OFFICIAL Around The NBA Thread- December 2020

back in the day when I was an NBA fan and not just Blazers, that team was one of my favorites of all time.

 

Just finished watching the game......trying to guard Zion.

 

Some preseason thoughts through the first few days...

Morant looks like he's made a jump.

Wolves are a bottom 5 defense most likely this year, but his court sense on both ends has noticeably improved.

Speaking of Minnesota, they look like a mess tbh. It's obviously really early, but I'd be very surprised if they're not a bottom 3 team in the west again.

Herro looked really confident tonight. Just was a little off with the jumper. His ability to read the floor and play off the catch paired with his quick decision making is so fun to watch. Continues to show rapid development as a ball screen creator.

Vassell and Okoro both have looked good. Vassell's jumper thankfully looks the same as it did at FSU. Okoro had an amazing 4th in their first game. Jumper looks improved.

Darius Garland also popped in that game. Has leaned out a lot and seems to be much quicker. Struggled to really get by anybody last year, but managed to get multiple paint touches in this one.

Biggest surprises for me for the rookies has been Theo Maledon and Patrick Williams. Theo looked really comfortable out there. His size and change of pace to get to his spots looks like it'll translate and looked better reading floor than I remembered. Pat Will seemed a lot more fluid on both ends and his pull up and spot jumper look more refined.

Malachi Flynn also has been really impressive. Landed in the perfect developmental situation and looks ready to contribute right away. Just a solid low-mistake two way pg.

Haven't watched any Lakers, but so awesome to see Talen Horton-Tucker excelling. Not sure how he finds his way into that rotation, but very excited about his future.

And last but not least, I think Nico Mannion plays for the Warriors this year. Only got late 4th minutes but looked like he belonged. Another one of the many guards in this draft class that landed in a near perfect developmental situation (rumor is he said no to many teams in the 2nd to steer his way to 48th). His quick decision making and versatile offensive game fit their play style perfectly. Can play in transition, off the ball, in pnr or in 2-man game stuff with a passing big.

 

Man, I must have blacked out...somehow missed that Mannion didn't even go first round (he was a high lottery projection for quite a while!), let alone two pics after we took CJ2. He'd of been a great BUPGOTF pick-up, and if the goal is bad/distinctive hair, he's every bit as good as CJ2. Now I'm depressed.

 

Malachi Flynn is what I thought/hoped Simons would be — college really developed Flynn’s game while Simons’ development is at a snails pace.

The biggest difference is assertiveness - something that Anfernee has yet to show.

 

Agreed. Happy for Milwaukee fans who have to be breathing a sigh of relief today.

 

Simons sucks it’s not even worth mentioning him anymore tired of him

 

...nice writeup, but is this rumor suggesting a nearly undrafted player was able to dictate who drafted him? When did fringe players ever have this much clout?

 

Lol'd on this...

 

Not a fan of Doc, but he won it all when he had dependable stars. PG13 has been disappearing repeatedly in the playoffs for a while now.

 

He won it all when he had a super-team before super-team were cool, and only once.
His teams have choked repeatedly in the postseason.

 

Please. His so called super-team did not have 1 guy averaging 20 ppg. His 3 top guys were all in their 30s when they won it all and frankly, all on the down-side of their career. The only one of them with a PER over 20 was Garnett. They did not have the best player in the series in either the finals or 2nd round.

I am sorry, but Doc has proven he could coach. Sure, he is no Pop, Riely or Jackson, but he has proven an awful lot more as a coach than PG-13 has proven as a player.

 

Personally I think he's the most overrated coach of our generation. He couldn't win with prime CP3/Blake Griffin. The guy is just not that good of a coach.

 

He is definitely not a top-rate coach, but then, there are not that many of them in the world, frankly. I also never thought the CP3/Griffin teams were ever the most talented teams in the western conference, so it's not that big a detriment imho. I will say however, that never making the WCF is a blemish on his reputation with that group - they really should have done that at least once.

But, if I have to choose between Doc as a coach or PG13 as a player... I am not taking PG13 in that fight.

 

I think fringe talents actually have an easier time doing this. At that point in the draft if an agent makes it clear that his guy doesn't want to go there or won't take two-way, most think the talent isn't worth the trouble.