2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread
- Thread starter DeJesus Built My Hotrod
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Fwiw, my numbers had them as comfortably the worst the team in basketball coming into the year (two wins worse than anyone else).
Then there is this from Josh Jackson (note there are better videos of this on the interweb which I couldn't figure out how to embed):
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That isn't surprising to me; they were clearly in the bottom tier and considering they are playing in the West; I would have been surprised if they cracked 30 wins.
To be this hideous; like run-off-the-floor-by-the-Lakers bad; is what is surprising.
Jesus. The worst three games to start a season ever, your veteran leader tweets to the world that he wants out, and your lottery pick with character concerns is doing that. That's a rough start.
Jackson has three rebounds and two assists in 84 minutes. Somehow, the only thing he has done well is shoot the three. Bender and Chriss have been even worse. Watching Booker play hero-ball while getting smoked every night is not an ideal environment for those young, high-upside guys to develop.
Jackson has three rebounds and two assists in 84 minutes. Somehow, the only thing he has done well is shoot the three. Bender and Chriss have been even worse. Watching Booker play hero-ball while getting smoked every night is not an ideal environment for those young, high-upside guys to develop.
You guys called it. Lack of talent is one thing, but complete indifference is another. I wonder who replaces him.
I wonder how JJ feels now about his refusal to work out for the Celtics. Looks like we dodged a major bullet with that one.
Or two bullets if you count Fultz? Early overreaction alert, but I think Ball and Tatum (in no particular order) are #1-2 in a redraft, with Fox and Smith probably #3-4.
I mean, if you're overreacting to early results why not just go the full nine and put Markkanen and Dillon Brooks in the top 4?
Right, it's two or three games and summer league/preseason---we know nothing yet about these guys.
That was like watching James Harden and 4 clones play defense. Especially liked Booker’s non-effort. Such an overrated player.
I admit that there's a lot of confirmation bias mixed in with my early overreaction on Fultz. I never really saw a ton of upside in a PG who's deficient in the most important quality in a modern-day PG (shooting), an awful defender, average as a passer and floor general, and great at perhaps the most consistently overrated ability in a PG (penetrating/taking it to the hole). PGs who live off their ability to take it to the rack off the dribble — the Marburys, Francises and Derrick Roses of the world — tend to be wildly overvalued relative to their impact on the scoreboard (as measured by RAPM, etc.), and tend to break down physically and age poorly. And Fultz is already showings early signs of fragility.
Are there any Cs fans here who would trade Tatum straight up for Fultz right now?
Who said Fultz was deficient in shooting? He shot over 40% from 3P land in college with everyone looking to shut him down? He scored 102 points per 100 possessions on all pull up jumpers but an amazing 118 points per 100 possessions on pull up jumpers out of the PnR. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-makes-markelle-fultz-an-nba-draft-favorite/
See also https://fansided.com/2017/05/02/markelle-fultz-nba-draft-scouting/
Fultz has shown he can shoot. That's why what's going on with him now is so perplexing.
You owe it to yourself to watch the last few minutes of the Wolves - Thunder game from tonight. Wolves had a big lead early and the Thunder chipped away. With under a minute left, Westbrook hits a three to tie the game at 110. Wolves ball, Towns hits a runner, Wolves by two, under 9 seconds remaining. OKC timeout. In bound, Melo drains another three, OKC up by one with under two seconds left. Wolves are out of timeouts. Wiggins gets the inbounds, crosses half court pulls up from about six feet behind the arc and banks home the game winner. I love this game!
There was 4.7 seconds left when MIN inbounded the ball but yes great finish. I saw most of 3Q of that game and it was very entertaining. Towns is amazing.
I'm amazed Towns wasn't whistled on that illegal screen that almost cost Paul George his leg.
Lakers are going to play a lot of fun games because they run and shoot and play very little defense.
You could be right, though I'm a bit concerned about the .649 college FT%, which tends to correlate really well with overall perimeter shooting (and we're talking before his current broken/injured FT stroke). Here are the college FT% of five elite-shooting PGs:
Curry .855, .894, .876
Irving .901
Lillard .841, .853, .857, .887
Paul .843, .834
Nash .825, .831, 879, .894
I did find a couple of good NBA shooters — Conley and Lowry — who shot under 70% as college freshmen, but both quickly improved their numbers thereafter. No reason to give up hope on Fultz, obviously, but neither do I think it's a sure bet he'll be a good shooter at the NBA level. And without that ... unless you're an absolute freak like Russell Westbrook, it gets difficult to be a highly effective NBA PG with a long career.
Really like all of their 2017 draft picks: Ball, Kuzma and Hart
No chance they make the playoffs this year, but Pelinka and Magic are starting to turn this thing around.
They need to unload Deng's dead weight contract, yikes the damage Kupcheck and Jim Buss did 15 months ago is legendary.
http://www.ocregister.com/2017/03/06/lakers-luol-deng-timofey-mozgov-mindful-of-criticism-about-their-play-contracts/
Former Warrior Ian Clark also had 14 points for the Pelicans. He's shooting 58.3% from 3P land. Shot chart in spoiler below - if he keeps this up, he'll be great for AD and Cousins.
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Clark averaging 15.5 points on .816 true shooting ... which would totally stick in my craw as a Ws fan if Nick Young weren't averaging 21.8 pts on .900 true shooting.
Still, the Warriors letting Clark walk and using the full MLE on Swaggy was the one offseason move I had an issue with at the time. Clark is five years younger than Young, quicker, in much better shape, more capable of making plays / initiating the offense of the dribble, and one of the most beloved guys on the team. Young at 6'-7" is four inches taller than Clark, which fits with the Myers/Kerr ethos of having everyone other than Steph be long and switchable ... but I don't think his showing up to camp sluggish and 15-20 lbs. overweight fit with the Myers/Kerr plan at all. Right now he's kind of the poster boy for the overall lack of conditioning that (per Kerr) has been partially to blame for the team's 1-2 start.
In the end, spending the full MLE on flabby Swaggy didn't burn them too much, since JaVale McGee after looking around for other offers ended up accepting the vet min from the Ws. But I get the sense JaVale's feelings were somewhat hurt that he wasn't offered the MLE; and if the Ws had let Clark walk to make way for Young (a push at best), lost out on McGee because of it, and then watched Clark sign for the vet min, that could have been a pretty epic fail.
Anyway, snagging Casspi for the vet min and (more recently) signing the fairly dynamic Quinn Cook with the last two-way contract are nice insurance policies in the event Swaggy doesn't pan out as hoped.
Still, the Warriors letting Clark walk and using the full MLE on Swaggy was the one offseason move I had an issue with at the time. Clark is five years younger than Young, quicker, in much better shape, more capable of making plays / initiating the offense of the dribble, and one of the most beloved guys on the team. Young at 6'-7" is four inches taller than Clark, which fits with the Myers/Kerr ethos of having everyone other than Steph be long and switchable ... but I don't think his showing up to camp sluggish and 15-20 lbs. overweight fit with the Myers/Kerr plan at all. Right now he's kind of the poster boy for the overall lack of conditioning that (per Kerr) has been partially to blame for the team's 1-2 start.
In the end, spending the full MLE on flabby Swaggy didn't burn them too much, since JaVale McGee after looking around for other offers ended up accepting the vet min from the Ws. But I get the sense JaVale's feelings were somewhat hurt that he wasn't offered the MLE; and if the Ws had let Clark walk to make way for Young (a push at best), lost out on McGee because of it, and then watched Clark sign for the vet min, that could have been a pretty epic fail.
Anyway, snagging Casspi for the vet min and (more recently) signing the fairly dynamic Quinn Cook with the last two-way contract are nice insurance policies in the event Swaggy doesn't pan out as hoped.
Three other Suns-related videos that should get at least a chuckle out of people. For some reason, I'm not having success with embedding Giphy videos, but here are the links:
http://gph.is/2gZlsEw
http://gph.is/2yAH3x8
http://gph.is/2gZBhLD
courtesy: Kevin O'Connor.
Those are golden wow. The first one is particularly hysterical. I've seen statues with more life.
Eric Bledsoe was sent home and told he will be traded after he complained he didn't want to play there anymore. His trade value is low but he's good when he's healthy. Suns are a mess with lots of duplicate parts and no direction.
The last one is particularly funny/sad given that Josh Jackson is looking right at Ball and doesn't make a move. It's almost as if Watson had said that whoever doubles anyone is going to get benched.
Either that or they were trying to get Watson fired.
Ugh. I'm glad the Cavs already have 9,783 point guards, cos I think Bledsoe would easily be the best of them (after a 100% IT and of course James) and a pretty great fit for them.
I guess he could still end up there, but the Cavs' only tradable asset is BKN #1, which I think we can assume they're not trading for someone like Bledsoe. The Brooklyn pick seems like too much to give up, and their other spare parts (Shumpert, Frye, Rose, Wade et al.) seem like not enough.
Any other good fits? The Bucks jump to mind, since they have plenty of tradable salary fodder, are not far off from competing for the East title, and have very little in the way of quality PGs (outside of Giannis). Something like Bledsoe and Jared Dudley for Greg Monroe, Dellavedova, and Rashad Vaughn and/or a pick works in the trade machine, and I think would make the Bucks instantly a lot more fearsome...
I guess he could still end up there, but the Cavs' only tradable asset is BKN #1, which I think we can assume they're not trading for someone like Bledsoe. The Brooklyn pick seems like too much to give up, and their other spare parts (Shumpert, Frye, Rose, Wade et al.) seem like not enough.
Any other good fits? The Bucks jump to mind, since they have plenty of tradable salary fodder, are not far off from competing for the East title, and have very little in the way of quality PGs (outside of Giannis). Something like Bledsoe and Jared Dudley for Greg Monroe, Dellavedova, and Rashad Vaughn and/or a pick works in the trade machine, and I think would make the Bucks instantly a lot more fearsome...
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OT: some cool dudes out on the links today in Dallas (and more proof of my theory that Steph has legitimately grown an inch or two since he was a 6'-3" rookie).
My nuggets were rumored to be interested in Bledsoe in the offseason, and now that they've signed Richard Jefferson and cut Jameer Nelson, a veteran point guard makes sense for them.
The offseason talk was about Mudiay + for Bledsoe, FWIW.
The offseason talk was about Mudiay + for Bledsoe, FWIW.
Bledsoe's old friends the Clippers could also be a pretty intriguing landing spot, with Teodosic out "indefinitely." Sucky Austin Rivers + Harrell and/or Dekker works out money-wise for example.
That actually starts to look like a pretty fearsome squad, as I think Bledsoe and Beverley are big, rugged enough defensively and good enough shooters to play together a lot of the time. Bev-Bledsoe-Gallo-Griffin-DJ, with Lou Williams, Wes Johnson, Willie Reed, eventually Teodosic et al. coming off the bench? Yikes, I fear that team a little. Any interest, El Uno or other Clips fans?
That actually starts to look like a pretty fearsome squad, as I think Bledsoe and Beverley are big, rugged enough defensively and good enough shooters to play together a lot of the time. Bev-Bledsoe-Gallo-Griffin-DJ, with Lou Williams, Wes Johnson, Willie Reed, eventually Teodosic et al. coming off the bench? Yikes, I fear that team a little. Any interest, El Uno or other Clips fans?
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This is funny and also gives me an excuse to post one of my favorite photos ever; which features Roy Hibbert appearing to be at least 8 feet tall:6'-10" at least!
Knicks make a ton of sense off the top of my head to go after Bledsoe but they aren't moving Ntilikina.
The league announces that he should have been which cost OKC the game.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21129939/nba-announces-two-incorrect-no-calls-oklahoma-city-thunder-minnesota-timberwolves-game-sunday
I had (vaguely) this thought in a much more mal-formed state (no idea about the salaries). Depends a bit on Teodosic's "indefinite" -- they may or may not know more than that. But team-wise it makes a ton of sense.
