In the past few days...
Wolves beat Pels by 30
Pels beat Clips by 20
Clips beat Warriors by 26
Warriors beat Jazz by 12
Which I guess means the worst team in the league is 88 points better than the best team?
Last edited:
2020-2021 NBA Game Thread
- Thread starter Kliq
- Start date
Wolves beat Pels by 30
Pels beat Clips by 20
Clips beat Warriors by 26
Warriors beat Jazz by 12
Which I guess means the worst team in the league is 88 points better than the best team?
LaMarcus Aldridge is 113 points away from 20,000 in his career. He is a 7x All Star and 5x All-NBA. If he gets to 20,000 he will have a pretty solid case for the Hall of Fame, given the current standards. He never did anything in the playoffs, although his teams were almost always pretty good (he is nearly 200 games over .500 for his career).
View: https://mobile.twitter.com/NBATV/status/1371285762243665924
Dropped 34 last night in a Wolves win. His size and athleticism on D clearly bothered Dame.
Remind me again why 2020 was supposed to be a weak draft class?
Dropped 34 last night in a Wolves win. His size and athleticism on D clearly bothered Dame.
Remind me again why 2020 was supposed to be a weak draft class?
Yeah, I do like a lot of things about Edwards. For someone so young he is really good at getting to the rim and he has great strength/athleticism to get his shot off around defenders, kind of Harden-esque. He isn't a good shooter yet, but I'm impressed with his footwork and that he at least tries complicated step-backs and side-steps to get contested threes off. With his athleticism and pedigree I could easily see him becoming an elite player at those shots.
That being said; he needs to improve at a lot of different things. He needs to become a better shooter, he needs to become a better creator, he needs to cut-down on turnovers, and his defense is still very bad despite a great physical profile. What's strange is that he really isn't getting to the line (2.6 FTA per game) since when I see him play he clearly has the ability to get to the rim and should be someone that eventually is averaging 8+ FTA per game one day.
His explosiveness, the way he carries himself and some of his moves to create separation really remind me of another player you really like. One who famously said his only friend on a basketball court is the ball.
2020 looks to be one of the rare drafts where all three of the top three picks are very good. 2016 with Simmons, Ingram, and Brown was the first one this century with 1-3 being very good. Big Dog, Kidd, Grant Hill in ‘94, Worthy, Terry Cummings, Dominique in ‘82, Aguirre, Isiah, Buck Williams in ‘81.
This is an exaggeration, he singlehandedly won two road games to start the first round against HOU in 2014, scoring 89 points, and they eventually won the series 4-2. In 2016, he scored 79 points in the first two games of a second round series against the Durant/Westbrook Thunder, SAS won game 1 by 32 but lost game 2 by 1 and eventually the series 4-2. He scored 30 in a playoff game 11 times, I doubt the list of players who have done that in the past 20 years is especially long.
Anyway, he's always been an odd player, reliant on long two point jumpers as a big man, but he had some great playoff series.
While true, 2019 might be one of those drafts too with Zion, Morant and Barrett. Then they have Hunter and Garland... Damn.
It's really not the time for it, but with all the young talent in the league, they should look into expansion.
A bit too early on Barrett, but I expect him to put up all star numbers. He’s another one of Drew Hanlen’s clients, and many of his guys are buckets: Tatum, Beal, Embiid, LaVine, even Oubre.
Yeah, but it's a bit too early on Wiseman and Edwards too. Barrett is just 20 years old and has made year over year improvement. Really, his career trajectory is right in line with Brown and Ingram.
Drew Hanlen is 31 years old and is already a basketball power broker. You can argue that Jordan Clarkson's NBA career trajectory changed when he started working with Pure Sweat. While he coaches the best athletes in the world, his results are still very impressive.
Probably right but I still think Nashville needs a team. Seattle is my top priority.
Every time you guys talk about how good SGA is and why doesn’t anyone pay attention to him, it makes me weep for Seattle and the Sonics.
Yeah that is all fair. He hasn't underperformed in the playoffs, I should have said something like "never made the Finals" or something like that to show that he hasn't had the major playoff success that some players rely on to make the Hall of Fame.
The league 100% should expand. Simmons has mentioned a super-high expansion fee could be a way to recoup some of the lost revenue due to COVID as well.
It has been 27 years since the Raptors/Grizzlies came into the league, and they have only added one team (Charlotte) since then. Just looking at the sheer amount of Euros in the NBA right now, it's clear there is a lot more NBA-level talent out there. Basically every team in the NBA, even some of the really bad teams (Detroit, Minnesota, Houston, Sacramento, Orlando, etc.) have at least one All-Star level talent, and some of them, like Minnesota, have two.
Hanlen is becoming the RobMac of the 2020s, although it will be difficult to top the number of max contract players who trained under McClanaghan.
Are you saying this from the perspective of the business or the viewing public? For me, I just want to watch high-level basketball and I feel like we're getting that, night in night out (barring COVID). I'd prefer to not have expansion water that down as I get shivers at night thinking about the Vancouver Grizzlies with Big Country. I feel like the league is at a good level right now and am not sure how much anyone benefits from having a bad team in Vegas (outside of the 30 NBA owners). If they want a team in Seattle, just have Howard Schultz buy the T-Wolves.
As a whole, basketball would be better if there was a pro team in Seattle (and whatever other city) gets an NBA team. I couldn't care less if those teams are bad from the start, nobody would be making me watch it every night. The league also has the talent to sustain more teams, as more international players come into the game, as well as basketball becoming increasingly popular among young people in this country.
I do think there is a real problem with certain watchable aspects of the league (#1 being the formation of soul-less super teams and #2 being stylistic similarities) that hurt the product, but expansion wouldn't have an impact on those things.
Agree RE: Seattle but I disagree that expansion benefits fans. It takes a looooong time to build a fanbase in these new cities and few owners have the patience for it. If an expansion draft drained Marcus Smart from the Celtics, Joe Harris from the Nets, Miles Bridges from the Hornets, etc - say the 4th or 5th best guy from every team - you'd make 24 teams worse to create two 20-25 win teams. We can see the end of these benches in the NBA and I'm not sure it serves anyone's rooting to get more Carsen Edwards' and Dzanan Musas into the league.
You don't have to watch those shitty teams, but all of a sudden the benches across the league would get really thin and it would be harder to recreate enjoyable bench-mob units like the ones found in Memphis, Utah, etc. 48 minute games would be more of a slog when the starters aren't playing.
If anything, I think it would make the two aspects of the league you find unwatchable worse. With talent spread thinner, more teams would spread out to raise the risk level of their gameplay, only now there would be worse shooters in the corner. And the league would get a temporary influx of cash , enabling the biggest name free agents to join their buddies the marquee cities.
If you're saying the league should do it because they'll make a boatload of cash, you're right and that's why it'll probably happen. But from this fan's POV, I love the current state of the league. I might be wrong and just scarred from the quick expansion of the 90s but I like it when teams are stacked with immense talent. It's what made the Celtics/Lakers so great in the 80s.
The Sonics could wait 25 years to reappear and they’d *still* probably be the last Western team not from CA or TX to win a title.
The Rockets are a perfect example of what an expansion club would look like. A few guys playing for life-lines out of there while the rest are simply trying to audition for their next contract, be it in the NBA, G League or overseas. There is a reason that a currently middling Boston Celtics team looked like world beaters on Sunday. The league certainly wants to expand but it feels like they care about quality too.
It doesn’t have to be like it was 30 years ago though. Times have changed and leagues can be more progressive in their expansion rules.
Look at the NHL and the Vegas Golden Knights a few years ago. Sold out nearly every game (so much for the fan base issue) and went to the Stanley Cup Finals due in large part to the expansion draft designed so the team wouldn’t look like last nights Houston Rockets by making better players available.
I’m not saying an NBA expansion team is going to make the Finals as it is a more too heavy sport only that they can be competitive and don’t have to be cellar dwellers. Silver is the right guy to lead these changes from decades ago so the teams first year doesn’t look like the Rockets or Bobcats.
I’m kind of amazed so many of you are pro-expansion as almost every team in the league seems woefully thin to me and in need of more adequate rotation depth. From a watchability perspective, I’d personally be very happy about contracting a few teams and distributing their talent.
In 2004, teams were allowed to protect eight players in the expansion draft. I don’t see that as hurting any team all that much.
Every team in the league would trade their ninth most coveted player for the $166 million each team could get on an expansion fee of $2.5 billion
My Celtics protection list: JT, JB, Smart, TL, PP, Nesmith, Romeo, Kemba. Bye Bye Grant Williams.
Every team in the league would trade their ninth most coveted player for the $166 million each team could get on an expansion fee of $2.5 billion
My Celtics protection list: JT, JB, Smart, TL, PP, Nesmith, Romeo, Kemba. Bye Bye Grant Williams.
And then a horrendous stinker last night against the Lakers, I watched both games and couldn't really believe it was the same team. I guess that shows just how much energy and focus it takes to beat the Jazz currently, because they had nothing left last night.
Me too. The NBA for some reason needs to add 2 more teams that are going to tank until they accumulate top-end talent?
There are plenty of fungible players to fill out rosters but there's not enough top-end talent. Expansion won't create more top-end talent.
You're presuming that teams would keep their 8 best players. I could absolutely see guys like Kemba, who are on pricey contracts, left available in the expansion draft just to get rid of the obligation. Or guys like Smart that you'd lose in FA anyway.
I get why the teams would do it - the money will be nice when it's distributed, especially when there's not a ton of butts in the seats - but I think it would have a noticeable difference on the quality of these games. If there's not enough talent in the league to make Minnesota and Sacramento and Detroit and Houston etc competitive, why would that improve with two additional teams drawing from the pool?
Edited typo
There have always been bottom dwelling teams. Even when there were only 10 teams in the league. And this is true of every sport around the world. MIN and DET and HOU are teams that are either mismanaged or tanking.
The other thing is that even the bad teams have talent and can be competitive in games. Minnesota might be a bottom-feeder, but they could realistically beat a top team in any game if KAT has like, 35 and 15. Maybe those teams are not competitive enough; but I think they are competitive. No night is a cake-walk in the NBA. The sheer volume of three point shooting also generally closes gaps in talent (which is why we have seen more March Madness upsets in the past ten years) on a given night.
Just scientifically speaking, there is way more talent in the NBA than there was 20+ years ago. I'm surprised people are so bearish on the idea of expansion.
Just scientifically speaking, there is way more talent in the NBA than there was 20+ years ago. I'm surprised people are so bearish on the idea of expansion.
I wouldn't say I'm "bearish" - I'm just wondering what I as an NBA fan get out of expansion. I like watching high-level basketball and concentrating more talent onto a smaller number of teams provides that.
Exactly - and adding two more mismanaged teams to the mix (the NBA hasn't been all that great at identifying owners of late; see: Fertitta, Tillman) will exacerbate the problem
I don't read the quality comments as bearish. I read them as realistic.
With expansion, you will have more bad basketball being played in any given NBA games as the talent is diluted. I watch far too much NBA to be healthy (and I don't even wager on the sport which makes it even more absurd) and the gulf between rotational talent and rostered bodies is palpable regardless of whether its regular run or garbage time minutes.
Given the money involved, expansion is almost certainly coming - and it will almost certainly have an impact on the level of play. ja may not stay up for the Las Vegas Discretions at the Sonics 2.0 for the first game of their inaugural season...sadly, I probably will...
With expansion, you will have more bad basketball being played in any given NBA games as the talent is diluted. I watch far too much NBA to be healthy (and I don't even wager on the sport which makes it even more absurd) and the gulf between rotational talent and rostered bodies is palpable regardless of whether its regular run or garbage time minutes.
Given the money involved, expansion is almost certainly coming - and it will almost certainly have an impact on the level of play. ja may not stay up for the Las Vegas Discretions at the Sonics 2.0 for the first game of their inaugural season...sadly, I probably will...
Tillman is probably the #1 reason for that tire fire in Houston
Even when Cade comes walking through that door it's going to be difficult to turn it around
Even if they drop to the worst record in the league, they'll only have a 47.9% chance of keeping their own pick, otherwise they'll get Miami's. Gonna be a stressful lottery night for the Fertitta household. That Westbrook trade was brutal.
Crappy teams don't have to play crappy if the right culture exists. The Thunder are thin on talent, but fun to watch because there are all these scrappy role players who recognize that this might be there last chance to play in The Show.
The Rockets, on the other hand, are just going through the motions. They have embraced the tank and have lost 16 in a row. Pro-tank Thunder fans are envious of the Rockets' amazing capacity to lose. Maybe, it's not the talent distribution that produces lousy NBA basketball but rather the ongoing incentives to tank.
Recent not making the playoffs streaks by the Lakers and Knicks were similar to the initial non playoff streaks of the two Charlotte expansion teams
Seattle should have a team and a team in Vegas would be fun. A couple more 30 win teams won’t change the league too much. It actually would be a better product if more of the best players were more spread out.
Translation: I want a LV trip every year to watch the Celtics
Seattle should have a team and a team in Vegas would be fun. A couple more 30 win teams won’t change the league too much. It actually would be a better product if more of the best players were more spread out.
Translation: I want a LV trip every year to watch the Celtics
76ers outscore Knicks 26-14 in fourth quarter to win a slugfest, 99-96. Tobias Harris makes all the big buckets, scores 30, and Seth Curry adds 20. Philly turned up the defense when it mattered.
76ers host Milwaukee on Wednesday, third game in four days.
76ers host Milwaukee on Wednesday, third game in four days.
Didn’t see any of this game but following the score I kept saying to myself how they are going through the motions tonight with the Bucks on their minds (even subconsciously) tomorrow. Taking care of business in the 4Q fits that narrative too.
This is not a group that falls into that trap, especially without the big guy.
Danny Green shot 1-for-10 tonight and that held back the first unit. Doc benched him for the fourth quarter. Shake Milton had a quiet night. 76ers shot 40 percent in first half and they don’t go to the FT line as much without Embiid. The Knicks are physical and play tough defense. Philly matched them in the second half after falling behind 56-48 at halftime.
It’s good they are home for both ends of the back-to-back.
I was forgetting they are without Embiid. As I’m discussing traps I’m watching the Lakers sleepwalk vs the Wolves as the basketball court looks like the last place LeBron wants to be tonight.
76ers can get lazy when Embiid is healthy and engaged. But this is a good group that is getting better as the season goes on. I just wonder how they are going to go down in the end, and when. The East has four hot teams right now. Over last 10 games, Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami are 9-1. Sixers are 8-2. One of those four will win the conference, and you can make a case for all of them.
Yeah, the Knicks have played teams without their best player three games in a row: OKC (SGA), Brooklyn (Durant), PHI (Embiid). NY really misses Mitchell Robinson, excitingly he was cleared for contact today and was involved in practice before tonight. Noel was playing great for a while but seems to have hit a wall (the 41 minute Thibs games probably didn't help), Mitch bumping him back to the bench will really help.
Miami is getting healthy and coming together now. Brooklyn is scary and could add Drummond and others by the deadline. I’m selling on the Bucks. I could list the reasons but the list is too long. This is going to be one of the better playoffs we’ve seen this year.
He is. I had given up on that game but kept it on while doing stuff around the house.
Lillard just has a will to win that I don't think any other NBA player has. Even LeBron would just kind of let regular season games slip-away and save his energy for a more important date, but Dame just has this ferocious gear that he can get to that even more talented players struggle to reach. It will be an absolute shame if he doesn't end up with a championship by the end of his career. I think he is my favorite athlete to watch.