Exclusive Official Around the NBA: November 2022

To think we could of had any two of John Collins, Jarrett Allen and OG Anunoby…

 

LOL everyone on that list is good except the two players we drafted lol. We had THREE first round picks in that draft and got nothing. Biggest fail of Olshey’s tenure.

 

I admit, I was a huge proponent of Zach leading up to the draft, but at least I was also out on a limb saying Dillon Brooks was a lottery talent... That wasn't a widely, or even narrowly, supported take. Double bummer for the Blazers, but also a bummer for Zach.

 

Reminds me of 2009 when Wolves had 5th & 6th pick and chose two PGs not named Curry who was picked 7th. What a fail.

 

I'm a Duck fan so I liked Dillon Brooks. I thought he had some flaws to his game and was not a very good shooter. But he was a good defender who played with attitude & intensity; and he was a wing with size. All things Portland needed

I was never a big Zach fan. Yeah he had size and mobility which offered some upside. I just didn't have any confidence in that upside. I will say this: the 2017-18 Blazer team finished 8th in the NBA in defense, and a big reason for that was the bench tandem of Ed Davis and Zach. Obviously Nurkic, Aminu, Harkless, and Turner were part of that, but the 2nd unit's defense was stellar because Ed & Zach were a great combo

I do hate to see that the guy can't stay healthy. I don't think the NBA is for him

 

My big thing with Brooks was, everyone had him slotted for the wrong position. I couldn't understand why it wasn't obvious... He's a SG, not a combo forward. I guess people were blinded by the position he played in college, rather than his role on the team.

Oddly, that resulted in his stock dropping due to lack of length for the forward position. Memphis also lucked out with Bane, another that I couldn't understand why we didn't snag, who was undervalued for the same reason. You wouldn't think front office people would be as mislead by measureables as the average couch jockey, but it sure seems to be the case. It wouldn't be interesting to see if drafting has gotten better or worse (based on something like PER or win shares by draft slot?) with the advent of combines and analytics.

 

How about Orlando picking Paolo when Jabari was on most mock's #1. It's early but all indications point to them picking the 2nd best player of this draft (Sharpe of course is the best)

 

I didn't see Desmond Bane at all until he came into the league. He's certainly been a steal at #30

Blazers traded away their pick in that draft. the 16th pick was one of two for RoCo

16 Isaiah Stewart
19 Saddiq Bey
21 Tyrese Maxey
24 R.J. Hampton
25 Immanuel Quickley
26 Payton Pritchard
28 Jaden McDaniels
30 Desmond Bane

 

I’m still sick Saddiq Bey isn’t on this roster.

 

If only he drafted Josh Hart instead of Collins or Biggie (RIP), I heard that dude hits game winners.

 

Oh word… I was thinking H.Barnes because he also won his rookie season. The Warriors were 13th the year before they drafted him and 8th his rookie season.

 

Initial reports here seem to be a bit exaggerated. Zach has a "Non-Displaced" fracture of the Fibula. Which is the small bone of the lower leg. He is expected to be out 2-4 weeks. No surgery.
https://www.si.com/nba/spurs/news/s...bula-timetable-recovery-update-gregg-popovich

This is an injury That Jack Youngblood played on for the Rams in the Super Bowl in 1980. As i remember Jack Lambert played on a break like this as well?
He will be playing again before Christmas.

 

Does the synergy between Turner and Halliburton and the fast development of Mathurin make Indiana forget about the rebuild and hold onto their assets?
Tyrese Haliburton: We play off each other well. I think his game complements mine in the sense of, I play a lot of spread pick-and-roll where I’m attacking downhill or getting the floater, but also facilitating out of it. When teams have to tag on the big or come over to help on me, I can give it to him on the second side. He’s such a downhill force getting to the cup and scoring the basketball, he’s really hard to guard on the second side of actions. So, I think naturally, it just is a good fit. Bennedict Mathurin: He’s a great point guard who gets to the bucket whenever he wants. When the defense is hard on him, I’m trying to make his job a little bit easier. So, just being on the wing with him and having him just pass me the ball is a great thing.

 

I think this is why Nash quit:
In the Nets’ Oct. 29 loss to the Pacers — one of the last games before Kyrie Irving was suspended — the All-Star guard didn’t just wave off the play called by then-coach Steve Nash. On 10 separate occasions, Nash called a specific play and the scout watched Irving do something entirely different. That wasn’t simple creativity, something to be expected from the uniquely electrifying All-Star. No, it was double-digit defiance. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” the scout told The Post. “Nash would call something, and he’d run the opposite. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

 

More on the Nets:
A source close to the situation told The Post that Nash was “technically the coach,” but that no matter what game plan he gave the Nets, “they did whatever they wanted.” Irving was not the only culprit. There were rampant busted coverages, including Ben Simmons letting a screener slip to the basket thinking Royce O’Neale would take him, though he didn’t. There was Kevin Durant fussing at Joe Harris after a made basket because he felt a pass should’ve come his way. Example after example of disarray. “They were the most dysfunctional team I’ve seen [in years],” another scout told The Post.

 

Would be a bummer because I still want to trade for Turner

 

Nothing Cryee does should come as any surprise. He's a toxic force on any team. Kudos to him for getting a title with LeBron, because i don't see him being a part of anything special going forward. Dudes in his own world.

 

Irving is a punk

 

That’s glaring man… “How to kill your NBA career in 3 easy steps”. They got the L, so is that more on Kyrie, or Nash? … rhetorical. Kyrie let it all go to his head.

Wonder what Steve Nash is going to do. Does he want to be an assistant coach under Chauncey Billups? I’d gladly take 1 year of Steve Nash as an assistant coach to pass on what he knows to our back court heavy roster. If he doesn’t have much to impart then whatever, not like we lose anything.

Those suns offensive teams under D’Antoni were part of the reason we see the NBA the way it is today.

Pringle’s man was heavy on the offensive possessions and 3 pointers. Still have some nightmares about J.Rich against us in the playoffs.

 

Denver's gamble finally paying off?

Bol is averaging 11.4 points per game, nine more than what he averaged over the 46 games he appeared in with the Denver Nuggets during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons combined. His 75 percent two-point field goal percentage ranks No. 1 in the NBA. He recently posted a career-high 23 points against the Sacramento Kings, and he already has two double-doubles. He didn’t record any of those prior to this season. “For me, it’s just being aggressive from the start,” he said following the game against the Kings. “Any time I’m aggressive from the beginning of the game till the end, that’s when I play my best.”