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NBA 2021-2022


ztejas

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4 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Does Brooklyn have a shitty home crowd atmosphere? Did they play a lot of home games since KD got hurt?  I don't get it.

Their crowd is bottom tier level but not sure that explains it. They've maybe had a tougher schedule at home. They've also played with about a billion different lineups. 

Extremely noisy season for them for a lot of reasons - I'm not sure I'd read into it other than the Kyrie aspect moving forward. 

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8 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

Demolishing the Bucks.  Just another day...

I'd be envious too if I had to watch Jayson Tatum play basketball every other night. 

Also - the Miami Heat are quietly beating a lot of ass and sitting at 1st in the East (granted KD going out opened that door for everyone). Knicks are getting shellacked midway through the 3rd. 

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3 hours ago, Llogg said:

is this sarcasm?

no?  What good is Kyrie if he can't play home games in the playoffs?  The Nets should have a top 3 seed regardless, it's not going to be a "Home Court Advantage" if he can't play in Brooklyn. Lots of players would be an upgrade overall if they can play in home games he would miss. 

And I think Simmons would do really well in Brooklyn. I think  he would be a lot like Wiggins in Golden State, a guy who can focus on locking down the opponent's best player every night, and not have too much pressure or expectations on offense. Simmons needs to go somewhere that has options A and B already well defined. I think he would do really well with a change of scenery and 2 all stars to run the team. 

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BS’ market is not even close to what Philly is asking and nobody wants to blow up their chemistry because Kyrie is proven batshit crazy


Lol@ James harden too. Ain’t nobody giving up valuable assets to get you if you’re gonna do things your way.


Phillys better off biting the bullet and taking anything to help Joel right now. Even throwing in a FRP to get out of the Simmons contract is worth it at this stage.

Don’t know what you’re gonna do with Brooklyn. Durants not getting younger, he’s injured, and your 2 best players are mentally unstable making huge money.

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1 hour ago, shadow_operative said:

seeing Embiid next to AD, and seeing just how much bigger he is than AD, is just wild. Joel makes AD look like a regular wing player. his talent at his size is unreal. 

I saw a picture once of Emibd next to KAT.  He dwarfed him in both height and width.  Just a few weeks ago, I saw Minny play at Okie City.  KAT was the biggest guy on the floor to the point that if you didn't know anything about either team, you'd be like "who is that?"

I thought that Emibd dwarfed the guy that dwarfed everyone else on an NBA floor.  Dude is huge.

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On 1/26/2022 at 8:08 PM, Message Board User said:

Demolishing the Bucks.  Just another day...

Not to mention Jerrod Allen averaging a double-double, with the 13th highest PER in the league. While hurt, Sexton is no joke either as he averaged 24 ppg last season. Throw in Markkanen and thats some nice young talent (nobody over 24). I dont really follow the NBA close enough to know how they stand from a cap space, future draft pick standpoint, but I like what they have going on. Bron Bron probably already figuring out his angle to get back in Cleveland for one more ring. 

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5 hours ago, Blotto said:

Not to mention Jerrod Allen averaging a double-double, with the 13th highest PER in the league. While hurt, Sexton is no joke either as he averaged 24 ppg last season. Throw in Markkanen and thats some nice young talent (nobody over 24). I dont really follow the NBA close enough to know how they stand from a cap space, future draft pick standpoint, but I like what they have going on. Bron Bron probably already figuring out his angle to get back in Cleveland for one more ring. 

The Cavs currently own all their first round picks in the future.  They have a mess of 2nds out there in trades, and coming back to them from trades, so it's hard to say how many they own. They are in good position overall, with all of the key players still under contract for several years. 

Jarrett Allen has 4 more years with 80m total left
Evan Mobley is on his rookie deal for 4 more years
Garland is on his rookie deal for another year after this season, then he's an RFA
Lauri Markkanen has 3 more years left around 18m per. 
Okoro and Osman have 2 more years remaining on their deals too. 

Kevin Love is the big waste of money on the roster, but next year is the last year of his deal at 28m. Might be able to flip him at the deadline to a team looking to dump salaries. 
Ricky Rubio's contract end this year, so he's a 17.8m expiring deal they could move this season to help a team dump some salary in the future and get a decent player in return. 
Colin Sexton is injured right now, but he will be an RFA at the end of the season. It will be really interesting to see how he does when he rejoins the team. 

The future is bright in Cleveland! 

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9 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

Kevin Love is the big waste of money on the roster

4 months ago I would have agreed with this, but probably the most shocking development for the Cavs is Love's resurgence.  Highest PER since the T-wolves days and highest TS % in his career this season.  I'd have to do some research but I have to believe it's almost unprecedented that a 33 year old would make such substantial improvement in one season after several of steady decline. 

Is he worth $30 million?  Probably not.  But he's no longer a net negative in the Simmons, Wall, and Westbrook conversation for worst contract in the league and he should finish near the top of 6th man of the year and Most Improved Player.

 

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2 hours ago, Message Board User said:

4 months ago I would have agreed with this, but probably the most shocking development for the Cavs is Love's resurgence.  Highest PER since the T-wolves days and highest TS % in his career this season.  I'd have to do some research but I have to believe it's almost unprecedented that a 33 year old would make such substantial improvement in one season after several of steady decline. 

Is he worth $30 million?  Probably not.  But he's no longer a net negative in the Simmons, Wall, and Westbrook conversation for worst contract in the league and he should finish near the top of 6th man of the year and Most Improved Player.

 

Yeah, I say that entirely because the $31 million price tag this year. Even with that production, he would be worth about 10 per year on the market, given his age and injury history.  I'm not saying he's a bad player, but rather he's overpaid by a lot.  

Anyone trading for him this week will be gambling a bit. He still has 28m guaranteed next year too, and I would be really surprised if he's worth anywhere near that much. Anyone trading for him likely won't be sending back very desirable assets. 

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24 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

Yeah, I say that entirely because the $31 million price tag this year. Even with that production, he would be worth about 10 per year on the market, given his age and injury history.  I'm not saying he's a bad player, but rather he's overpaid by a lot.  

Anyone trading for him this week will be gambling a bit. He still has 28m guaranteed next year too, and I would be really surprised if he's worth anywhere near that much. Anyone trading for him likely won't be sending back very desirable assets. 

I think there's about a 0.0% chance that Love is traded now - he's productive, he's been a good soldier, and trading him would run a substantial risk of ruining team chemistry (for not a lot of return).  Love and the young'ns are clearly getting along and they enjoy giving each other shit - it's an incredibly close team.

Brian Windhorst did predict the Cavs will be active at the trade deadline and the guys mentioned most often are Denis Schroeder & Eric Gordon.  Will be interesting to see what Houston demands for Gordon - will they be realistic or Daryl Morey themselves out of a deal?

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22 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

The Cavs currently own all their first round picks in the future.  They have a mess of 2nds out there in trades, and coming back to them from trades, so it's hard to say how many they own. They are in good position overall, with all of the key players still under contract for several years. 

Jarrett Allen has 4 more years with 80m total left
Evan Mobley is on his rookie deal for 4 more years
Garland is on his rookie deal for another year after this season, then he's an RFA
Lauri Markkanen has 3 more years left around 18m per. 
Okoro and Osman have 2 more years remaining on their deals too. 

Kevin Love is the big waste of money on the roster, but next year is the last year of his deal at 28m. Might be able to flip him at the deadline to a team looking to dump salaries. 
Ricky Rubio's contract end this year, so he's a 17.8m expiring deal they could move this season to help a team dump some salary in the future and get a decent player in return. 
Colin Sexton is injured right now, but he will be an RFA at the end of the season. It will be really interesting to see how he does when he rejoins the team. 

The future is bright in Cleveland! 

Mobley has to continue to develop into a superstar, otherwise they'll need an A piece.  But yea, they've done an excellent job with Mobley, Garland, and Allen.  Kevin Love is actually their 2nd best player per minute so no...... he's not a waste of money this year, just an overpaid one.  They'll need another piece which will probably be dictated by how high Mobley can push his ceiling.  Exciting 2 way player.  Sexton may end up kicking around the league now..... he's sort of regressed/been exposed.

 

12 hours ago, Message Board User said:

4 months ago I would have agreed with this, but probably the most shocking development for the Cavs is Love's resurgence.  Highest PER since the T-wolves days and highest TS % in his career this season.  I'd have to do some research but I have to believe it's almost unprecedented that a 33 year old would make such substantial improvement in one season after several of steady decline. 

Is he worth $30 million?  Probably not.  But he's no longer a net negative in the Simmons, Wall, and Westbrook conversation for worst contract in the league and he should finish near the top of 6th man of the year and Most Improved Player.

 

Yup.  He's quietly put together a really good season in limited minutes.  22.5 PER, .220 WS/48, 2.0 VORP and TS of 61.9%.  Those are fucking stud numbers off the bench.  

10 hours ago, Message Board User said:

I think there's about a 0.0% chance that Love is traded now - he's productive, he's been a good soldier, and trading him would run a substantial risk of ruining team chemistry (for not a lot of return).  Love and the young'ns are clearly getting along and they enjoy giving each other shit - it's an incredibly close team.

Brian Windhorst did predict the Cavs will be active at the trade deadline and the guys mentioned most often are Denis Schroeder & Eric Gordon.  Will be interesting to see what Houston demands for Gordon - will they be realistic or Daryl Morey themselves out of a deal?

I'd imagine Houston would just love to dump his contract.  His 44% from 3 is probably pyrite and he's pretty limited otherwise although has that veteran guile.  His contract may be valuable next year though as 23-24' isn't guaranteed so it could be used to get a better player with picks next year.  His contract may be worth more than the player, but not a ton.  

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41 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

Don't look now but Brooklyn is in an interesting (not good) position for the rest of the season (among the top 10 toughest remaining schedules in the league).  At least they have a bunch of road games coming up so at least Kyrie will be available, but still.

 

They're also 2.5 back of the 1 seed... I think it's a little early to hit the panic button as they should have Durant back after the ASB. The strange part is that if Kyrie is really only going to play in road games do they even want a higher seed? 

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“Today the Cavs were granted a $9 million disabled player exception by the league for the Ricky Rubio season-ending ACL. They can use that to trade for a player with one year left on his contract, League executives believe a main target will be Dennis Schroder, who fits into that trade exception. Such a trade would potentially take the Celtics below the luxury tax, and he could help (Cleveland) on the perimeter.” 

Schroeder is an interesting addition to the team. They need some depth at point guard, and he's a really cheap expiring deal at 5.9m. 

There aren't a lot of expiring players making less than 9m a year that fit into this exception, so I hope they have a deal already in place for this. They can't back out of the exception and trade Rubio's 17m contract, so they are stuck on this path. 

 

 

Zach Lowe’s section on the Cavs' Mobley from his 10 Things column:

“Players come and go, injuries rob them of almost every ambulatory guard -- and the Cleveland freaking Cavaliers just keep winning. They are 30-19, 10-3 in their last 13 games -- and still sporting the East's best scoring margin. Resilient teams win ugly when their talent takes hits. The Cavs are No. 3 in points allowed per possession; their defense guarantees a solid night-to-night baseline chance. Their offense doesn't need to look pretty or score like gangbusters for them to win.

Mobley might be Cleveland's best all-around defender already, but he plays a bigger-than-expected role in manufacturing points on offense. He has a calm, patient one-on-one game -- both with his back to the basket, and on longer-distance face-up drives.  He has a deep bag of moves, and can dribble and shoot with either hand. His comfort initiating from almost anywhere helps him attack players of all types. He can blow past slower defenders, and burrow through wings:

They are nothing alike physically, but there is something almost Boris Diaw-y in the methodical way Mobley twists and pivots until he finds a spot he likes. He has decent touch on hooks and floaters, tools he needs alongside Jarrett Allen -- alignments in which it is harder for Mobley to get to the basket.  Mobley's efficiency one-on-one is only so-so, but that's great for a 20-year-old thrust into a high-usage role. Average-ish can be enough when your defense is elite.

Cade Cunningham has been the league's best rookie over the last month -- he looks like a two-way star -- but Mobley remains the Rookie of the Year favorite given his full body of work on a playoff team.”

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10 hours ago, ztejas said:

They're also 2.5 back of the 1 seed... I think it's a little early to hit the panic button as they should have Durant back after the ASB. The strange part is that if Kyrie is really only going to play in road games do they even want a higher seed? 

I've noticed something interesting in the East - it's pretty much a dogfight and head coaches are realizing that leading to some surprisingly high minute totals for reg-lar season January games.  

Kyrie played 40 minutes and the Toronto-Miami minute totals were just nuts - 3 OTs, Herro, Bam, Vincent, and PJ all played 40+ minutes while Jimmy clocked in at 52 minutes.  And Toronto?

All of this is to say that it appears that the teams in the East are taking every game seriously and if Brooklyn fades, they're going to have to go balls to the wall in March & April to avoid the play-in (where anything can happen). 

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2 hours ago, Message Board User said:

I've noticed something interesting in the East - it's pretty much a dogfight and head coaches are realizing that leading to some surprisingly high minute totals for reg-lar season January games.  

Kyrie played 40 minutes and the Toronto-Miami minute totals were just nuts - 3 OTs, Herro, Bam, Vincent, and PJ all played 40+ minutes while Jimmy clocked in at 52 minutes.  And Toronto?

All of this is to say that it appears that the teams in the East are taking every game seriously and if Brooklyn fades, they're going to have to go balls to the wall in March & April to avoid the play-in (where anything can happen). 

It's super tight for sure. With Durant the Nets are 24-12 which % wise would put them a game up on Miami for the 1st seed right now. I think just 2 or 3 of those were with Kyrie. They are probably going to be without KD for another 11 games. 

Sans another major injury I think it's almost impossible that Brooklyn would miss the playoffs. Maybe they fall to the 7 seed but doesn't someone have to beat them twice in a row to bounce them? That isn't happening. They're also supposed to get Harris back at some point. 

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Brooklyn has honestly played a hell of a game tonight, Phoenix is just too fucking good - especially at home. I think they've shifted to my title favorite in the past few weeks. The Nets still have the highest ceiling I think but there are too many weird questions right now - including that I think at this point Nash has pretty objectively done a shitty job. 5-9 now without Durant when you have Harden plus Kyrie in road games isn't good enough. 

I think tier 1 is Phoenix, Golden State and Milwaukee with maybe an asterisk for the Nets (GS also feels weird to me when it comes to projecting them into the playoffs and I can't quite put my finger on it)

Tier 2 I think is the Heat, Jazz and Grizzlies

It will almost assuredly be one of those 7 teams and the Grizz are realistically a couple years away unless they get a 2021 Suns-like break to the Finals. Nuggets and 76ers are fun dark horses but I don't think either will get enough from 2-15 on the roster. 

Lakers maybe remain a really wild wild card but I don't see it and the LeBron knee stuff seems concerning. 

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10 hours ago, ztejas said:

Also wtf has happened to the TNT desk? Tonight it's Shaq, some corny white guy hosting plus Candace Parker and Dwyane Wade. 

They moved over from NBATV. That crew has been together since Wade retired. Work the Tues games. 

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2 minutes ago, WJC88 said:

They moved over from NBATV. That crew has been together since Wade retired. Work the Tues games. 

Candace is pretty close to A list at this point although she made some weird point last night about the Warriors owning the conference until proven otherwise. I guess Wade is okay. The host is a huge step down from Ernie.

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1 hour ago, Llogg said:

Wade's not terrible but he's also not very likeable for some reason. Shaq doesn't really fit in that crew as well. If they were going to have a holdover from the main crew Kenny would have been a better fit. And the host is Lowell Galindo bad.

Fuck Wade.

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On 1/29/2022 at 11:02 PM, Patrick Bateman said:

Kevin Love is actually their 2nd best player per minute so no...... he's not a waste of money this year, just an overpaid one.  

This sounds like something my wife would say. If you are overpaying for anything it is a waste of money. By definition, god damn it. 

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11 minutes ago, Irieguy said:

This sounds like something my wife would say. If you are overpaying for anything it is a waste of money. By definition, god damn it. 

Disagree. A buddy of mine paid more than $800 for a pair of chest-high fishing waders. I've never spent more than $250. Mine still work and so does his, so in my view, he overpaid.

But he uses those damned things every time he goes fishing outside of summer, so it's absolutely not a waste of money. He's gotten a great return on his investment; I just feel he invested more than he had to.

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