2019-20 NBA Regular Degular Season thread

valgular?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TIm20IJIxk

Looks like Goga Bitadze is good. Love what the Pacers are doing

dont recall ever hearing the name Goga Bitadze before but im lovin it

another center huh sounds like maybe they might have to trade myles turner

three years later, this is likely worth watching; curious if anybody in the doc went pro anywhere
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZRA3khz28Q

I figured Gordo would get back close to where he was eventually

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, November 6, 2019 9:41 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol interviewed after the game last night he was all i wish u guys wld stop asking me about the injury i dont even think about it anymore and i especially wish my teammates wld stop dumping water on me everytime i have a good game

aw

anyway hes off to a good start

Gordon Hayward's team ranks through six games: 20.3 ppg (3rd), 7.5 rpg (1st), 4.3 apg (2nd), 50% 3-pt (1st), net rating +5.2 (2nd).

feel like he cld really help the pacers out, local boy makes good and so forth, a story everyone can get behind

Pacers as an org do like their white boys...

I just read about how the Indiana Territory was forbidden by federal law to allow slave owners to move there with their slaves, so the territorial government passed a law allowing slave owners to bring their slaves, provided the slaves were emancipated upon arrival and converted to indentured servants for a term of years.

Coincidentally, the new law forgot to place any limit on how many years such servitude could run. Oh, how they laughed!

tj warren was 15/18 fg tonight

― de-mamba mentality (Spottie), Tuesday, November 5, 2019 11:25 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

hmm so you're saying maybe I SHOULDN'T have cut him off my fantasy team. interesting.

I applaud your negligence

Goga three games in a row w 4 blocks doing a better version of Myles Turner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk6pO7eLeiM

The pacers have some pretty good contracts too. Turner is 18m a year, Warren 11. Brogdon looks like a bargain now too.

Kind of disorienting to watch w/ Dipo/Turner/Sabonis out and see a completely new starting 5 including JaKarr Sampson atm. Kinda bittersweet knowing that Goga's minutes will likely plummet once Turner/Sabonis are ready (and McMillan always takes forever to limit vet minutes), but it's clear that he's already a + player on both ends.

Most of their signings have looked great so far this year; Warren has looked very decent on D, and Brogdon has looked like a great signing so far (esp for a franchise with a long line of dud point guards). They'll just be a weird team until Dipo comes back; honestly, they have enough competent vets / coaching staff that I think they'd sneak into the playoffs even w/o him. Team is just a giant question mark until he comes back. Would be nice to spend the first half of the season tightening up system stuff since there are so many new players, but they're just gonna have these totally diff rotations for at least another few weeks.

Sucks that Sumner's hand got fucked up since he's someone who could've really taken advantage of the lack of quality guards; would love to see Sumner/AHoliday get minutes over TJ McConnell & JHoliday.

xxxxpost

I'm imagining Gordon coming back from injury rocking black hair and an early 00s mall emo look that would have been so awesome

yeah goga is looking great, despite being a foul machine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFebICGjT-8

sup compupost!

sup, welcome to real Goga hours.

Lol I was going to mention the fouls, along w/ not being surprised if Goga/Sabonis/Leaf were 1-2-3 leaders in fouls per minute this season, and looked it up and they're somehow not even in top 100 (Dwight/Harkless/Mo Wagner all hovering around 9 fouls per 48).

Feel like his probs are mostly due to being thrust into a heavy minutes w/ zero NBA gameplay (& probably being able to handle decently since he played professionally last year), which will correct itself. Sabonis/Leaf's arms are never getting longer, so they're always going to have foul problems.

As someone who has always loved Sabonis but valued Turner more, if Goga looks like he could anchor the defense at some point soon, then I'd be curious what the Pacers could get for Turner. Will be fun to see this team at full health at some point this season / see how their rotations look. Top 3 3pt% at the moment are their 3 tallest players (and Turner/Sabonis both look like they're committed to shooting more 3s this year), so that's a good sign!

Myles Turner is one of those guys who seems like an island on offense. I think he’s pretty effective but maybe not the best fit next to a creative guy like Sabonis

But they’re really set at every position. All about whether it mixes well

replacing nate mcmillan with a capable offensive coach would do wonders for myles. hes a system player and his shooting skills arent being realised

the pacers are last in the league in 3pa which can only be attributed to incompetence considering the shooters on the roster

Eh, Warren is a midrange monster and Sabonis best skill is post moves

on 3s last season warren and brogdon shot 40%, turner 38% and lamb 35%. with domas rolling that should be a recipe for a lot of shots

Yeah but you gotta give Warren a healthy dose of touches inside. He’s like the 5th best finisher in the league talent-wise

I agree that turner should be taking 4 threes a game minimum tho

Weren’t the spurs definitely drafting goga if he’d lasted one more pick

almost certainly yes and instead they got tall luka who might be good one day but we'll never until pop retires bc he hates players under the age of 25

lol my only impression of goga prior to this week was when he was sitting by himself at the draft media day b/c everyone was swarming zion. glad it looks like he can ball.

Better than Zion in the nba this far!

Can't say I've watched Kris Dunn much but I'm having trouble finding a stat that reflects his defensive excellence. What should I look at?

Going back to this after watching him recently…
-is persistent and focused. always in his man's jersey. he's a pest.
-pokes at ball with few reach in fouls called
-understands what other team is trying to do and how his man figures into it
-likewise he's good at KYP. doesn't crowd a slasher or give space/go under screens to shooters
-reads passing lanes well and is adept at rotating into them at right time

plus the typical good defender traits: moves his feet and doesn't bite on fakes

ja has been scary good so far

There haven't been many rookie PGs lately (at least ones who aren't 6-foot-10) who have been as effective from day one as Ja Morant.

— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) November 7, 2019

damian lillard was very effective as a rookie right from the get-go and is not 6-foot-10. perhaps that's who kevin pelton was thinking of when he said "not many".

i've seen a little ja so far and he seems like the real deal

seems like guys are coming into the league w more advanced skills than they used to 19, 20 year olds just setting it off from day 1

Somehow the nba needs to be able to flex games with more ease. The warriors are gonna be on tv like 35 times and no casuals want to see this team right now.

Same w Pels sans Zion

yeah whatre their rules w that

Jonathan Isaac is probably the most gifted defender in the NBA rn

Ja Morant reminds me of Larry Hughes but the maximal version of Larry Hughes is really good

he had that one great season

Isaac is one steal away from a a 5x5. 5 mins left

the rising skill level of nba rookies is a good trend. the rising number of serious injuries among all nba players is a bad trend. to my mind there's a chance these two trends are related. the game is pushing hard at human physical limits and pushing young people ever harder while their bodies are not fully mature. among other things, it is easier to grow strong muscles fast than it is to grow strong connective tissue fast.

they should play fewer games and especially eliminate back to backs but, you know,

He ain’t a rookie anymore but I’m glad Fultz has found space for himself with the Magic.