Around the NBA:2025-6

[Q-is-here]

Nikola Jokic to start November:
31.3 PPG
11.3 RPG
13.3 APG
70/47/87%
4-0 W/L
No Murray or Gordon tonight against Indy, coach left him in during a blow out win..Likely because they lose leads quickly when he sits, they didn’t have 2nd and 3rd best player to keep in instead to make it a slow bleed and the biggest reason was he sat the 4th the night before with 28 minutes logged.
Jokic may not let on but I really believe comments from the media (Shaq,Perk) erks him a bit. He’s playing with an edge this year, defense has been great, he’s making a lot of flashy entertaining passes. He’s not barking at the refs near as much. As if to say, screw your whistle,screw the voter fatigue. I’m gonna keep having best season yet numbers and make it look easy. And he is.

He's without question one of the greatest to ever play.

[FNG]

Wow! Some unexpected help from Eastern Conference teams. The Hawks, without half their team, takes down the Lakers. And the Heat, minus BAM and Herro, beat the Blazers.

Maybe the Pacers can take down the Nuggets -- they are hanging in there in the 3rd...

It feels like the West is a little less competitive than normal with at least five teams mired in mediocrity for now.

Maybe 6 if you include Memphis. I think the Clippers and Mavs will be back in the hunt again though if they get healthy.

Unlike last year, the Wolves are following the script...beating bad teams and losing to good teams. And it seems like it's all about Rudy. He's been dominant against bad teams (usually because they don't have a good center, like Indy and Utah) and ineffective against good teams. I'm not sure how Sacramento fits into this formula, but I think Rudy will have a big night...Sabonis is a skilled offensive player, but not a dominant defensive center.

[Q-is-here]

Welp, Milwaukee gave us no help losing at home to Houston. It looks like the trade for Durant is paying dividends so far. And guess who else is starting to look really good off the bench? Reed Sheppard, Dilly's old running mate from Kentucky.

Houston, Denver, OKC....They are who we thought they were: Really good!

[FNG]

Welp, Milwaukee gave us no help losing at home to Houston. It looks like the trade for Durant is paying dividends so far. And guess who else is starting to look really good off the bench? Reed Sheppard, Dilly's old running mate from Kentucky.

Houston, Denver, OKC....They are who we thought they were: Really good!

Udoka goes offense/defense with Sheppard and Okogie late in games, and it's quite effective. The 3 teams you mentioned plus the Lakers and Spurs look really good. Memphis also is coming around (up 18 on the Thunder in the first half!) now that Ja isn't pouting as much. It seems like home court advantage in the first round is much more challenging this year than last. We're going to be likely favored in 7 of the next 8 games before going to OkC (who we actually were quite successful against last year until the playoffs), so we need to put up some wins before the schedule toughens up.

[Lipoli390]

Check out the following report this morning. It was only a matter of time. Ownership never should have allowed that trade in the first place.

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is expected to be fired Tuesday morning during a 10 a.m. CT meeting scheduled with team governor Patrick Dumont, sources told ESPN.

Harrison has been under fire from Mavericks fans since he stunningly traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 2, months removed from the then-25-year-old five-time first-team All-NBA selection leading the franchise to an NBA Finals appearance.

In other news:

- Cade Cunningham is quickly establishing himself as a top League MVP contender this season - perhaps the #1 contender for his now 9-2 Pistons. Last night he had 46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and only 2 turnovers. In my view there is a tier of top NBA players slightly above Ant. Cade Cunningham is clearly in that tier along with Jokic, SGA and Luka.

- Speaking of the Pistons, they might be the second best team in the League after OKC. They’ve built brilliantly and patiently through the draft and now their front office skill and patience are paying off.

- The Suns are surprisingly good so far this season. They’re 6-5 and Jalen Green has played only 2 games. They’re doing much better than they did a year ago with Kevin Durant when they finished 10 games below .500.

- A hearty thanks to the Magic and Hawks for defeating the Blazers and Clippers respectively. Disappointed that the Hornets couldn’t pull off an upset against the Lakers at home.

- The Wolves are obviously looking better as they beat the lesser teams they should beat - unlike last season. As a result, we’re sitting in 6th place at 7-4 3 games behind the likely uncatchable Thunder but only a game behind the 3rd place Nuggets and 4th place Lakers. We just need to keep beating the lesser teams and knock off the better teams on our home court. Our team defense seems to be improving and that’s critical.

[rapsuperstar31]

Check out the following report this morning. It was only a matter of time. Ownership never should have allowed that trade in the first place.

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is expected to be fired Tuesday morning during a 10 a.m. CT meeting scheduled with team governor Patrick Dumont, sources told ESPN.

Harrison has been under fire from Mavericks fans since he stunningly traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 2, months removed from the then-25-year-old five-time first-team All-NBA selection leading the franchise to an NBA Finals appearance.

In other news:

- Cade Cunningham is quickly establishing himself as a top League MVP contender this season - perhaps the #1 contender for his now 9-2 Pistons. Last night he had 46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and only 2 turnovers. In my view there is a tier of top NBA players slightly above Ant. Cade Cunningham is clearly in that tier along with Jokic, SGA and Luka.

- Speaking of the Pistons, they might be the second best team in the League after OKC. They’ve built brilliantly and patiently through the draft and now their front office skill and patience are paying off.

- The Suns are surprisingly good so far this season. They’re 6-5 and Jalen Green has played only 2 games. They’re doing much better than they did a year ago with Kevin Durant when they finished 10 games below .500.

- A hearty thanks to the Magic and Hawks for defeating the Blazers and Clippers respectively. Disappointed that the Hornets couldn’t pull off an upset against the Lakers at home.

- The Wolves are obviously looking better as they beat the lesser teams they should beat - unlike last season. As a result, we’re sitting in 6th place at 7-4 3 games behind the likely uncatchable Thunder but only a game behind the 3rd place Nuggets and 4th place Lakers. We just need to keep beating the lesser teams and knock off the better teams on our home court. Our team defense seems to be improving and that’s critical.

Cade also broke Kobe's record for the most missed field goals in a game, missing 31 of his 45 shots last night. I won't argue he's right there with Ant maybe slightly ahead, but I don't think many fans would be happy if Ant shot 14-45 in a game.

[guest81]

Check out the following report this morning. It was only a matter of time. Ownership never should have allowed that trade in the first place.

Dallas Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison is expected to be fired Tuesday morning during a 10 a.m. CT meeting scheduled with team governor Patrick Dumont, sources told ESPN.

Harrison has been under fire from Mavericks fans since he stunningly traded Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 2, months removed from the then-25-year-old five-time first-team All-NBA selection leading the franchise to an NBA Finals appearance.

In other news:

- Cade Cunningham is quickly establishing himself as a top League MVP contender this season - perhaps the #1 contender for his now 9-2 Pistons. Last night he had 46 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks and only 2 turnovers. In my view there is a tier of top NBA players slightly above Ant. Cade Cunningham is clearly in that tier along with Jokic, SGA and Luka.

- Speaking of the Pistons, they might be the second best team in the League after OKC. They’ve built brilliantly and patiently through the draft and now their front office skill and patience are paying off.

- The Suns are surprisingly good so far this season. They’re 6-5 and Jalen Green has played only 2 games. They’re doing much better than they did a year ago with Kevin Durant when they finished 10 games below .500.

- A hearty thanks to the Magic and Hawks for defeating the Blazers and Clippers respectively. Disappointed that the Hornets couldn’t pull off an upset against the Lakers at home.

- The Wolves are obviously looking better as they beat the lesser teams they should beat - unlike last season. As a result, we’re sitting in 6th place at 7-4 3 games behind the likely uncatchable Thunder but only a game behind the 3rd place Nuggets and 4th place Lakers. We just need to keep beating the lesser teams and knock off the better teams on our home court. Our team defense seems to be improving and that’s critical.

Cade is not better than Ant. Let's be serious here

[FNG]

Cade is a different player than Ant, and I would agree not as good...yet. He's a brilliant distributor...his 9.9 assists per game is second only to Jokic. And he's a volume scorer. But he's also a terribly inefficient scorer. Unfortunately last night's record setting 31 missed shots is a recurring problem...he has a very poor effective shooting percentage of 53.8. Compare that to Ant's 65.9%! I don't know if his problem is shot selection, or if he's just not a very good shooter. He was a 40% 3-point shooter in college, so his 28.8% on high volume this season doesn't make sense. But then again I never thought a guy who only averaged 3.3 assists per game in college would be averaging triple that in the pros! He's an exciting player.

[FNG]

The Harrison firing today was inevitable, but is a reason to revisit the trade that led to his downfall. Trading Luka has been universally panned as it should be. But was it as bad as everyone makes it out to be, looking at it one year later? Dallas was 26-23 when they made the trade despite Luka missing a lot of games with his calf injury, and he was due to return in just a few days. Dallas certainly would not have been a lottery team is they hadn't made the trade, and thus would not have had a chance of getting Cooper Flagg.

So the question is this: would you rather have Luka and say the 20th pick in the draft, or AD, Flagg, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick? I still take Luka, but if you're taking a longer view, the answer isn't as clear. Flagg has had a relatively slow start, but he's only 18 and still averaging 15/7/3. And he went off for 29/9/4 last night. Max Christie is only 22, but he's making 45% of his treys and is Dallas's on/off leader. And AD is AD...he's going to give you 24 and 11 with great defense when he plays, but he can't stay healthy.

You can make a case for Dallas being pretty good next season if AD and Kyrie play. But longer term, if Flagg turns out to be what the experts predict, a lot of free agents are going to want to play next to him...and Dallas is going to have massive cap space as AD, Kyrie, and Klay retire. Put a 2 top notch free agents (a PG and a PF) next to Flagg, Christie and their 2 dominant centers, and the future looks a lot brighter for Dallas fans. Harrison had to be fired...the fans were demanding it. But I think there are going to be a lot of very good GMs who are going to want the job. This season is a disaster, but they could be in very good shape in three years.

[kekgeek]

The Harrison firing today was inevitable, but is a reason to revisit the trade that led to his downfall. Trading Luka has been universally panned as it should be. But was it as bad as everyone makes it out to be, looking at it one year later? Dallas was 26-23 when they made the trade despite Luka missing a lot of games with his calf injury, and he was due to return in just a few days. Dallas certainly would not have been a lottery team is they hadn't made the trade, and thus would not have had a chance of getting Cooper Flagg.

So the question is this: would you rather have Luka and say the 20th pick in the draft, or AD, Flagg, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick? I still take Luka, but if you're taking a longer view, the answer isn't as clear. Flagg has had a relatively slow start, but he's only 18 and still averaging 15/7/3. And he went off for 29/9/4 last night. Max Christie is only 22, but he's making 45% of his treys and is Dallas's on/off leader. And AD is AD...he's going to give you 24 and 11 with great defense when he plays, but he can't stay healthy.

You can make a case for Dallas being pretty good next season if AD and Kyrie play. But longer term, if Flagg turns out to be what the experts predict, a lot of free agents are going to want to play next to him...and Dallas is going to have massive cap space as AD, Kyrie, and Klay retire. Put a 2 top notch free agents (a PG and a PF) next to Flagg, Christie and their 2 dominant centers, and the future looks a lot brighter for Dallas fans. Harrison had to be fired...the fans were demanding it. But I think there are going to be a lot of very good GMs who are going to want the job. This season is a disaster, but they could be in very good shape in three years.

You can’t add Flagg in the deal. Yes they got lucky in the draft (possibly rigged) but you can’t put that as a part of the deal to hit a 1 and 100 shot at Flagg.

The big issue is they didn’t shop him around. The more than likely could of gotten significantly more in the trade