2022 NBA OFF SEASON DRAFT FREE AGENCY TAMPERING ETC

emoni bates is playing for memphis this year but wont be old enough for next years draft, do not recall seeing that before

seems like there's no consensus on the no 1 pick which is pretty interesting, paolo banchero seems like leader in the clubhouse as of now but i see various boards that have other guys at no. 1. he just had prob his best game of the season vs FSU tho, putting up 20-12-7 on 6-11 shooting and making tons of plays down the stretch, nice touch on his passes. i wonder how he'll test athletically, you don't necessarily see overwhelming athleticism in these clips, but he's skilled, poised, and very strong, some real men amongst boys plays. i don't have a great feel for what position ppl think he will play defensively, he's either a positionless fever dream or an exploitable tweener, i can't really tell. if he could passably play center he could be a monster but idk if that's in his future. he's a 34% shooter from deep and shoots 76% from the line, w/ his size the tools are there for a really great offensive player, consistent double-doubles w/ potential for some 20-10-5 type of seasons. feel like ben simmons is a decent comp and what you're giving up in athleticism w/ banchero you gain in overall offensive skill, especially in terms of scoring, as well as just overall oomph on the game. some good clips of his passing in the NC state game from last week, he has a calmness about him in the way that he reads the floor that feels very functional, not preternatural necessarily but if his court vision continues to grow along w/ the rest of his game he will likely be very hard to defend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygtHdAPNNo8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ncXSRvEM3M

everyone seems to have holmgren banchero and jabari smith in some order as the top three, i think i still like holmgren just cause he has that combo of freakish body and great feel for the game that nba stars are made of, smith is your prototypical super athletic very big wing i can def see why teams would be very stoked on him, banchero has the most developed game but maybe lacks some of the elite athleticism length and so forth that could make him an absolute top guy idk

jabari is my #1 bc of the Big Wing thing, thats the most important position in hoops rn, chet worries me bc he just looks like a guy who will miss a lot of time, prove me wrong chet

if the spurs dont launch into the lottery, i like keegan murray from iowa lot. he's older (21 i think) but he's got a pretty nba-ready game from the looks of things

but who am i kidding the spurs are gonna draft another 6'5" combo guard

those top 3 guys all seem to have distinct strengths and weaknesses, no clear front-runner so far. will be interesting to see how it plays out based on their college seasons.

I think Jabari is overrated right now and people are overthinking the chet thing. Players don’t get injured because they’re skinny.

I worry Banchero will turn out to be Michael Beasley

I think Jabari is overrated right now and people are overthinking the chet thing. Players don’t get injured because they’re skinny.

― Matt Armstrong, Friday, January 21, 2022 10:14 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

um yes they do!!!!!

penny, shaun livingston, kd, shawn bradley, manute bol, bol bol, pls dont think this is just me spreading more pro-fat propaganda

you know who doesnt miss many games OR meals

jokic

I worry Banchero will turn out to be Michael Beasley

― Matt Armstrong, Friday, January 21, 2022 11:16 AM (one hour ago)

yeah i can see that. marvin bagley & jahlil okafor two other duke guys w/o great athleticism who just dominated w/ size in college and then flamed out. beasley only averaged 1.6 apg in college tho, paolo is at double that, and he's bigger. also michael beasley who has his head screwed on straight & plays the game less selfishly could've been a good player albeit not a multi time all star or anything

i think i would prob pick chet no 1, in the event that you get any of the evan mobley skill set it will prob be worth it

the other thought i had when watching banchero was "what if obi toppin was good and didn't move like an abe lincoln impersonator on stilts"

lmao

jabari smith def seems like a top 3 pick to me, top 5 at absolute worst. if there's any jayson tatum out of the top group it would be him. his spot up shot is a bit slow to me, and the way the ball comes off his hand when he shoots FTs seems a bit weird. he does have a nice fadeaway midrange game tho, and his hands are very active on defense. 7' 2" wingspan. he's another one where i wonder how he tests athletically, you don't see him just killing guys at the rim in his clips... paging jayson tatum. he also only has a season high of four assists this year. i think he's prob below chet and banchero for me

clip of him putting up 25-7-1 w/ 4 blocks and 2 steals on the road vs alabama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBUYA1BxaME

chet's shot is so smooth. w/ his defensive potential i feel like he has to go number 1, at worst i feel like you're getting a porzingis type player w/ a better shot and a body potentially less conducive to leg injuries. at best you're potentially getting like karl towns crossed w/ evan mobley. in between maybe he's chris bosh w/ more rim protection. idk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ZpisXk6R8

yeah i like chet too, with his freakish arms crazy feel for the game and having all the offensive skills he should go 1 imho, you're potentially getting like karl towns crossed w/ evan mobley exactly he pretty clearly has the highest ceiling of the top guys, the reason hes not the consensus #1 right now is prob because hes not really featured on his team cause he plays next to an older player of the year candidate and that evaluators tend to underrate feel for the game being a true baller and so forth due to it being highly intangible

chets got the juice, the it factor

if jabari smith had an off the bounce game i could see the argument... but he doesnt

feel like chet will be one of those guys who have their aggressiveness questioned leading up to the draft drop a couple few spots then just come in and start doing insane things from day one in the nba

i feel like evan mobley is pretty strong proof of concept for chet, almost feels like it's lining up for it to be the perfect year to take a guy like this no 1 overall. chet maybe not as great defensively i mean mobley seems like a phenom but chet is far more developed as a shooter. w/ his shooting form/touch and natural shot blocking ability i just feel like he's the kind of high floor/high ceiling prospect you should be aiming for w/ a no 1 pick. i'm trying to imagine the worst case outcome for him if he has even average health for a big man. myles turner? jarren jackson jr? his overall feel just seems far superior to those guys and he's taller and he's a better shooter etc

and chet might even be mobley on D, i mean hes a defensive star

People are overthinking this, Chet is clearly the guy. Jabari has a really raw game that requires a lot of projection to see in the nba, Chet can shoot and handle.

tbf jabari can shoot good but yeah hes pretty raw

i hope yall are right abt slenderman

CHET HOLMGREN WITH 11 POINTS IN UNDER TWO MINUTES 🤯 pic.twitter.com/YBeBtOP71q

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 4, 2022

his last 4 games

23-12 4 blocks on 9-12 shooting, 3-5 from three
12-11 on 4-6 shooting, 4-6 from three
21-9 3 blocks on 7-8 shooting, 3-3 from three
22-9 4 blocks on 7-10 shooting, 2-4 from three

shooting 63/46/74 on the season

ok so MAYBE with modern medicine factored in he shd be #1

lol

chet looks like a phenom

Another day at the office for projected top pick Chet Holmgren: 21 PTS (12 FGAs), 15 REBS, 6 BLK, 3 STL in a win over USF. No other player in the draft who can do the things he can on both ends. Going to make a lot of his naysayers look silly. No. 1 prospect in this 2022 class. pic.twitter.com/BvnV51J04S

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) February 25, 2022

dare i say kevin durant but an even better defender vibes??

Chet Holmgren tonight:

- 21 points
- 15 rebounds
- 6 blocks
- 3 steals
- 2 3-pointers

It’s the 2nd time this season he’s had at least 20 points, 15 boards, 5 blocks and 2 3-pointers in a game.

No other Division I player over the last decade has done that twice.

— Jared Berson (@JaredBerson) February 25, 2022

Chet Holmgren of @ZagMBB has played 5 true road games in his career. He is averaging 18.6 points, 14.6 rebounds and 4.2 blocks in those games.

He's the only Division I player in the last 25 years to average 18/14/4 over any span of 5 road games (let alone his first 5).

— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) February 25, 2022

it was a weird time because of COVID and I wasn't doing much but I'll never stop kicking myself for not going to see him play in high school, his HS was walking distance from my house

this guy has very long arms

Best Euroleague game of the season for 17-year old Victor Wembanyama with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 5 blocks, 2 assists, 2 steals and a road win. The 7-3, projected No. 1 pick in 2023 showed his fantastic mobility, length, skill and feel for the game against high-level competition. pic.twitter.com/VSWdaV0AMq

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) March 23, 2022

dont think ive seen someone that tall get down in a stance like that

feel like he has some "deer running on ice" vibes too him but he looks like he's gonna be a complete monster on defense

draft xpress/espn guy called him the best prospect hes ever seen

i feel like chet is more coordinated and has a better shot but i can see why someone would look at him and think he's an ultimate freak of nature

i just watched a video of him and chet playing against each other and those are some crazy looking guys

At 17 he's not yet accustomed to operating a body with such long arms and legs, let alone perfecting his footwork and his moves. He looks very promising, though. Good timing and vision.

chet is crazy skilled but he still has some of that big man stiffness the wembanyamas flexibility is pretty wild, and filling up the box score of a euro league game at 17 is rare, its even more impressive when you consider that with huge guys it usually takes longer to develop

more of that game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7RTU8FtrM0

wembanyama is going to be a lot of fun to watch, sky-high potential

only thing that worries me, knowing nothing, is hes too tall

but maybe he can overcome by having the pliancy of a 6-10 guy

pray 4 kd

Kyrie Irving said the plan is to re-sign with the Nets this summer. Doesn’t want to leave Kevin Durant and wants to build a legacy in Brooklyn with him.

— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) March 26, 2022

a legacy of alienating everyone off the team

The Kings will miss the playoffs for the 16th consecutive season, a new NBA record.

Kings fans deserve better. pic.twitter.com/Yf3MKtAWFQ

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 4, 2022

fire that franchise to the moon

Kings fans deserve better.

citation needed

lol

they seem like a good bet to make that streak 20 at this point

When I say Victor Wembanyama is the future of the NBA (if healthy), this is the type of stuff I’m talking about. Not normal agility and skill level. Then add in passing feel + elite defensive versatility and you’ve got a special prospect. Had 25 PTS in Pro A action the other day pic.twitter.com/xkWkiKVKOo

— Mike Schmitz (@Mike_Schmitz) April 4, 2022

can he guard the pick n roll tho

hes destroys pick n rolls of grown professional basketball players

I saw a guy named Nickola Jovic in a mock draft. Could get confusing

if we can survive bojan and bogdan bogdanovic we can do this

in a draft preview i saw somewhere they took pains to explain that joker is NOT a comp for him. anticipating (rightly) that people can't disambiguate similarity of name and basketball skill

tbh while i am very clear on bojan and bogdan being two different dudes, know each's team, playing style, etc, i do always forget which first name goes with which guy

yes please ruin the hornets mike

The Charlotte Hornets are reportedly emerging as potential suitors for a Russell Westbrook trade this off-season.

(via @TheSteinLine) pic.twitter.com/ZAlSQ7LPoj

— ProCity Hoops (@ProCityHoops) April 7, 2022

no why cmon unless theyre just trying to get some draft picks for hayward in which case ok

cos russ is a jordan shoe guy

funny thing about "the jordan brand" is the annual signature shoe is the preeminent sneaker but no one really fucks with the rest of them

its weird do they just use all their juice making the one shoe or do they make the other ones crappy on purpose or what

hmm i was wondering if he would pick up his option

John Wall plans to exercise his $47M player option with the Rockets next season, via @MikeAScotto.

Shocker. (jk) pic.twitter.com/SwTkmwyH6L

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 7, 2022

tillman fertita having to pay john wall $47 million to not play basketball is extremely funny

dudes been rehabbed for like 1.5 years just chilling collecting checks lol

here we go!

https://t.co/OIylUsBAS4 pic.twitter.com/02EiuxUDN3

— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) April 8, 2022

from here
https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2022-04-08/inside-la-lakers-disappointing-season-lebron-james-anthony-davis

russ truly one of the great low bb iq superstars

id say hes the goat in that sense.

yeah maybe so

Ramona Shelburne has one today too - get ready to read a lot about how f'ed this team was

"The reality of the season was that Russ has been in a dark corner, and he doesn't know who to trust or who to believe," a team source said. "Then, if something doesn't go well for him, he backs up a little more.

"There's also guys in the locker room who were so disgruntled about their position that every time something goes bad for Russ, they just find a way to feed the beast.

"Telling him the coaches hate you or the front office is trying to get rid of you. Anything to fuel that monster, and give him an enemy."

love it, the other players on the team fucking with russ and stoking his paranoia. nice healthy culture

Telling him the coaches hate you

you love to see it

good luck to whoever the new guy is

The Sacramento Kings won't bring back interim coach Alvin Gentry and are opening up a search for a new head coach, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 11, 2022

a blessing in thinly-veiled disguise for Alvin Gentry

gentrys probably best served as an offensive coordinator on a good coaching staff

This might actually be the craziest NBA story of the moment...and that's saying a whole lot https://t.co/6iYlLwszbx

— Jason Valenzuela (@Jayzon481) April 11, 2022

he should try reawakening onto a basketball court

that's it, i'm voting for Mo Bamba in the next election

Rob Pelinka was asked why Frank Vogel was fired when he didn’t construct the roster and wasn’t responsible for injuries: “Today is not going to be a day of finger-pointing or unwinding all of the various reasons.”

— Melissa Rohlin (@melissarohlin) April 11, 2022

listen here what we're not gonna do today is point the finger at me (lebron) anyone

Russell Westbrook on Frank Vogel: "I'm not sure what his issue was with me."

— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) April 11, 2022

...lol

anxiously waiting the full russ presser to drop.

there’s actually no way of knowing what anyone could have thought russ was doing wrong this year

haha i need to see this interview asap

When @DanWoikeSports mentions that LeBron and AD said many times throughout the year, "Let Russ be Russ," Russell Westbrook immediately responds: "Yeah, but that wasn't true. Let's be honest."

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) April 11, 2022

lmao

Lakers' Gone Fishin' through the years... pic.twitter.com/A9eZyZbjDu

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) April 11, 2022

listen i gave him some champagne that he didnt know i sent cos im a good guy... and yet he hated me

Russell Westbrook discusses his relationship with Frank Vogel. pic.twitter.com/pfVfUVY5GO

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 11, 2022

can understand russ being upset considering this is his first time having an issue with someone

well, that answer certainly lacked coherence

That Lonzo Ball walking the plank meme should be in the Louvre.

A great way for Russ to stand up to these guys would be to decline his player option

lets fuckin go

LeBron James would be very enthused by the prospect of Mark Jackson landing the Lakers head coaching job, sources tell @sam_amick.

Jackson, an NBA analyst on ESPN, coached the Warriors from 2011-2014.

More: https://t.co/Vpn2TnXztm pic.twitter.com/0TnunbFO1Z

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 12, 2022

a fitting capstone for lebrons gm career

i would be very enthused by the prospect of mark jackson landing the lakers head coaching job and no longer broadcasting basketball games

otmfm

its a win win

mama there goes that hand down man down
https://www.inspiringquotes.us/image/author/Top-11-Quotes-By-Mark-Jackson-A-Z-Quotes.jpg?ezimgfmt=rs:770x362/rscb4/ng:webp/ngcb4

we all know mark jackson likes to say "mama there goes that man." what this book presupposes is, maybe 'that man' refers to Hitler?

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/7sv4zr/oc_the_origin_of_mark_jacksons_mama_there_goes/

makes sense

there u go

Charlotte is dismissing coach James Borrego, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 22, 2022

well let’s see what someone else can do with that wack ass team

suspect theyll try to add some defenders

I know this dance with the bottle. my brother is SAD. https://t.co/9RaEHQkE6N

— k. (@ThaSoapBox) April 24, 2022

Bron's still near the top of the league as a player. His failure this season came from acting as his own GM.

Kyrie says he plans to re-sign with the Nets: "When I say I'm here with Kev, I think that really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe and Sean."

— Scott Cacciola (@ScottCacciola) April 26, 2022

this guy!

love it!!!

Lmao you just can’t draw this up any better

who's taking odds on kyrie opting out the brooklyn saying thanks 4 the memories l8rzzzz

kyrie inspired by elon

Huh

Nets' Kyrie Irving: “[Hopefully]... we can just start fresh and be realistic with our own expectations and live with our team results, rather than being the polarization of the media scrum and having our names be dragged for a series that naturally happens in people’s careers." pic.twitter.com/rJGkcZU26P

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 26, 2022

im struggling to think of an nba player that has ever been as full of shit as kyrie

He probably shouldn’t have been playing since like halfway through the season

Zach LaVine has been playing on an injured knee that’s ‘50% on a good day,’ per @JCowleyHoops

“the source said he will in fact have surgery almost immediately this offseason.” pic.twitter.com/vVyGnxZlr8

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 27, 2022

I send shots at the puppet masters, not the puppets. All puppets do is run around society, trying to gain popularity and state opinions. What a life! 🤷🏾‍♂️

My name is worth billions to these media corporations. My brothers and sisters who deal with this know exactly what I mean.

— A11Even (@KyrieIrving) April 28, 2022

fake deep bullshit artist

that conley signing by utah just didnt work out, same with the gay signing. hes probably cooked and should move to a reserve role.

jazz need to see if mitchell wants to stay, if he does you gotta move rudy. if he wants out you could get a nice haul im sure. id honestly shop both of them. then prob wait til the trade deadline to move bojan for a first or whatever.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/UTA.html

please nets do this

Here's the year-by-year breakdown of the max contract Kyrie Irving can sign in July:

2022-23: $42.7 million
2023-24: $46.1 million
2024-25: $49.8 million
2025-26: $53.8 million
2026-27: $58.1 million

(Kyrie would be 35 years of age by the end of 26-27)https://t.co/A71VAVVE84

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) April 29, 2022

theyre gonna do it theyve go no options

guess they could try to get him to take a smaller deal might work dont think theres much of a kyrie market out there

58 million is insane he'll be paid more than a milli for each game he plays in

yeah i mean theyre in a terrible situation

the hoops gods require the nets to max out kyrie as further penance for trying to buy a championship

they got kyrie in a press conference talking about managing the team, a guy who only shows up when he feels like it

sounds like hes gonna bounce to me.

Zach on free agency: "I understand the relationship I've had with AK and the last five years here, I hope the city understands how much I care about the Bulls. I'm going into everything open-minded but knowing how much I've enjoyed my time here." pic.twitter.com/85OhzBkPBv

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) April 29, 2022

Zion asked if he’d sign extension:

“Of course. I couldn’t sign it fast enough.”

— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) April 29, 2022

i wonder if the kyrie thing is gonna end up like morey trading for westbrook knowing he wasn’t gonna be around to clean up the mess. sean marks might do it and then bounce in 3 years

i just dont see what choice they have unless kd is cool with them not signing him or trying to 'lowball' him

seems hard to make any safe assumptions about how kd feels about kyrie's contract situation

i don’t think players think about things that way. if he was fed up with kyrie personally or didn’t think he was reliable maybe he would tell the nets to cut him loose but that doesn’t seem to be the case. but KD is not gonna be like “our cap space will be eaten up by kyrie’s contract in year 4 of the deal.” he probably thinks they’re all underpaid to begin with. and honestly if KD ever wants to bounce and leave the nets holding the bag at the end he can just force his way out. if he wants to play with kyrie next year he’s not gonna care about the longterm ramifications

welp

Sources: 76ers All-NBA star Joel Embiid suffered a right orbital fracture and mild concussion in series-clinching Game 6 win last night in Toronto. He will be listed as out and there is no timetable for his return.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 30, 2022

oh man is that from the siakam elbow?

gotta be

embiid was taunting the crowd up 35, pascal retaliated next trip down the court

Man

Aren’t they buds?

embiid was taunting the crowd up 35, pascal retaliated next trip down the court

― symsymsym, Friday, April 29, 2022 8:49 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

eh looks like a standard move, albeit one from a flail-y driver like siakam

idk he was taunting directly before that it if was on purpose it was pretty slick but he got him good

siakam said it was accidental after the game fwiw: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/embiids-airplane-celebration-in-blowout-doesnt-bother-raptors-siakam/

"I feel awful I hit his face. I was trying to make a move," Siakam said. "Obviously, I apologized to him after that. It was definitely not my intention."

well in that case

a deliberate retaliatory foul usually involves some kind of predictable moves as the two players interact. instead neither of them looked like they had any kind of plan at all.

its crazy that anyone would consider hiring mark jackson after all that behind the scenes stuff with the warriors came out

Mark Jackson has emerged as a finalist for the Sacramento Kings head coaching job, sources tell me and @sam_amick. Kings GM Monte McNair has begun to notify candidates whether they will move onto in-person meetings.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 30, 2022

Mark Jackson to the Kings! Sweet Jesus, make it so!

It’s too good

please god give us this

he must be incredibly desperate to get back into coaching bcuz that’s really one of the worst jobs in all of sports. michael malone is the only coach who has survived that job with his career intact in the last 20 years

Hey Eric Musselman’s doin some good work at Arkansas

yeah hes just taking whatever comes

i think the kings are realistically the only team in the nba that would actually consider jackson

Oh, I didn't know things were THIS bad with the Jazz... pic.twitter.com/JRhhLfojZs

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 30, 2022

the playoffs really proved gobert right lol mitchell got torched all series

yeah interesting contrast in attitudes there

Mitchell is done with the Jazz. Mentally he already has a foot out the door and he's hated Gobert for a couple of years.

Hawks should get him

idk if i have a much better idea for the hawks but not sure adding mitchell’s defense to that team is really addressing their issues

think mitchell wants to be the guy too

mitchell makes sense to me on a team with a solid defense, like miami's gotta be looking at a herro-centric deal here, right?

yes. and beal also. they’re gonna try and push in again this summer it seems

ppl have been bringing up gobert for the hawks

Ugh don’t like that at all. Wasn’t aware of Mitchell’s defensive issues but the hawks need an upgrade at the 2. Huerter’s not cutting it

oh so dray clawed someone in the eye again? seems like a pattern here.

so sick of his fake ass bullshit trying to help people up - how about not hitting them in the first place? same kobe and wade would do like oops

at least he got ejected this time. gtfo

uh oh

Rudy Gobert is at "him or me" point with Donovan Mitchell and will demand that one of them be traded in next few days, per @realOCsports

“Rudy feels that his own numbers are consistent or getting better, while Don is D liability and is falling off in terms of explosiveness” pic.twitter.com/ilIJRMXX2z

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 2, 2022

think gobert would be better off on another team

he deserves a chance on a good defensive team instead of just being left as the clean up guy all the time

yeah saw some persuasive vids/articles about that earlier

gobert gets a bad rap but his takes seem to be pretty accurate

hard to build around him tho. modern nba makes it pretty pointless to have a defense-only center eating up 35% of your cap.

yeah the jazz have bad perimeter defenders but rudy is flawed too you can play whoever you want against him because he has no offensive skill besides rim running also hes slow which hurts transition play on both sides, basically hes a quality starter who has a bunch of awards and is paid like a star so we have to hear him talk and hear people talk about him, also hes a weird idiot who people seem not to like

i mean brook lopez protects the rim he makes $13m a year and can shoot threes kind of

and is still unplayable against certain matchups, but because he only makes 13 per you can sit him whenever you want and dont have to worry about the repercussions

The two big market teams that need to improve are the Lakers and the Knicks.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 2, 2022

lmaooooo

how does he always have his finger on the pulse

still got it

lmao

rudy's whole "well i'm doing MY job" schtick is a pretty bad look but i guess he's been enabled by the jazz for a while now

even by Magic's high standards that is great

any pg goat conversation that doesn't include magic's tweets as a positive in his defense is irrelevant in my books

So grateful he resigned from the Lakers FO so that he could share such priceless wisdom with us.

seems like ham is assistant next in line for the big job

ESPN Sources: The Charlotte Hornets are beginning to interview candidates for their head coaching job, including Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee assistant Darvin Ham, Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney and Mike D'Antoni.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 3, 2022

its too good to be true i dont want to get my hopes up

Report: Vivek Ranadive-favored Mark Jackson frontrunner as Kings’ next coach https://t.co/yMaQRqEJr7

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) May 3, 2022

vivek should receive a federal grant towards jackson’s salary just for taking him off TV

lmao

otm

whos in charge over there

Phil Jackson is advising the Lakers on their coaching search, @espn reports.

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 3, 2022

the lakers squeezed out a title in a weird year thanks to lebron wanting to move to LA and klutch arranging the brow trade in which the lakers traded everything under the sun. but it seems pretty clear at this point that it's a poorly run organization that lets all sorts of lakers "family" (kobe's agent, magic, phil, jeanie) have a say in the decision making process w/o there being a real power structure led by someone who actually knows how to run a basketball team

the lakers must run the triangle it's their only path back to success

dont forget kurt rambis xp

kurt rambis pops up when you least expect

turns out taking half a season off isnt a good idea

.@KyrieIrving on not being able to play home games throughout most of the season:

"I never felt like I was 'back.' ... I never felt like myself throughout this season."

New episode of #TheETCs drops 5/4. 🎙 pic.twitter.com/X0yvOgJkxv

— Boardroom (@boardroom) May 3, 2022

haha weird

Brooklyn Nets say Ben Simmons will undergo surgery on his back on Thursday.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 4, 2022

doesnt sound great

Ah well nevertheless

doing the jim from the office look at the camera thing

Brooklyn Nets' Ben Simmons is expected to need 3-to-4 months to make a full recovery on back surgery, sources tell ESPN. The expectation is that he'll be ready to return well ahead of training camp.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2022

back surgery is just one of those things that goes great and leads to returning well ahead of training camp

im sure ben simmons will do all he can to ensure a swift return to playing basketball an activity he loves

i dont believe annnything about this guy so imo hes faking surgery so he has an excuse to not play next year and collect his check

yeah i increasingly think simmons has played his last minute of nba basketball already

Love 2 fake surgery to avoid FTs.

what if hes actually getting surgery to avoid fts

Savage.

that is the second option yes

mostly i just love being a 6'11" 25 year old having major back surgery

better than being a basketball player

buss it

The Lakers are conducting their initial wave of interviews over Zoom. They anticipate interviewing 8-10 candidates. Coaches are speaking with Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka, Kurt Rambis, Jesse Buss and Joey Buss https://t.co/LMOJ2aePcH

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 7, 2022

jesse and joe are two great failson names

joey*

imagine having to talk about coaching, like in depth, and all your plans and ideas, and the one person out of 5 with an actual basketball background is kurt f'n rambis

our boys with the big guy

https://i.imgur.com/jEkSz4F.png

love the sneakers on the left son

Magic: "The new coach of the Lakers will need to work with Lebron and AD - but those are two all-stars to build with."

lmao

have we discussed how magic apparently has a guy follow him around to type and post the tweets for him

need an ILHer to go undercover and get that job

The Sacramento Kings have agreed with Golden State assistant Mike Brown on a four-year contract to become the franchise’s next coach, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 8, 2022

I think that’s a good move but man we got close to getting jax out the booth

we’re gonna be stuck with him forever, we need a pastor needy megachurch to drop the bag

ah well its gonna be hard for mjax to another coaching job considering how psycho he behaved in gs

is mike brown really The Guy You need oh well it's the kings what truly can be done

out of curiosity are there any high-profile defenders of mjax? like any reputable nba writer or whoever who’s written in support of his work in the booth

you could do a lot worse than mike brown. and there is still time for the lakers to pick up mjax

oh man thats the dream and they might be the only team that would actually do it too

sac would actually do it they just didn't this time

i think that any org that employs basketball people will not do it because the basketball people will throw a fit to stop it, the lakers however do not employ basketball people and also will do what lebron wants

saw the lakers interviewed stotts and that seems like a real sure why not sort of hire which is the main modern lakers move

Feeling really let down about Jackson not getting the Kings job, would have been a lot of ILH fun

Tonight, in Sombor: pic.twitter.com/GAUhCgbmHX

— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) May 9, 2022

is he ... naked?

das a big guy

vibrating on a higher level

“‘Go back to Cleveland, oh my God, Boston hates you, oh my God.' That’s how y’all sound to me, cockroaches.”

Kyrie sounds off on his trolls during a GTA Twitch stream

(h/t @GothamGrant) pic.twitter.com/qmtafbB8Uz

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 10, 2022

hes so lame haha

Ja Morant has a bone bruise in his knee and is expected to miss the rest of the playoffs, the Grizzlies announce. https://t.co/U4q0HXViue

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) May 10, 2022

bummer

man wth. i want to know when it happened cos it was def not that jordan poole swipe right?

gotta be when he hit klay on that fly by

https://www.knbr.com/2022/05/10/mark-jackson-reportedly-used-homophobic-slurs-said-rick-welts-and-jason-collins-were-going-to-hell-as-warriors-head-coach/

jfc this asshole

yeah hes a bad guy and total idiot

every time another team goes sniffing around to see if he'd be a good coach for them a few more drips come out about his time with gs and its never good lol

Mike Miller, now a sports agent, here with his top prospect who was mistaken Sunday at F1 for Patrick Mahomes

— Five Reasons Sports (@5ReasonsSports) May 11, 2022

interesting twist, basically a huge mahomes

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2022/05/09/former-timberwolves-player-adreian-payne-fatally-shot-in-florida/

oh

When asked if the organization is committed to Kyrie long-term, Marks is non-committal — noting that he will have conversations with Kyrie in person in the near future and go from there.

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) May 11, 2022

the kyrie and harden contracts are about to tank two franchises

Marks: “We need people here that want to be here, they’re selfless, that want to be part of something bigger than themselves. And there’s an objective and there’s a goal at stake here. And in order to do that, we’re going to need availability from everybody.”

— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) May 11, 2022

he has a player option though right?

yeah will be interesting to see what happens if they cant agree on an extension tho, kinda doubt the market for his services is too hot

hes worth one year flyer with a team option for 2nd year but you better have a strong team culture in place

Oh yeah... this is gonna get good https://t.co/ppNvwcaJEI

— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) May 11, 2022

that whole comment seems like a long way of saying 'no'

seems almost like those comments were designed to alienate kyrie

pretty funny that weve gone from kyrie saying hes looking forward to managing the team to this

that may have been the comment that finally put them over the edge lol

yeah was thinking the same

vibes not weird enough in LA?

I would like to see Kyrie Irving on the Clippers. LAC can give all BKN ever needed: KD + Depth, and LAC gets a theoretically higher ceiling guy + super popular/marketable figure to bring into new arena.

— A.K (@Kungu_NBA) May 11, 2022

what would they be trading im confused? kawhi or pg? both those guys are better than kyrie

he was thinking depth

They have a lot of moveable contracts, but interesting package could be Marcus Morris/Norm Powell/Jason Preston

— A.K (@Kungu_NBA) May 11, 2022

deal doesnt exactly jump off the page but might be the type of thing the nets will have to do

i mean kyrie is worth more than that lol

someones gotta be willing to pay tho

honestly they between kyrie and simmons they might want to just burn down barclays for the insurance money

even back when the celtics traded a nice first and an injured guy for kyrie he had a terrible reputation and its only gotten much worse

haha

a situation where you go from having 3 top 20 guys to having KD, norm powell, a morris, and seth curry is magnificence defined

the nets: excellence personified

xp the nets have ben simmons too!

yes that is baked into the list of basketball players I was listing

pretty cool that all the teams left are filled with homegrown talent

its so good to see them flourish and the superteams perish

turns out building and growing into something together actually works

kyrie is worth more than that

doesn't matter. what matters is who has the most leverage in the trade and if the nets are trying hard to escape a bad position the other GM would be a fool not to use their leverage by underbidding

the superteams are perishing because half the players that want to superteam are checked out of basketball

turns out team play was always more important

i had absolutely no idea that sean marks was from new zealand until i watched the clip in that tweet

same haha

pretty cool that all the teams left are filled with homegrown talent

― he was eating Vaseline like it was a bunch of cheeseburgers (Spottie), Wednesday, May 11, 2022 2:34 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

its so good to see them flourish and the superteams perish

― lag∞n, Wednesday, May 11, 2022 2:36 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

except the celtics and superstar mercenary al horford, shameful

big al is an honorary celtics lifer

the line for superteam is when you have 2 all-stars who didn't come up with the team imo

kd warriors were not a superteam by this definition and i'm okay with that. you're allowed to add one guy to your homegrown team no matter how good he/they are

see i feel like they were, being a superteam has a lot to do with just doing cheap shit stacking the deck and so forth

also kd just being there for a few years then peacing like nbd was very superteam

hmm maybe

never fully committed to the project just wanted a ring

also they way they had to gut their team to get him, being top heavy is a core superteam characteristic

actually my def would make the bulls a superteam this year so yeah let's scratch that

superteam needs two superstars i think regular allstars wont do

the only current superteams are nets and lakers. clippers kinda were but kawhi doesnt play enough. everyone else has gotten their guys reasonably

feel like the basic metric is does adding this person make the team feel less cool and a little gross, by that measure the warriors were a superteam and kd a merc

clippers are a superteam kawhi being injured doesnt matter the dead is done, and they mortgaged their future to do it which is classic

by that metric are the sixers a superteam now with harden?

kd dubs def a super team but the league was dumb and let it happen due to the cap jump and choosing not to smooth it. i think the collective bargaining agreement has worked otherwise. we're seeing it now.

id say philly are a normal team with some superteam characteristics, but if they deal for another guy theyre a full superteam

yeah the leagues in good shape only a couple big market teams feel gross and they play too gross to win so it doesnt matter much

the process had some resonance with superteamdom just weird bottom line bad vibes shit

are ratings still up for the offs or was that just the first round bc of nets celtics and such

yeah the leagues in good shape only a couple big market teams feel gross and they play too gross to win so it doesnt matter much

― ciderpress, Wednesday, May 11, 2022 12:34 PM (forty-six seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

yah the suns vs bucks in the finals while the lakers and nets get embarrassed within a year is glorious

xp the warriors vs grizz game one was massive. ja has captured the hearts of the youths (and the dubs are always a huge draw)

yeah ja blew the fuck up this year couple people who dont follow hoops have mentioned him to me which surprised me figured that wouldve taken longer

my dad calls ja “Jay Durant”

lmao

are we on the third year straight of ja having knee issues? i hope he can develop a rock solid pull up and 3p shot cos crashing to the rim/ground on every other possession is not sustainable. also he should def wear double knee pads like ewing did.

oh huh interesting. whenever i overhear kids in the neighborhood talking about ball its always giannis

its always giannis

rightly so. he's a unicorn, much better than ja, likeable, and plays the kind of game that impresses more people than jokic's game does, even though jokic's unicorn skill set impresses more hoops insiders

when i went to celtics/grizz in march there were a ton of young kids with ja jerseys

yeah hes pretty much all i hear about from casuals/teens

he has a highlight just about every game and highlights are what bring the views on social

i think the really young kids, even more than casuals, have a different kind of fanship that's got a big component of starry-eyed worship.

of course

little guys are more relatable

ja is so much cooler than giannis lol

consuming a lil punditry re kyrie and everyone seems to have forgotten that he went awol two years ago

in other words being available is about more than just the covid vacation this year

And also health which he’s never healthy either

yeah huge issue too

Nikola Jokic accepted his MVP in Serbia.

pic.twitter.com/eIx0NMnUpl

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 11, 2022

oh my god

that’s got me a little misty

Sean Marks said he hasn't talked to Kevin Durant since the season ended on the state of the team. Said Durant (who has been in Monaco and Greece) wanted to get away for a bit.

— Alex Schiffer (@Alex__Schiffer) May 11, 2022

i love jokics whole balkan horse accordion scene its so not american we are richer for it

Mike Malone really looks like a random Jokic family member

the kiss on the cheek…he’s a made serbian

WILL THE SIXERS MAX OUT ON JAMES HARDEN y/n

I wonder if anyone on ESPN is going to weigh in on that?

yes but i'm asking the posters of ILH, who are smarter

not lag∞n, who is using us all for a performance art piece

I can't see how you could

WILL THE SIXERS MAX OUT ON JAMES HARDEN y/n

i can’t wait to see that contract. i don’t think morey can actually give him the max contract but how much of a cut does harden accept

he’s gonna get waaayy more than 3/75

Yah prob

The god has spoken

James Harden, in a close out game you can't have a performance like that; only take two shots and score no points in the second half?

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 13, 2022

Maybe Morey will give Harden the max after a real heart to heart convo where James looks in Darryl's eyes and promises to get in shape in the offseason.

its a perfect story that the smartest man in basketball was so enamored with james harden that he forgot to check if he was still good at basketball

not lag∞n, who is using us all for a performance art piece

― mookieproof, Thursday, May 12, 2022 11:45 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

harumph!

ESPN Sources with @RamonaShelburne: Kyrie Irving has long had one of Nike’s most popular and profitable signature shoes, but uncertainties surrounding his NBA future leave Nike unlikely to extend him to a similar signature deal beyond next season: https://t.co/RbGJMYVbLC

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2022

that was pretty crazy when he publicly trashed them. i wouldnt want any part of him either.

yeah i had forgotten about that, i guess that incident made this close to a foregone conclusion

he such an idiot. hes had all these clips floating around from his twitch feeds and i just cant stomach listening to him.

ah man torn acl for danny green. this may be the end of the line for his career.

Great pro

if his rehab goes normally i bet he’s on a contending roster come the playoffs next year. some team
who is desperate for wing shooting will give him a shot

he'll get one more shot if he wants it but hes likely not playing until the 2024 season

hes 34 if i were him id be thinking about hanging it up, you really want to go through a year of intense rehab to maybe get a shot at a min deal idk rip

Report: Mike D’Antoni is the ‘leader’ for the Hornets job https://t.co/6f5QuMcaAR

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 13, 2022

lamelo is going to make an all nba team next year

would actually be a cool situation for mike dan tony

needs to bring along his defensive guy he had in houston tho

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_D%27Antoni

did not know about his older brother, dan dan tony

haha

not the guy i would choose at all but uh good luck charlotte!

i like mike dan tony but don't think he can do too much there. happy to be wrong

wth is he thinking

ion think i’ve ever seen an nba superstar threaten to shoot a fan on twitter before 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/2cCTfJqx63

— 𝘣 🍿 (@TheClevelandEra) May 14, 2022

lol wtf

yikes

DRAYMOND: "You got this Ogre on TV...these are people employed to talk on TV about our game."

KENDRICK: "I can say what the f**k I want to say when I want to say it...You got the game f**ked up f****g with Big Perk. Carry on." pic.twitter.com/x8zE4ifRW6

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 14, 2022

similar to how folks seems to be slowly hipping to the fact that letting politics morons spew whatever they want on TV is potentially bad for society I need a new yorker expose on how people like perkins and shaq have jobs talking nonsense about the NBA when they should know better but just don’t care to

let me tell you something at the end of the day theres just an appetite for two guys on tv disagreeing and if the topic is an obvious one well someones going to have to take the dumb side

and god draymond is such a trenchant ideas guy, he needs to sit down and watch barkley in the studio, constantly acting like your opinion is the best one ever thought doesnt help your case

if he really wanted to bring the cold hard basketball truths he wouldve said i dont shoot because im bad at it and its not good to do the things youre bad at

i mean perk didnt shoot either lol

one has to assume that ESPN and TNT have market research indicating that the Shaqs and Perks of the world have added value. Even though he's been on for like 15 yrs I still honestly think of Shaq as an interloper to the original (and all-time) Inside the NBA with just Ernie-Kenny-Chuck. But I'm sure all the dumb bits with Shaq are the most popular segments, so

at least on espn idk abt tnt the producers literally plan out the sides of the arguments ahead of time

kd wld never want to be a pundit but hes obvs a thinker about the game

Size for position, shotmaking, efficiency, IQ, consistency, being able to guard multiple positions, a wiling passer, coachable, energetic…in my humble opinion https://t.co/7MaEUhbxyg

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 16, 2022

the draft guy at the althetic has jabari smith ranked ahead of chet and it just seems crazy to me this is the contemporary version of teams just taking an athletic seven footer first just cause thats the valuable type of guy except in this case hes a big wing who can shoot and defend and tbf he is very big and athletic and can shoot the heck out of the ball but im watching his season highlight package now and feel very comfortable in saying that he had fewer than ten impressive drives all last year he just does not seem to have an off the bounce game hes a 3 and d guy youre really gonna draft a 3 and d guy number one

granted hes very young and has time to learn things but just never driving at all idk and chet is a natural baller he does it all and is scrappy too literally the one strike against chet is that hes a skinny man, smith might be soft its hard to say doesnt seem like hes in there mixing it up

agree entirely and apparently his numbers finishing at the rim are alarming. he shot 43% on two pointers overall. the athletic guy's argument is that jabari won't be played off the floor in the playoffs because he's a wing who can shoot and guard which makes sense except if you're not really that good how much does it matter if you're on the floor. wiggins isn't being played off the floor either but he also wasn't considered a useful player until he ended up on a team where he was the fourth option on offense

when ppl talk about chet i almost wonder if they look at his shot, like they just take for granted that he's a good shooter and we've seen bigs who can shoot and it just is what it is. but i feel like at that height the only guys i can think of who have better looking shots are KD and dirk. everything about his shot is natural and easy. i just don't see how he fails, he's too good of a shooter, he's guaranteed 40%+ from three, he can also dribble and move, if he ever develops a post or mid range game a la dirk he's gonna break defenses. jabari smith is very easy to understand but he also just might be a completely average player. i don't see how chet is worse than myles turner and his ceiling is one of the best big men to ever play

yeah that wont get played off the floor line is wild i hope the 1st pick wont get played off the floor you prob didnt take the right guy if he does

so ayton wants a max contract this offseason and phoenix doesn't want to keep him if it means they pay him at max. the questions I have for the ILH collective are: Will any team want ayton on their team as a max contract? And if ayton gets an offer sheet somewhere at or near to the max, will phoenix match it?

I mean, it's not a Ben Simmons level soap opera, but it's a storyline.

there's def teams that would give him the max. it's the rookie max and for any team signing him as a FA it's only 4 years, it's pretty low risk esp if you aren't in a cap crunch which the suns are.

as for matching, i bet they'd try and sign and trade him. maybe they'd match, but teams can also do all sorts of poison pill things or whatever. it doesn't seem like things are headed towards a longterm relationship there

ayton is eligible for a contract somewhere between ~32-34m a year depending on if he signs with the suns or goes somewhere else, kinda think no ones going to give him nearly that much idk there are some dumb teams tho

i think desperate teams in far flung markets would do it -- detroit, charlotte, apparently indiana was calling them at the deadline. portland maybe. the knicks? atlanta?

he's young and doesn't have a concerning injury history for a big. i think he'd be attractive to teams hoping to just make the playoffs for a few years and who are not worried about whether ayton can be a key player on a championship team

i didn't know about this until it was mentioned by kevin arnovitz on zach lowe's podcast today, but this long article on ESPN about how much de'andre ayton loves video games was, um, illuminating

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33898958/deandre-ayton-phoenix-suns-video-games

It's clear watching Ayton play NBA 2K on the big screen that he's a dedicated gamer. He says that family comes first for him -- as the father of a 1-year-old, Ayton always makes time for his son, Deandre Jr., and girlfriend, Anissa Evans. But then, every day, he'll settle down for several hours -- at least four or five -- to play NBA 2K. This is how Ayton reached Legend status, an achievement that occurs by reaching Level 40 for four seasons in the game. Ayton believes he's the only NBA player to become a Legend.

"I don't know how I did it this year because I got a child, but I did it," Ayton says.

Ayton typically wakes up around 6 a.m. after only getting about two hours of sleep. There's time for a quick round of gaming after eating breakfast, then he's off to practice. Then it's back home to finish talking trash and practicing moves on the virtual court. On game days, Ayton is focused, but that schedule still includes time for video games.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

i suspect when the suns let ESPN do this story they might not have had ayton's best interests at heart...

portland maybe.

not likely. i think pdx will do whatever it can to retain nurkic, but they may need to overpay him to do it. he's a better fit than ayton anyway.

i … could not disagree more but to each his own, though I don’t think either player is a real answer

nurk won't put the blazers back into the (super-max + max) bind they were in with lillard & cj, but ayton would, while not delivering enough value. a big part of nurk's 'better fit' for me is that he can hold down the middle but not break the bank. after the tear down the blazers need to sign some solid pieces to rebuild with. ayton ain't the answer.

with Portland’s current roster I’m not sure what the question even is

it's not one question, but at least a dozen.

if i was the blazers, i would simply win the draft lottery and then draft chet holmgren

they might be the most mysterious team in the league right now. no idea what their goals are, what style of basketball they wanna play, how they intend on getting better, who is even on their team. it sounds like dame is sticking around in which case they need to put a real team around him in one offseason

my lord that ayton gaming story is something

i suspect when the suns let ESPN do this story they might not have had ayton's best interests at heart...

― J0rdan S., Monday, May 16, 2022 6:09 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this makes sense and also sucks

It wasn't just the Suns. his agent prob knew in advance, too.

my lord that ayton gaming story is something

― call all destroyer, Monday, May 16, 2022 8:25 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao that shit is wild why doesnt he sleep sleep is important

"I don't know how I did it this year because I got a child, but I did it," Ayton says, as his kid stares at him blankly, his mouth agape, his eyes wide

to be fair one year olds sleep a lot, unlike deandre ayton

i didn't know about this until it was mentioned by kevin arnovitz on zach lowe's podcast today, but this long article on ESPN about how much de'andre ayton loves video games was, um, illuminating

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33898958/deandre-ayton-phoenix-suns-video-games

― J0rdan S., Monday, May 16, 2022 6:02 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i just listened to this pod and for someone as measured as arnovitz to refer repeatedly to ayton's "comportment" being a concern within the suns.....yeah there's something there.

did he say what the comportment problems were particularly

nah. he did a big sarver piece a while back so i would assume he has good suns sources (and is protective of them)

I’m charting every single bucket Luka scored in the series. Of the 56 (out of 81 total) I’ve done so far, 18 of Luka’s buckets have come from getting Ayton on him out of the PnR. https://t.co/FAT4Gog4hw

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) May 17, 2022

did he say what the comportment problems were particularly

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 1:59 PM (eighteen minutes ago)

the implication seemed to be that he doesn't take basketball seriously enough. arnovitz was like "you'd never see an article about bam playing video games so much that he only sleeps 2 hours per night." i'm sure the suns are aware of that as well which is what makes me think they weren't too worried about that info coming out

lmao he likes the nba video game more than being in the nba

No dopamine-drip of progression and leveling up IRL.

suns shd give him badges for various accomplishments, got 8 hours of sleep badge, didnt get posted up by guy half a foot shorter than me badge

lmao he likes the nba video game more than being in the nba

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 2:31 PM (eight minutes ago)

it is a bit ridiculous that there's a whole story on the number 1 overall pick that hinges on him working hard enough to achieve "Legend" status............ in NBA 2K

cant believe ayton agreed to a be taken down like that, he must have zero street sense. dude let the photographer take a pic of him holding a controller like a baby lmaooooo

https://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2022%2F0412%2Fr998618_1999x3000cc.jpg&w=570&format=jpg

i’ve had enough of the 2k shaming itt, if bingeing 2k until you get a headache is wrong i don’t want to be right

Tracer, if you are also a #1 overall nba pick then you should feel shame imo, sorry that’s how I feel.

you should just keep it to yourself is the thing. and def not let it be released right around when you get mopped up by the guy you were picked ahead of

i definitely think everyone should be sleeping more than 2 hours per night especially nba players

especially 7 footers

suns shd give him badges for various accomplishments, got 8 hours of sleep badge, didnt get posted up by guy half a foot shorter than me badge

Yeah, they just got to figure out how to gamify basketball.

i guess the whole scoring system with putting the ball through the hoop ring isnt enough of a game for him

Real life game stats could be applied to his Gamerscore

*double the gamerscore stats for real life stats

negative points for layups, quadruple for dunks

I cannot imagine intentionally getting 2 hours of sleep a night. Probably why I never had kids.

i def got more than that as a new parent!

I have insomnia once in a while and two hours two nights in a row leaves me feeling hungover/stupid like I could kill myself accidentally on purpose.

it's really crazy I just realized that the NBA Draft Lottery is tonight, usually I've been obsessing about it for a month

yeah i tuned in for the game and realized its not for half an hour becasue of this

im watching it baby who will get the #1 pick one of the teams who will get the #2 pick also a team

nuggets will win the nba draft lottery

why do they even have the players here they aren't getting drafted yet

this is really one event in the world of sports where i do not need a 20 minute intro and analysis, just gimme the order and go to the game

*abe simpson voice* get to the monayyyyyyyyy

jordan is right ppl are underrating chets shooting jay bilas just listed shot 40% from three as an after thought lol

oh good tuned in just in time

s/o to my guy anderson varejao lookin slightly hungover

rigged

lol i had the same thought re: andy

boo to the kings moving up

draft shaq again imo

big day for the orlando magic theory

jabari smith is a perfect magic pick

yeah the thunder are gonna get chet

i've heard the blazers are going to trade up and draft chet and it's going to be easy and won't cost much in fact the other team will say thank you for asking so that is cool to know

nice, nice

idk i feel like the magic love to take guys with length and nobody is longer than chet

smith is extremely long too tho

maybe the prospects attended the lottery so the magic could measure them

magic gm getting out his tape measure hey chet cmere a min

Orlando draft Slenderman

my annual tradition of observing the moment that jerry west's soul died on national television pic.twitter.com/e8ftF8HaSv

— J. Kyle Mann (@jkylemann) May 17, 2022

imagine memphis bron

think they could have won in his first few years there

now hollingers got smith #1 too AND he has chet at 4 my god

Can someone post the mock?

its so bad heez

lol ok

when did hollinger switch from nba stats guy to college scout man?

think hes just kind of an nba generalist now

pretty funny he still uses per in his articles dont think hes even serious about it kind of a running joke, most interesting of his stuff is imo the insights from working in a front office, seems pretty clear he doesnt take a lot of his work too seriously tho, prob hard to come back to a silly fans pov once youve been on the other side

his intro about “picking from all star buckets” is hilariously dumb small sample size theater

both him and the vincente are arguing for smith as the safe pick at 1 which i mean is he even are we sure hes not gonna be another wiggins but mainly just dont make the safe pick at 1 ffs you absolutely have to be looking for a star there

i only skimmed it but it seems like hollinger's argument is basically don't draft centers high which yeah sure but based on their comps and pedigree not sure i see a lot of high-end upside with the guys he's putting in front of chet

remember when luka wasn't a consensus #1 pick

dont draft centers unless theyre you know one of the three who finished top three in mvp voting this year lol

also! seems pretty obvious chet can play the 4, in fact it could be his more natural position in big traditional lineups then switch to the 5 for smallball, his defense is prob more valuable there tbh similar to how giannis or rob williams act as rovers next to lopez and horf

uh you don’t understand, he’s over seven feet so he’s a center

yeah chet is almost certainly going to start his career playing mostly 4

cute

My cousin @robothethird is in town and I told her I’d give her a lil tour of Milwaukee on this chilly summer night. Look who we bumped into😳🫠 pic.twitter.com/RAXdSDEdFy

— Jessica Madhukar (@JessicaMadhukar) May 18, 2022

Incredibly, almost impossibly, the Knicks have lost more games than any team in the NBA this century, but have never had the No. 1 overall pick. Or the No. 2 overall pick. They’ve had a top-3 pick just once

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) May 18, 2022

they're even bad at being bad

the nba needs to rig the lottery for them once again

if the lakers had a pick this year they would have gotten the fix i sincerely believe this

sign of the times

The 4-point shooting drill, a new addition to the NBA Draft Combine. Bryce McGowens and Leonard Miller showing their range. pic.twitter.com/D2O4ya7jeU

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 18, 2022

true hoisting

tbf all centers are role players except for jokic and embiid

tbrf ayton plays shooters, action, sports games as well, not just rpgs

kat and bam certainly not role players, giannis plays a lot of center certainly could play fulltime np

is draymond a center idk man is chet a center also do not know

chet is a pf

he'll play center eventually or become a huge wing player. PF doesn't really exist anymore

that's good because he's not very powerful

Kinda like that the Givony mock for the hawks pick has them taking TyTy Washington. I haven’t watched him play but I feel like Kentucky’s had a lot of these one and done guards recently who’ve been mid round picks that turn out well

thats what a PF is now

That's prob why pf is more often called a '4' nowadays.

feel like there's def some team building tips the hawks can pick up from the mavs, the main one being that having shooters around your high usage ball handler isn't enough, you also need 2 guys who can create their own offense to play when he sits and also next to him

Athletic reporting that the Wolves are in serious talks with Nugs president Tim Connelly to become Wolves POBO

No literally. I am not funny enough to make that up pic.twitter.com/OzBISy4Ofo

— Anna Orso (@anna_orso) May 19, 2022

oh sorry. the first tweet is this:

Philly City Council just passed a resolution that names Joel Embiid our MVP - "Most Valuable Philadelphian"

— Anna Orso (@anna_orso) May 19, 2022

Lol, at Embiid's middle name being "Hans".

Joel Hans Embiid sounds like a player in the 30 Years War.

lol yes

i love little historical details like some duke was 7 feet 280

they had to find a really big horse for him to use.

kat and bam certainly not role players, giannis plays a lot of center certainly could play fulltime np

― lag∞n, Thursday, 19 May 2022

oh yeah i forgot about kat. bam is a role player though (at least in the playoffs)

bam is a weird player sometimes hes dominant and others might as well be a role player

he was invisible last night

the thing with him is that he doesn’t reliably score in the half court in the playoffs (vs really good teams anyway). in the regular season he can get out in transition where he is deadly & generally put up 20 ppg in a looser more free flowing game. but when the game is being played in the half court 90% of the time vs locked in defenses he’s prob not gonna score 20. that being said he’s one of the 5 best defensive players in the league to me & is point blank non-exploitable on that end of the floor which makes him different than all but very very few centers in the league. draymond & embiid might be the only other two who i would say that about. he was a game wrecker vs the sixers and one of the main reasons why the heat went crazy in the third quarter of game one of this series & were able to win.

this series is interesting bcuz the celtics have a lot of good offensive players and there’s only so much one player can do on defense. if guys like tatum and smart are gonna score in one on one situations vs other defenders or the celtics are gonna make 4 passes and find an open shooter there’s not a ton bam can do. and boston will always have a big on the floor who can fight him for rebounds. it’s possible bam “gets played off the floor” in this series insomuch as if the celtics are scoring 100+ points the heat may need to try line ups that have as much shooting as humanly possible to try and keep pace (tucker at center basically) but that doesn’t strike me as a bam issue as much as being able to play horford and grant williams at center and have great shooting across the board and an amazing defense is the reason why the celtics are prob the favorites to win the title

celtics were def avoiding him and jimmy last night i noticed, picking their matchups and so forth

feel like bams offense has stagnated tho, working on a face up game from the elbow would make sense for him since hes a good passer, his handle is prob good enough he just needs to be able to hit that 15-18 foot jumper reliably

yeah his passing dies in the offs because his defender can sag so much