OT: 2019-20 NBA Discussions

[Jaybee]

Basketball Nerdery: Dunc'd On podcast is doing some weird stuff since Nate is traveling right now.

Last night they dropped the "All-Area" bracket which compared hypothetical teams made up of players "from" each city/region. The bracket looked something like this:

1) LA (Harden, Kawhi, PG, Jrue, Westbrook, Klay, DeRozan...)
16) Seattle (IT, DeJounte, Thybulle, Joe Harris...)

8) Dallas (Aldridge, Siakam, Miles Turner, Royce ONeal, CJ Miles)
9) Indiana (Hayward, Conley, Eric Gordon, JJJ, Zeller)

5) Ohio (Bron, McCollum, Rozier, LeVert, Kennard, Nance Jr.)
12) Philly (KLowery, Ellington, Waiters Island, Hunter, Morris Twins, Bamba)

4) N Carolina (Curry Bros, CP3, Trezl, Plumlees, Wall, Ingram, Tucker, Bam)
13) Missouri (Beal, Shamet, Tatum, OG Anunoby, Porter Jr, Tolliver)


3) Chicago (AD, Jabari Parker, Iggy, Beverley, FVV, Rose)
14) Atlanta (Brogdon, LouWill, Lamb, Jaylen Brown, Wendell Carter)

6) Houston (Fox, House, Caruso, Jimmy Butts, Justise Winslow, DA Jordan)
11) NorCal (Dame, Tyler Johnson, Lin, Aaron Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Chriss)

7) Michigan (Dray, Kuzma, Dev Booker, Monte Morris, Bryn Forbes, Horford)
10)DMV (KD, Oladipo, Fultz, Rudy Gay, Jerami Grant, Ed Davis)

2) NY/NJ (Kyrie, Kemba, Donovan Mitchell, Danny Green, Tobias Harris, KAT)
15) Florida (Vince Carter, Anfernee Simons, Kevin Knox, Isaac, John Collins)


It's remarkable to me how stacked the LA team is. I kinda think they'd win an LA vs the rest of US matchup.

[boomforeal]

lulz

[FlashUNC]

Buddy who's a Knicks fan I check in with regularly to make sure he's not taking up cutting himself just to feel something again.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by boomforeal

lulz

They are really really bad at this whole "competent NBA franchise" thing.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by boomforeal

lulz

Boom! Good to see you back!

[denapista]

The knicks will forever be crap until James Dolan removes himself from the team.

You think young people and other folks didn't take notice of that Charles Oakley situation? He poured his heart out for the Knicks and the owner removes him because he's taunting from the stands? Dolan mistook passion for hatred. The whole Clippers debacle put the entire league on notice. People aren't playing for cities anymore, they're playing for the entire franchise, including upper management. The Knicks are one of the top icons of the sport, and you honestly think KD and Kyrie TRULY wanted to play in Brooklyn? They just were political about avoiding James Dolan questions.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by denapista

The knicks will forever be crap until James Dolan removes himself from the team.

You think young people and other folks didn't take notice of that Charles Oakley situation? He poured his heart out for the Knicks and the owner removes him because he's taunting from the stands? Dolan mistook passion for hatred. The whole Clippers debacle put the entire league on notice. People aren't playing for cities anymore, they're playing for the entire franchise, including upper management. The Knicks are one of the top icons of the sport, and you honestly think KD and Kyrie TRULY wanted to play in Brooklyn? They just were political about avoiding James Dolan questions.

This is a good take.
If you are a podcast person, it's worth listening to Lowe and Beck go in on the Knicks and Dolan in yesterday's Lowe Post.

[Jaybee]

Guess who's back?

[Burning Pines]

As a Blazers fan I am excited to go from a borderline contender for the title to a strong contender for most memable team. Can’t wait for a Whiteside Melo front court.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Guess who's back?

He sort of makes sense there. Iso-heavy offense, someone to run the bench and take the pressure off Lillard and McCollum.

Course, we said the same thing about Houston and we see how that turned out. He's just so bad defensively, I dunno...

But the Blazers had to do something. West isn't a place where you can figure it out over a month or wait for some folks to come back from injury. And 4-8 ain't the place to be for them.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

He sort of makes sense there. Iso-heavy offense, someone to run the bench and take the pressure off Lillard and McCollum.

Course, we said the same thing about Houston and we see how that turned out. He's just so bad defensively, I dunno...

But the Blazers had to do something. West isn't a place where you can figure it out over a month or wait for some folks to come back from injury. And 4-8 ain't the place to be for them.

I'm trying to figure out how this move works with what I thought they were going to do in the future - trade for Love or Gallinari.

Also trying to figure out how this move helps their defense, which is their real issue.

I'm about 5 games from writing the Blazers out of the playoff picture, especially if Minnesota and Phoenix stay frisky.

[Burning Pines]

Yeah some fans are making noise about just throwing in the towel for the season, but I think that would be too depressing for Lillard who is putting up MVP type stats right now. CJ and Dame were apparently trying to recruit Melo a couple years ago, and buy-in from them is pretty important for the team.

It doesn’t seem like Melo is the right type of forward since our defense is the biggest problem, but it can’t be worse than playing Tolliver and Hezonja 25 minutes a game. And as bad as the season is so far, every game has been close so theoretically small moves could make a difference.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by Burning Pines

Yeah some fans are making noise about just throwing in the towel for the season, but I think that would be too depressing for Lillard who is putting up MVP type stats right now. CJ and Dame were apparently trying to recruit Melo a couple years ago, and buy-in from them is pretty important for the team.

It doesn’t seem like Melo is the right type of forward since our defense is the biggest problem, but it can’t be worse than playing Tolliver and Hezonja 25 minutes a game. And as bad as the season is so far, every game has been close so theoretically small moves could make a difference.

This is the glass-half full take, which I can buy. My concern is that Lillard has been supernova so far this year, and they are still underwater. Is he really going to do this for 82 games? If so, I stand by my post above that he would deserve MVP if he could drag this roster to the 6 seed or whatever. Maybe Nurkic makes a difference? When is he back?

It's tremendously depressing to think that they are in the tax and they still have this roster construction.

[RKW]

We have 4 court side seats at my job which I use pretty regularly. It’s always amazing to me just how fast these guys can move the ball around.

Plus, a hell of a good way to entertain clients that are sports fans (which I am not, but they’re super entertaining)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Burning Pines]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

This is the glass-half full take, which I can buy. My concern is that Lillard has been supernova so far this year, and they are still underwater. Is he really going to do this for 82 games? If so, I stand by my post above that he would deserve MVP if he could drag this roster to the 6 seed or whatever. Maybe Nurkic makes a difference? When is he back?

It's tremendously depressing to think that they are in the tax and they still have this roster construction.

Yep, I see both sides of it, but they might as well stay competitive until it’s clear that there’s no hope, either because their starters returns are delayed or the hole is too deep . No solid date for Nurk, but I have heard as early as February. But what he is like and how many minutes he can play who knows. Collins is on a similar timeline I think.

Blazers are one of the worst examples of small market teams throwing too much money at mediocre players, no doubt.