NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/01/08/nets-kyrie-irving-out-personal-reasons-not-in-contact-with-nash

17 in the 4th quarter for jokic including this one

Splash. Jokic at the buzzer to force OT. pic.twitter.com/zYg27WKQN2

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) January 8, 2021

Big honey step back??

it's like his go-to end-of-clock shot! but usually from the other side of the basket

dirk-esque

really nice form on that one every compact

it's like his go-to end-of-clock shot! but usually from the other side of the basket

things sound good in atlanta:

John Collins, the fourth-year big man who just weeks before bet on himself in a big way during his failed extension talks with the Hawks, shared his unfiltered and unhappy views about the way franchise centerpiece Trae Young was running the offense. According to three sources who were either in the session or had knowledge of what was said, Collins raised several issues about the way these Hawks were functioning with Young at the helm.

Collins talked about the need to get into offensive sets more quickly and to limit all those early shot-clock attempts that leave his teammates on the outside looking in. He shared his desire to be more involved and expressed a desire for more ball involvement and flow on offense.

There was no back-and-forth between the two, but the pointed criticism caught the attention of the room. And Young, sources say, made it clear to others later that he strongly disagreed with Collins’ assessment.

Two overtime losses for the nuggets already 🤦‍♂️

Haven’t there been Collins trade rumors for the last couple seasons?

I think I’d be on his side of this one.

yeah hes right, the hawks offense is good but itd be better in his version

so nobody knows what's happening with kyrie, huh?

it was nice to see the sixers get whooped by levert, allen, and joe harris tho

seems like kyries upset abt the state of the world

Kyrie otm

Might be nice for him to talk about it with his coach Steve Nash tho

Not flat enough for him, huh?

i think prob kyrie doesnt love the nba in the first place, obvs doesnt love being a public person, prob has some mental health issues, is like everyone having a hard time with the state of the world, and he would def be one to notice how corporate and ineffectual all the nbas social change stuff is, just doesnt feel like playing right now, baseless speculation obvs

yah but just like the rest of us if you're gonna skip out on work you gotta let the boss know. otherwise this is all relatable.

yeah i mean hes also a bit of an a-hole which makes the whole thing so much more difficult

obvs doesnt love being a public person,

haha come again?

i wonder how much of the john collins contract situation is him “betting on himself” vs not wanting to spend the first 8 years of his career playing with trae young. collins seems kinda like a difficult person but if your whole game is about offense i can see why playing with trae might be annoying. by the same token they often do play well together

yeah some of his frustration im sure is based on that hes not in atls long term plans

it's tough out there for offense-only power forwards

yeah the contemporary power forward is more of a big wing

you gotta be able to defend the 3pt line

lonzo vs lamelo in a game coached by SVG and called by JVG

is there a mysterious 3rd van gundy

we are, its all of us, we are the 3rd van gundy weve been looking for

lamelo is just a good basketball player

agreed hes a natural baller

the wolves passing on him so as to not disrupt d’angelo russell is going to seem so insane in 5 years

idk the guy the wolves got might be good too

idk he had some strong bust vibes tho, not that anthony edwards didnt either

xp

lamelo had bust vibes only bcuz of his family situation imo. i think he has a pretty high floor — he’s elite at reading the floor and makes the right play a large percentage of the time and he’s big enough to hold up on defense. if his offense never develops he’s still ricky rubio at worst.

Mr. A1 from Day 1? A bust?

his scoring is so far ahead of rubio, i think hell be able to get to the rim at will pretty soon his ball handling and creativity are so sick

speaking more to his defense and shooting touch up to that point. and kinda seeming like an immature goober.

xp

yeah really nice euro step from him lonzo tonight

like im happy to be wrong, his passing is so fun to watch
xp

his shooting was really bad in australia but everyone who watched him much there was convinced of his very high general basketball talent

i’m still shocked that gordon hayward agreed to join this team lmao

he got paid and got to be a number #1 guess he doesnt care about winning that much lol

there were def a number of risks involved with lamelo and if he was in the current draft he prob would go outside of the top 5 but this past draft his competition had as many red flags as he did

eternal question, do u melo/joe johnson your way from one high paying gig to the next or do u david west it and sacrifice for wins i think we all know the right answer

xp

russell westbrook is looking rough out there

russ age might catch up with him sooner than most people think

he's playing with a dislocated finger but the way he plays it's possible he's had dislocated fingers for like a third of his career, but yeah he's over thirty and the engine is gonna get rusty sooner than later

after all the talk about this draft lamelo and edwards both look good

ppl seem to be excited for Wiseman too

yeah wiseman looks good too