Around the NBA: 2020-21 Season

Post #1541 » by **Michael Jackson** » Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:39 am

Actual impact Paul George and Derozan are pretty similar? Maybe I’m crazy or maybe I have more expectations for PG than I ever did for Demarr.

MrSparkle · Post #1542 » by **MrSparkle** » Thu Mar 11, 2021 3:03 am

Michael Jackson wrote:Actual impact Paul George and Derozan are pretty similar? Maybe I’m crazy or maybe I have more expectations for PG than I ever did for Demarr.

DD is a good player. TBH, his peak 16/17 reg. season was on par if not better than PG's peak seasons. But I just can't take a guy who consistently shrank (badly) in the playoffs and shot 28% from 3P for his career.

PG has better size and an unguard-able 3Per so I'd take him every time (despite the "playoff-P" jokes).

But I never expected last year's Clippers to disappoint so much. What a blown opportunity. Nobody had their depth chart; not even the Lakers. LAL came into that bubble focused, while LAC blew it off. This year, it's gonna be a much harder run for them. Losing Harrell, coming back with a declining Lou, and a lateral coaching change in hands-off Lue... Clippers need a very dominant, peak version of George to win the chip. I guess if he lays an egg, the DeRozan comparison is fair! :lol:

Post #1543 » by **Michael Jackson** » Thu Mar 11, 2021 5:22 am

MrSparkle wrote:
Michael Jackson wrote:Actual impact Paul George and Derozan are pretty similar? Maybe I’m crazy or maybe I have more expectations for PG than I ever did for Demarr.

DD is a good player. TBH, his peak 16/17 reg. season was on par if not better than PG's peak seasons. But I just can't take a guy who consistently shrank (badly) in the playoffs and shot 28% from 3P for his career.

PG has better size and an unguard-able 3Per so I'd take him every time (despite the "playoff-P" jokes).

But I never expected last year's Clippers to disappoint so much. What a blown opportunity. Nobody had their depth chart; not even the Lakers. LAL came into that bubble focused, while LAC blew it off. This year, it's gonna be a much harder run for them. Losing Harrell, coming back with a declining Lou, and a lateral coaching change in hands-off Lue... Clippers need a very dominant, peak version of George to win the chip. I guess if he lays an egg, the DeRozan comparison is fair!

His OKC season he was the best season either of them have had, and I used to believe in PG. PG is better but he isn’t elite like I thought he was. This year he can change that though.

Post #1544 » by **Michael Jackson** » Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:53 pm

Chris Paul is overpaid for sure but he has still be earning his contract. His style of play aged well and he apparently is good on lower expectation teams (OKC and PHX both have outperformed with him). I never ever thought he would be that guy.

Dresden · Post #1545 » by **Dresden** » Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:59 pm

How about the Michigan State team being called "The Spartans presented by Rocket Mortgage"? That will be their official name now.

Jimako10 · Post #1546 » by **Jimako10** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:06 am

Since entering the rotation for the Hawks at the beginning of February, Tony Snell has hit 33 out 51 threes, including the game winner tonight against the Raps. That's 65% from 3 and a 74 TS%.

Love the pose at the end of the shot.

Read on Twitter

erlim · Post #1547 » by **erlim** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:06 am

Jimako10 wrote:Since entering the rotation for the Hawks at the beginning of February, Tony Snell has hit 33 out 51 threes, including the game winner tonight against the Raps. That's 65% from 3 and a 74 TS%.

Love the pose at the end of the shot.

Read on Twitter

Didn’t realize he was still in the league.

jc23 · Post #1548 » by **jc23** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:22 am

Nice to hear Chuck admit how he and so many others use to say very "cancel worthy" comments in the lockeroom. Imo myself and 99.9% of everyone i have ever met or heard of falls into this category.

Also agree with Kenny that the the guy who used the slur should learn why its not appropriate and not just that he has to hide from saying it in public. Didnt like how Kenny acted like he has never made any of these type of mistakes in the past. But Kenny never admits to ever being wrong on the show.

jc23 · Post #1549 » by **jc23** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:24 am

Jimako10 wrote:Since entering the rotation for the Hawks at the beginning of February, Tony Snell has hit 33 out 51 threes, including the game winner tonight against the Raps. That's 65% from 3 and a 74 TS%.

Love the pose at the end of the shot.

Read on Twitter

I will always have the Tony Snell and Doug McDermott summer league as a highlight of all recent Bulls summer leagues.

Andi Obst · Post #1550 » by **Andi Obst** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:44 am

That was a heartbreaking loss for the Raptors. They are not a deep team to begin with, were missing 3 of their 5 best players and starters, had one single practice during the break due to COVID protocols, down big early, came back, still led by 15 with a little bit over 5 minutes left and lost the game...on a Tony Snell buzzer beater. You could see in the players and coaches reactions that this one hurt.

Tough season for them, but man they’re always fighting back.

Post #1551 » by **Ice Man** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:46 pm

Several ex-Bulls have found their niche. Doug, Tony, Justin Holiday, Portis. All legit NBA players and useful in their way, as long as you don't expect too much of them. I continue to believe that the most important skill in coaching is not the ability to make players into what they are not, but instead figuring out what they do well, and then having them do only that, as much as possible. That to me is "player development."

kodo · Post #1552 » by **kodo** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:16 pm

And Cam Payne is a rotational player for the #2 WC team. He's shooting 45% from 3, 62% TS.

Some quotes from the Suns sub on Payne:

I really hope Payne stays with us after his contract expires.

Cam Payne is, in many ways, the emotional heart of this team, IMO. His bubble comeback was basically the story of the Suns in miniature.

Cam’s answer about his all star plans during his post game interview with Tom and TC told me he’s trying to put a firm grip on that back up PG role. I love the dude and I hope he stays.

he doesn't need to be a double-double machine every night, but as long as he can provide solid defense and set up our offense, I see no reason to not bring him back.

This dude fits his roll on the team so good and keeps the second unit rolling. His ability to score in the lane and shoot the 3 help a lot

Bulls former regime were all in on the draft young movement, but when you build the foundation on 19 year olds you take the responsibility of being their parents, their college coaches, their financial advisors. Bulls org never did that, even dating back to the Curry/Chandler days. We just drafted 19 year olds and expected them all to do everything themselves like Jordan did. It's no surprise Zach was the only one to thrive here, because he's a guy who takes all his development on himself and does it 100% privately without requiring or wanting the team's help. Butler also exploded once he went to private training and got away from the Bulls.

Hopefully with AK & Billy we change 180 into an actual developmental org that has a chance of doing something with the 19 year olds we draft.

Post #1553 » by **Ice Man** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:38 pm

kodo wrote:And Cam Payne is a rotational player for the #2 WC team. He's shooting 45% from 3, 62% TS.

I don't blame the Bulls for giving up on Cam, he was poor for us and already on his second team. But his success is instructive, it shows how hard it can be to figure out these kid players who come into the NBA. It's not uncommon for players to sort it out at age 25. Meaning that if the player entered the league at 19, you might have to wait 6 years before you realize what you have. Unfortunately, by then the player is usually gone from the team that drafted him ... that team ended up receiving no reward for being bad for a year.

Post #1554 » by **Ice Man** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 6:41 pm

kodo wrote:It's no surprise Zach was the only one to thrive here, because he's a guy who takes all his development on himself and does it 100% privately without requiring or wanting the team's help. Butler also exploded once he went to private training and got away from the Bulls.

Plus Zach and Butler were 22 when they became Bulls, not 19.

Dan Z · Post #1555 » by **Dan Z** » Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:52 pm

Ice Man wrote:Several ex-Bulls have found their niche. Doug, Tony, Justin Holiday, Portis. All legit NBA players and useful in their way, as long as you don't expect too much of them. I continue to believe that the most important skill in coaching is not the ability to make players into what they are not, but instead figuring out what they do well, and then having them do only that, as much as possible. That to me is "player development."

I remember when the Bulls had Eddy Curry and Antonio Davis. Skiles played Curry at the beginning of quarters and then finish off with Davis. That way Curry could use his size/offense to his advantage, but wasn't relied on for key moments later in the game (it also kept him from tiring out too much). Curry had one of his best seasons that year.