BGleas

Seems like a really strong pickup! I really like what Archie is doing in terms of roster. I think you need two guys like Kaufman and Muhammad to make it take off, but the makeup is there for really strong teams. There's just a really nice mix of presumably 4-year guys (Franklin, Leal, Galloway, etc.), a couple lower rated guys with huge upside (like Geronimo), and then more immediate "star" guys with Lander and then hopefully adding Kaufman and Muhammad. That's a solid mix of guys that bring star power mixed with foundational, 4-year guys to survive and still be competitive if some of those stars leave sooner than anticipated.

You need to stop focusing on Oladipo as a comparison and let Geronimo become who he is. The day he steps foot on campus he's about the 3rd or 4th highest recruit on the roster, though that's probably an entire other issue. There isn't a player on the roster that doesn't have a bunch of stuff to work on, including TJD. Geronimo arrives on day one with next level length and athleticism. Will that develop the way of guys like Oladipo, Troy Williams and OG, or a guy like Hanner Perea? We don't know, but I'd lean to the former based on what we've heard about Geronimo's work ethic and dedication. But again, every guy on the team needs to improve and has holes in their game, so why single this one out?

Romeo just had a sweet dunk on some dude on the Nets. I’m sure a highlight will go around on Twitter.

Gotcha. At the end of the day, IMO, the biggest issue is talent. That doesn't mean I'm obsolving Archie, especially as he's responsible for the talent. I also think this team is better than how it's performed and that falls on Archie, as well as his inability to get the team to play hard consistently. But realistically, most of the guys on the current team are not guys that would be playing featured roles on really good, legit Big Ten contending teams.

To an extent, though beyond his own skill, part of what made Vinnie Johnson so good was that he played behind guys like IT and Joe Dumars. That goes back to my point. Beyond the X's and O's, substitutions, strategy, etc., IU needs more talent. Devonte Green would be a fine player behind a backcourt with two studs leading the way. When he gets hot your elite, when he's not hot you're still damn good. That's not the case right now, IU needs Green to be an offensive leader, he can do that from time to time, but he's not good enough to carry a team over a long stretch, certainly not a season.

And therein lies the problem with IU basketball right now. I like Green and I don't mean this as a shot at him, it's not his fault, but if Devonte Green is your best offensive weapon your team is not good. Devonte Green is a role player that can get hot, but at this level, if Devonte Green is your best offensive weapon that's a problem.

I would recommend everyone fighting the urge to put people into boxes based on some posts. Yeah, I think the admin is a hot mess. I think IU ‘s admin holds a lot of responsibility for where IU basketball is right now, and I also believe they do handcuff the staff to a large extent. I also think a coach should probably get 4 years/a full recruiting cycle. With that said, think it’s ridiculous to go 3 years at IU without making the tournament. I also don’t think Glass is dictating playing time. It’s Archie’s problem that he can’t infuse his personality into the team. It’s Archie’s problem that in three years this team still doesn’t play hard and doesn’t have an identity. It’s on Archie that there’s little movement on offense and that he’s been so married to the big lineup, etc., etc. It can all be true. The admin is terrible, Archie could probably be much more successful with a real admin with full support, but he should also be doing better than he is even with the circumstances. Painting posters, or even the board in general, into a box isn’t really productive. I don’t mean to really address this specifically to you and I hope it doesn’t come off that I’m going at you. I love your participation on this board and respect your opinions, I just used your post as a jumping off point as I’ve felt this happening by various people the board during this ‘admin vs. Archie’ thing.

It was good to see. He was really active defensively. Offensively, his role was basically to stand in the corner while Tatum, Brown and Hayward did their thing. Not fun, but can you really blame the Celtics? Those guys are playing at such a high level. But, in general Celtics fans seem pretty optimistic on Langford. He's played hard and really good defense when he's gotten in. Similar to IU, he's finishing well in traffic. Fans love his defensive intensity and there is a feeling that getting Langford comfortable and in the flow could actually be the Celtics big pickup for the second half, as opposed to having made a trade.

I don't know, that seems like a stretch given that Nunn was in college for 4 years. I could buy this position if we were talking about Darius Bazley who skipped college to workout and then went into the draft, but we're talking about a guy that was in college for 4 years, right?

I don't understand what is unconventional about his path? He's not the first guy to go to a Power 5 school, transfer to a mid-major to finish his college career and then make the NBA?

Agree. He has a little bit of 'diva wide receiver' in him, where when you first acquire him the honeymoon is great. For the first year your team and fans love him. But, once that honeymoon ends it can get ugly fast. We'll see how he holds up in Miami.

The dude is claiming he should be an all-star, yet hasn't been on the floor for a win since before the Thanksgiving. I know his team isn't great, but they're considerably worse defensively, and it's not even close, with him than without.

I don’t know, Minnesota has been to the playoffs once in 14 years. It was the one year they had Jimmy Butler. Everywhere he’s gone has gotten better with him and worse when he left. I’m not huge Jimmy Butler fan, but KAT is absolutely the problem there.

My takeaway is that Jimmy Butler was exactly right in everything he said about Minny and KAT. KAT needs to grow up and do it quick. He’s so bad defensively that Minnesota hasn’t won a game that he’s played in since November. KAT has lost over 16 games in a row.

Haha, Morey used to be one of my bosses. He used to play pickup bball with us over lunch. He's a good guy, but a terrible bball player. Really bad. His title was something like SVP of Technology. I'll never forget receiving the internal email from our head of HR that he'd been hired as GM of the Rockets. Again, incredibly smart, nice guy, but this was just at the early stages of analytics in bball, so when we got the email all the staff was like, "GM? huh?!?!".

You’re welcome! So glad they had a good time, and of course that they saw a Celtics win!

I would caution on expecting Knight’s return to Assembly Hall having any impact in the short term. It could have impact on this one game, though I’m not even sure of that, but I’d expect any impact to be more of a longer term one (in terms of the healing it can bring), if any.

That is also one of my concerns currently. Granted, it's still early in Archie's tenure and I'm sure UVA fans had doubts when Bennett was losing 16 games two years in a row, but I thought one change that would happen quicker would be the mentality of the team. I know Archie can't turn Al Durham and Devonte Green into Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy, nobody can, but I thought the team adopting Archie's mentality and culture would be a more immediate thing. I thought by this time IU would be like an old Bo Ryan Wisconsin team, an Izzo MSU team or UVA team where even in the years the talent is quite there, you still want no part in playing them because you know it's going to be a dogfight. I thought that was what we were getting but it flat-out hasn't happened yet. I know sometimes these things take time (again, Bennett took 4 years to really get rolling) but I thought this aspect would be more immediate.

One thing to note on that, and it's certainly not the biggest deal in the world, the more important part is playing the game in your arena with your sitelines, etc., but just to note that when the Lakers and Clippers play each other the visiting team cannot use their locker rooms, coaches rooms, etc. They have to use the visiting locker rooms and operate as if they're a true visiting team.

You could argue that he's the most influential person in basketball since Dr. James Naismith. I'm not saying that's absolutely true, but an argument can be made. RIP Commissioner Stern

Romeo getting some good love from Celtics twitter. He played 23 minutes and had 8 points, including 2-for-3 from 3. He was also really solid on defense, even getting subbed in for a defensive possession at the end of the first half.

I don't think Toronto wins with PG in place of Kahwi. Simply an opinion, but I just don't. Part of it is that I think Kawhi is a tick better than PG, and the other part is that Kawhi brought a mentality and confidence to Toronto. Kawhi has gone toe-to-toe with LeBron, in LeBron's prime, in the Finals and outplayed him. There's a swagger that comes with that, a confidence, etc. PG doesn't have that yet.

Agree. Or even another way is that I would take this Clippers team to beat OKC if both PG and Westbrook had stayed in OKC. Same as you, PG is absolutely a great player, multi-time all-star, top 10 guys. I just view the top 3 (LeBron, Durant before his injury and Kawhi as a level above everyone else). Those three guys, when healthy, are the top 3, and then there's a small drop-off to Curry, and then another small drop-off to the rest of the top 10 (guys like PG, Harden, Davis, etc.). The one guy I'm not sure where he fits yet is Giannis. I haven't seen enough of him in high level playoff situations to know where he lands.

Always a good discussion! Again, it’s all opinion. But, I’ve had Kawhi in the upper tier for several years, not just post-Toronto. I’ve always thought he was in that LeBron and Durant group, a level above guys like PG, Harden, Westbrook, etc. As far as Curry, I’ve just always appreciated his game more than some others. Yes, he needed Klay, but I don’t think that the discussion has ever been that the top guys don’t need a second fiddle. Yes, Curry needed Klay. LeBron needed Wade and Kyrie. Jordan needed Pippen, etc., etc. But, those teams were built around Curry, LeBron and Jordan.

Oh, it’s absolutely just my opinion. I didn’t present it as a fact. I’m also not ignoring what PG did last year. I know what he did, but even while it was happening I never seriously considered OKC a championship contender, and that is really the point. Guys I think you can build around to win a title? LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Curry, Davis. That might be it. I mean as the clear #1. Giannis might be added soon. Like I said, you can definitely win a title with PG. Heck, you put PG on the Lakers and they’re probably still the title favorite. You put PG with Kawhi and they’re a title favorite It’s semantics, sure. But yes, I do think there are only a handful of guys that can carry a team to a title. That doesn’t mean only those guys can win titles. Again, the ‘08 Celtics are a good example. None of Pierce, Garnett or Ray Allen are on the Kobe, Duncan, LeBron level, but you put the three of them together and their legit champions (that Celtics team was a KG knee injury away from going back-to-back and maybe 3 straight. It’s my opinion. I think PG is a fantastic player, like you said, top 10. But PG is a notch below LeBron, Durant when healthy, Kawhi, Curry, and maybe soon Giannis. It’s not a huge slight to him. He’s at the very top of that 2nd tier, IMO.