NBA 2020-2021

Jim Beam said:
I actually think that Porzingis, the Knicks version of him was a fantastic pairing with Doncic. He could post up, was much more agressive to the rim and could shoot the lights out from distance stretching the floor. His potential was immense. In reality that should be the perfect big man for Doncic.

This version is, damn, they could have get that out of 20 other guys in the league with a much less pedigree. Him standing in the corner and waiting for 10 shots a game from the long range is a sad state from what he once was. The injury just ruined him. Problem is also which has to be on the coaching part a bit is that he looks worse and worse and more limited then ever.
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Porzingis only played that way during his rookie season and after he got injured at the all stars break that year, he started slowly transitioning to become a glorified spot up shooter who happened to be a 7 footer.

Rookie Porzingis was really something else
 
elmo said:
We tend to play well against the Bucks for some weird reason. We've a winning record against them for a few years running now, even when we were in full tank mode.
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Ayton can do well against Giannis. And in general I think your defence can stop him from not being nearly as dominant in that potential series while your offence seems to carry more variety of options.

If that final happens, am choosing Suns.

elmo said:
Porzingis only played that way during his rookie season and after he got injured at the all stars break that year, he started slowly transitioning to become a glorified spot up shooter who happened to be a 7 footer.
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Will take your word for it as I watched him mostly in that first season, but you can see that his movement has absolutely gone to shit.
 
elmo said:
Porzingis only played that way during his rookie season and after he got injured at the all stars break that year, he started slowly transitioning to become a glorified spot up shooter who happened to be a 7 footer.

Rookie Porzingis was really something else
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I listen to a lot of NY sports radio...what they say is his work ethic and motivation changed. Now could be sour grapes...but I tend to believe them
 
The problem with Knasnaps is on defence. He was supposed to be a terror as a rim protector and help defender, and that would have given the mavs a defence that wasn't a turnstile for someone like Kawhi. Alas

Anyways, Bud's adjustments in game 2 worked to perfection, be interesting to see how McMillan reacts now. They took the floater out for Trae and he wasn't able to have an impact. We will see. Bogdanovic's knee getting better would be huge for the hawks. Series will likely be decided by how well the bucks shoot the 3 though, regardless of everything else. They're better and should win the series

Suns got it in the bag on the other hand. Can really appreciate how much of a difference CP3 makes for Ayton on offence. Ayton dominated this game after getting outplayed by Zubac in the first 3. Weird game where nobody could score the 3, but at 3-1 it doesn't matter anymore probably.

Will be interesting to see what Kawhi does in the offseason :D
 
Jim Beam said:
Ayton can do well against Giannis. And in general I think your defence can stop him from not being nearly as dominant in that potential series while your offence seems to carry more variety of options.

If that final happens, am choosing Suns.



Will take your word for it as I watched him mostly in that first season, but you can see that his movement has absolutely gone to shit.
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If there's a good thing about facing the Bucks, it's that CP3 will get a lot of rest during Giannis free throws which means he can play more :lol:
 
elmo said:
We tend to play well against the Bucks for some weird reason. We've a winning record against them for a few years running now, even when we were in full tank mode.
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I remember there was a ridiculous game between you and them like two or three years ago in Milwaukee. I think it was about Brook Lopez missing crazy number of three pointers and them losing slightly as a result.

It will be very tight, think it will go 6 or 7 if you play them. Suns would be the biggest preseason underdogs in ages to win the NBA (+4000 odds). Hawks would be the biggest ever I guess at +10000.
 
As I said when I put up that pre-season odds thing a couple days back, the Suns would be the biggest underdogs in the NBA era, so very likely ever.

Either way Suns-Bucks is an absolutely no lose scenario final for me, absolutely massive for CP3 to win it the way he wanted too, not chasing it, he could of comfortably been coasting at OKC looking for a buyout, same at the Suns, but crazily it came out reasonably quick he wanted to opt out to get the biggest payday while continuing to be a general leader on a team, massive respect for that... he's probably added a few dollars to what he was looking for too since then with this run. Kinda ditto to Giannis, signed that long term when most were clamouring for him not too.

I'm starting to lean quite strongly to the Bucks though.... it's been a long road, and it's the deserving end for it, and I feel they are starting to generally warm to it from a mental perspective. But alas, it's a tight call. inb4 the Hawks win.
 
Zen said:
As I said when I put up that pre-season odds thing a couple days back, the Suns would be the biggest underdogs in the NBA era, so very likely ever.

Either way Suns-Bucks is an absolutely no lose scenario final for me, absolutely massive for CP3 to win it the way he wanted too, not chasing it, he could of comfortably been coasting at OKC looking for a buyout, same at the Suns, but crazily it came out reasonably quick he wanted to opt out to get the biggest payday while continuing to be a general leader on a team, massive respect for that... he's probably added a few dollars to what he was looking for too since then with this run. Kinda ditto to Giannis, signed that long term when most were clamouring for him not too.

I'm starting to lean quite strongly to the Bucks though.... it's been a long road, and it's the deserving end for it, and I feel they are starting to generally warm to it from a mental perspective. But alas, it's a tight call. inb4 the Hawks win.
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It was you who posted that! I thought I saw this on Reddit. To my justification I am on holidays now so operating at 50% at best.

Agree with your take. I wouldn’t really mind Hawks winning either. I do not like the current Clippers team, they are full of punks but I doubt they will overcome 3-1 deficit here AND beat the East champions after that, all likely without Kawhi.
 
Yeah the bucks defense getting torched early. Atlanta hot from beyond the arc.

2 point game headed to the 4th.
 
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And here's Trae coming back after his normal early quarter rest. Just went straight to the locker room. Let's see his movement the rest of this game.
 
Middleton is on fire tonight and Trae has been a decoy since he's been back in....then hits a 3. But he's struggling. And Middleton hits another 3
 
This game has shown that when the Hawks cool off from 3, they don't have the defensive quality to hold the Bucks at bay. Particularly the points in the paint: Bucks 56 Hawks 34 at this stage.
 
Hawks went cold in the 4th and Middleton took over in the 4th. Hawks had open looks around the 3 minute mark, but offense looked out of whack due to Trae's injured ankle.

Bucks defense played well again tonight. Not sure Hawks play this poor in the 4th again.
 
adexkola said:
The Hawks will need Trae to go supernova to have any chance of stealing a game from now on.

Bucks vs Suns I think. The matchups will be very interesting.
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Bogi has been poor. Started out well in the first quarter, but he isn't shooting well. He's nursing a knee injury, but his shots have to fall a lot more.. And Collins has to stay on the court and get out of foul trouble.

Bucks defense has stepped up after game 1.
 
Yeah the bucks are getting too many easy shots in the paint. Hawks might have to play Capela more.
 
Haynes, who is very close to Dame, reporting that the recent backlash over Billups hiring with a group of fans on Twitter blaming Dame for his input in the decision, may drive his desire to ask for a trade. I think it’s likely he will demand to be dealt within the next weeks but it’s a bit poor to blame Twitter fans for that, he clearly is trying to engineer a justifiable reason to move on without looking disloyal. Now reporting is he had no input in Billups hiring when he was literally quoted as wanting either Kidd or Billups, and all the reports from the front office from the last few weeks suggested he had been heavily involved in the recruitment process.

I don’t really get the whole upset by the Twitter thing as it’s a small group of fans doing that anyway. Him wanting to leave in order to compete and win championship is absolutely fine, that’s good enough of a reason, nobody in Portland will bear any grudges or burn his jerseys because he leaves now.

It’s a mess and I think the only realistic way out of it is Portland blowing things up in the next few weeks.
 
Sarni said:
Haynes, who is very close to Dame, reporting that the recent backlash over Billups hiring with a group of fans on Twitter blaming Dame for his input in the decision, may drive his desire to ask for a trade. I think it’s likely he will demand to be dealt within the next weeks but it’s a bit poor to blame Twitter fans for that, he clearly is trying to engineer a justifiable reason to move on without looking disloyal. Now reporting is he had no input in Billups hiring when he was literally quoted as wanting either Kidd or Billups, and all the reports from the front office from the last few weeks suggested he had been heavily involved in the recruitment process.

I don’t really get the whole upset by the Twitter thing as it’s a small group of fans doing that anyway. Him wanting to leave in order to compete and win championship is absolutely fine, that’s good enough of a reason, nobody in Portland will bear any grudges or burn his jerseys because he leaves now.

It’s a mess and I think the only realistic way out of it is Portland blowing things up in the next few weeks.
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As you said, it's an excuse. I liked Dame until he made his comments about Finch. To me it showed that he was an hypocrite when you think about how Finch finally managed to get an head coaching job unlike Billups or Kidds, Finch coached +20 years, he has showed what he was able to provide in various contexts and when the guy finally gets an opportunity, a high profile player acts as if it was unfair.
 
Well he gets praised for his loyalty to Portland (rightfully so), but at one point almost every player (/superstar) wants a ring and realizes he needs a change of scenery for that to happen (or all the pieces falling in the right place for one season).

I agree there's nothing wrong with coming out and saying you wanna be traded but right now he's indeed obviously looking for an excuse to get out without it looking like he wanted to get out himself.
 
RobinLFC said:
Well he gets praised for his loyalty to Portland (rightfully so), but at one point almost every player (/superstar) wants a ring and realizes he needs a change of scenery for that to happen (or all the pieces falling in the right place for one season).

I agree there's nothing wrong with coming out and saying you wanna be traded but right now he's indeed obviously looking for an excuse to get out without it looking like he wanted to get out himself.
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Indeed. He’s spent 9 years with the franchise, gone through a complete rebuild already after the entire team of 2012-15 left in one offseason and hasn’t really got close to challenging. Some of that is because of bad FO decisions but as I said before, he drove some of that as well as it was quite clear he had input in keeping Stotts and not trading CJ or any prominent players for better fits.

He’s a great player and a great leader, clearly has a good personality too but he’s too focused on maintaining that image of a super loyal player that doesn’t chase rings now. Especially after calling out Paul George last year for that. There is nothing wrong in wanting to win and the place Portland are in right now, it’s hard to see this team win championships in the next 3-5 years.

Very few teams can make a proper trade offer for him though, especially the ones that are remotely close to challenging. Maybe Sixers, maybe New Orleans (who are further from challenging than Portland are) have the assets but with 4 years left on his contract Blazers will not trade him for average talent and a bunch of uncertain picks.
 
Sarni said:
Indeed. He’s spent 9 years with the franchise, gone through a complete rebuild already after the entire team of 2012-15 left in one offseason and hasn’t really got close to challenging. Some of that is because of bad FO decisions but as I said before, he drove some of that as well as it was quite clear he had input in keeping Stotts and not trading CJ or any prominent players for better fits.

He’s a great player and a great leader, clearly has a good personality too but he’s too focused on maintaining that image of a super loyal player that doesn’t chase rings now. Especially after calling out Paul George last year for that. There is nothing wrong in wanting to win and the place Portland are in right now, it’s hard to see this team win championships in the next 3-5 years.

Very few teams can make a proper trade offer for him though, especially the ones that are remotely close to challenging. Maybe Sixers, maybe New Orleans (who are further from challenging than Portland are) have the assets but with 4 years left on his contract Blazers will not trade him for average talent and a bunch of uncertain picks.
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Is Denver a possibility? Would love to see him team up with Jokic. Sixers would be great too yeah, but not sure they can offer enough now that Simmons' stock has dropped so drastically?
 
Warriors? Wiseman, two picks this year, plus future firsts (however many it takes).
 
ZDwyr said:
Warriors? Wiseman, two picks this year, plus future firsts (however many it takes).
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As amazing as having Dame and Steph on the court at the same time sounds offensively, I think there's a limit to how many mediocre/bad small defenders Draymond can compensate for.
 
ZDwyr said:
Warriors? Wiseman, two picks this year, plus future firsts (however many it takes).
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Nah. 7 and 14 aren’t that great, Wiseman hasn’t shown that much. Their picks from 2024 onwards should be good but I think they already own one to Grizzlies.
 
RobinLFC said:
Is Denver a possibility? Would love to see him team up with Jokic. Sixers would be great too yeah, but not sure they can offer enough now that Simmons' stock has dropped so drastically?
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I don’t see a deal with them now that Murray is injured and we can’t know how well he’s going to recover. Maybe Porter Jr, Murray and a couple of picks but then it becomes maybe too much for Denver. Porter plus picks alone is too little and other assets aren’t very enticing.
 
Piratesoup said:
As amazing as having Dame and Steph on the court at the same time sounds offensively, I think there's a limit to how many mediocre/bad small defenders Draymond can compensate for.
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Maybe. I think they'd be similar to the Nets in that who cares about the defense. They'd outscore everyone.

Sarni said:
Nah. 7 and 14 aren’t that great, Wiseman hasn’t shown that much. Their picks from 2024 onwards should be good but I think they already own one to Grizzlies.
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Yeah it was a bit of a stretch but just off the top of my head. I think Dame would maybe push for it since he's from Oakland but if I was Portland I'd be wanting a Paul George/AD type deal.
 
The mavs could offer a slightly used Kristaps Porzingis and, uhm.... Josh Richardson for Dame.
 
Bucks? Holiday+picks and whatever complementary pieces they can throw in? Even though they're probably winning the title they have to realize if Kyrie and Harden weren't injured the Nets would have swept them, right? So they might be interested?

Lakers and Clippers just don't have the pieces for it, Sixers maybe? Heat? And i think that's about it. Anywhere else he doesn't get into a situation where he can win i don't think
 
giorno said:
Bucks? Holiday+picks and whatever complementary pieces they can throw in? Even though they're probably winning the title they have to realize if Kyrie and Harden weren't injured the Nets would have swept them, right? So they might be interested?

Lakers and Clippers just don't have the pieces for it, Sixers maybe? Heat? And i think that's about it. Anywhere else he doesn't get into a situation where he can win i don't think
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Bucks have no picks to offer as they owe all of them and swaps to Pelicans and I doubt Blazers would want a straight swap for Jrue who is at a lower level. If Portland trade Dame it will be to go into a rebuild. Heat will want him but again their assets cabinet is pretty empty, they would have to give us Herro, Achiuwa and all the picks in the world which may still not be much of a deal.

Lillard is under contract for 4 more years. That drives his price up very significantly I think. 21-22, 22-23, 23-24 all sorted and a $54million player option for 24-25.
 
MrMarcello said:
Could Dame end up in say New York?
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That’s a deal I could see for loads of picks, don’t see a fundamental piece to build a trade around except maybe Barrett if Portland front office think he could be a superstar. Also, would he really have a much better chance at winning with the Knicks? I guess then being appealing destination for free agents could be a factor but as a team they are not ahead.
 
Down 14 with a minute to go.

Clippers shot too well this game, game 6 beckons.

Pat Bev needs a punch in his face and balls, that utter cretin.
 
Scottie pippen with some controversial quotes today.

"I don’t think it’s a mystery, you need to read between the fine lines. It was my first year playing without Michael Jordan, why wouldn’t I be taking that last shot? I been through all the ups and downs, the battles with the Pistons and now you gonna insult me and tell me to take it out? I thought it was a pretty low blow. I felt like it was an opportunity to give [Kukoc] a rise. It was a racial move to give him a rise. After all I’ve been through with this organization, now you're gonna tell me to take the ball out and throw it to Toni Kukoc? You’re insulting me. That’s how I felt."

"Do you remember Phil Jackson left the Lakers and then wrote a book on Kobe Byrant and then came back and coached him? I mean, who would do that? You name someone in professional sports that would do that. I think he tried to expose Kobe in a way that he shouldn't have. You're the head coach. You're the guy who sits in the locker room and tells the players 'this is a circle, and everything stays within the circle, and that's what team is about.' But you as the head coach, opening up, and now you go out and try to belittle at that time one of the greatest players in the game?"

"You know all those cameras who was sitting in that huddle, who they was working for? You know who Michael was speaking to, right? That was planned. That was speaking to the camera. That wasn't speaking out of, what we're gonna have to do, what the play is gonna be. That was speaking to the camera. Had John Stockton not came down — trust me. That was building his own documentary, because he knew he was controlling the cameras. All those cameras were working basically for Michael Jordan, not the Chicago Bulls ... That was not naturally spoken. That was rehearsed."

As great of a player as he was, all this is going to do is tarnish his legacy imo.
 
Pippen is still sore over his stupid contract that he signed against everybody's advice and jealous that he'll never step out of MJ's shadow.
 
elmo said:
Pippen is still sore over his stupid contract that he signed against everybody's advice and jealous that he'll never step out of MJ's shadow.
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That and he married a hoe. He is underrated for sure but yeah like you said probably has a lot of regrets.
 
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