BGleas

I actually think the Pacers could be really good this year. They are deep and have lots of skill and talent. They don't have that elite level star, but Oladipo can return to form he's close enough along with their depth to win a series and make a run in round 2. I thought running it back healthy was the right call for them, assuming Oladipo's health and willingness to play nice. The Pacers remind me of Toronto a bit with their skill and depth.

Yeah, I'm firmly against this. @Hoosierhoopster is right, this deal would make me sick. While Ainge certainly isn't against swinging for the fences, I dont think this move is something he's really interested in. He's always going to kick the tires, but you'd have to include Jaylen Brown and then the Tatum/Harden combo doesn't even remotely work in terms of their career timeliness. The thing about the KG and Ray Allen trades was that they lined up perfectly with Pierce in terms of their career arcs.

Dickie V is a clown at this point in terms of commentating. He actually seemed pained and hugely disappointed when Sarr just missed that shot for UK to win.

Steelers already clinched a playoff spot.

I think both are true. Refs seems to let the paint be a UFC match but then call every little ticky tack arm bar or hand check on the perimeter. They seem to hunt travels and hand checks, but then you can completely maul someone going to the basket and there's nothing. You can have a guy get clobbered going to the hoop and the refs call nothing, then the next possession down a guy catches the ball on the perimeter and isn't even making a move but if the defender even grazes him with his hand, they call a hand check.

Each game is basically a race each half to see who can get into the double bonus earlier.

College officiating is the worst.

There is no worse officiating than a college ref calling a charge. They literally hunt them during the game. So many horrible charge calls in college basketball.

Yeah, this basically locks in Giannis for the most money and buys Milwaukee 2-3 years to keep building around Giannis, but it doesn't really mean he'll definitely be there for the long-term.

Does the contract fit into the Celtics trade exception? I kid, I kid! For real though, I'm equal parts surprised and happy. I'm glad he's staying in Milwaukee, while their moves haven't been perfect, Milwaukee has in good faith done what they can to build a team around him to contend and I'm glad Giannis recognized and rewarded that.

I almost hope it happens.

It's unbelievable, and while Durant is far more accomplished he also doesn't handle to spotlight the best all of the time. I can see Durant completely losing his mind by mid season if Kyrie is hogging the ball and not talking to the media.

Haha, you're going to have to work really hard to convince me that the Nets are actually contenders. There's no way this ends well.

It's the right move. I still don't think he necessarily sits the remainder of the year either. You need to find a way to get his confidence and his play right before the end of the year so this isn't the major storyline all offseason. But again, I'm not defending Wentz as he's been terrible, but this season and his play is an organization wide failure, not just bad play from Wentz. They've done a terrible job of supporting him.

I think everything is on the table for the Eagles. Pederson could get fired, though I think the Super Bowl win buys him one more year, Howie Roseman could get fired, the Wentz situation could go any number of ways. I personally think Pederson has done a pretty bad job this year, and I've never been a huge, huge fan, but the SB win surely bought him some clout. The question would be who would you hire? If the Eagles aren't first in line for the top available coach, then I'd just rather keep Pederson. At least you know he's capable of winning a super bowl. But again, the Eagles have just done a really poor job of transitioning from the Super Bowl team. That quickly became an aging roster and they hung onto to these older players, at the detriment of developing young guys. Now you have Wentz surrounded by an old, injured offensive line, no offensive weapons whatsoever (really his receivers are Greg Ward, Fulgham and Jalen Reagor, two of those guys are former practice squad guys), a defense with a terrible secondary and no linebackers, etc., etc. That's all why I often think this isn't a Wentz thing, granted he's been pretty bad, but the organization has done a horrible job supporting him.

I'd also ask how does Archie handle the team from an offensive perspective? I firmly believe that schematically IU's offense is good. IU gets good, open shots under Archie. We've just struggled to make them for his time here. So, how is the team handled offensively from a coaching perspective when they miss shots? There's clearly a confidence issue with the team over the last 4 years in terms of shooting. Shooters need good form, mechanics, all of that stuff, but above everything shooters need confidence, and IU players have not seemed confident since Archie got here. Does he yell and scream at them when they miss? Has he created culture that focuses on getting to the basket so much that there is an aura of "if you take a 3, you better make it or else?" I don't know the answers to those questions, nobody on this board does. But from my experience those things matter more than any set, system, or schematic offense. I played the wing in college and I played for a coach that would lose his mind every time you missed. You could miss a clean, open 3 and running back down court you could hear him screaming at you. We had good shooters, but often weren't a great shooting team because of the atmosphere/culture our coach had created around shooting. I'm not saying Archie is doing that. I think part of it is recruiting. Archie hasn't really recruited pure shooters. He's recruited guys that can shoot, but not shooters. He's never brought in a JBJ, Hulls, Roth, Zeisloft, etc., so it could be more that. But I think it's valid to question the atmosphere/culture Archie has instilled offensively, because again schematically the offense is perfectly fine.

Never should have gone to Sacramento. I did see a tweet from a reporter that he's one of the vet guards that is generating interest from some teams.

Just caught a few minutes of a Blazers-Kings preseason game, is Yogi not with a team so far?

Thanks! I really still believe in Wentz if the Eagles can shore up the offensive line and actually get him a real wide receiver. People say Aaron Rodgers doesn't have weapons, well Wentz would kill for Devonte Adam's. His best receiver (Fulgham) is a guy who was on the Panthers practice squad. To be honest, the best case scenario IMO for the Eagles is for Hurts to be average at best, or maybe even struggle, and for Wentz to get another shot after sitting a couple games and getting a chance to breath. It sounds crazy, but the Eagles biggest problem would almost be Hurts excelling. Then what do you do with Wentz and that contract? You have $25-$30M in just dead cap space sitting on your bench? How do you field a team with that dead money just sitting there? The Eagles need Wentz to figure it out and the front office to get its act together. That's the best case.

The funny thing is that the idea that Doc used him like Ray Allen was quickly debunked with data. I can't find the tweet now, but one of the main NBA media/analytics guys had a stat about the percent PG had the ball in his hands last year or percent he had the ball in a ball screen (can't remember exactly what it was) and it was near the top of his career usage.

Uh yeah, I slam LeBron all the time. But, it's also harder to slam LeBron because he has the resume and the rings so he can get away with more stuff. But guys like PG, Harden, Kyrie, etc. get hit more when they say/do dumb things.

But it's also comical that he would say that when he's never won the MVP. He's just had so many missteps over the last few years in terms of saying things he probably shouldn't have that he's made himself an easy target.

I don't really care, I just think it's funny and kind of typical Paul George that he said "my MVP season". That isn't something that someone that has never won the MVP says.

Trying to remember when Paul George was an MVP?!?!

Here's where I'm at with Wentz. Clearly he has not played well at all this season. Frankly he's been bad, there's no way around it. With that said, the Eagles have done a horrible job of supporting him. This is an organizational failure, not a Wentz failure by itself. Howie Roseman (the Eagles GM) has done a terrible job managing the roster as the Super Bowl roster has aged out. He's stuck with the older players for nostalgia and failed to bring in quality young players to put around Wentz. He drafted JJ Arcega-Whiteside (a WR) in the 2nd round two years ago ahead of DK Metcalf and in last year's draft he took Jalen Raegor (WR) one pick ahead of Justin Jefferson. The offensive line has gotten old and injured, etc. Doug Pederson has also been bad. I don't have the exact numbers, but the Eagles rank something like top 5 in rushing efficiency but are something like 26th or 28th in rushing as a percent of their offense. Mile Sanders is near the top of the NFL in yards per attempt, yet he'll only get 10-12 rushed per game. Pederson abandons the run like it's his job. The offensive line stinks, the receivers stink, get no separation and drop a lot of passes, and Wentz is often running for his life with this line. With all of that said, again Wentz has not handled this well. When his receivers are open he often misses them, over throws them or just holds the ball too long and takes bad sacks. The bottom line again is that this is an organizational failure and Wentz has lost all confidence. The best case is probably for him to sit for a few games and hope he can see the game differently after watching. But, when being properly supported (solid and healthy offensive line, receivers that can get seperation, and creative play calling) he has and is capable of playing at an MVP level.