2017-2018 Official NBA Regular season

[DJ's left nut]

Tip your cap there - great contested shot by Lillard for the W.

Ball was hot garbage for the third straight game. Time to start bringing him off the bench, IMO. He's lost so much confidence in his shot that he'll pass on open looks and they're effectively playing 4 on 5.

Kuzma, OTOH, is some defensive development away from being a potential all-star. That kid can play.

Ingram and Ball killed the Lakers tonight.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Tip your cap there - great contested shot by Lillard for the W.

Ball was hot garbage for the third straight game. Time to start bringing him off the bench, IMO. He's lost so much confidence in his shot that he'll pass on open looks and they're effectively playing 4 on 5.

Kuzma, OTOH, is some defensive development away from being a potential all-star. That kid can play.

Ingram and Ball killed the Lakers tonight.

Ball sucks. Like I said he is more than likely going to be a bust.

He is extremely young so he has that going for him but the kid has bust written all over him. He has so many weaknesses he needs to work on I'm not sure he'll ever be any good. Depends on his work ethic.. At the end of the day I don't see it happening... Lakers bought into the hype because of his loudmouth father and it is going to cost them.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Ball sucks. Like I said he is more than likely going to be a bust.

He is extremely young so he has that going for him but the kid has bust written all over him. He has so many weaknesses he needs to work on I'm not sure he'll ever be any good. Depends on his work ethic.. At the end of the day I don't see it happening... Lakers bought into the hype because of his loudmouth father and it is going to cost them.

I think he'll play for a long time but he'll be more akin to Brevin Knight than a true superstar like Kidd.

He doesn't have THAT many weaknesses; his lack of lateral quickness is compensated for on defense by his length and general intelligence; he's a pretty sound defender though not a true lock-down guy. His handles are good but his first step off the dribble won't allow him to be truly explosive going to the rack. At the same time, he sees every seam that opens and is pretty slippery getting into the paint - he can be an asset going to the rack.

But that shot is just so damn bad that he's no threat at all to put it up. So guys play off him and he can't find those lanes to drive. The shot undermines everything he tries to do out there. If he fixes that one thing, his ceiling goes up tenfold but the odds of him completely rebuilding a shot at the NBA level are just damn remote.

[staylor26]

Just checking in to say as a Bulls fan I’m really excited about Markkanen.

Dude is a ****ing unicorn.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by staylor26

Just checking in to say as a Bulls fan I’m really excited about Markkanen.

Dude is a ****ing unicorn.

Not quite. He's not an exceptional athlete but he's game on the defensive end and he's long enough to be at least okay in that regard. Anthony Davis is a unicorn. Or Karl Anthony Towns. But to me, those guys need to have the athletic tools to do literally anything and excel anywhere. I don't see that in Markannen. Additionally, Markannen isn't really much of a passer so I don't see him leading a break or being a primary ballhandler any time soon (whereas Town and Davis could absolutely do that).

But he's a hell of a shooter. And there are worse things to be than a shorter Kristaps.

If Markkanen is a 'unicorn' then the term has been watered down enough to mean very little. There are more than a dozen of your supposedly mythical creatures at that point.

But he's a much better player than I figured he'd be, I'll grant you. I didn't see him being able to get his shot off the dribble as easily and successfully as he does. I kinda saw a rich man's Raef LaFrentz; a taller spot-up shooter with defensive limitations and a relative indifference to rebounding. He's definitely better than that.

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Not quite. He's not an exceptional athlete but he's game on the defensive end and he's long enough to be at least okay in that regard. Anthony Davis is a unicorn. Or Karl Anthony Towns. But to me, those guys need to have the athletic tools to do literally anything and excel anywhere. I don't see that in Markannen. Additionally, Markannen isn't really much of a passer so I don't see him leading a break or being a primary ballhandler any time soon (whereas Town and Davis could absolutely do that).

But he's a hell of a shooter. And there are worse things to be than a shorter Kristaps.

If Markkanen is a 'unicorn' then the term has been watered down enough to mean very little. There are more than a dozen of your supposedly mythical creatures at that point.

But he's a much better player than I figured he'd be, I'll grant you. I didn't see him being able to get his shot off the dribble as easily and successfully as he does. I kinda saw a rich man's Raef LaFrentz; a taller spot-up shooter with defensive limitations and a relative indifference to rebounding. He's definitely better than that.

I might be overrating him a bit, but he makes that Butler trade look a lot better than it originally did. If Lavine can get/stay healthy, and we get a top 3 pick, we might just have something there.

[RealSNR]

Originally Posted by staylor26

I might be overrating him a bit, but he makes that Butler trade look a lot better than it originally did. If Lavine can get/stay healthy, and we get a top 3 pick, we might just have something there.

I haven't been paying attention to the Bulls very much. How has Kris Dunn been? Is he still a shittier version of Ricky Rubio or has he become something more substantial?

[staylor26]

Originally Posted by RealSNR

I haven't been paying attention to the Bulls very much. How has Kris Dunn been? Is he still a shittier version of Ricky Rubio or has he become something more substantial?

Pretty much. He hasn’t played a whole lot yet, but I haven’t been overly impressed.

[DJ's left nut]

I saw Dunn dunk somebody to the center of the earth a couple of days ago. Two handed stuff right on some big doofy seven foot white guy's head.

There's nothing more entertaining than seeing a 2 guard steal some scrawny white dude's soul. You shouldn't be in the NBA just because you're tall. You just know that guy played for Creighton or Gonzaga or Butler or something.

[dirk digler]

Lebron wants to stop this 4 game losing streak and he is doing it all himself. He has played almost the whole game and has 49 pts and 10 boards so far. Up 9 with 3 minutes left

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

Lebron wants to stop this 4 game losing streak and he is doing it all himself. He has played almost the whole game and has 49 pts and 10 boards so far. Up 9 with 3 minutes left

57-11-6-3-2 now. I wonder why he decided to try tonight. Maybe Beal's comments about Washington being the best in the East.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

57-11-6-3-2 now. I wonder why he decided to try tonight. Maybe Beal's comments about Washington being the best in the East.

That and he didn’t want to match his longest losing streak of his career. But if he can play 42 minutes and get 60 every night the Cavs might be ok.

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

That and he didn’t want to match his longest losing streak of his career. But if he can play 42 minutes and get 60 every night the Cavs might be ok.

Waiting for KC_Connections epic meltdown/LeBron excuses come when they are eliminated in the finals..

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by dirk digler

That and he didn’t want to match his longest losing streak of his career. But if he can play 42 minutes and get 60 every night the Cavs might be ok.

Depends on how you define OK. It remains obvious that LeBron can toy with any of these East teams at any time. Whether he chooses to wait to do that just in the playoffs is something else entirely.

They are still going to get destroyed by the Warriors in the finals, though.

[dirk digler]

What a dominating game Lebron played tonight for the win, 57 pts and 11 rebounds