( ( ( ( ( nba bubble ball 2020 ) ) ) ) )

fans of teams always assume they will improve "a bunch" from one year to the next. i think it's just as reasonable to point to the vast swaths of NBA history where teams had non-linear and quite tumultuous journeys to success and argue that the team that lost more games than it won in the playoffs and had a negative point differential may still encounter a series of tribulations over the next few seasons before ascending to the top of the mountain.

the book on jamal murray was that he was a really talented scorer whose play could ping wildly between peaks and valleys depending on the night. perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, he managed to play a consistent string of basketball in the year where there was no travel, no road games, and no fans.

Jord they were a top 3 seed in the west for two straight years and made the conference finals

They also have a massive home court advantage which they couldn’t utilize at all

This is gonna be like the 2011 nba draft isn’t it

jokic had great playoffs last two years too proving their best guy can "step up when it matters the most (in the playoffs)"

having said that yeah the climb to the top of the mountain (mount nba) is fraught and can be derailed by all sorts of things, but id def put the nugs amongst the teams that are best positioned 4 success

oh i think the nuggets will continue to be a very good regular season team. they're very young and have one of the best regular season home court advantages in the league. i don't think their seed is going to fall. but when it comes to playoff basketball (the real kind) i still put them behind the LA teams and the warriors, in a group w/ dallas and utah. i would prob but houston a tier below that and then everyone else behind them.

if the nuggets can get the 2 seed next year they'll be well positioned, bcuz just outlining it like that it feels like there's a real drop off after the top 6. i would favor denver w/ home court over houston and any of those other teams. but the second round is going to be fraught for them next year no matter where they're seeded.

either of the LA teams cld easily implode imo theyre good but not dominant, i dont think the warriors will implode but they cld just not be as good anymore

clippers shd try to trade playoff p for playoff embiid

warriors shd try and trade the #2 pick + wiggins for... someone

one thing occurs to me the lakers havent played a super active athletic team yet in the playoffs but both teams in the east are that, that one regular season game the celtics just overwhelmed them with that

Happy with the trade now


Minnesota Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley was arrested Saturday and is being held without bail on felony weapons and drug charges in Minneapolis, according to police records.

Beasley, who averaged 20.7 points in 14 games with the Timberwolves after being traded by the Denver Nuggets, is charged with felony controlled substance/narcotics and felony receiving/concealing stolen property, according to Hennepin County Jail records.

Beasley, 23, was arrested after brandishing a gun at someone who then called police, according to sources. After obtaining a search warrant, officers found marijuana and guns in his home in Plymouth, Minnesota, the sources told ESPN.

davis particularly prefers to play a more deliberate style and can get flustered when teams speed up and swarm, its also the style of play that could make bron show his age or at least just work more than he would like

yeah vs the heat lebron could play a free safety style defense. butler isn’t dominant enough offensively to demand bron’s full attention and the rest of the heat’s offense comes thru the guards or bam. but against boston they will need him on tatum and brown.

Sounds like grant wants to stay with Nuggets and hey why not

matt, just remember that we're talking about a Minnesota police department who swear they 'found' this stuff.

Considering that last off-season Beasley got in a fistfight in an apartment complex lobby I’m gonna say the nuggets made the right call here

guys do we think the crowd-noise person has “beat LA” cued up tonight if the heat are running away with it in the 4th?

lol yeah def should, too bad we will never know tho...

the murray-harris-mpj-grant-jokic 5 is fucking good at everything imo

except defense

if you swapped out mpj u cld have a good defensive unit there

I don’t think he’s saying that all those players are good R everything

I get what he means, it’s a nice balance of skills.

yes, they complement each other

fair

i think theyre the kind of team that will attract the solid vets that want to get them over the hump.

Lakers are getting timely 3 pt shooting -- I thought it was the bubble but their percentages (around 35%) and attempts (around 32 per game) are similar to the regular season. Guess I'm not used to KCP and Rondo hitting 3s.

lakers twitter is mad at danny green but...hes been fine in the playoffs. actually better than last year's playoffs with the raps.

he had some sick ass blocks last night

New for @TheAthleticNBA : History says the Nuggets won't have an easy time getting back to WCF. A look at a complicated offseason and the choices ahead: https://t.co/t9i1F37AzQ

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) September 27, 2020

danny green and kcp both have value outside of shooting. playoff rondo is just a strange phenomenon

isnt danny green leading these playoffs in offensive rating or something

lakers twitter is mad at danny green but...hes been fine in the playoffs. actually better than last year's playoffs with the raps.

― methinks dababy doth bop shit too much (m bison), Sunday, September 27, 2020 6:23 PM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

his true shooting is .481 in the offs

(offensive rating is a bad stat)

I take jordan’s point that the west will continue to be too heavy next year and that means that any very good team could be vulnerable, but the fact is that their projected 3 best players next year are 25, 23, and 22. the future is bright

Teams like the rockets and mavs have way more offseason headaches than the nuggets do

nuggets probably have about the same chance of making the conf finals next year, they'll get better but the warriors will presumably be a real team again too

i don’t think the mavs have many difficult decisions, they’re on the 2021 plan.

outside luka i dont really like the mavs roster

its very much a relic of post-title cuban and co mismanagement and then they made one v smart move in trading two lottery picks for luka that papers over how weirdly theyve rebuilt in the 5 years since they last had a winning record

his true shooting is .481 in the offs

― k3vin k., Sunday, September 27, 2020 7:17 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i was just looking at his 3pt%, but fair point. his ts% is only about 2% lower from last year and its not even in his bottom 3 playoff ts%. this is just who icyhot is.

i think bam or butler need to be the best player in this half for the heat to win, it’s been tatum for 2.5 games. admittedly didn’t see the group economics onslaught coming.

it's Bam

celtics ran out of gas

they should switch to renewables

welp heat destroyed the celtics in crunch time all series and so deserved to win

...beat la...

never knew i was a dyed in the wool heat fan but here we are