The 2018-2019 Around the NBA thread

[ColdPickleNachos]

I second the warning. I'm not squeamish but that was bad. I think it looked worse than the Hayward or Paul George injuries that got a ton of coverage. It was more graphic than Canaan's last year with the Suns as well.

Yeah. The only ones I've seen that were worse were Corey Hill in MMA and Sid Vicious in pro wrestling.

 

[Phrazbit]

Wow... based on the reviews, I am unwilling to view the video of this injury.

However, based on a lot of relevant knowledge, I can safely say that, if all he did was break his tib/fib, the rehab is much easier than an patella, ACL or achillies injury...

Not a lot of comfort... but while bone injuries generally look worse, it's because you know how bones are supposed to look, while tendon/ligament injuries can seem benign on tape but have much worse long term results. All you need to do with a bone injury is (via cast or screws and plate) line the bones up and they should be as good or better than before. Torn tendons and ligaments on the other hand... that is a lot dicier. You're replacing tissue with tissue from another part of the body or a cadaver. The methods are a lot better than they were years ago but it is no where near as simple as the orthopedic method of "line the bones up again and they will attach themselves".

 

[SirStefan32]

Yeah, that looked nasty.

 

[Finito]

Horrible luck for the Blazers.

So what does this mean for Dame with another disappointing playoff run and it’s not his fault but not being 100 they can’t go far

 

[GatorAZ]

The top-3 seeds are pretty much set in the East. The question is who will get the 4-seed/homecourt between Boston and Indiana. It may be Kyrie undermining the team but the shine has worn off Brad Stevens.

 

[Ronin]

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[Russ Smith]

The top-3 seeds are pretty much set in the East. The question is who will get the 4-seed/homecourt between Boston and Indiana. It may be Kyrie undermining the team but the shine has worn off Brad Stevens.

He should probably go back to college(UCLA) (-:

I fully expect he'll be back in Boston. This year has sucked but there still isn't a better X and O guy in the league IMO outside of Pop.

 

[GatorAZ]

He should probably go back to college(UCLA) (-:

I fully expect he'll be back in Boston. This year has sucked but there still isn't a better X and O guy in the league IMO outside of Pop.

I remember the rumblings that he hated recruiting and wanted to strictly be a tactician. Now NBA players are bigger primadonnas than ever. You need a degree in psychology to handle their egos. Stevens would be best at a blue blood that recruits itself and he could hire the best staff money can buy.

 

[Hoop Head]

I remember the rumblings that he hated recruiting and wanted to strictly be a tactician. Now NBA players are bigger primadonnas than ever. You need a degree in psychology to handle their egos. Stevens would be best at a blue blood that recruits itself and he could hire the best staff money can buy.

He had a great setup prior to Kyrie showing up. I can't help but think they would have been better off if they stuck with IT. I know he wanted a payday that was crazy but I think they could have talked him down a good bit. No one was giving him the max. If he wanted to call Boston's bluff he could have sat out all summer but no one was going to throw $30+ million a year at him. Who would have thought IT would be easier to manage than Kyrie?

 

[Russ Smith]

I remember the rumblings that he hated recruiting and wanted to strictly be a tactician. Now NBA players are bigger primadonnas than ever. You need a degree in psychology to handle their egos. Stevens would be best at a blue blood that recruits itself and he could hire the best staff money can buy.

Yeah I don't know the full dynamics in Boston but I think a big part of it is that Hayward took so long to get back to his old level that other guys on the team sort of decided they needed to step up so people stopped playing roles and tried to be a star. Which is hard to do with Kyrie being both so good, and so ball dominant. In their fairly recent blowout of the Warriors, Hayward was great and that team looked like the team everyone expected this year but that just hasn't been reality most of the season.

I still think he's a terrific coach, I think he'd absolutely be a huge success in college if he went to a school that as you said recruits itself. I just think he prefers the NBA. It's why I never bought he'd take the UCLA job in the first place he'd pretty much decided to stay at Butler until the chance to test himself at the highest level, the NBA, came about. The Celtics offered and he took it.

If for some reason Boston wants to part ways with him, I would imagine several NBA teams would gladly hire him

 

[AzStevenCal]

He should probably go back to college(UCLA) (-:

I fully expect he'll be back in Boston. This year has sucked but there still isn't a better X and O guy in the league IMO outside of Pop.

I gave you a "like" but I wanted it on record that it's for the paragraph that follows your suggestion he should go to UCLA. I would NOT want to see him back in college if he's just going to land at a school that can recruit a 5 star player simply by announcing they have a spot available. It would be like the Lakers hiring Pop when Phil left.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Nate Oats dad just emailed me about Nate being hired to take over for Avery Johnson at Alabama. I am biased because I am a friend of the family but, he is an up and comer. I think he is better coach than Bobby Hurley.

 

[Finito]

He had a great setup prior to Kyrie showing up. I can't help but think they would have been better off if they stuck with IT. I know he wanted a payday that was crazy but I think they could have talked him down a good bit. No one was giving him the max. If he wanted to call Boston's bluff he could have sat out all summer but no one was going to throw $30+ million a year at him. Who would have thought IT would be easier to manage than Kyrie?

Kyrie ain’t the problem now he’s not free of blame either but if you listen to the Boston media Jackie MacMullen and guys like Bill Simmons they all say the same thing. You got a bunch of young guys who think there stars now. Scary Terry used to be a good role player now he’s looking to get paid this off season and doing him. Tatum has taken a huge step back this year he’s a chicken now Simmons calls it going to the school of Kobe.

Nobody on that team is doing the little things no ones doing the dirt work anymore.

It’s easy to look and say hey what’s different, oh Kyrie but they played 3/4 of a season with him before and played great they looked good earlier this year as well.

Plus when you factor in everyone in Boston knows there pretty much gonna be offered up in a trade for AD this summer guys stop caring.

This ain’t all on Kyrie there’s a lot of problems in Boston.

IT was already hurt that’s why they didn’t want him and he’s been a shell of his former self since his hip injury.

 

[Mainstreet]

Kyrie ain’t the problem now he’s not free of blame either but if you listen to the Boston media Jackie MacMullen and guys like Bill Simmons they all say the same thing. You got a bunch of young guys who think there stars now. Scary Terry used to be a good role player now he’s looking to get paid this off season and doing him. Tatum has taken a huge step back this year he’s a chicken now Simmons calls it going to the school of Kobe.

Nobody on that team is doing the little things no ones doing the dirt work anymore.

It’s easy to look and say hey what’s different, oh Kyrie but they played 3/4 of a season with him before and played great they looked good earlier this year as well.

Plus when you factor in everyone in Boston knows there pretty much gonna be offered up in a trade for AD this summer guys stop caring.

This ain’t all on Kyrie there’s a lot of problems in Boston.

IT was already hurt that’s why they didn’t want him and he’s been a shell of his former self since his hip injury.

Boston seems to a milder case of what infected the Lakers.

 

[Russ Smith]

Boston seems to a milder case of what infected the Lakers.

IMO the Lakers were "pretty good" in a very tough West until the Anthony Davis stuff hit. I know they had injuries too so it's hard to quantify how much was not having players, including LeBron, and how much was AD. But I think a big reason they fell off a cliff was that essentially the whole team saw proof they're considered pawns in LeBron's game of chess. Some of them played well yes, Ingram for example, but as a whole I think the team fractured. For a bit they united as us against him(LeBron) but then it just fractured.

I have no idea who's the coach next year but they will have their work cut out for them assuming LeBron is still there

 

[Mainstreet]

IMO the Lakers were "pretty good" in a very tough West until the Anthony Davis stuff hit. I know they had injuries too so it's hard to quantify how much was not having players, including LeBron, and how much was AD. But I think a big reason they fell off a cliff was that essentially the whole team saw proof they're considered pawns in LeBron's game of chess. Some of them played well yes, Ingram for example, but as a whole I think the team fractured. For a bit they united as us against him(LeBron) but then it just fractured.

I have no idea who's the coach next year but they will have their work cut out for them assuming LeBron is still there

If you are saying Lebron was one of the triggers for going after AD, I definitely agree as the Lakers wanted to go to win-now mode this season.

I'm thinking the Anthony Davis trade rumors likely an effect on the younger players with the the Lakers and probably a milder effect on the Celtics.

Players wondering if they may be traded doesn't help team chemistry.

 

[Russ Smith]

If you are saying Lebron was one of the triggers for going after AD, I definitely agree as the Lakers wanted to go to win-now mode this season.

I'm thinking the Anthony Davis trade rumors likely an effect on the younger players with the the Lakers and probably a milder effect on the Celtics.

Players wondering if they may be traded doesn't help team chemistry.

Yes that's what I was trying to say. I think they were an ok team until that situation happened and it fractured the team. And yes it probably fractured the Celtics too for the same reason, the players suddenly realized they were not "essential" they were replaceable.

And the bad thing is I think AD is a great guy, unibrow and all. I don't blame him I think he was put into this position because of LeBron. I'm sure he wants to play with LeBron and the Lakers and I can't blame him, but LeBron put it out there publicly and sort of put AD in a bad spot.

It's interesting but a year ago the talk on the Lakers was LaVar Ball is destroying the chemistry get rid of Lonzo. Lonzo actually completely disassociated himself from his dad after he found out the family friend had "lost" 1.5 million of Lonzo's money. THat should have been a huge positive for the team but nobody even noticed because Lonzo is hurt(again) and the LeBron stuff has totally overshadowed the other stuff.

 

[Mainstreet]

Bulls setting Markannen for the rest of the season apparently because of fatigue.

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[GatorAZ]

Bulls setting Markannen for the rest of the season apparently because of fatigue.

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“Fitanking”

 

[sunsfan88]

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Awesome to see. There was reportedly around 2,500 fans at the game to watch Doncic/Dragic. That’s actually more than 0.1% of their population!

 

[Phrazbit]

He had a great setup prior to Kyrie showing up. I can't help but think they would have been better off if they stuck with IT. I know he wanted a payday that was crazy but I think they could have talked him down a good bit. No one was giving him the max. If he wanted to call Boston's bluff he could have sat out all summer but no one was going to throw $30+ million a year at him. Who would have thought IT would be easier to manage than Kyrie?

I don't know that Kyrie was the guy for them to use a lot of their asset ammo on, but I don't think they have any regrets about selling IT when they did. Thomas on even half of what he was asking for would be one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

Also, even if he hadn't been injured (which he already was when the Celts dumped him), I think a team with Thomas as a star player has a very limited ceiling and the Celtics had probably reached it. He needs the ball in his hands constantly to be effective, he also does not elevate the play of his teammates and he's just too little to be a respectable defender.

 

[Finito]

I don't know that Kyrie was the guy for them to use a lot of their asset ammo on, but I don't think they have any regrets about selling IT when they did. Thomas on even half of what he was asking for would be one of the worst contracts in the NBA.

Also, even if he hadn't been injured (which he already was when the Celts dumped him), I think a team with Thomas as a star player has a very limited ceiling and the Celtics had probably reached it. He needs the ball in his hands constantly to be effective, he also does not elevate the play of his teammates and he's just too little to be a respectable defender.

There isn’t a GM on the planet that would take IT over Kylie.

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

I may or may not have ugly cried while watching this:

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[Cheesebeef]

I may or may not have ugly cried while watching this:

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I watch something like this and get a little misty for multiple reasons. It's just an awesome human moment, but I also start to water because it dumbfounds me how much hate there is in the world. There is a huge African American Male and a tiny little Caucasian Girl with such a genuine moment that it makes me furious that someone can look at a person different than them and automatically hate or think they're better than them. We are all flesh and blood. I just don't get where hate comes from inside those who pass it down to others. No one is born racist. That's a learned disability and it's how it should be categorized.

Sorry... had a little rant there.

 

[Russ Smith]

Another bizarre end game that the NBA refs are going to get trashed over. Warriors blow a 19 point lead, go down 9 and then force OT. Down 3 late in the OT, they inbounds to Durant, Bates Diop is apparently supposed to foul Durant but he's kind of hesitant and KD nails the 3 as the ref calls the foul on Bates Diop. Durant is running back downcourt yelling and pumping his fist as the announcers go wild, but wait, the ref says not a shooting foul! The only debate on the play IMO is if Bates Diop actually fouls Durant, he reaches in and then pulls his hands back, the angle they had was not obvious, but if there is no foul, the 3 pointer is good tie game. They didn't count the shot but called the foul. So the Warriors inbound to Curry down 3. He's guarded by Bayless and hits an unbelievable fallback 3 ends up out of bounds in the Wolves bench. Curry then runs downcourt pointing and taunting the ref who blew the Durant call, KD actually grabs Curry to keep him from getting T.

.5 left, he Wolves inbounds and Durant inexplicable overplays Towns, gets backdoored and grabs him when they throw the lob, and Leon Wood calls the deadball foul with .5 left and Towns hits the first and wins the game. 100% it's a foul, why KD overplayed I'll never know.

The Warriors postgame guys said after the game as Kerr went off he was screaming at the refs that they would be embarassed when the 2 minute review comes out tomorrow and shows how badly they blew the call on the Durant 3. Then later in the same postgame they said one of the refs came into the Warriors lockerroom to apologize to Kerr and admit they'd blown the call.

Curry had 11 3's and 37, the last 2 threes he hit were just unreal. On the first he was jumping back trying to draw contact from behind, he hit the shot and fell almost face first. The 2nd was the fallback into the Wolves bench that tied it.

Denver won so the Warriors and Nuggets now have the same record.