The NBENFANT Thread (NBA): 2023-2024 Edition!

[zzaj]

ok then...the Lakers and the Rockets got into a scuffle last night, and the genesis of the event seems to be Rondo spitting on Chris Paul. Then, punches thrown and Brandon Ingram going berserk with sucker punches

I've been plenty critical of the Portland roster, but it sure doesn't appear to have any players that would behave that low

The spitting no way...however, I think just about anybody would have acted like CP3 or Rondo if you cut out the spitting. Ingram makes no sense to me, really, other than he's young and he still lets dirty players like CP3 get under his skin. Him jumping into the fray after the fact is pretty "whoops".

The more I think about it, the happier I am that both Chris Paul and Rondo got punched in the face. They are very punchable players. Shame Paul isn't going to miss the Blazer game coming up though...

[Shem]

Watch on YouTube

[JasonStern]

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/what-the-hell-happened-to-darius-miles

[zzaj]

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/what-the-hell-happened-to-darius-miles

That was a great read. My favorite part?

"...I ran into Shawn Kemp after we played Portland, and he was one of my heros. I used to watch all his tapes.

He said, “Look, I’m not gonna try to tell you anything. But lemme just say this. Every time you dunk, you dunk hard. If you do that, you know what’s gonna happen?”

I said, “What, Shawn?”

He said, “They gonna stop jumpin’. They gonna start wavin’ atcha.” '

[Wizenheimer]

Houston offered 4 first round picks for Butler. That's pretty risky if the protections are low

[Fitz303]

Houston offered 4 first round picks for Butler. That's pretty risky if the protections are low

Yeah and they actually can't put protections on the first 3 picks unless the picks are extinguished entirely if not conveyed that year. So if they make the 2019 1st rd pick a top 20 protected pick, and it ends up the 19th pick, That pick would never go to Minnesota, because Houston wouldn't be allowed to give up their 2020 pick, due to the fact that they're already giving up their 2021 pick. The 2025 pick is the only pick that they'd realistically be able to put protection on

A ballsy move by Morey, if they are able to make it happen. Butler does look really good though early on this season.

[Wizenheimer]

Houston offered 4 first round picks for Butler. That's pretty risky if the protections are low

Yeah and they actually can't put protections on the first 3 picks unless the picks are extinguished entirely if not conveyed that year. So if they make the 2019 1st rd pick a top 20 protected pick, and it ends up the 19th pick, That pick would never go to Minnesota, because Houston wouldn't be allowed to give up their 2020 pick, due to the fact that they're already giving up their 2021 pick. The 2025 pick is the only pick that they'd realistically be able to put protection on

A ballsy move by Morey, if they are able to make it happen.

that's a good point about the protections. Now, with Harden, Paul, and possibly Butler, you'd have to think the 2019 and 2021 picks would be late 1st round. The 2021 draft is only 32 months from now and Paul would be 35 that season. But there's no guarantee Houston would be able to re-sign Butler this summer. He might look a little cross-eyed at playing with the high usage Harden and ball-dominant Paul. The Houston owner has to be desperate for a championship and willing to pay tons of luxury tax though because having 3 players at 35M a year is crazy. But obviously, he also sees that the 'window' for the Rockets' title hopes will be closing in 2-4 years

Butler does look really good though early on this season.

and so does Kawhi. I think a lot of people were getting hung up on the shenanigans these guys were supposedly pulling and forgetting how talented they are. Butler is a top-15 players and probably, arguably, a top-10 player. He's a two-way player too. Of the three elite players that have been on the market the past 2 years, Paul George is the only one that is struggling in terms of stats, but he's generally started seasons slowly for some reason

[armin-x]

Bjelica killing it for Kings

I have been telling you these summer you should sign him. he is such a nice player (stretch 4, Joe Ingles-like BBIQ, can put it on the floor, smart on defense...). he would be fantastic fit next to Nurk

Too bad that moron Olshey hasn't seen anything in him......otherwise, pre-season NBA surveys are always fun to see. they are proof that most of these GM-morons have no clue about basketball

[Wizenheimer]

Bjelica killing it for Kings

I have been telling you these summer you should sign him. he is such a nice player (stretch 4, Joe Ingles-like BBIQ, can put it on the floor, smart on defense...). he would be fantastic fit next to Nurk

Too bad that moron Olshey hasn't seen anything in him......otherwise, pre-season NBA surveys are always fun to see. they are proof that most of these GM-morons have no clue about basketball

he signed a 7M/year deal, with 6.5M 1st year salary. All Portland had was a 5.3M tax-MLE and they only used half of it. They couldn't have made a competitive offer

[The Sebastian Express]

Bjelica killing it for Kings

I have been telling you these summer you should sign him. he is such a nice player (stretch 4, Joe Ingles-like BBIQ, can put it on the floor, smart on defense...). he would be fantastic fit next to Nurk

Too bad that moron Olshey hasn't seen anything in him......otherwise, pre-season NBA surveys are always fun to see. they are proof that most of these GM-morons have no clue about basketball

he signed a 7M/year deal, with 6.5M 1st year salary. All Portland had was a 5.3M tax-MLE and they only used half of it. They couldn't have made a competitive offer

I would also point out he originally agreed to offer, went back on it, agreed to go to Europe.. only to end up going to the Kings in the end. So, I mean.

At least if I recall right.

[zzaj]

Bjelica killing it for Kings

I have been telling you these summer you should sign him. he is such a nice player (stretch 4, Joe Ingles-like BBIQ, can put it on the floor, smart on defense...). he would be fantastic fit next to Nurk

Too bad that moron Olshey hasn't seen anything in him......otherwise, pre-season NBA surveys are always fun to see. they are proof that most of these GM-morons have no clue about basketball

he signed a 7M/year deal, with 6.5M 1st year salary. All Portland had was a 5.3M tax-MLE and they only used half of it. They couldn't have made a competitive offer

I would also point out he originally agreed to offer, went back on it, agreed to go to Europe.. only to end up going to the Kings in the end. So, I mean.

At least if I recall right.

All that being said, Bjelica would be a welcome addition in a Blazer uniform. He obviously won't continue to shoot 57% from 3, but he reminds me of Mirotic, but could end up a better player in the long run.

[zzaj]

I have a feeling a mini-shift is happening in the NBA. The past few years have been a guard dominated league...perhaps the most amount of high quality scoring guards in the league ever. The vogue of 3pt shooting has helped make that happen.

After watching a bit of the replay of that Duke game...holy smokes. Those might be the best 3 prospects on any one team I've ever seen. I'm thinking the future of the NBA is going to be 6'7" and above:

Barrett
Reddish
Wiliamson

to (off the top of my head)

Ayton
Embiid
Carter Jr.
Bagley
Doncic
Bamba
Tatum
Jarrett Allen
Siakam
Kuzma
Lauri
Ingram
Giannis
Simmons
Porzingis
Jokic
KAT
AD
Gobert
Jabari
Mirotic
Randle

...are all poised to do or continue to do big things. That's mostly a lot of young size, mobility, and shooting...I couldn't name you that many guards with as much talent in the past few years or coming into the league.

[d-train]

This board is literally dead.

[JasonStern]

Trader Bob would have landed us Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and JR Smith...

[d-train]

Trader Bob would have landed us Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and JR Smith...

Whitsitt was playing under different rules. Today, he would be running the team the same way Olshey is.

[JasonStern]

Trader Bob would have landed us Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and JR Smith...

Whitsitt was playing under different rules. Today, he would be running the team the same way Olshey is.

No. He would have landed us Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, and JR Smith. See the quoted text.

[Wizenheimer]

well, about 10% into the season and big surprise, Houston and Melo are already having problems:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25238014/houston-rockets-talks-carmelo-anthony-role-team

he's seemingly become toxic to team chemistry...or at least he's become just a low-efficiency chucker. So far this season, he's averaging 12 FGA and 0.5 assists

I wonder if Houston will actually waive him. No doubt they are looking for a trade at this point

I sure am glad the Blazers didn't trade for him....sounded like they were trying

[DusterBuster]

well, about 10% into the season and big surprise, Houston and Melo are already having problems:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25238014/houston-rockets-talks-carmelo-anthony-role-team

he's seemingly become toxic to team chemistry...or at least he's become just a low-efficiency chucker. So far this season, he's averaging 12 FGA and 0.5 assists

I wonder if Houston will actually waive him. No doubt they are looking for a trade at this point

I sure am glad the Blazers didn't trade for him....sounded like they were trying

Yeah, I'm also glad the Blazers didn't trade anything for him. I might still consider rolling the dice on him for "free" if he would come here because I'm a glutton for punishment, but its hard to deny how many teams have taken a swing on Melo and ended up going.... yeah, thanks but no thanks.

That said, I also think he's been somewhat unfairly scapegoated by both the Thunder and now Rockets. I say that with a lot of hesitance given Melo's attitude not helping matters, but in both the Thunder and Rockets, he was not put in a position to succeed. He was never going to work with Russ, that was a bad pairing from the get-go and even with PG, that team is still fairly flawed. Than with the Rockets, they made some really poor roster choices for who they let go this summer, which decimated the teams defense - and not to mention Melo was being re-teamed with D'Antoni.... Morey is a smart GM, but I don't know what he was thinking there. So I mean, not to diminish Melo's role in how his late-career arch has gone, but I also think he's been in some less than awesome situations.

[Wizenheimer]

Denver has now lost 4 games in a row, and 3 straight at home

[Sinobas]

Denver has now lost 4 games in a row, and 3 straight at home

Ouch. Will be interesting to see how much Portland can sustain this level of play. Every year, they have really good streches, then slump back down to being mediocre.