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[Calinks]

Anyone seen rookie Bird and Magic battle in pre-season games? I imagine it's like Wembanyama vs Holmgren. It's about as exciting as pre-season gets. So far, both played well. I am surprised by how well Holmgren is playing after sitting out a year.

I was surprised by how well both of them played.

I don't remember Wembanyama took any hook shots or turn around low post jumpers. I don't think anyone could stop his sky hook (if he develops one)

I would so love to see a modern big man master the Sky hook. That said, Jokic has a hook that may be the closest to it he can bust out. It really is an unstoppable move.

[cmoss84]

Will Webanyama be better than Porzingis?

[shrink]

Anyone seen rookie Bird and Magic battle in pre-season games? I imagine it's like Wembanyama vs Holmgren. It's about as exciting as pre-season gets. So far, both played well. I am surprised by how well Holmgren is playing after sitting out a year.

I don't know if the Bird/Magic hype can ever be matched. Was watching Winning Time and it just really put into perspective how epic that time frame was. I know there are a couple of posters here old enough to have maybe been NBA watchers during that time, but I imagine it must have been crazy if you were a big basketball fan to see two stud players go to war in college, and then see that war escalate in the NBA. I can't really anything like that ever happening in my years watching the league, like no two players ever built up that kind of long lasting rivalry and were able to carry it over to compete for titles on the big stage. That's storybook stuff.

The NBA in general also just doesn't foster those kinds of animosities/feuds anymore. There are some heated rivalries but we rarely see any major back and fourth, usually one team or player, just continually dominates another. Even today, we kind of have Jokic and Embiid, but Jokic has been winning that pretty handily with multiple MVP's and playoffs success. KAT was in the mix at first but he's been totally blown out by both. LeBron doesn't have a true rival, Warriors just kind of dominated everyone in their heyday, etc.

Even KG and Duncan was really lopsided in Duncan's favor so yea, I guess there is potential for Chet and Wemby to be the next best thing, but I don't know if we will ever see anything on the level of Bird and Magic, that had to be insanely fun.

Good post. I miss the era when players on one team hated players on the other. Now they are all just buddy buddy.

[Klomp]

I would so love to see a modern big man master the Sky hook. That said, Jokic has a hook that may be the closest to it he can bust out. It really is an unstoppable move.

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[KGdaBom]

Will Webanyama be better than Porzingis?

Eventually I think yes. This season I think no.

[Neeva]

Anyone seen rookie Bird and Magic battle in pre-season games? I imagine it's like Wembanyama vs Holmgren. It's about as exciting as pre-season gets. So far, both played well. I am surprised by how well Holmgren is playing after sitting out a year.

I was surprised by how well both of them played.

I wasn’t because they were guarding each other.

[KGdaBom]

Anyone seen rookie Bird and Magic battle in pre-season games? I imagine it's like Wembanyama vs Holmgren. It's about as exciting as pre-season gets. So far, both played well. I am surprised by how well Holmgren is playing after sitting out a year.

I was surprised by how well both of them played.

I wasn’t because they were guarding each other.

Interesting point. Maybe even a good point.

[TimberKat]

I was surprised by how well both of them played.

I wasn’t because they were guarding each other.

Interesting point. Maybe even a good point.

I though Holmgren mostly played against Collins. Anyway, Bertans was the best player on the night It's pre-season and hype time man

[TimberKat]

If we assume ESPN's players ranking is somewhat accurate and if we assume talent wins games. By assigning points to players like 1 pt = #100, 2 pt = #99, 100pt = #1, etc. The team power ranking or standing would look like:
Western: GWS-DEN-PHX-LAL-MEM-MIN-NOP-OKC-DAL-LAC;SAC-POR-UTA-HOU-SAS
Eastern: MIL-BOS-CLE-PHI-MIA-NYK-CHI-TOR-IND-ATL;ORL-BKN-CHA-WAS-DET

If we include all teams, MIN is the 10th best team. Those final standing seems plausible. Just SAC look out of place because some teams may have depth around 100-130. Players not in the ranking includes JMcD, Monk, DLo, Vassell, etc. The players ranking is definitely big city bias. NYC and GSW has 6 players in the top 100.

[Klomp]

Victor is like a 6'16" Kevin Garnett out there!

[KGdaBom]

Victor is like a 6'16" Kevin Garnett out there!

I was in a $500 entry fee auction fantasy league Thursday. I stuck my neck out and got Wemby for $26 of my 200 budget. I'm feeling good about that investment. It could pay off with $3000. My other stars are LaMelo, Durant and KAT. I do have Jaden and Conley as well.

[KGdaBom]

Jonathan Kuminga who possibly should have been a wolf just scored 26 in last night's preseason game.

[jpatrick]

Jonathan Kuminga who possibly should have been a wolf just scored 26 in last night's preseason game.

I’m not sure he knows how to playing winning basketball yet versus being a guy that puts up numbers. But that guy has so many tools. Big, strong, insane athlete, improving and already a decent shooter. If he was on a bad team, he’d score in the 20s per game this year. I think we forget how young he is too, just turned 21 last week.

[TimberKat]

Victor is like a 6'16" Kevin Garnett out there!

I was in a $500 entry fee auction fantasy league Thursday. I stuck my neck out and got Wemby for $26 of my 200 budget. I'm feeling good about that investment. It could pay off with $3000. My other stars are LaMelo, Durant and KAT. I do have Jaden and Conley as well.

That is a good investment. Victor has gotten so much better since Summer League - 3s, mid range, dunks. There is no one that could stop him and a good passer too. He is going to avg 25+ pts a game. Wait until he adds a sky hook, he will lead the league in scoring every year. He make Gobert look like an awkward little kid

[younggunsmn]

Victor is like a 6'16" Kevin Garnett out there!

I was in a $500 entry fee auction fantasy league Thursday. I stuck my neck out and got Wemby for $26 of my 200 budget. I'm feeling good about that investment. It could pay off with $3000. My other stars are LaMelo, Durant and KAT. I do have Jaden and Conley as well.

That is a good investment. Victor has gotten so much better since Summer League - 3s, mid range, dunks. There is no one that could stop him and a good passer too. He is going to avg 25+ pts a game. Wait until he adds a sky hook, he will lead the league in scoring every year. He make Gobert look like an awkward little kid

Meh. Eventually teams will wise up and he will get the same Nicolas Batum/PJ Tucker defensive treatment that KAT gets and he will end up just shooting a ton of long jumpers. Until he can add some bulk. And he might be effective enough with that to be a 25 ppg scorer. But its gonna be a while until he can effect the game the way a Jokic/Embiid/Giannis can.

And just like Gobert, he's going to have to be able to guard the whole court in the modern game.
Probably not much of a stretch to say he might lead the league in blocks though.

Will be interesting seeing how his frame holds up to the grind of an NBA season.
My feeling is he ends up closer to Ralph Sampson than David Robinson.
I don't think that frame is built for a long career.

[TimberKat]

I was in a $500 entry fee auction fantasy league Thursday. I stuck my neck out and got Wemby for $26 of my 200 budget. I'm feeling good about that investment. It could pay off with $3000. My other stars are LaMelo, Durant and KAT. I do have Jaden and Conley as well.

That is a good investment. Victor has gotten so much better since Summer League - 3s, mid range, dunks. There is no one that could stop him and a good passer too. He is going to avg 25+ pts a game. Wait until he adds a sky hook, he will lead the league in scoring every year. He make Gobert look like an awkward little kid

Meh. Eventually teams will wise up and he will get the same Nicolas Batum/PJ Tucker defensive treatment that KAT gets and he will end up just shooting a ton of long jumpers. Until he can add some bulk. And he might be effective enough with that to be a 25 ppg scorer. But its gonna be a while until he can effect the game the way a Jokic/Embiid/Giannis can.

And just like Gobert, he's going to have to be able to guard the whole court in the modern game.
Probably not much of a stretch to say he might lead the league in blocks though.

Will be interesting seeing how his frame holds up to the grind of an NBA season.
My feeling is he ends up closer to Ralph Sampson than David Robinson.
I don't think that frame is built for a long career.

What I like about his above the rim plays, he doesn't jump very high and always in balance. He is not like Holmgren and Towns that goes to the floor 5 times a game.

There is just too many teams that I want to watch on League Pass this year. Reminded me the year where Jordan was with WAS, Kobe, TMac, and Yao were all playing. Shaq was great but not intriguing.

[KGdaBom]

I was in a $500 entry fee auction fantasy league Thursday. I stuck my neck out and got Wemby for $26 of my 200 budget. I'm feeling good about that investment. It could pay off with $3000. My other stars are LaMelo, Durant and KAT. I do have Jaden and Conley as well.

That is a good investment. Victor has gotten so much better since Summer League - 3s, mid range, dunks. There is no one that could stop him and a good passer too. He is going to avg 25+ pts a game. Wait until he adds a sky hook, he will lead the league in scoring every year. He make Gobert look like an awkward little kid

Meh. Eventually teams will wise up and he will get the same Nicolas Batum/PJ Tucker defensive treatment that KAT gets and he will end up just shooting a ton of long jumpers. Until he can add some bulk. And he might be effective enough with that to be a 25 ppg scorer. But its gonna be a while until he can effect the game the way a Jokic/Embiid/Giannis can.

And just like Gobert, he's going to have to be able to guard the whole court in the modern game.
Probably not much of a stretch to say he might lead the league in blocks though.

Will be interesting seeing how his frame holds up to the grind of an NBA season.
My feeling is he ends up closer to Ralph Sampson than David Robinson.
I don't think that frame is built for a long career.

He's somewhat skinny, but what I call wirey. I would bet he plays over 70 games and holds up just fine.

[TimberKat]

Now I see why Scoot Henderson so easily gets separation for his jumper. I would let him shoot that shot all night too.

[Nick K]

Anyone seen rookie Bird and Magic battle in pre-season games? I imagine it's like Wembanyama vs Holmgren. It's about as exciting as pre-season gets. So far, both played well. I am surprised by how well Holmgren is playing after sitting out a year.

I don't know if the Bird/Magic hype can ever be matched. Was watching Winning Time and it just really put into perspective how epic that time frame was. I know there are a couple of posters here old enough to have maybe been NBA watchers during that time, but I imagine it must have been crazy if you were a big basketball fan to see two stud players go to war in college, and then see that war escalate in the NBA. I can't really anything like that ever happening in my years watching the league, like no two players ever built up that kind of long lasting rivalry and were able to carry it over to compete for titles on the big stage. That's storybook stuff.

The NBA in general also just doesn't foster those kinds of animosities/feuds anymore. There are some heated rivalries but we rarely see any major back and fourth, usually one team or player, just continually dominates another. Even today, we kind of have Jokic and Embiid, but Jokic has been winning that pretty handily with multiple MVP's and playoffs success. KAT was in the mix at first but he's been totally blown out by both. LeBron doesn't have a true rival, Warriors just kind of dominated everyone in their heyday, etc.

Even KG and Duncan was really lopsided in Duncan's favor so yea, I guess there is potential for Chet and Wemby to be the next best thing, but I don't know if we will ever see anything on the level of Bird and Magic, that had to be insanely fun.

Good post. I miss the era when players on one team hated players on the other. Now they are all just buddy buddy.

Yep, I agree on the heated rivalry stuff. I go back to Bill Russell and Wilt in the late 60's early 70's going at it. No lovey-dovey chit going on there. McHale used to talk about when Boston played LA or Philly or Detroit nobody shook hands. No one considered it. They hated each other. Every game mattered.

I love the heated rivalry stuff.

In the 80's the North Stars would play the Blackhawks in Chicago and it was mayhem. Every moment meant something. SL Blues too.

Bird/Magic was the best ever. Then Wilt/Russell.

[Nick K]

Will Webanyama be better than Porzingis?

I think that's an easy yes. I saw Wembanyama the other day and he is the real deal. I was very impressed. Pop is a good coach so his development is in good hands.

He has all the tools. He moves and plays like a guard at 7'4".