The Swamp

Rare national TV game for the grizzlies in mike conley’s return and Morant goes off again and grizzlies win 107-106 over Utah. I had memphis chalked you for 55 losses give or take and an easy slot into a top 6 draft pick but now I am not so sure. They are 5-7 and may be in danger of being good enough that the pick may convey to Boston this year after all.

Morant is just so damn good.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:52 pm Rare national TV game for the grizzlies in mike conley’s return and Morant goes off again and grizzlies win 107-106 over Utah. I had memphis chalked you for 55 losses give or take and an easy slot into a top 6 draft pick but now I am not so sure. They are 5-7 and may be in danger of being good enough that the pick may convey to Boston this year after all.

Morant is just so damn good.

He really is.

But they were pretty lucky to win that game. That looked like a foul on the last possession.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:52 pm Rare national TV game for the grizzlies in mike conley’s return and Morant goes off again and grizzlies win 107-106 over Utah. I had memphis chalked you for 55 losses give or take and an easy slot into a top 6 draft pick but now I am not so sure. They are 5-7 and may be in danger of being good enough that the pick may convey to Boston this year after all.

Morant is just so damn good.

I think you should just keep your original expectations in mind. It is a long, long season and they're reliant on a number of young guys who will wear down and they haven't experienced any significant injuries yet. Their last three wins have been by a total of seven points and one of the other wins was by a single point in OT. Only three of their losses have come by single digits and none by fewer than seven. On an individual game basis, winning the close games is good, but there's some luck in there. They're 28th in point differential on the season (ahead of only GSW and NYK) and closer to last than they are to 27th.

Besides, keeping 55 losses in mind as the target makes it a little more manageable as a fan if things go south and achieving anything better than that extra delicious.

No one sane in Memphis is expecting anywhere north of 30 wins. I am just saying , given the implosion due to injuries in golden state and Portland there are gonna be team expected to be good who are not and more wins on their schedule potentially than it looked. Issue is me thinking they can make the playoffs (they can’t) - issue is them maybe being good enough to finish with 8th or 9th pick and it conveying. I was kinda assuming that they would just be bad enough without trying too hard to finish safely with a top 6 pick. Now I am not so sure.

mister d wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2019 9:13 pm

Not at all the point of that Tweet but I’m trying to figure out if there is a semi-hidden mega prospect that has the Spurs (and other teams) covertly tanking. Because between them, the Warriors and the Blazers,* there’s a whole lot of losing and injuries going around right now among traditionally very solid organizations.



* Signing Melo is an excellent move if you want to tank in a non-obvious manner.

The Mavs aren’t really a marquee NBA team so it’s flying a bit under the radar that Luka Doncic is 20 years old and nearly averaging a 30 point triple-double as the leader of the #1 most efficient offense in the NBA. I was very bullish on him as a draft prospect but this is just insane.

These potential NBA rule changes excite me.

Joe K wrote: ↑Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:59 am The Mavs aren’t really a marquee NBA team so it’s flying a bit under the radar that Luka Doncic is 20 years old and nearly averaging a 30 point triple-double as the leader of the #1 most efficient offense in the NBA. I was very bullish on him as a draft prospect but this is just insane.

He’s a crazy talent.

Joe K wrote: ↑Sat Nov 23, 2019 9:59 am The Mavs aren’t really a marquee NBA team so it’s flying a bit under the radar that Luka Doncic is 20 years old and nearly averaging a 30 point triple-double as the leader of the #1 most efficient offense in the NBA. I was very bullish on him as a draft prospect but this is just insane.

Trae Young's pretty good too. Trying to think of another draft day trade with as much talent involved -- I guess the Webber/Hardaway trade would top the list for now.

I know the season is less than 25% through, and they've played a fairly soft schedule, but things are not looking good for Lakers Haters like myself. LeBron is actually playing defense for the first time since 2016,* AD is his typical dominant self, and Danny Green is still looking like a super-valuable role player. Coming into the season, I thought there were 4 or 5 teams that could win the West, but if everyone stays healthy, I really think it'll come down to the Lakers and Clippers. The Nuggets have obviously been solid but they just don't have the same top-end firepower as the LA teams. I still like Milwaukee to come out of the East (bold prediction, there), but it's more interesting than I expected as it appears to be a 6-team Conference rather than just a 2-team race.

*LeBron is the absolute master of doing "load management" without actually missing games. I should have known that he'd crank his effort level way back up now that the Warriors broke up and another title is there for the taking.

Related to my MLB offseason post, the top 3 Atlantic teams are 26-0 at home. Top 5 in the East are 43-1.

Rockets lost a game by 1 last night where a dunk by Harden was called a missed basket.

I've been a bit of a skeptic of the "Kyrie is a team killer" theory, but with the Nets now 8-3 without him and 4-7 with him -- and the Celtics off to a great start to the season -- it's getting harder to deny it's validity. At least for Brooklyn's sake he was instrumental to recruiting KD there.

Joe K wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:02 pm I've been a bit of a skeptic of the "Kyrie is a team killer" theory, but with the Nets now 8-3 without him and 4-7 with him -- and the Celtics off to a great start to the season -- it's getting harder to deny it's validity. At least for Brooklyn's sake he was instrumental to recruiting KD there.

Kyrie needs a lead dog. I think he’s do the whole thing over again and not force way out of Cleveland if he could.

A_B wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2019 11:21 pm

Joe K wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2019 10:02 pm I've been a bit of a skeptic of the "Kyrie is a team killer" theory, but with the Nets now 8-3 without him and 4-7 with him -- and the Celtics off to a great start to the season -- it's getting harder to deny it's validity. At least for Brooklyn's sake he was instrumental to recruiting KD there.

Kyrie needs a lead dog. I think he’s do the whole thing over again and not force way out of Cleveland if he could.

You're probably right. When the Cavs won the title in 2016, Kyrie was an extremely valuable scorer but had almost no playmaking role. LeBron was essentially the point guard on that team. Kyrie probably forced the trade in 2017 so that he could dominate the ball more on a different team, but it seems increasingly clear that Kyrie as the offensive focal point just doesn't work well. Maybe when Durant gets healthy and returns for the 2020-21 season, Kyrie will once again accept a role as a secondary option.

But he's a one trick pony so either you have a guy with the game to force him off the ball or you don't. KD is questionable. Likely not at that level next year. Not unique to Kyrie though. Common disease. Soon it will mutate into a generation of jump shooting chuckers that won't help you win if they're not hitting shots.

I don’t think I watched any U. of Washington games last year, but from what I’ve seen of him with the Sixers, Matisse Thybulle is every bit the defensive genius that his college accolades said. He has an uncanny nose for the ball and would be leading the NBA in steals by a significant margin if he played starter’s minutes. If his early success making 3s holds up, he’ll have a long and very valuable NBA career.

Just dusting this thread off because Ja Morant did a thing last night to ice a win.

This was that thing:

Lucky for you the refs called it a made basket! Apparently, that doesn't always happen.

It’s not all about the Rockets!

Says you.

This should make Giff happy, but moreso...THIS poster:

tennbengal wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:08 pm This should make Giff happy, but moreso...THIS poster:

I think the column on the right should make you happiest of all.

He’s just so damn good...

With you since the "jump".

mister d wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 5:57 pm Is Morant over Williamson a supportable position to take?

("Jump" being funny here because Ja is such a good "jumper".)

Mostly a graph of who commands shots but yes 50+ percent always works. These days you need 3pt and ft numbers in there to make it worthwhile.

Embiid was in Hakeem mode tonight. Pretty much 1 v 5 for the entire 4th Q and he wrecked shop.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:25 pm Mostly a graph of who commands shots but yes 50+ percent always works. These days you need 3pt and ft numbers in there to make it worthwhile.

Agreed on threes and free throws, but I think the fact that a 6'3" guard shooting over 50% from the floor suggests a lot, particularly for a rookie, about his shot selection and ability to get shots he knows he can make. That says a lot about his future development based on what he already understands about the game and how far he can go. At the same time, there should be some control based on point margin at the time since they were on the bad end of a lot of blowouts early on the year.

That’s not really when he’s been doing business DSafe - in blowouts there is some load management going on with him - it has really only been the closer games where they’ve played him closer to 28-30 minutes as opposed to 24.

Ryan wrote: ↑Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:48 pm Embiid was in Hakeem mode tonight. Pretty much 1 v 5 for the entire 4th Q and he wrecked shop.

Embiid hasn’t figured out yet how to mesh offensively with Horford, but they’ve got a lot of time to work on that. And they signed Horford with two potential playoff matchups in mind — to weaken Boston’s defense and to have another big body to defend Giannis.

Let’s just make this a Grizzlies dunk highlights thread. And kudos to the ESPN social media guy who’s using New York slang from c. 2001.

I am unreservedly in love with this iteration of the Grizzlies and their potential. Even in the immediate now they are fun as hell.

I really am on unfamiliar turf here as a fan with a front office that seems to know what the fuck it is doing and following an actual plan.

So Kevin Garnett is talking shit that the only way LeBron could win a championship was to leave the franchise that drafted him to pair with two other stars (only one homegrown) on a new team?

mister d wrote: ↑Wed Dec 18, 2019 1:45 pm So Kevin Garnett is talking shit that the only way LeBron could win a championship was to leave the franchise that drafted him to pair with two other stars (only one homegrown) on a new team?

Garnett is entertaining but he’s also a crazy person. A crazy person with a career losing record against LeBron in both playoff games (13-17) and playoff series (2-3).

Sounds like truth to me but the guy is insane and LeBron is better.

It would be like GWB derisively saying Trump couldn't win his first term without the electoral college superseding the popular vote.

tennbengal wrote: ↑Tue Dec 17, 2019 1:15 pm I am unreservedly in love with this iteration of the Grizzlies and their potential. Even in the immediate now they are fun as hell.

I really am on unfamiliar turf here as a fan with a front office that seems to know what the fuck it is doing and following an actual plan.

Take it from a Raptors fan - it takes some getting used to.