OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD - June 2021

PG would be a huge get. Coming off a Dame double team, if I now have PG who’s bigger than most guys who guard him or Powell who will be aggressive in getting to the bucket and getting fouls to kick it to, I’ll take that over passing out to CJ who takes too many inefficient 2’s any day. Covington can hit 3’s too.

Having Covington also should take a lot of pressure off PG defensively. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always felt like while it seemed like a PG/Kawhi tandem at forward would be amazing on paper, often times I feel like both conserve on defense so they can get theirs on offense, which I can understand, but having both do that in the same game is a detriment to the team, often when the other team’s best player is a forward. Covington knows who he is. He will guard the best forward all night so PG can have the energy to lock up when it counts and still play on offense. He might even be more efficient. I bet LAC would die to switch Kawhi/Jackson with Dame/Covington right now—Covington on Doncic most of the time while PG gets Finney-Smith and can focus most of his energy on offense.

My guess would be that in terms of cohesiveness, PG/Covington > PG/Kawhi. Dame/Norm are both guards that can shoot but are also aggressive getting to the rim. That would be huge.

If CJ/Nurk/Simons for PG/Zubac/Mann can get it done, get it done. I would probably even consider throwing in a lotto-protected 1st. Zubac isn’t a bad replacement for the time being if this happened. I would really hope Zach comes back and eventually just becomes a 10pt/8reb guy that can step out and shoot a 3 at a decent clip. I was a huge Collins fan since Gonzaga and still am, but I can live with my now-hampered expectations for him if he can be the missing piece to the lineup. If we have four guys that are capable of getting 20 every night, 10/8 and Nurk-on-a-good-day-level defense would be just fine with me.

Stepping into next season with
Dame/Powell/George/Covington/Collins
There would be pretty much no excuse in my mind to not make the finals at least once from now till the end of Dame’s career.

I think anyone who isn’t sure they would want PG on the team right now is only looking at his perceived image on social media and the endless memes on the internet. Strictly skill-wise, he makes us a contender.

 

I would rather have Kawhi than Paul George. I mean if we are talking about the dead before they are dead right?

 

My prediction is the remaining three WC series go seven.

 

Hope you are right.

 

"YOU REALIZE I LEFT ATLANTA FOR THIS?"

 

special, generational talent

 

playoff FGA/game:

Doncic 24.5

Lillard 19.9
Malone 19.5
Duncan 15.7
Kawhi 14.5
Magic 13.4

Kyrie 18.8
AD 18.7
Giannis 17.2
Klay 16.2
Chris Paul 15.7

context-free stat bytes generally suck. There is a direct relationship between points and shots, but that tweet ignores that context

 

ZERO chance the Suns win tonight. ZERO. Book it.

 

I expect at least one key player (money's on Booker) to have two fouls by no later than mid 1Q.

 

This Lakers/Suns series is following our series with the Nuggets from 2019 (and this is why I'm guaranteeing a Lakers win).

Game 1: We lose, Lakers lose
Game 2: We win, Lakers win
Game 3: We win, Lakers win
Game 4: We lose, Lakers lose
Game 5: We lose, Lakers lose
Game 6: We win..........

 

Go Suns.