2018 NBA Game Thread

lovegtm

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Would we rather own the Memphis pick as structured for 2020-21, or rights to a Sacramento pick structured identically? Memphis is a smaller market with a smaller budget, but frankly I'm not sure.
Fox, Hield, and Bagley are promising enough that it will be tough for even Vlade to fuck this up. (I realize that that’s an invitation for me to hold his beer)
 

InstaFace

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Sacramento's record by month: (pt diff per game)

October: 5-3 (-0.3)
November: 5-8 (-4.7)
December: 9-6 (+0.4)
January: 7-8 (-1.7)
February: 5-5 (+0.6)
March: 7-9 (+1.7)
April: 1-4 (-8.4)

Overall, their pythag was 38-44 (on a net -1.1) and they finished +1 game ahead of that.
 

chilidawg

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If ORL can limit the exposure of Vucevic and Augustin, people are going to end up watching the series because it will be the last one going on in the East.

According to this article, since 1.29, ORL has been #1 in DRtg (104.3) and DReb% (76.9%), #3 in Reb%, #4 in NRtg (7.6), #5 in Ast%, #10 in ORtg (111.9), and #11 in TS% (56.4).

ORL was one of eight teams that beat TOR at home and one of seven teams that beat TOR more than once.
Orlando is my pick for a first round upset.
 

Kliq

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Fox, Hield, and Bagley are promising enough that it will be tough for even Vlade to fuck this up. (I realize that that’s an invitation for me to hold his beer)
It was weird because I thought things were starting to come together for Sacramento. As much as everyone shit on Vivek and Vlade, over the last couple of seasons they had drafted well, and ended up being correct when everyone laughed at them for getting Buddy Hield as the main return for Boggie Cousins. There was tension earlier this year about Joerger being on the hot seat for not starting Bagley.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Vlade Divac is going to fire Dave Joerger today. What an unbelievably stupid move.
This is the second time in 4 seasons they Joerger has been fired due to an inability to work with his superiors. There is so much more to coaching an NBA team than what occurs on game night. This reminds me of the quote I read yesterday from Kris Humphries by his agent the late Dan Fegan, “If you want to last in this league people have to like you.” Seems like Joerger may be going down the Thibs path and we know how many fans he had here.
 
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HomeRunBaker

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Old friend Chris Wallace reassigned to a “scouting role” and Bickerstaff fired in Memphis.

Heads are a rollin!
 

cheech13

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Cavs parted ways with Larry Drew. Anthony Lima(sports radio host in Cleveland) says Gilbert is going to make another run at Tom Izzo.
Drew declined to even interview for the position full time and back in January he told the Athletic he didn't even want to coach the Cavs. Outside of Magic Johnson it's hard to imagine any other person being that nonplussed about having an NBA job.
 
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HomeRunBaker

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Chicago Bulls are giving Jim Boylen a three-year extension because reasons.
Refer upthread to my Fagan quote.

I don't know who called the shots to shut down everyone and start 4 G-League guards along with Robin Lopez down the stretch but Boylen certainly can't be judged by Wins and Losses with the lineups he was forced to play.
 

HomeRunBaker

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I don't expect any significant first round upsets. Brooklyn, Orlando, and the Clippers got to where they are by outworking and outhustling their opponents many of which weren't putting up as much of a fight during the regular season. It's different in the spring especially in Game One's. I'm laying the wood in G1 against all 3 in 1H and Game numbers.
 

ElUno20

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Also really surprised by the bickerstaff firing, that dogshit team vastly overperformed all year and never lacked effort.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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Orlando is my pick for a first round upset.
In the east, they certainly have the best chance. Gordon is one guy athletic and strong enough to defend KL, and Isaac apparently has given Siakam fits. https://www.sportskeeda.com/basketball/nba-the-orlando-magic-upsetting-the-toronto-raptors-is-not-as-farfetched-as-it-seems

I didn't realize how well Vucevic has been playing. He's 8th overall in DRtg, 6th in Defensive WS, 10th in overall WS, 11th in DBPM, 10th in BPM, and 9th in VORP (5.3).

It will be interesting to see the adjustments made throughout the series.
 

terrynever

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Apparently, Elton Brand made a weird comment that "it is possible" Embiid won't be able to play this weekend: https://www.phillyvoice.com/nba-injury-news-elton-brand-its-possible-joel-embiid-doesnt-play-game-1-playoffs/. Maybe it's just posturing but it was a weird comment nonetheless.
Sixers have all kinds of problems heading into playoffs. Embiid apparently out on a few pounds while sitting out 10 games in second half. “Load management” must have meant chowing down to Joel. Butler is battling a back ailment. Harris in a shooting slump. Simmons is deferring to everyone now. There is no continuity with the starting five and the bench is awful.
Can the 76ers flip a switch when the playoffs begin? They’ll be fortunate to get past the pesky Nets.
 

TripleOT

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Wonder if Izzo might actually bite this time given the disappointment of the FF for him.
He's 64 years old, and makes $4 million a year yelling at college kids. How much more money would Gilbert have to pay him for Izzo to spend the last half of his 60s being yelled at by entitled 25 year old fellow multi-millionaire?
 

the moops

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He's 64 years old, and makes $4 million a year yelling at college kids. How much more money would Gilbert have to pay him for Izzo to spend the last half of his 60s being yelled at by entitled 25 year old fellow multi-millionaire?
Doc gets paid 10 million. Pop gets 11 million. I would think an 8 figure salary coupled with the giant ego boost might do it
 

InstaFace

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Doc gets paid 10 million. Pop gets 11 million. I would think an 8 figure salary coupled with the giant ego boost might do it
Pop I get. Doc, just seems like a huge overpay to me, unless the average coach is getting like 7-8 million in which case it's only a slight overpay.
 

amfox1

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cheech13

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David Griffin is finalizing a deal to become the next President of Basketball Operations with the New Orleans Pelicans, league sources tell ESPN.

That's a really, really good hire. Smart guy, championship pedigree, well-liked and lots of contacts throughout the league. He's the kind of guy that might actually convince AD to stay, too, although that ship has probably already sailed.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Griffin played ball with Klutch when he was GM in Cleveland, but then his job was to keep LeBron happy. I don't know that he has any other connections there and seems like a well respected guy around the league generally. I'm not worried about him doing LeBron a solid here.
 

cheech13

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The Pelicans didn't hire Griffin just to gift wrap AD to the Lakers. They could have had Demps or Ferry do that. His past relationship with Lebron and Klutch seems irrelevant to me. He got along with him because that was his job. He'll do what he thinks is best for the Pelicans.
 

lovegtm

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Not to mention the fact that Ingram and Ball have gone even further down in value since the deadline, due to the health concerns.

As for the Kings: if Vlade knew that Walton was coming available, the Joerger firing doesn’t look nearly as awful imo.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The Pelicans didn't hire Griffin just to gift wrap AD to the Lakers. They could have had Demps or Ferry do that. His past relationship with Lebron and Klutch seems irrelevant to me. He got along with him because that was his job. He'll do what he thinks is best for the Pelicans.
This. We will likely never know about how Griffin really feels about LeBron but his job is to fix the Pelicans.

He probably didn't take this job just to do someone else's bidding - over the last few years he has steadily built up a broadcasting career so it follows that he is taking this opportunity seriously as this may be his last chance at running a team.

Finally, based on his appearances on NBA radio and TV, Griffin seems like he is pretty objective when it comes to his LeBron/Cavs years in that he has, at times, acknowledged the bad along with the good. As much as he may be viewed as sympathetic to Klutch/LeBron, some of his comments suggest that his career track suffered as a result of his proximity to them. Its entirely possible that he may be inclined to stay away from helping James/Paul out given how his tenure in Cleveland ended.
 

lovegtm

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Meh. Not sure Walton should be inspiring any confidence in his ability to be a top coach in this league
Yeah, I'm not his biggest fan or anything, but he's shown the ability to work with young teams and play fast, which all should work well in Sac.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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It may be too early for an off-season thread, but in non-playoff related news, the Suns fired head coach Igor Kokoskov, in part it seems because they want to bid against the Lakers for 6ers assistant coach Monty Williams, per Woj.
 

HomeRunBaker

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It may be too early for an off-season thread, but in non-playoff related news, the Suns fired head coach Igor Kokoskov, in part it seems because they want to bid against the Lakers for 6ers assistant coach Monty Williams, per Woj.
The Suns got their guy. Monty for 5-years per Shams.