Trade deadline was interesting.

Teams settling in, what say you?


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

and you start ballin

Thybulle was a grinning fool in that post-game.. happy for him

It’s fun to be a Nets fan again now that Kyrie and his 7 foot Servant are gone

D'Angelo Russell tonight in win vs
Pelicans: 21 Points, 7 Assists, 3/5 3pt,

1 TO, +18 in 27 minutes

Playing w Bron and AD over Gobert and KAT (Edwards is a stud no slander here ) gotta be like going from purgatory ti paradise

complete dicking around in the first half, and came back down 28, only to lose by 6.

The Doc Rivers effect may be real, but Cavs need to be serious for 4 quarters. When the backcourt suffers, it's a wrap.

I'm warming to the idea of a couple years more of Caris LeVert. he's been solid since the deadline, with less YOLO moves. Still needs to stop running into traffic.

Need a wing shooter and a backup big. Not a lot of space on roster to do that under the cap.

Ricky Rubio and Dean Wade coming back has been a boost, esp. the former.

Welcomed Danny Green back in his own 14 and he saw a lot of minutes vs. Philly. Not much to write home about. Something tells me JB would rather go to him than some of the other options on the bench.

Just read a report that Kevin Love is rumored to get a buyout from the Cavs. Curious if anyone here has a website with an active and up to date list of players available from the buy out market. A quick search on Duckduckgo didn't provide me with one.

Curious who will make a difference for a contender from this list. Outside of Kevin Love, the sole big name player I'm aware of on this list is Westbrook, assuming that the Jazz did in fact buy him out.

https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2023/02/kevin-love-requests-buyout-from-cavs-sources-say.html

>Just read a report that Kevin Love is rumored to get a buyout
>from the Cavs. Curious if anyone here has a website with an
>active and up to date list of players available from the buy
>out market. A quick search on Duckduckgo didn't provide me
>with one.
>
>Curious who will make a difference for a contender from this
>list. Outside of Kevin Love, the sole big name player I'm
>aware of on this list is Westbrook, assuming that the Jazz did
>in fact buy him out.

https://www.nba.com/news/15-potential-buyout-candidates-2023

a lot of it is based on speculation because we usually don't know who is bought out until it actually happens like any other contract negotiation. In the case of Westbrook I think he is probably due almost $20mil and I'm sure Ainge is probably trying to lowball him like "I'll give you a mil and get you out of here" its unlikely that he would ever suit up in Utah for multiple reasons so they would be paying him to stay home.

but not sure since they also need defense. i don't watch either enough but from memory Saric is a better on ball defender, and Love better in the paint?

maybe Dubs just say it is what is this season and don't title chase and wait til next year since it sounds like Steph's injury will take more recovery time than initially expected.

they might not have enough games to "catch up" to make it worthwhile

if he goes to Miami I will be PISSED

https://www.tiktok.com/@pickswapmedia/video/7200465358699154734?_r=1&_t=8ZvYjcrvOBS

He's no longer the interim head coach. Pretty wild he's actually younger than Udoka and how successful he's being given the injuries the Celts are dealing with.

So I'm assuming this means Ime Udoka is officially fired? What an interesting way the Celts are handling that whole situation. I'm assuming this was done right before the All-Star break to minimize attention to the whole situation.

I wonder what Udoka will do next. Also wonder if the Celts were still paying him all this time since he was technically suspended.

>He's no longer the interim head coach. Pretty wild he's
>actually younger than Udoka and how successful he's being
>given the injuries the Celts are dealing with.
>
>So I'm assuming this means Ime Udoka is officially fired? What
>an interesting way the Celts are handling that whole
>situation. I'm assuming this was done right before the
>All-Star break to minimize attention to the whole situation.
>
>I wonder what Udoka will do next. Also wonder if the Celts
>were still paying him all this time since he was technically
>suspended.

With Udoka it probably came down to money like everything else. I think what he did broke team rules but didn't necessarily violate his contract so they couldn't outright fire him immediately so some sort of buyout probably had to be negotiated but it was obvious that he would never return to being HC in Boston.

right now. It's the all star break (just about) and he's the coach of one of the teams. Trade deadlines passed, there's really nothing else of substance to talk about unless where westbrook is gonna go does it for you.

>I'm assuming this was done right before the All-Star break to minimize attention to the whole situation.

and Pop coached two Hall of fame big men.

Pop will get Vic playing like a unicorn and will bring back Becky Hammon to become the coach.

while improving their depth at several positions with capable reinforcements.

but the warriors cant address their *one* most glaring need for an entire season (size/rim protection inside).

and right now the most pressing issue for kerr/myers seems to be figuring out roster space for 2 two-way players (jerome and lamb).

it looks like theyre content with riding out with this roster. there isnt really much out there in buyout market. and 20-ish games until the playoffs isnt a good amount of time for a big man to learn the system even if they did get one. so their contribution would prolly be really limited anyway.

it's feeling more like they are just chalking this year up.

don't think they are giving up ring chasing, but maybe for this year

like, GP2 can't even help right now cuz of all the PDX bullshit...and Steph is hurt until after the ASG...just seems like maybe start fresh next year and try re-tooling in the offseason.

>but the warriors cant address their *one* most glaring need
>for an entire season (size/rim protection inside).

it was SUPPOSED to be.

it wasn't.

>it was SUPPOSED to be.
>
>it wasn't.

and brought back an injured guard in an already crowded backcourt.

they had all year to pull something out for a serviceable big man. especially at the deadline. especially when you see what everyone else was able to accomplish. i didnt even see any rumors of the warriors being in play for a big man. no feeler leaks or anything. it seems like it was only an urgent need for everyone but the actual front office lol.

but Thomas Bryant wanting out of the Lakers was a gimme. Unless Pelinka was like "EH EH"

While AD pretty much always shows out against the Pelicans (27/11/3/2 in games against them)...it was still a Zion-less Pels team.

That said - I think they're pretty easily improved. These pieces at least fit. Is it too late? Probably. I think they make the play in - but if they got a 6 seed (they're only 3.5 games back of that right today tho)...I like their chances in the first round, for sure.

A certain poster here told me they'd be top 3 at the All Star Break.

He's usually not wrong, so I'm not sure what's happening here.

Even I started to become convinced that they could at least sneak into the bottom half of the play-in, but at the end of the day, talent differential matters.

Their future is bright with that coach tho. Think he's made a big difference already.

I think they've got a solid rebuild plan in place. Of course, nobody knows how the ping pong balls will land, nor how the players will end up...but between their coaching and assets, they're set up nicely.

but I think they're doing well to rebuild all things considered

All the hype was partially the theater over who would be picked last and moving that to an in-person situation made it peak entertainment as drafting goes


Taking reserves first removes all the stakes AND makes it a little more confusing.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

whoever the last reserve picked is will be the last pick. People aren't that slow. They just moved things around.


I'm old and grumpy, but I wish the NBA wasn't so insecure about its product. These gimmicks are going to get old quick.


Just go back to East vs West. Up the stakes via playing for charity, etc so that players care more I guess. There's other things that can be done to up the competition...but the drafting teams thing just isn't that interesting to me and trying to hide who is the last pick is borderline insulting.


But in 5-10 years Silver's NBA will have mid-season tournaments for no reason, the play-in will include all but 4 teams, players will be very close to averaging triple doubles north of 15, coaching will mean nothing, and scores will commonly run above 170 points through 4 quarters. They are going to overdo it.

>
>whoever the last reserve picked is will be the last pick.
>People aren't that slow. They just moved things around.
>
>
>I'm old and grumpy, but I wish the NBA wasn't so insecure
>about its product. These gimmicks are going to get old
>quick.
>
>
>Just go back to East vs West. Up the stakes via playing for
>charity, etc so that players care more I guess. There's other
>things that can be done to up the competition...but the
>drafting teams thing just isn't that interesting to me and
>trying to hide who is the last pick is borderline insulting.
>
>
>But in 5-10 years Silver's NBA will have mid-season
>tournaments for no reason, the play-in will include all but 4
>teams, players will be very close to averaging triple doubles
>north of 15, coaching will mean nothing, and scores will
>commonly run above 170 points through 4 quarters. They are
>going to overdo it.

all that will probably be true or a big thing everyone is pushing for "US vs The World" while all the top bigs are international outside of Luka they don't really have any guards

Hope I’m wrong but the dunk contest will probably be terrible sooooo…

gotta give buddy his props

especially considering how abysmal last year's dunk contest was

The best contests seem to have SOME level of competition somewhere. Mac seemed like the runaway fav from his first attempt.

He did never seen before dunks in a dunk contest.

That hesi was sweet as hell…

Plus his height made it even more spectacular.

Plus he had showmanship

And NO silly PROPs

Athleticism, creativity, showmanship, and execution….and he did all his
dunks on the first attempt!

100 across the board.

he isnt getting 12 shots a game at the nba level he will need to figure out something else to make his mark as an undersized guard and take his chance when he gets it

He's a 6'2 shooting guard who can't really defend and can only generously be called "a streaky shooter." McConnell's better because he can create for others without turning the ball over, he's smart in the passing lanes, and he just doesn't make mistakes out there as a point guard.

>He's a 6'2 shooting guard who can't really defend and can
>only generously be called "a streaky shooter."

And I think 6'2" is generous.

https://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=8&topic_id=2779707&mesg_id=2779707&listing_type=search#2780769

Prob not an NBA player but the man has elite ups.

and one of the greatest dunk contest dunkers..

Eminem of dunking.

I wasn’t ready. I knew he had sauce, because I saw his in game dunks.

But he has flawless execution and knows exactly what he wants to do…

Plus body control

As a black guy, he gets my props

Shit. Just be happy.

Everything isn’t about ethnicity..

That dude is good and works hard at his craft.

But when it’s an even playing field, it comes down to skill.

And that dude showed skill ,bro…

White or black. He performed like crazy.

That white boy was the best dunker on the floor and it wasn’t close.

>But when it’s an even playing field, it comes down to
>skill.
>
>And that dude showed skill ,bro…
>
>White or black. He performed like crazy.
>
>That white boy was the best dunker on the floor and it
>wasn’t close.

No doubt McClung is a beast I’ve been watching his YouTube highlights since he was in high school

Players who elevate the art of dunking in a dunk contest

Dr J - he set it off ( 70s)
Jordan - performed angle dunking and elevation (80s)
Vince - added reverse 360s and unorthodox ways of dunking the ball ( 90s-2000s)
Gordon - showcased creative, artistic dunks by using moving props ( 2010s)
Mac - added hesitation dunks and 520 dunks (2020s)

Those dunks are classics and will change how players dunk moving forward..

this was very disrespectful.

But Jordan was by far the biggest brand of that era.

I was going by eras….give them honorable mention.

Everything isn’t diss. It was more about how certain dunks and dunkers
tremendously changed and elevated the art of dunking.…

Jordan’s angle tomahawk dunk became a signature dunk in the NBA
that everyone copied.

as soon as i saw he was entered i knew it was a wrap for everyone else.

i mean, he outdunked everyone, no question.

but then to see a white boy doing that...sorry but that's just always gonna blow people's minds. it is what it is.

because this TNT pregame buildup has been terrible lol

in game interviews? resetting the score between quarters? wtf?!

just before the feel-good home team player whose squad is currently under .500 and out of the play-in game.

interesting.

Like, unless you're a Nuggets fan or a hoop die hard who "respects his game", the average fan finds him boring.

i'm super curious to see the rating for this...seems like a lot of people were "off" the all star game this year.

a lot of players missing didn't help, but i heard a lot of critiques about the game once it was over, even from "NBA people" who i didn't expect i'd hear that from.

the old format of East vs West and regular scoring.

Plus there were weird segments in the pregame where you had Chuck and Shaq in a different area of the arena over talking Ernie who was on the stage with the players doing the introductions

because that's what i saw as far as a lot of the complaints went...all the extracurriculars that they had surrounding and in the game (in game interviews?) etc.

i mean, there was some complaining about the level of effort from the players, but mostly it was all the other stuff.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2023-nba-all-star-game-dubbed-worst-basketball-game-ever-played-by-nuggets-coach-michael-malone/amp/

NBA might wanna actually take this seriously. that's a BAD look.

It's a game for crossing fools up, power dunks, 40-foot 3s, etc.

Jokic's offensive game isn't "sexy." It's just wildly, wildly efficient and leads to winning better than anyone else's offense in the league.

>Jokic's offensive game isn't "sexy." It's just wildly, wildly
>efficient and leads to winning better than anyone else's
>offense in the league.


I haven't paid attention, have you at least copped to the double standard here?


Several BLACK MVPS have flamed out in the playoffs and never won MVP again. It wasn't a "regular season award" for a few guys.


Several BLACK players put up monster numbers on ~.500 teams, and never won MVP.


Several BLACK players have put up monster stats on winning teams, and never won MVP...got hit with the IBM Player of the Year or whatever that shit was.


Several BLACK LEGENDS never won 3 MVPS in a row because of voter fatigue...


I could go on and on.


I'd just like to see Jokic fans cop to this. A lot of ya'll were ghost when Embiid cooked him the other week, but tell me you can at least cop to the double standard here. Please.

Like...you can make your argument, but have you admitted the double standard?

Jokic wouldn't be top 3...quite possibly not even top 5.


It isn't salty to point out the league has their new great white hope.

so Giannis
then KD(?)

what other 3 are you taking before jokic?

easy, and a lock for top 5.


>It isn't salty to point out the league has their new great
>white hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAHNkBagQs

.

As soon as Utah buys him out.

Who is easy as shit to get along with …Ty Lue doesn’t play that shit….and
Kawhi who is more reserved and calm?

Why would the clippers want this?

Westbrook is a very stubborn player

>Who is easy as shit to get along with …Ty Lue doesn’t
>play that shit….and
>Kawhi who is more reserved and calm?
>
>Why would the clippers want this?
>
>Westbrook is a very stubborn player

He will be in the playoffs while the Lakers are at home

.

.

only question was which team it would be.

"It’s an honor to be here, it’s an honor to be a part of a great weekend, great players, but that is the worst basketball game ever played," Malone said. "they put on a show for the fans, but that is a tough game to sit through, I’m not going to lie."

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/2023-nba-all-star-game-dubbed-worst-basketball-game-ever-played-by-nuggets-coach-michael-malone/

oh look, the Nets rewarding employees who show up to work everyday with a nice lucrative extension...

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35705746/sources-nets-coach-jacque-vaughn-agrees-multiyear-extension

>Trade deadline was interesting.
>
>Teams settling in, what say you?
>
>
>*skatin' the rings of saturn*
>
>
>..and miles to go before i sleep...

.

But yeah, it seems he's all but done. Hope I'm wrong.

nothing new for the Chi.

His daddy really messed up his body with all that crazy training he was doing
since he was a kid.

.

https://twitter.com/SamQuinnCBS/status/1628159353650905090

i have no idea why these folks are so obsessed with a dude who has gotten as many bites at the apple and failed already as dantoni has.

They ran into a tough part of their schedule.

Darius Garland > Trae Dung

and that will continue to be the case going forward

.

https://twitter.com/thenbacentral/status/1628415672584663045?s=46&t=9LgT5HFcQwo6mPNAdEfdDA

You can't forget some of the biggest players didn't play - Steph, KD, Bron played a half, Giannis was in for A play, etc.

There were far too many replacement players for the casual fan to REALLY care. It's great for the real NBA fan to see a bunch of dudes get their first all star appearance - but the casual fan gives no fucks about Tyrese Haliburton, De'earon Fox, or JJJ.

Non competitive, lackluster.
A glorified layup line.

Some say paying the players a godawful amount of money would work. I'm not terribly sure about that since that tier of players are already making well into the $30M range. Unless the payout was above, say, $2M per player, I don't know how hard they would actually pay. And while I'm mostly pro-player empowerment, I'd be slightly frustrated that players who are getting paid handsomely are requiring even more money to do what is, basically, a non-essential job responsibility.

The success of the Elam ending always seemed tied more to the players wanting to honor Kobe than generated by the tactics of the rule. It's an interesting idea that I don't think has completely run its course, but it's clear that alone doesn't inspire a competitive game.

Some have suggested a 1v1 competition. That has some merit, but it's also clear that personal pride doesn't matter in these types of exhibitions. Otherwise, the games would already have a mild level of competitive spirit.

I think on Brother from Another they said that the players are already tired from partying by the time Sunday comes around. That seems like a valid explanation. I don't know if, in response, the NBA refits the schedule and plays the game on Saturday rather than Sunday.

But in the end, the issue is that the players routinely show they don't really care about the game. I don't know if the owners want to tie the ratings of the All-Star game to BRI to help. Or if the league wants to pull some weight to informally get players to care.

Until the players give a damn, all these efforts to retool the weekend are a waste of time.

I have to think there will be plenty of motivation to tinker the entire weekend.

I'm somewhat worried what the end result will be, but perhaps my feelings are wasted because I haven't watched an All-Star game for about 5-10 years now.

I mainly have interest in the dunk contest.

..in the finals work to some degree?

Notable Free Agents:

Serge Ibaka
John Wall
Kemba Walker
Isaiah Thomas
Rajon Rondo
LaMarcus Aldridge
Will Barton
Carmelo Anthony
Stanley Johnson
Avery Bradley
Wayne Ellington
Sterling Brown
Hassan Whiteside
DeMarcus Cousins
David Nwaba
Michael Carter-Williams
Moe Harkless
Bryn Forbes
Elfrid Payton
Trey Burke
Jeremy Lamb

I wish Boogie had functional legs, as he'd be a great big to pair with AD, at least on offense.

and the clippers didn’t call him??

He can facilitate and play defense…he can’t shoot, but neither can Westbrook!

I would take him over Westbrook in a heartbeat. He is also a triple double guy.

i'm saying most of these names weren't in the league at any point this season, or maybe in a couple seasons?

getting thrown in the pot or their agents make it known that they are available

after recovering from his ab injury...he missed 2 weeks more worth of games with a non covid illness. which was kinda weird but whatever.

and now...after missing the last warriors game for personal reasons and steve kerr saying he was ok and would be back after the all star break...he has already been ruled out for the 1st game after the break for personal reasons.

all of this is atypical for someone who rarely misses games.

https://twitter.com/CjHolmes22/status/1628959887698055168

i was hoping it wasnt anything serious but this doesnt sound good.

Great game. Harden’s 3. Embiid’s block. Tobias with a big shot. Tucker with a huge rebound.

why is he always falling for no fucking reason?

dude faceplanted on a fast break lol.

dude bummed it up for almost the entire half then reeled off like 10 points in 5 seconds lol.

all they do is foul and turn the ball over fam.

i dont understand how a team with this much championship experience can be so goofy.

everything about these games be embarrassing. the effort, the execution, the rotations, etc. they might not be the worst team in the nba record-wise but they look the worst.

but they are also missing two key starters (Wiggins and Steph) and have a limited bench (that's also missing a key bench player - GP2).

it shouldn't be suprising that they are getting lit up after All Star break under those circumstances.

in a game where warriors were shorthanded and needed a defensive wing on lebron.

but gave major minutes to a lineup of ty jerome, anthony lamb, and jamychal green.

and now he throws kuminga back in for garbage time with the warriors down 30.

i cant even call it at this point.

dude is 6'10" and a walking bucket. shooting like 45% from 3 and can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim.

every time he comes in the game he starts lighting it up.

dude would create crazy space if he ever gets a chance to play with a lineup other than the bum squad.

if the knock on him is his defense...he cant be any worse than anthony lamb and jamychal green. and he def aint gonna brick as many open 3s as them.

>if the knock on him is his defense...he cant be any worse than
>anthony lamb and jamychal green.

I'm not a big believer in Lamb as an actual pro prospect, mind you, but PBJ has Steve Novak level mobility. If you're playing him, you are placing all your chips on "he will score enough to counter what he gives up on the other side." Which maybe he can! But I understand the reluctance to give him serious minutes, lol.

who doesnt love seeing the grizzlies lose

the fact that james harden didnt make the all star game shows how stupid nba all star voting really is

he played incredible tonight 31 7 and 7 with some HUGE 3s in the end, double teamed, falling out of bounds, etc

playing defense, diving for loose balls, he looks completely different than houston harden (for the better)...and he passed AI on the all time scoring list

I cant believe we got ben broke back simmons in exchange smh

.

I didn't know he was the GM in Utah they basically got lucky on Donovan and Gobert I guess you can give him credit for their "development" but that team eventually hit a ceiling but somehow he's supposed to get ATL over the hump I don't know

I think you're right that you can just attribute that to the roster luck-- especially with Gobert, considering basically no one defended on the perimeter consistently outside of O'Neal, but when you have Gobert in his prime, you're still a top 5 defense.

That said, it makes a lot of sense that his regular season success in Utah merits giving him a swing of the bat in another location-- because they were consistently better than more talented teams for a few years there. I'm sure Atlanta hopes he can do the same with guys like Young and Murray outside and guys like Capela and Okongwu inside.

(I still think Atlanta made an *egregious* error signing both Young and Murray to the same team. And I'll be very surprised if Snyder can turn that into anything other than a play-in level roster.)

>And I'll be very surprised
>if Snyder can turn that into anything other than a play-in
>level roster.)

Isn’t that what they already are?

>
>Isn’t that what they already are?


They have a white coach! He's so...cerebral? Xs and Os? He's had regular season success with an a very well put together roster?

What's the latest defense of this shit?


We're all going to pretend Utah didn't flame out in the playoffs and that Nate isn't at least twice the coach Snyder is...because he's the white fit...excuse me, the "right fit"


It is insane to see NBA fans not be able to call this shit out...especially one OkayPlayer

I’m saying I’m skeptical that most coaches could elevate this particular roster. But I also understand why a coach with Snyder’s regular season track record appeals to an organization that’s been unable to put together consistent top 5-6 in the East level results in the regular season.

Whether Snyder— or anyone— can make that pair work remains to be seen.

>
>That said, it makes a lot of sense that his regular season
>success in Utah merits giving him a swing of the bat in
>another location-- because they were consistently better than
>more talented teams


....until the playoffs.


Why aren't white MVPs and coaches judged on playoff performance?


I'm not even arguing this serial killer looking motherfucker doesn't deserve another shot. But he is replacing an objectively better coach. Not to mention plenty of excellent BLACK candidates available.

Pretty head scratching more. Perhaps it's because my memory is very heavily colored by seeing Brunson WITHOUT Luka playing for the majority of the Mavs/Jazz series last year pretty much pick apart the Jazz defensively, but where the Jazz outside of Gobert a good defensive team? I suppose the regular season is a completely different animal than the playoffs, so I'm guessing the Jazz were a better defensive team under Quinn in the regular season compared to the playoffs.

I'm assuming the Hawks front office envisions Quinn making the Hawks front court a better defensive presence? Odd move all around, but I'm guessing McMillan lost that locker room fairly early in the season for whatever reasons, hence why he had to go.

A lot of dead weight on this team.. bum Simmons Joe Harris , Steph curry , Royce O’Neal


Cam Thomas can’t do anything EXCEPT shoot

Vucevic abusing Claxton

Sean Marks got his work cut out


Trade deadline was interesting.
>
>Teams settling in, what say you?
>
>
>*skatin' the rings of saturn*
>
>
>..and miles to go before i sleep...

he's out there putting these iso loving chuckers in the right position while communicating on both offense and defense. it's wild.

point of attack defense with him and caruso looks nice too.

That bench is serious

Ingles, Portis, Crowder, Pat C, Carter, Leonard off the bench!

This is crazy

>
Kyle Lowry looks fat as fucc out there , I thought Miami was known for putting it’s players thru the ringer and having them shredded all the time

that isn't one of the starting guards. and when they are having an ass night, bruh.

sucks because Mobley and Allen have been BEASTING against these jabronis and the team can't cash in.

hopefully Koby sees the light in the offseason. really pisses me off to see teams with no-stars, or lesser-tier stars with all these fucking wing players that can just get in there and hit a routine shot.

13 games above .500 and dogg...it's personnel

Quality win against the Wiz.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

..L, after L, after L.

C'mon, mayne. © Terrence Howard

You need some new material. LOL




*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

god damn.

However, Clippers traded away all of their defense.

Powell, Westbrook, Gordon and Plumlee are shit on defense.

Clippers got some serious fire power….but their defense is shit now.

the rest will fall in line plus they were missing their best rim protector Zubac

sheesh thats nasty work coming out of a timeout.

I wonder how long they keep him in the starting lineup

and thats with the injuries theyve been juggling this season.

what a well constructed/run team mayne.

they just get it done no matter who is in the lineup.

mavs defense aint stopping anybody.

I've always had a soft spot for players with his build since Stromile Swift and Hakim Warrick. Street Clothes was big time too but Vanderbilt's the reason they got into this game at all.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

He looks like he’s all the way back to his form prior to the last injury

Fingers are still crossed though

An astonishing comeback on the road in a must win against one the teams they’re battling with the goal of getting a 6 seed.

There’s still a ways to go, but this game gives me confidence that that goal is actually within reach.

You don’t think a win after coming back from a 27 point deficit on the road against Dallas is as part of the home stretch is the biggest win yet?

There’s not a lot of wiggle room for that, given the context of this one.

You don’t think Dallas is one of the teams we have to climb over to get to that 6 seed?
You don’t think a win against them helps the process of reaching that goal?
You don’t think we have a ways to go to get there?

You don’t think a win of this nature is enough to instill confidence that the 6 seed is possible?

To be clear, ”confidence that the goal can be reached” is not the same as saying “we will reach this goal”.

I’m not sure what there is to disagree with.

I realize it’s you I’m dealing with, and we both know you don’t care for things like nuance and context, so there’s that.

You can now say “ok, player” or whatever basic bob assed response we both know you’ll use

to sniff the playoffs and we need teams ahead of us to lose

Like I said, you don’t do nuance or context

>Like I said, you don’t do nuance or context

It’s consistent.

For example

Me: Jeanie needs to sell the team
You: lulz that’s not happening

You’ll read an opinion on what someone thinks *should* happen as though they’re saying it *will* happen, but the two are quite different.

Here, I said this was the biggest and most important win of the season- and provided a mountain of context to support that.

You didn’t provide a single word to actually rebut that, other than “derp, I dunno about all that”

You then pointed out the hurdles in front of us, as though I didn’t already say we still had a ways to go. I had already covered those hurdles- and accurately pointed out Dallas as one of those hurdles, and this win being a *step* in that *direction*, and this win gives me *confidence* that the goal *can* be reached- yet you responded as though I said it’s a done deal.

You either have no capacity for nuanced comprehension of what people are actually saying, or you’re just being a troll. There may be an option or two between them, but not many.

You’re either comically obtuse or a garden variety troll.

I genuinely don’t think you understand that you just proved my point.

hes still good for a block from behind or from the help side here and there...but hes lazy as hell for most of the game on the defensive end. just walking around...trailing cutters...not even trying to close out on 3 point shooters...etc.

Had to exert insane amounts of energy to come back. That’s not good basketball
for old, injury prone bodies.

Maybe they make the PI….but other than that it’s one and done.

Can’t wait to see young legs run these boys to the infirmary ward

the end of these games are like watching a turtle crossing an 8 lane highway.

This tweet shows how great he was in P&Rs

https://twitter.com/MichaelVPina/status/1630060920717160450?s=20

Shows you just how much defense and the game has fallen off.

And the gunning of players.

Dame basically took 40 shots…the next highest shot taker on his
team was Grant with 10 shots….and Grant is a 20 point scorer.

Reddish played 31 mins and had 3 shots.

Dame wasn’t even looking for teammates….just pulling up everywhere. It’s entertaining,
but will not bring PO success or winning.

smh.

know what team basketball is.

I saw a player hunting for shots and not looking for his teammates…not
my kind of basketball.

you do know i get all blazers games for free, right?

his teammates seemed plenty happy with his peformance.

you don't know shit.

>I saw a player hunting for shots and not looking for his teammates…not
my kind of basketball.

They started Eubanks, Thybulle and Reddish. Who do you want him to feed?

And Grant is a 20 point scorer…he avgs 20 a game.

That’s who else was on the court…

10 shots compared to 38….

Reddish can score as well.

SMH

That’s my point. Dame doesn’t know how to make others better or look
to make others better…..which is why he goes home every post season.

>know what team basketball is.
>
>I saw a player hunting for shots and not looking for his
>teammates…not
>my kind of basketball.

And has the nerve to call dame a selfish player

Pure idiocy

He isn’t a point guard.

GOOD

Paul George as the main ball handler is disastrous, and Lue should know that.

They still don’t have a PG…Westbrook sat down the stretch because he is lability.

One thing is for sure Denver and the Clippers suck defensively….most all teams
in the west suck defensively

Bucks, Celtics, or the Sixers will win the chip.

Maybe the actual story of that game is the MVP put up a clutch-as-fuck 40 pt. triple double, outlasting a brilliant performance from Kawhi and some insanely conspicuous ref fuckery

Not when PG made two back to back TOs in OT that
led to the Nuggets going up in the score. …That was clearly the difference.

- turned the ball over by messing up an easy ally-oop
to Plumlee

- then he got stripped right after that while trying to bring the
ball up the court

1-3 on the season against them, but that 1 was so satisfying.

Especially since those assholes called a flagrant foul on Donovan and since that point Cavs went on a 40+ to 20 something run following on the way to a 25 point blowout.

Donovan didn't even play the 4th quarter.

https://twitter.com/NickVanExit/status/1630002900662362112

theyre calling kidd 'the watcher' on reddit.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fp_YYo3XoAEu8mH?format=jpg&name=medium

Kidd knows he's the coach, right?

cuz, he's talking like he's NOT the coach. yikes.

at the same time? fuck Luka.

words only go so far. hes done all he can do with luka on that front.

its up to luka to go out there and be an adult on the court and do the things necessary to win games. including playing defense.

i mean...him not calling time outs is clearly him passive aggressively punishing his team (particularly luka) and making them 'suffer' through runs until they develop some sort of resolve and decide to actually try to stop their opponent (old school shit). he wants them to know hes not gonna keep bailing them out. especially when theyre behavior doesnt change after the timeout (once again...this is particularly targeted at luka).

funny cuz i made my reply, then clicked over to my twitter and literally the top tweet was Jason Timpf showing a clip of Luka crying about not getting a call that he clearly wasn't even close to be fouled.

lol. i hate Luka so much. maybe that was the algorithm just showing me more Luka hate after i typed "fuck Luka" ahahahahaha.

i like watching his segments posted on the volume youtube channel.

and yeah...luka is horrendous with the flopping and then compounding it with complaining to the refs. especially when hes chewing a ref out from baseline to baseline instead of getting back and playing d.

awesome analysis.

i like his breakdowns and i like that he seems very impartial.

And Luka very obviously should take a lot of heat - ESPECIALLY on his conditioning. It was staggering how bad he was in the 2nd half (and as great as Vando's defense was...cmon, it's Luka).

But damn man. Kidd and his 2nd season as a coach. Name a worse duo.

>But damn man. Kidd and his 2nd season as a coach. Name a worse
>duo.

traded them for a reason lol

i said the kidd/luka relationship was fragile and kidd was prolly on his way out of dallas earlier last year when i saw the friction between what kidd wanted to do and how luka does or doesnt respond to that.

but kidd got those guys around luka to play d and they shot well from 3 and improved as a team. i got clowned for my take...which admittedly looked bad at the time. especially with their run to the wcf (though i think phoenix melted down and gift that to them).

but i think them overperforming last year was a bandaid on the type of fissures that are still there in that locker room.

and its getting harder to hide now. because the mantra was always 'if luka just had help'. and now that they brought in wood and another elite player in kyrie...it just shows that wasnt the automatic elixir everyone assumed it to be. its really about luka and his ability (or lack thereof) to lead a team and modify his approach to the game in a way that can lead them to a ring.

kidd seems to be desperately indicating that he still sees that as a failure right now.

but perhaps Kidd is having his version of buyer's remorse in terms of taking that Dallas job and he wants out. I'm guessing he doesn't want to tie his success to Luka suceeding since I'm guessing their relationship is strained at best and Kidd doesn't see things improving for the franchise since Luka is the end all be all for the foreseeable future.

I don't want a ton of Mavericks games, but that roster on paper appears to be quite rancid. Not to say Luka doesn't deserve some measure of blame, but the room for error for Luka and Kyrie is quite slim given how top heavy the team is.

You’re right. That roster is absolute trash beyond the big 2. And not for nothing but the Mavs haven’t ever done a great job of roster construction since the year after their chip when they lost Chandler, etc.

I’m obviously not a GM but I’m having a hard time seeing how they really construct a good roster around those 2 with the assets they have.

this seems to be a reoccurring theme with him. i guess he has an expectation of a certain amount of competitive maturity from a team and a thin level of patience when it falls short.

he doesnt seem to be gaining much faith in luka turning the corner in that aspect of the game. we will see if his criticisms get sharper and more direct (and ultimately how things turn out for him).

of taking potshots at players through the media.

Taking shots at the Golden Boy for the Mavericks franchise, Luka Doncic. I'm sure that'll end well for Kidd.

I want to be around for when Kidd eventually barks at Kyrie to see how well that goes.

not any explicit action or behavior from kyrie. hes been and will continue to be a model citizen for the mavs (so he can get that contract from the lakers lol).

but i think the mavs getting kyrie is an accelerant in the deterioration of the relationship between kidd and luka.

for one...those guys in the locker room respect kyrie way more than they respect luka. and it showed in the games they played with luka out. those role players looked happy as hell in those games playing off of kyrie lol. them dudes were clearly going hard to compliment kyrie and win games. they were playing *for* him. and if *anybody* can recognize that...its kidd. kyrie reminded him of what that feels like and what it really means for a team.

also...i think the mavs thought kyrie would improve the team and make them a more formidable contender for a title. but really its exposed how difficult it is for luka to play with another superstar. i dont think its malice on his part. i just think his game doesnt work the best with another scorer like him/kyrie. hes getting frustrated with not really knowing how to play without controlling the ball 100% of the time and initiating the offense at the top on every possession. a lot of the times that kyrie and luka are actually on the floor together...they look out of rhythm (as does the rest of the offense). i dont think thats fixable because i dont think luka is willing to sacrifice *too much* in a way that will impact his stats.

so i think kidd is coming to the conclusion that adding another superstar isnt a magic bean to make dallas a title contender. you still need your best player to play team ball (on both ends) and stop doing immature shit like chewing refs out instead of getting back on defense.

kidd taking shots at luka to the media is pretty much a last resort to try to incite some type of change within luka while they can still make something out of the kyrie trade (and possibly convince him to stay there after this year). its a different era now tho. and players like luka would pretty much rather get a coach fired or demand a trade than look inside and ask whether the criticism has validity.

back when he was in milwaukee.

https://twitter.com/brewhoop/status/954000733489246208

we know how things turned out for him after that.

then his team got hot and made a run to the WCF and you looked foolish lol

.

just heard about this it figures once AD finally starts to look healthy for an extended period Bron goes down

They can, and should, still make the play in.

Run this whole team back as much as possible. The 2-10 start was an absolute killer.

>They can, and should, still make the play in.
>
>Run this whole team back as much as possible. The 2-10 start
>was an absolute killer.

Winning y’all a summer camp championship wasn’t good enough?

25/10 in the finals.

While Jimmy was frying Lebron with 40 point triple doubles, AD was working.

>Winning y’all a summer camp championship wasn’t good
>enough?
>
>25/10 in the finals.
>
>While Jimmy was frying Lebron with 40 point triple doubles,
>AD was working.

Are you under the impression that his 2020 work magically wins us games in 2023?

Because that’s not a thing.

So you think people should stop working after their first paycheck?

What more do they want? One paycheck wasn’t enough?

Have you had sex more than once?

Listened to a song more than once?

Etc

They still got work to do right today.

Jeez.

You got me

AD and Bron (health willing) should anchor.

The Lakers are back to the kind of team they had in 2020 otherwise

bodies with those strenuous workouts when they were young. Lonzo knees are shot and
Lamelo is made of glass and is very brittle. His ankle just gave out.

Basketball players of this era since they were in grade school did nothing
but play basketball all year round. Playing AAU and other leagues without
doing any cross training or playing other sports leave these players with
broken down bodies by the time time they turn 25 years old, and so they
have to be load managed.

Don't ask me. LOL.

that team is going to be annoying after Cade gets back

When he was brought in, the sense was that the team was going to need to rebuild for a little while, during which he'd have time to acclimate himself. The injuries didn't help with that along with the team jumping back to being elite. He just didn't have enough time to play low-stakes minutes to get familiar with how they play off of one another.

I think he'll turn into a quality player, but it just wasn't going to be in Golden State.

it just ended up being a bad situation for him. like you said, they thought they'd be in rebuild mode and be able to let him cook since the games "don't matter," but then they were suddenly good again and he's like 8th in the pecking order on a good day.

but I’m hearing the Lakers “asked” Scottie Pippen Jr to leave the team because Malik Beasley is dating his mom?

I know you said one thing

But I’m just going to ignore that and roll with a version I made up in my head

Hey, who am I?

wth is going on.

He was in a whole bunch of mess on social media over it

or just awkwardness for Pippen Jr. cuz Beasley used to date her (assuming any validity to the rumor)?

.

let's gone get all the way Oxygen Network with it, cuz this was THIS past Valentine's Day
https://www.tmz.com/2023/02/14/larsa-pippen-calls-marcus-jordan-her-forever-valentine-my-love/

Just a way to fuck with Scottie’s mental, or something

the attention all this garners is what she’s really after

The need for likes and comments has created a new breed of human being we haven’t seen before.

He started that dumb shit on Undisputed, totally unprofessional.

The Lakers could be sued if they ever did some stupid stuff like that.



Come on, bro….why would you entertain some crap like that?

A team can buyout a player, release a player, or trade a player….but they have zero
ability to ask a player to leave due to the contract they have with the player.

He's got another roster overperforming. Shit, if he had my Bulls roster we would be top 3 in the east.

And credit to him for apparently evolving as a coach. The reformed hard head is out there playing young guys and not wearing out his welcome after year two.

I'm still concerned with him running starters into the ground, but the team has been performing better as of late. Part of it is him playing the young kids more and part of the Knicks succeeding is having Brunson on the squad. Him being able to create shots for himself frees Randle from forcing up shots and turning into the Tasmanian Devil and spinning right into double teams.

Seeing how both Quickley and Hartenstein started to play better in the last month and change after struggling in the beginning of the season I suppose shows Thibs evolving on some level. Him not knowing how to meld Toppin into the line-up continues to frustrate me, but my main focus is the Knicks winning, so I'll take the recent W's despite Toppin floundering in terms of finding consistent minutes.

I want to see how Thibs performs in the playoffs and see if his history of not making adjustments will end up being the Knicks downfall.

but the truth is this nigga was playing 7 and then one or two guys for like four minutes a piece until recently.

When the word was out that he was bout to be on the hotseat, all of a sudden shit changed.

Thankfully Cam got out and can build his career, but Kemba was done in by this shit and now D Rose, who should be shining for someone as sixth man, is languishing as the mascot on the bench.

And when we get to the playoffs, will these dudes be able to overcome the limits of the playbook? Against Doc and Philly, yes. Cleveland and Boston, not so sure, and Milwaukee, if everyone is healthy, is scary as fuck now that they have some more bench depth.

So in short, fuck Thibs. If we win a chip with him, I will give him his roses, but he has reached the limit of his capabilities and whatever happens to the good beyond this is the result of those around him.

send that man to pheonix or some shit.

at the end of that record breaking game when they stopped the game to have an on court celebration

I mean, I'd get it but that man has 2 years and 77 million left on his deal. They're really going to buy him out? If I were him I'd just wait to get every penny of that because he's never seeing a max deal ever again.

I don't see any upside for Ben in a buyout. He'd obviously get another shot somewhere, but can ANYONE see a path for him to get back to all star/all nba status?

how does a buyout work?

does it have to be mutually agreed? can BK say "here's a $77 mill check, beat it"? is it "we're not a good fit, lets split up now..but we're not paying you whats left--whats # are you good with?" BS:"here's my number" (after they both agree to $30M) "deal""deal"?

You can be traded (usually as an expiring deal ala Westbrook) - and the Lakers paid most of his salary that year, so Utah (who had no interest in playing him) cut him a check for the remaining number and sent him on his way to be able to sign with whoever he wants.

That's an expiring though.

Ben - it'll be much different...because he's owed SO much money. This is more similar to Detroit stretching Josh Smith - who at the time had 2 years and 26 million on his deal. They had to pay him all of that amount, and then it reduced so something like 5 million per year over the next 5 years on their cap sheet.

Blake Griffin who was bought out, also by the Pistons, had 53 million owed (the season they bought him out + the following year). He gave up about 13.5 million in order TO be bought out...so it really is player dependent. Blake probably thought he'd made a ton of money already + had more gas in the tank to ring chase, which at that point was probably worth the 13 million to him. He might get that ring this year, who knows.

But yeah - if Ben said, "Pay me 60 million and I'll take it", I believe he CAN do that.

wants to be out vs how willing he is sit at home with his feet up cashing checks

From the teams standpoint it can be a bad look to other free agents to just send a vet home, also it can kill what little trade value the player may still have

And looking to trade him in the iffseaaon. Vaughn said it aint true tho

I have no idea how they'll be able to pull that one off. Honestly, they're better off keeping him next year and seeing if they can trade his 40 million dollar contract for something of worth when he's expiring.

It sucks, but I'm sure they don't need him around the team right now.

What an odd story all around.

.

to the middle of the lane.

ive never seen him called for it and hes easily the most blatant and high profile player who regularly does it.

mavs beat the clippers and the kings with no luka. the offense was humming and the defense was adequate enogh to get the job done.

theyre 1-4 now with luka back tho.

i know luka is your star and and kyrie is the new guy (with a reputation that precedes him). so its easy to blame kyrie. but just look at the record and look at jason kidds comments about their issues and you know what the deal is.

The only two players worth building around are Claxton and Mikael Bridges

Everyone else can and should go for picks and cap space


>Trade deadline was interesting.
>
>Teams settling in, what say you?
>
>
>*skatin' the rings of saturn*
>
>
>..and miles to go before i sleep...

would solve a grip of the Nets' problems on the offensive end. The four good wing players the Nets currently have (Dinwiddle, Cam Johnson, Bridges, & Cam Thomas) appear to be great will the ball in their hands, but can't create for others that efficiently and from a small sample size don't appear to be great off the ball in terms of running offensive schemes without someone feeding them shots. Perhaps Jacques Vaughn will solve things on the offensive end, but I have my doubts.

I have no clue how the Nets are going to solve their defensive issues; that huge of an overall in roster in the middle of the season would probably give a good majority of coaches some issues in trying to come up with good defensive schemes to be somewhat fair to Jacques Vaughn.

Ben Simmons being a non-factor hurts a ton since in theory, he should be a well above average distributing point guard that was a beast of a defensive presence.

They played based off of his mood. And it showed.

Clippers have nothing but iso players…that’s it

No PG and no interior defense!

all jokes aside, Malaki Branham is having a great year with the Spurs too, even tho theyre in tank mode

ive seen a few discussions on the usual programs about who the true title contenders in the west are after the all star break.

and the clippers are consistently mentioned. a lot of times in the top 2-3 with the nuggets and the upgraded suns.

they have great depth. on paper. and have gotten even deeper at the trade deadline and with the buyout market. on paper.

but theyre still losing too many games that they should win. with both kawhi and pg playing. ty lue lineups are really weird. like marcus morris is entrenched in the starting lineup for some reason lol.

idk man. theyre just average in reality. and if kawhi and pg dont both have really good games...they have a lot of trouble getting enough from their supposed depth to make up the difference.

oddly enough...*nobody* in the media seems to take the kings seriously and theyve been a better team than the clippers the entire year and theyve come out of the break playing just as good or better than they played before it.

https://twitter.com/joeylinn_/status/1630807683413708801

and then you have the terrence mann situation:
https://twitter.com/Farbod_E/status/1630806582211776512

this makes lue starting westbrook extra wild.

i cant call it.

last night

dude was rightfully a bench player on the 13th seed and eventually a buyout...now you make him a starter on a 4th/5th seed team pushing for a title?

once again...these ty lue rotations are confusing.

way the offense flows when PG is the primary ballhandler

I think the last few seasons there’s always reasons you can come up with to distrust the teams ahead of them, so then you look at the Clippers on paper and say “they could beat everyone else.”

But the key word there is “could” lol. There’s no reason to trust that they will. Still, that is what drives their betting odds up every season.

down 23 and won by 18.

did it mostly on the defensive end in the 2nd half and frustrated dame like a mf.

ive praised the donte divincenzo pickup enough but he was big again tonight on both ends.

and only 1 game behind phoenix for the 4th spot.

in *this* year and currently with *this* lineup (without steph or wiggs).

im not even sure theyve played more than a handful of good complete games all year. their wins have overwhelmingly been them digging themselves out of a big hole or collapsing and barely holding on to a big lead.

and theyve been absolutely atrocious on the road.

but here they are. crazy.

Wiggins is able to deal with whatever personal/family issues that are keep him out. and there are no other nagging injuries to other players. In that world, the Warriors combine their championship experience with everything they’ve “learned” this season , go on a run, and figure it all out.

However, there’s also a world where Steph stays hurt, Wiggins is out indefinitely, other guys get (or stay) hurt, they never figure how to win on the road, and the Warriors end up in the play-in game, and completely miss the play-offs.

I can’t call it. There are 20 games left, eight on the road. The road games are mostly against play off or “on the bubble” play off teams. Two of the home games are against the Bucks and The Suns.

They need to go on a run to maintain. If I’m being realistic, I figure #5 seed is probably the “best” we can really hope for, assuming Durant comes back and stays on the court, and that the Kings keep playing this well.

I know it doesn’t right now “feel” like this our year, with the constant injury issues pretty much preventing this configuration of the team really gelling. Assuming the Warriors close out the regular season strong and stay 5 (or even make it to #4), that means a first round series against the Suns or the Kings, and then a second round match-up against the Nuggets, who obviously aren’t the Nuggets that the Warriors faced last year in the first round. Going to be tough no matter what.

Outside of the top 3, West seeding isn't indicative of anything. The record is what it is.

So them being in 5 while only being 2 games over .500 isn't that crazy

Take a look at the standings and look at how many games separate teams in both conferences from being in the play-ins and missing the play-ins altogether. Going to be rough to be that team that gets a key injury in the last month or so of the season and tumbles in the standings as result of missing that key player. That already happened to the Pelicans right before the All-Star break with Zion if memory serves me correct.

To go completely off tangent, I wonder if there's a chance a team that barely misses the playoffs and ends up being the 11th seed will actually get the chance at the first draft pick and ends up getting Victor Wembanyama. That above anything else will truly be a kick in the stomach for all the teams that tanked this season.