The 2017-2018 Around the NBA thread

[Ronin]

Adrian Wojnarowski‏Verified account@wojespn 13m13 minutes ago
Atlanta's Kent Bazemore will miss the rest of the season with a bruised right knee.

 

[Mainstreet]

Adrian Wojnarowski‏Verified account@wojespn 13m13 minutes ago
Atlanta's Kent Bazemore will miss the rest of the season with a bruised right knee.

Of course he will.

 

[Ronin]

CBS Sports NBA‏Verified account@CBSSportsNBA 23s23 seconds ago
Mavericks' Wesley Matthews will reportedly miss rest of season with stress fracture https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mavericks-wesley-matthews-will-reportedly-miss-rest-of-season-with-stress-fracture/…

 

[Mainstreet]

CBS Sports NBA‏Verified account@CBSSportsNBA 23s23 seconds ago
Mavericks' Wesley Matthews will reportedly miss rest of season with stress fracture https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mavericks-wesley-matthews-will-reportedly-miss-rest-of-season-with-stress-fracture/…

They are falling like flies.

It sounds more legitimate.

 

[Hoop Head]

The Suns will probably pull Chandler for the season once they get Williams back. It's been no secret that he's been playing through injuries as of late. He won't move the needle as much as Bazemore or Matthews for their teams but it'll be one step in the tank direction.

Saw a video of Alan Williams running on a treadmill the other day. He should return within the next week or two if he's capable of running all out like I saw.

 

[Hoop Head]

The Spurs are currently in 10th place out in the West right now. I don't know if they'll miss the playoffs or not but I'm glad Stern isn't around to rig the lottery for them if they do fall short of the postseason. If they somehow won the lottery I think that would mean it's rigged. Adam Silver isn't as big of a Spurs fan as Stern was so I don't think he'd let that happen but they could select Ayton to play with Aldridge similar to how they drafted Duncan back in 97 to play with Robinson. Robinson was 32 when that happened and Aldridge is 32 right now. Ayton has been compared to David Robinson with his skillset and if he went to the Spurs they'd have a new dynasty that could help them stay on top for the next decade or two.

Greg Popovich has never missed the playoffs as a coach when he's coached the entire season. The last time the Spurs missed was when he took over for Bob Hill after 18 games during the 96/97 season. Robinson only played in 6 games that year, where they went 3-3, and he played those games in December before he was shut down for the year. I remember watching the NBA back then and recall people saying that the Spurs purposefully sat Robinson so they could get the #1 pick to select Tim Duncan. No one knew that Duncan would play his whole career in San Antonio and win 5 rings though. He was definitely viewed as a superstar in the making coming into the league.

Right now there is a 4 way tie for 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th in the West between the Spurs, Clippers, Jazz, and Nuggets. The Spurs are at the bottom because the other teams win the tiebreakers, which is a little surprising in itself. Kawhi is supposed to return this Thursday for a game against the Pelicans, who are just 1 1/2 games ahead of those teams as the #5 seed, they're tied with the Timberwolves who are the #6 seed. So there is 1 1/5 games separating the #5th through #10 seed out West. That'll be a tight race headed into the playoffs. I'm surprised the Clippers are involved in that since they traded away Griffin but it looks like addition by subtraction there. Hopefully Kawhi boosts the Spurs enough to get into the playoffs because I won't sit easy during the lottery drawing until I saw the Spurs called with the #14 or #13 pick. If they didn't pick then you'd know they'd have the #1 pick, no chance they'd only get the #2 or #3 pick. The Suns need this draft, bad, and they're #2 in the lottery rankings right now. If the Spurs jumped them I'd quit watching the NBA altogether.

Can't even enjoy the Spurs missing the playoffs because of the potential shenanigans with the draft lottery. This season needs to hurry up and be over. May 15th is too far away.

 

[GatorAZ]

Both Steph and Klay will miss the Suns game on Sat.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Both Steph and Klay will miss the Suns game on Sat.

KD alone should be able to beat us. And I mean that literally... just him, 1 on 5.

 

[elindholm]

KD alone should be able to beat us. And I mean that literally... just him, 1 on 5.

And then everyone would complain that it was "disrespectful" of him not to put his teammates through unnecessary work.

 

[Ronin]

Lol

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[Ronin]

Adrian Wojnarowski‏Verified account@wojespn 2m2 minutes ago
Celtics guard Marcus Smart will undergo surgery on his thumb today, but there's hope he can return sometime in the playoffs, league source tells ESPN.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

This clip is all sorts of crazy...

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It starts out with the Raptors crowd chanting "REFS YOU SUCK" in solidarity, so you know it hasn't gone well to this point.

Then, right in front of the official, Anthony is draped over Siakam and knocks the ball away with no call. The game is essentially over and a frustrated DeRozan is furious.

The ref throws him out.

As things are being sorted out, the refs get into an argument with Ibaka and eject him as well.

Fast forward to :08 left, and now the refs are ejecting Raptors coach Dwayne Casey.

The kicker? It sounds like a fan was the one yelling, not Casey! Kyle Lowry's face at the end says it all.

 

[Mainstreet]

This clip is all sorts of crazy...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

It starts out with the Raptors crowd chanting "REFS YOU SUCK" in solidarity, so you know it hasn't gone well to this point.

Then, right in front of the official, Anthony is draped over Siakam and knocks the ball away with no call. The game is essentially over and a frustrated DeRozan is furious.

The ref throws him out.

As things are being sorted out, the refs get into an argument with Ibaka and eject him as well.

Fast forward to :08 left, and now the refs are ejecting Raptors coach Dwayne Casey.

The kicker? It sounds like a fan was the one yelling, not Casey! Kyle Lowry's face at the end says it all.

A bad case of rabbit ears by the referees. They should have let the clock run out.

 

[Ronin]

Dave McMenamin‏Verified account@mcten 29s29 seconds ago
The Cavs announce that Tyronn Lue is stepping away from coaching the team for the time being. Associate head coach Larry Drew will take over. More to come.

 

[Ronin]

David Aldridge‏Verified account@daldridgetnt 6m6 minutes ago
NBA fines Boston’s Marcus Morris $15,000 for verbal abuse of a game official during Sunday’s game with the Pelicans.

 

[Ronin]

Marc Stein‏Verified account@TheSteinLine 1m1 minute ago
Detroit has expressed interest in hiring the former Pistons star Chauncey Billups to work in tandem with Arn Tellem in a totally revamped front office, according to league sources

 

[Ronin]

Chris Haynes
@ChrisBHaynes

Charlotte center Dwight Howard has been suspended one game for accumulating his 16th technical.

 

[Suns_fan69]

He also had a 30/30 game... insane!

 

[Sunburst]

We're being out tanked! That can't happen. Grizzlies are down by 55 at the end of the third against the Hornets.

 

[Phrazbit]

We're being out tanked! That can't happen. Grizzlies are down by 55 at the end of the third against the Hornets.

Contrary to popular belief, you can only get credit for one loss per game played, no matter how much you lose by.

 

[elindholm]

Contrary to popular belief, you can only get credit for one loss per game played, no matter how much you lose by.

Someone should have told the Suns that a long time ago.

 

[Sunburst]

Contrary to popular belief, you can only get credit for one loss per game played, no matter how much you lose by.

But we're supposed to be the worst team. Grizzlies lose by 61.

Time to sit everyone and go all G-League players.

 

[Hoop Head]

One thing interesting about the Grizzlies vs Hornets game is Kemba Walker's stat line.

He scored 46 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, had 4 assists and 1 steal in 28 minutes, which is a solid stat line on it's own but his shooting percentage is what truly stands out. He shot 13-18 from the field, 10-14 from 3pt range, and 10-10 from the FT line. That gives him a TS% of 102.7. I'm sure players have gone over 100% previously but I checked Booker's history and he never accomplished that in a game where he scored more than 30 points. Walker hadn't done that previously in a game where he scored more than 40 points also. Here is a link to the Box Score for that game.

With Memphis' loss the Suns won't have with the biggest loss of the season. This was the 5th largest point margin in NBA history and the highest since 1998. The Hornets aren't even a playoff team this year, they're 6.5 games behind the #8 seed in the East. As bad as the Suns have looked this year at least our blowouts haven't set records. looks at least we're not the Grizzlies. Outside of Gasol, Evans, and Conley their team is full of G-Leaguers and they don't have any financial flexibility on the horizon. It'll be interesting to see if they lose again like that this season.

 

[JCSunsfan]

One thing interesting about the Grizzlies vs Hornets game is Kemba Walker's stat line.

He scored 46 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, had 4 assists and 1 steal in 28 minutes, which is a solid stat line on it's own but his shooting percentage is what truly stands out. He shot 13-18 from the field, 10-14 from 3pt range, and 10-10 from the FT line. That gives him a TS% of 102.7. I'm sure players have gone over 100% previously but I checked Booker's history and he never accomplished that in a game where he scored more than 30 points. Walker hadn't done that previously in a game where he scored more than 40 points also. Here is a link to the Box Score for that game.

With Memphis' loss the Suns won't have with the biggest loss of the season. This was the 5th largest point margin in NBA history and the highest since 1998. The Hornets aren't even a playoff team this year, they're 6.5 games behind the #8 seed in the East. As bad as the Suns have looked this year at least our blowouts haven't set records. looks at least we're not the Grizzlies. Outside of Gasol, Evans, and Conley their team is full of G-Leaguers and they don't have any financial flexibility on the horizon. It'll be interesting to see if they lose again like that this season.

We're not the most miserably team in the NBA!! Yay!!!!

 

[Hoop Head]

As if the NBA doesn't have issues already with teams tanking at the end of the year, the Warriors will be without Steph Curry for the next 3-4 weeks because of an MCL sprain and the Celtics will be without Kyrie for the next 3-6 weeks because he just had surgery on his knee. Hopefully both are able to return for the playoffs because I'd hate to see the Warriors or Celtics knocked out in the first round because of injuries to their star players.

I was looking forward to a Cleveland vs Boston rematch from last year only it would be Kyrie vs Lebron now. I haven't heard any more about Gordon Hayward returning for the Celtics playoff run but I know that is something that's been discussed since his injury happened. If he could return for the playoffs that would be huge for the Celtics. I don't think they would start him but having a scorer like him come off the bench would be big.