NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

I didn't even remember (know?) that they had signed Dunn. Either Gallo or Bogdan seemed like a smart level up move, like Denver bringing in Millsap however many years ago. It's a good statement. But adding both, after the Capela trade, seems like they really over-bet on themselves. Also it was basically betting against their own young guys and guess what Hunter turned out to be good (in addition to Trae, Collins, Huerter)

i think gallo made sense esp after the way hunter played last year. but maxing bogdan when you needed to give trae, huerter and reddish big minutes ... even pre-injury he hadn’t clicked at all. can’t judge the contract just yet but i don’t think there was much logic there beyond “we have a lot of money to spend and this is the guy we can spend it on.” the outcome was either splurging on a guy who wasn’t better than the young guys you drafted or decreasing the value of those young guys.

they also have gotten next to nothing for okongwu & if they re-sign collins i don’t see an obvious path for his development. not sure they’d rather have any of the guys who went immediately after him except maybe avdija but you can prob throw them on the pile of teams who will regret passing on halliburton and vassel

which ... are they gonna resign collins? he was completely unstoppable for three quarters last night but i still don’t have a great feel for whether he’s even that valuable to them. my inclination is that they could let him go and not get much worse

everyone seems to think theyre going to trade him since they werent willing to offer him nearly what he wanted in the offseason

but is anyone willing to offer him what he wants (a max contract) and if not are they willing to trade for him if theyre might not be able to resign him

kinda think the celtics should trade for him and resign him + use their tpe + assets to get a big wing

ive been a collins skeptic but credit where its due he just keeps getting better seems like a real worker, and people are saying his d is improving which was the big question mark after he learned to shoot

who knows what the hawks wld demand in return and they might just be planning on matching whatever offer he gets anyway

put together your big package for collins then get harrison barnes for more or less a salary dump, something like that, my plan for building a celtics contender

Atlanta has dismissed Lloyd Pierce as coach, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 1, 2021

another good reminder that bad ownership is the main impediment to success in most cases.

― J0rdan S., Monday, March 1, 2021 2:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Haha wow all the hawks talk got things moving huh

a lot of nba insiders have this thread bookmarked

Sources: The Hawks are hopeful assistant Nate McMillan will choose to become the interim head coach. McMillan is meeting with Lloyd Pierce and rest of Hawks coaching staff now. McMillan has been fiercely loyal in his support of Pierce.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 1, 2021

quit copying us

Good lord what are they doing. This seems like a pretty big overreaction. The young kids have developed really well under him. I’m not sure how great he in the technical aspects but damn you signed a bunch of injured vets to accelerate this thing so wtf are you blaming the coach for. The core group is really solid. Jordan mostly otm other than the hunter shade. Ppl get hurt occasionally it’s not like he lost a leg

maybe trae hates him

I don’t get any bad vibes from the team but maybe they’re good at hiding it. Or maybe I suck as seeing it as I am am a good vibes kinda guy

the hawks should trade collins to the spurs is how i break it down

another good reminder that bad ownership is the main impediment to success in most cases.

― J0rdan S., Monday, March 1, 2021 2:59 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

― lag∞n, Monday, March 1, 2021 4:43 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

zion casually putting his shoulder into rudy gobert and throwing him into the basket support for an and 1

yeah thats the good stuff

he was just shredding the jazz in his last stint. they had no answers.

i watched a zion highlight video earlier and there was a play where he was triple teamed and got a dunk

not the most highlight worthy play but i loved it when he got into the paint, got doubled by gobert and another guy, and dropped it off to hernangomez coming from the corner for an easy layup. it's amazing to me that he's so good at not forcing things.

yeah a lot of the time it seems like hes not doing that much but he has 30-7-5

i don’t remember ppl talking about his first step when he was coming out of college. we knew he would be able to bang bodies in the air and finish but he blows by bigs like they’re chained to the floor. first step quickness feels like the most underrated attribute when it comes to evaluating prospects, luka and harden are two others

his drive game altogether prob wasnt showcased like it shouldve been at duke

his handle is really good too

yeah he's really good at making a quick first move to get an advantage but staying in control after that. he just dropped his shoulder and blew past gobert, but ended up in no mans land directly under the rim, so he said ok, no big deal, and got it back out to someone on the perimeter

to summarize he plays a very easy game for one of the most violent athletes of his generation

he basically has the off the bounce game of an elite wing except hes the strongest man in the world and weighs 300 pounds so any contact is completely in his favor

eric bledsoe two airballs off open looks in the quarter

did not know steven adams was the worst free throw shooter in the nba this year, but that's what the jazz announcers just said

adams doesn’t really do a lot out there

neither does bledsoe. weird team.

league pass browsing. had to look up the large white on the cavs who runs up and down the floor without ever doing anything and now i know who dean wade is.

bledsoe i at least understand insofar as he was the price of doing the jrue trade and you want to play him to try and wring or value from the deal. adams remains confounding

dejontae murray just made one of the most ridiculous game tying buzzer beaters in a while

dean wade swishes a corner three to shut me up

aw i did not select the spurs game because it looked like it was pretty much over

the spurs are scrappy, never count them out

lesson learned!

well I'm counting them out

the pistons trading bruce brown for no reason for a guy they cut like a month later is “stuff bad franchises do”

Adams is the only defensive anchor on the entire Pelicans roster, sets screens for guys like JJ and Zo to shoot off of, boxes out and rebounds defensively (Zion for all his hops is underwhelming at that at this stage in his career), and is a good passer for his position too. Lot of fans and commentators have been trying to gaslight him into being the worse offseason acquisition of any team because he doesn't shoot 30% from 3 on under 3 attempts a game like Myles Turner, but in reality has like the most lopsidedly positive on/off ratings of anyone on the Pelicans roster, is a big part of why they're generally the #1 or 2 rebounding team in the league, and his net rating with their starters is excellent. Saves Zion from a ton of punishment and wear and tear checking opposing 5s too. I get that "FLOOR SPACING" is the buzzword on every twitter analysts fingers when it comes to building around Zion but the reality is he's already the league's leading paint scorer, putting up 26 a game on an absurd 60+% TS. Him and his team's issues as a whole are almost solely on defense; guys like Adams and Hart are what their roster is in most pressing need of.

'preciate the 'nalysis

i don't object to the pelicans playing a true 5 next to zion, it's obvious he can't hold up there on defense and there aren't very many starting caliber 5s who can bang down low and shoot. players zion's age usually get paired w/ bigger vets who can save them from wear and tear, i don't think it's very surprising that the pelicans targeted center as a position of need. but they're paying adams an awful lot money to set screens and rebound... just doesn't seem like those are skills that are extremely difficult to find elsewhere. no advance numbers i'm looking at rate adams as bad by any stretch, more just like pretty decent, maybe like the 12 or 15th best center in the league, which i feel like lines up w/ what i'm seeing on the court. the overall impact at that level is pretty minimal most nights. taking up space, throwing weight around... it's not nothing but, you know

dean wade is the most “my name is on a tractor dealership” ass name I’ve heard in ages

it's really weird to see a D. Wade in the box score and have it be a guy named dean