2021 nba offseason draft free agency etc

this kanye irving saga just gets better and better!

if Kyrie decides to sit out because of this despite his team being a title favorite it might be the weirdest sports story I've seen in my lifetime

Ali would approve, because resisting getting a safe, effective vaccine, at no cost, to help prevent the spread of a virulent contagious disease that has killed millions of innocent people (to no good purpose) is exactly the same as resisting fighting an unjust war that killed millions of innocent people (to no good purpose).

meant to say "Ali G would be proud of you"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7t2IGwiSHw

about 11,000 people have died of COVID in Brooklyn

ok fine you say that but how many have died of the vaccine??

Wow Simmons might not be vaccinated

https://sports-yahoo-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/report-ben-simmons-return-timeline-224330531.html?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16341840011525&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Freport-ben-simmons-return-timeline-224330531.html

lol that IG live! so Kyrie comes off as one of those guys that thinks he's way more intelligent then he is. He made absolutely no points and just rambled.

Kyrie’s IG live summed up pic.twitter.com/38PVdMjrfi

— SSID/Former Baby (@1017Van) October 14, 2021

this... looks much better

Giannis a Real Hooper™️ now. pic.twitter.com/jBCZS3Ao24

— Sravan (@SravanNBA) October 14, 2021

wow. still has a little hitch but the work he's put in is obvious.

still think he should prob not be taking 3s but those short jumpers could be very helpful

yikes that’s scary. still has the little hitch and is still fading back but the release seems noticeably quicker

Pretty obviously way better tbh

If he can have that wrist flick at the free throw line….

scary meaning scary for the league

looking more fluid for sure

looks like he might be able to make it in the modern NBA after all

i wonder if there's still time to grab the pel's under

is there any chance they're better or at least not substantially worse w/o zion bcuz you can actually play a sensible defensive line up w/o him on the floor

my god its not like hes doing dunks for the other team

well now that you’ve put the idea in his head he just might

not sure where this idea that zion is some sort of alltime bad defender came from, hes a young player who play bad young player d on a bad defensive team

Less than 12 months ago people were arguing that Zion was such a sui generis basketball genius that he was a stone lock as a defensive force.

Now we are wondering if the Pels might not be losing that much when he's not on the court.

Wherefore art thou, Zion?

On IR, I suppose.

he's a point guard on offense but a center on defense it doesn't compute

not sure thats true, his natural defensive position is prob 4, but logically theres no problem with a player who dribbles a lot playing whatever position on D

https://i.imgur.com/R071x9R.png

Less than 12 months ago people were arguing that Zion was such a sui generis basketball genius that he was a stone lock as a defensive force.

― Hannibal Lecture (PBKR), Thursday, October 14, 2021 3:59 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

pretty sure this never happened, is there some sort of zion hysteria happening

anyway he lead the league in paint attempts while converting them at 70% no the pelicans wont be better without him

only half a foot and like 30 percent body fat difference between zion and giannis!

i literally have no idea what youre talking about here

that comparing zion and giannis as defensive players is ridiculous

thats clearly not what i was doing

logically, there is no problem w/ a player who dribbles a lot playing whatever position defensively, unless that player is consistently out of shape, can't stay in front of drivers, and can't protect the rim

thats just called being bad at defense, a condition which many nba players suffer from

if you're bad at defense and your team can play a big man on the floor it's probably not a huge deal, if you're bad at defense and your team can't play another big man on the floor bcuz you're huge and score in the paint on like every possession, it's more of an issue

pels were 29-32 w/ zion last year. no idea what their schedule is like to open this year but i feel like it's conceivable they could hang around .500 w/o him, and probably finish around .500 overall after he gets back \(o_O)/

they also might be a complete disaster w/ him not playing. they also might be a complete disaster w/ him playing. bad franchise

i mean they did start steven adams with zion last year and the pels were still a good offensive team, this year theyve got jonas who can actually shoot a little, ideally youd get a center who can bomb 3s and guard the rim, a myles turner or what have you, tho obvs those guys dont grow on trees

not sure where this idea that zion is some sort of alltime bad defender came from, hes a young player who play bad young player d on a bad defensive team

haha. damn.

i do agree w/ matt that zion doesn't have young player defensive problems as much as he has specific issues related to his skillset/body/current level of athleticism/stamina

i know weve had this discussion before but i dont see any reason why zion couldnt be a least a decent defender, hes the strongest and most athletic person in the world and has very quick feet, which is not to say hes the ideal defender but if he just figured out nba D as many young players do as they get experience and played soundly making the correct rotations and whatnot hed prob be a least fine, i could even see him being disruptive getting a bunch of steals and blocks and then turning them into dunks like he did in college, but anyway zions got bigger problems than being bad at d at the moment

i could even see him being disruptive getting a bunch of steals and blocks and then turning them into dunks like he did in college, but anyway zions got bigger problems than being bad at d at the moment

― lag∞n, Thursday, October 14, 2021 4:33 PM (eighteen seconds ago)

same but he needs to get in much better shape which is the central problem as we all know. if you could play zion at center on defense knowing that you hemorrhage points at the rim but cause some turnovers and block some shots, with his offense, you could probably have something. but right now there is all the bad stuff and none of the activity

obviously zion being fat is threatening his career altogether which is very sad, i think he should try to not be fat anymore, i would like to see that

per 100 possessions last year

nikola vucevic

steals: 1.3
blocks: 1.0

zion

steals: 1.3
blocks: 0.9

it sorta feels like a trae young thing to me right now where it's clear he's an amazing offensive player (tho zion is better) but it's not clear that you can actually win games w/ him until you get a lot of good players around him who also fit correctly

its bad dont get me wrong, idk if its just being overweight or if hes afraid of getting injured or what but he went from record levels of steals and blocks in college to vucevic levels in the pros, tho tbf i would not have expect vooch to average 1.3 steals a game, good job vooch xp

It’s really distressing that when he gets injured he gets fatter

well it kinda makes sense...