Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

[dice]

The Celts do not have impressive personnel. Brown and Tatum are good but not great 2-way wings. They along with Kemba (who truly is special) and Brad's coaching are the reason for the team's success. After that it's a nice role player in Smart, the ghost of Gordon Hayward, and a bunch of Bulls quality guys. I can see why Philly has beaten them three straight times. Philly is just as talented without Embiid.

injury issues aside, hayward is playing as well or better than he ever has so far this season

bill Simmons disagrees with that statement. just read his opinion on gh on twitter.

hard to argue with 59% shooting inside the arc

[kingkirk]

They got Bam and Herro with the No. 13 picks. If you’re good at scouting and good at developing, you can do this.

The Heat currently are a Butler/Bam team, with significant help from Dragic. Everybody else is a role player, and Herro's not yet one of the better ones. But you're right, he was a good #13 selection, he figures to be a real player in 2 or 3 years.

My takeaway from the Heat being second in the East that winning with Jimmy Butler (or another elite point wing) is as simple as getting one additional stud, one decent third option, and a bunch of easily obtainable guys who execute their roles. And -- this is the key -- having a GM, coach, and franchise that has its act together, so that the team isn't a randomly selected bag of bones, but is a group that was assembled and is coached with a clear plan. The Bulls don't have that. Even if they matched the Heat in terms of raw talent, they wouldn't function as well as a unit.

And for all the reasons you noted, that the Bulls do not have that, that is why this was never a Butler problem but a Bulls problem.

[Jcool0]

wow

Read on Twitter

[Ice Man]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

[MeloRoseNoah]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

GarPax draft evaluations are infallible.

[Chi town]

Don’t look now but Grizz are the 8th seed out west.

Morant is the most electric player in the league.

[HomoSapien]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

GarPax draft evaluations are infallible.

To be fair, if Cam Payne doesn't pan out we have top prospect Jerian Grant to look at. And if he doesn't work out, we've got former lotto pick, Kris Dunn --- we almost traded Jimmy Butler straight up for him, so he's got to be good.

[MrFortune3]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

The shade...

[MrSparkle]

So assuming these guys are healthy to play, the ASG might be kind of interesting.

Luka-Harden-Lebron-Kawhi-Davis

vs.

Kyrie-Jimmy-Giannis-Siakam-Embiid (or Trae/Beal for spacing)

Who am I kidding? The ASG is a joke. But a real game between these 10 would be cool. East would have a harder time scoring, but they'd have some 3P options.

[dumbell78]

So assuming these guys are healthy to play, the ASG might be kind of interesting.

Luka-Harden-Lebron-Kawhi-Davis

vs.

Kyrie-Jimmy-Giannis-Siakam-Embiid (or Trae/Beal for spacing)

Who am I kidding? The ASG is a joke. But a real game between these 10 would be cool. East would have a harder time scoring, but they'd have some 3P options.

AS Break is a great time to read a couple good books or something. No matter what the teams, it's uncontested dunks and threes.

[DASMACKDOWN]

So assuming these guys are healthy to play, the ASG might be kind of interesting.

Luka-Harden-Lebron-Kawhi-Davis

vs.

Kyrie-Jimmy-Giannis-Siakam-Embiid (or Trae/Beal for spacing)

Who am I kidding? The ASG is a joke. But a real game between these 10 would be cool. East would have a harder time scoring, but they'd have some 3P options.

There is no East vs West remember.

[Pax for Prez]

They got Bam and Herro with the No. 13 picks. If you’re good at scouting and good at developing, you can do this.

The Heat currently are a Butler/Bam team, with significant help from Dragic. Everybody else is a role player, and Herro's not yet one of the better ones. But you're right, he was a good #13 selection, he figures to be a real player in 2 or 3 years.

My takeaway from the Heat being second in the East that winning with Jimmy Butler (or another elite point wing) is as simple as getting one additional stud, one decent third option, and a bunch of easily obtainable guys who execute their roles. And -- this is the key -- having a GM, coach, and franchise that has its act together, so that the team isn't a randomly selected bag of bones, but is a group that was assembled and is coached with a clear plan. The Bulls don't have that. Even if they matched the Heat in terms of raw talent, they wouldn't function as well as a unit.

And for all the reasons you noted, that the Bulls do not have that, that is why this was never a Butler problem but a Bulls problem.

Remember the real reason Jimmy Butler was traded "MONEY"

"The organization weighed not only having to pay Butler a five-year, $200 million-plus designated-player exception with one more All-NBA designation"

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bulls/ct-bulls-trade-jimmy-butler-spt-0623-20170622-story.html

Pax

[DuckIII]

Don’t look now but Grizz are the 8th seed out west.

Morant is the most electric player in the league.

But, but he went to Murray State!

[Salo23]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

GarPax draft evaluations are infallible.

To be fair, if Cam Payne doesn't pan out we have top prospect Jerian Grant to look at. And if he doesn't work out, we've got former lotto pick, Kris Dunn --- we almost traded Jimmy Butler straight up for him, so he's got to be good.

Or Isaiah Canaan and Michael Carter Williams.

[RSP83]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

The shade...

one of my favorite thing to post repeatedly... At one point in 2016 the Bulls had 6 PGs and apparently decided they can only keep 5 of them. They decided to keep Rondo, Canaan, Grant, Payne, and MCW, and cut Dinwiddie. Where are them 5 now? Rondo was let go the next season, the other 4 is out of the league?

[MrFortune3]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

The shade...

one of my favorite thing to post repeatedly... At one point in 2016 the Bulls had 6 PGs and apparently decided they can only keep 5 of them. They decided to keep Rondo, Canaan, Grant, Payne, and MCW, and cut Dinwiddie. Where are them 5 now? Rondo was let go the next season, the other 4 is out of the league?

MCW is with the Magic, Rondo is with the Lakers, Grant and Canaan are in the G- leaugue and Payne is in China.

[HomoSapien]

The depleted Nets take down the Heat. Good win, bad loss. The Bam and Butler show again. Bam 22/6/6, Butler 33/9/9, but the supporting cast didn't get the job done. Dinwiddie had 26 points, 14 assists. He might be as good as Cam Payne someday. Oh yeah, I forget, Payne was a lottery pick. So of course GarPax would prefer him.

The shade...

one of my favorite thing to post repeatedly... At one point in 2016 the Bulls had 6 PGs and apparently decided they can only keep 5 of them. They decided to keep Rondo, Canaan, Grant, Payne, and MCW, and cut Dinwiddie. Where are them 5 now? Rondo was let go the next season, the other 4 is out of the league?

The Bulls scouting has just been atrocious over the last several seasons. They messed up on Dinwiddie. They thought Kris Dunn was such a good prospect that they nearly traded Jimmy Butler for him. Also they supposedly had Bagley, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Trae Young all ahead of Luka. They reportedly also had an interest in Bamba (who I also think is a great prospect who is in a bad situation), but there was never a peep about Luka. Also let's not forget that they blew the Tony Snell draft and made Chandler Hutchison a the dumbest promise ever.

[RSP83]

The shade...

one of my favorite thing to post repeatedly... At one point in 2016 the Bulls had 6 PGs and apparently decided they can only keep 5 of them. They decided to keep Rondo, Canaan, Grant, Payne, and MCW, and cut Dinwiddie. Where are them 5 now? Rondo was let go the next season, the other 4 is out of the league?

MCW is with the Magic, Rondo is with the Lakers, Grant and Canaan are in the G- leaugue and Payne is in China.

GarPax got Dinwiddie for Cam Bairstow... I bet they're kicking themselves everyday now.

[RSP83]

The shade...

one of my favorite thing to post repeatedly... At one point in 2016 the Bulls had 6 PGs and apparently decided they can only keep 5 of them. They decided to keep Rondo, Canaan, Grant, Payne, and MCW, and cut Dinwiddie. Where are them 5 now? Rondo was let go the next season, the other 4 is out of the league?

The Bulls scouting has just been atrocious over the last several seasons. They messed up on Dinwiddie. They thought Kris Dunn was such a good prospect that they nearly traded Jimmy Butler for him. Also they supposedly had Bagley, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Trae Young all ahead of Luka. They reportedly also had an interest in Bamba (who I also think is a great prospect who is in a bad situation), but there was never a peep about Luka. Also let's not forget that they blew the Tony Snell draft and made Chandler Hutchison a the dumbest promise ever.

And who is in charge of scouting the past several seasons according to KC? starts with a G, ends with an R. Three letter name.

I think there's a pattern in our draft picks. My guess Pax picks tend to be big program players. This goes back from pre Gar days: Deng, Duhon (Duke), Gordon (Uconn/champion), Noah (Florida/champion), Hinrich (Kansas but wanted Wade). This is why I think Valentine (Michigan St.), Wendell (Duke), Coby (UNC) are all highly Pax influenced picks, including the rumor of Bagley and JJJ interest.

Gar picks are post 2012 (after Matt Lloyd resigned) guys. Combo of big fish in small pond guys like McDermott (Ames connection) and Portis (Arkansas), and some little known guys Snell and Bairstow (New Mexico which Gar has history with), Hutch (the promise is still puzzling), Gafford (is it a coincidence that we picked 2 guys from Arkansas in the last 4 years?).

Lauri is probably a Pax pick, with Arizona being a big college program.

[Southpaw]

Ja Morant is really damn good. And he's clutch too!

Jimmy has been great in MIA but we can't discount Bam's improvement.