That’s a lot, but if their gamble pays off and they remain good until the four picks are up, it’s no big deal.
Sure, it’s early - not sure how sustainable this’ll be:
Cool - new Raptor Danny Green leads the NBA plus/minus at +77.
The other new Raptor - heh, Mr. Gone in a Year:(:mad: - not doing too shabs with 28 ppg.
I said the DeRozan-Leonard trade was great for Toronto, and so far, I am pleased to say I told you so.
My concern was never ever basketball related. Kawhi is better in every way. It was injury/desire related.
Desire was unfair, in hindsight, because he is playing for a contract.
Regarding injury, glad to see them sit him during Washington. Get the man to the playoffs by any means necessary!
Wonder if Derozan can’t help but feel the slightest tinge of…whatevs, seeing his former “bff” and teammate for what - six years? playing arguably the best bball of Lowry’s career, with a personal-best four double-doubles in a row. Having Leonard around, instead, doesn’t hurt, but nonetheless KL has been a horse, carrying extra load with an injured Van Vleet (which, in turn, gave Brown a chance to assert a presence) and putting in 35 min./game.
Vallancuinas (starting less) and Ibaka looking better. Nick Nurse seems to be pulling the right levers so far. Apparently Casey had a more regimented style that I think I might feel more comfortable with, but hey - a W’s a W.
Cavs fire Lue.
I’m curious to see what someone else does with this collection. I’m thinking not much, but who knows.
So you’re telling me James was that entire team? Hold on a moment while I find my shocked face.
Yeah I’m not sure what they thought was going to happen. He loses at least 50% of his offense, they do nothing to replace it, and Lue is expected to remain competitive?
Oh, of course. It isn’t like they are completely bereft of talent and the east have a lot of crap to feast on near the bottom (the top is actually pretty good this year). I’m just saying that if you install a good coach (I’m of the opinion that Lue was not - nor was he allowed to be) that maybe they can make something out of this roster. I’m not talking an NBA chapionship, I’m talking 30-35 wins.
Tonight’s premium matchup has to be Toronto and Milwaukee, both 6-0, the only remaining unbeaten teams.
I feel like I haven’t heard enough about Milwaukee this year, but that’s a fine looking team.
Thats the worst situation to be in as an NBA team. Good enough to play yourself out of any shot at a superstar every year but zero hope of making any impact. It’s why Orlando has had such a shitty time since the Dwight trade, they were never terrible enough to bottom out and keep getting good but not great players.
Maybe not, since Antetokounmpo is out on concussion protocol.
Surprised to see the line is TOR -2 with the game in Milwaukee. On paper, they look pretty darn even. Another good matchup tonight is New Orleans in Denver. The over under is 229.5 and I can’t imagine anyone taking the under. Should be points galore.
Wizards are now 1-5, with the highest points allowed of any team in the league, and sniping with each other. In other words, it’s business as usual in DC.
All part of Ernie Grunfeld’s brilliant 10-year plan to bring Dwight Howard to Washington. Now it’s time to dump everyone else and rebuild around him!
I’m kidding of course, but EG is such an idiot, it would honestly not surprise me if it turns out that were true.
Yeah, that’s odd. I am not sure what stew of numbers makes Toronto a favorite in Milwaukee. All the analytics suggest Milwaukee has actually been playing “better” insofar as you can be better than a team that hasn’t lost.
ETA: But now I see in a post above Giannis is out tonight so, yeah, makes sense.
So, the Golden State Warriors scored 92 points IN THE FIRST HALF against my Bulls and cruised to a 149-124 win here in Chicago. I’m afraid great defense and many of the nuances of the game are now extinct because the NBA has become, basically, a run-and-gun, hoist-and-heave, playground kind of game where people pretty much pull up and take uncontested shots the entire game.
Because of the distance of the shot, the 3-pointer used to contain a risk factor that kept things in balance for the most part. Now, however, we have a generation of stars who have been shooting hundreds of 3-pointers a day ever since they were old enough to reach the rim from the arc. The result is that we have people shooting 40% or even a little more from the arc.
I think something has to be done to restore some balance. WHAT? That’s the question. The obvious first though is to move the arc farther out than it already is. Anything else?
Overall, 3-point percentage has not been rising in recent years. You can see quite a few guys of the last 2 decades who had seasons where they shot there above 40%. I’m sure players have improved their long distance shooting ability, practice it more, and more and more big men who never would have had that shot in their repertoire now do. (In fact, some of these neophyte 3-point shooters now are what we would have once called a specialist, because they aren’t skilled offensively in general so that’s where the bulk of their scoring comes from.) And defenses have adjusted though it may not be apparent watching this year’s edition of the Bulls.
What’s happened is the near outright de-valuation of shooting mid-range and long distance 2-point jump shots. The 2012-2013 season was when this all took a turn that eventually changed every team. Some Rockets players were remarking they didn’t even shoot those in practice. I think this quote from Jeff Van Gundy from 5 years ago is on the money: "The beauty of this sport is diversity of play. And right now, the smart people have figured out exactly what shots to get on offense and take away on defense. And that hurts diversity of play.”
I think aesthetically the sport looks insane now where you might see many possessions in a row where the shot attempt is either from beyond the arc or within a few feet of the basket. However, I have more dislike for the style of play that dominated the '80s more where 3-point attempts were very rare and many games were like track meets without much cohesive offensive design. I also find it preferable that offense was opened up after the early 2000s by making hand checking illegal.
The two changes I’ve been in favor of for awhile are making the court wider so the corner 3 point line is nearly as long as the arc and adding a 2.5 line. The latter is sadly never going to happen. The widening of the court certainly should happen. Modern players are more athletic anyway.
Looks like Kawhi was out, too. So they wash out and Milwaukee wins the game fairly comfortably. Lowry had an awful shooting night.
I like those ideas.