The NBA Thread

bettim84 said:
Ben’s good and I notice your careful phrasing (“best career so far”), but is he “clearly” better than Jaylen Brown? Sabonis? Jamal Murray? Ingram? Siakam? Brogdon? Buddy Hield?

I’ve generally been pro-Ben (he can have shades of Lebron when aggressively driving toward the rim, and is a great defensive player), but he’s a tough guy to build around. His best-case scenario is to be a Draymond Green type (DPOY and great playmaker), but Green has an intangible winning mentality that Ben seems to lack.

Again, I hope I’m not being too insensitive when I say that Ben needs some serious mental health help. He is his own worst enemy. I don’t think he can ever be a top 10 player, but he could easily be the 3rd or 4st best guy on a championship team (and should probably be paid accordingly).
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Yes. Ben is clearly a better player than all of those names you mentioned. Basketball is more than just shooting and Ben does everything else on the court at an elite level. Hes clearly a better defender, better passer, and better rebounder (Sabonis barely has him here) than all of the players you mentioned and his Vorp is over 5 points better than anyone you mentioned. Not to mention multiple guys on that list have had serious injuries they have to get back from

Did he regress offensively this year? Of course. Is he currently mentally broken? Possibly. Has he been shooting with his wrong hand his whole career? Maybe. I know his stock is at its lowest rn, but with some small fixes he still has top 10 player potential if he ever develops a shot.
 
Jeff Lerner said:
Obviously Ben's stock is extremely low right now, but he has clearly had the best career so far of anyone from that draft, especially when looking at advanced stats:

www.basketball-reference.com

2016 NBA Draft | Basketball-Reference.com

Checkout the summary for NBA 2016 Draft with Round by Round selections and more on Basketball-Reference.com
www.basketball-reference.com www.basketball-reference.com
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Yall are quickly forgetting about the Dragon...
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Melt Face Molly Drop said:
Still reeling over that Crowder pass. Like, how perfect it had to be to just miss the backboard but hover right over the rim so Ayton could comfortably grab it and avoid any lingering defenders (the Booker pick also helped with that).



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The coolest thing to me was that the play thought me that there is no rule against goal tending on an inbounds play. I love when weird quirky rules present themselves in that fashion and it’s even more exciting when it’s the deciding moment of the game.
 
Some thoughts on the ATL/MIL G1:

Scintillating performance by Trae Young. John Collins has shown up in the last few games, and G1 has continued that favorable trend. But not only has his offense been dependable, his defensive capabilities have been showcased.

However, I have seen this trend of young, upstart teams that overachieve in the postseason and are matched up against a team they surprise in the opener that far exceeds them in favorable matchups. Thusly, it is fair to believe that G1 will be the last game the Hawks win. Then again, Mike Budenholzer is not MIL's greatest strength, and they have shown repeatedly in the last series (and this game) to perform below their talent level. Some easily fixable errors can be made by the Bucks, and I fully expect MIL to attack the paint relentlessly. It would also be to their benefit to stop playing Brook Lopez in drop coverage LOL. But I also believe that they maximized the offensive output that Jrue Holiday could give them (and on great splits, too). 0/9 by Khris Middleton from deep is pathetic, and his inconsistency from these playoffs continues on its wild ride.

Seeing that MIL was outrebounded by 6 was surprising, but I suspect why that was is from MIL going smallball with Giannis at the 5 in the late game. They ended up switching everything. It may have been why Trae Young was slightly out of rhythm during a key stretch but with Lopez off the floor, they didn't have a man to box out Capela and Collins effectively.

I expect Jeff Teague's minutes to be completely eliminated; what the fuck was he doing out there?

Given that Bogdonavic is not at full strength and especially sans De'Andre Hunter, ATL lacks the collective firepower to outgun MIL on four opportunities out of seven; too much dependency from the ATL point guard. They play so freely and with absolutely no hesitation, and it will be their downfall, assuming they lose.
 
Woob_woob said:
he still has top 10 player potential if he ever develops a shot.
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Serious question--how many players actually developed a shot this late in their careers? I feel like Kidd and Nash possibly without looking at their stats...I remember Kidd wasn't a great shooter until later in his career when he had a more respectable 3pt shot. I agree with your other overall points though. Simmons is a solid player. He does seem to be in his own head now though especially to drop off so much even with his aggression for shooting near the rim.

I'd kinda love to see the Spurs get Simmons. If anybody could teach him how to shoot, it would be Chip Engelland...
 
Rip_City said:
It would also be to their benefit to stop playing Brook Lopez in drop coverage LOL.
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You'd think Bud would have learned that by now...but he refuses to adjust. It's crazy how much Bud and Ty Lue are different (just talking about coaches still left in the playoffs). Bud thinks that you should stick with what got you there every single time, no matter if it fails or not. Lue purposefully doesn't show all his cards in the regular season and adjusts like crazy. Lue might get the Clippers to the Finals. I think the Hawks might win, or at least take it to 6 games.
 
MikeH said:
Serious question--how many players actually developed a shot this late in their careers? I feel like Kidd and Nash possibly without looking at their stats...I remember Kidd wasn't a great shooter until later in his career when he had a more respectable 3pt shot. I agree with your other overall points though. Simmons is a solid player. He does seem to be in his own head now though especially to drop off so much even with his aggression for shooting near the rim.

I'd kinda love to see the Spurs get Simmons. If anybody could teach him how to shoot, it would be Chip Engelland...
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Yeah, in college they called him ason Kidd because he had no J. Stephen A was saying the Warriors might go after Simmons, not sure how I feel about that. With him and Draymond on the court together you’d have 2 non shooters.
 
MikeH said:
Serious question--how many players actually developed a shot this late in their careers? I feel like Kidd and Nash possibly without looking at their stats...I remember Kidd wasn't a great shooter until later in his career when he had a more respectable 3pt shot. I agree with your other overall points though. Simmons is a solid player. He does seem to be in his own head now though especially to drop off so much even with his aggression for shooting near the rim.

I'd kinda love to see the Spurs get Simmons. If anybody could teach him how to shoot, it would be Chip Engelland...
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Very few, and even less that built it into a weapon. I always hear how Magic couldn't shoot out of college or how Blake Griffen has developed into a decent shooter, Kidd too. Tbh I'm over thinking Simmons will ever develop a top notch shot, but I would kill for him to just be a willing shooter at the very least.
 
bettim84 said:
I’ll be rooting for his tenure to go well. It’s a bummer that Hammon can’t get any traction.
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I want her to get a legit shot somewhere too. I wonder if she takes over for Pop once he retires...I think it would be awesome for her to go to a smaller market team to avoid shitty pundits criticizing her every move.
 
bettim84 said:
I’ll be rooting for his tenure to go well.
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Ultimately, it's who Damian wanted. A former player that he could play under.
bettim84 said:
It’s a bummer that Hammon can’t get any traction.
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She's who I wanted. A qualified woman with a storied WNBA career + being an assistant coach for many years under the tutelage of the greatest NBA coach in the shot clock era? I'll take her over someone who has none to very limited coaching experience on any level.
 
Rip_City said:
She's who I wanted. A qualified woman with a storied WNBA career + being an assistant coach for many years under the tutelage of the greatest NBA coach in the shot clock era? I'll take her over someone who has none to very limited coaching experience on any level.
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Not saying this about Becky or Chauncey in particular, but assistant coaching or head coaching experience doesn't seem to make or break head coaches. It can often be more about fit and circumstances surrounding it and being set up for success. Lue didn't have a ton of head coaching experience before he became Cleveland's HC. He was assistant in LA in 2013, then became associate head coach in 2014 and became HC a year and a half later. I personally think he's a hell of a coach. On the flip side, you have had guys who have been assistant coaches for years and made awful head coaches (like Kurt Rambis). Head coaching seems more about getting guys to buy in and being on the same page with management + FO people. Having a great assistant coaching staff is super important too. Chauncey was getting rave reviews from everyone in LAC this season and I do think he could be a good coach.

I'm a Knicks fan. I'm a big Becky Hammon fan as well and when we had a coaching vacancy, as much as I wanted her to get a HC job, I was hoping the Knicks wouldn't hire her because it she wouldn't have been set up for success. I do think Becky will become the first female HC one day. And hopefully that day comes soon. She truly deserves it more than a lot of people who have been handed HC jobs like Nash.
 
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