Around the League Week 8 (12/6 - 12/12)

[JeremyG]

Could Sabonis be the PF we've needed?

Whose minutes does he take? Crowder? Johnson? McGee? I’m not opposed to getting him, but at what cost?

Sabonis for Crowder, Johnson, and Hutchison plus draft picks works. Perhaps we could involve a third team if they want more. And his contract is great for his production--he only makes $19M/year. And he definitely takes care of our rebounding/size issues.

That’s not enough. Sabonis is a 25 year old all star on a great deal. We’re talking Bridges/filler and picks at a minimum.

It's probably not enough, but I would at least try. A third team might take Crowder and provide an extra first round pick. I wouldn't give up Bridges or Ayton.

I wonder if Crowder/Johnson/picks would be enough to get Christian Wood. James Jones was just talking during the broadcast last night about how we need better defensive rebounding.

[pickle]

Sabonis is a center and he cannot play the 4 alongside Ayton. Unless we want to indulge Ayton’s dreams of playing the 4 in the NBA, which opens up a new can of worms while fixing the rebounding issue. I like the Wood option a little better but honestly consider Cam J to be untouchable given this year’s contention and him being the only youngish player on a rookie scale for us. Wood is solid and can squeeze in as the 4 but I don’t know if he offers particularly plus defense and he is most effective as the 5 as well. If we are to upgrade I’d still prefer to just use Saric’s contract and picks. This ties into what we were talking about in the other thread on missing picks. If we hadn’t whiffed on Stix we’d have someone that we can send out as a first rounder equivalent right now.

And yes the prospects of Turner on the Warriors concerns me greatly. Hope the Celtics or Hornets pounce.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Christian Wood is a losing player. He only statistically performs well on bad teams where he's allowed to freelance.

The exchange of Crowder and Johnson alone for Wood would be a massive downgrade for the Suns in leadership and team play. There's no chance James Jones, Monty, Paul or Booker would be OK with that deal.

[pickle]

I agree with that. Start of last year I wanted Wood and was very disappointed that we got Crowder. Since then I’ve come around.

I don’t know if Wood is necessarily destined to be a losing player since he apparently had some maturity issues and really only started performing better that half season in Detroit but he certainly has not had a track record of helping teams win.

Best I’ll do is Saric Stix and some draft compensation for him. Won’t move any of our core rotation.

[pickle]

Apparently Doncic reported to camp at 260 lbs, and Zion recently weighed in at 330... from Lowe's latest podcast.

[LazarusLong]

Apparently Doncic reported to camp at 260 lbs, and Zion recently weighed in at 330... from Lowe's latest podcast.

Doncic will work the weight off ... he plays around 235 or so.
But some of his injuries are no doubt caused by his lack of training rigor.

Zion is a bigger problem (pun intended).
Barkley showed a video on TNT of Williamson working out and joked, "Look like me and Shaq had a baby ...!"

Levity aside, that much weight adds mileage/wear and tear to feet, ankles and knees.
Barkley, when he was a rookie, reported to training camp weighing over 290.
Moses Malone called him out, and Barkley got it together, eventually spending most of his career playing around 250-255.

Zion should consider the wasted/limited careers of Oliver Miller, Kevin Duckworth and John (Hot Plate) Williams.

[pickle]

For Doncic, if I’m a Mavs fan/team personnel, I’d be disappointed in Doncic’s lack of commitment to his body. He has the talent to be one of the greatest and that whole team is built around him…

Zion I’m not sure how to read. His body might just be built in a way that will break down early. Apparently last year he was at 280 and played at 8% body fat. With a foot injury it might be difficult to get the conditioning necessary to keep the weight off?

[pickle]

McCollum has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. Any idea what that means in terms of recovery time?

[Split T]

McCollum has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. Any idea what that means in terms of recovery time?

A pneumothorax(collapsed lung) should heal rather quickly. It may not even require any interventions, depending on the severity. I would guess he’s out week(s), not looking at months here.

[LazarusLong]

For Doncic, if I’m a Mavs fan/team personnel, I’d be disappointed in Doncic’s lack of commitment to his body. He has the talent to be one of the greatest and that whole team is built around him…

Zion I’m not sure how to read. His body might just be built in a way that will break down early. Apparently last year he was at 280 and played at 8% body fat. With a foot injury it might be difficult to get the conditioning necessary to keep the weight off?

He can swim, he can ride an exercycle. He can also push away from the buffet ...

[pickle]

McCollum has been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. Any idea what that means in terms of recovery time?

A pneumothorax(collapsed lung) should heal rather quickly. It may not even require any interventions, depending on the severity. I would guess he’s out week(s), not looking at months here.

I'm just wondering what that might mean for the potential Simmons swap. Watching with interest.

[pickle]

For Doncic, if I’m a Mavs fan/team personnel, I’d be disappointed in Doncic’s lack of commitment to his body. He has the talent to be one of the greatest and that whole team is built around him…

Zion I’m not sure how to read. His body might just be built in a way that will break down early. Apparently last year he was at 280 and played at 8% body fat. With a foot injury it might be difficult to get the conditioning necessary to keep the weight off?

He can swim, he can ride an exercycle. He can also push away from the buffet ...

That's quite true. He's obviously not as dedicated to his health as he can be... and I'd be really worried if I were a Pelicans fan. Luckily other than applauding how Griffin handled that AD trade I have no feelings for that team whatsoever.

[AmareIsGod]

Apparently Doncic reported to camp at 260 lbs, and Zion recently weighed in at 330... from Lowe's latest podcast.

Doncic will work the weight off ... he plays around 235 or so.
But some of his injuries are no doubt caused by his lack of training rigor.

Zion is a bigger problem (pun intended).
Barkley showed a video on TNT of Williamson working out and joked, "Look like me and Shaq had a baby ...!"

Levity aside, that much weight adds mileage/wear and tear to feet, ankles and knees.
Barkley, when he was a rookie, reported to training camp weighing over 290.
Moses Malone called him out, and Barkley got it together, eventually spending most of his career playing around 250-255.

Zion should consider the wasted/limited careers of Oliver Miller, Kevin Duckworth and John (Hot Plate) Williams.

I've been preaching this since before the day he was drafted. Zion will never have the build to be able to play prolonged basketball in the NBA at any sort of high level. I tell this to people here and everywhere that want to argue him over Ayton. Hell no.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Apparently Doncic reported to camp at 260 lbs, and Zion recently weighed in at 330... from Lowe's latest podcast.

Doncic will work the weight off ... he plays around 235 or so.
But some of his injuries are no doubt caused by his lack of training rigor.

Zion is a bigger problem (pun intended).
Barkley showed a video on TNT of Williamson working out and joked, "Look like me and Shaq had a baby ...!"

Levity aside, that much weight adds mileage/wear and tear to feet, ankles and knees.
Barkley, when he was a rookie, reported to training camp weighing over 290.
Moses Malone called him out, and Barkley got it together, eventually spending most of his career playing around 250-255.

Zion should consider the wasted/limited careers of Oliver Miller, Kevin Duckworth and John (Hot Plate) Williams.

Hot plate Williams had the talent to play all 5 positions, or so I think I remember reading.

[ShelC]

Good article here on Turner, Sabonis and the Pacers

[ShelC]

[Indy]

Didn't he also say that the Woj article was basically a hit piece by woj and olshey?

[Shabazz]

Look at this list. So many good rookies this year.

[In2ition]

I will add that Josh Christopher was 7-7 from the field, and 4-4 from 3 last night, which was also his birthday.

[bajanguy008]

This is an instant classic like Russ taking 3-4 steps before dribbling couple seasons back
Smh