Around the League - 2019-2020

[Kobblehead]

How can he not want to stay in LA? The only city that could maybe beat that is Miami.

He'll probably just buy another mansion in California and stay with the Lakers.

I wouldn't say it's an impossibility that he doesn't end up with Chicago or New York, though. Anthony Davis is a weird, impressionable dude. Maybe the sway Klutch had on him is waning and there's somebody new in his ear that is more strongly influencing him.

[eyeatoma]

If I remember correctly Josh Jackson ghosted Ainge. He flew to Phoenix I think for a private work out and Jackson said no. Possible they had him over Tatum.

Feel this is all a moot point. Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

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[youngcrev]

If I remember correctly Josh Jackson ghosted Ainge. He flew to Phoenix I think for a private work out and Jackson said no. Possible they had him over Tatum.

Feel this is all a moot point. Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

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Feels like an unnecessary shot at Brett (and putting a little more responsibility on a head coach for player development than what reality suggests).

Tatum was good from the jump and has a game that would work anywhere.

[Negrodamus]

If Colangelo chose Jackson at three, I would have even more questions about his mental make up. Jackson and Simmons would never be able to coexist. The only guys that should have been under consideration were Monk, Fox, Tatum, and Mitchell. They were the only ones with projectable NBA jump shots. Jackson and Ball’s form were disastrous.

[eyeatoma]

If I remember correctly Josh Jackson ghosted Ainge. He flew to Phoenix I think for a private work out and Jackson said no. Possible they had him over Tatum.

Feel this is all a moot point. Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Feels like an unnecessary shot at Brett (and putting a little more responsibility on a head coach for player development than what reality suggests).

Tatum was good from the jump and has a game that would work anywhere.

Maybe but does he not get any of the blame for Ben's lack of shooting development and Embiid's poor conditioning?

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[youngcrev]

If I remember correctly Josh Jackson ghosted Ainge. He flew to Phoenix I think for a private work out and Jackson said no. Possible they had him over Tatum.

Feel this is all a moot point. Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Feels like an unnecessary shot at Brett (and putting a little more responsibility on a head coach for player development than what reality suggests).

Tatum was good from the jump and has a game that would work anywhere.

Maybe but does he not get any of the blame for Ben's lack of shooting development and Embiid's poor conditioning?

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Certainly shouldn't get the brunt of it (or for their positive developments for that matter).

Those specific things especially should be on the players themselves. The whole world has been trying to get Ben to shoot and Jo to get/stay in shape.

[Kobblehead]

Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

Tatum was a great team defender with a strong shooting profile as a prospect and a good head on his shoulders. It's hard to mess that up.

Even if Brett's terrible offensive system dissuaded Jayson from developing one-on-one skills, he still would have been providing us uber-Covington production. I'd say 14-16 ppg on 38% shooting and plus defense are pretty realistic bets from Tatum under Brown's tutilege.

[Kobblehead]

I think Luke Kennard is the forgotten underclassman of that 2017 draft. Even at Duke, he showed that he was more than a shooter.

The only guards that should have been drafted over him are Mitchell, Fox, Smith and Fultz.

Luke was way more skilled than Lonzo, Malik and Frank.

[76ciology]

If I remember correctly Josh Jackson ghosted Ainge. He flew to Phoenix I think for a private work out and Jackson said no. Possible they had him over Tatum.

Feel this is all a moot point. Would Brown really have developed Tatum properly?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Can Tatum fit with Brown’s system?
Yes, and he’d play that Tobias Harris role you’re looking at right now.

Can Brown develop Tatum?
It depends on Biid and Ben. Would Biid and/or Ben allow to defer to Tatum? I don’t think so.

Tatum looks more like an ISO player than a guy who can get Biid and/or Ben involved.

[76ciology]

Can anyone recall why the Jazz didn’t make roster adjustments after they were beaten by the Bulls when they first met?

Jazz’s best defender against MJ is Byron. They could have look for better 3&D wings. Then if Byron is on MJ, who will defend Pippen? Hornacek?

If you look at the recent trend of the league. Teams usually adjusts to the best team/player of the league. Like teams stacking up their bigs (that sonics big that was overpaid) against shaq. Teams stacking up their wings (ruben patterson?) against Kobe. And so forth..

But against MJ and Pippen. Why did they just settle on Byron Russell and having Hornacek to defend Pippen?

[youngcrev]

Can anyone recall why the Jazz didn’t make roster adjustments after they were beaten by the Bulls when they first met?

Jazz’s best defender against MJ is Byron. They could have look for better 3&D wings. Then if Byron is on MJ, who will defend Pippen? Hornacek?

If you look at the recent trend of the league. Teams usually adjusts to the best team/player of the league. Like teams stacking up their bigs (that sonics big that was overpaid) against shaq. Teams stacking up their wings (ruben patterson?) against Kobe. And so forth..

But against MJ and Pippen. Why did they just settle on Byron Russell and having Hornacek to defend Pippen?

Probably because it took them so long to get over the hump of just getting there. They were a 60+ win team.
Hornacek was their 3rd banana. Make major roster adjustments for one team and you might not make there to even play them.

[Kobblehead]

Jerry Sloan's rotation was 0 for 2 in those two Finals matches vs. the Bulls.

The first year, he was too big heavy (Greg Foster in addition to Malone and Ostertag).

The second year, he was too tiny G heavy (Howard Eisley in addition to Stockton and Hornacek).

Shandon Anderson (6'6" 210) and Chris Morris (6'8" 210) were both strong wing defenders and not quite utilized well enough (particularly Chris Morris).

[Kobblehead]

Ultimately, I think the hero worship of John Stockton is what lead to Utah never winning a title with Karl Malone. Malone needed a far better 2nd banana than John Stockton.

Give Karl Malone a Mitch Richmond, Kevin Johnson, or a Tim Hardaway instead of John Stockton and he wins at least 1 championship, IMO.

[76ciology]

Ultimately, I think the hero worship of John Stockton is what lead to Utah never winning a title with Karl Malone. Malone needed a far better 2nd banana than John Stockton.

Give Karl Malone a Mitch Richmond, Kevin Johnson, or a Tim Hardaway instead of John Stockton and he wins at least 1 championship, IMO.

Bulls’ secret sauce has always been Pippen’s length forces opponents SF on him that allows MJ to be defended by a SG who MJ has most times have size advantage with. It’s similar to how teams uses Siakam and Giannis nowadays, playing with a center forces smaller guys to defend at them.

Malone may never be the Malone we know if without Stockton. While Stockton may not average more than 15 a game but he can carry an offense that I don’t think he’s that easy to replace. He was probably the best PG in the league back then.

I think that what eventually costs Jazz the championship is their weakness against Bulls wings. It’s like when we face the Nets and we can just sleepwalk by dropping the ball to Embiid and Boban with Nets centers having no answers for them. Pippen and Jordan just creates so much gravity that when they needed basket Pippen can post Hornacek and kick it out to a shooter (MJ) or Mj Can post Byron then kick it out to Kerr. It’s just so much gravity to fill. With Hornacek and Russell and considering the greatness of MJ and Pippen, both are too big of holes to fill IMO.


Now that you mentioned it, I remember Anderson and Morris. And that may have been their adjustment (which made sense for me on paper) that just didn’t pay off.

[Kobblehead]

Bulls’ secret sauce has always been Pippen’s length forces opponents SF on him that allows MJ to be defended by a SG who MJ has most times have size advantage with. It’s similar to how teams uses Siakam and Giannis nowadays, playing with a center forces smaller guys to defend at them.

Agreed. That said, Jazz had three good wing defenders with size (Russell, Anderson, Morris) throughout those two Finals series against Chicago. Jerry Sloan just failed to commit to the gameplan of using all three continuously in stopper roles to make things harder for both Jordan and Pippen.

[Kobblehead]

Malone may never be the Malone we know if without Stockton. While Stockton may not average more than 15 a game but he can carry an offense that I don’t think he’s that easy to replace. He was probably the best PG in the league back then.

While they did use the pick and roll heavily, Malone did have an elite post game. It's not like he was Clint Capella. If he never had John Stockton to get him a couple more easy buckets per game, then he'd have just been Patrick Ewing. Still an elite, dominant, hall of fame big.

I disagree with you on Stockton's ability to carry an offense. And I think that's precisely the problem with him. He couldn't carry a offense at all, he could only set one up. He was too passive and too easy to defend in games that matter. Guys like Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson were guys that could turn it on and carry an offense when their team needed. And it shows in their cumulative championships. Karl Malone needed much more from Stockton and he couldn't give it.

[76ciology]

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[Kobblehead]

If the Jazz traded Stockton for Mitch Richmond and Sloan committed to using the defensive wing trio he had, the Jazz might have won one or both of those series.

- Bulls had no answer for Malone
- Jazz would have had a mitigation plan for Jordan/Pippen on the wings (Russell/Anderson/Morris)
- Jazz would have had a closer (Richmond)

[Kobblehead]

Mitch Richmond from 95-96 to 96-97:

- 24.5 ppg
- 2.6 made threes a game at 43.2% three point shooting
- 6.3 free throw attempts per game at 86.3% free throw shooting
- 58.4% true shooting

No way the Bulls survive Malone plus a closer.

[Kobblehead]

Watch on YouTube

It's crazy how a 320 pound Shaq was still much more spry and springy than current Embiid. What a freak Shaq was. Also, just shows you how much injuries take away your athleticism in the case with Joel.