Around The NBA : 2025-26

[Ice Man]

Well, we've seen this before. Be the lead scorer on an elite defensive team that wins a lot of games, and you're going to be an MVP candidate. SGA won the award last year because of that, Rose did in 2011, and now nba.com has Cade Cunningham listed among its Top 5 MVP candidates.

With a true shooting percentage of 53.5%. Yeah, I don't think so. Cade does get a lot of assists, though.

[dumbell78]

Well, we've seen this before. Be the lead scorer on an elite defensive team that wins a lot of games, and you're going to be an MVP candidate. SGA won the award last year because of that, Rose did in 2011, and now nba.com has Cade Cunningham listed among its Top 5 MVP candidates.

With a true shooting percentage of 53.5%. Yeah, I don't think so. Cade does get a lot of assists, though.

I agree.

He's 2nd in assists behind Joker, who by the way is also leading the leading in rebounding and 7th in scoring at 16.9 FG attempts per game. Cade is averaging 22.2 FG per right now. I just looked and the only guy in the top 10 for PPG with 17 FG or under per is Joker. Cade is a great young talent, take nothing away from him, and I get you have to have a discussion about candidates for MVP. If we're being serious, its Joker and always has been Joker for the last handful of years.

[NecessaryEvil]

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[MrSparkle]

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Kudos to them for helping salvage the bulls. Sister city!

[Ice Man]

I gave up early on the Bulls - Heat game, am watching the Pelicans instead. Derik Queen, man. He's the next Jokic. Obviously, I am not saying he will be *that* good, but he's the same style of player. Strong, big, & slow, with superlative skills, creativity, and vision. He's a blast.

[Ice Man]

This rookie class is amazing -

#2 - Harper, averaging 22/6/6 per 36 on 58% TS%, that's ridiculous
#3 - VJ, scored 35 in his NBA debut
#4 - Kon, already has 2 30-point games and 6 20-point games
#5 - Ace, he's playing more like a typical rookie, but has had a couple of 20-point games recently
#6 - Tre Johnson, averaging 17 points per 36 on 57% TS%

Plus #11 Coward is the early rookie of year, averaging 20/9/4 on 63% TS%, which is even more ridiculous than what Harper is doing.

I left out the #1, #7, and #13 guys because they played each other last night and put on one helluva show -

#1 Flagg - 29/7/5
#7 Fears - 21/7/2
#13 Queen - 20/7/11

Plus Flagg was arguably the best defender on the floor, well along with Gifford.

I mean, these kids.

[Jcool0]

Billy would have Queen putting up 30 in the G League.

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[Ice Man]

Billy would have him putting up 30 in the G League.

If Noa currently can play anything like those two guys, then Billy should be fired on the spot. You will get no quarrel from me on that!

But I doubt that's the case, sadly.

[NecessaryEvil]

I gave up early on the Bulls - Heat game, am watching the Pelicans instead. Derik Queen, man. He's the next Jokic. Obviously, I am not saying he will be *that* good, but he's the same style of player. Strong, big, & slow, with superlative skills, creativity, and vision. He's a blast.

Um we messed up lol. I never was against drafting Queen but like 90% of the board was like helllllll no. He’s averaging 25/8/8 in 31 mpg over his last two. There was your center of the future right there.

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[MrSparkle]

I was pretty concerned that AKME couldn’t navigate “options”: there were a lot of good options at #12. Pretty frustrating that we can’t even get any NBA data on Noa to track his potential. It’s absurd.

This organization is instead long-developing turds that you could find on waiver wires and salary dump trades.

Queen’s issues will come out, but again, it never ceases to amaze me what lengths people will go to highlight flaws in otherwise extremely skilled, talented prospects. Like, yeah… he had a low volume of 3Ps and defensive motor issues… but he could handle, pass, and hit turnaround jumpshot game winners at 6’10, and it’s a 12th pick, not even a gamble in the top-10. Just gloss over the superstar skills?

[The Force.]

Queen looks very promising but saying we should’ve drafted him over Noa is moot because we have no clue how good (or bad) Noa will be.

Dumars is definitely looking a lot less incompetent I’ll say that much.

[MisterRoy]

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Does this come as a surprise? Someone needs to be reminded the definition of insanity.

[NecessaryEvil]

Queen looks very promising but saying we should’ve drafted him over Noa is moot because we have no clue how good (or bad) Noa will be.

Dumars is definitely looking a lot less incompetent I’ll say that much.

I personally think Noa will be awesome

My issue was Queen wasn’t considered at ALL

[Red Larrivee]

I was pretty concerned that AKME couldn’t navigate “options”: there were a lot of good options at #12. Pretty frustrating that we can’t even get any NBA data on Noa to track his potential. It’s absurd.

This organization is instead long-developing turds that you could find on waiver wires and salary dump trades.

Queen’s issues will come out, but again, it never ceases to amaze me what lengths people will go to highlight flaws in otherwise extremely skilled, talented prospects. Like, yeah… he had a low volume of 3Ps and defensive motor issues… but he could handle, pass, and hit turnaround jumpshot game winners at 6’10, and it’s a 12th pick, not even a gamble in the top-10. Just gloss over the superstar skills?

If Queen had very obvious superstar skills, he wouldn't have been available at 13.

[DASMACKDOWN]

Man I couldnt be more wrong on Kon Knueppel. Dude is legit

[Ice Man]

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Does this come as a surprise? Someone needs to be reminded the definition of insanity.

Billy got more out of them than that.

[Ice Man]

If Queen had very obvious superstar skills, he wouldn't have been available at 13.

Queen has *very* obvious superstar skills. What has not been obvious if he has the athleticism to hang in the NBA. As it turns out, the answer is Yes for his offense. Defensively ... hmmm. He has the speed and hops of Vuc (or Jokic) but not the size.

[Ice Man]

There are a lot of teams with young & bad rosters this season, as with every season. But only one has Jason Kidd as "coach." The worst 3 teams in the NBA for points scored per 100 possessions -

Wiz - 109.0
Pacers - 107.0
Mavs - 105.6

And that's with a relatively easy schedule that has included 13 home games out of 18 played.

[Red Larrivee]

If Queen had very obvious superstar skills, he wouldn't have been available at 13.

Queen has *very* obvious superstar skills. What has not been obvious if he has the athleticism to hang in the NBA. As it turns out, the answer is Yes for his offense. Defensively ... hmmm. He has the speed and hops of Vuc (or Jokic) but not the size.

New Orleans had a chance to take Queen without trading away an asset and they chose not to. Maybe you could say it's because they wanted him and Fears, so they played the board, but if Queen had very clear superstar skills, they wouldn't risk having to do what they did, and other teams would've taken him.

At the time, the questions about defense, three point shooting, and overall conditioning were valid (and still are). There wasn't any thought of "well, he's got superstar skills, so let's let it play out".

[Avery W]

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