2019 NBA Catch-All - It’s Fantastic

That is true Saric is better for them than Gibson, good point. Covington I think is a bit overrated but I hope he does well with the Wolves.

11 contests in, It appears Melo May have played his last in Houston. I was definitely not expecting that outcome.

He's been pretty terrible for a few years now. I was surprised that Houston saw any value in bringing him aboard.

That’s crushing considering they let guys like Ariza go in order to make room for him.

For anyone who missed the Brook Lopez show last night. What a steal on a $3M contract. Currently #5 in the NBA in made 3s (42%+ shooting) and the Bucks have gone from one of the worst rebounding teams to one of the best. His on/off numbers are excellent. One of the most unselfish team rebounders in the league. Again, $3M. Biyambo is hauling in $17M to barely play in Charlotte.

On/Off: https://www.basketball-reference.com...

Thanks for the heads up. I'd been wondering why the Bucks are so good. That's insane. Averaging 3PA than rebounds? He's basically a stretch 5?

It's funny, because in last year's version of NBA 2k people who would use the Lakers would pop with him and he was lights out. It was so confusing to me, because I didn't really follow him in Brooklyn, so I had no idea he was such a good shooter.

I have always thought he is underrated. Has been a plus player for a while I don’t know why teams have shuffled him around so much.

He became a plus 3p shooter his last year in Brooklyn.

DSGamer wrote:

Thanks for the heads up. I'd been wondering why the Bucks are so good. That's insane. Averaging 3PA than rebounds? He's basically a stretch 5?

It's funny, because in last year's version of NBA 2k people who would use the Lakers would pop with him and he was lights out. It was so confusing to me, because I didn't really follow him in Brooklyn, so I had no idea he was such a good shooter.

Rebounding wise, people who just look at old school raw numbers will say how terrible he is. A simple Google search brings up plenty of examples. The thing is, every team he has been on, the team rebounding has improved, often drastically, especially when he is on the court. Nets fans kept telling Bucks fans this on the RealGM boards after MKE signed him. Having watched all their games so far, I see why. He boxes out like a demon, creating space for others to get the ball. He rarely chases himself. Giannis is over 15 boards a game. Ilyasova has also been a big help on the boards, and they have big and/or athletic guards that hit the glass.

The biggest reason they are so good is they went from a bottom 5 coach in Kidd (perhaps worst) to a top 5 coach in Bud. Their acquisitions are directly tied to Budz' system. Oh, and they have a system. Work smarter. Giannis and Middleton went from near the tops in the league in minutes to getting lots of rest (helps to blow teams out, too). Players are used smarter on both ends. Maker and Delly rarely play (thank goodness).

They have the toughest schedule in the league so far (or 2nd) with the best Net Rating and point differential in the league.

Ariza leaving definitely wasn’t a result of Melo coming. Melo only got 2.4 million, which may be the vet minimum for him, which wouldn’t have been sufficient to keep Ariza. Unless I’m mistaken, they couldn’t sign Capela to his big deal and also keep Ariza at 15 million. They let Mbah a Moute walk due to concerns for his shoulder.

Good point. I have the sequence of events wrong there. I totally forgot there was a whole thing with Ariza seeking a big payday.

Does anyone have a subscription to the Athletic and what do you think of it? ESPN just keeps getting worse and really their only worthwhile basketball writer since their big layoffs is Zach Lowe. I really don't know who told them people just want pages and pages full of 30 second video clips, but I guess that is cheaper for them to produce than paying people to write.

Saw an ad for 3 months of Athletic for $1 or maybe $1 each month. Thinking it's worth sampling for that cheap.

Well Golden State sure put brought my Raptors optimism down to Earth a bit. No Steph, no Draymond, Klay cold but Durant is unstoppable and puts up 51, Valuncianus is unplayable even with those absences, and Toronto only just ekes out the win in the end.

Really fun game though. I can't get enough of Pascal Siakam.

Yeah, that was a scary game. I'm enjoying Siakam but I can't stop watching Kawhi man... hopefully he peaks during the playoffs!

Random thing I did not know til someone tweeted it: Lonzo Ball is a sub 45%... free throw (?!?!) shooter in the NBA. Howwwww

Wut?

Yeah, look it up... .451 last year and .413 this year.

What’s his true shooting percentage? It’s not like he’s a good shooter overall.

Not sure, but he’s shooting 33% from 3. If you can make 33% from 23 feet and some are contested, you should be able to make 60% from 15 feet uncontested. He must have the yips or a form issue or something.

MVP Match-up last night lived up to it's billing, with Giannis winning the optics (and game) by pulling off an And1 Mixtape pass to himself off the head of James Harden to set up an 3 pointer.

Of course, it was all unintentional and Harden was funny about it post game ("S#it hurt"). Brook Lopez was the best bargain FA signing and Mike Budenholzer perhaps the best acquisition of the off season. Defensively, the Bucks heavily overplayed Harden to his right, basically begging him to drive, with Lopez cutting off the drive and being asked to recover onto Capela. A big ask, but he did it extremely well with 4 blocks and multiple alters. Capela had a terrible game, and while Harden got his 42, it was much less efficient than it has been, with 13-30 shooting and 9 turnovers. Easier to do with Paul and Gordon out, but that is what good coaching will do. Half way in to the season, Budenholzer is starting to add wrinkles in.

Giannis with an efficient 27 on 16 shots with 21 boards and 5 assists. Brogdon, who has been great all year, had 24 on 12 shots and remains the only player with a 50/40/90 shooting line (52.1/42.9/98.7) .631 total shooting. He keeps giving off a strong Chauncey Billups vibe with his play. If you haven't watched Milwaukee this year, you are missing out.

Just for that Giannis is now my favorite player in NBA history.

Joking aside, I need to catch more of their games. Seems like Coach Bud has honed an already talented team.

DSGamer wrote:

Just for that Giannis is now my favorite player in NBA history.

Joking aside, I need to catch more of their games. Seems like Coach Bud has honed an already talented team.

Transformed more than honed. Heck, just straight coaching at all compared to the horrible POS human being that is Jason Kidd. Amazing what putting players in a position to maximize their strengths will do. Heck, DJ Wilson is now a useful player. That alone is a miracle and testament to the staff.

Maybe should go in D&D, but of interest to NBA fans

Report: Turkey seeks warrant for NBA player Enes Kanter

Wow Paul George.

I just discovered after a month of playing NBA2K19 MyCareer that you can spend VC to upgrade your players' stats. I was doing training drills with my team, hoping that my OVR number would go up after completing some badges. Well, after 4 badges and no change to my OVR (60) I googled "How to raise my OVR in NBA2K19".

...

I kinda hate NBA2K19 for not showing you anything. Had I known I would have not bought those fancy T-shirts and Sneakers just yet...

I guess it helps that I've been lumbering along at the lowest difficulty. Ah well.

Yeah they went that way maybe 2 years ago with the game. Now the VC is shared between cosmetic and actual upgrades, and of course is available for money. It's the worst of the F2P market melded into what used to be an amazing game.

There's a reason I've quit buying.

Yeah, I mean, there's no way I'm paying MORE to play the game I already bought. That part isn't great. I don't mind playing more games to earn the VC, it's just that I wasn't really aware of HOW TO UPGRADE MY PLAYER at all. It seems like something the game should tell you.

In other news, love that the Raptors were able to let the bench play in yesterday's 29 point win over the Grizzlies.

That's what you get for leaving Canada.

Something I hadn't seen before this season: players resting and missing games just for rest and not injury.

With the whole Kawhi Leonard situation, he has not been injured but just rests from time to time, usually not playing the second game of a back to back, or in the case of this week, not playing for 4 games in a row.

Did they ever do this before on other teams (and just not tell us)? Did Michael Jordan ever just not play some games?

And do other teams do this besides Toronto? I haven't looked into it outside of our team.

Yes and no. It was pretty common for players starting during the early 2010s to start missing the second half of back to backs for the sake of rest and preventing injuries.

Famously last year Embiid didn't play any back to backs in addition to limiting his minutes. The Spurs started regularly resting players strategically. LeBron and Wade did that a lot in Miami as well.

I think it's just caught on more as a smart thing to do to save players from the grind of the long season, especially if they feel like they're in championship contention.