2017-2018 Official NBA Regular season

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

And that's obviously what they will do. The Lakers are playing for absolutely nothing in the Western Conference right now. Makes no sense to bench the #2 pick in the draft a dozen games into his career.

The **** it doesn't.

He will stall the development of every other young player on that team and in the process become so hated as a teammate that in 2 years he'll get the Russell treatment.

You cannot watch these guys play and think they're anything but miserable watching Ball mope his ass up and down the floor and the launch a brick. He isn't developing - he's getting actively worse. This isn't 'play through it' bad - it's waaaaay beyond that.

Bench him. He's hurting everyone, including himself.

Oh, and Luke, I'm not sure what Lopez did to you or your pets but Randle is pretty much getting abused by Embiid on both sides of the court. Maybe bring Brook in for a bit?

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

The **** it doesn't.

No, it actually doesn't. Sitting one of the most talented rookies in the NBA a dozen games into his career in a bunch of games that mean nothing would be the stupidest thing the Lakers could do in this scenario. It will never happen, so you might as well stop asking for it.

[tk13]

Embiid with 46/15/7 + 7 blocks. Simmons a rebound away from a triple double. Monster night.

[O.city]

Man, Embid is just fun as **** to watch. If him and Simmons stay healthy, and they can get Fultz to be a legit wing, lookout.


And Ball just can shoot. He can still turn it around but man, it's tough to expect a guy that's not elite physically to be able to get by without being able to shoot

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

Man, Embid is just fun as **** to watch. If him and Simmons stay healthy, and they can get Fultz to be a legit wing, lookout.

And Ball just can shoot. He can still turn it around but man, it's tough to expect a guy that's not elite physically to be able to get by without being able to shoot

I haven't watched Embiid play more than a couple of times, but one thing I noticed is that they let him absolutely abuse guys down low. I mean he beats the shit out of people down there. He gets into the body a ton and wasn't getting called for it. I don't typically mind that, but then he'll get some pretty quick whistles on the offensive end.

He absolutely mind-****ed Randle yesterday. I actually started to feel bad for the kid. Randle wouldn't finish drives and was trying these weird damn runners and stuff that he can't do. He was terrified of going underneath because Embiid was destroying him. Then on the other side the entire 4th quarter was just Embiid catching it at the low block, backing Randle down 2 steps and the choosing how he wanted to beat him.

Walton had two 7 footers on his bench in Lopez and Bogut (Bogut had actually played Embiid tough to that point) and instead he just left Randle out there to die.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I haven't watched Embiid play more than a couple of times, but one thing I noticed is that they let him absolutely abuse guys down low. I mean he beats the shit out of people down there. He gets into the body a ton and wasn't getting called for it. I don't typically mind that, but then he'll get some pretty quick whistles on the offensive end.

He absolutely mind-****ed Randle yesterday. I actually started to feel bad for the kid. Randle wouldn't finish drives and was trying these weird damn runners and stuff that he can't do. He was terrified of going underneath because Embiid was destroying him. Then on the other side the entire 4th quarter was just Embiid catching it at the low block, backing Randle down 2 steps and the choosing how he wanted to beat him.

Walton had two 7 footers on his bench in Lopez and Bogut (Bogut had actually played Embiid tough to that point) and instead he just left Randle out there to die.

The shaq treatment

He's just an outlier to be that big and that skilled. There are a few players that will come along that you just have to hope they have an off night in order to stop them. He could be the next one.

As some hated it, I loved watching Shaq. He was just dominant and you knew it was coming but it didn't matter.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by O.city

The shaq treatment

He's just an outlier to be that big and that skilled. There are a few players that will come along that you just have to hope they have an off night in order to stop them. He could be the next one.

As some hated it, I loved watching Shaq. He was just dominant and you knew it was coming but it didn't matter.

The difference with Shaq was that officials just swallowed their whistles on both ends. Yeah, Shaq would beat the shit out of guys on defense (especially in his younger days) but they'd also be allowed to whack the hell out of him on offense.

Embiid gets a lot of protection on the offensive side. Now by the end, Randle was just repeatedly reaching in and almost trying to get himself fouled out, but prior to the last 5 minutes or so, he was drawing a whole slew of really weak fouls. I mean for ****'s sake, the guy took 19 free throws. Maybe half of them would've been fouls had they been calling fouls the same on both sides of the court when he was involved.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by O.city

The shaq treatment

He's just an outlier to be that big and that skilled. There are a few players that will come along that you just have to hope they have an off night in order to stop them. He could be the next one.

As some hated it, I loved watching Shaq. He was just dominant and you knew it was coming but it didn't matter.

Shaq in his prime was the most dominant NBA player of all-time. Like you said not much you could do... Just hope he had an off night.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

SNR is right - you need to shut the **** up when the adults are speaking.

Hey man I took a lot of s**t for calling Ball a bust. If it turns out to be true I have a right to talk trash. It's not my fault you bought into the hype.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Shaq in his prime was the most dominant NBA player of all-time. Like you said not much you could do... Just hope he had an off night.

Hey man I took a lot of s**t for calling Ball a bust. If it turns out to be true I have a right to talk trash. It's not my fault you bought into the hype.

Your 'take' means as much as Clay's stance on Mahomes - it came directly from your ass so right or wrong means jack and shit. Nobody bats 0.000.

As for 'buying the hype' - do your homework, dipshit:

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

But why no comment on his son being athletically demolished by De'Aaron Fox? Because the slowest looking guy on the court against Kentucy was Lonzo. It wasn't necessarily because he was the slowest, but because he kept getting matched up against Fox who is friggen lightning.

And in the process it exposed the fact that Lonzo is a very smart, but athletically limited ballplayer who in fact plays a 'white' style of game. He's very much an early Steve Nash kind of player; before Nash really refined his jumper and made himself more of a shooting threat. Best case scenario would be early Jason Kidd - again, before Kidd became a good enough shooter to make you respect him.

Ball's biggest problem isn't necessarily what he sees in relation to the business/sports world, but rather what he ignores internally. He ignores where he may have ****ed up the pitch (I'm sure he did) or where he may have undermined his coaches and made his son look like a malcontent. He ignores some pretty serious flaws in Lonzo's game.

He loses his credibility not because he's always wrong, but because he's always selling you something. It always someone else's fault and he's always the cure.

I've said from the moment it was clear that the Lakers were looking at this guy that I hated the possibility of rooting for him because of his huckster bullshit artist father. I've noted he is a limited athlete and a poor shooter. I actually wanted the Lakers to trade down out of the 2 spot, keep Russell and try to stockpile assets in the move down.

The only thing I've ever said about Ball was that the Lakers had to take him if they stay at 2 because he was the best shot they had at a genuine superstar. And for that matter, he still is but he and the Lakers have got to commit to rebuilding his stroke.

The Lakers had to take the HR swing with Ball and then hope it worked out. They had to trade floor for ceiling because they have been treading water for too long. They needed to take a bold risk and hope it hit. I'm less and less convinced that it will.

But I was never certain it would.

Like I said - shut the **** up when the adults are speaking. You really have no idea what you're talking about.

[Calcountry]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Shaq in his prime was the most dominant NBA player of all-time. Like you said not much you could do... Just hope he had an off night.



Hey man I took a lot of s**t for calling Ball a bust. If it turns out to be true I have a right to talk trash. It's not my fault you bought into the hype.

I disagree. Kareem was an auto bucket from 16 ft unless you double teamed him, and then, he could pass the ball like throwing a baseball to a cutter. He won a title with the Milwaukee Bucks as well as all those Lakers teams.

Shaq couldn't hit a free throw if his life depended on it, a glaring weakness to his game. If he could have shot even 65% from the stripe, he may very well have been the most dominant of all time. I wish he would have taken up Rick Barry's offer to learn the underhanded FT toss.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by O.city

Man, Embid is just fun as **** to watch. If him and Simmons stay healthy, and they can get Fultz to be a legit wing, lookout.


And Ball just can shoot. He can still turn it around but man, it's tough to expect a guy that's not elite physically to be able to get by without being able to shoot

Still not sure why they didn't simply keep the pick and draft Tatum. He'd have been perfect for that team.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Still not sure why they didn't simply keep the pick and draft Tatum. He'd have been perfect for that team.

I dunno - perfect would've been a healthy Fultz. But he wasn't healthy. They're so strong in the frontcourt and Robert Covington is such a perfect fit for them with Simmon's shooting issues that what they really needed was a perimeter player who could stretch the defense.

Then again, by playing Simmons at point, they could've tried Covington as a stretch 4 and put Tatum in as a 3 with Redick at the 2. I just think they wanted to get a little more athleticism on the perimeter and a healthy Fultz was just such a dynamic player.

I understand why they did it; if Fultz is who they thought he was, I think they're better than they are with Tatum. The spacing is a little better with Fultz back there and Simmons as more of a point forward. But Fultz just isn't healthy and there are enough whispers that you wonder if there isn't some long-term damage in that shoulder of his.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I dunno - perfect would've been a healthy Fultz. But he wasn't healthy. They're so strong in the frontcourt and Robert Covington is such a perfect fit for them with Simmon's shooting issues that what they really needed was a perimeter player who could stretch the defense.

Then again, by playing Simmons at point, they could've tried Covington as a stretch 4 and put Tatum in as a 3 with Redick at the 2. I just think they wanted to get a little more athleticism on the perimeter and a healthy Fultz was just such a dynamic player.

I understand why they did it; if Fultz is who they thought he was, I think they're better than they are with Tatum. The spacing is a little better with Fultz back there and Simmons as more of a point forward. But Fultz just isn't healthy and there are enough whispers that you wonder if there isn't some long-term damage in that shoulder of his.

Simmons, AFAIK, was always slated for the 1. Tatum would have been fine at the 3, with Redick at the 2 (at least for this season). With Embiid at the 5, I'm not sure it matters who is at the 4 at that point.

[mcaj22]

Originally Posted by Pitt Gorilla

Simmons, AFAIK, was always slated for the 1. Tatum would have been fine at the 3, with Redick at the 2 (at least for this season). With Embiid at the 5, I'm not sure it matters who is at the 4 at that point.

They have RoCo who they just extended. A 3 like Tatum was never in consideration. They needed a PG and a SG, which is why they will go after Avery Bradley next offseason.

Simmons slides to the 4 on defense.

[O.city]

Also, think how good the 6ers would be had they taken Tatum instead of Fultz