NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

Mudiay signed with SMU and wasn’t really a foreign prospect at all

all fair - i just took the names that didn't have college stats. i don't think it has any effect on my point tho

I was an Ayton skeptic and Luka lover, but my pull with the Suns front office wasn't enough to overcome their 'local kid makes good' bias for Ayton.

Thanks for these numbers which don’t affect my point of view at all, are exactly what I was talking about etc
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, January 25, 2021 2:10 PM (one hour ago)bookmarkflaglink

no stats are gospel so if you want to believe that sexton is a top 30 offensive player those stats shouldn't dissuade you from that but they would indicate he's closer to 30 than 1

i feel like there were lots of concerns about luka's athleticism and you can see why, it's not like there is much athleticism to his game, he's just so good at basketball that it doesn't matter. there's no real test to quantify how fast a guy's first step is and luka just consistently blows past pretty anyone who guards him and i can see why you would watch him do that in europe and wonder if he would still be able to do it vs great wing defenders in the NBA. also i bet there were ppl who thought he would have trouble finishing at the rim bcuz of the lack of athleticism but that discounts again the "being good at basketball" part where you can win out w/ creativity and skill, also he's pretty strong

there was just always a huge amount of overthinking happening when looking at a 19 year old who won euroleague regular season and finals MVP. in a way it should've been one of the easiest no 1 picks ever

you know crazy abt lukas drive game is he almost never gets all the way to the basket but hes so go at getting almost all the way there putting his shoulder into his defender and somehow everytime rotating his body so that he gets off a quality floater/almost layup, and then of course hes got great touch too so they go in a lot, being super strong helps too

i dont think ive ever seen anyone use that part of the game as much or as well as he does, the like in between the in between game and at the rim game, tho he takes a fair amount of just regular in between shots too

for sure if i close my eyes and picture luka scoring it's him getting into the lane bumping the rim protector w/ his shoulder, pivoting and shooting a standing shot from like 2 feet away from the basket. i would say that's his signature shot aside from step back 3 pointer that clangs off the side of the rim

his stepback is so ugly, a disgrace

He has that nash balance and patience around the hoop, but in a bigger frame

Luka has one of the nastiest crossovers in basketball history, that’s the frame from a lot of what he does

hes constantly doing lil hesitation moves too, and everyone is terrified of is passing, really keeps defenders off balance in many ways

The reason why Embiid is the MVP is the Sixers are two games upon the East with him and 0-3 and down by 11 to the Pistons early in the 2nd without him.

upon = up on

Lebron James

Highest scoring average in age 36 season or older in NBA history

1. Malone (99-00): 25.5 PPG
2. LeBron (20-21): 25.2 PPG
3. Kareem (85-86): 23.4 PPG
4. Malone (00-01): 23.2 PPG
5. Jordan (01-02): 22.9 PPG

— pickuphoop (@pickuphoop) January 26, 2021

Always love when lebron has crazy scoring games he’s usually so consistent 27/7/7

Jokic has 17 double doubles to start the season. This is third all-time, behind Giannis who had 19 last season and Bill Walton who had 34! I find it amazing that Walton is that far in front for number 1.

I had an edible so those numbers might not be exactly right

lol

Bulls shot 2-8 from FT line in 1st quarter.

They haven't been back yet.

— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 26, 2021

passes the eye test, this team is shockingly soft

We got another nut puncher

Jamal Murray has been ejected after this Flagrant 2 pic.twitter.com/5edqiiMtyQ

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) January 26, 2021

MPJ having a pretty amazing season so far. Defense is a lot better and it seems like he’s a legit 3 point sniper

yeah hes a shooter

Through games on Jan. 25, which members of the Denver Nuggets have done the most (or least) with their minutes during the 2020-21 #NBA season, per TPA? pic.twitter.com/eceH9TnDBm

— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) January 26, 2021

lol

looks like caris levert had successful surgery to remove the lump from his kidney and is expected to make a full recovery

big honey floating to the moon in that graphic

Yeah that’s another thing about MPJ, for all his wackiness the advances stats like him too

Monte being better than the other guards passes the eye test too, he’s looked really good

mpj was the top prospect in his hs class, it was just the back injury that scared teams off, if he can stay healthy hes big talent, crazy shooter

lmao

Shaq DMs artist who Photoshopped Donovan Mitchell dunking on him: ‘Shut yo dumb a-s up’ https://t.co/gvhgI4mWZN

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) January 25, 2021

yeah a ball-bledsoe starting backcourt is just not going to win a ton of games

Report: Pelicans discussing Lonzo Ball and J.J. Redick trades https://t.co/qaRt0qFDog

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) January 26, 2021

RIP Sekou Smith of NBA TV of Covid

oh man wtf

yeah a ball-bledsoe starting backcourt is just not going to win a ton of games

interesting they would choose bledsoe but i guess his contract is gonna end sooner than lonzo's next one

also remembering that lonzo hired klutch which has a bad relationship w/ the pelicans bcuz of brow so maybe both sides just want to be done w/ it

I still want to believe in lonzo but if you can’t make it work with Ingram and Zion idk

hes passive. prob cos he doesnt want to shoot free throws. not good.

lonzos a backup and its not just his shooting hes an all around bad scorer doesnt “put pressure on the rim”

RIP Sekou, that sucks

i think lonzo can still be a helpful player on the right team, he can defend both guard spots and is a good passer... pels are one of the slowest paced teams in the league, it’s not a good fit. the problem is the salary he’s going to want

I can’t abide these blue rockets jerseys

you’d think with ingram, zion, and lonzo they’d figure out a way to play a little faster

jvg might be out of date

svg rather

yeah i remember before the season zach lowe talking about how the magic always played slow under SVG and theorizing that he would adjust w/ the pelicans to speed up the pace -- turns out no

bledsoe also one of the fastest players in the league... the combo of steven adams + no shooting + slow pace means they're basically playing like 90s ball, pretty dumb stuff

plus if they ran mb zion wld lose some weight

it's just a very oddly constructed team. can't say i like anything about it.