NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

knicks are getting a decent backup for scraps, nothing wrong with that

It’s just funny is all

thibs just loves the guy, kinda nice.

how many calls do you think he’s made to luol deng to try to coax him out of retirement?

good idea for the pistons to take a flyer on dennis smith

just took a look at dsj's stats and he might have one of the worst 3 years of any nba player ive ever seen in terms of his advanced stats. if he can be salvaged into an nba player i guess its worth it, but my god.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/smithde03.html

i liked him out of college, i thought he played like dwyane wade lol. i don't hate it for them, it's like the markelle fultz plan

feel like the rockets are full of reclamation guys, its kinda working for them

fairly certain I post this every two years but I have not thought about the pistons in two years

The pistons have a roster full of nba players. by definition.

i liked dsj out of college too but i think at this point theres plenty of evidence hes not an nba player

But he plays for an nba team, ergo...

DSJ can’t pass, shoot or defend

Bad mix!

kg, still cool

Kevin Garnett today with possibly the best (and most refreshing) take on the modern NBA I've *ever* seen from a former pro pic.twitter.com/VxFcI0iXfX

— Sam Cooper (@scooperhoops) February 8, 2021

plz replace shaq

xps to Dennis Smith convo yesterday

There was a period of time when DSJ was a trendy pick to be ROY from his class! Media narrative was the Mavs had stolen a highlight reel kind of player.

Fast forward to last year when his EFFECTIVE FG% WAS .379!!!! That's EFG, not FG! The splits contributing to that impressive feat were 34/30/50. Yikes.

i swear dennis smith was actually good in college

crazy athlete too

kg is spot on when he identifies the removal of hand-checking from the game as the primary difference in how the pro game has evolved. it got rid of ugly defensive maulers like the Riley-coached Knicks, unleashed the creativity of the offense and turned the game more fluid. steph curry wouldn't have been possible if his defender could have his hands all over him the entire game.

that whole interview with kg is in the times and it's worth a read. he's really smart.

yeah good stuff

Full article:https://t.co/SlQIGUyDt3

— Sam Cooper (@scooperhoops) February 8, 2021

was just watching lakers/celtics game 6 1987 on youtube

it's really interesting, i know we've talked about it before, but god everyone is SO stiff and plodding, even magic

you almost wonder if some of these guys could even play now? or at least would they be good?

bird i feel like could have adjusted to the 3 point game and was so inherently crafty (he comes out shooting like shit in this game though)

it's funny, james worthy is just on a different planet from everyone else athletically, he's the only guy that moves and looks like a modern player

a really basic thing that bothers me abt chuck, shaq et al is these guys are supposed to be selling the league, not shitting all of it with some well folks in my day garbage. people aren’t going to tune in to see a product of its most visible ambassadors are constantly like THREE POINTERS? WHY DONT YOU MAN UP, like this just drives me bananas

yeah its so dumb

billion dollar business idea find tv people who like basketball

the show would be way better with KG replacing Shaq

― Wayne Grotski (symsymsym), Friday, January 22, 2021 2:17 PM (two weeks ago

absolutely although i don't see him doing it.

a really basic thing that bothers me abt chuck, shaq et al is these guys are supposed to be selling the league, not shitting all of it with some well folks in my day garbage. people aren’t going to tune in to see a product of its most visible ambassadors are constantly like THREE POINTERS? WHY DONT YOU MAN UP, like this just drives me bananas

― Clay, Monday, February 8, 2021 1:23 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

a lot of people i interact with at work or rando acquaintances regurgitate this stuff too.

30 years ago a child would kick a ball in the street a slow power forward would karate chop you in the neck if you tried to make a layup

kings have won 4 in a row and 7/8 and fox got player of the week
https://www.si.com/nba/2021/02/08/deaaron-fox-kings-deserves-attention
haliburton may have fixed this team lol

basketball types are raving about this haliburton kid

impressive streak considering they’re still last in defense lol.

oof

lamelo throws an insane amount of oops not sure ive seen anything like it, hes out there creating dunks (the #1 shot)

a lot of people i interact with at work or rando acquaintances regurgitate this stuff too.

― a nice controlled drift (Spottie), Monday, February 8, 2021 3:38 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

there is a fascinatingly depressing circularity to the sports discourse where pundits say say ridiculously revanchist shit like this, it becomes the basic currency of casual conversation, somehow players also buy into it, players become pundits, rinse repeat

otm it’s sad.

Dejounte gonna be a star? 8 steals tonight and the game clinching sidestep three

he had maybe the best game ive ever seen from him. still not a consistent enough shooter imo (came in shooting .439/.316/.783 and averaging 14.4 ppg). he had a hot one tonight, though.

this team has looked so much tighter defensively with aldridge and walker out of the lineup. more minutes for derrick white whose shot has not returned form injury but is a much stronger defender. poeltl is legit one of the best defensive big men in the game. only a handful of guys i'd rather have playing the 5 over him on D.

also devin vassell is already the spurs' best perimeter defender. eyes in the back of his head. by next year he'll be playing 30 minutes a game next to murray and teams will be tearing their hair out trying to score around all the long arms.

Giannis has such an ugly 3-point shooting motion, he looks like he's shooting a full-courter

he had maybe the best game ive ever seen from him. still not a consistent enough shooter imo (came in shooting .439/.316/.783 and averaging 14.4 ppg). he had a hot one tonight, though.

Giannis has such an ugly 3-point shooting motion, he looks like he's shooting a full-courter

lamelo throws an insane amount of oops not sure ive seen anything like it

Maybe you never had a chance to see alley-oop specialist Andre Miller when he was ooping it up.

The Mavs have ceased playing the national anthem before home games this season and do not plan to play it moving forward, a decision made by owner Mark Cuban.https://t.co/cVmEQnUH1V

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 10, 2021

Hell yeah

that is not something I expected to happen in my lifetime

It's just plain weird that the US national anthem is heard almost exclusively at sports events and nowhere else. What does a ballgame between two teams of athletes have to do with singing a love song to the US flag?

wow it’s called patriotism for one