part two of the nba 2020-21 anything but regular season

bagley fractured hand...

How much would you pay Michael Porter Jr this off-season? Is maxing him out of the question?

maxing him wld be fine imo tho maybe they cld get him for a lil less its only the first contract the max usually works out for players that have shown some promise as theyre still on the upswing of their development and if it doesnt work out the contract isnt going to turn into a total brick, around this time last year people were wondering if the not quite max contract the celtics gave jaylen brown was worth it lol, on the other hand mpj is a huge dumbass and everyone might hate him so that might change the calculus, but if its that big of a problem they shd prob just trade him

brandon ingram got maxed and i don't think they're dissimilar players. it would be cool if mpj could figure out how to get his average assists per game into the realm of whole numbers.

hes such a good shooter, hes "a big wing", and he can do general basketball stuff, hes made for 2021 nba

they'll pay him and should, the biggest concern should be that his back might break at any point

Yeah the injury concerns are the thing. As far as I know he still has drop foot

since the thread isn’t popping tonight i’m going to claim victory for myself and my companions (spottie?) in the offseason argument over whether the suns gave up too much for chris paul when they traded kelly oubre and a protected first

also keeping my eye on:

— colin sexton is a top 30 player and any stat that suggests otherwise is invalid
— trae young’s floor is kyrie irving

and of course the big one:

— the denver nuggets are now contenders in the west

who knows what i said at the time but i hope the record would show that i was pro cp3 to the suns, that was such a slam dunk of a transaction

i remember being in the minority!

j0rdan the receipt puller, damn

i was watching jazz/celtics pretty closely, not posting b/c no one needs to hear me liveblog my reactions to the celtics

fwiw i believe i was on the record as being pro cp3, one of the 5 greatest PGs to ever do it

my official reaction: 2020 nba offseason draft free agency etc

mostly goon and matt were against it. i was in on it but def didnt think theyd be this good at this point in the season.

-oubre is coming back to normal but his start to the season really hammered home how much he didnt really matter to the suns success.
-rubio has been slightly better of late but honestly he's looked like he may be out of the league in a year or two.

i never said they gave up too much for him i said it doesnt makes sense to sign an old guy for a young team, ownership just wants to make the playoffs this year, short term thinking, i stand by it

that’s how i feel about gordon hayward. i think the suns are good enough that losing the first this year will be worth it tho

are we doing a historical reenactment of this conversation they had young team that was starting to win then gave up two decent role players a first and all their cap room for a 35 year old chris paul, whatever the opposite of having a plan is thats it

the hayward signing also didnt makes sense tho at least hes not on the celtics anymore, on the other hand the celtics kinda suck since hes gone

wonder if the hornets wldve passed on hayward if they knew lamelo was gonna be this good, that they had something to live for

really tho they shouldve passed to get a shot at this years best draft ever

have you guys watched cade cunningham my god he is just good at everything and very composed looks like a seven year nba vet out there calmly dismantling his opponents

yeah i respect the hornets wanting to not be a trainwreck and they’re def like.... a pretty decent team. but they really picked the wrong year to not have a top 5 pick. they could’ve set themselves up for a long time if they got one of these guys

it's a pretty unpredictable situation. even the analysts who were super high on lamelo thought he would basically suck this year.

Pretty wild that the hornets landed the best pick and the best free agent really

jazz have had a top defense for the whole gobert era of course but this is the first time they've had a top offense too. maybe they're real this year

i think theyre legit contenders tho mitchell prob needs to be a little bit better than he has been so far for them to go all the way

I’m not buying in yet. Although everything could be open if brows injury lingers, and KDs.

it's a pretty unpredictable situation. even the analysts who were super high on lamelo thought he would basically suck this year.

the jazz are really good. they can put out an impressive amount of shooting. it's just tough for the team that has no major holes but also no top-5 to top-10 player. they have to succeed on their terms and they don't have a backup plan or second gear to go to.

so far (and it's insanely early) the 2020 draft looks like it was assessed pretty well. everyone said it was low on stars but pretty good on role players/depth. i am guessing it will end up on the low side for a metric like all star appearances by the draft class, but will have a bunch of guys who play well for 10 years.

i feel like sometimes when ppl think it’s a down draft it turns out to be better than that, but when ppl think it’s good it’s usually good
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, March 16, 2021 11:44 PM (seventeen seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

the andrew wiggins draft was supposed to be the best ever lol

amazing to see wiggins-jabari parker go 1-2 then scroll down to 41 when jokic pops up, the nba draft not an exact science!

that's a rough one. jabari and exum never really having any continuity in their careers sank that draft (along with wiggins)

so much of it is going to come down to the seeding but i think they’re good enough to beat the clippers in round 2 and then go 6 or 7 in the west finals vs the lakers. i don’t think they will be able to beat lebron unless brow’s achilles thing is a true problem... but even then i’d prob just assume lebron is getting there. some smart NBA media people think the clippers are a bad match up for the jazz bcuz they stress the jazz’s wing players, but something about the clippers still just feels off to me

im sorry the lakers will not be advancing to the nba finals without anthony davis

the jazz having no plus wing defenders will be a problem in the playoffs, i don't think there's any question about that. will be a matter of matchups and luck tbh

they should try to do a trade

god damn i love damian lillard

I MEAN... WUT pic.twitter.com/zg4efbeSnH

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) March 17, 2021

that was really bad lol. you’d almost call it inexplicable except it just felt the entire time like the pelicans were in slow motion collapse that was going to end with smoking rubble

50 spot from dame bringing the blazers back from 17 down putting the blazers on his back the entire fourth quarter... i love some vintage dame post-midnight

he’s really just one of the treasures of the NBA in many ways

The Blazers were down by 17 points with 6 minutes left. They went on a 25-7 run to win the game.

Damian Lillard scored or assisted 18 of those points. He finished with:

50 PTS
10 AST
13-20 FG
6-13 3P
18-18 FT pic.twitter.com/npELwpXxgF

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 17, 2021

Damian Lillard scored 50 points on 20 shots tonight.

That’s the second most points on 20 FGA or fewer since 1983. pic.twitter.com/4QjXibuDr4

— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 17, 2021

i meant to put that in the stats thread

in any event

Damian Lillard is in a different world right now. pic.twitter.com/IGWEo3rrLK

— ProCity Hoops (@ProCityHoops) March 17, 2021

ingram clunking midrange j after midrange j while melo is on Zion and the pelicans can’t get a bucket is...............

it’s a problem. they can’t go either or at the end of games it needs to be zion every possession

as much as i would like to continue the thread in praise of damian lillard, i just read this and i think we will have to talk about it

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/adrien-brody-pat-riley-hbo-lakers-series-1234931961/#!

show sounds pretty tight honestly

i mean there is a 100% chance i will watch the hell out of it, especially if it turns out terribly