NBA the slenderman cometh.

[BigFatCoward]

Bucks coaching change is going well. 

[BigFatCoward]

I don't follow women's college ball, but a video just popped up on my feed of Swoopes absolutely hating on Caitlyn Clark and getting some basic facts seriously wrong.

What's the beef or is it just old athletes like to moan about young athletes? 

 

[Tywin et al.]

Now the fun begins with the trade deadline looming. Hield is a Sixer and I'm surprised how little they had to give up. Just some matching contracts and three second round picks, none of which were theirs anyways. That's a great trade if Embiid can come back. 

Curious to see what else happens. 

Edited February 8 by Mr. Chatywin et al.

[Slurktan]

4 hours ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Now the fun begins with the trade deadline looming. Hield is a Sixer and I'm surprised how little they had to give up. Just some matching contracts and three second round picks, none of which were theirs anyways. That's a great trade if Embiid can come back. 

Curious to see what else happens. 

I'm not understanding why Indy did that trade honestly.

[DMC]

22 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

I'm not understanding why Indy did that trade honestly.

All those glorious 2nd round picks!!!  Seriously, just seemed like Hield wasn't in their longterm plans, so might as well get something for him.  They also replaced him in the rotation with Doug McDermott.

Anyway, pretty disappointed the Magic didn't do anything.  And (relatedly) why in the world didn't the Wizards trade Tyus Jones?!?

Edited February 8 by DMC

[Tywin et al.]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

And (relatedly) why in the world didn't the Wizards trade Tyus Jones?!?

You'd think he could fetch a first from a contender. Or at the least something like the Hield deal. I would have loved if the Wolves brought him back, but they just don't have assets to move. The deal they made is a bit of a head scratcher, but it probably won't matter either way.

 

Also it was deer hunting season tonight. Yes they were missing Dame and Middleton, but getting slapped like that at home is always a bad look. 

[DMC]

28 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

You'd think he could fetch a first from a contender.

Right?  I don't get it.  If the Magic didn't offer a future protected first or even just basically their actual first in June, they can go fuck themselves.  They don't need another mid-round pick.  They just picked Jett Howard 11 overall and I'm not sure he'll ever even get the chance to carve out a role on the team.  And that was in a much better draft.

That's even if Jones will just be there for this year (probably the case) and they're worried about fucking up chemistry.  They still need someone who can run the offense and actually hit threes - Jones provides both whereas Fultz only provides the former and is a constant injury concern.  Putting them in the best position to win this season should be viewed as part and parcel of future success/development.

[Tywin et al.]

15 minutes ago, DMC said:

Right?  I don't get it.  If the Magic didn't offer a future protected first or even just basically their actual first in June, they can go fuck themselves.  They don't need another mid-round pick.  They just picked Jett Howard 11 overall and I'm not sure he'll ever even get the chance to carve out a role on the team.  And that was in a much better draft.

That's even if Jones will just be there for this year (probably the case) and they're worried about fucking up chemistry.  They still need someone who can run the offense and actually hit threes - Jones provides both whereas Fultz only provides the former and is a constant injury concern.  Putting them in the best position to win this season should be viewed as part and parcel of future success/development.

Firsts miss so often and when you have a good team they don't have nearly as much value as a proven high end back up PG. The Magic seem like a perfect team to grab him in part because he can play the one and Suggs can slide to the two depending on match ups. There's zero reason for the Zardos to keep him and it would have been mutually beneficial for them to move him, even it was for a crappy deal where they maybe got an iffy young player, a player with an expiring contract to match and a second round pick, but I think they could have gotten more from several teams. Just more bad decisions in Washington. Like maybe they didn't want this year's pick from any team, but that doesn't explain not moving him. It's just odd. 

Curious to hear @Maithanet's perspective.

Also Wagner had a night. 34/7/7 with 2 blocks is pretty damn good. And I hate to say it, but Wemby is not as special as expected. At least not yet. 

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Also Wagner had a night. 34/7/7 with 2 blocks is pretty damn good. And I hate to say it, but Wemby is not as special as expected. At least not yet. 

Yeah it was fun watching Wagner tonight.  Definitely a lot more fun than immediately responding to Kal in the NFL thread.  He ate up the Pistons the other night too.  Next step, maybe, do it against actual NBA teams.

I've now seen Wemby twice in eight days.  The first game wasn't that impressive.  Tonight was very unimpressive. (**Other than the blocks/rim protection, that is, for both games.) 

To be fair, his game log looks a lot better in non-Magic games.  I suppose Isaac's resurgence helps.  Wemby was also was on a back-to-back tonight, which should be emphasized.

[Tywin et al.]

23 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah it was fun watching Wagner tonight.  Definitely a lot more fun than immediately responding to Kal in the NFL thread.  He ate up the Pistons the other night too.  Next step, maybe, do it against actual NBA teams.

I still really haven't seen him play that much, but when I randomly look at Magic box scores his numbers are good. Your team does need one more All-Starish player though and then they could be nasty.

Like I said before, for bought our squads, just get to the second round, play with house money and work from there.

Quote

I've now seen Wemby twice in eight days.  The first game wasn't that impressive.  Tonight was very unimpressive. (**Other than the blocks/rim protection, that is, for both games.) 

To be fair, his game log looks a lot better in non-Magic games.  I suppose Isaac's resurgence helps.  Wemby was also was on a back-to-back tonight, which should be emphasized.

He's 7'4 and had one rebound. His season averages are fine, but he eats against bad teams and he's not the shooting prospect a lot of people thought he would be (which I told you guys would be the case). I still would have taken him first overall, but unless he takes a serious leap he's not going to be the generational player he was hyped to be. I know it's a different league, but Kareem raised the Bucks win total by like 30 games. Wemby has not had much impact. 

[DMC]

13 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I still really haven't seen him play that much, but when I randomly look at Magic box scores his numbers are good. Your team does need one more All-Starish player though and then they could be nasty.

Like I said before, for bought our squads, just get to the second round, play with house money and work from there.

Well, they need a reliable point guard that preferably can shoot beyond ten feet.  Banchero/Wagner/Suggs is a pretty great core and one I personally love and have admittedly just grown really fond of in looking forward to as they grow into their primes.  Carter, too, can be a part of it, but I go back and forth.  Mainly because while he's no Fultz or Isaac, he still has the fundamental problem of staying healthy/availability.

25 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

I know it's a different league, but Kareem raised the Bucks win total by like 30 games. Wemby has not had much impact. 

That's an entirely unfair comparison, and not cuz it's a different league.  Kareem entered the league as a 22 year old after three years under John Wooden (and a fourth before that with UCLA's freshman squad).  Wemby just turned 20 a month ago.

[Tywin et al.]

10 hours ago, DMC said:

That's an entirely unfair comparison, and not cuz it's a different league.  Kareem entered the league as a 22 year old after three years under John Wooden (and a fourth before that with UCLA's freshman squad).  Wemby just turned 20 a month ago.

Yet Wemby has another emerging teammate and the Spurs are awful. They should be winning more games if he was having a true impact. 

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

Yet Wemby has another emerging teammate and the Spurs are awful. They should be winning more games if he was having a true impact. 

Well, they're still the youngest team in the league.  Vassell did look great last night, but the roster was still designed to lose this season.  I don't necessarily agree with that strategy, but it does mitigate my concern when it comes to Wemby.  As does, quite simply, the quality of the league right now. 

I think both Wemby and the Spurs are doing about what I'd expect at this point.  And staying healthy is plainly the number one goal this year.  Anyway, I think it's way too early to write off his "generational" potential.

[Maithanet]

Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka went 23-59 in 2009.  If your best players are under 22, it is really hard to win in the NBA. 

[Proudfeet]

Wonder if the Spurs are just designed to fail. First, the experiment with Sochan at point guard and Wembanyama at forward. Think its because they wanted to start Wembanyama, Collins, Sochan, Johnson and Vassell, but even so, Johnson and Vassell are more natural fits at point guard. Anyway, it didn't work out, and Johnson and Collins are out of the starting lineup. 

Now, when it seems that they are doing slightly better, they are trading their only spot up shooter. That's great. We'll get to see the Spurs miss more open three pointers while teams crowd the paint.

_

Re: trade deadline. Wonder what the Raptors are doing trading away a first round pick.

Or the Thunder trading for Hayward. Are their rookie extensions coming up and they need cap space for next season already? Would be a shame if they are giving up on this season. Windows are surprisingly short and they might not hit on their next draft picks. Even if they have a bunch of picks, they can't actually use all of them.

[DMC]

11 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Re: trade deadline. Wonder what the Raptors are doing trading away a first round pick.

Yeah the Raptors definitely confused me yesterday.  Seemed pretty clear they were going into tank, or at least rebuild, mode with the Anunoby and Siakam trades - as well as giving away Schroder yesterday - then they give up a first rounder?  There's nothing worse than having a GM/Front Office that can't pick a direction.

I *guess* the rationale is they really like Agbaji and felt they already had too many picks this June.  At least that's what The Athletic beat writers tell me.  Hohkay.

[Tywin et al.]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Well, they're still the youngest team in the league.  Vassell did look great last night, but the roster was still designed to lose this season.  I don't necessarily agree with that strategy, but it does mitigate my concern when it comes to Wemby.  As does, quite simply, the quality of the league right now. 

I think both Wemby and the Spurs are doing about what I'd expect at this point.  And staying healthy is plainly the number one goal this year.  Anyway, I think it's way too early to write off his "generational" potential.

It's an awful strategy. They should have made some trades and/or signed more vets. Making the playoffs this year probably shouldn't have been a realistic goal, but they shouldn't be this bad either. 

And I'm not trying to write him off, just saying he isn't as good as expected. Defensively he's already great, but the issues some analysts brought up about his offensive game seem to be true, which again is why the Spurs should have gotten him more help. 

[DMC]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

And I'm not trying to write him off, just saying he isn't as good as expected. Defensively he's already great, but the issues some analysts brought up about his offensive game seem to be true, which again is why the Spurs should have gotten him more help. 

Fair enough.  Seems like you're responding to those that overstated expectations early on.  His offensive game was always clearly going to be a work in progress.  The important thing is he's shown he's at least competent at all the versatility there that was advertised - and therefore can be developed.

[Tywin et al.]

49 minutes ago, DMC said:

Fair enough.  Seems like you're responding to those that overstated expectations early on.  His offensive game was always clearly going to be a work in progress.  The important thing is he's shown he's at least competent at all the versatility there that was advertised - and therefore can be developed.

Well in general I thought the perception was he was suppose to have an immediate impact. It was crazy for some to say he could be a top 10 player as a rookie and/or the Spurs would be a playoff team, but they shouldn't be this bad. I know they gutted the roster to get him, however once they did they should have signed as many decent vets as they could have. Young players need those kind of influences around them. The Spurs need to be aggressive this offseason acquiring talent and it will probably have to be through trading a lot of picks and then signing a lot of role players with experience.  They have two core players you can build around. 

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Mr. Chatywin et al. said:

It was crazy for some to say he could be a top 10 player as a rookie and/or the Spurs would be a playoff team, but they shouldn't be this bad. I know they gutted the roster to get him, however once they did they should have signed as many decent vets as they could have. Young players need those kind of influences around them. The Spurs need to be aggressive this offseason acquiring talent and it will probably have to be through trading a lot of picks and then signing a lot of role players with experience.  They have two core players you can build around. 

Agreed, their refusal to use their cap space in the offseason to improve the team was inexcusable.  They did lock up Vassell though which was productive.