2022/23 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "TANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

1. draft five centers
2. ?
3. win the nba playoffs

Bridges seems like a Jerami Grant type (though he's better than grant) - he'll probably hold his own as the #1 guy on a bad/mediocre team, prove he can score 22 a game if he needs to, which will raise his stock and which he totally deserves. but then if he can slide back into a second or third guy after, that will be a better fit. but he's def a baller so might prove me wrong

i dont wanna overreact to bridges' 13 games in bk, but hes averaging 26 a game on 51/48/90 splits and theyve won 5 of their last 6 which includes wins over BOS and DEN. i'd wanna see it over the course of a whole year but he might be a #1 guy.

i still think they’re in a great position if they can shake loose a true no 1 scorer via trade to pair with bridges, johnson, DFS and claxton. i think they could reasonably be the third best team in the east really soon if they play their cards right. i saw them (and bridges) on a hot night vs miami before the break but they have crazy good spacing and defense on the wings plus a rim protector. they really just need a lillard, beal, KAT etc type to push to go there

Reporting with @ESPN_MacMahon: Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has entered a counseling program in Florida and there remains no timetable for his return to active play.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 13, 2023

he really did go to rehab for being a fucker

i think he comes back this season tho unless theres another shoe to drop i mean how long does it take to wean yrself off street life

yeah i think he's back by early april unless some more drama unfolds

my conspiracy theory is that two things happen

1. ja leaves the grizzlies for the rest of the season and playoffs for reasons of "mental health"
2. the NBA announces it can't make a determination on whether ja brought his own gun to denver and will not be handing out punishment

we see ja next season after he gives some major interview over the summer about what happened and how he's changed

a shadow suspension because they dont want to deal with the fallout of having to officially find that we was carrying on the team plane

my conspiracy theory is that two things happen

1. ja leaves the grizzlies for the rest of the season and playoffs for reasons of "mental health"
2. the NBA announces it can't make a determination on whether ja brought his own gun to denver and will not be handing out punishment

we see ja next season after he gives some major interview over the summer about what happened and how he's changed

― J0rdan S., Monday, March 13, 2023 8:26 PM (thirty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ah, the Jordan/gambling approach.

while we're baselessly speculating "a counseling program in florida" sure sounds like alcohol rehab

could be any number of things but that does seem the most likely

oof

With news that Ja Morant has entered counseling in Florida, it's hard to imagine him making All-NBA, which I think would have been likely without these incidents. Not making All-NBA would cost him about $39 million, reducing his contract from a projected 5/$233m to 5/$194m

— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) March 14, 2023

expensive rehab

Have been speaking with Ja throughout this & it’s really great to see he’s working through being better in counseling. Last week he texted me this clip we did in 2021 and we talked about the need to take care of yourself.
Passing along that he sees the support and is thankful. https://t.co/tUp0zGnZjc

— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) March 14, 2023

good lord what are the Warriors doing to the Suns right now

bucks-kings is the far more interesting game tonight

yeah it's been an exciting one. they have a great crowd huh

I'm going to tell you guys when I'm just about to throw the Wolves in the dumpster and then you bet on them to win that night, you can't go wrong

conversely when I get the slightest bit of hope you can bet against them

Klay 8 threes in the half, so glad he's back

damn remember when this board was declaring him dead

How to tell when you’re on a heater: off the dribble, stepping to your right, going R-L, with a defender within 2 inches of blocking the shot. Doesn’t matter. pic.twitter.com/Rx1DUlgQ4T

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) March 14, 2023

Big early leads don’t mean much

trey lyles!

Random little scuffle there

"There's things I'm hearing that I'd rather probably not say on this podcast… My guess now is that he doesn't play the rest of the season."

- @MarcJSpears on Ja Morant

(Via The Hoop Collective) pic.twitter.com/7ATA6hjjo9

— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) March 14, 2023

other shoe on its way

would love to be a fly on the wall at the meetings with the TV and nike execs, branding professionals and so forth figuring out how to best message this disaster

we’re hearing that wellness culture is really big with our audience

they just had to dump kyrie too tough time for the brands

kyrie was publicly lighting nike up tho lol. theres no coming back from that. nike is already planning the redemption story for ja im sure .

nike has been through waaaay worse than this... kobe, tiger woods, a rod etc. the best PR crisis consultants prob don't even need to move off the couch to deal w/ ja's level of offenses

other shoe on its way

― lag∞n, Tuesday, March 14, 2023 11:09 AM (forty-nine minutes ago)

idk if there's another shoe on its way i just feel like "i'm taking time to address my mental health after several high profile incidents of increasingly concerning bad behavior but i'm all good now just in time for the playoffs" is not really a tenable position if we're supposed to believe that any of this is being taken seriously on ja's and memphis' side

seems like spears was hinting at the other shoe tho

true xps

cant believe they would let this negative energy in when theyre rolling

ESPN Sources: Seven-footer Meyers Leonard is signing with the Milwaukee Bucks for the rest of the season. Leonard’s second 10-day deal with Bucks expired yesterday and now he remains with the East’s No. 1 seed through the playoffs.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 14, 2023

one of our most exciting young fascists

he's pretty dull afa fascists go honestly

i guess he makes sense there as a homeless man's version of brook lopez

it seems like he's genuinely done whatever work has been asked of him to repair the situation, i don't really have an issue w/ him getting another job in the NBA

you cant reform gamers

btw did you see the tear jerking video his wife made about how hed been out of the nba cause of a misdiagnosed knee injury and their struggles to get back to the league, all of which mightve been true idk but she didnt mention the twitch incident

https://www.nbcsports.com/northwest/portland-trail-blazers/meyers-leonard-gets-100lb-thor-hammer-because-course

you will never be able to think leonard is an okay guy after seeing his personally branded thor hammer

60lbs tops

"Hey honey, your hammer's here!"

nuggets getting their butts kicked in toronto… jokic was not happy with a lot of what was going on defensively

haha was he including himself in that?

MPJ mostly