Around the League / Regular Season Thread (Upstairs Version)

[Dejounte]

The Spurs look good with how they’ve handled the situation since… maintaining good will with every player and agent and handling things with class. People here thought the Spurs made the wrong choice not to pair Leonard with better players… i’m glad they didn’t go all out for a player who turned out to be a snake all along.

[LeBowen]

The Spurs look good with how they’ve handled the situation since… maintaining good will with every player and agent and handling things with class. People here thought the Spurs made the wrong choice not to pair Leonard with better players… i’m glad they didn’t go all out for a player who turned out to be a snake all along.

Noone who actually follows the Spurs thought otherwise. Spurs did everything they could to keep and indulge him.
He was and still is a s bag. If only that shot against the Sixers didn't go in.

My only issue is that they decided to keep competing with a team that was obviously going nowhere.
DDR/LMA combo shouldn't have been a thing.
Worked out in the end because we got Wemby, but without that lottery luck, we'd still be talking about how they should've blown it up in 2018.

Spurs were too classy to pressure the league to intervene, it's just ridiculous that there was never even an investigation, we're talking about one of the best players in the league hiding from his own team and refusing to provide medical do ents.
If it happened to the Lakers, I've got no doubt nephew would've been heavily fined.

[RC_Drunkford]

snitching heavy

[exstatic]

The league needs to drop a load of bricks on the Clippers if this is proven true. 2030 and 2032 FRP compensation to the Spurs.

[spurraider21]

The league needs to drop a load of bricks on the Clippers if this is proven true. 2030 and 2032 FRP compensation to the Spurs.

is there actually precedent for handing picks to another team? with past tampering stuff like jalen brunson or whatever all we've seen is the stripping of picks, not the reassignment of them.

at least from what i can recall, i could be wrong

[objective]

Time to bring our only begotten nephew home, as well as his no talent parasite friends who get gifted assistant coaching jobs. Pop will be sooo happy he can finally retire after mending that wound

[exstatic]

is there actually precedent for handing picks to another team? with past tampering stuff like jalen brunson or whatever all we've seen is the stripping of picks, not the reassignment of them.

at least from what i can recall, i could be wrong

Brunson was just a guy when that happened,not breaking out until he got to NY. Kawhi was a FMVP and DPOY, in addition to All Star and All NBA credentials.

[Ice009]

Wow. So if his personal trainer is trying to sue the Clippers, what does this mean for Kawhi? Is he doing it on Kawhi's behalf, or is this guy going out and doing this on his own? Does this trainer even still work for Kawhi? What is going on?

Edit : I think Timvp said it was about 50/50 with the Kawhi and Spurs thing. I did believe the Spurs assessment of his injury and did right by him there, but Timvp said the Spurs did something wrong to cause a rift. Not sure what that is/was as he didn't want to release what he knew.

[Leetonidas]

Wow. So if his personal trainer is trying to sue the Clippers, what does this mean for Kawhi? Is he doing it on Kawhi's behalf, or is this guy going out and doing this on his own? Does this trainer even still work for Kawhi? What is going on?

Edit : I think Timvp said it was about 50/50 with the Kawhi and Spurs thing. I did believe the Spurs assessment of his injury and did right by him there, but Timvp said the Spurs did something wrong to cause a rift. Not sure what that is/was as he didn't want to release what he knew.

Didn't someone in the FO basically call him a pussy?

[tonight...you]

Wow. So if his personal trainer is trying to sue the Clippers, what does this mean for Kawhi? Is he doing it on Kawhi's behalf, or is this guy going out and doing this on his own? Does this trainer even still work for Kawhi? What is going on?

Edit : I think Timvp said it was about 50/50 with the Kawhi and Spurs thing. I did believe the Spurs assessment of his injury and did right by him there, but Timvp said the Spurs did something wrong to cause a rift. Not sure what that is/was as he didn't want to release what he knew.

Well they weren't offering him the Max extension IIRC.

[lefty]

It was way more difficult for first options back in the day because role players were way worse on offense and it was way easier to focus on just one or two threats.
As for the rules, I posted this video before, but imo is well worth a watch for any basketball fan:

Great video

[lefty]

The video is a perfect representation of why the discussion is so stupid.

The only area of basketball that modern players are unarguably better/greater at than previous eras is shooting, and even then it's much favored by the rules that enable offensive shooters with so much space (no illegal defense), freedom of moving/dribbling, hesi-moves to generate separation, etc etc etc.

A game of teams across eras would be entirely defined by the ruleset applied. Sure, Curry can out-shoot the Jordan Bulls or the Bird Celtics... But what is he gonna do if he's called for dribbling and traveling violations on every single play? It would be impossible to adjust on the fly, you'd need extensive time training under the "old rules" to naturally play that way during a compe ive game.

Having said that, the hypothetical scenarios are fun to muse around. Would love to see Shaq with 4 shooters spacing him out tbh.

1. Traveling : Zeke, Jordan, Iverson, Kobe palmed, carried and travelled and they let them do their things, so this argument is a wash

2 . Sure, Shaq surrounded by 4 shooters would work offensively but defensively his team would get buried because good luck having Shaq defend a stretch 5 every night, and Shaq would have to switch on every possession and he simply couldn’t even do that on basic 90s pick and rolls

[scott]

I love that we got all them les, but I'm not exactly reminiscing about the days of winning NBA Finals games by a score of 75-72.

[objective]

Zollins, Keldon, and Barnes for Kawhi and Bones Hyland, trade works financially

Who says no to the Nephew with the DNPs?

"You son of a gun, I'm in!" -

[spurraider21]

imagine ST if wemby's season opener was as productive as Chet's...

[John B]

imagine ST if wemby's season opener was as productive as Chet's...

Chet is surrounded with SGA, JDub and other talents that he could easily be in the background and sneak a double figure. Not true with Wemby who is the centerpiece. The talent around need to improve to free up Wemby.

[spurraider21]

Chet is surrounded with SGA, JDub and other talents that he could easily be in the background and sneak a double figure. Not true with Wemby who is the centerpiece. The talent around need to improve to free up Wemby.

which spur teammate was forcing wemby to jack up 8 threes. chet missed all his 3's too, but found other ways to remain effective.

if you think im saying chet > wemby you're crazy. but chet understands how to simplify his game and get to his comfort spots. im not sure wemby really has comfort spots yet other than inefficiency hoisting 3's.

yes, OKC provides a much easier path to individual success than SA does. but there are a lot of things that wemby does to get in his own way. this wasnt unique to last night.

[John B]

which spur teammate was forcing wemby to jack up 8 threes. chet missed all his 3's too, but found other ways to remain effective.

if you think im saying chet > wemby you're crazy. but chet understands how to simplify his game and get to his comfort spots. im not sure wemby really has comfort spots yet other than inefficiency hoisting 3's.

yes, OKC provides a much easier path to individual success than SA does. but there are a lot of things that wemby does to get in his own way. this wasnt unique to last night.

Dude you need to differentiate a franchise player with a role player. Wemby will make those mistakes and they will look bad when he’s missing them. But he needs to keep pushing the envelope because he is the franchise. Chet is not and doesn’t have that pressure. Chet is a 3rd option at best.

When Wemby starts making those, he would look great! I’m not saying just keep hoisting without regards to play. But Wemby was not just playing for last night, but for getting better in the long run. Spurs will live and die with Wemby making the shots or not. Not the same with Chet.

[spurraider21]

Dude you need to differentiate a franchise player with a role player. Wemby will make those mistakes and they will look bad when he’s missing them. But he needs to keep pushing the envelope because he is the franchise. Chet is not and doesn’t have that pressure. Chet is a 3rd option at best.

When Wemby starts making those, he would look great! I’m not saying just keep hoisting without regards to play. But Wemby was not just playing for last night, but for getting better in the long run. Spurs will live and die with Wemby making the shots or not. Not the same with Chet.

even as a franchise player, shot selection exists. and right now, if we decide "ok wembys the franchise guy, give him the ball and let him go to work"... what are his go-to moves to secure clutch buckets? he doesnt really have one other than pulling up for 3. yes, i think his 3 point shooting will get better over time, but is that really what you think Wemby's path to true supers om is? volume 3 point shooting?

as a rookie, he was putting up 6.7 3PA per 36 minutes. that would tie kevin durant's career high which was set nearly a decade ago now

[Pauleta14]

Wemby sucked at pretty much every thing yesterday but Dallas had only him to worry about. It does matter a lot

[John B]

even as a franchise player, shot selection exists. and right now, if we decide "ok wembys the franchise guy, give him the ball and let him go to work"... what are his go-to moves to secure clutch buckets? he doesnt really have one other than pulling up for 3. yes, i think his 3 point shooting will get better over time, but is that really what you think Wemby's path to true supers om is? volume 3 point shooting?

as a rookie, he was putting up 6.7 3PA per 36 minutes. that would tie kevin durant's career high which was set nearly a decade ago now

Not necessarily shooting 3’s but not hesitate to take them. I hate to bring up Jackson and Kobe, but Jackson let Kobe made those 3’s against Utah and missing badly. Kobe, MJ, Curry, KD they will all take those long shots. And the bball gods have ways of immortalizing those who make them. Wemby has that.

[exstatic]

Wemby does need to score more in the paint,but posting up isn’t the answer. He doesn’t have the build to move people around and out of the way, and his frame says he never will. His paint scoring should come from off ball movement/cutting, and a heavy dose of pick and rolls.

[Pauleta14]

Wemby does need to score more in the paint,but posting up isn’t the answer. He doesn’t have the build to move people around and out of the way, and his frame says he never will. His paint scoring should come from off ball movement/cutting, and a heavy dose of pick and rolls.

I agree on that for the majority

however he needs to have "go to" post moves, not posting up per say, Duncan style, but post moves he goes to quick without dribble or taking time to setting his position after receiving the ball.

He needs to use his quickness and agility to do his moves staight after getting the ball as many vets in the french NT begged him to do and as he finally succesufully did (at the begening) of the Olympics Final.

The more time he takes after receiving the ball the lower the % of success (in post up positions)

[z0sa]

Chet is surrounded with SGA, JDub and other talents that he could easily be in the background and sneak a double figure. Not true with Wemby who is the centerpiece. The talent around need to improve to free up Wemby.

Yeah, he's got a lot of trouble doing anything because as soon as he has the ball, everyone just puts a foot in the paint and waits to triple. I wasn't really cognizant of such things happening when I was a kid watching DRob in the 90s, but something tells me watching Wemby's struggles invokes a similar or at least analogous feeling.

[John B]

Wemby does need to score more in the paint,but posting up isn’t the answer. He doesn’t have the build to move people around and out of the way, and his frame says he never will. His paint scoring should come from off ball movement/cutting, and a heavy dose of pick and rolls.

Wemby is sooo tall, his 3’s are unblockable. But he needs to make them. Defenders need to respect that shot, and Wemby can create off that passing to a cutting team, taking it to the basket, etc. He needs to take those shots when open. Most of Curry’s shots are bad shots but he makes them and that makes them great shots

I wonder if Wemby can grasp the ball like MJ did