The Official 2018-19 NBA Season Thread

[bhlloy]

He should have been a sure thing. He was a very good player in a league for grown men at 17 and the MVP at 18. The only thing stopping him being a sure thing was the scepter of Darko and the notion that a Euro couldn't possibly be the best prospect in the entire draft.

Young is 468th in the league out of 469 in VORP. He is doing well passing the ball in terms of assist volume, but he's also easily in the top 25 in turnover ratio among qualified players. It's possible he's going to develop into Steph Curry, but I think it's far more likely he's the punch line in this draft. I think you are underselling quite how badly he's playing, even as a rookie on a bad team.

[Groundhog]

Yeah, I think some people don't appreciate how remarkable that MVP season was at his age, in the 2nd best league in the world. The main knock I heard on him was supposedly his athleticism, and although he's not a "once in a generation" athlete like LeBron, I watched a good number of his games at Real Madrid and he looked plenty athletic enough to me against top tier European talent, and Americans who were excellent college players if not ex/fringe-NBA players themselves... not to mention fully grown men. Orders of magnitude beyond what guys like Young were up against in college typically.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Young is 468th in the league out of 469 in VORP. He is doing well passing the ball in terms of assist volume, but he's also easily in the top 25 in turnover ratio among qualified players. It's possible he's going to develop into Steph Curry, but I think it's far more likely he's the punch line in this draft. I think you are underselling quite how badly he's playing, even as a rookie on a bad team.

Not underselling Young at all. Haven't watched him and have only seen clips of how badly he's played. I'm sure there's something to build on there, but maybe there's not. Always wondered if Young would be more like Steph Curry or Jimmer Fredette. Right now, he's trending towards the latter. I think he'll end up as a solid starter, but not a superstar...more of a second tier guard.Not what you're expecting to get out of the #5 pick in the draft.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The Wall contract is the worst in the NBA IMO. It's quite possible the Wizards got better today with Wall being ruled out for the rest of the season. The guy gives zero fucks on the court right now and is in desperate need of a change of scenery.

Rich Paul needs to be brought up on charges for abuse.

I know you're serious @HousefromDC, so I made this while waiting for my flight. Money owed would depend on John Wall's option. CBAFAQ states, "player options contain a clause that indicates whether the player receives his salary for the option year" if his contract is terminated. pic.twitter.com/h01GTPP0k2

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) December 30, 2018

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Rich Paul needs to be brought up on charges for abuse.

I know you're serious @HousefromDC, so I made this while waiting for my flight. Money owed would depend on John Wall's option. CBAFAQ states, "player options contain a clause that indicates whether the player receives his salary for the option year" if his contract is terminated. pic.twitter.com/h01GTPP0k2

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) December 30, 2018

I think the contract that competes with Wall's for worst in the NBA is probably Wiggins.

[Arles]

I enjoy the NBA, but the refereeing discrepancies for the "good teams" makes it extremely frustrating to watch. First, the Suns are not a good team. Still, in the NFL, the Bills can go into Minnesota and win or the Titans can beat New England. In the NBA regular season, it is almost impossible for a very good team to lose to bad team because of foul calls/free throws. Last night, the 76ers played in Phoenix and had 54 free throws. I watched the game and a vast majority were touch fouls and minor contact plays. Yet, at key points for the Suns, the refs swallowed their whistles. The Suns ended up losing 132-127 - but they really had no chance. Here's one of the "no calls" when the Suns were on a run in the first quarter. Bear in mind, the 76ers shot 18 free throws in the first quarter right before this no-call:

@Gambo987 @Vincemarotta when your opponent has 18 free throws in the 1st quarter and this isn’t a foul 🤔😡 Gotta love NBA officials when your team is marginal. pic.twitter.com/5jTmxNGGvZ

— Arlie Rahn (@ArlesGreyDog) January 3, 2019

[miami_fan]

Brett Brown must not really want to do what it takes to win.

Jimmy Butler challenging Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown about offensive role

[Lathum]

Someone needs to put Butler and AB in a rocket ship and launch them towards the sun.

[Atocep]

It's odd to see the Hawks and Bucks combine for 256 points and not one player scored 20 in the game.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Someone needs to put Butler and AB in a rocket ship and launch them towards the sun.

Took me a few to figure put you meant Antonio Brown. I wasn't expecting to see a football dude referenced here.

[Brian Swartz]

Took me longer than that to not figure it out, so thanks for the clarification.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Took me a few to figure put you meant Antonio Brown. I wasn't expecting to see a football dude referenced here.

What you talkin about? I meant Aaron Baynes.

[miami_fan]

Couldn't even make it to the end of the year.

Minnesota Timberwolves fire coach and team president Tom Thibodeau

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Couldn't even make it to the end of the year.

Minnesota Timberwolves fire coach and team president Tom Thibodeau

Good luck to whoever steps into those positions. Wiggins has to go and I don't think his contract is movable.

[Groundhog]

Not a Wiggins fan at all, but seems crazy that he's still just 23. I'd dangle him at Toronto and see if they'd take a chance on a Canadian national for anything they had that would make the deal work.

[stevew]

If the Cavs lose a pick over this Patrick McCaw nonsense I'm going to be so pissed. I dont see why we didnt just keep him anyways. Reasonable player at a garbage bin price. 3mil buys you basically nothing.

[RainMaker]

It looks like Oladipo's knee cap just ended up in his thigh. That's a really bad injury.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

It looks like Oladipo's knee cap just ended up in his thigh. That's a really bad injury.

On the radio broadcast they said the Pacers are saying it is a serious knee injury, MRI tomorrow.

[BishopMVP]

I know he's a good defender and does some really nice things in transition, but are we going to start talking about Lonzo Ball's shooting? Markelle Fultz shot 57% from the FT line, Ball is at 42% for the season after shooting 45% last season. Just like Fultz he was also a high 60% shooter in his one college year.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I know he's a good defender and does some really nice things in transition, but are we going to start talking about Lonzo Ball's shooting? Markelle Fultz shot 57% from the FT line, Ball is at 42% for the season after shooting 45% last season. Just like Fultz he was also a high 60% shooter in his one college year.

I'm still not sure on Lonzo's fit in the NBA. He's a solid defender and good in transition, but he does nothing for you in the half court, doesn't shoot it well, and doesn't finish at the rim. I don't see the ceiling there as a top 3 guy on a championship contender. Same for Ingram although I think he's at least an easier player to fit into a lineup.

With LeBron's clock ticking the Lakers have to at least be considering moving one or both of them if they can get a top 3 guy back.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

On the radio broadcast they said the Pacers are saying it is a serious knee injury, MRI tomorrow.

Oladipo has a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee. Out for the rest of the season.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Oladipo has a ruptured quad tendon in his right knee. Out for the rest of the season.

Sounds pretty nuts. I saw the replay when I got home. It looked like he dislocated his kneecap. There was a bulge a little above his knee and it looked like his kneecap had slid up there. Nope. That's not it.

Tearing that tendon caused his quad muscle to recoil away from the knee and the bulge I saw was actually his quad all balled up. Sounds pretty painful.

[miami_fan]

James Harden has scored 263 consecutive unassisted points.

This will probably be my favorite stat of the 2018-19 NBA season.

[miami_fan]

I have been going through the recent transaction history of the Pelicans to see where things went wrong in the Anthony Davis era. Yes I know this is random.

Does everything boil down to the signing of Omer Asik in 2015 and the subsequent trade of Asik to the Bulls along with the 1st rounder ruining the franchise? Is it really that simple?

[Groundhog]

Mitch Creek saw 2 seconds court time for the Nets today, making that 11 Aussies to hit an NBA court this year I believe.

[Logan]

The Twitter reaction to Davis' official trade request has to confirm that people are way more interested in talking about the NBA than watching the NBA.

[Johnny93g]

I wonder if any of the players that criticized Toronto for not being loyal to DeRozan will have anything to say about Davis not being loyal to the Pelicans....

[albionmoonlight]

The Pelicans thought that they could have football people run an NBA team part-time and not have it be a disaster. They deserve to bottom out (and I say that as a fan).

They should clean out the whole front office, put actual basketball people in charge, trade AD for the most they can get for him, and start the rebuild.

(And even that may not be enough to save the NBA in New Orleans).

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Johnny93g

I wonder if any of the players that criticized Toronto for not being loyal to DeRozan will have anything to say about Davis not being loyal to the Pelicans....

Giving your team a heads up that you have no intention to sign a long term deal with them and will hit FA in a year where they risk getting nothing back for you is about as loyal as you can expect.

[stevew]

The NBA really needs comp picks. Guys like Davis or LeBron or Bosh leaving should give you an extra first or two.

[Atocep]

We're likely going to have months of Lakers speculation since Boston can't make an offer until this offseason. The Pelicans would be pretty stupid to trade him before then.

[Logan]

Also stupid to do a deal before the lottery/draft. Having Zion potentially be in a package is a different story than "2018 1st round pick".

[Brian Swartz]

Eh, I think it depends on what you can get. The Lakers obviously need to be in win now mode, and sometimes that deal is better before things are set in stone. Pelicans just need to make the best call they can on getting as much as possible for Davis. I don't think it's at all foregone that the deal will be better later than sooner, there have definitely been cases where teams have hurt themselves by waiting too long.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Eh, I think it depends on what you can get. The Lakers obviously need to be in win now mode, and sometimes that deal is better before things are set in stone. Pelicans just need to make the best call they can on getting as much as possible for Davis. I don't think it's at all foregone that the deal will be better later than sooner, there have definitely been cases where teams have hurt themselves by waiting too long.

Out of curiosity I looked at this earlier.

The Lakers would have to move a lot of salary AND bodies in order to take on Davis, possibly more bodies than NO could take back I think. That'd clear the roster space they need to pick up Carmelo too, but again they'd have to move even more dollars & bodies.

[GoldenCrest Games]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

The Pelicans thought that they could have football people run an NBA team part-time and not have it be a disaster. They deserve to bottom out (and I say that as a fan).

They should clean out the whole front office, put actual basketball people in charge, trade AD for the most they can get for him, and start the rebuild.

(And even that may not be enough to save the NBA in New Orleans).

I hope they move them to a new market. Maybe we can get a team here in Minnesota?

...

..

you say we have one? Since when?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Eh, I think it depends on what you can get. The Lakers obviously need to be in win now mode, and sometimes that deal is better before things are set in stone. Pelicans just need to make the best call they can on getting as much as possible for Davis. I don't think it's at all foregone that the deal will be better later than sooner, there have definitely been cases where teams have hurt themselves by waiting too long.

Yes, but nothing I've seen in the Lakers or Knicks packages is at all exciting imo. The deal I kind of like is CJ McCollum/Nurkic etc from the Blazers if they're desperate to stay competitive. If they're trying to add a young superstar the one potential deal I see would be something centered around Ben Simmons if Philadelphia decides the spacing issues Simmons presents are too great when he's not the primary halfcourt option.

Honestly I'm not even sure why people think the Celtics have that much ammo this summer. I don't think we'd include Tatum, and a deal centered around Jaylen Brown, Rozier or Marcus Morris being resigned & included, Robert Williams, & two late lottery picks doesn't seem that great. The Memphis pick rolling over to 2020 would be nice...

[rjolley]

If Boston doesn't offer Tatum, the package is probably a no go, even with the plethora of picks at their disposal. it'll be interesting to see what Ainge can put together to entice New Orleans to wait until they can consummate the trade.

The Lakers sounds like a great destination from an on court perspective, but are Kuzma, Ingram, and Ball/Hart enough? Ingram has played better, but he's still inconsistent and he and Ball may do better with a change of scenery.

I like the trades from this article, especially #29.

[bhlloy]

The problem with the Celtics and the Lakers deals are both give you enough good young players to be a borderline decent team for a while, is that what NO is going to want for giving up one of the top 4 players in the league? I think you wait to see if somebody like the Knicks or the Bulls gets #1 and you can do Porzingis/Carter plus Zion, so there’s really no downside to waiting. At very least one of the Lakers or Celtics will be willing to do that deal at the draft and you can actually have them bid against each other.

There’s no way there’s anything good enough in that LA deal that I’m pulling the trigger now. It makes no sense at all.

[BishopMVP]

Exactly. Ingram has predictably looked better with LeBron out and the ball in his hands more, but he or Ball/Kuzma is a good starting point for a deal for like Kemba Walker (though with him starting the ASG in Charlotte a week after the deadline it's unlikely the Hornets will be smart and deal him) or maybe Bradley Beal (though he's probably also worth more than an Ingram or Ball/Kuzma package). The only way I would deal Davis before the deadline is if someone with 1st team all-NBA potential like a Tatum (can't happen), Simmons or maybe Jaren Jackson Jr if Memphis was a little better and tried to go the opposite direction.

The problem for the Celtics is that Ainge can hint at things or tell NO he'll beat something like the Lakers offer, but he can't put specific names into trade talks since the New Orleans front office leaks like a sieve and the young guys (Jaylen Brown in particular) are mentally soft and you risk messing them up during a potential deep playoff run this spring.

The other team that cracks me up more than hearing Lakers rumors is the idea the Knicks are in the running now. If they win the lottery then they could he in June, but Kristaps has undefined trade value until he comes back & plays (plus if you trade KP for AD why would Davis want to stay in New York unless they got at least one Marquee FA this summer?) so then you're left with a pu pu platter of Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, Alonzo Trier, Frank Ntilikina & Enes Kanter's bloated contract? No thanks.

[bhlloy]

Yeah, that admittedly is the problem with the Bulls or Knicks or anyone who might end up with #1. The Bulls are at least in a position to potentially add a top tier FA this offseason to pair with AD but the Knicks are in a worse position.

Simmons is definitely a wildcard and probably would be the best option available right now for NO, but I just can’t see AD and Embiid meshing. Haven’t their already been rumbles that Embiid is unhappy with the number of touches that Simmons gets around the rim?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Haven’t their already been rumbles that Embiid is unhappy with the number of touches that Simmons gets around the rim?

I thought it was Embiid unhappy with the number of his own touches that are away from the rim as opposed to being about anybody else getting rim touches.

(I'm not being a smartass and/or funny, I'm thinking that it's technically two different complaints ... right?)

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I thought it was Embiid unhappy with the number of his own touches that are away from the rim as opposed to being about anybody else getting rim touches.

(I'm not being a smartass and/or funny, I'm thinking that it's technically two different complaints ... right?)

My impression is that it was more of one spoken complaint and one implicit complaint.

Embiid, unlike many of his seven foot contemporaries sees himself more of a traditional big man so he believes that he needs to get his touches closer to the rim to be at his best. For him, being out by the three pointer is just an option at his disposal as opposed to something that is an integral part of the Sixers' playbook.

He also believes that he is THE franchise player for the Sixers and as such the team needs to more catered to his game. There are only so many touches at the rim. The more of them that go to other players, the less go to the franchise player.

[Gary Gorski]

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned with some of these trade ideas like the Knicks or the Bulls is would Davis even want to resign there? Davis is prepared to leave alot of money on the table to leave New Orleans because he wants to play for a winner. You don't trade Carter/KP and Zion for Davis if he's not signing an extension then and there.

You have to trade him to a team that has a star where he can be 1A or 1B and that's not the Knicks or the Bulls as they stand now. If the Knicks had Kyrie that would change things of course.

I agree with those saying to wait for the summer to see how the lottery shakes out for the obvious reasons but also for not helping the Lakers make the playoffs now. If you keep them out of the playoffs maybe they hit that 1% chance of landing Zion and then Ingram/Zubac/Hart/Zion isn't such a bad package.

[Logan]

A healthy Porzingis AND Zion is a massive overpayment compared to the best of what Boston or LA can offer.

[Logan]

I don't have a problem with these star players requesting trades, providing they're not doing something crazy like making the demand a year into signing an extension when nothing else has materially changed. What I don't understand though is why these guys who want to play for a particular team are so eager to strip their eventual team of all those assets. Wouldn't it be better for both Davis and the Lakers to wait a year and then he can join a team with Ingram, Ball, etc or join up with whatever other great player can be acquired for similar assets? Just don't understand the rush.

Can even make the same demand ahead of next year's deadline and essentially force the trade to LA for less than it would cost today with a year-plus of control. Pretty sure the only team that blinked on such a demand from the trading team was the Knicks who bid against themselves for Carmelo and pretty much killed that era before it started as a result.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Logan

I don't have a problem with these star players requesting trades, providing they're not doing something crazy like making the demand a year into signing an extension when nothing else has materially changed. What I don't understand though is why these guys who want to play for a particular team are so eager to strip their eventual team of all those assets. Wouldn't it be better for both Davis and the Lakers to wait a year and then he can join a team with Ingram, Ball, etc or join up with whatever other great player can be acquired for similar assets? Just don't understand the rush.

Can even make the same demand ahead of next year's deadline and essentially force the trade to LA for less than it would cost today with a year-plus of control. Pretty sure the only team that blinked on such a demand from the trading team was the Knicks who bid against themselves for Carmelo and pretty much killed that era before it started as a result.

The argument from the Lakers POV would be the Paul George situation from a couple of years ago. They waited until free agency as opposed to making a trade and ended up without the player they wanted. I am not saying the Lakers should make a rash deal. I am saying that they have gone through a similar situation recently.

From Davis's POV, well, money.

If Davis is traded and plays out the rest of his current contract, his new team could sign him to a five-year, $205 million extension next summer. If he enters unrestricted free agency in 2020, the most Davis could sign for with a new team is four years at $152 million.

That is after throwing away the $220 supermax extension with the Pelicans.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Rumors already percolating of Klay Thompson potentially joining LeBron and AD with the Lakers.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Logan

A healthy Porzingis AND Zion is a massive overpayment compared to the best of what Boston or LA can offer.

Sure, but they have a very low chance at getting the #1 pick a.k.a. Zion, more importantly Porzingis isn't healthy, and even if they do Davis would only stay if the Knicks signed 2 of KD/Kyrie/Butler, and just like every elite free agent ever they likely won't be signing with the Knicks & James Dolan.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Rumors already percolating of Klay Thompson potentially joining LeBron and AD with the Lakers.

The Kyrie wishcasting is absurd, but I'm even more certain that Klay will not leave Golden State unless they try to pay him less than the max. And they'll have the max slot available once KD leaves for the Knicks or Lakers.

[Vince, Pt. II]

It does seem incredibly silly, especially with how vocal Klay has been about wanting to stay with the Warriors.

I wish I knew the NBA contract rules a little better. CAN the Warriors offer a max deal to both KD and Klay and just say "eff it, pay ALL the luxury tax?"