The NBA thread

[El Babua]

Just saving that defense for the playoffs like last year 

[Nola]

So is Charlotte basically trying to do a half ass rebuild? Is that the idea?

Because I really am not following what their strategy is?

If you are rebuilding, fuck it, trade Kemba for the best haul you can get and ride out the contracts until they become more tolerable to move.

You only have one Kemba Walker on your roster, go get the Brooklyn pick from Cleveland or something and embrace the tank life.

[agrajag]

Knock knock knocking on Cleveland's door

[benjipwns]

Kevin Pelton tries to come up with some possibilities:

Hornets get: Guard Isaiah Thomas, center Channing Frye, Brooklyn 2018 first-round pick

Cavaliers get: Guard Kemba Walker, center Johnny O'Bryant

Hornets get: Guard Reggie Jackson, forwards Henry Ellenson, Stanley Johnson and Anthony Tolliver, draft picks

Pistons get: Guard Kemba Walker and forward Marvin Williams

*

Hornets get: Guard Darren Collison, forward Bojan Bogdanovic, center Al Jefferson, 2018 first-round pick

Pacers get: Guard Kemba Walker and center Dwight Howard

One interesting alternative: Indiana could take on the remaining three-plus years on Nicolas Batum's contract. Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard acquired Batum in Portland (in a draft-night trade), and he would fill a need at small forward. Swapping Howard out of this deal for Batum would allow the Hornets to create far more long-term savings.

Hornets get: Guards Ron Baker, Jarrett Jack and Frank Ntilikina

Knicks get: Guard Kemba Walker

Hornets get: Guard Tyler Ulis, forwards Dragan Bender and Jared Dudley, centers Greg Monroe and Alan Williams

Suns get: Guards Michael Carter-Williams, Julyan Stone and Kemba Walker, centers Dwight Howard and Johnny O'Bryant

I've included 2016 No. 4 overall pick Dragan Bender here, but fellow 2016 lottery pick Marquese Chriss would fit too, or Phoenix could offer Miami's 2018 first-round pick.

Hornets get: Guards Rodney Hood and Ricky Rubio, forward Derrick Favors, 2018 first-round pick

Jazz get: Guard Kemba Walker, forwards Jeremy Lamb and Marvin Williams

*There's no way they do this with Jackson's contract. They might as well offer to include Boban and Avery Bradley and take back Batum or Kidd-Gilchrist as well. That'd eat almost all of Charlotte's bad deals for near free. Which funny enough none of Pelton's proposals actually do.

The Pistons getting all three of Walker, Batum, and Williams would arguably patch up the team across the board. It dumps some of SVG's worst temptations while forcing another to the bench where he belongs. AND gives him players he'd actually want. They're capped out anyway next year as is. Batum's salary only extends a year beyond where they would be combined into a single player and while he would be overpaid significantly (depends on what they give Bradley), it's not like he's garbage, and can play multiple positions. Williams admittedly looks like it would revisit the Harris/Morris issue but I think works better because Williams actually learned to play defense along the way and "fits" infinitely better as he's a better shooter and needs 50% fewer possessions to give you the same output so he can go sit in a corner happily unlike Morris.

Dwight's arguably not Charlotte's worst deal as it's only got another year on it. I assume they'd prefer to keep Kidd-Gilchrist who is somehow still only 24 over Batum. Those both seem more flippable on their own than as the cost for taking Walker. Dwight they could straight up dump next year if it came to it.

Or ideally, this year send Dwight to the Lakers for Luol Deng and Corey Brewer. (Assuming they're allowed to do the extend and stretch for Deng and that's not limited to the Lakers. Also, I'm making this suggestion almost entirely to please Jack.)

[etiolate]

The Pels should target one of the Hornets wings. MKG is an obvious target to reunite him with AD, but Batum is probably an easier get since I'd qualify his contract as "bad" considering his performance and age.

And all the Pels have in trade is bad contracts that are slightly shorter in length.

[Stoney Mason]

Cavs are like those Celtics teams that tried to hang until they were too old.

They have so many defensive liabilities there are always 2 or 3 guys on the floor you can pick on.

The team was constructed as a pick-up team, with no thought to who actually needed to guard somebody on the floor.

[Nola]

We(the Pels) already have an overpriced defensive wing that can't shoot. He will be back within the month. Batum makes little sense when someone like Carroll fits much better with their needs and isn't so much of an albatross.

If the opportunity is there, Demps, who never met a first rounder he wouldn't trade away for even marginal talent, will have that in some other team's pocket before the deadline.

Cavs I think are going to be hard pressed to find any move that serves the ultimate purpose of getting Lebron to not leave. George Hill or Walker are not putting them over the top IMO.

[Brehvolution]

Jordan Clarkson with a postgame quote for the ages ?? https://t.co/FC2sMvcDgW

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 22, 2018

https://twitter.com/DimeUPROXX/status/955472068191113216

[etiolate]

Kidd fired. A pretty late season firing for a playoff contender.

[Stoney Mason]

Surprising in a way but I had recently seen a lot of rumblings from that fanbase who seemed very displeased with some of his decision making. Not saying they are correct but I just noticed the rumbling.

I think Lue is also right on the precipice. If they don't stabilize very quicklt, I think they might make a move.

[benjipwns]

Lue got his job because he holds LeBron as accountable as any other player, according to that Windhorst book, one of Blatt's problems was he was inconsistent in how he handled his superstar and eventually gave up and turned that over entirely to Lue which convinced the Cavs front office to just get rid of Blatt if LeBron and Lue were going to coach the team anyway. Because Spoelstra had already been coaching Wade and plus had Riley backing him up that issue did not develop in Miami and a lot of the tea leaf reading people were doing during the first title year was the legitimate development of a relationship between Spolestra and LeBron, regarding trying to destagnate the lulls of that offense through the shared love of watching video. (Spoelstra started out as Miami's video coordinator.)

This is year four for a lot of these guys, and many of the additions were guys who have been on other contending teams, they're also older. They're coasting hard, which makes their offense kinda nuts.

They slid hard last year too though, and then tore the East apart on the way back to the Finals. They were 26-7 to start 2017, then went 14-9 to sit at 40-16 after the first game out of the All-Star Break, then went 11-15 the rest of the way to finish 51-31. Their point differential fell from +8 to +3 from Jan to the end of the season.

That fourth year and last Miami team started off clunky, then had a ten game win streak early in the year and was 27-8 and even 43-14. Before finishing 11-14.

I assume Lue remains unless LeBron says otherwise. They're paying him $7 million a year until 2022. Plus Dan Gilbert fired Mike Brown without consulting LeBron last time and it turned out LeBron was okay with Brown and totally uninterested in Byron Scott. So he might hesitate a little this time.

[benjipwns]

The Kidd stuff from earlier in the season where they said he and the new front office were communicating through proxies rather than directly was a little blip and then the waiving Liggins so Kidd couldn't play him. The armchair grumbling I saw was a lot about Giannis being the only one of their guys actually developing, especially Thon Maker seemingly going backwards. And that Kidd hadn't formally established even to this point in the season how to use Bledsoe, Giannis, Middleton and Brogdon in terms of an offensive pecking order so the team would sometimes seem like it was taking turns.

Zach Lowe's end of the week piece noted their 25th ranked defense, despite their hyper aggressive scheme and all those long athletic beautiful black bodies because it overloads the floor deliberately but unlike Thibs same scheme (which also has been doing poorly in Minnesota) it doesn't rotate fast enough, especially now and they're getting brutalized from threes on the opposite side of the floor or they're fouling because they're a half second late. (Lowe oddly didn't note the latter, where they're the worst team in the league considering Memphis uses a high foul system like Utah used to.)

Maybe the best part of the story:

Jason Kidd said that Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo called him about 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he'd been fired by the Bucks and offered to help save his job.

"He called me and said, 'Coach, this isn't right what they're about to do, but [they] are gonna let you go,'" Kidd told ESPN.

Kidd said he replied, "I had a feeling that was gonna take place."

To which Antetokounmpo responded, "'What can I do? I'll call the owners, I'll call my agent."

Kidd said he was officially informed he'd been fired about 15 minutes later when he met with general manager Jon Horst and team president Peter Feigin at a pizza restaurant.

"There was no explanation. It was just, 'We're going in another direction.'"

[etiolate]

DeMarcus Cousins is the first player since Wilt Chamberlain (3/18/68) with a 40/20/10 game. The only other player to have such a performance is Oscar Robertson. #DoItBig

— Pelicans PR (@PelicansPR) January 23, 2018

https://twitter.com/PelicansPR/status/955652246569672704


Boogie was beast in this game. 52 minutes. 4 steals and a massive block on Markinnen in double OT.

[benjipwns]

read it quick and thought they were saying Wilt had a 3 point 18 rebound 68 assist game

[etiolate]

No, that's be Rondo's record.

[Nola]

Tweet error (does not exist)

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/955676106409037824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FWorld_Wide_Wob%2Fstatus%2F955676106409037824


 

[Nola]

Also Boogie highlights:

.@boogiecousins HISTORIC Triple-Double 2018.01.22 #Pelicans vs Bulls - 44 Pts, 24 Rebs, 10 Assists!https://t.co/5FlHkjMrnU

— FreeDawkins (@DawkinsMTA) January 23, 2018

https://twitter.com/DawkinsMTA/status/955656871905505280

[Nola]

Busy night.

This stuff also happened:

ESPN Sources: Portland star Damian Lillard requested a private meeting with owner Paul Allen to discuss direction of franchise. https://t.co/faRcAajPDi

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 23, 2018

https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/955687020864524288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FChrisBHaynes%2Fstatus%2F955687020864524288



and this

The Cleveland Cavaliers held an emotional team meeting prior to Monday�s practice, where several players challenged the legitimacy of Kevin Love leaving OKC loss on Saturday ill and missing Sunday�s practice, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2018

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/955636272181272576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwojespn%2Fstatus%2F955636272181272576

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[agrajag]

https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/miami-heat-officially-unveil-their-vice-uniforms-news.42718.html

 

[Nola]

Screamin A and Jalen claim to be hearing things in San Antonio between Kawhi and the Spurs have strained beyond repair. Kawhi seemingly wants out.

[Stoney Mason]

East Reserves:  Bradley Beal, Al Horford, Kevin Love, Kyle Lowry, Victor Oladipo, Kristaps Porzingis, John Wall

West Reserves:  LaMarcus Aldridge, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Russell Westbrook

[Stoney Mason]

It doesn't really matter how many meetings the Cavs have. They are who they are. This isn't a case of just being bored or turning on another gear. They simply don't have the defensive personnel. It's not like they aren't trying. They are just too old, too slow, too defensively inept.

They also are looking at a rebuild. I would be shocked if Lebron is back next year.

[etiolate]

If the Kings give away one of their young pieces just to dump Hill on the Cavs then they're really fucking dumb.

[Stoney Mason]

On a side note, It's weird to me that the media is so in love with this whole draft nba all-star game. Just a facade of meaningless drama.

 

[etiolate]

I still don't understand the all-star draft.

I feel NBA all-star weekend i the best of the three major sports, but the NBA keeps trying to fuck it up in new ways every year. Every year, the dunk contest is going to have some new rule or format change that ends up failing. 

[Stoney Mason]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22178973/nba-faq-2018-nba-all-star-draft

I'm fine with there being a draft. The idea itself is decent. But it doesn't address the real issue. It's like trying to put a band-aid on a broken leg.

Players don't go hard in the all-star game because they they don't want to get hurt during the middle of the season and there is no real incentive to go hard in the modern age.

The draft is an attempt to address the second issue but its not enough imo. We'll see soon enough I guess if I'm wrong on that.

[etiolate]

You can't fix that issue.

If the game is entertaining then it's a success.

Nobody is going to risk their playoff chances on an all-star game.

[El Babua]

An idea I heard on the Le Batard show was to televise team captains picking players. And have all of them be present for the "ceremony".

A lot of people, including me, would watch just for the petty drama involved. Will Lebron pick Kyrie? Steph, Westbrook? Find out Tuesday at 8 on TNT!

Too bad Bron and them would never agree to it.

[etiolate]

It will be glorious.

And Grand Napear can eat a dick.

[etiolate]

I honestly think he's racist on a level he doesn't understand. The great players he had issues with: Webber, Bobby Jackson, and Cousins.

he was okay with Brad Miller's technical fouls and whining. He was okay with many antics, but if you were outspoken and black then he suddenly had issues.

He has a racism born out of traditionalism for traditionalism's sake. It's that new england/Bostonian sort of thing.


I really, truly, loathe him. He sold out the entire city for the Maloofs while they were trying to sell the team. His spine is as rigid as a toddler's snotball. People don't know how low he grovels to just merely exist on a golf course.

[Nola]

Birdman and Mannie Fresh. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Batman and Robin.

Boogie & AD argue who's who in these classic duos. pic.twitter.com/IuHP7DYLtJ

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) January 24, 2018

https://mobile.twitter.com/SLAMonline/status/956245988339015680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FSLAMonline%2Fstatus%2F956245988339015680

[benjipwns]

An idea I heard on the Le Batard show was to televise team captains picking players. And have all of them be present for the "ceremony".

A lot of people, including me, would watch just for the petty drama involved. Will Lebron pick Kyrie? Steph, Westbrook? Find out Tuesday at 8 on TNT!

Too bad Bron and them would never agree to it.

I heard LeBron was in favor of it, as were a few other megastars who thought it's fun for just this reason, but Paul apparently heard enough complaints that he and Silver agreed to keep it secret. They aren't even releasing the order the players are picked other than LeBron and Steph have to pick from all the starters before they can pick a reserve. (They should just have to have five starters in the end, so that Steph and LeBron could do the entire draft with the goal of not taking Kyrie.)

[Stoney Mason]

[benjipwns]

my primary complaint is that LeBron's team is going to be more constrained if they do a play all the bigs at once showdown unless it includes Durant (or LeBron) since Boogie would have to mostly handle it himself otherwise while Steph's team would just get nuts even if they didn't have Giannis as their fifth "big"

hopefully they would also do an inverse showdown where they both play all the point/combo guards at once

[etiolate]

Boooooooooogie

nooooooooooo

 

[etiolate]

I'd say they were the upset favorite because of Boogie/AD. Not deep enough to hang with the very best, but nobody could match up with those two.

Plus, it's Boogie's contract year.  And the Pels had won 8/10 and beat the Rockets.

[Stoney Mason]

Unfortunate freak injury. Game was almost over.

[Beezy]

Oh yeah, the Pelicans were definitely going to make such a huge impact in the playoffs 

Do you know anyone who tore their achilles before? Recovery from that is not fun.

[etiolate]

Oh yeah, the Pelicans were definitely going to make such a huge impact in the playoffs 

Do you know anyone who tore their achilles before? Recovery from that is not fun.

I do actually. I'm positive eshitter was not showing human decency and empathy for the injury.

You're an idiot man. Take a walk.

[Nola]

It is honestly so demoralizing being a fan of this franchise.

It just feels like this is the place good players come to die. The one great season we had with CP3, Dwest, and Chandler in their primes was followed by an injury plagued season that the core never recovered from, and the continual injury assembly line that seems to bite us every season.

The entire first AD era was cut short due to injuries to Gordon, Anderson, AD, Jrue, and Evans. They could never get everyone healthy.  Now you have Cousins fall into your lap, giving the franchise hope again, and right as they were finding their groove, this shit happens.

I feel awful for the guy, especially because he was on pace to finally kick the playoff abscence and a seeding that actually gave them a chance to steal a series. Damn shame.

[Let's Cyber]

NOLA is a cursed, Nola. Get out while you can. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Sucks for Boogie, I bet he was excited to make the playoffs. Given that this is his contract year I wonder what happens next.

[Nola]

Sucks for Boogie, I bet he was excited to make the playoffs. Given that this is his contract year I wonder what happens next.

He’ll probably still get maxed by the Pels TBH.

[El Babua]

Boogie

Pls get better.

And also join the Pels next year Bron 

[etiolate]

The Clippers and Pistons have agreed on a deal to trade Blake Griffin for Tobias Harris, Avery Bradley, Boban Marjanovic, a first-round and a second-round draft pick, league sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 29, 2018

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/958120746169053184

Thus the Clips story ends.

[El Babua]

RIP Lob City

[El Babua]

Also, every Heat game has to be within 5 points with a minute left, no matter what. It's the law.

[agrajag]

Also, every Heat game has to be within 5 points with a minute left, no matter what. It's the law.

They're unparalleled when it comes to blowing double digit leads.

[bluemax]

This Blake trade came out of nowhere. It seems like no one was aware this could even happen.

[benjipwns]

That $70 million a year frontcourt.

[benjipwns]

And paying $17 million to a point guard who can't play off the ball, doesn't play any defense and seemingly can't stay healthy. Plus $7 million a year to Langston Galloway for some reason. All while still paying $5 million a year to Josh Smith.

[benjipwns]

wonder if this will FREE BOBAN

don't let them try and force you to play Mo Harrell more Doc, stay strong!

[Akala]

I am still kinda shook from the boogie injury  :'(

[Phoenix Dark]

And paying $17 million to a point guard who can't play off the ball, doesn't play any defense and seemingly can't stay healthy. Plus $7 million a year to Langston Galloway for some reason. All while still paying $5 million a year to Josh Smith.

Joe Dumars would be proud.

[Stoney Mason]

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has been ruled out 6-8 weeks after suffering a fractured hand, a source told ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22268438/cleveland-cavaliers-kevin-love-leaves-game-vs-detroit-pistons-injured-hand

[Phoenix Dark]

Damn he's gonna skip 6-8 weeks of the season this time? Time to call another meeting, this behavior is out of control.

[Beezy]

Team Lebron is falling apart.

[agrajag]

Heat has "22 league leading clutch wins"

[El Babua]

#HeatCulture

[eleuin]

60 points. 11 assists. 10 rebounds. This is not a typo.#JamesHarden makes @HoustonRockets history.

HOU beats @OrlandoMagic 114-107. pic.twitter.com/H92qD7R1yr

— NBA (@NBA) January 31, 2018

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/958540475706822656