The 2018-2019 Around the NBA thread

[Hoop Head]

Forgot to mention this interesting news from last week, at least to me. Steph Curry revealed last week that for years now he's been playing with blurred vision due to a condition called keratoconus which is a thinning that causes the cornea to turn more cone shaped and screws up your vision. If left untreated the thinning can eventually cause blindness. Curry now wears special contact lenses and says for the first time in many years he can see normally. He said he got concerned when he went through a for him prolonged shooting slump while feeling like his vision was deteriorating and after a series of tests he was diagnosed and given the corrective lenses.

Pretty remarkable he was playing at the level he was at with bad vision.

Read about that a week ago, would have been interesting had he discovered that in the offseason so we could see a little clearer picture of how it improves his shooting, if it does at all.


Had a question for you. I read that Jaylen Hands hired an agent and has declared for the draft. What do you make of him and where do you think he'll end up going? I don't see him listed on the NBADraft.net mock so I thought I'd ask you. I know you follow UCLA closely. Which pro would you compare his game to, if you think he has a game that will make it in the NBA.

 

[Russ Smith]

Read about that a week ago, would have been interesting had he discovered that in the offseason so we could see a little clearer picture of how it improves his shooting, if it does at all.


Had a question for you. I read that Jaylen Hands hired an agent and has declared for the draft. What do you make of him and where do you think he'll end up going? I don't see him listed on the NBADraft.net mock so I thought I'd ask you. I know you follow UCLA closely. Which pro would you compare his game to, if you think he has a game that will make it in the NBA.

Curry was shooting like 32% from 3 for a few weeks before the lenses, over 50 since but it's still a small sample size.

Hands is not one of my favorite guys. He is not a PG he's an undersized 2. I thought he tried very hard this year to adapt, he had nice assist numbers but he has a very weak handle, no left hand to speak of, and he basically can only go forward or backwards he has very little lateral game off teh bounce. his shooting improved he made some technique tweaks during the year I think he's getting better wrist action now so he has more backspin. he still has a bit of an unorthodox shot but he shot it much better the last 15 games or so. Can make deep shots but tends to have terrible shot selection. Biggest issue he had at UCLA was terrible defense, lazy, they were actually taking him out of games late in the games the last 10 games or so for that reason.And as a PG he tends to struggle the passes are just not on time, not accurate. Unfair to compare him to Lonzo but with Ball the pass was there, in the shooting pocket, with Hands it was neither. Even comparing him to Holiday was a big dropoff. he has talent, he probably will play in the NBA at some point, but I'm not a huge fan.

 

[Ronin]

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[Hoop Head]

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That was really good, well worth the 4 minutes to watch.

 

[Mainstreet]

Random comments from the Warriors and Clips

Gilgeous Alexander is so good and if he ever gets a jumpshot look out.

I still love Zubac, I can't believe the lakers let him go that easily. That said, he had a play tonight where he took 2 steps, didn't shoot, then dribbled, and then took 3 more steps and laid it in, all within 2 feet of the basket, with no walk called.

The FT disparity since the Minnesota game is now something like 142 to 65.

Final thought, The Warriors are much better with Bogut than with Boogie IMO, tonight is unfair Boogie's having the worst game of his GSW career 0-8 3 fouls 2 of them offensive 3 TO's 2 on the offensive fouls. But again they are -1 with Boogie in and plus 9 with bogut. Really interesting to see if Kerr gives Bogut more minutes in the playoffs, there was a stretch in the 2nd quarter where Boogie was so bad the Warrior crowd was booing him, and this is the last game ever at Oracle so for them to be booing is pretty amazing.

We have the same taste in players in Shai and Zubac.

 

[Town Drunk]

Magic has stepped down as head of Basketball Operations for the Lakers.

 

[Mainstreet]

Magic has stepped down as head of Basketball Operations for the Lakers.

I was hoping Magic would keep the Lakers headed in the right direction.

 

[Finito]

Wait what? Lol

What a mess LA is.

 

[GatorAZ]

Miami fans chanting “Paul Pierce sucks” at Wade’s final home game.

 

[Hoop Head]

I find Woj's take on the Magic Johnson news interesting. The Suns were bashed because James Jones wasn't as committed as other GM's yet the day Magic steps down is the day Woj finally says he was never committed to the job and was often away from the team. I get that the Lakers and Magic are different than James Jones and the Suns but it does sort put things in perspective.

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[Phrazbit]

Miami fans chanting “Paul Pierce sucks” at Wade’s final home game.

That is funny stuff.

Paul Pierce's "knee injury" in the finals vs the Lakers might be one of the most melodramatic moments in league history. I'm thrilled that it came as the Lakers expense but if it was verses the Suns I would be really annoyed that a regular old joint pop somehow got hyped into the level of drama that it did.

 

[Ronin]

Jeff Duncan‏Verified account @JeffDuncan_ 1h1 hour ago
Danny Ferry, David Griffin & Gersson Rosas have emerged as the favorites in the Pelicans’ GM search. Rosas impressed Pelicans officials during his interview, but the experience of Ferry and Griffin is highly valued by the brain trust and appears to have given them the edge.

 

[Russ Smith]

Steph Curry rolled his right ankle last night and left the game for good. They said it was a minor right foot sprain but sure looked like an ankle. Sure hope that doesn't linger with his history of ankle problems.

 

[Ronin]

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[Town Drunk]

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Lol what?

 

[Ronin]

Field Yates
@FieldYates
·
7m

is AD....four years old?

 

[Hoop Head]

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Apparently he wore a Looney Tunes shirt to the final game of the year with "That's All Folks" written on it. That tweet doesn't explain why he was talking about that.

 

[Russ Smith]

Apparently he wore a Looney Tunes shirt to the final game of the year with "That's All Folks" written on it. That tweet doesn't explain why he was talking about that.

Yep people asked him if it was his way of saying goodbye to the fans, and that was his response. Seemed like a copout I think his shirt was clearly there for a reason

 

[AzStevenCal]

Yep people asked him if it was his way of saying goodbye to the fans, and that was his response. Seemed like a copout I think his shirt was clearly there for a reason

No doubt.

 

[sunsfan88]

Yep people asked him if it was his way of saying goodbye to the fans, and that was his response. Seemed like a copout I think his shirt was clearly there for a reason

No doubt.

It definitely is and he likely got the idea from his buddy LeBron. Remember this crap that LeBron pulled which he then blamed on his wife?

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...ans-with-ultimate-warrior-shirt-after-finals/

 

[sunsfan88]

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[AzStevenCal]

It definitely is and he likely got the idea from his buddy LeBron. Remember this crap that LeBron pulled which he then blamed on his wife?

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...ans-with-ultimate-warrior-shirt-after-finals/

Yeah, I'd have been okay with that shirt if he hadn't tried to weasel out of it.

 

[Russ Smith]

It definitely is and he likely got the idea from his buddy LeBron. Remember this crap that LeBron pulled which he then blamed on his wife?

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...ans-with-ultimate-warrior-shirt-after-finals/

I realize it's a Bay Area bias thing but lots of Warriors fans actually didn't mind the Ultimate Warrior shirt. first off they thought it was funny, but secondly I know several people that said it sort of fit because many Warrior fans blame LeBron for that series loss claiming he "set up" Draymond by stepping over him which led to the T that got Draymond suspended. I've never bought it, Draymond did it and he was held accountable, he knew his situation and couldn't control his temper and let his team down. But there' a very vocal section of Warrior fans who insist LeBron baited Draymond into it. So the tshirt sort of fit that narrative.

I know a few what was interesting to me is most of them are relatively young Warrior fans. I've mentioned before it's common belief among old time Warrior fans that Ricky Sobers(ex Sun) intentionally started a fight with Rick Barry in the 76 Western Conference finals, both got ejected, the Suns won and knocked out the defending champs who had the best record in the NBA that year. I've even heard that Sobers admitted years later he was sent into the game to start a fight with noted hothead Barry, but I've never seen confirmation that's really true. THe next year they drafted Parish but the team wasn't as good and then it all fell apart, Wilkes to the Lakers, being the move that started the decline of the franchise for so long. So many longtime fans blame that one fight with Sobers for the Warriors being so bad for so long. So I would understand old time Warriors fans thinking LeBron baited Draymond because we all grew up with the Sobers and Barry story, but newer Warrior fans don't even know the Sobers story and yet still widely believe that LeBron baited him.


I am no LeBron lover but I still say that 3 game comeback was as impressive an individual feat as I've ever seen in sports. The Warriors had the NBA record for wins, were up 3-1, and LeBron looked like an old man at the end of game 4. And then he carried his team to 3 straight wins and capped it off with the incredible chase down block of Iggy. You have to give him credit those last 3 games he was simply unbelievable.

 

[Carolinacacti]

I realize it's a Bay Area bias thing

I could not care less for Golden state. Hopefully we will not be updated during the finals.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I've mentioned before it's common belief among old time Warrior fans that Ricky Sobers(ex Sun) intentionally started a fight with Rick Barry in the 76 Western Conference finals, both got ejected, the Suns won and knocked out the defending champs who had the best record in the NBA that year.

It's not a "common belief among old time Warrior fans", it's simply common knowledge. There's just no doubt that Sobers did that on purpose and it propelled the upstart Suns over the heavily favored defending champs and on to the next round. As I've gotten older I have less appreciation for the tricks of the game especially when it so clearly impacts the outcome. But at the time, I'll admit that I loved it. And Sobers became one of my favorite players and remained though we traded him away for Don Buse.