2022 NBA Draft

[zike_42]

Yea man, I just hate the idea that these kids are being told where they have to live. **** reminds me of stuff the NCAA pulls. The Lakers are never going to be getting rookies anyway because they would have already spent their entire cap on established veteran stars.

They're not forced to play basketball. If they are so against living in Minnesota, they can go be a plumber in LA. Also, how many players have houses in LA/NY and live there in the offseason? And they're on the road for most of the season anyway? All your suggestion will do is make five teams competitive and make the season worthless for the other 25.

That's not true. The proof is that Utah is always competitive without top draft picks, free agents, or desirable location. Milwaukee just won the title without any of that. The LOS ANGELES Clippers always find a way to lose. Winning organizations will largely still be winning organizations because they have the front office, coaching staff, locker room, and talent all operating at a high level. OKC had Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Reggie Jackson. They won nothing and concerned themselves with who they wouldn't pay. I hate that. The small markets can actually get away with getting rid of talent because they don't want to pay them. New Orleans should have never let Lonzo Ball go. That completely cemented their lack of a title contending future. Talent rots away on the bench...

I understand that there are outliers like the Spurs/Bucks etc who win by having a good front office but here's an interesting statistic:

Since 2000 (22 seasons), 18 times there has been a team from either Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco, destination locations. Of those 18 teams, 13 had a big-time free agent signing that got them there (Shaq - Lakers, Heat), Heatles (Heat), Durant (GSW).

There would be smaller cities that would be good, but with the addition that some have put forward in removing the salary cap as well, it would turn into a similar situation as the English Premier League, where only a handful of teams would win every year.

[Big J]

They're not forced to play basketball. If they are so against living in Minnesota, they can go be a plumber in LA. Also, how many players have houses in LA/NY and live there in the offseason? And they're on the road for most of the season anyway? All your suggestion will do is make five teams competitive and make the season worthless for the other 25.

That's not true. The proof is that Utah is always competitive without top draft picks, free agents, or desirable location. Milwaukee just won the title without any of that. The LOS ANGELES Clippers always find a way to lose. Winning organizations will largely still be winning organizations because they have the front office, coaching staff, locker room, and talent all operating at a high level. OKC had Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Reggie Jackson. They won nothing and concerned themselves with who they wouldn't pay. I hate that. The small markets can actually get away with getting rid of talent because they don't want to pay them. New Orleans should have never let Lonzo Ball go. That completely cemented their lack of a title contending future. Talent rots away on the bench...

I understand that there are outliers like the Spurs/Bucks etc who win by having a good front office but here's an interesting statistic:

Since 2000 (22 seasons), 18 times there has been a team from either Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco, destination locations. Of those 18 teams, 13 had a big-time free agent signing that got them there (Shaq - Lakers, Heat), Heatles (Heat), Durant (GSW).

There would be smaller cities that would be good, but with the addition that some have put forward in removing the salary cap as well, it would turn into a similar situation as the English Premier League, where only a handful of teams would win every year.

Removing the salary cap would be dumb. Then teams could just buy championships.

[Duke4life831]

Man I really hope Scheyer brings a legit offensive system to Duke next year. I hate to say it, but K seems to crumble in these big games nowadays. Its like Im watching Mark Jackson GS all over again when it comes to the offense. Just roll the ball out and hope they can figure it out.

AJ Griffin had 4 front court touches in the 1st half of tonight's game. You have a guy that is shooting 50% from 3 on the season, you would think you would draw up some plays and sets to get him the damn ball. But it was just Paolo and Keels taking turns going 1 on 1 tonight. Then watching those two get cooked on the defensive end all night.

[Duke4life831]

Paolo went full blown Jabari Parker mode tonight. Offense that didnt come within the flow of the team offense at all, then being down right horrible on the defensive end. Its games like tonight where you have that thought in the back of your head, "can he be the next Julius Randle, or is he going to be the next Jabari/Bagley?"

[shangrila]

Paolo went full blown Jabari Parker mode tonight. Offense that didnt come within the flow of the team offense at all, then being down right horrible on the defensive end. Its games like tonight where you have that thought in the back of your head, "can he be the next Julius Randle, or is he going to be the next Jabari/Bagley?"

Which Randle? Current Randle or last year Randle?

[zike_42]

That's not true. The proof is that Utah is always competitive without top draft picks, free agents, or desirable location. Milwaukee just won the title without any of that. The LOS ANGELES Clippers always find a way to lose. Winning organizations will largely still be winning organizations because they have the front office, coaching staff, locker room, and talent all operating at a high level. OKC had Durant, Harden, Westbrook, Ibaka, and Reggie Jackson. They won nothing and concerned themselves with who they wouldn't pay. I hate that. The small markets can actually get away with getting rid of talent because they don't want to pay them. New Orleans should have never let Lonzo Ball go. That completely cemented their lack of a title contending future. Talent rots away on the bench...

I understand that there are outliers like the Spurs/Bucks etc who win by having a good front office but here's an interesting statistic:

Since 2000 (22 seasons), 18 times there has been a team from either Los Angeles, Miami or San Francisco, destination locations. Of those 18 teams, 13 had a big-time free agent signing that got them there (Shaq - Lakers, Heat), Heatles (Heat), Durant (GSW).

There would be smaller cities that would be good, but with the addition that some have put forward in removing the salary cap as well, it would turn into a similar situation as the English Premier League, where only a handful of teams would win every year.

Removing the salary cap would be dumb. Then teams could just buy championships.

That's on me, I read your last post wrong. When you said "In this scenario there would obviously be no rookie scale, no max salaries and a hard cap to prevent that from happening." for some reason I thought you were saying no hard cap which would be no salary cap. My apologies. Still have to disagree about removing the draft.

[SelfishPlayer]

Removing the salary cap wouldn't result in teams being able to buy a championship. You would most likely see better basketball because teams could get players that fit together. At the end of the day players still want to be starters. There are still a limited number of starting jobs on the NBA. "Buying a championship" sounds like convincing 10 all stars in their prime to play on the same team. Did they make their name elsewhere to become an All Star then left for a "mega team" to sit the bench? That is not in the spirit of top players, certainly not 5 on the bench of one team.

[Big J]

Removing the salary cap wouldn't result in teams being able to buy a championship. You would most likely see better basketball because teams could get players that fit together. At the end of the day players still want to be starters. There are still a limited number of starting jobs on the NBA. "Buying a championship" sounds like convincing 10 all stars in their prime to play on the same team. Did they make their name elsewhere to become an All Star then left for a "mega team" to sit the bench? That is not in the spirit of top players, certainly not 5 on the bench of one team.

If that one team pays them the most I doubt they would care. This is the team up era.

[SelfishPlayer]

Removing the salary cap wouldn't result in teams being able to buy a championship. You would most likely see better basketball because teams could get players that fit together. At the end of the day players still want to be starters. There are still a limited number of starting jobs on the NBA. "Buying a championship" sounds like convincing 10 all stars in their prime to play on the same team. Did they make their name elsewhere to become an All Star then left for a "mega team" to sit the bench? That is not in the spirit of top players, certainly not 5 on the bench of one team.

If that one team pays them the most I doubt they would care. This is the team up era.

I don't see a 24 year old All Star signing to be the 8th man because of it being the team up era. What about his next contract?

[Saints14]

Paolo went full blown Jabari Parker mode tonight. Offense that didnt come within the flow of the team offense at all, then being down right horrible on the defensive end. Its games like tonight where you have that thought in the back of your head, "can he be the next Julius Randle, or is he going to be the next Jabari/Bagley?"

Do you think the right NBA team/coach can unlock a more efficient Paolo? I know you’ve been critical of K’s offense and it seems like Banchero’s main issues on that end are settling for bad shots and not playing within the flow. He seems like he has the general feel and IQ to play more within the team at the next level if he’s not this alpha offensive guy, but he does a ton of iso-ing at Duke.

I’m so torn on him because his skills at that size are so rare that I don’t want to overthink him, but I hate the iso-ball style he’s been playing. Reminds me a bit of Tatum who I was too low on for similar reasons, though Tatum had had some slightly more positive defensive indicators

[Duke4life831]

Paolo went full blown Jabari Parker mode tonight. Offense that didnt come within the flow of the team offense at all, then being down right horrible on the defensive end. Its games like tonight where you have that thought in the back of your head, "can he be the next Julius Randle, or is he going to be the next Jabari/Bagley?"

Do you think the right NBA team/coach can unlock a more efficient Paolo? I know you’ve been critical of K’s offense and it seems like Banchero’s main issues on that end are settling for bad shots and not playing within the flow. He seems like he has the general feel and IQ to play more within the team at the next level if he’s not this alpha offensive guy, but he does a ton of iso-ing at Duke.

I’m so torn on him because his skills at that size are so rare that I don’t want to overthink him, but I hate the iso-ball style he’s been playing. Reminds me a bit of Tatum who I was too low on for similar reasons, though Tatum had had some slightly more positive defensive indicators

For the majority of the season Ive been praising him for being able to get his offense within the flow of the offense. And for the majority of the year I really cant be too critical of K. I think there has been a good mix of giving these guys their freedom on offense while also having a solid team game involved. To me the biggest miscalculation by K this year has been the idea of Keels being the PG. For the majority of the year, the offensive droughts have come with Keels thinking he is the college version of Harden. When Duke has far better options for guys to run the offense than Keels.

But ya with that said and when it comes to Paolo. Ive been up and down on him throughout the year (had him #1 midway through the season). I do think when it comes to Paolo sometimes K gives him way too much freedom. Ive personally never seen Tatum with Paolo. One with Tatum he had the obvious positional versatility that Paolo doesnt. I also think any criticism of Tatum ISOing too much at Duke was mostly just people having the Carmelo comp in their heads, so they were looking for any instance of an ISO mid range shot. I actually think Tatum fit in pretty well with playing alongside 3 future NBA guards. Tatum also had the far superior shooting form and could actually dribble with his left hand. Plus ya Tatum was a good defender at Duke.

Last night's game really was a Jabari Parker rehash. Even getting past the ISOing too much. The red flags about his game last night were really hard to look past. Like Ive been saying all year with him, his handle is bad. You force him left and he's going to lose control of the ball. The form on the jumper outside of 15ft looks drastically different from shot to shot. Then ya defensively that was straight up embarrassing.

[Ell Curry]

Lidell looks like a better, far more polished Paschall who can also block a shot or 2. Just a solid boring physical NBA backup 4. Seems like a good fit for Chicago (22), Memphis if they don't plan on keeping Clarke long-term (26 and 29) and it makes sense to have some shooting and bulk around Ja, Miami at 27 as he can shoot so maybe play with Butler at the 3 and they have no real PF outside of the very old PJ Tucker (and their young guys who might play more in future years are a PG in Vincent, wing in Strus and 5 in Yurtseven, so a 4 makes sense) and Golden State is interesting too in that he might be able to play smallball 5 for them and set real picks for their shooters.

[Ell Curry]

Man I really hope Scheyer brings a legit offensive system to Duke next year. I hate to say it, but K seems to crumble in these big games nowadays. Its like Im watching Mark Jackson GS all over again when it comes to the offense. Just roll the ball out and hope they can figure it out.

AJ Griffin had 4 front court touches in the 1st half of tonight's game. You have a guy that is shooting 50% from 3 on the season, you would think you would draw up some plays and sets to get him the damn ball. But it was just Paolo and Keels taking turns going 1 on 1 tonight. Then watching those two get cooked on the defensive end all night.

Keels got cooked on D? Faster guard or what?

[Duke4life831]

Man I really hope Scheyer brings a legit offensive system to Duke next year. I hate to say it, but K seems to crumble in these big games nowadays. Its like Im watching Mark Jackson GS all over again when it comes to the offense. Just roll the ball out and hope they can figure it out.

AJ Griffin had 4 front court touches in the 1st half of tonight's game. You have a guy that is shooting 50% from 3 on the season, you would think you would draw up some plays and sets to get him the damn ball. But it was just Paolo and Keels taking turns going 1 on 1 tonight. Then watching those two get cooked on the defensive end all night.

Keels got cooked on D? Faster guard or what?

He couldn't stay in front of Davis, plus I think his defense has started to get overrated by some. Because he's big and strong and plays physical, I think many see that and think he's elite on that end. Don't get me wrong this ain't me saying I think he's trash on that end or anything. But I think he's gotten overrated and ya got cooked last night on that end. Whether he was on Davis or Love, it didn't go well for him.

[Big J]

Paolo seems like a dude who will never buy into the team concept. He seems all about what's good for him and not about what's good for the team.

[Ell Curry]

Man I really hope Scheyer brings a legit offensive system to Duke next year. I hate to say it, but K seems to crumble in these big games nowadays. Its like Im watching Mark Jackson GS all over again when it comes to the offense. Just roll the ball out and hope they can figure it out.

AJ Griffin had 4 front court touches in the 1st half of tonight's game. You have a guy that is shooting 50% from 3 on the season, you would think you would draw up some plays and sets to get him the damn ball. But it was just Paolo and Keels taking turns going 1 on 1 tonight. Then watching those two get cooked on the defensive end all night.

Keels got cooked on D? Faster guard or what?

He couldn't stay in front of Davis, plus I think his defense has started to get overrated by some. Because he's big and strong and plays physical, I think many see that and think he's elite on that end. Don't get me wrong this ain't me saying I think he's trash on that end or anything. But I think he's gotten overrated and ya got cooked last night on that end. Whether he was on Davis or Love, it didn't go well for him.

Makes sense. Do you think he's carrying bad weight and can get quicker?

[Kobblehead]

Keels defense definitely fell off in conference play. Is some of that the injury? Maybe. But his steal percentage in conference play has been just 2%.

[Duke4life831]

Keels got cooked on D? Faster guard or what?

He couldn't stay in front of Davis, plus I think his defense has started to get overrated by some. Because he's big and strong and plays physical, I think many see that and think he's elite on that end. Don't get me wrong this ain't me saying I think he's trash on that end or anything. But I think he's gotten overrated and ya got cooked last night on that end. Whether he was on Davis or Love, it didn't go well for him.

Makes sense. Do you think he's carrying bad weight and can get quicker?

He definitely is carrying more weight than needed. He's a thick dude. I'm not sure how much quicker he's going to get though.

And to be clear, I don't think he's been horrible defensively most games. His level of D definitely took a hit midway through the season and so on. He's just been an average defender, not the stud defender he showed earlier in the year.

[Duke4life831]

Keels defense definitely fell off in conference play. Is some of that the injury? Maybe. But his steal percentage in conference play has been just 2%.

Could be him still not 100% from the injury. I also think teams have found quicker guards give him a bigger issue. He handles slower stronger guards well still. But ya he gets cooked pretty normally now when he's trying to guard a guard with some quickness.

[Kobblehead]

I think it's a tough ask, the guys he has to cover. He's usually like 30 pounds heavier than the guys he defends, putting him at a major agility disadvantage. He'll likely be playing SF at the NBA level and guarding much heavier players where the agility advantage will flip in his favor.