Around The NBA: 2019-20 RESTART

[umfan83]

Read on Twitter

I love how instead of going to your FO and demanding a trade, nowadays you announce your desire to switch to a new team by unfollowing everyone on IG.

Either that or it’s a fun way to troll bored fans

[MrFortune3]

Siakim will be fine. It was his first year being the unquestioned #1 option and Toronto as a team relies on stellar play from everyone as a unit. Similar to the Heat.

I don't know what would lead you to believe this, based on what he did in this series. He couldn't shoot from the field, he had trouble posting up shorter players, he did not pass the ball well, and he turned it over a lot. Hard to see him improving in all those areas.

He’s improved every season he’s been in the league and he had a bad playoff run. Everyone on the Raptors was fairly bad and inconsistent this year in the playoffs.

Nothing about Siakim shows he’s going to go to **** from here.

[dice]

Lowry, Siakam making $30M+ and FVV making $25M+ for the future will be a very interesting core. They can certainly get it done in the regular season, but doesn't leave TOR with a lot of options for improvement.

Only Siakam is locked in long-term for now. Lowry is only under contract through next season and I'm not convinced the Raptors are willing to do whatever it takes to keep FVV, especially with the 2021 free agency in mind.

I wasn't very impressed with FVV. He did shoot 4/9 from deep tonight, but that last possession for TOR showed his shortcomings, when he couldn't create a good look for himself, nor did he have the awareness or creativity to create something for someone else.

not sure how the play they drew up was to have vanvleet go ISO against a guy 5 inches taller than him

[MrSparkle]

Only Siakam is locked in long-term for now. Lowry is only under contract through next season and I'm not convinced the Raptors are willing to do whatever it takes to keep FVV, especially with the 2021 free agency in mind.

I wasn't very impressed with FVV. He did shoot 4/9 from deep tonight, but that last possession for TOR showed his shortcomings, when he couldn't create a good look for himself, nor did he have the awareness or creativity to create something for someone else.

not sure how the play they drew up was to have vanvleet go ISO against a guy 5 inches taller than him

Maybe a test to gauge whether FVV is worth $30m+? But yeah, I really couldn’t see even Lillard or Curry winning the game like that unless they took their patented and risky 30ft 3Per. It was pretty obvious they wanted Fred to take the shot regardless what happened, and he was swarmed.

[Southpaw]

Harden taking himself out of plays after he gives up the ball has got to be super frustrating as a Rockets fan. He does it every time.

[Jcool0]

Yikes

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[kodo]

Harden 30 points on 18 shots, Rockets are still gonna get blown out. They're going to need to figure out how to utilize Westbrook this offseason, because this is the worst version of the Rockets we've seen in a while. I even think going all the way back to Lou Williams, Harrell, and Beverley would be an improvement.

[dice]

Harden taking himself out of plays after he gives up the ball has got to be super frustrating as a Rockets fan. He does it every time.

his usage is so high that he expends a lot of energy on ISO. so when he gives it up i'm not sure what productive actions he should be taking beyond standing at the 3 pt line and waiting for the ball back. the occasional cut to the basket after luring the defense to sleep? setting screens? he's certainly not gonna be running around screens and expending energy like reggie miller

he certainly shouldn't be taking himself out of it every time he doesn't have the ball, but drawing his defender out and letting the team go 4 on 4 isn't such a bad thing either

[dice]

Yikes

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why would their numbers be slightly skewed like that?

[Andi Obst]

They're going to need to figure out how to utilize Westbrook this offseason, because this is the worst version of the Rockets we've seen in a while.

I think the Rockets found the way to put Westbrook in the best situation possible, he just needs to be way better than he was in the playoffs. Let's not forget he had a really good run pre-bubble, where he was much more aggressive going to the rim and just generally looked more comfortable out there. Don't know what happened since then (aside from the injury), but the Lakers figured out that it's fine to completely ignore him and dare him to take whatever shot he would like. If that's a viable defensive strategy against him, there's not much the Rockets can do.

This feels like the end of this Rockets team to me. Maybe not this offseason, but I feel like major changes are coming there. They're not going anywhere with that team, have no financial flexibility, an owner who clearly values money over winning, an expensive coach who is still not extended and a GM who doesn't seem to have the full support from his boss. This won't end well.

[Chi town]

I noted it's easier to disrupt guys catch & shoot guys like Jaylen Brown vs a "chucker" like Tatum. Jaylen had good PPG but didn't shoot well, 42% and 28%. He normally boosts his 3P% by shooting corner 3s, where he was 48% in the reguar season. TOR did a good job of hassling him there forcing him to dribble & shoot or otherwise not get a simple corner C&S. For the playoffs Brown shot only 25% on corner 3s.

TOR also hassled Tatum, but Tatum on the initial close out could side step / stepback and still hit the 3. Tatum doesn't shoot assisted 3s that much, he's only 54% assisted. He creates his own shot to a large degree. He ended up shooting 39.5% from 3 this series.

A lot of players can learn to hit a standstill, C&S shot but these guys whose games naturally incorporate shots off stepbacks, sidesteps, off the P&R, etc.. are the ones that will still produce against playoff defenses. This is the kind of player I'd prefer to draft over someone that's just a good c&s shooter.

Bingo! This is why I’m Deni or Hayes.

[jc23]

hope nobody on the clips gets injured tonight, they should of finished the nugs off already.

[Jeffster81]

Let's go Clippers and the Heat. I do not want or need another Lakers/Celtics finals.

[Andi Obst]

Welp, D'Antoni is out in Houston. Step one.

[Grodoboldo]

I love Harden as a player, but people have to remind that the (disastrous) Westbrook experiment was his fault. He demanded Paul's head and lobbied for his buddy, making the franchise spend assets to acquire the worst contract in the league.

That's a pretty good example of the perils of this player empowerment Era. It's all good, until they destroy a franchise for a decade and demand to be traded.

[Grodoboldo]

Westbrook won't ever play up to that contract. But I wonder if he could be a (very) small ball center in some line-ups, used as a rolling man, receiving passes in the drunker spot and as a ball handler in pick & pop possessions.

[R3AL1TY]

It looks like the NBA will begin marketing the "where Giannis will go" narrative. I expect Anthony Davis to be part of this off-season drama too.

[R3AL1TY]

With the type of shots Jokic is hitting while the Clippers can't grab a rebound or get an easy shot, it will be a game 7.

[Andi Obst]

The second half by the Clippers was absolutely embarrassing for such a talented team. But man, I love this Nuggets team. They just don't give up. The Clippers did.

Do it one more time for me, Joker & Murray.

[DASMACKDOWN]

Its funny but 3 weeks ago it seemed there weren't not many coaches available or even jobs available.

Now there seems to be a ton of quality jobs and quality coaches available.