Around the NBA (non-Wolves talk)

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Watching this barn burner of the Blazers and Kings. 47-46 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd.

....and the Blazers lost! That is great news for us.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

As the sample size gets larger, the trend is getting more difficult to ignore...The East is now 52-43 against the West this season. Good for the NBA, and good for the Wolves' playoff positioning.

I continue to see this trend as a victory for young players and creative coaching over the old establishment. Carmelo Anthony may be the poster child for the new balance (if not, impending East dominance) between the conferences. When he left the East, the prevailing opinion was "Just another star leaving the East to make the West even stronger". But what happened? The Knicks got better, and the Thunder got worse. Just one example, but I think it exemplifies this interesting migration.

Yeah, surprisingly (at least to me), they are really holding their own. Right now a .500 team in the West makes the playoffs if the season were to end today. Not the case in the East. Again, good news for the Wolves!

[Monster]

Watching this barn burner of the Blazers and Kings. 47-46 with 6 minutes left in the 3rd.

....and the Blazers lost! That is great news for us.

I didn't watch for very long but the few minutes I did George Hill actually looked good (started next to Fox) and Fox is fun to watch as he is a blur and bundle of energy.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Take a look at the standings boys. We're ahead of the Spurs. When was the last time we saw that after 15 games? 2004?

[Monster]

I watched the Hornets Bulls game from last night and I will share some thoughts.

Markkanen looks a little more athletic than I expected. He moves well and does some good things. His screens are a little sloppy if he gets better at that he is gonna get more open 3's. He really moves the ball and snaps the passes quickly. Late in the game he picked up a loose ball for a steal took a couple dribbles and made a long pass to Holiday for an easy bucket. His defense seemed ok. On the game deciding play he came over to help against Walker who had beat the other defense and he went straight up and while he didn't really effect the shot Walker was looking for contact and because of that and Makkrnen not giving him any he missed what was an easy layup.

Dunn was a mixed bag but clearly this was a good game for him. He took Monk's lunch and his lunch money and his wallet came back for his keys and stole his car too. He got back to back steals on Monk which lead to 2 easy buckets the other way for him. Dunn had some nice skip passes and did some good work there. He hounded Kemba for a number of possessions and late Howard was freeing Walker on really good screens. He also had some poor fouls including Walker on a 3 point attempt. Dunn in the 4th got to good spots to hit midrange jumpers (FT line range) and also got to the rim. Between Dunn and Grant who actually played well in the 1st half they got good minutes from that position.

Holiday and Valentine cane to the party hitting a lot of shots. Valentine was a mixed bag but came on the 2nd half much like Dunn. Portis looked good. If you are planing on Dunn, Holiday and Valentine to have good games like this consistently that's probably not gonna happen but kudos to them for pooring it in.

[Lipoli390]

I actually questioned their moves because I thought they held their powder too long and should have landed Paul George or Jimmy Butler with all their assets. Hayward is one tier below those guys IMO and he's not even playing! I didn't realize Brad Stevens was a coaching genius. Sorry, but on paper, this team does not look like a 60+ win squad. Impressive stuff.

I think these were probably the non-moves Lip was probably questioning about Ainge this offseason. Q what I have heard from a couple media people that seemed to have a clue about what they were talking about Ainge didn't feel like he had faith he could resign George so he only was willing to give up rental price. Ultimately it looks like that deal and non-deal is working out for everybody. Dipo is looking like a perennial all-star type player and Sabonis is looking like the guy this board thought he would be. Right now that's looking like a pretty good trade for the Pacers after all.

I actually liked Danny's decision to pass on Paul George because of the contract issue. I wouldn't have wanted us to give up significant assets for him either given that PG himself has said he wants to go to the Lakers. I didn't criticize Ainge for passing on Butler either. One report we heard was that the Bulls were proposing Butler straight up for the 3rd pick. Without knowing what would happen to Hayward, I think Ainge was smart to pass on that deal and for all we know the Bulls were demanding more than this report indicted. In effect it was a choice between having Butler or having both Tatum and Hayward.

After Hayward injury, I agree with Q that Boston's roster doesn't look like a 60+ win team. I'm not sure it even looks like a 50+ win team. But that's where you have to credit Ainge for signing Brad Stevens.

[Lipoli390]

Just noticed that CJ Miles is shooting over 42% from behind the arc on 6 threes per game. Very nice. He's also averaging 10.5 points per game. It would have been nice to have him instead of Bazz for our second unit this season and as further protection against injury to one of our wings.

It's another example of how bad front office decisions, even seemingly small ones, often come back to haunt a franchise. I'm talking here about trading our 1st rounder for Payne. If Flip hadn't done that deal, we'd have CJ Miles on our team because we know that the Pacers offered to do the Miles/Aldrich swap if we had included the OKC pick in the deal. We could have traded that pick and still had or own first rounder next year. Bummer.

My rule has always been that you never trade a 1st round pick unless it's part of a package to get an elite player - for example, trading our pick this year in a package for Jimmy Butler. But even then, Thibs got the Bulls' 1st round pick in return.

[Monster]

Just noticed that CJ Miles is shooting over 42% from behind the arc on 6 threes per game. Very nice. He's also averaging 10.5 points per game. It would have been nice to have him instead of Bazz for our second unit this season and as further protection against injury to one of our wings.

It's another example of how bad front office decisions, even seemingly small ones, often come back to haunt a franchise. I'm talking here about trading our 1st rounder for Payne. If Flip hadn't done that deal, we'd have CJ Miles on our team because we know that the Pacers offered to do the Miles/Aldrich swap if we had included the OKC pick in the deal. We could have traded that pick and still had or own first rounder next year. Bummer.

My rule has always been that you never trade a 1st round pick unless it's part of a package to get an elite player - for example, trading our pick this year in a package for Jimmy Butler. But even then, Thibs got the Bulls' 1st round pick in return.

I'm confused by this post. You are willing to give up OKC 1st for Miles but then say your rule is not to trade a 1st for a non-elite player. What is not confusing is how good CJ Miles would look off the bench in a Wolves uniform! :)

[Lipoli390]

Just noticed that CJ Miles is shooting over 42% from behind the arc on 6 threes per game. Very nice. He's also averaging 10.5 points per game. It would have been nice to have him instead of Bazz for our second unit this season and as further protection against injury to one of our wings.

It's another example of how bad front office decisions, even seemingly small ones, often come back to haunt a franchise. I'm talking here about trading our 1st rounder for Payne. If Flip hadn't done that deal, we'd have CJ Miles on our team because we know that the Pacers offered to do the Miles/Aldrich swap if we had included the OKC pick in the deal. We could have traded that pick and still had or own first rounder next year. Bummer.

My rule has always been that you never trade a 1st round pick unless it's part of a package to get an elite player - for example, trading our pick this year in a package for Jimmy Butler. But even then, Thibs got the Bulls' 1st round pick in return.

I'm confused by this post. You are willing to give up OKC 1st for Miles but then say your rule is not to trade a 1st for a non-elite player. What is not confusing is how good CJ Miles would look off the bench in a Wolves uniform! :)

I'll have to amend my rule to allow an exception when you have more than one 1st round pick if you're acquiring a proven NBA player who stands a high chance of helping your team. Bottom line for me is to never be left without a 1st round pick in any draft and to make sure you know exactly what you're getting for the pick.

[60WinTim]

Just noticed that CJ Miles is shooting over 42% from behind the arc on 6 threes per game. Very nice. He's also averaging 10.5 points per game. It would have been nice to have him instead of Bazz for our second unit this season and as further protection against injury to one of our wings.

It's another example of how bad front office decisions, even seemingly small ones, often come back to haunt a franchise. I'm talking here about trading our 1st rounder for Payne. If Flip hadn't done that deal, we'd have CJ Miles on our team because we know that the Pacers offered to do the Miles/Aldrich swap if we had included the OKC pick in the deal. We could have traded that pick and still had or own first rounder next year. Bummer.

My rule has always been that you never trade a 1st round pick unless it's part of a package to get an elite player - for example, trading our pick this year in a package for Jimmy Butler. But even then, Thibs got the Bulls' 1st round pick in return.

At first I thought you were going to rip Thibs for spending money on Taj when he could have used a chunk of it on Miles. I'm glad you didn't go there. Taj has been worth every penny.