Around the NBA: 2020-21 Season

Andi Obst · Post #1641 » by **Andi Obst** » Sun Mar 21, 2021 9:32 pm

What’s crazier? The Rockets being 11-30 after starting the season 11-10 or the Rockets still not having the worst record in their conference after losing 20 straight?

I feel for Stephen Silas, he looks and sounds absolutely broken. He’ll probably have a completely different team again next week.

Repeat 3-peat · Post #1642 » by **Repeat 3-peat** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:53 am

Read on Twitter

Post #1643 » by **DASMACKDOWN** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 1:31 am

I said Miami was in trouble early in the season but they bounced back really nicely.

Toronto was in the same bucket, they also bounced back. But I think Covid derailed them again so they probably will have a late push to turn things around before the playoffs.

RSP83 · Post #1644 » by **RSP83** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:19 am

Read on Twitter

tracking Woods situation...

MrFortune3 · Post #1645 » by **MrFortune3** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:11 am

Houston is a tough situation. Almost none of the players on the roster now will be there next year.

Andi Obst · Post #1646 » by **Andi Obst** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:21 am

RSP83 wrote:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

tracking Woods situation...

Says a lot about how much they love Wall in Houston when the coach and his teammates can't wait to tell the media how much Wall screwed up that last play.

Andi Obst · Post #1647 » by **Andi Obst** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:25 am

MrFortune3 wrote:Houston is a tough situation. Almost none of the players on the roster now will be there next year.

At least being really terrible makes sense for them this year (to increase the chances of keeping their top-4-protected pick) and next year (where they have their own pick). After that, their own draft picks are basically gone.

Post #1648 » by **DASMACKDOWN** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 5:20 pm

Aaron Gordon wants out. I have no interest in him personally.

Orlando is in this weird spot though. They arent good enough to be a sure fire playoff team but arent bad enough to be a major player in the draft.

All their key guys are the same age. 28-30

I dont see them as an ascending team either. They have some room for growth in Isaac and Fultz but there are a ton of question marks.

Post #1649 » by **Michael Jackson** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:35 pm

Isaac and Fultz have both been disappointing overall, I mean Fultz situation was just flat out crazy for a while. Gordon is who he is, if you can get a good return you shop him and the other 2. There is no clear path for ORL.

kodo · Post #1650 » by **kodo** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:45 pm

Little Nathan wrote:What’s crazier? The Rockets being 11-30 after starting the season 11-10 or the Rockets still not having the worst record in their conference after losing 20 straight?

I feel for Stephen Silas, he looks and sounds absolutely broken. He’ll probably have a completely different team again next week.

They started out the season intending to win, but when management intentionally DNPs vets, it sends a message to the rest of the team they're not expected to win and everyone just stopped trying.

I also think it's a double standard that Silver forced the Bulls to start RoLo and Holiday in the Doncic draft, but the Rockets were allowed to DNP Cousins and Tucker on a 20 game losing streak. Obviously neither Cousins or Tucker are part of the rebuild future, but neither were Rolo or Holiday.

Andi Obst · Post #1651 » by **Andi Obst** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:13 pm

kodo wrote:
Little Nathan wrote:What’s crazier? The Rockets being 11-30 after starting the season 11-10 or the Rockets still not having the worst record in their conference after losing 20 straight?

I feel for Stephen Silas, he looks and sounds absolutely broken. He’ll probably have a completely different team again next week.

They started out the season intending to win, but when management intentionally DNPs vets, it sends a message to the rest of the team they're not expected to win and everyone just stopped trying.

I also think it's a double standard that Silver forced the Bulls to start RoLo and Holiday in the Doncic draft, but the Rockets were allowed to DNP Cousins and Tucker on a 20 game losing streak. Obviously neither Cousins or Tucker are part of the rebuild future, but neither were Rolo or Holiday.

Cousins wasn’t helping them win. Neither was Tucker, really, because he just gave up the second Harden was traded. Silas made it very clear that he was horrible for their locker room.

I don’t think their losing streak has much to do with them sitting vets, it’s just a very dysfunctional roster with a first time head coach running the show. Wall started hot, but he’s pretty bad now. Oladipo is trending up, but he knows he’s just a trade chip. Wood almost missed the entire losing streak. The rest of the roster just isn’t good.

Andi Obst · Post #1652 » by **Andi Obst** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:18 pm

Michael Jackson wrote:Isaac and Fultz have both been disappointing overall, I mean Fultz situation was just flat out crazy for a while. Gordon is who he is, if you can get a good return you shop him and the other 2. There is no clear path for ORL.

I don’t think Isaac has been disappointing at all, he just can’t stay healthy.

Grodoboldo · Post #1653 » by **Grodoboldo** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 7:49 pm

Yeah, Isaac took a couple of years to develop, but he was having an all defensive team calibre season before getting hurt.
I never liked Gordon that much. Kinda short, can't really shoot, can't really create. He's just another guy.

chefo · Post #1654 » by **chefo** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:13 pm

Michael Jackson wrote:Isaac and Fultz have both been disappointing overall, I mean Fultz situation was just flat out crazy for a while. Gordon is who he is, if you can get a good return you shop him and the other 2. There is no clear path for ORL.

Isaac, had he not gotten injured, was headed to Jo-like DPOY-level and he was adequate, if nothing special on O. On top of that, by all local accounts, he's a very responsible and mature young guy who has his priorities straight and won't fall off because he parties too much (cough, Otto, cough). Who knows how much is appearance versus reality, but the Magic are incredibly high on him, so probably more accurate than not.

ZOMG · Post #1655 » by **ZOMG** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:59 pm

Little Nathan wrote:
Michael Jackson wrote:Isaac and Fultz have both been disappointing overall, I mean Fultz situation was just flat out crazy for a while. Gordon is who he is, if you can get a good return you shop him and the other 2. There is no clear path for ORL.

I don’t think Isaac has been disappointing at all, he just can’t stay healthy.

Hey, I hear "availability is a skill"...

MrSparkle · Post #1656 » by **MrSparkle** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 9:25 pm

Are we talking about ORL? Cause they are pretty much the worst situation in the NBA, besides HOU. $35m annually committed on two poor shooters who are ACL rehab projects. Their 2 best vets are around 30yo and in a 2y expiring window. Their past 6 years of picks aren't worth building around.

Not sure what's stopping them from having a complete fire-sale this Thursday. They got lucky with Shaq, Penny and Howard. Maybe there's something to the Magic tank.

Post #1657 » by **Ice Man** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 10:27 pm

MrSparkle wrote:Are we talking about ORL? Cause they are pretty much the worst situation in the NBA, besides HOU

Since it went into tank mode, Orlando has had Vucevic, Gordon, Sabonis, and Oladipo. One can say, well, they should have kept all those guys, but how to do that when they leave their rookie contracts? That's a danger with a bigtime tank, all these high draft picks expect $25 million per year on their second contracts.

MrSparkle · Post #1658 » by **MrSparkle** » Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:41 pm

Ice Man wrote:
MrSparkle wrote:Are we talking about ORL? Cause they are pretty much the worst situation in the NBA, besides HOU

Since it went into tank mode, Orlando has had Vucevic, Gordon, Sabonis, and Oladipo. One can say, well, they should have kept all those guys, but how to do that when they leave their rookie contracts? That's a danger with a bigtime tank, all these high draft picks expect $25 million per year on their second contracts.

Yeah. Well one thing for certain - they really blew the Oladipo/Sabonis for expiring Ibaka trade. To this day, I don’t get it. And I never liked Gordon from the get-go; seemed like their alternate Lauri. Awkward version of position-less: poor IQ, mediocre defense & shooting. Had they kept the bunch together, no guarantees Sabonis develops behind Vuc, and Oladipo has that 1 peak star season.

But it also demonstrates the power of luck during a rebuild. Lot of top-bad drafts last decade.

MrFortune3 · Post #1659 » by **MrFortune3** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:09 am

MrSparkle wrote:Are we talking about ORL? Cause they are pretty much the worst situation in the NBA, besides HOU. $35m annually committed on two poor shooters who are ACL rehab projects. Their 2 best vets are around 30yo and in a 2y expiring window. Their past 6 years of picks aren't worth building around.

Not sure what's stopping them from having a complete fire-sale this Thursday. They got lucky with Shaq, Penny and Howard. Maybe there's something to the Magic tank.

Orlando has a problem with roster balance. They kept taking the same position or nearly the same position every draft.
At some point you have to consider the construction of your roster and take someone that balances it out.

Instead they tried to make Isaac, Vucevic, Gordon, Bamba, Aminu, Birch all work together and you sacrifice key developmental time because so many need minutes and there are only so many to go around for those young guys.

MrFortune3 · Post #1660 » by **MrFortune3** » Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:14 am

TheStig wrote:
MrFortune3 wrote:
MGB8 wrote:
It looks like that's starting to happen. The highlights from last night are something to see - he opens up the court for KAT (to include passing), and his combination of range, strength and explosion for a wing is really hard to deal with.

I'm glad that he's flashing because I was on record as a pre-draft booster - so there's some validation there. Was also on the record noting that Ball had potentially the highest spread between ceiling and floor - and potentially the highest ceiling - but that for the Bulls I'd take Edwards due to (clearly massively overblown) concerns about Ball's shot and Edwards' size letting him play the 3. Was right on the general point... wrong on which one of the two to pick....

KAT for all his talent is best as a 2nd fiddle. He should be as good as Anthony Davis on defense and a game changing player but all he cares about are stats. The only way to fix the Wolves culture is by someone surpassing him and being edgy. I think that will be Edwards.

Kat needs to give a half a damn about things that don't show up in the stat sheet. He's just a taller Kevin Love. Bunch of empty stats on a losing them.

Sorry, Kat is just so irritating. That team will never be any good. He's gonna have to go somewhere like Miami to whip his ass into shape and teach him basketball.

Until he is made to play great defense and play with heart, his teams will never amount to anything with him as the lead.
Look at Wiggins going to GS. He doesn't get to take defensive plays off now.