NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

which was a very reasonable decision but did not turn out great

celtics were the guinea pigs for 'leader' kyrie

small chucker type PGs are fun but it kinda reminds me of the kemba era hornets where it's like... you can only do so much

xp not sure how you're getting to 10......

― call all destroyer, Monday, January 25, 2021 11:41 AM (seventeen minutes ago)

if we're going by "very impressive" i'm not sure how you get to like... 5

if we're going by "not busts" i could get to 8 or 9

can sexton defend?

small chucker type PGs are fun but it kinda reminds me of the kemba era hornets where it's like... you can only do so much

― J0rdan S., Monday, January 25, 2021 11:58 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you can get other good players........

it’s okay goon jordan’s just trying to inspire sexton to take it to “the next level”

lol motivational posting

you could almost say it’s jordan-esque

I remember when the Cavs picked Sexton and I was like “this is the guy they always draft” but this time it worked!

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, January 25, 2021 11:20 AM (four minutes ago)

i mean..... maybe. he's putting together a fun season but i would suggest not looking up any advanced numbers on sexton if you want to believe he's been particularly valuable overall as a player

― J0rdan S., Monday, January 25, 2021 11:29 AM (thirty-three minutes ago

I've only seen him play a few times this year and I am baffled he's good based on the way he plays but his advanced numbers are actually solid? TS 62%, PER 21.5, RAPTOR is +1.6. not bad for a 22 year old who

he suggested not looking up the advanced numbers

well per 538's WAR number he's been equally as valuable as damion lee, cameron payne, thaddeus young, talon horton tucker and josh hart, which is sorta my point

he's a fun player, not a bust, it was amazing when he stunted all over the nets, i just think the player archetype is a tough one once you get beyond crazy upset wins and random insane scoring busts, which *is* fun so i guess it just depends on where you're coming from in the discussion

if you sort the 538 numbers by offense he rates as a top 35 overall player (sandwiched in between jamychal green and enes kanter go figure) & his defense isn't even a huge drag on his numbers (538 has him as an equally below average defender as malcom brogdon, devin booker & brandon ingram). he just has to take the offensive game to a level even beyond this

ok!

SOURCE: The Brooklyn Nets are in active discussions with the Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire JaVale McGee. Also have interest in Kevin Love

— Jason Dumas (@JDumasReports) January 25, 2021

lmfao if they put love on that team

javale makes sense. kevin love does not. they need defense lol

The Suns passed on Luka because they had Booker. Was that the best decision? Probably not. But Ayton looks scary good this year and I can’t really argue with the decision anymore.

ayton looks good the last few games. he was his not so good lazy self before that.

ayton pick was way more defensible than the bagley pick but only barely

only barely way more

But Ayton looks scary good this year and I can’t really argue with the decision anymore.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, January 25, 2021 12:53 PM (one minute ago)

i can!

It’s coming into focus tho. I wish it wasn’t, I don’t want Jokic playing him 4 times a year rn

i am really hoping for kevin love to the nets now

kevin love needs to go to the nets it couldnt be more obvious

Collin Sexton is averaging 26 ppg while shooting 52/46/82 so if there’s a stat that says he’s not a top 30 offensive player rn it’s probably a bad stat

the thing about not taking luka cause you have booker is they wouldve been good together, at least on offense lol

they picked ayton bcuz he went to school in arizona and most NBA front offices still default to "well you have to pick the center, there's only so many guys like that on earth!" but it turns out there are way more players like deandre ayton in the NBA than there are players like luka. ayton will prob have some really nice seasons but at its core the logic was deeply faulty

the league has moved on from the center centric viewpoint, suns mustve really thought ayton was special, like youve really got to be a baller to be a superstar center in todays league eg jokic, davis

james wiseman just went 2 overall over a handful of wing/perimeter players who will prob be more valuable than him over their careers

i'm not seeing $30M in outgoing salary on the nets unless it involves a guy with the initials K and I

it's hard to know what the suns thought because their owner 100% meddled in that decision

james jones just took jalen smith over tyrese halliburton and devin vassell so he was prob down with it

james wiseman just went 2 overall over a handful of wing/perimeter players who will prob be more valuable than him over their careers

― J0rdan S., Monday, January 25, 2021 1:05 PM (twenty-nine seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

he did but thats much more the exception than the rule these days, also weird draft/weird situation

i'm not seeing $30M in outgoing salary on the nets unless it involves a guy with the initials K and I

― call all destroyer, Monday, January 25, 2021 1:07 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

its prob bs, some local news guy, cleve prob planted the story to see if anyone would call them about love

even though the game isn't played that way anymore it seems like teams still get a pass by playing the gotta-draft-a-can't-miss-big-man-when-you-can card. center centrism dies hard

the last 2 freaky centers have gone in the top 2, i think we'll know a page has turned when a guy like that comes out and drops out of the top 5

i don't remember the suns getting excoriated at the time. kangz otoh

i do think it's almost impossible for a player w/ ayton & wiseman level height + athleticism to completely fail if their heads are on straight. size does still matter in the league so there is some sort of safety/floor in the pick that is defensible. but the warriors prob would've been better off taking halliburton or devin vassell in all honesty. wiseman is cool tho he *could* become super valuable if he can get his game to like bam levels

just scrolled through the last 5 years drafts and were prob averaging a lil less than 2 centers taken in the lottery, and a number of those guys are listed as pf/c, i think its safe to say that center centrism is dead, tho there may be a few holdouts out there, especially amongst owners lol

i don't remember the suns getting excoriated at the time. kangz otoh

― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Monday, January 25, 2021 1:12 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it was definitely a legitimate debate at the time although iirc most of the people i trusted were coming down on the luka side. the questions about luka's game translating look extremely silly now.

which doesnt mean that a a huge athletic freak doesnt hold appeal, i mean those are still good things for basketball

wiseman has ceiling too, i get the pick. the way he ball handles and stuff, there's a world where he's one of the freakiest players in the league doing stuff up and down the court that basically no one can do. there's also a world where he's like glorified mitchell robinson.

i saw those clips of ayton putting the clamps on jokic the other night and that team has filled out around him nicely but his game looks ripped from another era, i still would call picking him over luka to be fully indefensible

the anti luka slander was hilarious here in phx. they had everyone believing dude was gonna be bargnani

Collin Sexton is averaging 26 ppg while shooting 52/46/82 so if there’s a stat that says he’s not a top 30 offensive player rn it’s probably a bad stat

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, January 25, 2021 12:57 PM (twenty minutes ago)

offensive rankings

BPM - 28
538 - 34
win shares - 47

ayton has shown some promise as a shooter if he could hit 3s that would change things a lot

ayton just looks so stiff and upright when he plays... if he could shoot threes that would obv be great but idk if he's ever gonna be a guy who can do much w/ the ball aside from score

the suns have def salvaged that pick to some degree by getting bridges and cam johnson and adding paul... i really like that 5 man line up and think they can make some noise in the playoffs. passing on halliburton and vassell made no sense at the time tho and it seems like that pain will only increase

smith seems like a very nice young man

ayton def a case of tight hips (too much video games)