The 2018-2019 Around the NBA thread

[Mainstreet]

The Rockets get their second win tonight. It looks like the Wizards will lose again.

 

[95pro]

I don't watch Booker enough to have an opinion on him. My issue with Zach is that he's actually the type of athlete you would assume would become a good defender, he's not incredibly laterally quick but he's certainly not slow, he's long, he can jump out of the gym, yet he's an indifferent defender IMO.

With Zach it's hard to say if it's the teams he's been on or just him, Thibs loved him, speaks very highly of him, but even for him, Zach didn't really play much defense. Hopefully for him he'll get to that point where he realizes if he wants to win he has to play both ends of the court.

You’d think these super athletic guys would be terrific defenders. Gerald Green, Wiggins, Levine etc

They’re usually too quick for their own good.

 

[1tinsoldier]

Dallas is now 2-7 and may be interested in change
i'd be happy riding out the season with J.J. Barea and Okobo
if Barea can be had for something reasonable

 

[gimpy]

No

 

[95pro]

No

 

[GatorAZ]

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[Phrazbit]

Mo Bamba is shooting 28% from the line... good god.

That guy is freakish long arms and almost nothing else. He's going to rebound relatively well and get a good amount of blocks but he is NOT a good defender and on offense he's about as useless as expected. He can score when spoon fed inside and he LIKES to shoot from the outside but he's making them at about a 30% rate despite being left wiiiiiiiiiiide open.

Also, Johnathan Isaac looks putrid.

They're both young players so... they deserve time, but they both seem to play with very little engery. Big men with bad motors, serious red flag to me.

 

[Hoop Head]

Derrick Rose was having a good season up until last night. He had scored in double figures every game except the opener, where he had just 8 points, and then had that 50 point outing in his first start of the year after starting the year pretty good. Prior to that 50 point game he was averaging 14.3 ppg, 4.9 apg, and 4.0 rpg in 28.4 minutes a game throughout the first 7 games of the season. It was shaping up to be the best season since he'd been battling injuries but he left the game last night after just 5 minutes with a bad ankle and is now listed as day to day. He scored only 3 points in those 5 minutes. I know some people said it looked like Rose might be back to his All-Star form but instead he's back to his disabled form.

He has to be one of the NBA's biggest "What If" stories. If he never got hurt, his Bulls would have challenged Lebron for years and Lebron probably doesn't rattle off 8 straight finals appearances. Who knows if Lebron even returns to Cleveland like he did. Perhaps the East looks totally different. Who knows if the Nets even make the deal with Boston in 2013 for all of those picks if Rose was healthy back then. His injuries created a huge domino effect in the East. Perhaps the conferences would be fairly even right now. They were headed that way with 3 legit contenders in the Bulls, Heat, and Boston in 2010.


https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...erwolves-warriors-20181103-story.html?src=rss

 

[GatorAZ]

Embiid has taken his game to the next level. Top-5 player for sure.

Fultz is still trash.

 

[Carolinacacti]

NAZ play tonight, not sure anything their going to help. Maybe Cooke or King.
https://northernarizona.gleague.nba.com/

 

[Mainstreet]

NAZ play tonight, not sure anything their going to help. Maybe Cooke or King.
https://northernarizona.gleague.nba.com/

Point guard Juwan Evans has been claimed by the Northern Arizona Suns as well.

 

[Finito]

Embiid has taken his game to the next level. Top-5 player for sure.

Fultz is still trash.

Lebron
Steph
Durant
Kawhi
Anthony Davis

There's your top 5 in my opinion

Not even close to top 5 he looks good in spots and against certian teams but until he can play back to backs and not get schooled everytime he goes up against Al Horford he'll have to settle for top 10-15

 

[leclerc]

Top 5 centers maybe. I'm not impressed by Embiid because he's been yapping on Ayton, and he's a sixer who plays every other game and has done jack ****.

 

[GatorAZ]

Top 5 centers maybe. I'm not impressed by Embiid because he's been yapping on Ayton, and he's a sixer who plays every other game and has done jack ****.

He’s playing b2b’s this year.

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[Yuma]

Even though I am loyal to Ayton, Embiid is a tough beast in the low post ala Shaq. I am impressed by him.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Even though I am loyal to Ayton, Embiid is a tough beast in the low post ala Shaq. I am impressed by him.

Yeah, Embiid is the real deal. The only thing bigger than his game is his mouth.

 

[Finito]

Even though I am loyal to Ayton, Embiid is a tough beast in the low post ala Shaq. I am impressed by him.

That's not how he plays at all. He's a face to the basket big man.

 

[Yuma]

That's not how he plays at all. He's a face to the basket big man.

Last game I watched the Sixers he was blasting guys out of the way to the basket.

 

[sunsfan88]

Last game I watched the Sixers he was blasting guys out of the way to the basket.

He can do it all.

 

[sunsfan88]

Point guard Juwan Evans has been claimed by the Northern Arizona Suns as well.

Good signing by the Suns.

 

[sunsfan88]

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This is why I’ve hated the idea of youth being used as an excuse for losing.

 

[Hoop Head]

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This is why I’ve hated the idea of youth being used as an excuse for losing.

Youth is an excuse for some sloppiness but not necessarily losing, at least in the regular season. I will buy into youth and experience meaning more in the postseason because it's fairly common to see teams that make it for the first time in a while struggle because their players don't have playoff experience. The refs call the games differently then and it is an adjustment there.

I like how Denver is built. They have a lot of young talent and their aging players have been solid role players. I'm surprised they've gotten better after unloading Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried but apparently those guys were only holding back their youth. They did put up numbers but it seems they've been able to replace their production. Millsap is there only real veteran leader and he's the right type of All-Star that you want with young players because he's still got a chip on his shoulder and feels the need to prove himself. He became an All-Star because he played well but he also plays really hard and is very good at doing the little things well, similar to Horford in Boston. He doesn't view himself as a star and above doing certain things that stars are known for, like taking plays off on defense, blaming others, or coasting. I thought they would regret signing him but he's worked out well. IT may cause them to implode though.

 

[AzStevenCal]

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This is why I’ve hated the idea of youth being used as an excuse for losing.

Because there is a one in a million team doing otherwise? Look through the history of this league, there is one constant. Youth kills. You have your Lebrons that waltz into the league and are great from the beginning but even that guy was MUCH better at 26 than 21.

 

[sdscard4]

Yeah but our youth loses 9 out 10 games. It's pretty sad.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Youth is an excuse for some sloppiness but not necessarily losing, at least in the regular season. I will buy into youth and experience meaning more in the postseason because it's fairly common to see teams that make it for the first time in a while struggle because their players don't have playoff experience. The refs call the games differently then and it is an adjustment there.

I like how Denver is built. They have a lot of young talent and their aging players have been solid role players. I'm surprised they've gotten better after unloading Wilson Chandler and Kenneth Faried but apparently those guys were only holding back their youth. They did put up numbers but it seems they've been able to replace their production. Millsap is there only real veteran leader and he's the right type of All-Star that you want with young players because he's still got a chip on his shoulder and feels the need to prove himself. He became an All-Star because he played well but he also plays really hard and is very good at doing the little things well, similar to Horford in Boston. He doesn't view himself as a star and above doing certain things that stars are known for, like taking plays off on defense, blaming others, or coasting. I thought they would regret signing him but he's worked out well. IT may cause them to implode though.

Just so it's clear, I blame youth for our limitations in the near term future more than I do our current record. We're bad for a lot of reasons and youth is just one of them. IOW, if we were healthy and had a small group of quality veterans, we'd still be an improving team because our most talented players have yet to hit their prime.

Youth in this league kills you in many areas but a couple of things stand out. Usually, they tend to close out games poorly (not our problem, yet) and they are more likely to fall apart when momentum goes against them (definitely one of our problems). So, our issues clearly go well beyond youth and even if we were a solid team with quality veteran balance, our lack of maturity would still be holding us back. Not 1 - 7 holding us back, but we'd still have significant growth expectations.