NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

the drive on zinger at 1:20 is pretty funny just no chance barely even had time to flail

children should shield their eyes from that interior defense

Yea I've never seen a 20 year old who hasn't even played one full season make NBA defenses and double/triple teams look completely ineffective like Zion does. And he's still perfectly capable of those wow-worthy highlights like a one handed alley on the break where his eyes were rim level I saw last week, but I think NOLA's medical staff has told him to keep that to a minimum when possible for the sake of his future health. Which is probably for the best if he's still capable of dominating like this with his touch as opposed to his hops.

yeah absolutely its the right way to go, gotta think the marketing department might disagree tho

if the pellies start to win a lot, the marketing department will have no problems with zion's highlight reel, no matter how much he tones down his game to make it look easy.

gotta keep that vaccine pipeline pumping so we can get a crowd in there with zion

hes good about playing under control, already seems pretty judicious/crafty in using his athleticism, compared to someone like blake who was just trying to jump over people when he came into the league, also the pelicans are clearly taking his long term health very seriously

― lag∞n, Friday, February 12, 2021 3:37 PM (fourteen minutes ago)

^^^

they're different players. blake blew his knee out before he ever played a game and then was second in the league in total dunks his first season and first in total dunks his second season. zion is 10th in the league right now in total dunks. blake was a reckless player, i don't get that from zion. he's not going to show up to the slam dunk contest to jump over a car. if he works to keep himself in shape i don't see why he can't manage a long career... his game will have to change and he will need to expand his skill base (which blake did btw) but the idea that his body is a death sentence for his career, i don't see it.

it was his kneecap iirc

There’s an obvious reason why Blake had injury problems, it’s a reason that Zion might as well, but we can’t talk about it on here because of libel laws

blake def looks like hes on the juice, he has the juice face and everything, zion idk

zion just looks fat lol, you can of course be a lil fat and on the juice its just not the typical outcome

it's not a crime to be a thicc boi

not in life but in the nba it is

hes the least world class athlete looking guy he looks like he should be able to jump one foot not four

he literally waddles when he runs

yah if you put the idea of zion in a computer it would say “no”

i made a guy
computer: no

lol

In their final preseason game, he injured his kneecap as he landed after a dunk.[65] The day before the 2009–10 season started, it was confirmed that Griffin had a stress fracture in his left knee, delaying his NBA debut for seven weeks.[65] After resting the stress fracture for several weeks, tests revealed that his knee was not recovering properly.[66] In January 2010, Griffin had surgery on his broken left kneecap, causing him to miss the remainder of the 2009–10 season.[66]

blake broke his knee dunking before he even entered the NBA and then dunked more than anyone in the NBA the following two years in the most insane and violent ways we’ve possibly ever seen. zion doesn’t play this way and has never suffered a major knee injury so idk why he needs to be saddled with blake’s problems

zion dunked like 5 times last night and each time it looked like it required 2% physical exertion

hot take: ppl itt want zion to fail

yeah people playing defense against zion is like how defense was in the 70s or something, just complete lack of interest in messing with him lol

teams like dallas who are playing dudes like zinger and maxi klieba in the front court will have zero chance of stopping zion. of course dallas won by 13 and zinger scored as many points as zion so i guess it’s relative

i feel like the human mind just cannot properly process zion, he really has the handle speed athleticism and finishing touch of an elite small forward except he weighs 300lbs so also defenders just bounce off him, which makes it look like zinger et al arent trying to defend him when really they just have no ability to defend him

lebron is prob the closest player to him but hes bigger and smoother than bron

indestructible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXMoZdY5A0

Me watching steph: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

Me watching the warriors when steph sits: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

philly still having serious problems on the road despite little to no fans in the arenas is funny to me

that is pretty funny

Me watching steph: Haha fuck yeah!!! Yes!!

Me watching the warriors when steph sits: Well this fucking sucks. What the fuck.

It’s so weird that the nets can really compete for a chip at this point. Aside from the somewhat compelling weirdos on the squad the franchise is blah and boring. Like I can’t even hate them or anything just no personality. I don’t even know a nets fan and I live in the Tri-state.

the rest of the team is prob a bottom 5 roster in the NBA

DRAY v KLAY is vindicated once again.

if you took draymond off the team and put klay on it would prob still be a bottom 5 roster

it's starting to get weird that the warriors front office is still considered good

i think theyre ok in the FO. getting dlo as KD left and flipping him for wiggins and minny's pick was good. but they have not drafted well with the picks theyve had outside wiseman which was kind of a no-brainer.

when was their last good draft move - picking dray in 2012? idk how much credit a FO should get for signing free agents (iggy, 2013?) or kd who was really signed by dray

i don't agree at all that getting russell was good! he sucks, and they traded him for another guy who sucks so they could bank draft picks while wasting steph's prime.

they're incredibly lucky that the wolves had a reason to overpay for russell or they would have been stuck with a mediocre point guard on a max contract

2020 wiseman (2), mannion (48), jessup (51)
2019 poole (28), paschall (41), oni (58)
2018 evans (28)
2017 none
2016 damian jones (30)
2015 looney (30)
2014 none
2013 none

not exactly a lot of high impact players. granted, theyve traded away a fair number of picks and theyve been towards the end of the first round most of the time, but yikes. the 2015 draft had a lot of good players go in the 2nd round (harrell, richaun holmes, josh richardson, osman, norm powell) that would be pretty helpful to them right now.

wiggins is way overpaid, but that minny pick will be good. i think it was a long-term move with a short-term kick in the pants. and wiggins has been at least playable.

like if minny doesnt get a top 3 pick (probably pretty likely given the way draft odds are setup) it goes to gs this year. a top 5 pick in this draft is going to be a very good player.

yeah i just haven't agreed with the process at all because even if it works it's going to waste a bunch of prime steph years.

i’ve defended them before on the draft picks thing... the heat did the same thing during the bron years (pick low ceiling immediate role players at the end of the draft) and then right after that went on one of the better strings of drafting in the league

they also put a coach in place that fostered a style of play/culture that got kevin durant to go there in FA and create possibly the best team of all time, should count for something

maybe there was some luck in the russell thing but it netted them one of the most valuable trade pieces in the league rn idk how that’s not considered a huge win for them

one could make the argument they should be flipping or packaging those picks (incl wiseman) for legit grown up dudes but they already have $174m on the payroll this year and $160m next so it's kinda rough. having so much money tied up in klay not a big help atm

yeah i just haven't agreed with the process at all because even if it works it's going to waste a bunch of prime steph years.

i guess the question is a. can you get beal for wiseman + wolves pick b. can you actually win a title in the next 2-3 years with steph, klay, beal, wiggins, draymond and whatever bench you're able to cobble together. it feels like a steep price to pay to me.

i feel like they'll ultimately take the path of least resistance which is picking a young player to go w/ wiseman, extending steph to keep him a warrior and just playing it out w/ some fun seasons that don't really lead to serious title contention. and i'm not sure i would really blame them

Draymond gets 10% worse every year and klay might not play again. So idk what you do really. If Steph wasn’t the franchise icon you’d trade him I guess.

yeah thats basically it. they committed for better or worse to the trio who got them to the summit of hoops mountain. and age is fucking them up hardcore. credit to the owners i guess for being willing to spend into oblivion to keep their team competitive and getting picks that position them for the post-stephdrayklay years.