2017-18 NBA Regular Season Game/Observation Thread
- Thread starter DeJesus Built My Hotrod
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Pelton in a mailbag response from last month actually singled out Gay as one of the better Achilles recovery stories:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/21725340/kevin-pelton-weekly-mailbag-including-all-defensive-team-last-quarter-century
Overall, not quite as gloomy a prognosis as I thought: an 8% drop on average in overall production post-injury (in a smallish sample, since the injury is so rare). Dominique Wilkins, who ruptured his Achilles at age 32 and scored 30 ppg the next season, is another encouraging role model.
You kid. However the stark reality is that Boogies injury doesn't just change his trajectory but clearly also that of the Pelicans. They are likely going to hang on by the skin of their teeth to make the playoffs and if they miss along with the prospect of moving forward with a (resigned) diminished or no Cousins, Davis may push for a trade.
Obviously there are a lot of moving parts with this situation but it's kind of amazing how events often seem to favor Ainge's goals, even in subtle ways.
This is why I’m not sweating the Lakers pick. It’ll work out one way or another for the luckiest son of a bitch alive.
In a sense, though, isn’t how they heck they are so loose and goofy in the midst of what sounds like a festering shitshow a kinda mystery unto itself, then?
Not really. It is a long season and there are always going to be rough patches, both in relationships and results. I think the fact that depsite all the Kevin Love rumors, they can joke around and enjoy each other is more of a positive than anything
It’s definitely a positive. It’s also difficult. So it’s interesting—to me I guess.
That locker room sounds fascinating one way or another.
Really terrible scene in Detroit right now. Roberson slipped going for a lob pass. Straight down on his backside. Appears to have no lower body movement. He used his arms to slide off the court looked to say, “I can’t feel it”.
Edit: looks like 1 leg. They picked him up onto the stretcher which is a good sign.
Edit: looks like 1 leg. They picked him up onto the stretcher which is a good sign.
Looks like Roberson has a severe injury to his left leg. They wrapped it up before they wheeled him off the court on a stretcher.
I don't think he slipped. Something happened to his knee as he went up. It looks so freaky.
That's what it looks like. That's an extreme non contact injury. He was just going up for a jump and not really cutting.
That was ugly. Good thing he signed a 3/30 extension this past summer because I think his career is in jeopardy. Patellar tendon injuries are terrible and his athleticism/defense was literally his only meal ticket.
Yeah, it doesn't look good for Dre or the Thunder. Huestis is no Dre. I wish they'd play PatPat in place of Dre, but he essentially plays center for the second unit.
On a brighter note, Russ got his wish. Paul George will be replacing Cousins on the All Star Team.
Certainly starting to look that way. At this stage, he should be hoping for a Marcus Smart type contract but I don’t think there will be a lot of teams looking to go more than 1 year with him.
IIRC, you're an OKC fan, right? To state the obvious, Dre's one of the best defenders in the league so this is a pretty brutal blow to a team that I thought was one of the best bets at taking down Golden State. What's the way forward now, more PatPat and Grant? I really didn't like the Ferguson pick when the defensive upside of Anunoby was on the board, but Roberson made it at least defensible, so this has gotta hurt.
From what I’ve seen I think Ferguson is a good prospect right now. His stroke isn’t conventional but he looks capable when he gets open looks, which he gets a lot in that offense. He makes some mistakes on defense but athletically he has a lot of upside.
Edit: Just checked he is shooting 29 percent from three so maybe not. I’ve seen him get hot but so does Marcus Smart.
Edit: Just checked he is shooting 29 percent from three so maybe not. I’ve seen him get hot but so does Marcus Smart.
Yep, a Thunder fan here. PatPat got off to a slow start (coming off of surgery), but he's rounding into form. I'd play him at power forward in the starting five and move Carmelo to small forward. PatPat's shooting has gotten better in recent weeks; he'd be an improvement on Dre on the offensive end at the least. From what I've heard from Billy Donavan, though, he's been making noises about Huestis, Abrines, or Ferguson starting. Ugh, though it should be added that Ferguson has played his way on to the second unit.
And the Clips win, led by Blake, DJ and Lou "Rich man's Isaiah" Williams.
In other news, Josh Jackson went 0-13 with 0 assists in 22 minutes in a 113-102 loss at Houston. Give ten of those shots to Devin Booker (31 pts on 23 fga) and maybe the game is closer. But keep shooting, Josh!
In other news, Josh Jackson went 0-13 with 0 assists in 22 minutes in a 113-102 loss at Houston. Give ten of those shots to Devin Booker (31 pts on 23 fga) and maybe the game is closer. But keep shooting, Josh!
Westbrook ice grilling Embiid as he dribbles out the clock for the win, followed by a cut to Jojo sheepishly avoiding eye contact is gonna be my favorite NBA gifs for a while. Dunk on Russ at your own risk.
Josh Jackson 0-13 for the 17-33 Suns. Good idea ducking Danny, JJ.
A turnover, 3 fouls and -7 in 22 minutes. Historically inefficient stat line:
A turnover, 3 fouls and -7 in 22 minutes. Historically inefficient stat line:
I just love both these guys so much. Embiid has been an absolute godsend to this league and I’m glad he’s finally healthy, even though his presence will almost surely mean bad things for the Celtics at some point.
Sixers were 2-26 from the three-point line in tonight's loss to the Bucks, including 1-8 for the great Robert Covington.
When someone has the time to look back at it, I bet they won't ever find a draft where 3 of the 4 top picks have such horrendous shooting mechanics (referencing Fultz's current mechanics).
Really a historic draft in that regard.
Jackson bounced back last night, 6-16 (everything's relative) and had 8 rebounds in the loss to the Grizzlies. The guy who really seems to be coming up small on that team, in his second year, is Bender: 0-2 last night and 0 points. He's played five games in January where he's scored zero.
I’m ready to call that pick a bust, at least from the Suns’ perspective. Bender just turned 20 a couple months ago, so he could still become what people thought he’d be, but by the time it happens (if it does), he’s going to be expensive. If PHO could go back in time and draft Jamal Murray, or even Buddy Hield, they’d do so in a cocaine heartbeat.
I watched a good portion of that game last night and have watched a few Suns games this year just because they have so much talent.
Bender's stats last night was a function of him not being passed the ball. The Suns went entire stretches without Bender even touching the ball. If you think Kyrie pounds the ball a lot, you should see Ulis and the other Suns guards (Booker was out). We should all thank our lucky stars that we are watching a Brad coached team because there a lot of teams that simply don't play for each other. PHO has Bender sitting in a corner waiting for passes that don't come. They don't even have him participate in PnRs.
I think Bender is going to be really good but not on PHO. You can tell by the way he moves and how he plays defense. (He's one of the few guys on PHO that was playing defense.)
Bender over his last 8 games:
206 minutes, 21 points, 20 fouls, 15 turnovers, 38 rebounds, 10 assts. 26.6% fg, 25% 3pt. 0 ft attempts. 3 steals, 2 blocks.
Per 36:
3.7 points
6.6 reb
1.7 ast
2.6 TO
0.3 blk
0.5 stl
He might be good eventually, who knows. But right now he is awful, I wouldn't pass that guy the ball.
206 minutes, 21 points, 20 fouls, 15 turnovers, 38 rebounds, 10 assts. 26.6% fg, 25% 3pt. 0 ft attempts. 3 steals, 2 blocks.
Per 36:
3.7 points
6.6 reb
1.7 ast
2.6 TO
0.3 blk
0.5 stl
He might be good eventually, who knows. But right now he is awful, I wouldn't pass that guy the ball.
Wow. Bullets could easily sink to the #8 seed now, or even out of the playoffs altogether with Detroit potentially improving.
On the other hand, if they can hang onto the #7-8 seed, they could be an extremely annoying first-round opponent for Toronto or Boston.
Just read in Lowe's piece on the Blake trade that John Wall will be making $44 million in 2022, when he is 32 years old. It is going to be really interesting to see how all these super-max contracts play out; we already saw buyer's remorse with Blake.
I don't know if it was buyers remorse. The other option would have been to allow Blake to walk for nothing which would have been a terrible idea. The signing over the summer was a way to secure an asset which brought back two good starters in their 20's and a future 1st......plus Boban!!!
I get what you are saying; but I doubt they signed Blake with the idea of flipping him for picks later. If you remember all the crazy stuff they did to retain him, including setting up a wacky "This is your life" maze at the Staples Center culminating in a mock-ceremony of them raising his jersey to the rafters, I don't think this was the plan all along. I've read a lot about how things have changed in LA with West assuming more authority over the last few months and I find it really hard to to believe this was all a plan beginning last summer.
I'd guess it was a bit of both. They signed Griffin cause they didn't want to let him walk. But then the team was disappointing, Griffin continued to get injured all the time, and wasn't playing especially well when healthy, so they saw an opportunity to get out, and took it.
Eddie Johnson on NBA Radio was saying that the Clippers were fed up with Blake's attitude this year as well.
The four bolded words are key.
I think the Clips thought they’d be better, and perhaps in a position to lure a star to replace CP3. Kudos to their FO for reassessing the situation and making a sharp course correction.
That was what I was thinking. If Danilo Gallinari, Milos, Beverley didn't get hurt and LA was in the fifth spot in the West, I'm not sure this trade gets done. Signing Griffin gave them the ability to trade him in the future if necessary, but I doubt that was the plan because why would you take that risk? What if Blake tore his ACL?
I think you are spot on about West's growing influence and it makes sense. Griffin was re-signed back at the start of July, right after West agreed to come on board. Then in August, the Clippers removed Doc's GM responsibilities and handed the keys over Lawrence Frank to oversee things with Michael Winger and Trent Redden taking over the day to day GM duties. So whatever the plan was right after free-agency started in July, it changed over the summer and, as you & others point out, the reality of injuries etc caused the Clippers to course correct.
Its fascinating because, if they deal Jordan and Williams (plus Gallinari maybe) as expected, they are really punting on this season for all intents and purposes. Furthermore, it strongly suggests that Doc may not be there much beyond next year, if that, depending on what sort of max players they attract. Beverley's injury aside, they really got about as good a return as you could get for Paul so they have some depth to build around if they don't get LeBron.
Punting on the season? Were my clippers title contenders and I didn't know about it? Everyone is punting until the warriors breakup.