy games. MPJ with a real stinker.

Porzingis, Brown, and Hauser on the dunce podium, Hart, KAT, and OG on the vest podium. Brunson with a stinker.

Isaiah Joe would definitely be an upgrade for us and bring the desperately needed three point shooting. His career average is 40.2% , I wonder if he’s falling out of rotation for OKC.

[Skybox]

In first full year with Nuggets, in 68 games, Gordon got whooping 178 dunks.
In all the years with Magic- 398- over span of 6 and half seasons & 428 games.

His 2FGM went from mid 40% in terms of how many of them were assisted to mid 60s.

During Magic's contract year, he shot 45% of all shots inside 10 feet, in title run with Nuggets - 66%.


Bottom line, they did with Gordon what we didn't have balls, people, knowledge to do. Put him in line and give him honest straight up talk. "Bro you are one of most athletic 6'9 people to ever walk this planet, instead of pretending to be piss poor Paul George, be best version of Aaron Gordon".

In year(s) when his 3FGA was off, on Denver he simply shoots less (last year 29% for 3 but on just 1,9 attempts) , in years when it goes in he shoots more ( this year, 43% on 3,4 attempts) . Non of it is rocket science, that's why seasons like 5,9 attempts on 33% for 3 are so hard to understand nor explain, let alone defend.


Ofc Jokić bonus is still a thing, when you look back at role players that looked decent for them and where they are now, it's not hard to figure how much easier it is for rest of a team to contribute when team has strong anchor in Jokić & strong set play in Murray/Jokić pick&roll.

To be fair to AG...I think it was the ORL FO & Coach, after drafting him at #4 that believed he was something he wasn't - more so than himself. But what 19yo is going to argue with that?

[Optimus_Steel]

According to net points:

JDub, Chet, and Joe had dunce worthy games, while Jokic and Gordon had vest worthy games. MPJ with a real stinker.

Porzingis, Brown, and Hauser on the dunce podium, Hart, KAT, and OG on the vest podium. Brunson with a stinker.

MPJ got benched and it was truly deserved. He had no effort whatsoever.

[Skybox]

I got to say...it makes me happy to see AG making such big plays.

[Fortune Teller]

I mean sure, Aaron Gordon is delivering playoff-game-winning dunks and 3-pointers, but it's not like Gary Harris has given us nothing, right? . . . right?!?

[Optimus_Steel]

I got to say...it makes me happy to see AG making such big plays.

Noticed he is going straight up on his 3pt attempts staying settled and balanced instead of fading to the side or back.

[ogmagicfan]

Too many people look at trades with benefit of hindsight.

Basically got a young prospect (24th pick) + future 1st + Gary Harris (one year older guard version of AG at the time) who was kind of in a similar situation as AG - had better years but had recently seemed stunted in growth with role on team. Also AG publicly wanted out and Magic are obsessed with sending players in "good situations" so.

The archetype of that package seems about fair for what AG was at the time. Unfortunately, Gary broke down way quicker than AG, RJ Hampton busted, and the pick is TBD. But I think a lot of us knew that AG in the right situation would be a useful player.

People would be saying same thing about Vuc trade if Franz wasn't so good or was Kuminga.

Kuminga + Jett + WCJ for Vuc suddenly looks way worse lol

Eh, Gary Harris was dealing with injury problems for a handful of seasons by that point

He was a reclamation project, which is Weltman's favorite

In the end I'm not really as bad about the haul at the time the trade was made as I am about how we couldve gotten more if we traded him earlier.

Aaron Gordon always had a clear archtype as a player, we never played him that way. Infact we played him about as bad as it gets, he was shooting majority middies

[basketballRob]

It looks like the Cavs will be without Mobley, Hunter, and Garland.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[basketballRob]

I'm not sure what Atkinson is talking about. He said Evan Turner undercut someone.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Skybox]

It looks like the Cavs will be without Mobley, Hunter, and Garland.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

That's pretty extreme...it's also the reality of building a contender.
-If Ant Edwards is out for a round...MIN is done
-Jokic -Trae
-SGA -JJJ
-Tatum -Brunson
-Curry
-Bam
etc, etc

...there are even secondary guys like Derrick White, Draymond, Hartenstein, KAT, even AG whose absence might render a team dead in the water. That's just life on the big stage. Depth is for the regular season...serious contenders don't count on 9-13 on the big stage. Again, that's why our next stage is to become even more top-heavy...we need 4 or 5 really good players (we have 3 now) and 3 or 5 good role players and then budget fillers...of course, you want the fillers to be good enough to fill in when there are injuries or just to eat minutes in the regular season, but the harsh reality is that if you lose a key guy...you're done. When you're a playoff team, at playoff time, there's no room for "development" unless you're just happy to be there and want to get AB or TdS some experience...rebuilding teams have the "luxury" of grabbing as much talent as you can and sifting through it...but, to really compete, you have to get to that top-heavy roster and just hope for good health in the playoffs.

In this case, CLE might steal a game or two with excellent coaching, superhuman efforts by their remaining ambulatory stars (expect Mitchell to play 40+ mins and put up 40+ points), and maybe some false bravado by the backups borne from a powerful regular season...but, in the end, top end talent wins and the league says you can only pay so much top end talent, so, by design, a major injury spells the end of a playoff run.

We just have to consider this when we try to cling to our $9m third-string C or our $22m (should be a backup) duplicate SG, etc

You don't win a ring with enough depth to overcome an injury...you win with top end talent and some luck regarding avoiding injury to major players.

[KillMonger]

I don't gaf because if things didn't happen the way they did we wouldn't have ended up with Paolo and Franz

Sent from my [Sidekick 5G] using RealGM mobile app

[SOUL]

I'm not sure what Atkinson is talking about. He said Evan Turner undercut someone.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Evan, comma, Turner

[Skybox]

I'm not sure what Atkinson is talking about. He said Evan Turner undercut someone.

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Evan, comma, Turner

"Don't Put Me In Coach" is a fantastic read, written by a smartass reserve on the Ohio State basketball team...in it, he routinely refers to Evan Turner as "The Villain"

...it all makes sense now.

Great great book for all of us types. Highly recommend.

[VFX]

Lets be real and stop the revisionist history.

AG for a FRP + rookie with potential + expiring vet

Was a good trade. RJ was even my choice before we took Cole. Dude was hyped in high school. Plus the FRP was so far away a lot of us were hopeful DEN would implode by that time.

Huh?

RJ Hampton was a mystery box prospect.
Gary Harris was coming off two seasons where he played 55 games each, due to injury, where his averages dropped by 5.5 ppg
Denver also finished 3rd in the West with a relatively young team, so it wasn't like the pick value was going to be astronomical.

People were just happy to get off of AG because he made no sense in a system with Isaac + Vuc after years of people pretending he was going to be Paul George.

Moving him 3 years sooner + picks like 2017,2018,2019 would have actually netted Orlando something. The bar here is crazy low. It isnt "revisionist". Everyone here wanted those guys moved sooner for better assets at the time and it didnt happen. The Vuc deal mitigated people carrying torches to Amway.

It doesn't work that way though... The deals were made individually and not collectively.

[VFX]

I don't gaf because if things didn't happen the way they did we wouldn't have ended up with Paolo and Franz

Sent from my [Sidekick 5G] using RealGM mobile app

You say this like they've accomplished something already.

Losing in the first round of the eastern conference in back to back years isnt a huge accomplishment.

[basketballRob]

It sounds like Mobley could miss a few weeks.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

[Skybox]

It sounds like Mobley could miss a few weeks.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using RealGM mobile app

Wow...with all of the hints of the BOS guys being banged up too...makes you wonder who'll emerge. IND coming on strong, putting the pedal down as if Carlisle had them pumping the brakes during the regular season to lull the East to sleep and breaking out some new moves for the playoffs.

also, makes you wonder how we'd do if WE were at full health against some of these vulnerable teams.

[RookieStar]

Lets be real and stop the revisionist history.

AG for a FRP + rookie with potential + expiring vet

Was a good trade. RJ was even my choice before we took Cole. Dude was hyped in high school. Plus the FRP was so far away a lot of us were hopeful DEN would implode by that time.

Huh?

RJ Hampton was a mystery box prospect.
Gary Harris was coming off two seasons where he played 55 games each, due to injury, where his averages dropped by 5.5 ppg
Denver also finished 3rd in the West with a relatively young team, so it wasn't like the pick value was going to be astronomical.

People were just happy to get off of AG because he made no sense in a system with Isaac + Vuc after years of people pretending he was going to be Paul George.

Moving him 3 years sooner + picks like 2017,2018,2019 would have actually netted Orlando something. The bar here is crazy low. It isnt "revisionist". Everyone here wanted those guys moved sooner for better assets at the time and it didnt happen. The Vuc deal mitigated people carrying torches to Amway.

It doesn't work that way though... The deals were made individually and not collectively.

RJ was a top 10 pick before he tanked his NBL debut. People saidnif he went the NCAA route he couldve been a top 10 prospect. Then again these are hit or miss predictions so who knows.

Gary Harris was supposed to be the expiring vet that can "help" thr locker room or something esp with all the youg guys we had.

The FRP was a gamble i admit. We were hoping something might happen to make them lose lol