BobSaccamanno

Tangent here, but has there been a more disappointing player in the past ten years than Jabari Parker? You could blame two knee injuries, and it’s fair to consider that part of the reason but from what I saw on the Wizards the other night he was still explosive. I think it’s his game, or lack thereof, that’s the real issue. He’s not long, is not a reliable shooter, and he is not just lost and clueless on defense, he’s unwilling. I used to get Sports Illustrated and I distinctly remember him being on the cover in high school. I believe there was noise in there about him being the best prospect since James. He failed at Duke, and hasn’t defended at all anywhere. I saw a quote from him basically saying stars don’t need to defend. He is a stats guy for a losing team. That’s his career. Teams are playing hot potato with him now. Chicago couldn’t wait to jettison him. For him to be an asset, he’d have to transform himself by reducing his salary by 2/3 and accepting a role as a supporting player as a scorer with a second unit but by also improving his defense from nonexistent to passable. I don’t think that’s within his makeup. I see more of an inefficient player on losing teams whose game might have made more sense in 1989.

Stern once voided a Chris Paul trade. If the investigation finds tampering, I’d rule that Davis is forbidden to be traded to the Lakers. I doubt the league could get away with forbidding him to sign with the Lakers but maybe there is power given to the commissioner in that regard, if they find tampering. The sad thing is I don’t think the league minds, and may actually want, the Lakers to get Davis. They’ve won ten titles since 1980 and having them do well has been good for business. But, in the NFL, every small market has a chance to win, and no one thinks otherwise. We will see about the NBA which seems to like the big market teams collecting stars. The league’s calculation is that’s better even if it means letting small markets feel like it’s stacked against them (which takes the fun out of it for small market fans). If somehow the value of a small market team went down because the interest level is down, that would motivate change but it’s highly unlikely that would even change. The NBA’s trend is up big time, whereas the NFL has long term structural issues. It won’t happen overnight, but the NFL may see it’s peak in the next generation. Real Sports did a story on how statistics show that football is becoming a gladiator sport (poor and uneducated kids play, rich and educated kids watch). Malcolm Gladwell argued that it won’t be socially accepted to be a football fan a generation from now. All of this is good for the NBA over the long term.

I am glad he was fined. It undermines the Pelicans. I have a tendency to sympathize with the smaller market teams when their stars do this stuff, especially publicly. There is no reason this needs to be out in the public. They could have spoken with the Pelican management. I hope he doesn't get into LeBron's grips. Great player but he starts his self-serving manipulation of patsy younger players who are blinded by his legend. And of course Rich Paul has been trying to make a career out of being one of LeBron's flunkies.

If Davis is playing three dimensional chess, he can take a trade and then sign for an extension with player opt-outs. That way he can book himself guaranteed money in case of catastrophe but bail as he sees fit for someplace else like Dallas as future visibility improves as to where the league is headed. That has essentially been LeBron's move. The player has the leverage and the owners have allowed this to go on. I expect the landscape of the league to change drastically, starting this offseason.

If Davis has been brainwashed by his agent and LeBron, that's all good, but one team lurking that I think would be great for him for the long haul would be Dallas. Teaming Davis with Doncic would be sick.

Watching the NBA, we’ve got teams jacking up literally 40-50 threes a night. I Iike it. I am old enough to remember that 125-122 scores in the NBA were commonplace,. The nineties, which was a nadir in the sport to me, brought us the 80-77 type scores. Sure, I like a hard screen, Anthony Mason style, but watching congested paint and Ewing sweating over everybody in a confined space is not as fun to me as open basketball with athleticism at a premium. Personally, I think a pure shooter is a beautiful thing to behold. I still like defense, but open basketball doesn’t preclude the need for tough defense. You know I love Archie, and finding shooters at the college level is decidedly tougher, but one thing in recruiting is I’d like to see us prioritize some pure shooters more. I think you’re going to need to hit a fair number of threes to get done what you want to do.

I like Rozier a lot as a player. He’s really improved over time. He can be inconsistent but I watched him during the playoffs last year, and he excelled at times. Brogdon would be an excellent pickup but I’m dubious that it’s do-able. He’s such a complete player that he should be in demand.

Three teams I consider up and coming are Denver, Utah, and Milwaukee. These three teams look to be on the rise. Utah's organization in particular has done a great job building that team, without super high picks, frankly. Utah may have a very high ceiling down the line. I would have thought Minnesota was on track to be in that grouping, but they seem like a chemistry mess even though they've got some good parts. I didn't see it but heard that Leonard absolutely dominated Ben Simmons the other day. Toronto is a very, very scary team, and don't rule out they re-sign Leonard because the money difference may be significant.

Some of these NBA scores are wild. You've got teams putting up 140. GS gave up 81 in a half to Utah. Play small ball, spread the floor, play fast, and launch threes, baby.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the offseason goes. The Pacers have money. It’d be interesting to see if they make a play for a guy like Aron Gordon. He might mesh well with Turner and Victor. You’d be looking at an athletic team for sure in the modern NBA. Another free agent who looks interesting is Marcus Smart. I don’t think the Celtics can afford to let him go, but if he gets $15 M, maybe they let him bolt. He could take Collison’s salary spot. A lot of mobile big guys coming into the draft. It will be interesting to see how that dynamic changes the league. It looks like an interesting draft. The offseason can be really fun.

Much like in military history, the winners get to write sports history. To the victors go the spoils. For example, I heard broadcasters say many times that Klay is an excellent defender. Personally, I didn’t see that. I see a long guy who plays good position defense for an extremely well coached team. In reality, athletic wings can take Klay off the dribble any time they want, at will. Klay would then get help in that scheme so it can get masked. But if the help isn’t there, a Klay can look miserable on the defensive end. That weakness puts a cap on your defensive skill set. Steph can’t stop the pick and roll either but no one pretends he’s a defender. Klay is a breathtaking shooter and they’ve won three titles, so it will be universally accepted that he’s an “excellent” defender, reality be damned.

In the end, there’s no way to have a right answer. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It’s a fun discussion point in our offseason.

I don’t think any of the teams you’re describing are championship caliber teams. Just as an example, Utah had two great players. They’d be like OK City when they had Durant and Westbrook or Houston now. Respected teams that could win, yet teams that aren’t getting championships. In the 2000s, we have had the Duncan-Pop teams (reminiscent of that 70s Portland team that played great team ball, albeit for a staggeringly long lifespan), and the Lakers squads with Shaq and Kobe. The Heat. The Warriors. It’s more competitive but the level of play is better and more fun. There are really good teams, and there are memorable, championship teams. Jordan’s Bulls teams were great, but the league as a whole didn’t have any Frazier’s to battle Ali. I like Jordan and put him on a pedestal as a player. But, let’s not pretend he was ever dealing with the obstacles Lebron has. And as a person, you’ve got a gambler and womanizer, at his bestva corporate pitchman...as opposed to a civic leader. Lebron has earned my respect.

Jordan was a good defender, no doubt. Lebron can cover 1-5. Lebron also plays the most strategic ball I’ve ever seen, like a chess master. Lebron’s end game is winning the game. He gets there in a variety of ways, including the way he considers defense. When Jordan had nonsense around him, he scored a lot, but did not win anything of consequence. Lebron is winning with less than mediocrity around him. I have been watching NBA basketball since the mid 70s. I’d say the 90’s was the weakest level of ball in that span. Jordan’s Bulls beat literally no other team of consequence. That Knicks team? Meh. They were too limited. Riley did what he could but they were not a dynamic team at all. Portland? No one is going to argue for them. I liked the Phoenix team with Chuck and Majerle and Hornacek but these are not epic teams we are talking about. The Houston teams that won in that era were good because Hakeem was tremendous and an amazing athlete at his size, but again, they were not historic. The other eras had better teams. The late 70s had a great Portland team that played great team ball. The 80s were ridiculous. That showtime Lakers team was crazy. The Celtics and Sixers were great. The 2000s, we’ve had Lebron. The 90s to me were the dark days of pro basketball.

1. Block or charge, I didn’t like that they changed the call with video. He wasn’t in the restricted area. On a judgement call, as opposed to an objective call, it’s not logical to me to change it. An objective call would be, the ball goes out of bounds and you can see who touched it last. That’s where you make the change. But, a subjective block/charge, c’mon man. 2. George Hill has to hit that free throw. That’s the dream scenario we all did in our driveway. Down one in the finals and you gotta drain two free throws. 3. Golden State plays beautiful basketball but I could do without all their smirking and chirping. Lebron owned them. 4. Lebron plays with the biggest band of ragamuffins you can find. That ragtag group wins, what, 15 games without him? 5. I’d love to see Lebron find his way onto San Antonio. I don’t know if SA can make it happen. But that would be fun. I’m not high on Houston at all. Paul and Harden are stats guys. They have no clue how to win when it matters. Lebron could bail them out if he went there, I suppose, but I’d rather see him in SA where they play great ball.

Ok, sorry, I saw your clarification after I wrote my post. I didn’t think Klay was kicked out but maybe I was wrong. Maybe too much controversy, but it was a riveting game.

He was kicked out before the Draymond thing. He allegedly flung an elbow high on Livingston. On replay, it was very tame, nothing to even notice. The ref overreacted and then the chaos ensued, all needless. As for JR Smith, if you would have told me the scenario and then asked me to guess which player it was, I would have said JR without hesitation.

1. I usually agree with you, my friend but I really, really like Lebron. His competitiveness, smarts, leadership, etc. really win me over. I like what he says publicly and I like the grace in which he wins. I think he’s just a great person, at least his public persona which is all we can know. 2. I liked that Celtics team and obviously love Stevens as a coach and Hoosier. They were fun to watch. Tatum is a phenom. I like Brown a lot too. Rozier was up and down but he was a revelation and I like the kid. You like having him as a hedge when Kyrie is a 60 games a year player with his continual injury woes. How the pieces fit together going forward will be interesting. I have been in the camp that you don’t necessarily throw five guys out there who want their shots. Smart is a good example with how many hustle plays he makes and his physical defense. He will tip the ball to a teammate, keep a possession alive, and get you an extra shot. In close, contested games, those extra hustle plays can make the difference between winning and losing. I’m confident that Brad and Ainge will figure things out going forward.

The Celtics have been the most interesting team to me thus far in the playoffs. I’ve watched most of their games, and they are just intriguing. I watched them beat a dysfunctional and underachieving team in Milwaukee on what really turned out to be a toss-up. It wasn’t surprising, though. But, then, they took out Philly handily even though a lot of the games were tight. So, at this point they are playing with house money. I didn’t expect them to take out Cleveland but it’s playing out just like the Milwaukee series. If you follow these series, it shows how weak the East still is. It might flip in the next couple of years as some of these young teams become coherent, but there’s some bad basketball in the East. The Cavs sweeping a 60 win Raptor team is a joke. Cleveland on the road looks pathetic. Lebron is amazing, but he’s got rubbish around him. Jeff Green is a dog of a player and always has been. George Hill is a shell of himself and looks like he’s headed out of the league. Clarkson plays weak. JR Smith is a moron and a classic losing player if he weren’t around Lebron. I kind of like Nance. Love is fine. But, you take Lebron out and this a team vying for the first pick in the draft. It’s got to be demoralizing for him to be around the clowns he’s got to play with. He may will them to victory but there’s no evidence as a team they’d play tough on the road in game 7. It’s funny, I was going to come in and mention the Celtics dilemma with playing time going forward but you guys already covered it. I love Jaylen Brown and Tatum. Rozier has been a revelation although his confidence and/or energy seems to be inconsistent. But he’s a nice backup for an injury prone Irving. Smart is a guy that, to me, you have to find minutes for. He’s the opposite of JR Smith, since he plays winning basketball. Ainge has done an amazing job in this day and age, but they will have to satisfy all of these guys.

Great story, Billingsley. Were you a manager?

Lol, nice hashtag.

I loved Sabonis at Zaga. He’s got the ass kicking mentality that’s going to bring a winner’s edge. I’d want a college big like he was anytime. And I’d say Oladipo is the biggest surprise and break out star of the year. But, we’ve seen him do it before. He exploded his junior year at IU and skyrocketed into being the second pick on the draft. I’d say we know what he’s all about by now. He’s athletic, tough, and a worker. I’m surprised by his good he’s been, but should I have been as a fan of his? The Pacers are a big feel good story this year and they did great in the trade.

Fun list. I had no idea Harden was averaging 9 assists a game. I think of him as more of a gunner. Very impressive when you look at the ratio of points he has a hand in (around 50 ppg game).

Nice link, thanks. I think Oladipo is going to make the all star team, I really do. He tends to get underestimated every step of the way. In other words, as much as I liked Vic's uni, how about that jersey Favors is wearing? Sweet. I don't know how Hayward could leave that jersey behind lol.

+1 Yes, Pop is fantastic. I'm a big fan. Interesting that both Pop and Stevens are native Hoosiers. Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are in the mix for best coaches too. Brad is younger but his track record, and playing with the hand dealt to him, is unreal. It's not a coincidence when success inevitably follows you around after awhile.