Around the NBA - Continuation... AND one!

[Wildcat]

Talk about a weak statement.

Tatum man... do better...

Tatum is a star talent, but he is not an alpha.

The Celtics have relied on other guys to drive them like Smart and now White

and this is where the Celtics are vulnerable, because championship teams typically are led by their supposed best player or star, not a role player

maybe White is their best player at this moment, but that is not the super team narrative that has been pushed about the Celtics after they added Holiday and KP

Tatum or Brown will need to impose their wills for them to ever get a ring and neither one seems to be that kind of guy. They just have spurts where they dominate, but the same can be said for dozens of talents in the NBA

They might get Lucky like the Bubble Lakers and just have weak/compromised talent almost the whole way through...that way they can coast on their talent without ever having to be tested.

... But then again the teams left in the West are al pretty tough. Out of all of them, Maybe Minny had the best chance to beat the Celts?

I think all 4 of the Western teams can beat Boston.

[nykballa2k4]

Tatum is a star talent, but he is not an alpha.

The Celtics have relied on other guys to drive them like Smart and now White

and this is where the Celtics are vulnerable, because championship teams typically are led by their supposed best player or star, not a role player

maybe White is their best player at this moment, but that is not the super team narrative that has been pushed about the Celtics after they added Holiday and KP

Tatum or Brown will need to impose their wills for them to ever get a ring and neither one seems to be that kind of guy. They just have spurts where they dominate, but the same can be said for dozens of talents in the NBA

Kinda like LeBron in that way. Just some games he looks disengaged for whatever reason.

whatever anyone wants to say about Lebron, he has hardware (and in at least one case leading a less talented team) that Tatum may never get

maybe. Tatum is about the age of LeBron when he was giftedwon his first ring. LeBron being 27 IIRC, Tatum is 26.
Same things were said of him, and he did have some loaded rosters he did not deliver with. LeBron, Wade, Bosh were three surefire top-10 players, on the same team. Should have been an easy 3-peat.

KP is really important to what they do (as is Jrue). I would value both of them more than Brown. Of course all of this is moot. Celtics give actual effort and shoot within their median, this series is over.

[BigShot Bojan]

I was thinking about a stretch offense. Pretty much every player sets up behind the arc. And that works to create space for some easy 2's, especially if you hit your 3's, and especially early in the game. But as the game tightens and defenses collapse on drives, the space created is actually outweighed by the extra time you give the defense to collapse and recover.

You obviously still need motion and pressure on the defense inside, something the Knicks are doing well right now, and you can still kick it back for 3's.

If you've got a guy like Jaylen Brown, who can hit 3's and get hot but was basically unstoppable to the rim last night and can be inconsistent from 3, it can be a major detriment.

You can mitigate that with motion and passing, but you can also not have all your guys start at the arc, especially not a guy like Jaylen Brown. You're stagnating but you're also giving the defense more time to collapse on him and take away what was an unstoppable drive.

To me they basically handed the Cavs the win by staying in stretch mode. Why do all of your scorers need to initiate from behind the arc? That's pretty silly.

What you’re describing is 5 out …

[Clyde_Style]

I think this is Spida's last time in a Cleveland uniform. Where he goes... let's see this off-season... maybe Brooklyn, maybe NYK, maybe Miami...

Buzztrodamus says 3 team trade, where Knicks get Bridges, Nets get Mitchell, and Cavs get stuff and picks.

This is the perfect solution to relieving Mikal's pain and replacing him with DM who will be staring forlornly at the Knicks bench every time we play in Barclays

[nykballa2k4]

I was thinking about a stretch offense. Pretty much every player sets up behind the arc. And that works to create space for some easy 2's, especially if you hit your 3's, and especially early in the game. But as the game tightens and defenses collapse on drives, the space created is actually outweighed by the extra time you give the defense to collapse and recover.

You obviously still need motion and pressure on the defense inside, something the Knicks are doing well right now, and you can still kick it back for 3's.

If you've got a guy like Jaylen Brown, who can hit 3's and get hot but was basically unstoppable to the rim last night and can be inconsistent from 3, it can be a major detriment.

You can mitigate that with motion and passing, but you can also not have all your guys start at the arc, especially not a guy like Jaylen Brown. You're stagnating but you're also giving the defense more time to collapse on him and take away what was an unstoppable drive.

To me they basically handed the Cavs the win by staying in stretch mode. Why do all of your scorers need to initiate from behind the arc? That's pretty silly.

What you’re describing is 5 out …

If I understand correctly -- it's the difference between the SSOL Suns, and the Death-lineup Warriors. SSOL was largely bereft of off-ball movement whereas Warriors were reliant of off-ball movement to get good looks/players in rhythm.

[iLLSonChandla]

Tatum can't be serious

[RHODEY]

Tatum is a star talent, but he is not an alpha.

The Celtics have relied on other guys to drive them like Smart and now White

and this is where the Celtics are vulnerable, because championship teams typically are led by their supposed best player or star, not a role player

maybe White is their best player at this moment, but that is not the super team narrative that has been pushed about the Celtics after they added Holiday and KP

Tatum or Brown will need to impose their wills for them to ever get a ring and neither one seems to be that kind of guy. They just have spurts where they dominate, but the same can be said for dozens of talents in the NBA

They might get Lucky like the Bubble Lakers and just have weak/compromised talent almost the whole way through...that way they can coast on their talent without ever having to be tested.

... But then again the teams left in the West are al pretty tough. Out of all of them, Maybe Minny had the best chance to beat the Celts?

I think all 4 of the Western teams can beat Boston.

Probably, especially if KP is out or not healthy.

[ScienceOfLosing]

To add on to this

Why would Cleveland take a package ( Bojan, Mitch and picks) where it would make their team weaker which would simultaneously hand over superior picks to Ainge and Cleveland receiving inferior picks from NY because we would be picking low. Someone explain the logic lol

The logic is as simple as this... Spida says he's opting out and becoming a free agent... every day that passes, his value drops further and everyone knows he wants NYK so the teams willing to give up bigger packages dwindle to near zero.

What did TOR get for Siakam?

Toronto had the cap space to go after Siakam in FA. So in this scenario it made sense to trade Siakam before he hit FA. He was going to walk and sign in Indy.

Right now only Philly, OKC and Utah have cap space at the end of 2024-2025. Philly is going use it all up this off season and I don’t expect OKC or Utah (lol) would be interested in Mitchell. The same threat doesn’t exist for Cleveland in this scenario where they have to trade him or let him walk for nothing. There’s no team that pose that threat to them.

If he does go, it’ll be in a sign and trade where some team (Brooklyn) will overpay for him

Can Brooklyn even pay fair value for Mitchell, much less overpay?

I wonder what Milwaukee does. Get off the Lillard experiment?
Philli , Embid and those knees, sad.Not to mention Embid is a deek.

[ScienceOfLosing]

I think this is Spida's last time in a Cleveland uniform. Where he goes... let's see this off-season... maybe Brooklyn, maybe NYK, maybe Miami...

Buzztrodamus says 3 team trade, where Knicks get Bridges, Nets get Mitchell, and Cavs get stuff and picks.

Cavs could get a good haul.
Brooklyn doesn’t lose face and we get better.

We send Randle? I would like to try to keep him.
IHart, Randle, OG, Bridges, Brunson
Vs
IHart, Randle, OG, Mitchell, Brunson (Looks great offensively, but could Mitchell be GOOD defensively)
Best chance at chip?

[sol537]

If you do Randle + Bogs for KD... and if KD buys in and stays relatively healthy... that's a legit contender for the next 2 years... can't rule it out.

[KnicksGadfly]

I think the Suns got a good one

[Capn'O]

I think the Suns got a good one

They still need to fix the roster.

[nyknicks09]

If you do Randle + Bogs for KD... and if KD buys in and stays relatively healthy... that's a legit contender for the next 2 years... can't rule it out.

I rather go after Paul George. I think he fits with these current Knicks players.

Resign OG and package Randle, and iHart(S&T) for Paul George and Daniel Theis.

[ozwizard8]

When refs call the game even, calling fouls on Murray-Jokic hacking stuff, suddenly TWolves become much much worse team.

Their defense in G2 without even having Gobert was simply ref ball.

[Montmorencie]

But, but, but... "SGA deserves the mvp, he was robbed"

[GettinitDone]

To be honest I'm kinda relieved Nugs won this convincingly, for first 2 games and after they swept the Suns, Wolves looked like total juggernauts... at least they look beatable now I'm sure they're still my fave Finals matchups for Knicks... followed by Nuggets then Thunder in that order

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

To be honest I'm kinda relieved Nugs won this convincingly, for first 2 games and after they swept the Suns, Wolves looked like total juggernauts... at least they look beatable now I'm sure they're still my fave Finals matchups for Knicks... followed by Nuggets then Thunder in that order

Expected order or preferred order?

Looks close to me. They all 4 look like good teams to me.

[GettinitDone]

To be honest I'm kinda relieved Nugs won this convincingly, for first 2 games and after they swept the Suns, Wolves looked like total juggernauts... at least they look beatable now I'm sure they're still my fave Finals matchups for Knicks... followed by Nuggets then Thunder in that order

Expected order or preferred order?

Looks close to me. They all 4 look like good teams to me.

Preferred order, I think we'll beat Celtics to go to Finals, and I prefer us playing Wolves most, Nuggets second and Thunder third

[robillionaire]

Nuggets got one back on the road. If they take game 4 they’re back in the driver’s seat of the series

[Besart19]

If you do Randle + Bogs for KD... and if KD buys in and stays relatively healthy... that's a legit contender for the next 2 years... can't rule it out.

I rather go after Paul George. I think he fits with these current Knicks players.

Resign OG and package Randle, and iHart(S&T) for Paul George and Daniel Theis.

Short term, George and Davis

Davis / Achiuwa / Sims
Anunoby / Harris / Prince
George / Hart / Draft '24
Donte / McBride / Burks
Brunson / Rokas / Lowry