Around the NBA, Season 2020-2021

[AingesBurner]

The Pelicans blew out the Clips last night. The Pelicans were up 27 at the end of three quarters and won by 20. They had 38 assists. Ball, Ingram and Zion are going to be a great big three of the future, and might already be good enough to squeeze in to this season's playoffs and give someone fits in the first round.

Yeah they are scary good.

[Crunch 99]

Kyle Lowry Seeking Two-Year, $50M Extension From Potential New Team
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/261983/Kyle-Lowry-Seeking-Two-Year-$50M-Extension-From-Potential-New-Team

Number one: Can someone explain how this works? A team can trade for Lowry today and extend him right away? I thought we were well past the deadline for extending contracts.

Number two: Kyle Lowry will be 35 years old tomorrow and he is not playing better than Mike Conley. If someone gives Lowry that money, that would set a high money bar that Conley could ask for.

Conley/Lowry comparison this season:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=lowryky01&p1yrfrom=2021&player_id2=conlemi01&p2yrfrom=2021&player_id3=lowryky01&p3yrfrom=2021

[AingesBurner]

Kyle Lowry Seeking Two-Year, $50M Extension From Potential New Team
https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/261983/Kyle-Lowry-Seeking-Two-Year-$50M-Extension-From-Potential-New-Team

Number one: Can someone explain how this works? A team can trade for Lowry today and extend him right away? I thought we were well past the deadline for extending contracts.

Number two: Kyle Lowry will be 35 years old tomorrow. He is not playing better than Mike Conley. If someone gives Lowry that money, that would set a high money bar that Conley can potentially ask for.

Conley/Lowry comparison this season:
https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=lowryky01&p1yrfrom=2021&player_id2=conlemi01&p2yrfrom=2021&player_id3=lowryky01&p3yrfrom=2021

He will sign that in the offseason.

[Crunch 99]

Read on Twitter

[TNJazz]

Read on Twitter

Talk about assets... Next LBJ Destination for his next try at manipulating the league into championship super teams?

[Crunch 99]

The road to a championship just got tougher. Many of the contenders made moves around the trade deadline that have good potential to improve their teams:

--- Portland acquisition of Powell.

--- Denver acquisition of Gordon and McGee. Gordon had two dunks off Jokic passes in his debut last night.

--- Laker acquisition of Drummond.

--- Clipper acquisition of Rondo - though I am not certain Rondo will be a net positive over losing Lou Williams.

--- Philly acquisition of George Hill.

--- Milwaukee acquisition of PJ Tucker. (Remains to be seen whether PJ Tucker can still be a positive contributor.)

--- Heat acquisitions of Oladipo, Ariza and Bjelica.

--- Brooklyn acquisitions of Aldridge and Griffin.

[AingesBurner]

The road to a championship just got tougher. Many of the contenders made moves around the trade deadline that have good potential to improve their teams:

--- Portland acquisition of Powell.

--- Denver acquisition of Gordon and McGee. Gordon had two dunks off Jokic passes in his debut last night.

--- Laker acquisition of Drummond.

--- Clipper acquisition of Rondo - though I am not certain Rondo will be a net positive over losing Lou Williams.

--- Philly acquisition of George Hill.

--- Milwaukee acquisition of PJ Tucker. (Remains to be seen whether PJ Tucker can still be a positive contributor.)

--- Heat acquisitions of Oladipo, Ariza and Bjelica.

--- Brooklyn acquisitions of Aldridge and Griffin.

This is why I’m not a proponent of sitting on hands and citing chemistry, winning teams make moves. I think we are still the team to beat in the West of the Lakers are. It healthy but we really needed that wing defender and not Matt **** Thomas.

[Catchall]

The road to a championship just got tougher. Many of the contenders made moves around the trade deadline that have good potential to improve their teams:

--- Portland acquisition of Powell.

--- Denver acquisition of Gordon and McGee. Gordon had two dunks off Jokic passes in his debut last night.

--- Laker acquisition of Drummond.

--- Clipper acquisition of Rondo - though I am not certain Rondo will be a net positive over losing Lou Williams.

--- Philly acquisition of George Hill.

--- Milwaukee acquisition of PJ Tucker. (Remains to be seen whether PJ Tucker can still be a positive contributor.)

--- Heat acquisitions of Oladipo, Ariza and Bjelica.

--- Brooklyn acquisitions of Aldridge and Griffin.

This is why I’m not a proponent of sitting on hands and citing chemistry, winning teams make moves. I think we are still the team to beat in the West of the Lakers are. It healthy but we really needed that wing defender and not Matt **** Thomas.

I think the Jazz are basically doubling down on the strategy of taking and making more 3pt shots than the other team. I think they like Matt Thomas and intend to play him.

As a small-market franchise, the Jazz know they can't compete with the star power of the LA and NY teams, so they compensate by putting out a system with so many above-average 3pt shooters that they are very likely to out-shoot their opponents. While defensively, they rely on Rudy shutting off the rim and allowing our guys to close out on perimeter shooters.

Look at the Spurs team from 2014. They had guys like Marco Bellinelli, Matt Bonner, Danny Green and Patty Mills spacing the floor for Tony Parker/Tim Duncan pick-and-rolls. The Jazz are using the same approach.

[AingesBurner]

The road to a championship just got tougher. Many of the contenders made moves around the trade deadline that have good potential to improve their teams:

--- Portland acquisition of Powell.

--- Denver acquisition of Gordon and McGee. Gordon had two dunks off Jokic passes in his debut last night.

--- Laker acquisition of Drummond.

--- Clipper acquisition of Rondo - though I am not certain Rondo will be a net positive over losing Lou Williams.

--- Philly acquisition of George Hill.

--- Milwaukee acquisition of PJ Tucker. (Remains to be seen whether PJ Tucker can still be a positive contributor.)

--- Heat acquisitions of Oladipo, Ariza and Bjelica.

--- Brooklyn acquisitions of Aldridge and Griffin.

This is why I’m not a proponent of sitting on hands and citing chemistry, winning teams make moves. I think we are still the team to beat in the West of the Lakers are. It healthy but we really needed that wing defender and not Matt **** Thomas.

I think the Jazz are basically doubling down on the strategy of taking and making more 3pt shots than the other team. I think they like Matt Thomas and intend to play him.

As a small-market franchise, the Jazz know they can't compete with the star power of the LA and NY teams, so they compensate by putting out a system with so many above-average 3pt shooters that they are very likely to out-shoot their opponents. While defensively, they rely on Rudy shutting off the rim and allowing our guys to close out on perimeter shooters.

Look at the Spurs team from 2014. They had guys like Marco Bellinelli, Matt Bonner, Danny Green and Patty Mills spacing the floor for Tony Parker/Tim Duncan pick-and-rolls. The Jazz are using the same approach.

But they had Kawhi guarding LeBron, we don’t have a guy to guard LeBron or Kawhi or PG.

[Rauxcee]

[

But they had Kawhi guarding LeBron, we don’t have a guy to guard LeBron or Kawhi or PG.

You are right. However, a guy that can gaurd Kwahi or Lebron wasn't on the market to trade for. Otherwise, every team would trade for a player that can guard a top 10 player.

I dont deny a wing defender is needed- but which ones were actually attainable? Nwaba? Other comparable players to Nwaba? I mean Nwaba, or a comparable player, is not going to be the difference between advancing in the playoffs or losing a series. A player of that caliber is not going to be the reason we beat the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Sixers, Nets. If people think they are.... I dont know what to say to that because thats just crazy thinking IMO.

[AingesBurner]

[

But they had Kawhi guarding LeBron, we don’t have a guy to guard LeBron or Kawhi or PG.

You are right. However, a guy that can gaurd Kwahi or Lebron wasn't on the market to trade for. Otherwise, every team would trade for a player that can guard a top 10 player.

I dont deny a wing defender is needed- but which ones were actually attainable? Nwaba? Other comparable players to Nwaba? I mean Nwaba, or a comparable player, is not going to be the difference between advancing in the playoffs or losing a series. A player of that caliber is not going to be the reason we beat the Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, Sixers, Nets. If people think they are.... I dont know what to say to that because thats just crazy thinking IMO.

A player of that caliber is not the sole reason we will win but we need a good enough player that can slow down and maybe get LeBron a little tired. Granted we could send out a guy like Brantley to throw hard foul after hard foul to mentally mess with those guys.

[Tom349]

Just clocked that Boston is below .500. How on earth does that happen. The east is a joke.

[red4hf]

Just clocked that Boston is below .500. How on earth does that happen. The east is a joke.

Isn't Toronto way below .500 as well? And the Heat are 1 game above .500.......

[Cappy_Smurf]

Oooh, the nuggets got A A Ron Gordon.

Scary, you guys.



<nuggets give up a 31-3 run to the Celtics on their way to getting spanked>



As great as Jokic is as a player, this Denver team is greatly overrated due to their playoff run last year. Sure, they deserve credit for coming back twice from being down 3-1, but great teams don't routinely dig themselves into a hole and have to come back. Denver's defense will be a serious issue in the playoffs.

[Crunch 99]

A nice thing about this season, barring the Lakers coming together to go on a dominating run before the season ends, is that right now there are no prohibitive favorites to come out of the West. I think there are seven teams with a shot to get on a roll and win the western conference playoffs. The Jazz' likely homecourt advantage for at least two rounds definitely helps the Jazz' chances.

I do kind of feel, however, that the Brooklyn Nets are prohibitive favorites to win the championship --- assuming Durant, plus at least one of Harden and Irving, play all the games. The fact that the Nets are winning the regular season East with their big three only having played seven games together, and the fact that they even won a lot of games playing with just one of their big three in the lineups, is disheartening. The Nets are deep, and they got even deeper with the late season pickups of Griffin and Alize Johnson.

[Crunch 99]

The Lakers lost their first two games with Lebron back in the lineup. They lost to the Kings and Raptors, two teams the Jazz just defeated playing without Conley and Mitchell. Lebron and the Lakers will very likely establish better rhythm before the playoffs, but right now the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns are playing the best basketball in the west imo.

The Nuggets winning nine out of the last ten games is particularly impressive when you consider their last ten games were played without Murray, consider their last eight games were played without Murray and Morris, and consider their last five games were played without Murray, Morris and Barton. Young Michael Porter Jr. has emerged as a great number two offensive player behind Jokic, averaging 25.6 ppg on 16.6 fga over the last ten games.

[Inigo Montoya]

There is a chance that the Lakers end up at 7th place and the Jazz end up at 2nd, which means there is still a chance we'll meet them in the first round, which is not ideal. If we end up first and the Clippers end up at 4th, we could meet them in the second round, which isn't great either. But if you want to be the best you have to beat the best (if you can't have them knocked out for you by another team).

[AingesBurner]

There is a chance that the Lakers end up at 7th place and the Jazz end up at 2nd, which means there is still a chance we'll meet them in the first round, which is not ideal. If we end up first and the Clippers end up at 4th, we could meet them in the second round, which isn't great either. But if you want to be the best you have to beat the best (if you can't have them knocked out for you by another team).

Right now I would rather face the Lakers and let someone else worry about the Clips.

[ForeverRDjazz]

If I'm the Nugs I'm letting Blazers win and let Lakers deal with playin playoffs. Nuggets win they're going to play Lakers first round. Isn't that right? Jazz should win but do they want to win or be second seed?

[ForeverRDjazz]

Looks like Nuggets and resting players so Lakers will have to play in. LOL. love it.