2019 NBA Catch-All - It’s Fantastic

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A day late, but let's go. Let me know if you have better ideas for the hero.

It’s what I would have chosen for a hero, even though Embiid looked awful in that first game against the Celtics.

With Kansas quickly becoming one of the bad guys of college sports, I will probably just watch more NBA, instead I’ve hated Self’s reliance on one and ones, and now it it has lead to the current scandal.

Yeah, Embiid didn't look good in the half of the game I watched but Simmons looked great with the ball in his hands against Boston.

I wasn't too impressed with the Raptors last night, it felt like they just out-talented Cleveland so it had an Arsenal feel to things. Seemed to be a lot of slowing to direct traffic on offense and a few miscues from guys not doing what another guy was expecting. They never really ran away with the game so Kawhi and Lowry played a tonne even though there's a tough back-to-back coming up on Friday and Saturday.

But Kawhi looked okay, Lowry was great, and even though Kevin Love isn't a defensive stalwart Siakam being able to beat him a few times was pretty encouraging. I'm optimistic about the Raptors this year but a rookie head coach means I'm going to be worrying about the uncertainty around the quality of coaching for a while yet.

Don had a nice sophomore debut last night, leading all scorers in a win. Go Jazz.

Pretty excited with the recent direction of the Knicks. Feels like the team, head coach and front office are on the same page for the first time in years.

Is Dolan still the owner?

Tracking comment.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Is Dolan still the owner?

Yeah.

Speaking of ownership, I’m really curious how they sort the Blazers out. It’s honestly a little surprising that Allen didn’t have an automatic beneficiary of his estate. He literally could have gifted the Blazers to a trust or ordered them sold to the city, Packers style, and no one would have cared since he had no heirs.

If Dolan doesn't change...

Agreed on the Blazers. As community oriented as Allen was, it would have been awesome to provide it to the fans for community ownership. And not even as a gift. Just do an IPO open to season ticket holders.

Jayhawker wrote:

It’s what I would have chosen for a hero, even though Embiid looked awful in that first game against the Celtics.

While Embiid didn't have the best game I didn't think he looked awful. And many times he looked bad it wasn't really his fault.
I noticed some things when Rozier blocked his shot:

Embiid was a beast on this play. He starts outside the paint, blows right through Baynes, and creates separation. He single-handedly got himself a wide open bucket from one foot away. The play falls apart because Rozier is guarding Fultz and Hayward is effectively guarding two people, neither of whom can shoot a 3.

The Celtics triple team Embiid and even if he had spotted the rotation there was nothing he could do. McConnell, Fultz, and Simmons didn't even try to give him a passing angle, so my guess is this was a designed play to spread the floor and let Embiid go to work. Which sounds good, but when those three guys are on the perimeter defenses aren't going to bother to cover them.

Right. With time Embiid would learn how to pass out of that and the Sixers should get better at cutting and making themselves available.

Also, it’s pretty bad that Rozier knew he could completely leave Fultz like that.

The Bears being good sucked all the winning out of the Bulls.

Sigh.

That all makes sense on Embiid. and it was really in the first half where he turned the ball over numerous times, including one terrible pass that led to an easy bucket going the other way. But he looked better in the 2nd half, and like a beast last night.

Really like the Sixers a lot right now, in terms of a team to root for. They seem like they really need another piece. I'm not sure Kwai Leonard was that piece. The main problem is that neither other starting guards have outside shots. I feel like they need a SF or SG that can can be counted on outside the arc. Reddick is basically that guy, but that means simmons is the PG, which is also not ideal.

Would have been fun to see them land LeBron.

Should also mention thatI watched some of the Lakers-Blazers game, and there was something kind of cool watching LeBron play with young guys and embracing the player coach thing in a pretty positive manner. I don't know how long that will last, but LeBron may be less frustrated with this team than he was with the Cavs.

Jayhawker wrote:

Should also mention thatI watched some of the Lakers-Blazers game, and there was something kind of cool watching LeBron play with young guys and embracing the player coach thing in a pretty positive manner. I don't know how long that will last, but LeBron may be less frustrated with this team than he was with the Cavs.

Yeah. I noticed that as well. It was almost strange at times. They went through numerous possessions that were really messy and ended up in bad shots. I remember thinking, "when are they putting LeBron back in the game?" only to realize he was in the game, but he wasn't pressing like he normally would be.

It might have been in garbage time but Miles Bridges got me very excited tonight. Looking like the Hornets might have finally nailed a lottery pick. 15 pts, 8 rebs, 2 ast, 1 blk , in 14 minutes. 3 of 3 from deep and one nasty put back dunk.

Highlights: https://twitter.com/nbadraft/status/...

Lolololol

“God, I’d just like to thank you for Lance Stephenson. Amen.”

Also, another ridiculous Harden flail and this time it basically instigates a brawl.

Yeah I tuned in right after the fight. What a mess.

And then the play right after where Harden jumped into Ball and flailed. I can't stand watching him. He's such a joke.

Hope to see CP3 suspended quite a while, since he actually landed punches. The postgame showed a series of clips where he drove straight into Rondo, drawing fouls, same flopping crap as Harden. Don't blame Rondo at all for getting fed up with that junk.

I think Rondo landed a punch as well, but the same fight seemed to start because Paul put his hand into Rondo’s face.

Ingram should get the largest suspension for the initial shove after the Harden foul and then for coming back in later and throwing a punch.

/looks at Warriors-Bulls box score

This is genuinely insane. The Warriors are a real-life team playing NBA 2K on Rookie with all the sliders turned up in their favor.

And Klay just broke Steph's record for 3s in a game with his 14th.

Is it the shoes?!?!?

So, all last year when I posted how terrible a coaching staff Milwaukee had under Kidd/Prunty. Starting to taste what I was cooking? Feels like a good two years of Giannis was wasted. My word, the difference in Bud vs. Kidd is laughable.

This Raptors team is scary good. Super fun as a fan. Every player is out trying to prove something and all going in the same direction.

Kyle Lowry is outstanding. He’s been that way for years now but has taken it to another level. Averaging double digit assists. Bombing threes from Curry distances. Throwing no look passes to the big men. He’s so angry and happy it’s greaf.

I don’t like this Butler trade for Philly. Losing some of their spacing and youth for a rental guy with chemistry issues.

Oh apparently report is he’ll sign long term. Which I still don’t like a ton for them.

I like it a lot, because adding outside scoring will just make Simmons and Embiid better. It feels like a good fit strategically. Hopefully he’s happy there.

This makes me seriously consider reupping League Pass.

Butler isn’t really an outside shooting kinda guy, though. From The Ringer:

The Sixers, who start two guards who can’t shoot, just traded away one of their best 3-point shooters in Covington. Saric is shooting an abysmal 30 percent from 3 so far this season, but he sunk 39 percent last season. For now—pending any additional moves, considering we’re only 13 games into the season—the Sixers just got markedly worse at a part of the game that they already struggled with (bottom 10 in 3-point percentage so far this season.)

Butler is averaging a career-high 4.5 3s a game this season, and he is making 37.8 percent of them. That’ll help, but he’s more of a ball magnet and playmaker than a shooting specialist. JJ Redick, despite his 34.2 percent mark on the season, could move back to the starting lineup. But in this 3-point-happy league, on a roster where spacing is integral to Joel Embiid’s success, the Sixers need more firepower on the perimeter. What’s Kyle Korver up to these days?

Covington is the worst so happy to see him go. I won’t miss his 2 for 9 3 point shooting.

Seems like a weird trade for both sides. Philly gets a weird fit on a team that already had fit problems and Minnesota gets a couple of random guys and a 2nd round pick. I know they wanted to trade him out of the West but if it was that vs the four first rounders that Houston reportedly offered I think I would have taken the Houston deal.

TheGameguru wrote:

Covington is the worst so happy to see him go. I won’t miss his 2 for 9 3 point shooting.

Their best three point shooter at 39% this year. Granted Redick is having an off year.

LeapingGnome wrote:

Seems like a weird trade for both sides. Philly gets a weird fit on a team that already had fit problems and Minnesota gets a couple of random guys and a 2nd round pick. I know they wanted to trade him out of the West but if it was that vs the four first rounders that Houston reportedly offered I think I would have taken the Houston deal.

I like the deal well enough for Minnesota because they aren’t two random guys. Covington won First Team All NBA Defense last year. Saric is a really skilled big who I think will complement KAT well up front, as more of a playmaker than Taj Gibson.

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