stashing assets for the 2023 nba offseason

dispatches from the mysterious time when we don't know which team will get wemby

good luck to everyone in nba

pacers, wizards, magic, hornets, pistons, mavericks, jazz, trailblazers, rockets, spurs: welcome to the nba offseason

Kyrie Irving declined to do an exit interview with the Dallas media. Other Mavs, including Luka Doncic, did exit interviews today.

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) April 9, 2023

lol he's outta there

when he bails out on Dallas happens I'll be delighted. but when Kyrie can't get a contract before next season starts I'll be happier than a lark on a spring morning.

raptors, pelicans, bulls, thunder: welcome to the nba offseason

houston just seeing what kind of shit they can get into

The Houston Rockets will interview Ime Udoka for the franchise’s head coaching job on Wednesday, sources tell @TheAthletic. Udoka was suspended by the Boston Celtics prior to the 2022-23 season for violations of team policies.

— Kelly Iko (@KellyIko) April 18, 2023

maybe theyll sign miles bridges too

“James Harden's future is very unclear in Philadelphia… Houston is very much in play for him.”

- @wojespn

(h/t @RealGM ) pic.twitter.com/fyhyS2JkCu

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 20, 2023

must be nice for the sixers to be hearing about this during the playoffs

We don't give a fuck about dude. Dudes a rental

— EmbiidFAM (@slidecuh) April 20, 2023

Not exactly my take, but I'm loling at the Philly.

you gotta respect it

whenever there’s this much smoke around something in the NBA recently it seems like it comes true. and w harden in particular the situations in houston and brooklyn played out the way the rumors said they would

is houston interested?

from what reporters have been saying for a few months now— yes

I think Harden's been very good for Philly and a team player mostly. If he leaves, I don't know that Philly could replace him right away with another player equally as good - maybe they replace him with a wing who brings something Harden doesn't, say another Melton type, and the team ends up better overall.

On the other hand, my sense is he's going to go with whoever pays him the most and everything else is posturing.

I'm not sure Philly should be that team at this point.

do we still bow at daryl’s feet for heroically defying public pressure and holding out for his star player if the star walks and/or isn’t worth another contract?

Yeesh, J0rdan.

I think Morey has done pretty well with the cards he's been dealt. Most of the truly horrible moves pre-date him (Fultz, Harris v Butler, Bridges).

this could all just be a leverage play too, no?

Well, I think he's "serious", but like I said, I think he'll go with whoever offers him the most money.

So I guess that means, "yes".

i don't think harden needs to leverage morey, of all people

btw i think daryl has done good work in philly i just think the discussion around the harden trade is still ridiculous

daryl went all in on a star as is his way and if harden leaves sixers are fucked, also if he doesnt leave theyre what the third best team in the east

rough crowd harshing my game day buzz

gotta stay locked in only read the playoff thread

I'll need this thread soon enough, lol.

the offseason comes for us all eventually

lmao

ahhh lmao

The Houston Rockets are hiring Ime Udoka as their new head coach, sources tell me and @KellyIko.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 24, 2023

Def need to bring in harden now

has to happen

nets, timberwolves, clippers: welcome to the nba offseason

two of those three teams seem utterly fucked

timberwolves id say are only medium fucked theyve got ant maybe they trade kat idk

ant is great. i'm not sure he's so great that he will just be able to lift any old team past the first round. at least in the next 3-4 years. can he impose his will on a playoff series and put a team on his back and just drag them up the mountain? maybe he can't do that until he's 28 (seven years from now)? so we'll see

i think they have to play their KAT card but it feels like a copy of the trae young conversation where you're looking for a team that is willing to give up significant assets to acquire a massive contract for a one-way player who is prob not good enough to take his team past the second round (or first, shit) w/o significant help and/or luck. an elite big man shooter is easier to fit into a team than a ball hog PG but KAT isn't being paid like he's brook lopez. and the wolves essentially fucked their franchise trading for a guy to play his position bcuz KAT doesn't really have anywhere to play on D. so idk. but if i was them i'd be looking to get off that contract tomorrow if i could

I have to assume Rudy is almost untradable now

Best case for Rudy-dumping is trading him for another maxed-out or nearly-maxed player who's on a shorter duration contract, but is generally less playable than Rudy. I wonder if Kawhi would qualify?

I mean, I don't think the Clips even think about that would they?

ummm no

haha no way in hell

damn rudy has a player option in 2026…

the wolves aren’t in an idea situation, but they have a budding superstar who’s 21 and a guy in KAT who should be tradeable despite his obviously limitations; he’s still on the team that drafted him and I don’t think there’s precedent for a guy with his pedigree not finding a suitor to give him another shot in a new situation. the clippers are a disaster but then playing in LA makes things a little easier to swallow…even still I’d probably rather be the wolves

I don’t think there’s precedent for a guy with his pedigree not finding a suitor to give him another shot in a new situation

we also don't have precedent for players getting paid $50m+ per year. if you trade for KAT you're taking on salaries of $50m, $54m & $58m for the three seasons *after* next year (he gets paid $36m in 23-24) right as the new CBA rules that hammer teams for going too far into the tax kick in. now, the CBA does incentivize teams to go some way into the tax, but if you're paying KAT $55m you're presumably trying to compete in a real way while operating under an effective hard cap. and you know that KAT has to be, at best, your second best player if you're going to be a title contender. so then you gotta find another guy making a similar salary or even more, while also filling out your roster & you're down assets (presumably) bcuz you traded for KAT.

all of which is to say again if i'm the wolves i'm trying to get rid of KAT immediately. the future on that contract looks really bad & i don't see how his value increases the closer those $50m salaries become to reality. i think he can play better in the playoffs w/ more experience (he just does a lot of dumb shit) but he's also a 27 year old who has been in the league for 8 years. i think we probably know what he is at this point.

i'm really curious how teams look at guys like dame, beal, KAT etc who could be out on the market but have the insane extensions that from my perspective look even worse given the new CBA landscape

KAT is a much better player than just being a "salary dump" but if i could salary dump that contract & get nothing back except some roster clarity & future salary cap space i'd do it

he also missed 2/3 the season. and extremely untimely injuries to 2 of their top 6 players. i think theyll be a top 4-6 team next year if everyone stays relatively healthy.

are you talking about the t wolves

Yah

Kat entering his prime. Ant, Jaden another year older. Full season w Conley instead of DLo

putting denver aside on one end and houston, san antonio, portland & utah aside on the other end you could plausibly tell me that any of the other 10 west teams could finish between 4-6. but i still see the wolves as an 8-12 team

the biggest thing that sucked about KAT being out for so long is it provides this blank space where you could project anything, we went through a whole year and still don't really know. i could see management going either way, get out from under KAT get back some picks or - which I think is plausible - what Spottie just said, run this back and it can only get better.

are they willing to pay naz reid is another question. their tax bill is gonna start hiking real quick

I just don’t think a team with edwards, gobert, and either KAT or what KAT gets flipped for is a real threat to finish out of the play-in. they’re probably closer to 6-8 than 4-6 imo tho

are they willing to pay naz reid is another question. their tax bill is gonna start hiking real quick

― Spottie, Wednesday, April 26, 2023 3:37 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think they are going to let him go, hopefully to the jazz so him and walker kessler be the twin towers of wolves regret

feels like ant will eventually be good enough to earn a top 4 seed for whatever team he's on, but also feels like that team isn't gonna be minnesota

they need to can finch. he clearly has no clue.

the more I think about it, given Ant's and Jaden's progression it would be nice - had the Rudy trade not happened - to have the option of trading KAT, getting another good player and picks, having a Naz Reid and Walker Kessler as diet KAT and Rudy but way younger and cheaper, then keeping some of the intriguing young pieces like Alexander-Walker, Josh Minott, Luka Garza and being in the same zone as OKC

uhh....ok?

Anthony Edwards could face legal action,per @DenverSportsCom

“A law enforcement source said Edwards picked up a chair & swung it, striking a security guard…A source confirmed the incident and said both employees were injured & asked to file charges.”

pic.twitter.com/gtSYeMA5YR

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) April 26, 2023

I mean... c'mon

im not seeing much there but idk.

i think we can all agree it should be legal for ant edwards to do wrestling moves on ppl and arena employees sitting courtside

I keep watching that clip and wondering what I'm supposed to be seeing

well he's swinging a metal chair in a crowded space while running which isn't wise but it's not the ideal angle to know what the hell happened

a better angle

Had this sent to me, Idk original source. Credit to them.

It is unreal how something as harmless as moving a chair can get the assault label and ensuing fallout.

Everyone involved is a joke. pic.twitter.com/IbOL04ptz1

— Jackson Lloyd (@JacksonLloydNBA) April 26, 2023

Unbelievable

Lol also as more and more phone videos of this are going to surface and studied like the Zapruder film

very serious stuff call the cops

i mean he clearly hit the blonde lady in the back. that would hurt

video got sent to us

yeah kinda hard to tell still but the tip of one of the legs coulda dinged her pretty good. reckless and dumb from the kid.

lad,

extremely normal thing to do with a metal chair

dont worry im sure both employees are going to get a nice little check for calling the police

if thats what file charges means in the first tweet maybe its just some hr shit if so fine please stop swinging chairs laddy

although it does saw law enforcement source i guess

does acab include security guards

surely the team will cough up a bag of cash to get them to not press charges that's just how this works right

💰

idk its not like theres a felony there lawsuit is prob the more likely thing they want to avoid

if you were at a cookout and some guy swung a chair celebrating getting a ringer in horseshoes and he accidentally hit two people a little bit with the chair and they called the cops would they even come idk

i support a little involuntary wealth redistribution. ant can afford it

would think itd be the team that pays but same diff

maybe theyll fine him idk

cavaliers, bucks: welcome to the nba offseason

good post-mortem of the Wolves season:

https://www.minnpost.com/sports/2023/04/greater-expectations-not-met-with-greater-results-in-entertaining-but-disappointing-season-for-wolves/

shams already on the bud beat hes done

“Mike Budenholzer’s status as Bucks head coach is very much shaky, there are questions across the organization… I’m told Budenholzer has two years and $16 million left on his contract.”

NBA Insider @ShamsCharania reports on Milwaukee following its disappointing playoff exit. pic.twitter.com/WhmEtPNR5R

— The Rally (@TheRally) April 27, 2023

$5M for each timeout he didnt use

The Rockets have "addressed the idea" of trading Jalen Green, per @JakeLFischer

Potential targets for Houston include James Harden and Khris Middleton pic.twitter.com/KThyNRpRcQ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 28, 2023

i love to address an idea

thats what the offseason is all about

trading a second year high draftee is such a bad org signifier

how is he? has he been bad or are they just being weird?

hes been bad but not unpromising, i think he was the worst finisher at the rim this year, but dont worry because jabari smith was the worst above the break three shooter

its def fair to worry about him not panning out but if youre worried then so is everyone else youre not going to get much for him

what we need to do is get rid of our lottery pick with upside and swap him for 35 year old james harden.

also they can just sign harden not so sure about that story

i dont really believe that rockets source in regards to jalen tbh

what does it mean to have “addressed the idea” ? i don’t know what that phrase means

stepping to the idea of thinking about it

insert balloon gif

love the corp speak phrase tho

love to have internal discussions about future direction

sub-shams

obv it’s a dumb phrase but the intent is pretty clear—to signal that they’re serious about the harden thing

seeing a lot of KAT to the blazers talk out there the last couple days and let me be the first to say folks,

let me the second. in conclusion: nope

hahahah oh no that wouldn't be good

hawks, grizzlies: welcome to the nba offseason

griz should blow it up (trade dillon brooks)

griz were missing their center rotation in their defense but i agree they should blow it up (throw dylan brooks in the mississippi)

just blow up dillon brooks tbrr

He’s a free agent

I wonder how many other teams would even kick the tires after he's made so many enemies lately

some dumb owner will be like thats the type of guy we need

or the griz will

He may just keep a low profile now. He clearly isn’t cut out for the villain role.

ducked the media again last night haha

He cost himself so many millions the last few months

He cost himself $25.000 right away.

The NBA fined Memphis Grizzlies small forward Dillon Brooks $25,000 for violating the league's media access policies during the first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Can't stand the heat, then stay out of the kitchen.

dillon brooks entering his find out era

kings: welcome to the nba offseason

kings offseason needs: that dog

Trade sabonis for an all star wing

they still need a centre who is good in the playoffs like idk myles turner

wow I had missed that Brooks was a free agent, yikes

timing

one could say he made a bear bet on himself

damn lol ok then

The Memphis Grizzlies have informed pending free agent Dillon Brooks that he will not be brought back under any circumstances, league sources say.

Full story and details at @TheAthletic: https://t.co/CRztYTgYi7

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 2, 2023

ha great choice of picture

woww lol

tired of his shit

woops

Memphis did make contract extension offers to Brooks early in the season, which were rejected and led to the end of talks, sources said.

ah well nevertheless

what team is gonna talk itself into the dillon brooks experience?

hell prob have to take a small one year prove it contract somewhere

he should be coming off the bench as a defensive specialist and nothing more.

+ working tirelessly to improve his shot

he should be coming off the bench as a defensive specialist and nothing more.

― Spottie, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 11:20 AM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the problem being he is a bench player defensive specialist who wants to create a kryie/draymond level of drama

hahahaha oh my god

he prob decimated his value to a severe degree so i bet he does take a 1 year deal w/ a team like the lakers or nets

smells to me like lebron put the hit out on him and he's toast

he will be on the wizards

patbev has continued to find work though he probably was a much better player at his peak

pat bev used to shoot 40% from 3!

he was a good player on the rockets

also dillon brooks averages 13.1 FGA per game for his career. the highest FGA per game in pat bev's career is 10.8 on the 17-18 clippers -- he only played in 11 games that season and that team's leading shot attempters ended up being lou williams, austin rivers and de'andre jordan. aside from that pat bev has never shot more than 9.5 times per game in a season

and i don't get the sense pat bev's teammates dislike him. that feels like a dillon brooks problem.

Not a Brooks fan but “Under any circumstances” is shitty. The Grizz might want to look in the mirror for the culture they’ve created. https://t.co/bul9g0KKv9

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 2, 2023

yeah I mean that’s a pretty extreme thing to say lol

xpost - at least on the Wolves which is when I was paying that kind of attention to him, I'd say Pat Bev was general loved in the locker room

Yeah I can see how Brooks is being used as a convenient scapegoat.

was it the grizz saying those exact words... or was it shams as the mouthpiece for klutch?

that's a good question. it's also worth noting that in the piece shams says that brooks and the grizz "mutually agreed" that parting ways would be best for both sides, but it doesn't make sense from brooks' side to shut that door when he's gonna be out there trying to negotiate a contract

which is to say that this feels like it's coming from the grizzlies side, to me. i just don't see any way in which this is a positive for brooks and his agent

seems stupid from the grizzlies side too, smoked any chance at a sign n trade type of thing to try and get something back in return.

smells to me like lebron put the hit out on him and he's toast

― Spottie, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 12:31 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is truly that you don't usually see nba teams tell starters to fuck off completely

*true

dillon brooks entering his find out era

yeah, brooks was pretty obviously gambling for high stakes the whole season, rolling the dice on getting a big free agent contract. It started out quick with him testing the refs by complaining they didn't 'let him play his game' because he fouled a lot. He spent the entire season trying to project "I have no fear" as his brand, mainly by boasting, being obnoxious and playing dirty. The whole point of drawing all this attention to himself was that everyone would be watching him as he delivered a great season on the court and the Grizz went to the Finals.

He overplayed his hand and got caught bluffing. Some team will pick him up next season, but that big free agent contract? It's flushed down the crapper.

his on-court production is not worth a big contract anyway!

he forgot that part

well he couldve at least gotten a big contract for dillon brooks

This is so crazy now pic.twitter.com/yHfvjnVvYR

— Dom2K 🌊🏖 (@Dom_2k) May 2, 2023

really wondering if shams overstepped with the 'under any circumstances' part. it doesn't appear to be a direct quote

i can't recall any team in any sport ever saying such a thing? even trevor bauer got a much more anodyne statement

lol absolute ethering by draymond

his on-court production is not worth a big contract anyway!

― ciderpress, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 2:27 PM (forty-five minutes ago)

it depends on what you mean by "big" but he was prob in line to get something between a 4/60 and 4/80 contract, very standard rotation wing role player who hits FA money. at this point it feels like him getting even half of the 60 would be a surprise

At the end of the day, Dillon Brooks wants a bigger role, and the Grizzlies can't offer that.

DB on Sunday: "I was just there to three-and-D, shoot and play defense. I got way more to my game than that."

My story on how the two sides came to a split. https://t.co/OYXTAeyMQC

— Damichael Cole (@DamichaelC) May 2, 2023

someone should show him his stats

they say its not boasting if you can back it up. conclusion: he's boasting.

oh my god that draymond video lmaooooooooooo

it was brutal at the time but now its apocalyptic

surprised/disappointed that no one in the comments put it over the ether beat yet

how did I never see that draymond video!!!

someone should show him his stats

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 2, 2023 3:27 PM (five hours ago) bookmark

ts%: 7th percentile
3 pt shooting: 27th percentile
defensive rebound rate: 12th percentile
assist rate: 52nd percentile

he’s been 97th and 95th %ile in defensive EPM the past 2 seasons but is in the bottom half of the league in steals and blocks. he’s got a ton of motor but there is basically nothing in his foundational stats to suggest he has any real skills to build on…the grizzlies (and likely any other contending team) realize his contract is going to be underwater the minute the ink is dry

Had new Suns owner Mat Ishbia on my pod and asked him about his rivalry with Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. Put it this way: he didn’t duck the question. pic.twitter.com/QFeKFiRvoa

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 3, 2023

need to know more about what dan gilbert does thats the wrong way

the whole interview is good, he has no idea what he's doing yet but sounds absolutely thrilled to be here lol

I didn’t listen to the whole thing but my impression is the guy likes himself some cocaine

ts%: 7th percentile
3 pt shooting: 27th percentile
defensive rebound rate: 12th percentile
assist rate: 52nd percentile

he’s been 97th and 95th %ile in defensive EPM the past 2 seasons but is in the bottom half of the league in steals and blocks. he’s got a ton of motor but there is basically nothing in his foundational stats to suggest he has any real skills to build on…the grizzlies (and likely any other contending team) realize his contract is going to be underwater the minute the ink is dry

― k3vin k., Tuesday, May 2, 2023 9:28 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

hollinger:

It is impossible to discuss Dillon Brooks without discussing The Line, the razor-thin one between competitive and crazy that he must straddle to succeed as an NBA player.

All players must do so, to a certain extent, but in Brooks’s case it’s a non-negotiable term of his NBA survival.

Every significant player in the league got here because he has at least one freakish talent, one superpower. That goes for even the role players who you don’t often think about. Brooks’s superpower is “insane competitiveness,” and without it he’s probably playing in Grand Rapids or Gran Canaria right now. It got him in trouble sometimes as a younger player, especially. If somebody scored on him, he had to resist the urge to immediately score on that guy at the other end, no matter what kind of Kobe shot he had to take

And it got him in trouble more recently, obviously, when he played a wrestling heel a little too well at the start of the Grizzlies’ first-round series against the Lakers and couldn’t back up his words.

Nonetheless, that fire is how he became an elite defensive player despite physical tools that would seemingly make such an achievement unlikely – including one of the few wingspans in recent league annals that measure shorter than his height, and a pudgy teenage body he transformed into its current chiseled state. To make it work, though, he has to play right on the edge, where it periodically spills over into techs, flagrants and forced shots. It’s a tricky balance.

insane competitiveness *is* an NBA super power tho. i don’t think that part is bogus

idk most nba players are prob pretty competitive

eric spoelstra would disagree with you on that one

well, i guess he would more disagree with the notion that insane competitiveness isn’t an NBA superpower

the issue is that brooks has the insane competitiveness without the counterweight of self awareness, which is what made that draymond clip so devastating. bcuz draymond has both

the coach perspective is a particular one, they have these players and theyre not trying to analyze them theyre trying to win games, they cant really make the players better at basketball skills like shooting at least not in the short term so they focus on things like effort execution etc, which makes total sense, tho its not uncommon for coaches to get high on their own supply and start to believe that those are really the only things that matter and you see them do things like play washed vets over talented rookies

also i think theres a lot of things that people call competitiveness that arent really like motor which is more of a talent than it is an effort thing

if extreme competitiveness was really "an nba superpower" (pile of shit phrase flush it away please) the league would be full of dylan brookses but its not and in fact he sucks

the reason everyone doesnt play with a marcus smart or draymond green level motor isnt because they lack the desire to achieve a basketball success wins mindset its because if they played like that they would make mistakes and be bad at basketball, like dylan brooks is, playing with high intensity is a skill not a power

motor is it should also be said psychological some people just have more energy than others

*physiological

brooks was a top 60 overall player in his high school class, which means that he was both a very talented basketball player and was also ranked behind lots of guys who never even sniffed the NBA. so it’s not like we’re talking about pat bev or something here, i think his raw talent is prob being a bit understated. but also i buy there is something about his drive that mattered in a real way in terms of him becoming a fulcrum of an NBA franchise for a period of time

I mean he was a second round pick with bad measurements and borderline NBA skills, he’s not a guy who’s going to be a starter for 12 years imo. he might be a heat culture guy tho they should take a flier

someone should do a heat culture team with delusional guys i would tune in

he needs to go to the mavs

Whatever team trades for Kat should sign him

I mean he was a second round pick with bad measurements and borderline NBA skills, he’s not a guy who’s going to be a starter for 12 years imo. he might be a heat culture guy tho they should take a flier

― k3vin k., Thursday, May 4, 2023 10:52 AM (fifty-one minutes ago)

his last two years at oregon he was the leading scorer on the team in seasons where they were a 1 seed in the tournament that made the elite 8 and then a 3 seed that made the final four. that first season he put up 16-5-3 on 47/33/80 splits, that second season he put up 16-3-3 on 48/40/74 shooting. some of the illustrious names drafted before him in the second round include frank jackson, wes iwundu, frank mason, ivan rabb, jonah bolden, semi ojeleye, jordan bell, juwaun evans, dwayne bacon, and tyler dorsey. so maybe his "bad measurements" and "borderline NBA skills" were actually just misevaluations by NBA front offices?

he also was given a 3/35 extension by the grizz. the only guys drafted in the second round that year who made it to a second deal are thomas bryant, isiah hartenstein (the immediate two picks before brooks, oddly) and monte morris. dude was just underrated by the league *shrugs*

hartenstein will prob make it to a third deal. half the first round that year is already out of the league or on minimum contracts at the end of benches. he was clearly a first round talent, the league just whiffed on him. which happens. but the characterization of him as a no talent try hard doesn't actually hold up to scrutiny, to me. he's a flawed player quite clearly but also clearly an NBA talent.

hes a very good defender but a strong minus on offense that adds up to what a situational bench guy, but then also he has alienating personality and doesnt at all understand his niche, sure hes better than guys drafted ahead of him who arent in the league but also hes just not that good

if he could learn to his an open three and understand his role hed be a solid starter but he seems pretty far from that right now

for sure. you're just gonna have a hard time convincing that, despite what NBA front offices thought, dillon brooks was not one of the 32 most talented players in his draft class. what was the amazing talent being displayed by justin patton, DJ wilson, TJ leaf, terrance ferguson etc? those guys are probably better athletes (though are they really?), but that isn't basketball talent

no doubt hed be in the 1st round of a redraft but also the draft is just kinda like that

interesting little discussion here

Agree with your larger point and obviously you know Dillon personally, but I continue to question that he needs to play up to the line on offense to be able to do so on defense when Kyle Lowry and Marcus Smart have managed to find that necessary balance.

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) May 4, 2023

This season, his field goal attempts were down when Morant/Bane both played. He was taking a lesser role, but somehow shooting even worse. Made it clear he wasn't happy with that role, though.

— Chris Herrington (@ChrisHerrington) May 4, 2023

yeah it was like it neutered him somehow

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) May 4, 2023

taking bad fall away long 2s are somehow his best % shots

— Faceless Man (@Topher_Jones) May 4, 2023

yeah, for whatever reason that's been a bigger "me vs. me" -type battle for him than for those other guys you mentioned. Although in Lowry's case that also was accomplished by changing from an awful shooter to an awesome one.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) May 4, 2023

I suppose it’s possible that he goes from an atrocious shooter to a great one…personally I would not bet on it

yeah. Marcus Smart was 24 and in his 5th season when he became a more consistently good-enough-to-stay-on-the-floor shooter. Brooks is 27 and entering his 7th. tbf in a smaller role he was a league avg 3p shooter for his first few years, but unlike marcus he hasn't really shown improvement on offense, has moved in the other direction

yeah marcus is a good playmaker too and just generally a high level basketball understander where brooks is very much not

marcus was also the no 1 PG in his high school class and the 6th pick in the draft. he should be better at all those things than dillon brooks.

and is

he was the projected #1 pick in the anthony bennett draft but he stayed for his sophomore season, rare decision that never gets talked about, not sure he wouldve actually been the 1 pick in that fucked up draft but still very rare for someone whos projected so high to stick around

wow didn't remember that

i wasn't suggesting they were comparable across the board, just looking for comps of guys whose shooting limited the role you could give them who made it work

https://stathead.com/basketball/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1=brookdi01&p1yrfrom=2023&player_id2=smartma01&p2yrfrom=2023

yeah marcus has had a very weird career trajectory. i guess you'd put him in a group w/ like wiggins & harrison barnes as super hyped talents who, in retrospect, clearly were never gonna be perennial all stars but ended up as key role players on great/title teams. but it never quite felt like those two guys were ever like fully headed out of an NBA rotation the way it was w/ marcus for a bit?

interesting to me how few defensive stocks dillon picks up for a defensive minded player. more of a gets his body into you defender but not a lot of deflections/steals come from it

yeah. that feels like a wingspan thing. he also plays w/ the best rim protector in the league so that might have some effect on it... tho that also makes it easier for him to guard body to body as he does

I think it's worth noting that Brooks has successfully promoted himself into the consciousness of the hoops media and fans to where we ILHers are arguing about his skill set and speculating about his next team. Not many 2nd round picks whose talent makes them a natural 'situational defense bench players' manages to draw this much of our attention. He's now marginally famous, where justin patton, DJ wilson, TJ leaf, terrance ferguson, etc have dropped off the edge of the world. This may not be an nba-level superpower, but you have to admit it is pretty astonishing.

also the game last night stank so there's nothing else to talk about

he promoted himself mush like patbev by being repulsive

wow didn't remember that

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, May 4, 2023 2:08 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah dont remember if it was true by the end of the season but def at some point

there's this theory that there is no bad publicity. we'll now see if NBA FO's think he's got that dawg in him, or if he just screwed the pooch.

yeah marcus has had a very weird career trajectory. i guess you'd put him in a group w/ like wiggins & harrison barnes as super hyped talents who, in retrospect, clearly were never gonna be perennial all stars but ended up as key role players on great/title teams. but it never quite felt like those two guys were ever like fully headed out of an NBA rotation the way it was w/ marcus for a bit?

― J0rdan S., Thursday, May 4, 2023 2:11 PM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i dont think i ever thought he was gonna wash out but being an 8th man was def on the table, idk why he was ever considered a top prospect tbh part of it is prob that his class was weak and i guess that was the era when everyone was stoked on big dynamic point guards, but with say wiggins you can understand the hype its like he was built in a basketball laboratory, but with marcus i dont see it hes not that athletic he doesnt have some crazy deep bag etc

guess it was more of a high school assessment which are not known for their accuracy cause by the time hed done two years of college he went 6th which is more accurate but even there you want to draft more of a high upside player typically

yeah i remember watching him at ok st and thinking that he seemed like a good player but that he was clearly several levels below blake griffin or whatever

the players from the top 10 of marcus class who made the nba were nerlens noel, shabazz muhammad, kyle anderson, steven adams, sam dekker and anthony bennett. kris dunn was 11 on this 247 list i'm looking at. has to be one of the worst high school classes of the 2010s

lol yeah thats bad

no less than 4 future Timberwolfs!

hahaha

it's amazing, like if all these years you would have just assigned a number 1-10 to the ten highest rated players left in the draft and used a random number generator to pick one, you'd probably have a better record

BREAKING: The Milwaukee Bucks dismissed coach Mike Budenholzer, sources tell ESPN. Budenholzer is out after the East’s top-seed suffered a first-round loss to the Miami Heat. pic.twitter.com/wQp0Zk3lxi

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2023

there you have it

not much choice there

thank you for the wonderful culture of winning we love it but no thank you to the culture of losing in the first round it sucks

In a statement, Bucks GM Jon Horst said: “We are grateful for the culture of winning and leadership that Bud helped create in Milwaukee.”

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2023

damn rip big man

trying to think of what underachieving team on the rise could use a floor-raiser like bud next season and im struggling.

mavs

thats crazy enough to work but i wonder if cubes would settle for a reliable camry rather than roll the dice on a yet-to-explode tesla.

if i were a coach i wouldnt go near a team with kyrie on it, assuming they resign him

pistons?

the suns should go for nurse. i like bud for detroit

voodoo otm

bucks gotta get nurse

i bet he takes some time off and does some
thibs style tour around the league advertising how he’s unlearning bad habits

bud feels like a much better coach than JB bickerstsff to me but the cavs seem locked in with him. the bulls? donovan prob maxing that roster out already

there really isn’t a good fit on paper. the bucks also had to pay out his final two years so unless he’s just one of these guys who can’t do anything with his life but coach basketball idk why he wouldn’t just wait around a bit

might be wise to see where wemby ends up then make a choice.

i wonder if ime udoka regrets jumping on the rockets job lol

He should be happy to be back on a team as a head coach, getting paid millions. He was an assistant coach not that long ago, jumped up to head and then fucked up right away.

Nah we don’t want him sorry

tim connelly did a recent interview with wcco radio (which broadcasts the games locally) and refused to answer definitely yes or no regarding his future with the wolves

his own future?

Yes he's being rumored for the Washington job

Would be so hilarious if he did the Gobert deal and jetted

wow!

what does he know

Brian Windhorst believes Milwaukee could be in trouble with the uncertainty surrounding Giannis’ extension and the free agent decisions of Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez 😬

“[Marc Lasry sold] because of the thundercloud that's on the horizon.”

pic.twitter.com/VXhXWAv2LW

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 5, 2023

Knicks fans and NY sports radio already convinced they are getting Giannis.

lmao

I know!

They haven’t even admitted they weren’t as good as Heat yet.

Fifteen-year NBA veteran and ESPN analyst JJ Redick has interviewed for the Toronto Raptors’ coaching job, sources tell ESPN. Redick was part of a first-round of candidates to meet with franchise leadership.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 10, 2023

sure why not

if it means his podcast goes away i'll take it

lol

Giving up on Mark Jackson ever getting hired and off tv again

???

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvysuV2XgAIdMch?format=jpg&name=large

look he did not say dinosaurs never existed

fair I also have not said that

just asking questions (about dinosaurs)

hey, i’m positing here

dino skeptic coaches RAPTORS?? problematic

Pascal Siakam does not make All-NBA. Raps can offer him a four-year extension worth about $192.2M over offseason rather than five years and $290.3M

— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) May 10, 2023

nice way to save $100m

ESPN Sources: The Milwaukee Bucks have secured permission to interview to Portland Trail Blazers assistant Scott Brooks for franchise’s head coaching job. Brooks has a 521-414 (.557) regular season and 49-48 (.505) playoff record in 12 seasons with Oklahoma City and Washington.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 11, 2023

lol oh no

i dont even remember what his coaching vices are

the wizards are the most black hole team he might as well have ceased to exist

well he’s not known as a master tactician, let me put it that way

lol

Teams are well aware Chris Paul’s contract is only half-guaranteed for 2023-24. Deandre Ayton will have suitors on the trade market. Monty Williams’ name has surfaced in Bucks coaching whispers. For @YahooSports, what’s next for Phoenix is anyone’s guess: https://t.co/AyIDafIsRb

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) May 12, 2023

Teams are well aware Chris Paul’s contract is only half-guaranteed for 2023-24. Deandre Ayton will have suitors on the trade market. Monty Williams’ name has surfaced in Bucks coaching whispers. For @YahooSports, what’s next for Phoenix is anyone’s guess: https://t.co/AyIDafIsRb

— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) May 12, 2023

oh my god I'd rather they'd just kept Bud then resort to Scott Brooks

monty a downgrade on Xs and Os too lol

suns: welcome to the nba offseason

hahah teams are well aware of this thing that has been public knowledge for 2 years.

i feel like james jones is not the guy to overhaul this but who knows.

Phoenix Buns. pic.twitter.com/X2xMEP7NJv

— nba paint (@nba_paint) May 12, 2023

knicks: welcome to the nba offseason

warriors: welcome to the nba offseason

Who are these Ayton suitors and wtf are they watching

yeah hard to imagine that contract being above water but there might be someone dumb out there who thinks they can fix him

i think there are teams who could fix him but not at that price

contextually speaking he is probably not hugely overpaid at mid $30m prices for his whole contract if all you were looking for is a pretty good young big man to help you be a pretty good regular season team. there’s gonna be lots of guys on $50m+ salaries in a few years when ayton is still at like $34m. now guys like shai & mitchell are on the same contract and by that standard ayton’s deal doesn’t look great but it’s more that those guys are grossly underpaid than ayton being overpaid. i think if you want him to be like… an actual impact player and certainly in the playoffs is where i would run for the hills

the suns problem is that they’re selling low on him w/o much leverage bcuz of how toxic the situation seems & i think the teams that will look at him as a player they couldn’t otherwise acquire are the bad and/or small market teams. who are you getting off a roster like charlotte or houston or dallas or whatever to help you win high level playoff games next season? what do draft picks do for them. kinda incongruent to me. i don’t see what contender is gonna look at him and think he’s boosting them a level & literally any team with a center on a real deal is not going to be in the market. when he was a RFA the teams that went after him were indiana and like detroit? and neither of those teams need a center now

no ones paying traditional centers $50m much less mediocre ones like ayton hes prob overpaid by 2x, that contract is just not good or reasonable in any way

here are the top 15 center salaries for next year

1. jokic - 46.9m (proj)
2. embiid - 46.9 (proj)
3. gobert - 41
4. davis - 40.6
5. towns - 36
6. adebayo - 32.6
7. ayton - 32.4
8. turner - 21
9. capela - 20.6
10. allen - 20
11. nurkic - 16.8
12. robinson - 15.6
13. jonas - 15.4
14. carter jr - 13
15. adams - 12.6

some of these guys need better agents! wendell carter’s contract actually has two declining years after this lol. there is a noticeable cliff after ayton where you drop from the low 30s to the 20s… would be hard to argue that he isn’t more in the latter class. some of those guys — allen, jonas, capela — do feel more limited to me *in theory* and ayton in the suns finals run did put up some games you don’t typically see from those guys. but i guess this is the trap ppl fall into with ayton bcuz the reality is more like, yeah most times he plays like one of these guys getting paid $13m. he does have youth and athleticism on his side but at some point you do have to stop wishing on it. it would be a lot easier if there was any shred of evidence that you should have more than one center on your team but we don’t live in that world! as some teams are still learning…

some team is going to 100% say the suns were a bad fit for him, he needs a different environment, they never really tried to feature him on offense, etc. etc. we can fix him.

monty williams welcome to the nba offseason

BREAKING: The Phoenix Suns dismissed coach Monty Williams, sources tell ESPN. Williams was a two-time NBA Coach of the Year in four seasons with Suns — including a trip to 2021 NBA Finals. Suns lost 6-game series to Nuggets in Western Semifinals. pic.twitter.com/bfMd6F1RJc

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 14, 2023

impossible to tell who shams source is

Mat Ishbia and James Jones begin an aggressive offseason solely focused on a championship. And with two top-10 players in Kevin Durant and Devin Booker under contract long-term, an attractive market and driven, dynamic ownership, Suns become the destination coaching job opening. https://t.co/lvdi66CfC3

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 14, 2023

have fun with nick nurse guys!

def gonna be nurse

bud and monty were in the finals two years ago, both unemployed now

what if it’s nash lol

bring in kyrie for cp too

Is Nurse in play for Milwaukee

J0rdan S must be otherwise engaged so here i will mention that all these coaches of the year are getting canned while eric spoelstra prepares for the ECF

most of these coaches are fine, the playoffs are hard and being the fall guy is part of the coach's job in most orgs alas

every time a bunch of teams all hire each other's just-dismissed coaches is pretty funny though

The Suns, league sources say, are expected to explore the feasibility of trying to lure Tyronn Lue away from the Clippers after tonight's abrupt dismissal of Monty Williams as coach.

More NBA from me: https://t.co/A6ycVmnrjq

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 14, 2023

Budenholzer I get, can't get the #1 overall seed at the end of your team's championship window and lose to an 8 seed. In 5 games no less. Monty on the other hand, I'm not sure what exactly they expected with that roster, especially with CP3 out. Taking the best team in the West to 6 games is about what you'd expect.

it's just general managers scapegoating coaches

love to explore the feasibility of trying to lure

i do think it's weird that monty has somehow publicly poisoned relations with both crowder and ayton and something i would at least want to talk to him about if it was my decision

new owners love to just fire everybody and do it their way ime

love to explore the feasibility of trying to lure

― Spottie, Saturday, May 13, 2023 10:49 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

not even this. they’re expected to do this!

Lol

wow I'm shocked after his very sincere repentance for the last incident

https://clutchpoints.com/grizzlies-news-ja-morant-seen-flashing-gun-on-ig-live

WHAT cmon

“Ja we’re about to go live on IG!”

Ja Morant: pic.twitter.com/X7A15h8kIO

— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) May 14, 2023

jfc man

my first reaction was hes subconsciously trying to sabotage his career but then i watched the video and hes just an idiot

lol

The phrase “Ishbia has taken full control over basketball operations” has been removed from Woj’s article. https://t.co/pqGLTB7h0F

— Mike Vigil (@protectedpick) May 14, 2023

enjoying this new over involved owner speed run

he has to trade for kyrie now, the story demands it

Grizzlies suspend Ja Morant from all team activities after another video with a gun on social media. pic.twitter.com/ojJCikC2XX

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 14, 2023

*weird voice* that wasn’t my intention, it’s not who I am

instead of rehab they should send him to a gun safety class this time

jalen rose reconsidering his journalism career

Incredible

Ishbia stuff is a tale as old as time too. But suns fans are happy it’s not sarver… at least.

he’s offering up a really really bad combo of new owner syndrome plus having walked onto his college basketball team so he thinks he knows ball PLUS being close personal friends w one of the worst GMs in NBA history. i’m not feeling great for suns fans

know which fanbase should feel really good about their new owner? utah

being friends with danny ainge vs being friends with isiah thomas

The Milwaukee Bucks are interviewing former Golden State coach Mark Jackson for their open head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Jackson, who had a .526 winning percentage in three seasons as Warriors coach, was a finalist for the Kings job last year.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 14, 2023

Sorry frogs, we need this to happen

Lol we need it. Another defensive coach with zero imagination on offense what could go wrong

also he'll be off tv

yes thats why we need it

momma, there goes that man......being the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks

a finalist for the Kings job last year.

The Kings came to their sense in time.

still dont see how jackson ever gets hired again after how he behaved in oakland

hahaha prayers up for froggy

Feel like shit just want him (Mike Budenholzer) back

Wow @ ja morant, I mean wtf man

its unbelievable

Or quite believable, unfortunately.

Might have to set a news alert for "ja morant" + "since-deleted video"

76ers: welcome to the nba offseason

wow I guess with the playoffs and everything it seems so long ago but the first incident was basically two months to the date

It was perfect timing for ja to lay low, Dillon brooks took all the heat over the last 4-6 weeks and they even threw him under the bus. But ja just couldn’t help himself.

its one thing to be a hopeless fuck up but to do exactly the same thing that got you dinged in the first place is just ludicrous

ja probably has so much money at this point nothing bad will happen to him outside of something random like gun violence.

oops.

yeah that he’s just, like, posing with guns on Instagram live again is super weird cry for help shit

morant basically got a vacation for the last one. hate being this cynical, but i can't say i'm surprised.

grizzlies should can him, honestly. what a dunce.

ja’s thing almost fetishistic at this point…

gun culture huh

I guess his "don't be a dumbass" rehab didn't work.

checking into betty ford bc im addicted to the game

― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Sunday, March 5, 2023 7:50 PM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink

smh

“I can’t win alone. Me and James [Harden], we just can’t win alone. That’s why basketball is played 5-on-5.”

Joel Embiid after the Sixers’ Game 7 loss to the Celtics 👀pic.twitter.com/L3KB6geaUT

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 14, 2023

that is true. especially when the two of you go 8-for-29, 24 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 9 turnovers combined

lol really poor form there from jo

look I understand his saltiness given how many times they've tried and failed to get over the hump, but yeah that's a curious comment after a game where you both sucked

it would be a bad thing to say even if he played great but considering the circumstance its just wildly clueless

i just watched the whole thing and he was kind of just rambling not sure if he even knew what he was saying tbf

and then the nba tv guys were like wow some really honesty from joel there lol just shoveling the slop for them

idk that 2nd half really was stunning, not gonna say the Sixers played well at all but still watching every single shot just rim out while the Cs were hitting 3 after 3 after 3 is pretty demoralizing

i know ja was just probably just hanging out with the boys, but it seems like if you flash a gun at people enough times, someone might take it the wrong way eventually? like, regardless of what the discourse thinks about it

hope the nra is gearing up to protect his 2A rights

Reporter: "How is your relationship with Doc [Rivers] and would you like to see him back next season?"

James Harden: "Uh, our relationship is OK." 😬pic.twitter.com/Q2QzC2SEjI

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 14, 2023

there was a close-up on doc after one of harden’s game 7 glitches where it was clear doc was just done with him

I've not been a Doc fan, but none of this particular meltdown was his fault.

Still, bring on Nick Nurse.

i agree that doc acquitted himself fairly well in that series. the issues go behind him

idk feel like he should had something for the celtics pick and roll defense yesterday as they were doing the same thing as the last game, i mean it couldve just been a dead end and the celtics had them figured out but i didnt see any attempt at an adjustment, like maybe use an empty corner for the pick and roll so the celtics cant help as easy, maybe they thought that corner shooter was an advantage for them tucker didnt hit 3-6 but hes so slow if you can recover at all its just not happening

not to repeat myself but to me they have an intractable problem which is always having two non shooters on the floor. the sixers generated tons of open threes & were hitting shots at the beginning of the game when it looked like it would be competitive but boston didn’t care and those shots stopped falling. they had rob will playing free safety pretty much all game. and of course the two primary in the harden embiid pick and roll losing the ability to play basketball can’t help

Sixers trying to do little things to move RWIII around. His matchup is on the wing again. Harden/Embiid P&R, Horford in a drop but he's pointing for RWIII to help so he can recover. Issue is that opens up a 2v1 for Sixers. Have to hit these notes. pic.twitter.com/zmxLZJBSFL

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 14, 2023

taking a little gander at philly's cap sheet, thinking about how it'll just end up being a gift for them if harden opts out and goes to houston or whatever, rip the bandaid off... but why on earth did they give pj tucker a player option for his age 39 season

moreys role player additions have been so lazy you need to go out and find your own pj tucker not sign literal pj tucker

his star addition was lazy too tbf

you need to go out and find your own james harden not sign literal james harden

lol

falling in love with your own guys is just one of those gm blind spots that you don't know if your guy is gonna have until the time comes. thibs another big one comes to mind, did you know derrick rose has a $15m player option for next year?

taj gibson is also a free agent, i think his toughness and veteran leadership on the bench is the missing ingredient that julius randle needs to get over the hump

you need to go out and find your own james harden not sign literal james harden

― ciderpress, Monday, May 15, 2023 1:26 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lke for instance tyrese haliburton

doubt that guy is available

he was tho

but why on earth did they give pj tucker a player option for his age 39 season

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, May 15, 2023 12:34 PM (one hour ago)

because the only way to get him to leave a better situation in miami was to offer him that money. the heat could have matched and let him walk which is very illustrative of the differences between those two franchises. PJ tucker was a great fit in miami and was quite a good player last season, but the heat don't need to import mental toughness. the sixers legitimately thought that overpaying for tucker would just fix all their problems & this narrative was fully bought into by the media and sixers fans after game 5. alas the power of embiid and harden was greater than the power of PJ tucker.

i'm sure that morey would say that an extra $10 million tacked onto tucker's contract is worth the value he provided to them this season and in the playoffs and maybe he's right. pat riley disagreed but riley is wrong a lot too. but it's more emblematic of a rot w/in the franchise of looking elsewhere to fix deep issues that need to be uprooted from w/in the self

tucker also on a pretty steep curve of showing his age, you could say they were betting against that happening quite so swiftly.

“I would not be shocked if Isiah Thomas is the coach of this team.”

- @TheFrankIsola on the Phoenix Suns

(Via @SiriusXMNBA ) pic.twitter.com/z3Kv6dqohQ

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 15, 2023

that is a great outfit, at least

oh no suns

https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/article/jordan-poole-warriors-exit-interview-18100505.php

it is kind of weird that there is some expectation that he would be cool with Draymond. if a coworker punched me like that I would hate them forever.

yeah reasonable

DOC FIRED

The Sixers’ search for a new coach is expected to include Mike Budenholzer, Sam Cassell, Mike D’Antoni, Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel and Monty Williams, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 16, 2023

man it’s a bloodbath out there

ngl i thought doc might survive but most of those guys listed could prob do as good of a job

resigning harden & hiring d'antoni would be hysterical tho

Nick Nurse or bust (bust = D'Antoni and Harden).

wld honestly be interested to see a diantoni-embiid offense

Yeah, they aren't getting past the second round as it is, might as well be all in. They'll be back in the Process in under five years regardless.

we’ll always have the eagles

imo embiid is good enough that they could still strike gold one year and win a ring like dirk with the mavs, they really need now that hes got his mvp focus on having him healthy and rested going into the offs, also they need to not resign harden lol

oh right the draft lottery is tonight

orlando will win it again, proving that the league is rigged in their favor

my main question with the sixers is can they really bring back harden on a 4 year max? is that actually a tenable relationship between player and fanbase? i'm positive daryl would do it in a heartbeat but it feels like a really bad idea to me. but also that everything they do this offseason flows from that one question

they should want no part of harden unless they can sign him to an extremely team friendly short contract so they can trade him

yeah theres no way you can make him the highest paid player in the league hes not that good

if i was a sixers fan i would be really worried both about how daryl views this kinda thing in general -- stars matters, assets matter, figure the rest out later -- *and* of course how he views harden specifically. it's really no secret that harden gave up money this year so that they could sign guys w/ the understanding that they would take care of him on his next contract. and it's not like this outcome should have been a surprise to daryl, he's defended harden through it all. i don't feel like the wool has suddenly been removed from his eyes after game 7. so why wouldn't he give harden a 4 year max & then hire his preferred coach?

The "let's just do it and be legends" style of gming, respect.

Harden's game is really not gonna age well over the next 2 years, let alone 4. compared to just about any other volume shooter he relies on footwork and little advantages around the margins to get his points, and even his passing is so intertwined with his drive and kick and if he can't get into the lane he's not even going to be a great caretaker pg. plus i doubt he's gonna keep getting friendly whistles on his foul baiting as his superstardom recedes in memory. i get how painful it is to lose someone for nothing, esp when you've given up picks and stuff to get him, but personally i think it would be deadly for the sixers to bring him back on a multiyear deal, unless morey has some wizardry in store to dump tobias' contract and make harden more of a #3 than a #2. which i mean he probably does, he's daryl morey, but how much more can you possibly hollow out this roster

harden "taking less money" was such a scam lol

heh

It is going to be hilarious watching NBA teams try to figure out how to defend Victor Wembanyama. pic.twitter.com/p7avnVVZr5

— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) May 9, 2023

low post move executed from the high post

he’s 4 feet taller than the guy defending him

what could go wrong

"This is the most highly-anticipated player to ever enter the NBA. ... Maybe the greatest prospect in the history of team sports."

- @wojespn on Wemby

(Via ESPN) pic.twitter.com/mnhGTjpBWi

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 16, 2023

still gotta see how he guards the pnr lol

come on LeBron was still in high school when people started calling him the next Michael Jordan. ESPN were even broadcasting some of his HS games which I don't think they've done since.

yeah nothing will top the lebron hype imo

he can prob guard the pnr by extending his arms very wide

might work!

his wingspan is 6" more than zingers lol

yeah trying to put him ahead of bron as a prospect is ridiculous

i think even like... zion had more hype than this. kids arent hunting down wemby highlights

i guess "most hype" and "greatest prospect" are slightly different things tho

instant unicorn just add water

wemby needs to be more durable than chet if he's going to live up to his hype. his skills are not in question.

Holmgren has had one injury, it’s entirely possible he won’t be durable but no one knows that yet

you know what, I'm rooting for the Spurs to get it, they seem least likely to fuck it up

hell yeah woj calling wemby "the greatest prospect in the history of team sports" 2 minutes into the program

I mean I will buy that some players might be more genetically predisposed to injury than others to a degree, but by far the biggest cause of injury is random bad luck, your foot comes down funny, you get tangled up with another player, etc.

surprise reveal! the first pick goes to the newly reinstated seattle supersonics

ok here we go i hope something crazy happens

damn ben wallace lookin like the world's hardest old man

yeah very cool look

mavs keep their pick…

congrats to them

pistons screwed!

FOLKS,

blazers jump into the top 4

ouch pistons got screwed

spurs rockets hornets blazers let's goooo

my hopes here

1. spurs
2. blazers
3. hornets
4. rockets

please spurs or blazers PLEASE

rockets would be depressing as hell, charlotte is limbo

ah dang

wow

the spurs!

HELL YAH

honestly i fuck with this

Awesome

Pop just woke up and is ready for 20 more years

Congrats bison

wow, really dodged a hornet-shaped bullet there

this guy is like “wow i don’t have to do any work for the next 20 years woooooooooo”

m bison i curse theeeeeeeeee

nice, good outcome

scoot henderson & lonzo ball? i think not

i mean lamelo…

wemby to bise

the scream i just scrommed

RIGGED!

tillman fertita fucked over gotta love it

miller to the hornets is fine i won't have to think about him ever

RIGGED!

― k3vin k., Tuesday, May 16, 2023 8:29 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

he can learn from the likes of miles bridges

well best case for portland they trade dame for a cache of whatever and "Reboot with Scoot" ((c) clay 2023)

Congrats m bise, and congrats wemby for going to by far the most solid org in the top 6 (with all due respect to portland)

woj saying “the spurs just built a new 500 million practice facility…almost like they planned this out”

*windhorst voice* now why would he say that?

the scream i just scrommed

― slai gorgeous-alexander (m bison), Tuesday, May 16, 2023 5:29 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

bise r u Peter J. Holt?

Spurs owner Peter J. Holt was HYPED after his team landed the first overall pick and the right to draft Victor Wembanyama 🔥 pic.twitter.com/d2iiMInfjh

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 17, 2023

lol xp

(with all due respect to portland)

portland is presently not a top 25 nba org

xp scoot it and boot it

*many xps

I mean I will buy that some players might be more genetically predisposed to injury than others to a degree, but by far the biggest cause of injury is random bad luck, your foot comes down funny, you get tangled up with another player, etc.

The concern with these 7-footers isn't so much genetics, but instead the simple geometry/math of their height works against them: your weight increases at far faster rate the taller you get, so the amount of stress being put on the legs/feet of someone doing NBA things is probably going to limit their longevity.

Mavericks bet it all on the biggest headcase in the league, miss the playoffs, get to keep a draft pick who will wash out before his rookie contract is over

lol

Just finished talking to Spurs GM Brian Wright and chairman Peter John Holt. Hilariously noncommittal about whom they might take at 1.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) May 17, 2023

xps Clay ya I was being kind, I have respect for the org and the history and dame but they’re not exactly killing it these days

I didn't know Howard Dean owned SAS,

Congrats, m bison, may your process be short and fruitful.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37672129/milwaukee-bucks-interview-houston-kelvin-sampson-head-coaching-job

jesus fuck

Rudy Gobert has emerged from a 64-hour darkness retreat.

"One of the most powerful experiences I've had in this lifetime," he said on IG. pic.twitter.com/y9gxknlu5z

— Canis Hoopus (@canishoopus) May 19, 2023

are he and aaron rodgers friends?

Sixers’ James Harden expected to reunite with Rockets in free agency, sources say https://t.co/NFOB9pyxmc via @phillyinquirer

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) May 19, 2023

harden really misses that night life

it’s funny that a star player leaving a contender for one of the worst teams in the NBA should be completely inexplicable except we all have watched james harden in the playoffs enough times that we’re just like, yeah this makes a lot of sense actually

he does not care about winning.

honestly I respect it

that man looked at his work-life balance and chose life

our only relatable superstar

he kinda is isn’t he

If I had that kind of world class talent and money I would be the messiest bitch showing up in the weirdest pre-game clothes, who am I kidding.

Summer bod watch starts now

Luka Doncic has hired a nutritionist in Slovenia, per @NickVanExit

League ain’t ready for in shape Luka 🥶#MFFL pic.twitter.com/cL51Iblh9X

— MFFL NATION (@NationMffl) May 19, 2023

is that picture real…

are he and aaron rodgers friends?

both rogan pals iirc

they should all retreat into the darkness, forever

what if the darkness... is inside them

Could that be the same Luka pic from last offseason?

fat Luka is downright adorable

Could that be the same Luka pic from last offseason?

― Cashews Everything Around Me (Leee), Friday, May 19, 2023 10:27 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ya it is

Yes it’s a pic from last season I was more focused on the headline. He came into this last season in good shape but seemed to get more out of shape as the season went on

eating that texas food

Harden going back to Texas to sabotage Luka's diet.

big times in texas, spurs getting wemby, mavs getting ripped luka, rockets getting 34 year old permanent loser james harden

i love eating that food

look the only ppl who arent fat in tx are the ones who hate themselves or have crazy high metabolism

on topic: spurs are apparently still looking at/interviewing amen thompson and cason wallace. good chance they try and package some of their picks to get a second 1st rounder to pair with wembanyama.

They're apparently gonna bring Timmy Duncan back in to mentor Wemby, too

never heard of 'im

psych major from wake forest

Thank you #STAYME7O pic.twitter.com/4au8cOd13s

— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) May 22, 2023

#STAYME7O

re2pect me7o