OT: NBA Thread
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Wow the kid is clutch, what a shot. 40 point triple double. Only him and LeBron can do that in a playoff game.
Best basketball game I've watched in the last year. Such a back and forth, such endings
Came here to apologize to whomever I told that Doncic wouldn't be the best European player in history
The Process turned out to be a mess but I think that's because they kicked Hinkie out mid-course and replaced him with a bunch of bozos (Colangelo and Brand) that have 0 idea of what they're doing.
Fultz is what he is but pre-draft he was regarded as a can't miss All-Star. His ceiling projection was James Harden. I wanted either Fultz or De'Aaron Fox, but at the time I preferred Fultz.
Zhaire Smith at 16 in 2018 also hurt them. Dude can't find his way onto the court with a map and a compass.
But the biggest problem by far was the Al Horford contract. $110M to a guy that can't do anything: can't shoot, can't defend, poor rebounder. He's absolutely shot. It was a criminal contract at the time and it's worse watching him play. Brand should never get another GM job.
Imagine how great Doncic could be if he spent a few years playing college ball?
Hortford and Harris both were bigger front office mistakes than any draft picks, IMO.
Yeah I actually agree too, only noting how they could have made one different draft pick and could have easily been in the finals last year. Now they're in a weird place financially, chemistry-wise, people talking about enticing Jay Wright
Really hoping Lowry's ankle sprain doesn't keep him out long v. Celtics. Fingers crossed.
Horford might be the single worst personnel decision in any America sport in 10 years.
I respect Kobe, LeBron, Luka since they didn't make college a minor league for them.
Westbrook helps break it up s bit because he doesn't shoot many 3s. Need him back.
I do not think Horford was that bad (do not get me wrong, it was not a good move, just not the worst personnel decision over the past 10 years for all sports) but he clearly was a misplaced fit. He is essentially a 5 and you already have Embiid. I guess you can play him between 4 and 5 but he literally plays in the same areas as Embiid so it is very redundant and he is 60% the player of Embiid at their respective bests.
He may be almost impossible to move but at least he still can fill a role. He needs to play off the bench, which is a rough pill to swallow at that price tag.
Harris is problematic because his deal may be impossible to move too. But, I think you can play him as a small ball 4 next to Embiid and it should work well. He spaces the floor, offers some things off the dribble and allows Embiid to roam the post area more without it being clogged.
I would move Simmons for the right deal. I have a big problem with paying $34 million a year for a guy that averages 16 PPG and cannot hit jump shots from distance. I like him more as a point forward than a point guard. Let someone else try to fit a puzzle around him. Some idiot will pay a lot for him hoping that he can become like Giannis. He is not Giannis. He is pretty good but essentially is a longer, more athletically souped up Lonzo Ball with a drastically worse jumper.
I know, and we have talked at length, about Embiid's injury/weight issues, but he is a lead dog. I would just try to ride the wheels off him because you are never going to get proper value for him. But, he is a definable piece that you can certainly build a quality team around.
You take Embiid (hopefully in-shape finally), Harris, Horford off the bench, their other existing assets and the ransom you fleece someone for Simmons and you probably have a much better and balanced roster.
I do not know if Horford will be too happy but the truth is that he will still make his cash and they need someone that can eat a lot of minutes behind Embiid both because his conditioning record is sloppy and he will always need to take some games off to preserve his body.
With Fultz, I think you always have to beware of drafting a kid from college who is regarded as the next great thing and his team wins roughly 10 games total all year. People did like him a lot but the lack of winning was questionable.
Funny that you should mention moving Simmons. I was just playing around with him in the Trade Machine the other day and a three team trade with these pieces works for everyone:
Philadephia: Bradley Beal
Washington: Jarrett Culver, 1st overall, Al Horford, future 2nd rounder
Minnesota: Ben Simmons, Isaac Bonga
Philadephia: Bradley Beal
Washington: Jarrett Culver, 1st overall, Al Horford, future 2nd rounder
Minnesota: Ben Simmons, Isaac Bonga
Ehhh, I don't know if you can blame Fultz for getting thoracic outlet syndrome and having it completely break his shooting mechanics from the pain.
They were a year apart. Murray was the year before Fultz.
If they could dump Horford, I would make this deal in a second. It would set them back on the right direction.
I am not sure that Minnesota would make this deal though they should if it were offered.
I believe that it may be more in his mind at this point, honestly. I also think that his personal coach tinkering with his mechanics made it all worse.
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Looks like a Heat sweep. I still think Indy can he very, very good with full complement of players. Not this year though.
Excited for tonight's matchup. Dame knows what is needed. Can he do it?
Excited for tonight's matchup. Dame knows what is needed. Can he do it?
I mean, he's always going to be a bad defender; he's undersized, he's not an elite NBA athlete, and he carries a huge offensive load. That said, until the past two years he's been fairly passable. It wasn't until the team was clearly tanking around that he turned the effort all of the way off and he dropped to the bottom of every metric, so I think that his real defensive level is where he was in his first six years which is a just slightly below average wing/guard.
Sheesh... Lakers just plain rolling over Portland right now. Expected a better game. Maybe Portland has some fight.
The Lakers, and especially Lebron, have been an absolute machine this evening. The Blazers were overmatched from the first basket, but basically every team would have been.
The Lakers just have a lot more than Portland. Add in that they were hitting distance shots for the first time in the playoffs and it was over pretty quick.
When LA plays hard defense and then gets LeBron rolling downhill after change of possession, they are the hardest team to deal with in basketball. These past few games have been a lot of that and Portland has mostly had no chance.
I just hope Lillard is okay. It looked like a very, very slight strain or something similar. The knee/leg never gave out or showed real instability. If I were them, I would rest him regardless of diagnosis (which I assume should be fine) and start getting ready for next season.
LA may get out of this series back in rhythm and with LeBron/AD having 3 games each at less than 30 MPG. That would be ideal for them.
I'm not sure how much of the Sixers you watched this year but they tried all of these things and none of them worked. Horford off the bench didn't work. Horford next to Embiid definitely didn't work. Harris next to Embiid kinda worked until the playoffs, then it didn't work. Simmons on the floor with a real guard (if you can call Neto or Shake Milton "real guards") didn't work.
The reason why Horford's contract is awful isn't just that he's a broken-down shell that can't defend, can't power to the hoop, and can't shoot anymore, it's also because all of those things are true PLUS Horford is so expensive that it kept the Sixers from signing both real SG (Reddick) and backup PG (McConnell) or a slew of other moves.
I wouldn't trade Simmons because Elton Brand is a good for nothing ****boi and most of his personnel moves have been straight up trash. I don't trust him with a lottery pick. Of course, if you fire him, it's someone else drafting players without the insight that an additional 10 conference tournament / national tournament games would provide.
Embiid and Simmons can take you to the NBA Finals, as they proved last year. They just need much more shooting, a backup PG to play some real minutes, and better pick and roll D. The obstacle to all of that is Al Horford.
He was a good college player that had a weird injury and got in his own head and still rarely shoots 3 years later. I don't think that was foreseeable based on watching his tape or the analytics.
Brand should be fired for giving that contract to Hortford.
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