Around the League: Week 9 2/15-2/21

[Indy]

Cuban loves some White Basketball.

[bajanguy008]

Don't dunk on Valanciunas -

How about don't straddle him?

I did think the yung fella got a lil carried away but Yikes

[Superbone]

Jazz are for real. Beat the Clippers in LA tonight.

[pickle]

The Jazz are for real for sure, but the Clips also played without Kawhi and PG13, and if I'm not mistaken Batum and Beverley as well...

[Superbone]

The Jazz are for real for sure, but the Clips also played without Kawhi and PG13, and if I'm not mistaken Batum and Beverley as well...

I wasn’t aware of that. Not as impressive then. But, unlike our Suns, they haven’t had any letdowns. Something to learn from.

[Nodack]

Lessons learned only last a couple of games before fading away...

[Mori Chu]

The Jazz are for real for sure, but the Clips also played without Kawhi and PG13, and if I'm not mistaken Batum and Beverley as well...

Wait, you are allowed to still beat a team that is missing two of its best players?

[bajanguy008]

[bajanguy008]

Nuggets lost to the Wiz and been struggling more than I realized
Blazers win streak up to 6 after beating Pelicans. Dame continues to be ridiculous

[Superbone]

Nuggets lost to the Wiz and been struggling more than I realized
Blazers win streak up to 6 after beating Pelicans. Dame continues to be ridiculous

They call it Dame time for a reason.

[Indy]

Which team's jersey is this?

[bajanguy008]

Which team's jersey is this?

NAZ Suns

[bajanguy008]

[pickle]

The Jazz are for real for sure, but the Clips also played without Kawhi and PG13, and if I'm not mistaken Batum and Beverley as well...

Wait, you are allowed to still beat a team that is missing two of its best players?

Wait, you are allowed to still post about a team missing two of its best players?

[Split T]

Booker was 4th in player voting for guards...only Curry/Luka/Dame ahead of him.

I’m really curious to see how the coaches vote. I’m gonna assume Dame and Donovan take 2 reserve guard spots(PG, Zion, and Rudy in the front court) That leaves 2 wild card spots...Do we think CP3 and Book get those? SGA is the one who might deserve a spot over Book...but coaches usually vote for winners and suns being 5th helps.

There is a chance AD still gets voted in, even though he almost surely won’t play. In that case, Zion could steal a wild card spot from a guard. Would they then replace AD with another front court guy?

Ultimately I think CP3 has a better case than Book, but I actually think there is a decent chance both make it.

[bajanguy008]

Bad News - We should have knocked a lil shine of this stat
Good News - Lakers got romped

[Split T]

The Nets are gonna be a problem. I think they win the east and are legit title contenders

[ShelC]

Hard to see many teams matching up offensively. Defensively they still have issues to work out and it'll be a matter of getting the Big 3 to really buy in and focus on defense. The role players are better defenders because they have to be but will lose PT once KD and Kyrie come back. I could see the Bucks giving them a run for their money.

[ShelC]

Don't have access to The Athletic but I've been wondering the same about Drummond. He puts up gaudy stats but anyone who's watched him knows he's not a great defender and tends to drift in and out of games. He's a liability at the FT line and doesn't have offense outside of maybe 4-6 ft, which hurts in today's game. Can he match up with smaller, face up, 3pt shooting bigs in the playoffs? Interested to see where he lands and how he's used if he goes to a playoff team or legit contender. He's played on 1 winning team his entire career but does the label change if he makes an impact on a playoff team?

Guys get labeled all the time - Book was an empty stats guy, through no fault of his own, until recently. Dirk and Pau were soft, jump shooting Euros who you couldn't win with until they won their titles. KG wasn't clutch and always passed the ball off in Minny until he went to Boston and became a champion and such a "warrior". Drum might just be a super high end role playing big who needs better players around him. If he goes to a team like Toronto and has Lowry, VanVleet and Siakam he probably looks a lot better.

[Split T]

Hard to see many teams matching up offensively. Defensively they still have issues to work out and it'll be a matter of getting the Big 3 to really buy in and focus on defense. The role players are better defenders because they have to be but will lose PT once KD and Kyrie come back. I could see the Bucks giving them a run for their money.

Their offense is so potent, they just have to play a little defense. I honestly think their lack of defense helped them beat us. They played almost zero defense in the first half, which I think led to us getting complacent, thinking we could score whenever we wanted. They starting playing just a little defense in the 2nd half and our offense struggled to get going again. They’ll never be a good defensive team, but if they learn when to turn it on for a few minutes, it’ll be enough.