The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

[studbucket]

Around the NBA – December 2023 Edition

Due to the length of the previous post, I turned this into its own post instead of an addendum for the game above.

• The Honu may have the better record, but the Sonics are 2-0 in the season series so far after a 116-107 victory in Honolulu. Bobby Drake (SF, 77 ovr) had 19 points and 9 rebounds, while LaForest Mance (SG, 77 ovr) led the game with a season-high 23 points for Seattle.
• The Nuggets took a game from West-leading Portland thanks to 4 different players scoring 20+ points: Jamal Murray (PG, 86 ovr), Bol Bol (C, 84 ovr), Bradley Beal (SG, 91 ovr), and Nikola Jokic (C, 90 ovr). The Joker also had a triple-double to put the Nuggets 3 games above .500.
• The Grizzlies desperately need to get back on track and Ja Morant (PG, 90 ovr) wants that to happen. They handled the Hawks thanks to his 48 points and 13 assists.
• James Harden (SG, 94 ovr) might be 34 years old, but he’s looking as good as ever. His 32.2 ppg are the second best of his career and he just dropped 51 points at home against the expansion SuperSonics.
• The Boston Celtics are a very good team and fancy themselves as contenders in the East, but Giannis (PF, 99 ovr) wanted to let them know he’s still in charge. The Greek Freak ran straight through the Celtics in the Garden to the tune of 47 points and a lead the Bucks never relinquished. That was Milwaukee’s 21^st straight victory.
• The Nuggets and Warriors played what may be the game of the year as the hosts won in San Francisco 142-140 in overtime. While Bol Bol scored 40 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Nikola Jokic had a 36, 13, and 11 triple-double, Steph Curry said “no, this is my game” and scored 49 points to help the Warriors get the win. The loss drops the Nuggets to .500 and puts the Warriors 5.5 games above them in the standings and second in the West.
• The Spurs have lost Michael Porter Jr (SF, 82 ovr) for 2 months due to a broken right leg.
• Kyle Kuzma (SF, 79 ovr) is hurt, again. He broke his right toe and will miss most of January. It’s a tough blow for a New Orleans team that looks much better with him on the court.
• As would be expected, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the Eastern Conference’s Player of the Month award. The Greek Freak has led the Bucks to a 27-4 record, is the prohibitive favorite for league MVP, and is averaging 31 points and 14 rebounds per game.
• Steph Curry (PG, 96 ovr) is the Western Conference Player of the Mohth. The Warriors are in first place thanks to his hot shooting. He’s averaging 30.5 ppg and 8.7 apg
• Bruno Radja (PG, 91 ovr), took over starting PG from dame Lillard, putting the 33 year into the 6^th man of the Year conversation and he won another Rookie of the Month award. He’s averaging 18.4 points, 6.6 assists, and shooting 47.5% from three.
• The Honu’s Uros Dragic (PG, 79 ovr) won the Western Conference Rookie of the Month award. Just like Radja, Dragic is a euro-stash player, but he is from Slovenia. He was drafted in 2021 by the Jazz picked up in the expansion draft. In 24 minutes, he averages 9.1 points and 6.5 assists. He was a huge help in covering for the injured Herro and Fultz in December.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Introduction

Evertson is that dude. Love what the Hatters are doing. That loss to UConn is tough, would’ve been a huge win to have for tournament consideration if they don’t win the conference title

[studbucket]

Re: Introduction

Evertson is that dude. Love what the Hatters are doing. That loss to UConn is tough, would’ve been a huge win to have for tournament consideration if they don’t win the conference title

Lennox is quite something, I agree. I knew I was getting a shooter, I didn't expect him to be such a good finisher.

I had the same thought about getting an at-large bid somehow, going to be tough though.

[Dawgfan1]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Man, I did not know about the St. Francis (NY) Brooklyn news until I caught up on this thread. As someone who's done a legacy with them before and was checking on them every year hoping they'd finally make the dance, that is SO SAD to hear. Fun fact, they were one of 4 teams who's played D-I since the tournament started to never make it (others are Army, William & Mary, and The Citadel). This will bring boos here, but they'll always be the real St Francis in my heart.

On a more related note, nice to see both brothers' years going well headed into conference play. Will Dinko play Fairleigh Dickinson (or FDU as I guess they want us to call them) this year in honor of their historic upset? I'm sure we all look at them differently now after they beat Purdue, it's really cool to be able to do that with this game. Also, Evertsen is a beast.

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Man, I did not know about the St. Francis (NY) Brooklyn news until I caught up on this thread. As someone who's done a legacy with them before and was checking on them every year hoping they'd finally make the dance, that is SO SAD to hear. Fun fact, they were one of 4 teams who's played D-I since the tournament started to never make it (others are Army, William & Mary, and The Citadel). This will bring boos here, but they'll always be the real St Francis in my heart.

It is totally sad. I like to call them Fake Francis in this universe, but I'd never want a school to get rid of their athletics, it just sucks :/

On a more related note, nice to see both brothers' years going well headed into conference play. Will Dinko play Fairleigh Dickinson (or FDU as I guess they want us to call them) this year in honor of their historic upset? I'm sure we all look at them differently now after they beat Purdue, it's really cool to be able to do that with this game. Also, Evertsen is a beast.

Yes, Dinko usually gets FDU twice in a season! Unfortunately I don't have them scheduled for a game I will play. The rest of Dinko's games I will play are Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis (NY), and Mount St. Mary's.

[studbucket]

Major Changes for the Thunder and Pelicans

On January 1^st, two franchises decided that they weren’t getting the kind of leadership they needed.

First, the Thunder fired Billy Donovan after 5 seasons. They have a very talented roster and were only 17-14 and in seventh place in the West. While he seemed to be a fine coach for a team that didn’t have big aspirations, growing consensus in the building was that he didn’t have what it took to get the most out of this roster. Having finished 38-44 last year, much more was expected this season.

Donovan is being replaced by the younger Edgar Washington, who will be bringing a much more modern offensive approach to the Thunder.

Then, just hours later, the New Orleans Pelicans ousted Luke Wallace. He had only been the head coach in New Orleans for 24 months, but after a terrible 32-50 opening season and a 13-20 start to the year, ownership decided they could no longer waste the talent of Zion Williamson (PF, 94 ovr), Adrian Stewart (PF, 84 ovr), and Victor Oladipo (SG, 88 ovr). Wallace was hired midway through the 2021-22 NBA season after Alvin Gentry was fired and didn’t do any better than his predecessor.

To replace Wallace the Pelicans promoted assistant coach Stephen Dawkins, who is expected to open up the offense more than was seen under Wallace. To assist him, the Pelicans hired Dwight Howard to help mentor young big men Williamson and Stewart.

While these were the only two coaching changes made, there are rumors that several teams are looking to make meaningful changes including Brooklyn, Toronto, Dallas, Denver, and Memphis.

[studbucket]

January 5, 2024 St. Francis at Robert Morris [NEC]

Robert Morris has had losing streaks of 5 and 6 games already this season and we just hit the new year. The Colonials are 5-11 but managed to get 2 conference wins thanks to playing the abysmal St. Francis (NY) and Quinnipiac teams that have a combined 2 wins between them.

Ever since a heartbreaking loss in the conference tournament to his brother’s alma mater back in 2020, Dinko has been ruthless when facing the Colonials. In the 3 seasons since then, he has gone 6-1 against Robert Morris, winning by as much as 40 and the only loss being by 1 point. The Red Flash are major favorites coming into this game, even being on the road. Only senior P.J. Boatner (PG, 65) seems to be of concern and they have some very poor players in their starting lineup including freshman Jovan Markham (SG, 54 ovr) and senior Bucky Henning (C, 52 ovr).

For the Red Flash, Vern Quick and Willis Holman are still dealing with nagging injuries that will last another week or two, but the team should be fine even with them operating at less than 100%. The Red Flash have 4 players scoring 8 points or more per game and are seeing freshman Erwin Willingham and Bobby Valdez lead the team in assists. Vern Quick may be the team’s leading scorer, but they are proving to be deep and well-rounded.

The beginning of the game was not at all how Dinko wanted it to be: his team started out sloppy and was committing fouls and making dumb mistakes. After another foul resulted in a 3 point play and an 11-7 deficit, Dinko called a timeout and tried to get his players to settle down and focus. Coming out of the timeout, he went with a 3-guard lineup, subbing Bobby Valdez in at the 2 and moving Vern Quick to the 3 for Stephane Diakite. He’s hoping to space the floor and hit some more shots.

The strategy had mixed success for the Red Flash, but they did manage to finally tie the game up at 20 about 2/3rds of the way into the first half. Robert Morris called time to take a break and kill any momentum that St. Francis was building up.

Unfortunately for the Colonials, they weren’t able to regain control of the game as the first half closed out. Despite being tied at 30 with 2 minutes left, the halftime score was 36-32 in favor of the visitors. St. Francis was shooting an astounding 70% from the field but not playing well, which was reflected in the scoreline. Scoring was well distributed for the Red Flash with Floyd Akindele, Stephane Diakite, and Vern Quick combining for 25 points but none of them had scored more than 9.

The biggest concern for Dinko was P.J. Boatner who had 8 points and 4 assists for the home team, and he needed to figure out a way to slow him down as his playmaking was causing problems for St. Francis’ defense.

Despite a series of exciting and emphatic dunks in the second half, St. Francis largely struggled to make shots and found the game tied at 52 midway through the second half.

The dunks were great, but the score wasn’t

After struggling to pull ahead, the Red Flash finally strung together two good possessions to get a commanding lead. With less than 2 minutes to go and St. Francis up 60-56, Vern Quick hit a three pointer. After a defensive stop, the Red Flash got the ball to Stephane Diakite on a fast break who made a beautiful reverse layup while having his off-hand hooked by the defender. The foul was called, the visitors were up 9, and Dinko felt great.

Still frame of the obvious foul on Diakite’s reverse layup

Replay of the key basket from Diakite

However, Dinko was in disbelief as he saw this 9 point lead nearly evaporate. Thanks to a series of dumb passes, the lead was cut to 3 points and Vern Quick was fouled with 6 seconds left to send him to the line to shoot a 1-and-1. Quick was cold-blooded as always and drained both to give St. Francis the 72-67 win on the road in Pittsburgh.

Around the NCAA

• In a game later this week, St. Francis improved to 4-1 in conference with a 79-63 win at Long Island. 5 players scored 11 or more points, including Bobby Valdez with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists off the bench. Erwin Willingham had 5 assists and 5 steals as well.
• Stetson had two games this week, losing the first one at Florida Gulf Coast by 3 points 61-58. Lennox Evertsen and Brendon Pocius combined for 33 points and Jerimie Scott added 10 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.
• The Hatters rebounded with a big 76-58 win at Lipscomb. The star of the game was Jerimie Scott with 22 points off the bench. Brendon Pocius had 16 points and 9 rebounds as well. However, Lennox Evertsen separated his shoulder and will miss 2.5 weeks.
• North Carolina destroyed rivals Duke 97-61 and remained undefeated. Warren Mayes (PF, 88 ovr) had 22 points and 9 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Duke was held to 34% shooting and committed 21 turnovers.
• Washington beat Oregon 76-69 in a battle of top 10 teams as Darius Lovelace (C, 86 ovr) scored 35 points.
• Marquette has lost 3 straight games and fallen to #4, which is still higher than many would expect. The Golden Eagles are now 12-3 on the season 1-3 in conference. Their losses have come to Rutgers, #25 DePaul, and Notre Dame.

[HarkTheSound]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Thrilled to see this back at the top of these boards. LFG!

[marshdaddy]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Pretty surprising score considering the discrepancy in overalls between the two teams. What went wrong, and is that any reason to be concerned moving forward?

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Thrilled to see this back at the top of these boards. LFG!

Appreciate it!

Pretty surprising score considering the discrepancy in overalls between the two teams. What went wrong, and is that any reason to be concerned moving forward?

Very surprising. 2 things went wrong:
1 - Rebounding
They outrebounded us despite the talent and size advantage. Only Floyd Akindele had more than 4 rebounds and our starting PF had 2. Just a lack of positioning and floor awareness that prevented us from getting second chances or keeping them from getting theirs.

2 - Off-ball defense
Robert Morris had 67% more assists than St. Francis. This was primarily due to drive-and-kicks and the point guard hitting some cutters. We fell asleep off the ball and it hurt us. 72 points isn't bad, but allowing this team to score 67 is not acceptable.


I do think there is reason to be concerned going forward. If Vern Quick and Bobby Valdez aren't hitting threes, this team needs to rely on its defense and some less consistent scorers. Thompson, Holman, and Akindele need to be doing the little things right. The box score can look OK, but that doesn't mean they played well.

[studbucket]

January 14, 2024 Stetson vs Jacksonville [Atlantic Sun]

Losing to FGCU was disappointing for the Hatters, but it was a loss that Dinko could swallow. What was much tougher to swallow was the injury to Lennox Evertsen. Stetson’s star guard would be out for 2.5 weeks and miss 3 games: tonight’s, Gardner-Webb, and North Florida.

Evertsen’s absence means more playing time for Marko “Spicy K” Nevill and senior big man Jerimie Scott. Scott in particular will be an important player against a very good rebounding team in the Dolphins.

If Stetson can get a win here, it would be a huge step toward staying in the running for the Atlantic Sun regular season championship. As the Hatters are 1 of 5 teams with only one conference loss the competition for that title is looking very fierce and the stakes are just as high for Jacksonville as they also only have 1 conference loss. However, the Dolphins are a miserable 3-8 outside the conference and are clearly not the powerhouse they have been the past few years.

Senior transfer Perry Yeager (SG, 80 ovr) came in from Marquette and is easily the most talented player in the conference. He’s also supported by freshman Haron Videnov (SF, 75 over) and junior Homer Nelke (C, 71 ovr). Yeager and Nelke combine to score 26 points per game and Videnov leads the team with 7.7 rebounds per game. However, they are relatively thin beyond those three.

The visitors like to play a fast-paced game that is enabled by their 1-3-1 matchup zone and tight defense creating poor shots and fast break opportunities. The Hatters like to play fast and will need to rely more on athleticism with Evertsen hurt, so this could be a very fast-paced back-and-forth game.

Jacksonville started the game quickly and was up 7-2 in almost no time thanks to a few good defensive positions and open looks on the offensive end. Stetson came to life via their press break, which got Jerimie Scott the ball in advantageous positions for layups and helped make the game 10-9 just a few minutes in.

However, Perry Yeager’s talent started showing and he hit some big threes and helped the Dolphins pull out to a 17-12 lead. Oggy called timeout, frustrated by his team’s inability to score. They were losing control of the game, and that wasn’t acceptable – especially at home. He put in his 2 long and lanky freshman wings (Brandin Mulic and Alvin Causey) and was hoping to use their energy and athleticism to cause problems and mitigate the absence of Lennox Evertsen.

A few pick-and-rolls between Nevill and Ray Rowe, plus some good defense, and the gap was narrowed to 1 as we neared the midway point of the half. Shortly after that, Brandin Mulic got fouled on a layup and made it to put the Hatters up 20-19 and got the Dolphins 1 step closer to foul trouble and the bonus.

From that point, the entire tenor of the game changed and would never be the same. The Hatters defense stepped up and Jacksonville started running the “clogged toilet offense”. From the 12:00 minute mark until 2:40 left in the first half Jacksonville only managed a single field goal and 2 free throws. In that time period, Stetson scored 24 points and were up 39-23.

This was a huge turnaround after a slow start and everyone was getting involved. The halftime score was 44-28 with Jerimie Scott leading the way with 16 points. Marko Nevill had 5 assists and Alvin Causey had 4 assists as well. Jacksonville had committed 10 first half fouls and both of their big men were in foul trouble. Starting PG Kenney Dancy was 0-6 from three in the first half, and their whole team was 3-21 from deep. It was a huge problem and Yeager had only taken 4 shots (making 3 of them).

At one point in the second half Jacksonville cut the lead to 10 points, but Stetson rebounded and stretched the lead back to 21. With Jacksonville’s big men in foul trouble, their 3^rd stringer had to play a bit and the Dolphins could never really recover or get back in the game as it finished in a 93-72 win for Oggy and his boys.

Stetson is now 4-1 in the conference, tied for first place with Belmont and Florida Gulf Coast.

Jerimie Scott finished the game with 33 points and 8 rebounds. He shot 9-11 from the free throw line, making Jacksonville pay for their sloppy defense. Marko Nevill had 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists in another well-rounded game as he continues to be a very efficient point guard for the Hatters.

While Stetson only shot 5 threes, Jacksonville shot 33, showing how reliant on the three and desperate they were. Homer Nelke fouled out, but Kenney Dancy did recover in the second half by scoring with 15 points and adding 10 rebounds for the game.

Around the NCAA

• In the last week, St. Francis won twice and are sitting atop the NEC at 6-1. The wins put them 2 games ahead of Long Island, FDU, and Sacred Heart. They can’t coast, but are in a very good position as we head into the last 2 months of conference play.
  • Their first win was at Quinnipiac, 74-48. Dinko’s boys forced 20 turnovers and shot 40 free throws. Floyd Akindele led the way with 12 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 blocks.
  • The second victory came at home against Central Connecticut State, 83-62. The Red Flash had a big second half to pull away from a close game. Bobby Valdez came off the bench to score 17 points and lead all scorers. For the second straight game St. Francis forced 20 turnovers. Diakite, Thompson, and Akindele all had 10+ points in the game.
  
  
• Washington had 2 wins over ranked teams in last week, #7 Oregon and #20 Stanford (by a score of 64-62). They are 17-1 on the season and have moved all the way up to #2. Darius Lovelace (C, 86 ovr) continues to be on fire with 35, 31, and 28 points in his last 3 games, and all his points have been desperately needed. Against Stanford, 2 starters didn’t score a single point, and a 3^rd only had 2. They’re a 1-man team, but it’s working.
• Oregon lost 3 games this week, though 2 were to #2 UW and #3 UCLA, but the 3^rd was to Cal in a 70-72 heartbreaker. Those 3 losses drop them from 7th to 11th in the polls.

Around the NBA

• The Grizzlies will miss Ja Morant (PG, 90 ovr) again, as he will miss a few weeks with a pulled muscle in his back.
• After a few losses, the Warriors got back on track thanks to 42 points from Steph Curry (PG, 96 ovr) in a 97-91 victory over Cleveland.
• Jameer Trammell (SF, 81 ovr) may be getting the headlines in Orlando as the top draft pick, but it’s second year Jaan O’Donnell (SF, 80 ovr) who has been making a bigger impact. The 6’9” player from Duke scored a career high 31 points in a victory over San Antonio.
• The Pelicans have been struggling, but they got a major win over the Pistons thanks to Zion Williamson (PF, 94 ovr) and his 44 points and 24 rebounds. He only shot 3-10 from deep, but was 16-18 from inside the arc. They need to do something soon so they don’t waste a great season from Zion.
• The Nets have lost Kevin Durant (SF, 92 ovr) for 4-6 weeks due to a high ankle sprain.

[kibaxx7]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Great victory, and congrats on 1000 replies!

[studbucket]

Re: The Bulgarian Brothers – A College Hoops 2K8 & NBA 2K20 Dynasty

Great victory, and congrats on 1000 replies!

Ha, I didn't notice the milestone. That's a fun one to hit!

[studbucket]

Beware the Ides of January

The trade deadline might be a month away, but that didn’t stop January 15 from being a hugely active day with a number of deals happening today and in the few days prior. The big theme of the deals we saw today was desperation from teams with superstars. Without any more pre-amble, here’s the deals.

Dallas tries to shore up their defense with a big, big man
The Mavericks are the second worst team in the NBA at both defense and rebounding. Despite the presence of Luka Doncic (SG, 97 ovr) and Kristaps Porzingis (C, 89 ovr) and a history of success, the Mavericks have been struggling. They are currently 20-24 and 3 games out of the playoffs. With this as context, they swung for the fences with a surprising partner that wasn’t done dealing: the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Mavs deal an unprotected first, Evan Fournier (SG, 82 ovr), Dwight Powell (C, 75 ovr), Marques Bolden (C, 73 ovr), and a second rounder to the Cavaliers for Andre Drummond (C, 90 ovr) and rookie Esteban Martinez (SF, 76 ovr).

Dallas will be fully relying on Drummond to help shore up their defense and grab rebounds, shifting Porzingis to the power forward spot where he may fit even better. Drummond’s scoring has dropped from 18 to 12 points per game this year, which is a big reason for the Cavaliers being 5 games under .500 and 4 games out of the playoffs.

So this is really a bet. The Mavs are betting that they are getting someone who is similar to the player that has been in 4 straight All-Star games and made both 1^st team All-NBA and All-Defense last year. The Cavaliers are betting that the 30-year-old will not be worth his $37.75 million player option next season and they are better off supporting and developing their young talent.

The Mavericks now feature a starting 5 of

1. Jalen Brunson (PG, 80 ovr)
2. Luka Doncic (SG, 97 ovr)
3. Sasha Zagorac (SF, 79 ovr)
4. Kristaps Porzingis (PF, 89 ovr)
5. Andre Drummond (C, 90 ovr)

The Grizzlies and Raptors shore up their depth to make the playoffs
The Toronto Raptors are deeply struggling. A team featuring Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam should not be having any trouble, but that’s exactly where they find themselves. They are in the bottom third of the league in scoring and find themselves at 19-22 and 3 games out of the playoffs in the East.

They were trying to improve their offense and depth and found 3 willing partners:

1. The hungry and dissatisfied Grizzlies
2. The unloading Cavaliers
3. The moribund Pacers

The Grizzlies are the 6^th worst defensive team in the NBA and have looked bad since moving to the East. They are 2.5 games out of the playoffs and nobody in Memphis is happy. There were a number of rumors that involved trading JJJ, Valanciunas, or Brandon Clarke, but those didn’t come to fruition.

This was a complicated one to pull off for the GMs. Cleveland wanted to unload Dinwiddie and Toronto wanted a better scoring guard and playmaker. The Grizzlies wanted to get rid of a big man and get better guard depth and shooting at the two guard. In the end, you got a lot of players changing teams in order to make the salaries work, but the big notes are:

1. Toronto adds Spencer Dinwiddie (SG, 83 ovr) and Johnathan Motley (C, 80 ovr) to their starting lineup
2. Memphis adds Dor Pettyjohn (SG, 81 ovr) to their starting lineup and Freie Holt (PG, 80 ovr) to their bench while dumping some poor defensive players
3. Cleveland adds two firsts, a second, and unloads some young players who will be asking for a lot of money next year

The Raptors supplemented this deal with a trade for Christian Wood (PF, 79 ovr), acquiring a player who is offense-only and will act as bench depth for Toronto. The Raptors gave up some guards, which they had an abundance of, to get the big man.

This gives the Raptors the following rotation:

1. Devonte Graham (PG, 81 ovr)
2. Spencer Dinwiddie (SG, 83 ovr)
3. Kawhi Leonard (SF, 93 ovr)
4. Pascal Siakam (PF, 88 ovr)
5. Johnathan Motley (C, 80 ovr)
6. Stephen Bathie (C, 80 ovr)
7. Christian Wood (PF, 79 ovr)
8. Timon Fields (SF, 79 ovr)
9. Austin Rivers (PG, 76 ovr)

The Nets add a better 5
The Nets are supremely talented – and disappointing until recently. With Kevin Durant recently injuring his ankle, they wanted to keep up the momentum they had before his injury – where they had gone 9-1 and stormed all the way up to fourth in the West. This was largely on the back of their big three: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ernesto Parkinson. Those three needed some help as the Nets were relying on young players Clint Wheless (PF, 77 ovr) and Stewart Mobley (C, 78 ovr) in their frontcourt.

They turned to the Spurs for some help, acquiring Juan King (C, 81 ovr).

The former Georgetown big man is on his 4^th team in 5 years as the former lottery pick seems to struggle with finding a home. The Nets paid a reasonable cost with a lightly-protected first and a few contracts for what they hope is a more reliable and talented frontcourt.

After all these trades the Cavaliers now have four 2024 first round picks.



New Orleans has not been good and needs better defense
The Pelicans are extraordinarily talented and yet cannot seem to get out of their own way. They’ve already fired their coach but are still 4 games out of the playoffs and 6 games under .500. They are the 5^th worst defensive team in the NBA and need that to change if they have any chance of working their way into the playoff picture.

It’s unclear if their move helps them with that goal, but they paid a reasonably high price to try to solve their problems.

They gave up Terry Rozier (PG, 80), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (SG, 79 ovr), and a top 10 protected first to San Antonio to get back defensive specialist Emanuel Terry (PF, 83 ovr) and veteran George Hill (PG, 78 ovr). The moves will free up more playing time for Jordan Clarkson (SG, 78 ovr) and rookie Jerald McLaren (SG, 79 ovr), while putting less pressure on Willie Cauley-Stein (C, 79 ovr) and Adrian Stewart (PF, 84 ovr).



Denver is desperate for defense and depth
When the Nuggets traded for Jonathan Isaac this summer, they knew they’d have a short bench. However, they thought that they’d be adding great defense and would have a team that was so long they’d cause problems for others and get plenty of rebounds. That hasn’t worked out. The 21-21 Nuggets are on the outside of the playoffs and are the 2^nd worst bench scoring team, 4^th worst defensive team, and 5^th worst rebounding team in the NBA. When three of your starters are 6’11 or taller, that’s unacceptable.

Not wanting to waste another year of the Jokic-Beal combo, the Nuggets made two trades.

(sorry, I neglected to get a screenshot of these deals)

Trade 1 with Pelicans
Nuggets trade: 2028 first round pick swap (worst), Jake Layman (SF, 76 ovr)
Pelicans trade: 2028 first round pick swap (best), Mac Nance (PG, 76 ovr)

Trade 2 with Clippers
Nuggets trade: Meyers Leonard (PF, 77 ovr), second round pick
Clippers trade: Ivica Zubac (C, 81 ovr)

The Nuggets had limited flexibility, but they sent out to offensive rotational players and some picks and got back a traditional big who is great on the boards (Zubac) and a very young defensive-minded point guard (Nance). Zubac will get valuable minutes for Jokic and Bol and hopefully provide a better option for them than Meyers Leonard was providing. Nance will get a few minutes each half to bring energy and pester the opposing team’s second unit.

With Zakee Roberson (C, 81 ovr) stepping up, Zubac was deemed expendable by LA.

[marshdaddy]

Re: Introduction

A lot of activity. What team is favored in the nba? Anyone running away with it?

Which brother is better positioned to win their conference?