Around the NBA (non-Wolves talk)

[Monster]

I watched the last 10 minutes or so of the Celtics Sixers game and man down the stretch Embiid who has been a terrific defender looked more like Towns than a DPOY guy. He bit on so many pump fakes and got burned on the way to the rim by players of every single position on the floor. It was really surprising to me. Apparently Ben Simmons struggled in the game.

Also Terry Rozier...if that guy was a FA this year...some teams would be having to think about what kind of money they would offer him. That dude is ballin.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Only 1 point for Simmons. Yikes.

The Celtics were down 22 points with 28 minutes left in the game. That team is pretty incredible. I don't know how they do it. If they get by Philly, I think they get trounced by Cleveland, but what a two-year run while battling all those injuries.

Al Horford is worth every penny of that deal. He's just solid... and virtually everything.

[Lipoli390]

You know who hired Quinn Snyder to put him on the road to the NBA after what happened in Missouri? David Kahn. Yep he hired him when he was running the Austin Torres and interviewed him when deciding whether to fire Rambis or not. They brought up Kahn had an association with Snyder on Souhan and Jon K's recent podcast. They joked that at one point one of the bad part of Snyder's resume was that Kahn had interviewed him for a coaching job. Lol

Lol. I didn't know any of that. It's hillarious.

[Lipoli390]

Toronto may put in a request to be moved to the Western Conference just so that they can be beaten by someone other than Cleveland on their way to a playoff exit.

When Love George Hill and JR Smith combine for 61 points...Lebron has a shot to get to the finals. Man was I wrong...that series is over. And get this just looked a bit more at the box score...Toronto shot 54% and 40% on 3's and were beaten easily. Ouch.

Yeah, I saw that too. Besides Cleveland shooting so well, they also didn't turn the ball over much. LeBron and Love combined for 74 points and 16 assists, but only had two turnovers. Now that is some really efficient basketball. You don't have to play great defense when you are making all your shots and not turning it over.

Cleveland should be the model for the Wolves. The Wolves were a low turnover team last season and already a pretty high scoring team. The Wolves' roster last season (Towns, Wiggins, Butler, Teague, Crawford) was built to outscore opponents if turned loose and used well. Looking ahead to next season, if Wiggins can become a more efficient and consistent 20+ PPG scorer and we add a true 3-point marksman to the rotation, the Wolves can be even better offensively and win 50+ games without any improvement defensively. Add some defensive improvement to the mix and it could get interesting.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Toronto may put in a request to be moved to the Western Conference just so that they can be beaten by someone other than Cleveland on their way to a playoff exit.

When Love George Hill and JR Smith combine for 61 points...Lebron has a shot to get to the finals. Man was I wrong...that series is over. And get this just looked a bit more at the box score...Toronto shot 54% and 40% on 3's and were beaten easily. Ouch.

Yeah, I saw that too. Besides Cleveland shooting so well, they also didn't turn the ball over much. LeBron and Love combined for 74 points and 16 assists, but only had two turnovers. Now that is some really efficient basketball. You don't have to play great defense when you are making all your shots and not turning it over.

Cleveland should be the model for the Wolves. The Wolves were a low turnover team last season and already a pretty high scoring team. The Wolves' roster last season (Towns, Wiggins, Butler, Teague, Crawford) was built to outscore opponents if turned loose and used well. Looking ahead to next season, if Wiggins can become a more efficient and consistent 20+ PPG scorer and we add a true 3-point marksman to the rotation, the Wolves can be even better offensively and win 50+ games without any improvement defensively. Add some defensive improvement to the mix and it could get interesting.

How can Cleveland be a model for the Wolves when EVERYTHING that team does centers around the world's best basketball player playing at an insanely high level?

Nobody can replicate what they're doing... unless they're fortunate enough to lure James away from Cleveland.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

The other thing that makes it hard to replicate Cleveland besides the obvious "they have LeBron, we don't" is they have multiple guys that are really dangerous from outside: Korver, Smith, Love, etc. I mean guys that can get hot and do it in volume. We basically have zero volume 3-point shooters on our roster right now and that is a major problem.

[Monster]

Fizdale is the next Knicks coach. It's kinda interesting that he is the first one to get hired in this bunch of interviews and openings. Hopefully he gets along with that Porzingis guy.

[Monster]

Pelicans got on track at home against GS in decisive fashion. There were a lot of smart people that did not like them adding Rondo to that squad but it's looking like an absolute genius move and it was cheap.

[Lipoli390]

Toronto may put in a request to be moved to the Western Conference just so that they can be beaten by someone other than Cleveland on their way to a playoff exit.

When Love George Hill and JR Smith combine for 61 points...Lebron has a shot to get to the finals. Man was I wrong...that series is over. And get this just looked a bit more at the box score...Toronto shot 54% and 40% on 3's and were beaten easily. Ouch.

Yeah, I saw that too. Besides Cleveland shooting so well, they also didn't turn the ball over much. LeBron and Love combined for 74 points and 16 assists, but only had two turnovers. Now that is some really efficient basketball. You don't have to play great defense when you are making all your shots and not turning it over.

Cleveland should be the model for the Wolves. The Wolves were a low turnover team last season and already a pretty high scoring team. The Wolves' roster last season (Towns, Wiggins, Butler, Teague, Crawford) was built to outscore opponents if turned loose and used well. Looking ahead to next season, if Wiggins can become a more efficient and consistent 20+ PPG scorer and we add a true 3-point marksman to the rotation, the Wolves can be even better offensively and win 50+ games without any improvement defensively. Add some defensive improvement to the mix and it could get interesting.

How can Cleveland be a model for the Wolves when EVERYTHING that team does centers around the world's best basketball player playing at an insanely high level?

Nobody can replicate what they're doing... unless they're fortunate enough to lure James away from Cleveland.

You're absolutely right, Abe. But it was fun to see what sort of responses I'd get. :) Most didn't even bother -- and for good reason, since my post was on the silly side. But I'm thinking we can trade Wiggins for LeBron this summer in a sign-and-trade. LeBron would love the challenge of bringing the Wolves their first championship in franchise history. OK, I've gone overboard again. :)

[Lipoli390]

Pelicans got on track at home against GS in decisive fashion. There were a lot of smart people that did not like them adding Rondo to that squad but it's looking like an absolute genius move and it was cheap.

I liked the Rondo signing and it's definitely paying off for the Pelicans. He was a big part of their nice stretch run and he's also been a huge part of their success thus far in the playoffs.