(12-11-2020, 09:24 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: - S. Bey looks like a good NBA defender in his first game. My new comparisation is PJ Tucker. I really underrated his lower body strength. The guy is a brick wall and great post defender.

(12-11-2020, 10:25 PM)jesusshuttlesworth82 Wrote: https://www.qabickcents.com/dallasbasketball/showthread.php?tid=200&pid=42091#pid42091

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so glad basketball is back

(12-11-2020, 11:19 PM)Branduil Wrote: Guys Sacramento has missed drafting in the last few years:

-Devin Booker
-Pascal Siakam
-Donovan Mitchell
-Luka

(12-11-2020, 11:03 PM)KillerLeft Wrote: Welp, Sacramento is still trying to make Barnes a 3, and they still suck.

I was a huge fan of Fox in that draft class, but I think they’ve almost completely failed to develop him. Once the ball is stopped in transition he’s almost no threat at all. I have a feeling that extension is going to look rough in a couple of years.

(12-12-2020, 12:18 AM)Mavsfan12 Wrote: Well, a lot of teams could say that - outside of Luka.  Those other 3 weren't super high picks.  I think booker/mitchell were both #13's and siakam was a late first.  The Mavs could have had Mitchell instead of DSJ...  

That is an interesting timeline.  If we draft Mitchell, do we suck badly enough in 2018 to draft Luka? Do we still send him to NY in the KP deal?

(12-12-2020, 01:33 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: Sacramento's rise seemed to suddenly stagnate as soon as they traded Barnes for air.

The Kings were 29-26, 3 games above .500 in the 18/19 season before they traded for Barnes. They closed out that season 10-17 and barely missing the playoffs. Mind you the Kings were a surprise team, playing super up tempo and by in large outperforming everyone's expectations.

They followed that up with a 31-41 season. So the Kings since trading for Barnes are 41-58, a solid 41% win percentage.

Now is this all Barnes fault? No. But if he was a foundational piece for a franchise, they wouldn't have gotten considerably worse after trading for him. At some point his talent would have propelled them to at LEAST be better than what they were. But I guess not...

Quote:This could be a make-or-break season for [b]Knicks[/b] guard [b]Dennis Smith[/b] Jr. and he’s impressed coach [b]Tom Thibodeau[/b] in the early days of camp, according to Greg Joyce of the New York Post. Smith could be a restricted or unrestricted free agent next offseason, depending upon the Knicks’ desire to extend him a qualifying offer. He’s also been subjected to trade rumors.

[i]“I think he’s come into camp and he’s been very aggressive,”[/i] Thibodeau said. [i]“I think each day, he’s gotten better and better. That’s what we’re asking him to do — to run his team, keep us organized, take advantage of what your strengths are, your ability to get downhill to force people to collapse, and then make the right play.”[/i]

(12-11-2020, 09:26 PM)Kammrath Wrote: https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1337569345824808961

(12-12-2020, 03:33 AM)Mavs2019 Wrote: Giles had a nice debut for the Blazers. Wow.

18 pts (8-13)
14 rebs
2 blks
3 stls

Derrick Jones and Covington with great debuts, too.

Maybe time for a small wager on the Blazers for the title.

It´s basically their WCF finals team from 2019 plus returning Nurkic as the starting center, plus Melo as a 6th man and replacing Harkless with Covington, Aminu with Jones and Curry with Trent Jr.

Hard to argue they are not a much better team than the version that was the SuperWarriors away from an NBA title.

(12-12-2020, 09:34 AM)DanSchwartzman Wrote: I like the names of who Portland got in the off season, but the decisions around terms a puzzling to me.  Giles is a minimum contract.  Portland won't have any type of hold on him.  The second year of DJJr is PO.  I suspect if he continues to hit 100% of his 3's he'll be back on the market next summer and Portland won't have any rights on him.  They are $1.8mm under the tax and have Collins and Trent as RFA's next summer (when half the league will have significant space) and Kanter and Melo as UFA's.  Nurcic, Roco and Hood are free in 22.  

In fact, in 22, they will have $76mm tied to 32 year old Lillard and 31 year old McCollum and $40mm to fill out the rest of the roster.  It is now or never for Portland, but their conundrum is if they play well this season teams will attempt to pick them clean in free agency next summer.

(12-12-2020, 10:34 AM)TXBamanut Wrote: I watched the Houston game and it's one game...it's against Chicago...but....

First Impressions
--- John Wall is still John Wall...every bit.
--- Boogie Cousins is like 20-30 pounds lighter, no more baby fat (for the first time I've ever seen him) and in the first 1:50 he had 5 points (a 3 and a breakaway dunk), 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block and was extremely vocal on defense.. That could easily go away, but he showed it all today.... 3-4 from 3, he did it on the block, and he drove to the basket.  He took two charges...

The centers for Houston --- Caboclo and Cousins went 8-12 from 3....67%  W...o...w  And that's with NO Christian Wood and no PJ Tucker...and NO James Harden.  They were sharing the ball and playing better defense than I've seen from Houston...granted Chicago, but I look at rotations and effort more than the opponent.  Were they in the right place?  Did they get to the shooters? 

You have to think...it's pre-season, but I'd be entertaining the opening thought "Does James Harden's lack of leadership and cancerous attitude and complete NON-winner mentality make us worse than his talent and ball domination makes them better?"  Could they get another player like a Ben Simmons, kick up their defense, have a roll man in the pick and roll...I'd ship that overgrown toddler out to whatever would give me a bag of soccer balls and a pile of picks and say "Good riddance, moron".

If I'm a Houston fan, I'm looking at this game as hope to say not only does this allow them to trade James Harden, but they might be almost as good (or even better) after they trade him...and be set up for the future in picks that they had to trade to get Westbrook and Paul.

(12-12-2020, 11:03 AM)omahen Wrote: Chicago looked absolutely terrible.  They clearly lack team (pass) first PG of Rubio caliber. Markannen and WCJ don't work either. Unless things improve dramatically, Chicago will be very active at TDL.