NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

like people can't stop talking about what a good teammate he is, the only bright spot this season

Beasley is an amazing talent but how could this be the right situation for him? That’s what the clippers did, just drafted the most obviously talented guy who would impress Sterling

Edwards is a nice guy who thinks basketball is a joke. That’s probably still a better fit for them than LaMelo

You're basing that off of one bullshit pre draft storm in a teacup quote. watch him play. he's infectious, he has fun, he's talented. it's kind of sick how these kids get a "bad reputation" off nothing.

well, he did tell ESPN on the record that he doesn’t like basketball that much and would rather play in the NFL. it’s not exactly what you want to hear and i think increases the burden of proof wrt whether he will fulfill the promise of being a no 1 pick. but i wouldn’t call him a headcase he’s clearly a likable kid

Javale’s a fun guy

ok skip

feel like edwards was prob just goofin off about the nfl and whatnot he even said some funny stuff at the same time

i mean he could be in the nfl if he wanted to

he is known to goof off as well

anyway he seems like he might be very good at basketball at some point in the future

as good as lonzo ball? not nearly impossible but i would not bet on it

that's the wolves paradox though...if lamelo had been drafted by the wolves, he would probably look worse so far and people would be saying edwards was better

“Doesn’t really like basketball” may not be a headcase situation to you guys but it’s the Anthony Edwards situation and there’s a long history of it being a problem with players. In general you want people who love basketball.

that is true but im not ready to rule that he doesnt love basketball in fact watching him play it seems like he might like it

Javale has fun out there

here's quotes you like quotes

https://theathletic.com/2393635/2021/02/17/the-lessons-and-the-leaps-for-anthony-edwards-as-he-assumes-russells-role/

“Last time I played versus the Lakers, I played very bad. I feel like as a team, we played very bad,” Edwards said. “We was scared, we was intimidated, so I just took it personal and took it upon myself to show that I don’t care who I’m going against, I’m still going to play the same way that I played against somebody that’s not the Lakers. I kind of took it personally to come out and try to uplift my team and keep us in the game as much as I could.”

........

“He’s special,” Rubio said. “Like I said the game before, he kept our spirit up all season long. It’s something that you gotta give him credit for. And tonight he show it again. He’s not afraid of anything. And tomorrow he’s gonna come with the same attitude and that’s why we love him.”

.........

As Edwards’ game grows and he gets more experience, he will learn about how to empower his team’s best player in those moments so the Wolves could send James home with a loss instead of just a little extra sweat on his brow. He is ready to learn.

....

“Not just about me scoring a lot of points, it’s about the team just being out there playing and not being scared because they’re the defending champs and they’ve got Bron on their team and AD and all these guys,” Edwards said. “So that’s all I was trying to do.”

....

“I just tell my teammates to trust me, because I’m a willing passer, no matter what,” Edwards said. “No matter if I’m knocking them down, I’m still a willing passer, so I just tell them to trust me, stay ready. Don’t ever think, ‘Oh, Ant is going to shoot.’ It’s never that. It’s ‘Ant is going to make the right play for the team’s sake.’ And I just try to keep that in the back of their minds as much as we’re on the court.”

......

“I don’t really feel pressure, no matter what’s the circumstance or any situation,” Edwards said. “So no, I don’t feel pressure. It’s basketball. I love basketball. It’s what I get paid for. Well, I just started getting paid for it. But it’s what I’ve been doing all my life, so therefore it’s no pressure. It’s fun, it’s love.”

oh just to beat you to the punch - javale said things and had other people say things about him

we're talking about 3-time nba champion javale mcgee, here?

at the very least, "does he love basketball" is below "picked primarily to assuage the egos of KAT and d'angelo russell" and "averages 2.5 assists per game" on the anthony edwards red flags chart

otm

the candor he had in the interview admitting/joking that he doesn't like basketball very much is inseparable from the effervescence of his personality which has endeared him to his teammates. combined w/ his raw talent and athleticism he's a fascinating player, kinda old school pre-robotic NBA in a way

by old school i mean like late 90s/early 00s lol

yeah holding that against him is kind of like when people excoriated Vince Carter for going to his college graduation. Like you can give your all to basketball without pretending (or actually believing) that it is the be all end all of life

what if instead of judging him for his comments we LISTENED and found a way to better incorporate disrespect in to the game of basketball

i think the difference is that the bar to be great as no 1 pick is very high, if edwards was the fifth pick (as vince was) i don't think it would be such a sticking point. but also edwards being the no 1 pick has as much to do w/ random circumstances as anything else

prob wouldve gone like 5th in this years draft, btw all the top 3 picks are looking pretty great in that supposedly awful draft

what if instead of judging him for his comments we LISTENED and found a way to better incorporate disrespect in to the game of basketball

― lag∞n, Monday, February 22, 2021 12:20 PM (one minute ago)

there actually was something there in his comments that illuminate the gulf between the reputations and actions of the two leagues ... NFL has the "no fun league" reputation but adam silver runs a pretty tight ship, meanwhile NFL now allows the entire defense to sprint 90 yards down the field to do synchronized dances in front of the cameras after a turnover now. the wolves bench should've been allowed to run onto the court and start dancing all over the place after that dunk the other night

draft media consensus seems to be that there are 5 prospects, give or take, in this year's draft that likely would've been taken ahead of edwards last year if they were eligible.

you should be allowed to taunt but if your taunting is deemed too effective then the guy gets to punch you once

the candor he had in the interview admitting/joking that he doesn't like basketball very much is inseparable from the effervescence of his personality which has endeared him to his teammates. combined w/ his raw talent and athleticism he's a fascinating player, kinda old school pre-robotic NBA in a way

― J0rdan S., Monday, February 22, 2021 12:11 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc he basically missed the whole AAU basketball factory which is another reason he's not super polished and boring

No official database, sadly, tracks these things specifically, but ...

Lionel Hollins' move from Milwaukee assistant to Memphis head coach in January 2009 is said to be the last time a team made the the in-season move Minnesota is making by hiring Chris Finch off Toronto's bench

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 22, 2021

marc spears was on windhorst's pod last night and they were reacting to this live. spears just came out and said he thought vanterpool should resign. he was pretty disgusted and not hiding it.

i dont see how you can seriously claim that an assistant has earned a particular head coach position - there will always be a bigger pool of qualified assitants than available hc jobs

He was the top assistant and didn't even get an interview. They just hired the (white) guy they wanted from another coaching staff without an interview process.

haha being a high level assistant for the wolves is not exactly a ringing endorsement

yeah i mean the argument for him is "he's been on the bench and part of the organization" and the biggest argument against him is "he's been on the bench and part of the organization"

still, for someone as seemingly well regarded in the league, i would have liked to see them give him a look as interim

its not the best look, but maybe they know him well enough already.

imo if someone wants to claim that finch will make a worse hc than vanterpool, or that vanterpool's race worked against him in the hiring process, then they should lay it out in clear terms and not subtweet the issue

Either of them are a step up over Saunders I'd bet.

Very confused about what this is

Since this story came out 7 days ago TopShot has done $111 million in transactions (and counting). In the last 24 hours it's $47 million. Owners have increased by 50%. Numbers NBA players getting into it. Never quite seen anything like it & frankly it's hard to comprehend. https://t.co/OVdHbMXvZm

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) February 22, 2021

in the end, they didn't do saunders any favors. he was too young, not ready for perhaps as challenging a head coaching job as there is in the league. plus, wolves weirdness and stupidity, absolute roster upheaval, just the typical shitty luck with KAT's offseason, Dlo's injuries etc. i'm sure his long term ambitions would have been better served by another assistant role in a better franchise under a good, experienced coach - he was only 32 when they gave him the job. if anything now it's going to be harder for him to be a head coach again.

I spent about 5-10 mins trying to understand the top shot thing a week or two ago and quickly settled on “this is a very stupid internet thing I don’t care about” and bailed which is increasingly how I’m Trying To Live

Very confused about what this is

― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, February 22, 2021 6:13 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

money laundering

the sports collectables market has apparently just gone insane during the quar btw

iiuc Rosas and Finch have a connection from being in Houston together so it’s not out of the blue that they poached him. But Vanterpool built his rep in Portland before coming to Minny as not just assistant but “associate” HC. No idea what that distinction really means in practice, maybe just more $, but presumably some implication of opportunity to rise/grow if he chose to leave an org like the Blazers for one like the Wolves. He should resign not just in protest but because what’s his place there under Finch?

my brother snagged some ja morant card currently valued in the $2000-3000 range recently. i collected as a 90s kid and i remember how ebay just tanked the market so bad bc you could find shit much more easily. obv its come roaring back. i have some ungraded stuff thats decent, nothing worth over $100 tho, but almost every scottie pippen card in existence up til 2000.

xp

The trading card market is going to ruin a lot of lives. Very reminiscent of the comic book boom of the early 90s

speculative asset bubbles as a whole are just a huge bummer.

recall being at a yard sale years ago and overhearing an in depth discussion of beanie baby appreciation

When will the bottom fall out on sneaker head culture