NBA 2020-2021 Season

[gunnar hendershow]

33 minutes ago, DYSI said:

 

Yeah this is really bad. Maybe in 7-8 years it'll look good as the picks turn into great pieces but right now it's terrible management.

[Benjamin]

Remembered when we got LaMarcus that he was going to be a huge part of the Spurs continuing their winning ways. So weird that he's might be heading to Miami now to be a backup to Bam. 

[LL!]

I truly love the players the Heat have gotten without having to give much up. Lamarcus Aldridge would be icing on the cake at this point. 

[Benjamin]

Feels like it’s been awhile since we lost four in a row. Last month we were really good  

[Pooker]

Spurs are in such a weird spot. Have a good, young talent, the GOAT coach, and DeRozan...but none of it really seems to be clicking. Hopefully the Jazz can give y'all some breathing room, since we play Memphis 3 times in our next 4 games.

[JasonM]

1 hour ago, Pooker said:

Spurs are in such a weird spot. Have a good, young talent, the GOAT coach, and DeRozan...but none of it really seems to be clicking. Hopefully the Jazz can give y'all some breathing room, since we play Memphis 3 times in our next 4 games.

It's become a league built on shootouts. And the Spurs have a lot of players that score well, but no players that just get an inordinate amount of points on any given night. DeRozan is a good player, but he's gone from being a perennial all-star type guard to being a good scoring guard.

If you don't have a 25+ PPG kind of player on your roster, you're just not getting by anymore. And every team in the west that's above them have one, if not two players that are averaging 45 points on average.

Popp's game has always been built on any player having a good night, but not based around having one guy putting up extremes other than 1 year of Kawhi and a few years of Timmy. And I think that style, as much as I personally love it, just doesn't work well in a league where 25+ has become the start of star players, rather than reserved for the absolute stars.

I think the Spurs are still one or two players away from making a splash again, though. I think them accepting LMA was a long-term failure is a step towards them finding the next player that could fit that role.

[Pooker]

28 minutes ago, Jasonmufc said:

If you don't have a 25+ PPG kind of player on your roster, you're just not getting by anymore. And every team in the west that's above them have one, if not two players that are averaging 45 points on average.

The Jazz only have one player averaging 25 PPG and its just barely above that at 25.4 PPG. The next closest comes in at 17 PPG. Not entirely disagreeing with you, because the Jazz are extremely good at being in a shoot out. And how far it'll take the Jazz, is up for debate as well. Pops system can still work in today's NBA, just need one or two more better players, like you said.

[JasonM]

26 minutes ago, Pooker said:

The Jazz only have one player averaging 25 PPG and its just barely above that at 25.4 PPG. The next closest comes in at 17 PPG. Not entirely disagreeing with you, because the Jazz are extremely good at being in a shoot out. And how far it'll take the Jazz, is up for debate as well. Pops system can still work in today's NBA, just need one or two more better players, like you said.

You're not wrong, but the Jazz also have arguably the most stifling defensive teams in the league with Gobert well on his way to another DPOTY, and then Mitchell/Conley/Ingles/Bojan/Clarkson/Favors all being plus-defenders in their own rights.

Most of Utah's bigs are shooting 60% on effective, and of course they have the most efficient player in basketball right now in Joe Ingles with that absurd 71% eFG.

Utah's just on another level, but I would agree that it's Pop's style of basketball but refined even further around defense.

[Benjamin]

Yeah, I watch the Jazz absolutely green with envy these days. They're so ruddy fun to watch, and so different to a lot of the rest of the league. 

[Malenko]

Anyone read the Thank You/Goodbye note from Norman Powell to the Raptors? Heads up, kinda long.

 

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/the-north-norman-powell-toronto-raptors-basketball-nba?fbclid=IwAR3QQXOVRhe9T9f6p1haBiU3a2yB8xnfw2FVVnSZyCVBkZbummedIHIV5jI

 

Anyway, Seems like a nice guy who really liked it there. A guy who wouldn't have asked to be traded in a million years. 

[Pooker]

Jamal Murray suffered a torn ACL last night. Hopefully they never try to pack thus many games until such a short amount time again.

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah that Jamal Murray injury is devastating. Nuggets are Jokic's team but Murray is essential to them winning, he and Jokic on the court together makes them able to hang with everyone else in the league. Without Murray there's just a gap you can't trust anybody else on that roster to fill.

I honestly was riding Denver as my dark horse title pick, but obviously not anymore.

[JasonM]

12 hours ago, Pooker said:

Jamal Murray suffered a torn ACL last night. Hopefully they never try to pack thus many games until such a short amount time again.

With the NBA wanting to slap 'play in games' onto the back end of the season, it's only getting worse at this point.

It might only be two more games, but that's at least 87 games for a 7-12th placed team that makes it into the first round.

NHL might have a similar schedule and baseball blows the two of them out of the water, but Basketball has to be one of the most physically self-destructive sports among those three leagues.

You're jumping, twisting, turning, making off-balanced movements, and all sorts of other things that in such an extremely high volume will end up tearing, breaking, or snapping something in the long run.

NBA is well overdue a 60 game schedule, it's better for everyone but the TV stations. (Although you can easily make a case of less games = more individual value of games)

[Pooker]

LaMarcus Aldridge has retired after missing the last two games with an irregular heartbeat.

[LL!]

1 hour ago, Pooker said:

LaMarcus Aldridge has retired after missing the last two games with an irregular heartbeat.

Ugh. That's awful. I hope they figure that out quickly. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah that's a shame. Really glad they caught it of course. But a shame because he just slid into a great role with the Nets.

[DYSI]

Yeah, he was doing really well helping space out the floor and bringing some defense in the inside for us. Hopefully we can still get him a ring for his troubles. 

 

[Pooker]

Dwyane Wade has purchased a ownership stake in the Utah Jazz, with plans to take an active role in the franchise and the region.

[LL!]

2 hours ago, Pooker said:

Dwyane Wade has purchased a ownership stake in the Utah Jazz, with plans to take an active role in the franchise and the region.

How dare he do this to us?

[gunnar hendershow]

1 hour ago, LL! said:

How dare he do this to us?

It was kinda weird since he's Mr. Heat but then I remembered new ownership group in Utah so he can basically get in on the ground floor.