FW_Hoosier

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28450077/john-beilein-apologizes-cavs-says-meant-call-players-slugs-not-thugs Wonder if Beilein will be looking for a soft landing spot in the college game this year?

Didn’t Romeo have a bunch of injuries when he was high school as well? IIRC, that wrist injury happened at some point during his high school career, and UK fell out of the picture in his recruitment when he had a back(?) injury during some foreign tour with Cal for Team USA.

They would definitely get beat by the Clippers and probably the Lakers, but I would take a healthy Warriors team with Steph, Klay, Draymond, and a top-5 pick forward over the Rockets, Trailblazers, Nuggets, and Jazz every time. Those teams are pretenders.

Tbh, comparing Parker to Beasley might be an insult to Beasley.

Damon Bailey.

Ironic that he would probably end up the highest ranked recruit in the class if he commits.

Aren’t you banned?

After taking a look at that blogger’s profile, I don’t think he’s THAT Damon Bailey.

This post made me curious... Of the 14 players who averaged more than 10 mpg on our last two conference championship teams, only 6 were consensus top 100 recruits (Watford, Zeller, Ferrell, Williams, Johnson, Bryant). This isn’t including Blackmon, who didn’t play for most of the 2015-2016 season — even including him, you get 7 out of 15. Interesting.

For sure, he has to keep recruiting. But getting strung along by our top targets while we toss out a bunch of offers to “diamonds in the rough” seems like a movie we’ve seen before.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m kind of getting Crean flashbacks with our approach to this 2020 class.

Clippers should be #1 by a landslide.

Eh, I think that’s a little overblown. I’m definitely not a big Westbrook fan, and you obviously can’t win a title with him as your best player, but he’s still an elite scorer/playmaker. And yeah, Jimmy is a tool, but he came to the Sixers halfway through the season and they came pretty close to knocking off the champs in the second round. They’re probably the two most competitive players in the game, so I think they’d respect each other. If I was building a team, I definitely wouldn’t choose to build it around Butler and Westbrook, but now that the Heat have already signed Butler, I think it makes sense. Who else are the Heat going to get to pair with Butler that will give them a chance to advance in the playoffs?

So I was debating this with some friends today. Does trading for Westbrook (at the right price of course) make sense for the Heat? My friends acted like I was crazy for thinking so. I get it... 4 years $170M left on his contract, shot terribly last year (.428/.290/.656... gross), etc., etc. But the way I look at it, why not? The Heat have already pushed all their chips in on winning now by signing Butler to his own massive contract, which will hurt the value of their first round picks. They don’t have their 2021 or 2023 draft picks, depending on their draft position. They’re pretty much capped out for the next three seasons. Why not trade Dragic, Winslow, some other scrub, and a protected first rounder for Westbrook? (Depending on the market, they might even be able to get a better deal than that). Westbrook is still a top 15-20 player at worst for the next two seasons, and I think they’re a top 4 team in the East with him and Butler. Sure, they won’t win a title, but they’ll be fighting just to make the playoffs over the entire course of Butler’s contract with the roster as it currently stands. I think it makes sense.

The interesting thing to me about the Sixers now is just how huge their starting lineup will be. They’re going to start Simmons (6’10), Richardson (6’6), Harris (6’9), Horford (6’10), and Embiid (7’0). That is just an absolutely massive lineup. The lack of shooting and depth will be a problem, but they will be pretty scary on defense.

Translation: “I am getting absolutely destroyed by facts and logic, so ‘agree to disagree’ is the only response I can come up with.”

Saw that he didn’t play... That sucks. I really think his game can translate.

Holy ****. That had to be the craziest day in NBA offseason history. How can anyone say the NBA isn’t entertaining? I was glued to my phone today checking the updates. And today showed that saying “small market teams can’t compete in the NBA” is just dumb. The Pacers had a very solid offseason, getting comparable/better talent than what they lost. Utah just put themselves into the discussion as the best team in the West, and New Orleans is going to be better than they were with AD, with a ton of assets to boot. Milwaukee managed to keep its roster mostly intact. Any team in the NBA can win a championship if it’s competently managed.

Lol, you think I’m joking, but I’m really not. Griffin played Pelinka, and unless there’s something I’m missing, they’re not going to be able to clear enough cap space to sign another max free agent. I don’t even know which second tier FAs they’re going to be able to get.

Nope. Lakers brass too stupid to understand how the salary cap works.

The other issue is that they’re just not going to have the money to add a player like Kawhi — it’s looking like they’re only going have about $24M in cap space, while the truly elite players command around $32M-$35M per year. No superstar is gonna take a $10M haircut to play second fiddle to LeBron.

Not to single you out here, but I’m kind of confused on why Barrett seems to be getting short shrift compared to Zion and Morant (although I obviously think Zion is the better prospect). The kid averaged 22-7-4... According to ESPN, that’s never been done by a freshman in college basketball history. He’s exactly the kind of scoring wing who can switch 1-4 on defense that is the most valuable position in the league these days. Think of the best point guards in the league right now, then think of the best wings. Who would you rather build your team around? I’m surprised Barrett isn’t getting more consideration at #2.

Obviously would’ve been a much different series without the injuries, but no one should be feeling too bad for Golden State. Their dynasty started with injuries to Kyrie and Love, and it may be ending with injuries to KD and Klay. Nature of the game. Really entertaining series, always cool to see a franchise win its first ‘ship.

I’ve given this some thought as the playoffs have progressed, and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the Warriors are definitely better on offense without Durant, as he just kills their offensive flow and ball movement... But now I’m not sure they’re better overall, because they definitely miss his presence on defense. He’s really their only rim protector, and he can guard on the perimeter as well. Siakam never would have gone off like he did in Game 1 if they had Durant.

He was active tonight, just didn’t play. Hopefully he’ll be able to get on the court in Game 3. Who’s the last IU player to play in the NBA Finals?