Exclusive Around The NBA: Memorable March edition

Speaking of posters, someone gave me a Barkley vs. Godzilla poster for my 7th birthday. Eventually, a big Mr. Yuk sticker went over his face.






These days, though, I'm happy to have this one at home in the man cave:

 

Kings need a I win this in Overtime.

Damn pelicans keep winning games.. ugh

 

Figures.....Sac takes the late lead, then gives up a '3'. Kinging it.

 

Nola is definitely making the play in game. Just have to hope they lose.

 

True dat

 

Grow up Nurk

 

Happy for my dude!

 

What did we get for this guy man? Fuck

 

We either got cap space, Josh Hart and a 9-12th pick in the first round this year and that wasn't enough... or we got the cap space, Hart and a 2025 first round pick from the Milwaukee fucking Bucks who probably have one of the brightest futures in the league. In one scenario we got a little screwed over and the other we got fleeced in a way that is incredibly embarrassing. The fact that the second scenario is even a possibility is fucking ridiculous.

 

Pels have gone through stretches like this since acquiring CJ. I'm not getting concerned yet that the NO that wins is the real NO. The odds they get out of the 9-10 game with the Lakers still is unlikely, and the odds they win that game and then beat the Clippers/T-wolves loser is pretty slim.

But, darn, I wish the Spurs could have gotten it together and little more and knocked them out of the play-in.

 

Blazers did get two 2nd's and a 21M TPE; plus about 70M is salary relief over the next 2 seasons. Those are not insignificant returns

I wish the Blazers could have got more draft assets. Maybe should have asked for N.O. to add that 2022 Lakers first or the 2024 Lakers' 1st round pick. I do think the Pels might have sent a little more

but I'll say again I think you guys are overrating CJ's trade value. It was nowhere near the value you are seeing in his tiny Pels sample size. Cj had played over 600 NBA games before that trade. There was no upside value for a 30 year old undersized guard who plays lousy defense

 

If the pick conveys it was just a deal that favored the other team a little, especially if we use the TPE for a really good player. For the record as a fan I don't really see the value in freeing up cap space that we're only going to use to re-sign players that we have bird rights to but that's just me. Like I said, not a favorable deal for us but it could be a lot worse and it will be if that pick ends up dropping back to 2025 first from the team with the Greek Freak leading the way. You're totally right, we should have got one more first rounder and that would have been a good deal for both teams when you consider how pick rich the Pelicans are. As far as overvaluing CJ, I don't think people are doing that, CJ is who he has been so you're right there is no upside besides when you look at what he's done throughout his career when running the offense and how drastically his numbers have improved when Dame's been out. CJ has suffered because of Dame just like Dame has suffered because of CJ.

 

I don't agree with that at all

Dame has been the focus of other team's defense. He always has been throughout CJ's career. Dame draws that attention, and he always draws the other team's best perimeter defender coupled with doubles and traps. Meanwhile, CJ has drawn the other team's weaker perimeter defender in single coverage. He has drafted off of the attention Dame has been given

I have never seen a team consistently defend CJ the way they defend Dame. In fact, I've seen a couple of teams defend Ant kind of similar to how they have defended Dame. CJ has never had to face that kind of resistance on any consistent basis. It has almost always been single coverage. Maybe he'll finally start facing that kind of resistance in New Orleans and have his offense tested the way Dame's has been tested. I'll change my CJ tune when I see him average 26-28 points a game and posting Dame-level efficiency while leading the Pels to challenging for HCA in the playoffs

 

Are we talking about CJ or Dame?

The problem with criticizing one of them is, it usually applies equally well to the other. They have a lot of similarities as players, people, contracts, etc.

 

sure...there are some similarities. And I've been arguing that Dame would not have the trade value that some are expecting. Not at the moment at least considering his status as recovering from surgery

there are differences too. One being that Dame is a couple of tiers better than CJ as a talent

 

I sort of agree, but with one key difference... Dame is easy to keep in check by a good defense, which usually comes into play in the postseason. The only thing that has been shown to stop CJ is an off shooting night. You always point out that CJ doesn't face the same defensive pressure as Dame, but that's a chicken and the egg scenario, IMO. Go all the way back to the Memphis series and I believe you'll see the beginnings of what has shaped their careers. Pressure Dame and he backs away. (His only counter he's really developed is to just shoot from further away.) Do the same with CJ and he dribbles out of the trap and finds gaps in the defense. (That might also be the beginning of where the CJ haters took a disliking to his over-dribbling.)

CJ isn't guarded the way Dame is because it hasn't proven effective. If Dame had CJ's evasiveness skills, he'd be a more unstoppable force than Harden in his prime.

Ironically, with NOP playing CJ at point, him being the SG/PG to Dame's PG/SG, as I've said for years, Dame is now a more undersized version of CJ positionally.