NBA Thread 2019-20 Season

[Melancer46]

It's okay guys. The Bucks will wake up any minute now.

 

[MikeSU02]

It's okay guys. The Bucks will wake up any minute now.

I wasn't even watching this game until I saw the halftime score...

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Luka is Steve Nash + Paul George offensively.

Nash has multiple 50/40/90 seasons (only 2 players in nba history have done that) ... won two mvps .. the roll should be slowed

 

[Melancer46]

I wasn't even watching this game until I saw the halftime score...

I wish I could say the same. I should have turned it off awhile ago. Watching this team just makes me so sad now.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Bucks got disrespected with the noon nobody working can watch game.
I haven’t seen but on game tracker it appears the Bucks have a lot of turnovers for them giving free points to Orlando and the Bucks have 0 points off Magic turnovers which is there game.

I thought getting disrespected means you have incentive to go out and destroy ... not get rolled by Evan Fournier and friends

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Latest draft projections from ESPN (paywalled) have Edwards first to GSW.

Hughes going 43 to the Sac Kings.

edwards is the least exciting 1 overall pick in a while ..

 

[Cusefan0307]

Shocking. No Aaron Gordon either.

 

[Melancer46]

This Orlando team was essentially without 3 of their top 4 players (Gordon, Isaac, and Fournier didn't score until like 2 minutes left in the game) and they dominated this game from start to finish after every other team in the bubble that has a pulse (AKA everyone besides Washington) also dominated the Bucks.

 

[MikeSU02]

edwards is the least exciting 1 overall pick in a while ..

Since Anthony Bennett, I'd say. I know Fultz has been disappointing, but I was excited for him.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

This Orlando team was essentially without 3 of their top 4 players (Gordon, Isaac, and Fournier didn't score until like 2 minutes left in the game) and they dominated this game from start to finish after every other team in the bubble that has a pulse (AKA everyone besides Washington) also dominated the Bucks.

seems like when you’re superstar is an inside player ... there’s only so much they can do to bring you back ...

 

[Melancer46]

seems like when you’re superstar is an inside player ... there’s only so much they can do to bring you back ...

He also just played like for the most part in addition to every other player on the team. Tough to win when not a single player plays well.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Since Anthony Bennett, I'd say. I know Fultz has been disappointing, but I was excited for him.

At the time though .. the fultz Tatum talk was interesting.. the Ball / Edwards duo does nothing for me .. it’s like “hey... which one of these guys you think has the better shot at being a slightly above average regular ?”

 

[OrangeDW]

I’m not giving up on Fultz - he has been pretty solid this year. Obviously he’s not in Tatum’s league at this point, so that point stands. But he’s still really young and made progress into a decent starter this year. He could still become a big time player.

 

[Melancer46]

At the time though .. the fultz Tatum talk was interesting.. the Ball / Edwards duo does nothing for me .. it’s like “hey... which one of these guys you think has the better shot at being a slightly above average regular ?”

It was pretty much all Fultz/Ball talk back then. Tatum was never really a part of that discussion. This year's crop doesn't really do it for me either. I know some like Kevin Pelton think LaMelo is a future superstar though. Dating back to 2006, here's Pelton's all-time rankings:

1. Luka Doncic - 5.8 WARP
2. Anthony Davis - 5.5
3. Zion Williamson - 5.2
4. Kenneth Faried - 5.1
5. Dejuan Blair - 5.0
6. LaMelo Ball - 4.8
7. Kevin Love - 4.6
8. Blake Griffin - 4.2
9. James Harden - 4.2
10. Kyrie Irving - 4.2
11. DeMarcus Cousins - 4.1
12. Steph Curry - 3.9
13. Kevin Durant - 3.7
14. Michael Beasley - 3.7
15. Ricky Rubio - 3.7

Tyrese Haliburton would also come in tied for 22nd all-time.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I’m not giving up on Fultz - he has been pretty solid this year. Obviously he’s not in Tatum’s league at this point, so that point stands. But he’s still really young and made progress into a decent starter this year. He could still become a big time player.

That jumper ugly though.

 

[OrangeDW]

That jumper ugly though.

Yeah, still don’t know what to make of that whole situation. He was a 40% from 3 guy in college.

He did at least go 73% from the FT line this year. He couldn’t even make those his first two years. Positive sign that his outside shot might come back at least to an adequate level?

 

[OttoinGrotto]

So Corona couldn't use the release of the Fast Furious movie this year, and they pivoted to getting a new pitchman in... Snoop?

 

[OrangeDW]

So Corona couldn't use the release of the Fast Furious movie this year, and they pivoted to getting a new pitchman in... Snoop?

Random memory...So there’s a Warren G song (I don’t remember which one and I probably last heard it like 20 years ago) where he rhymes Long Beach, California with Corona. And Warren and Snoop were best friends, so...I can subconsciously associate Snoop with Corona and accept this. This is how my mind works sometimes. Carry on...

 

[jncuse]

I'll give them a pass for selecting Fultz because he was the consensus #1 prospect and something bizarre clearly happened there. Certainly fair to question trading up at all, but once they did, it really only made sense to do so for Fultz.

Agreed, Brown should have been fired years ago. It's really no different than Kidd or Scott Brooks; he was fine for developing young guys but the team is past that stage of the rebuild now and he's clearly not good enough to win a title with.

Smith was an intriguing prospect as a Bucks fan at the time, but the only way Philly was ever going to work with Embiid & Simmons as the foundation was by adding as much shooting as possible. If they still wanted to trade down, Kevin Huerter should have been the pick.

The trades for Butler and Tobias were both horrible. Butler because he's pretty much a non-shooter himself and therefore was a terrible fit with Simmons and Embiid, and Tobias because it was simply an overpay.

The Al Horford contract was horrible the day he signed it.

Ultimately though, it really all comes down to the fact that Simmons and Embiid will likely never work together. They still have time to trade one of them, but that's pretty much where they're at at this point. If they absolutely must keep both for some reason, Tobias makes more sense as a 3rd wheel than Butler does because he at least spaces the floor, but they're kinda stuck right now building a team around two non-shooters, one of which simply isn't healthy enough to carry the team all game, and one of which who just isn't good enough in the halfcourt to carry the team when the other guy can't.

Like the Dame/CJ pairing (but much better), it's a really talented duo but they just don't make sense together. Until Philly realizes that and makes a choice between the two, they're going to struggle to become a true contender.

I'm not as down on the Butler trade (the one to get him in the first place). They should have cut their losses on Harris IMO.

Harris is a better fit than Butler, but Butler still had way more impact on the game and sort of completed the identity of the team as a defensive force. They had Harris, Reddick, Ennis shooting the ball from outside last year, with Butler and Embiid shooting a bit so it sort of worked.

They are much worse without Butler IMO. It was just a strange series of moves this past offseason.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

It was pretty much all Fultz/Ball talk back then. Tatum was never really a part of that discussion. This year's crop doesn't really do it for me either. I know some like Kevin Pelton think LaMelo is a future superstar though. Dating back to 2006, here's Pelton's all-time rankings:

1. Luka Doncic - 5.8 WARP
2. Anthony Davis - 5.5
3. Zion Williamson - 5.2
4. Kenneth Faried - 5.1
5. Dejuan Blair - 5.0
6. LaMelo Ball - 4.8
7. Kevin Love - 4.6
8. Blake Griffin - 4.2
9. James Harden - 4.2
10. Kyrie Irving - 4.2
11. DeMarcus Cousins - 4.1
12. Steph Curry - 3.9
13. Kevin Durant - 3.7
14. Michael Beasley - 3.7
15. Ricky Rubio - 3.7

Tyrese Haliburton would also come in tied for 22nd all-time.

seems like this system favors fat dudes

 

[OrangeDW]

I'm not as down on the Butler trade (the one to get him in the first place). They should have cut their losses on Harris IMO.

Harris is a better fit than Butler, but Butler still had way more impact on the game and sort of completed the identity of the team as a defensive force. They had Harris, Reddick, Ennis shooting the ball from outside last year, with Butler and Embiid shooting a bit so it sort of worked.

They are much worse without Butler IMO. It was just a strange series of moves this past offseason.

Lots of weird moves. And draft wise, they got little out of the Okafor and Fultz picks.

Hitting on 2/4 top 3(?) picks doesn’t cut it.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

It was pretty much all Fultz/Ball talk back then. Tatum was never really a part of that discussion. This year's crop doesn't really do it for me either. I know some like Kevin Pelton think LaMelo is a future superstar though. Dating back to 2006, here's Pelton's all-time rankings:

1. Luka Doncic - 5.8 WARP
2. Anthony Davis - 5.5
3. Zion Williamson - 5.2
4. Kenneth Faried - 5.1
5. Dejuan Blair - 5.0
6. LaMelo Ball - 4.8
7. Kevin Love - 4.6
8. Blake Griffin - 4.2
9. James Harden - 4.2
10. Kyrie Irving - 4.2
11. DeMarcus Cousins - 4.1
12. Steph Curry - 3.9
13. Kevin Durant - 3.7
14. Michael Beasley - 3.7
15. Ricky Rubio - 3.7

Tyrese Haliburton would also come in tied for 22nd all-time.

I recall quite a bit of talk about Tatum as well ... Ball was always controversial due to his low Release shot .. fultz form wasn’t an issue then

 

[Knicks411]

This is such a good account

 

[OrangeDW]

I recall quite a bit of talk about Tatum as well ... Ball was always controversial due to his low Release shot .. fultz form wasn’t an issue then

Tatum was a lock to at least be “good”. I don’t remember anyone thinking he wouldn’t be.

Ball was thought to possibly be special due to his potentially transcendent passing.

Fultz seemed like a lock to be a perennial all star due to his athleticism and 40% from 3 shooting. Beyond bizarre what happened there.

I’m leaning towards a “the #3 pick is the safest pick in the draft if there’s a star swing man available, H0T Takes post”. So many drafts come to mind. Jordan. Hill. Stackhouse. Carmelo. Tatum. There was like 0% chance those guys wouldnt all be really good.

 

[Knicks411]

It was pretty much all Fultz/Ball talk back then. Tatum was never really a part of that discussion. This year's crop doesn't really do it for me either. I know some like Kevin Pelton think LaMelo is a future superstar though. Dating back to 2006, here's Pelton's all-time rankings:

1. Luka Doncic - 5.8 WARP
2. Anthony Davis - 5.5
3. Zion Williamson - 5.2
4. Kenneth Faried - 5.1
5. Dejuan Blair - 5.0
6. LaMelo Ball - 4.8
7. Kevin Love - 4.6
8. Blake Griffin - 4.2
9. James Harden - 4.2
10. Kyrie Irving - 4.2
11. DeMarcus Cousins - 4.1
12. Steph Curry - 3.9
13. Kevin Durant - 3.7
14. Michael Beasley - 3.7
15. Ricky Rubio - 3.7

Tyrese Haliburton would also come in tied for 22nd all-time.

Man, the Blair and Faried rankings. The Blair one especially brings me back. Guy was such a beast in college.