The 2017-2018 Around the NBA thread

[Ronin]

Tom Haberstroh
@tomhaberstroh

Referees issued 21 techs last night. 5 ejections (Russell Westbrook, Blake Griffin, Ben Simmons, Kyle Lowry and Trevor Ariza). During All-Star week, refs to meet with players union, whose president was involved in a postgame incident. It's a lot.

 

[Hoop Head]

Almost started a thread for this but he only talks about Phoenix a little bit. Here's a story from the Player's Tribune by Quentin Richardson. It's a good read, he talks about coming to Phoenix with Nash when nothing was expected of the Suns and they took the league by storm. I always liked Q even after he was traded. Thought the Suns should have held onto him with Joe Johnson leaving after that first year but it is what it is. I recommend giving this a read though. I'm a big fan of the Player's Tribune. I know some stories on there are generic pieces that players push through their teams but this seems like a genuine write up by Quentin.



https://www.theplayerstribune.com/letter-to-my-younger-self-quentin-richardson/

 

[Ronin]

Bill Doyle‏@BillDoyle15
Rajon Rondo was irked to hear that the Celtics would honor Isaiah Thomas on any night. "What has he done?” Rondo asked. Told that he led the Celtics to the conference finals last year, Rondo remarked, “Oh, that’s what we celebrate around here?”

 

[Ronin]

Marc J. Spears
@MarcJSpearsESPN

The Spurs say Kawhi Leonard will be out for an indefinite period of time as he continues his rehabilitation process from right quadriceps tendinopathy.

 

[Hoop Head]

The G-League Showcase was just completed, they've awarded a few players special recognition for their play there. Mike Young of the Northern Arizona Suns was the only player from the NAZ Suns to get any sort of recognition, being named to the All G-League Showcase 2nd Team. Young is a 6'9 PF who averages 12.5 ppg with 6 rpg. I don't see him filling a need on the main roster but he'd probably be more useful than Danuel House. He also recorded a double double in the final game of the showcase. Found this video of his play...

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Here is a link to view more info about how the showcase played out...
http://gleague.nba.com/news/nba-g-league-showcase-2018-teams-announced/

Here is a link to view highlight videos from the showcase, Archie Goodwin has a video up there but I don't see any NAZ Suns players listed but I'm not too familiar with who is on the G-League team at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRF0Qy76Eqm4PwRNQ2R4U1TyN8Y9Sf7Ht

 

[Russ Smith]

For those who love Jordan Bell his injury tonight is a little scary. First play of the game Robin Lopez drove and dunked, Bell tried to block it, landed with his leg locked straight and all his weight on one leg and went right down holding the ankle up high.

He didn't roll it which makes you fear he broke it. They took him off in one of those rolling wheelchairs you see in a hospital that allow you to keep your leg straight.

Green and Iggy were already sitting out tonight so the Warriors are down 3 at the half to the Bulls and down 3 players. Did not look good for Bell, I haven't heard any update.

 

[Russ Smith]

FYI they just said at the halftime show X rays were negative on Bell, not a break, but they said it looked like his foot was turned a bit to the left which would indicate a pretty bad sprain.

 

[Ronin]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/01/18...n-for-ariza-green-without-punch-being-thrown/

 

[Ronin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/briancmahoney

Brian Mahoney
@briancmahoney

Because it’s not the NBA All-Star Game unless Kevin Hart is involved, league announces he’ll be part of pregame entertainment. Fergie will sing the U.S. national anthem.

 

[Hoop Head]

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2018/01/18...n-for-ariza-green-without-punch-being-thrown/

Of course Paul and Harden don't get suspended. I think it's wrong they got larger suspensions than throwing punches on the court also. Silver's NBA isn't as cut and dry as Stern's, there is more preferential treatment to stars now than before.

 

[Ronin]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania

Orlando's Arron Afflalo has been suspended two games by the NBA for his altercation with Minnesota's Nemanja Bjelica, league sources tell Yahoo.

 

[Russ Smith]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania

Orlando's Arron Afflalo has been suspended two games by the NBA for his altercation with Minnesota's Nemanja Bjelica, league sources tell Yahoo.

Love the guy(check my sig) but he should get an extra game for missing with that punch. He had his arm so straight on the swing of the punch it surprised me a tough player from Compton didn't know how to throw a punch.

Still not exactly sure what Bjelica did that got him so mad

 

[Ronin]

Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes

The initial diagnosis of Jordan Bell is inflammation of the left ankle and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

 

[3rdside]

http://www.espn.co.uk/nba/story/_/i...ee-throw-shooting-percentage-game-nba-history


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ronin]

Marc J. Spears‏Verified account@MarcJSpearsESPN
The Bucks say All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the next two games to manage soreness in his right knee.

 

[Mainstreet]

Marc J. Spears‏Verified account@MarcJSpearsESPN
The Bucks say All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the next two games to manage soreness in his right knee.

It looks like the Suns will miss seeing him play for a second time when they play the Bucks on Monday.

 

[GatorAZ]

Cavs score 124 and lost by 24.

 

[Hoop Head]

Cavs score 124 and lost by 24.

OKC is odd, they play really well against contenders but they pick up losses against bad teams. Time will tell ultimately but I don't think any team out West wants to play them in the playoffs, especially not in the first round.

 

[JCSunsfan]

OKC is odd, they play really well against contenders but they pick up losses against bad teams. Time will tell ultimately but I don't think any team out West wants to play them in the playoffs, especially not in the first round.

To me its the Cavs that are odd. They seem totally disinterested.

Should have traded for Bledsoe when they had the chance.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

To me its the Cavs that are odd. They seem totally disinterested.

Should have traded for Bledsoe when they had the chance.

Yup. They should have traded the nets pick for him.

 

[95pro]

Marc J. Spears‏Verified account@MarcJSpearsESPN
The Bucks say All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the next two games to manage soreness in his right knee.

Didn’t he miss time earlier for knee soreness? I don’t remember if it was the same knee.

Hopefully it’s not something degenerative.

 

[Hoop Head]

Was looking at the box score for the OKC/CLE game and I'm surprised Cleveland allowed Adams to score 25 points. No one player really went off for the Thunder, which is what you'd expect when you see they scored 148 points. Only Paul George was over 30 points, with 36, Melo had 29, Westbrook had 23 and 20 assists. No one outside of those 4 starters scored in double figures for the Thunder while the Cavs had 6 players in double figures. OKC only had 14 3 pointers and 18 FT's. OKC only shot 67% from the FT stripe, which is pretty bad, had they shot 75% they would have gone over 150 points for the game.


Here's a link to the boxscore, if anyone is interested.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/oklahoma-city-thunder-cleveland-cavaliers-2018012005/


I know the Cav's have a lot of aging role players but they should be better than they've been. I know Tristan Thompson is overpaid and isn't great but the Cavs are much better with him at Center and Love at PF. They need to quit forcing the starting lineup that has Crowder, Lebron, and Love as their frontcourt, especially with IT back. They're too undersized and too old to run for a whole game. They should move TT back to the starting 5 or make a trade for a legit Center. They'll get killed in the playoffs against any team with legit size. They're too old to run a small ball lineup against a team like the Celtics in a 7 game series also. Tyronn Lue has to be the worst Head Coach to ever win a title, by a large margin.

Here is their roster, which isn't great but an average coach would have them as the #1 or #2 seed in the East. They're 4 games out of the #2 spot right now and they're 3-7 in their last 10. They've had a couple of 4+ game losing streaks this season and they'll probably have a couple more.

C - Thompson/Frye
PF - Love/Jeff Green/Cedi Osman
SF - Lebron/Crowder/Korver
SG - JR Smith/D.Wade/Shumpert
PG - IT/Rose/Calderon

 

[JCSunsfan]

We can give them Monroe, the Milwaukee pick and the Miami pick and all our second round picks

for

Frye, Shump and the Nets pick.

If LeBron walks this summer, they can retool with three first rounders and three second rounders.

 

[GatorAZ]

We can give them Monroe, the Milwaukee pick and the Miami pick and all our second round picks

for

Frye, Shump and the Nets pick.

They need to BRK pick to help rebuild when Lebron leaves.

 

[Hoop Head]

We can give them Monroe, the Milwaukee pick and the Miami pick and all our second round picks

for

Frye, Shump and the Nets pick.

If LeBron walks this summer, they can retool with three first rounders and three second rounders.

That actually sounds like a fair deal for both sides. Cleveland is overvaluing the Brooklyn pick. That alone won't help them rebuild if Lebron leaves, especially with how it's looking like it will be in the 7-10 range. Adding someone from there won't convince Lebron to stay either but if they had multiple firsts, 3 of them in addition to a ton of 2nd rounders, they could use those to add some more veterans, rookies, or package them in a trade to get some contracts like Tristan Thompson's off the books so they'd be able to afford to resign Monroe and IT as well as Lebron. Adding a Center to help them now should help show Lebron that they're willing to do what they can to make them competitive. He won't get the control he has with Cleveland anywhere else.

Other than that though, I don't think Lebron will be leaving this offseason. No teams with the cap space to sign him have rosters that are better than Cleveland's right now or next season, with or without whoever they could add with the Brooklyn pick. There are younger teams with space like the Bulls or Lakers but I think it's unlikely he'd sign on to mentor young players for the next couple of years, essentially wasting the last years of his prime and not being able to compete for a title. Monroe isn't a great rim protector but he's better than what they have now, he's a good rebounder and passer who should be able to stay on the floor against teams like Boston or Golden State who play un-tempo.

They could also get Chandler instead but I think Monroe would be who they'd prefer, he's expiring and he could contribute offensively more than Chandler.