2021 nba offseason draft free agency etc

we have reached peak "things of that nature"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/sports/basketball/lebron-james-covid-vaccine.html

“I think everyone has their own choice to do what they feel is right for themselves and their family,” James said. “I know that I was very skeptical about it all, but after doing my research and things of that nature, I felt like it was best suited for not only me but for my family and my friends, and that’s why I decided to do it.”

w/r/t Building around Simmons on offense, I guess the ur-text is the sixteen-game win streak the Sixers went on during his rookie year with Embiid out. In theory, you surround him with shooters, crank up the pace, and just steamroll in transition. In practice, you also need a soft schedule and a confluence of unsustainable hot streaks from role players, so, uh, lmao?

My theory is that he is a massive head-case and we will all look back and realize his "prime" was his first two years in the league.

We slot them into "massive head-case" on either side of the ambition index.

NEW: Nuggets' Michael Porter Jr.: "I don't feel comfortable" taking vaccine

via @msinger #MileHighBasketball https://t.co/OaXMk4x4fE

— Denver Post Nuggets (@nuggetsnews) September 29, 2021

maybe they shouldnt have paid him until this is figured out?

maybe they hope this will prevent triggering the performance payout via missed games

lmao

I stand with Kyrie Irving.

I stand with Andrew Wiggins.

I stand with Bradley Beal.

I stand with Jonathan Isaac.#NBA#YourBodyYourChoice https://t.co/kn74nwjVRV

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 29, 2021

ah yes the cosign they were seeking

well jonathan isaac might've...

maybe being associated with t cruz will tip the scales for some of these dudes

Tuesday afternoon, LeBron James announced that he had in fact been vaccinated, but that he would not advocate that others do so. “We’re talking about individuals’ bodies,” he said. “We’re not talking about something that’s political or racism or police brutality and things of that nature.”

― symsymsym, Wednesday, September 29, 2021 11:21 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

funny the things we will and will not advocate for. maybe if moderna came through with a juicy sponsorship?

Lebron wouldn’t want to take sides against Sinopharm

#yourbodyyourchoice from shithead ted, god what an awful human

Lebron wouldn’t want to take sides against Sinopharm

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, September 29, 2021 4:08 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

republicans buy sneakers too

ESPN: Los Angeles Lakers’ Russell Westbrook vows to push Anthony Davis ‘every single night’

This is gonna be fun (tm)

down the stairs? into a briar patch? on a swing? by Sapphire?

iirc if you push Anthony Davis he will get a contusion xp

yeah seems like a bad idea

Aaron Gordon seems really happy to be in denver to a degree that makes me think the whole thing makes sense

haha. they’re paying him $92 million!

LeBron James says he's now vaccinated. As for urging others to get vaccinated, he says "That's not my job."

"We're talkin' about individuals' bodies. We're not talkin' about something that's political, or racism, or police brutality ..." pic.twitter.com/p7wv4mkf5o

— The Recount (@therecount) September 28, 2021

just so so good

Embiid on Ben, partial: "Our teams have always been built around his needs. So it's just kind of surprising to see. Even going back to, the reason we signed Al, we got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, just to make sure he needed the ball in his hands."

— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) September 30, 2021

love it

Might as well go all in on throwing him under the bus

If I'm not going to get fans booing him out of town, this will do.

never recall hearing anything about jimmy being let go because of ben, joel making stuff up cause hes mad

yeah i'm a little bit confused by the "joel embiid, what a straight shooter" commentary i'm seeing everywhere

i mean i can understand why sportswriters might feel compelled to egg him on lol it is tremendous content

yeah even from normal educated fans though, it's like he's now this warrior who just cares about winning or something.

There are definitely conflicting stories, but Jimmy revealed he had tension from Simmons in the 2019 playoffs because Brown started running the offense more through Jimmy.

yeah even from normal educated fans though, it's like he's now this warrior who just cares about winning or something.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, September 30, 2021 9:29 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

“I don’t get on the scale. It’s not good for my mental health.”

- Joel Embiid. 😂

(via @LaurenMRosen) pic.twitter.com/3Q2jCx0qaX

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) September 30, 2021

xp the way i remember that going down is not that they "got rid of jimmy" which is embiid's quote, it's more that jimmy decided to leave because he had some issues with the sixers but more importantly he could go to miami and be the guy

lol i saw that quote and tons of people being like "joel gets me!!!"

deep down were all overweight professional athletes

fat is potential in disguise as they say

Joel is sort of the perfect athlete for Philly.

i feel like my understanding was that jimmy left the sixers for the same reason he left chicago & minny which is bcuz they wouldn’t give him the full max. if that was because of simmons idk, it seems to me like they had the same reservations as those other teams about giving jimmy that kind of money. and so jimmy went and found a team who would give him that level of commitment. coincidentally or not each of those three teams have spent the years after jimmy in various states of turmoil

it seems pretty unlikely to me that embiid would just say that unless there were some substantive truth to it. what would his reason be otherwise?

hes a big mad baby idk

reminder that his twitter name is still joel “troel” embiid

i believe joel too

it's not mutually exclusive, reluctance to give jimmy the max surely tied to what needs they felt they had on the roster. thinking you've got a blue chip lead ball handler already on your team leaves you pretty reluctant to max out another. can easily imagine some front office folk saying as much casually to joel

like it doesn't mean simmons was making demands, the responsibility lies just as much with the team for betting big that he would have become a better offensive player by now. but he didn't so those decisions don't look good

yeah if philly was thinking that way then theyre dumb having more than one guy who can dribble is considered a good thing

i mean obvs they are dumb as demonstrated through the process and beyond so i guess i could see them being all we have our dribbling guy already

for sure, it is a key skill in the national basketball league

pretty funny that by the end of the season jimmy went to miami ben was spending a bunch of time hanging around the baseline not really doing anything

also funny that simmons was clear about the roster construction issue which is that he doesnt fit well with embiid which is true and has been obvious all along and embiid responded with bitchy gossip

wouldve been better for everyone if simmons made the trade demand two years ago, but i guess thats not how these things work