Around the NBA: 2020-21 Season

[jc23]

They basically had to pay a Giannis tax with the Jrue contract. Championship or bye bye Greek Freak. I dont think any player today can be totally loyal when you have the lebrons and KD's of the world stacking the decks.

[MrFortune3]

I don't know why people expected Jrue to get less than that. He's a legit top notch 2 way player. Plus they traded a ton of draft capital to get him.

[dice]

LOL at the Bucks. I know they had to do it but come one $40M a year Jrue? Did anybody here think Jrue was a 40m a year guy? Good for Holiday but holy hell is that a monstrous deal, so they better win a championship.

More I think about the more it scares me about what Zach is going to want.

zach will get the max as well. w/ no "they better win a championship" caveat attached

[Grodoboldo]

That jumper HAS to come around if WCJ is ever to become an above avarage starter at his position.

[MrFortune3]

LOL at the Bucks. I know they had to do it but come one $40M a year Jrue? Did anybody here think Jrue was a 40m a year guy? Good for Holiday but holy hell is that a monstrous deal, so they better win a championship.

More I think about the more it scares me about what Zach is going to want.

zach will get the max as well. w/ no "they better win a championship" caveat attached

Different situation. Jrue was brought in to pair with Giannis and Middleton to form a core. Now 3 max players with little draft capital left.
Context matters.

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

$40M a year for Jrue Holiday is insanity. I understand why it happens, but good grief. There needs to be levels to this thing, it’s just bananas. He’s not even an all-star and barely was one. Sheesh! $40M!

[ChiCitySPORTS#1]

LOL at the Bucks. I know they had to do it but come one $40M a year Jrue? Did anybody here think Jrue was a 40m a year guy? Good for Holiday but holy hell is that a monstrous deal, so they better win a championship.

More I think about the more it scares me about what Zach is going to want.

zach will get the max as well. w/ no "they better win a championship" caveat attached

Different situation. Jrue was brought in to pair with Giannis and Middleton to form a core. Now 3 max players with little draft capital left.
Context matters.

Yup and option 2 and 3 are an enormous drop off relative to options 2 and 3 on contending teams. I’m not sure I would’ve done this if I were Milwaukee. You had Giannis locked up, look elsewhere.

Middleton is big meh too. No real ballers on that team aside Greek freak.

[NecessaryEvil]

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[Jeffster81]

LOL at the Bucks. I know they had to do it but come one $40M a year Jrue? Did anybody here think Jrue was a 40m a year guy? Good for Holiday but holy hell is that a monstrous deal, so they better win a championship.

More I think about the more it scares me about what Zach is going to want.

zach will get the max as well. w/ no "they better win a championship" caveat attached

Different situation. Jrue was brought in to pair with Giannis and Middleton to form a core. Now 3 max players with little draft capital left.
Context matters.

I get the context but man the Bulls are no position to be giving Zach that kind of contract.

[Ice Man]

Jokic scored 43 against the Bulls when Wendell started at center, tonight he's at 13 late in the third quarter, with Wendell opposing him for most of the game. Just one of those things? Or is Orlando helping Wendell out with team defense, rather than leaving him on an island to defend?

I ask the questions because I have not seen any of that game ...

[Ice Man]

Yup and option 2 and 3 are an enormous drop off relative to options 2 and 3 on contending teams. I’m not sure I would’ve done this if I were Milwaukee. You had Giannis locked up, look elsewhere.

Middleton is big meh too. No real ballers on that team aside Greek freak.

Yes i would be concerned too. The Bucks are now locked into those three guys, and as you write, it's an open question as to whether Middleton and Jrue are good enough. I suspect that they are both third options, that the Bucks will continue to struggle because deep into the playoffs the opposition will always have the better 2nd option.

[Nyce_1]

Jokic scored 43 against the Bulls when Wendell started at center, tonight he's at 13 late in the third quarter, with Wendell opposing him for most of the game. Just one of those things? Or is Orlando helping Wendell out with team defense, rather than leaving him on an island to defend?

I ask the questions because I have not seen any of that game ...

all on WCJ. no doubling Joker tonight.

[MGB8]

Jokic scored 43 against the Bulls when Wendell started at center, tonight he's at 13 late in the third quarter, with Wendell opposing him for most of the game. Just one of those things? Or is Orlando helping Wendell out with team defense, rather than leaving him on an island to defend?

I ask the questions because I have not seen any of that game ...

all on WCJ. no doubling Joker tonight.

Denver toyed with the Magic... basically didn't put in much effort until the 2nd half - then woke up and destroyed the team. Bulls fans know the feeling.

More interesting was the Hawks beating the full strength Warriors. Mind you, it was a 6 point win where the Hawks went to the line FOURTY-FIVE times versus the Warriors going twenty-one times - more than twice the number of FT attempts (Gallo getting to the line 15 times, Oubre called for 5 fouls).

Bulls can't really complain, though, as the win against the Nets came in part from the Bulls getting to the line 30 times to the Nets only getting to the line 7 times...

Didn't watch either game so don't know how legitimate that foul discrepancy was in either case (or whether some "make up" calls from refs from other games ---- or, more conspiracy minded, money to be made from betting against the Nets).

[TheStig]

LOL at the Bucks. I know they had to do it but come one $40M a year Jrue? Did anybody here think Jrue was a 40m a year guy? Good for Holiday but holy hell is that a monstrous deal, so they better win a championship.

More I think about the more it scares me about what Zach is going to want.

zach will get the max as well. w/ no "they better win a championship" caveat attached

Zach has clearly become a max player now. With the acquisition of Vuc, the conversation has shifted from rebuilding to how do we acquire another high level player and fill out the roster.

[kodo]

Jokic scored 43 against the Bulls when Wendell started at center, tonight he's at 13 late in the third quarter, with Wendell opposing him for most of the game. Just one of those things? Or is Orlando helping Wendell out with team defense, rather than leaving him on an island to defend?

I ask the questions because I have not seen any of that game ...

Not the same Denver team, where every basket goes through Jokic at the 3 point line, mid range, and low post. Near the basket Aaron Gordon is scoring more with assists from Jokic. Gordon had 24 points on 10-13 shooting, with 16 Jokic assists. Almost all of Gordon's points where give & go's from Jokic.

Clifford is also playing Jokic differently than Billy. Carter was sticking tight on Jokic with no help at the rim, in Chicago the center drops back to help. This sets up Jokic to pass to cutting AG a lot more, and Wendell is defensively out of the action.

[Leslie Forman]

Milwaukee really could have had Brogdon for barely half of what they're gonna be paying Holiday

You'd think cheap bastard owners would have learned their lesson and realized being cheap now with a title contender means they just end up paying more later to get that team back after seeing what happened to Phoenix and Oklahoma, but no.

[TheStig]

Milwaukee really could have had Brogdon for barely half of what they're gonna be paying Holiday

You'd think cheap bastard owners would have learned their lesson and realized being cheap now with a title contender means they just end up paying more later to get that team back after seeing what happened to Phoenix and Oklahoma, but no.

I never got the Bledsoe/Brogdan choice and never got why it was Brogdan going. Should have kept both of them. They can't be doing too bad with the new arena. Or bringing in Holiday over Paul. I think CP3 would have fit them much better and cost much less.

Now they've gutted their whole future for Holiday. Who's not even a real star.

[Ice Man]

Clifford is also playing Jokic differently than Billy. Carter was sticking tight on Jokic with no help at the rim, in Chicago the center drops back to help. This sets up Jokic to pass to cutting AG a lot more, and Wendell is defensively out of the action.

Thanks. That makes sense; with Clifford's defensive scheme, the best opportunity for Jokic isn't working 1v1 against the opposing center. Rather, it's exploiting the open space that exists behind the center who has left the restricted area.

[Michael Jackson]

Milwaukee really could have had Brogdon for barely half of what they're gonna be paying Holiday

You'd think cheap bastard owners would have learned their lesson and realized being cheap now with a title contender means they just end up paying more later to get that team back after seeing what happened to Phoenix and Oklahoma, but no.

I never got the Bledsoe/Brogdan choice and never got why it was Brogdan going. Should have kept both of them. They can't be doing too bad with the new arena. Or bringing in Holiday over Paul. I think CP3 would have fit them much better and cost much less.

Now they've gutted their whole future for Holiday. Who's not even a real star.

They did not gut it for holiday, they gutted their future to retain Giannis and over paying for holiday and to keep him is the cost of that. Giannis potential of walking is what gutted that team. The 40 mil is kinda inconsequential too, there is little done with capspace if you only paid him say 30 mil, you are still in the same boat. Now your future is trading for John Wall or another overpaid player.... it’s not pretty at all. I’ll bet the Hawks and Pelicans do similar things to keep Trey or Zion from leaving. I actually think this trend is going to get worse...the Bulls have in essence already done this with Zach on a smaller scale.

[Michael Jackson]

Milwaukee really could have had Brogdon for barely half of what they're gonna be paying Holiday

You'd think cheap bastard owners would have learned their lesson and realized being cheap now with a title contender means they just end up paying more later to get that team back after seeing what happened to Phoenix and Oklahoma, but no.

Not only saving the money, they would have had their picks and Brogdon would have still been a very tradable contract to make further moves. It’s a mistake that will keep haunting them.