Around the League / Regular Season Thread (Upstairs Version)

[100%duncan]

Yeah, Amen has elite, 1% level Athleticism that is just hard to find and stands out even amongst all the rest of the world class athletes. Castle is just a different kind of player, which is fine, no shame in that at all. I give the Spurs FO some credit though, they were really high on Amen as well.

Steph drives to the rim and gets blocked or just doesnt have enough lift sometimes which really makes it critical that he improves his shooting.

[lefty]

Yeah, I haven't watched them, but they look like they're playing great. Have you watched their games? Are all their players back? Is Chet playing, or is he still out? Coincidentally, was their last loss against the Spurs over a month ago?

Tjey are still missing players

Notably Chet and Caruso

[lefty]

Pat Riley doesn't take . I wouldn't call him strange. He doesn't like letting players walk all over him, so it was almost expected that he'd Jimmy out. It's hurt his trade value, but that didn't surprise me knowing Riley's character.

Bro sent his resignation to NYK via a fax

[scott]

Really good article on JJJ's contract situation and how team-friendly, declining contracts can sometimes have unintended consequences: https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/25...ba-this-season

Though I think the risk is low because I'm a Devin hater, the Spurs would face a similar dilemma if Vassell started to significantly outplay his deal to the point where he is a borderline all-star. Because his deal is so good in that scenario, he basically becomes unextendible and runs the risk of Unrestricted Free Agency, and then you get in a situation where you NEED the player to qualify for a SuperMax (you don't have to give them a SuperMax though) to avoid UFA. There was fear this would end up being the situation with Dejounte, but ATL ended up being able to extend him.

Of course, even if a player hits UFA, his original team can still resign him (and have his bird rights to do so), but as we saw with Timmy and Orlando back in the day, the temptations of other teams can be quite stressful for the team and for fans.

Anyway, an interesting wrinkle to the CBA that wroth understanding if you're one who wants to have a strong grip on salary cap machinations and implications.

[spurraider21]

i really enjoy spotrac's content, and their website is great, both for NFL and NBA

keith smith is one of the better cap situation explainers for NBA, and they have similar folk over on the NFL side

[SpursBills]

Is the gap in athleticism between Amen and Steph really that far huh? I hope for Steph to emulate even just 50% of this burst while improving to be a better shooter.

Athletically, the gap between Castle and the Thompson twins is like comparing Scoot Henderson and Ja Morant - B/B+ athlete vs A+ athlete. Castle is smaller and less athletic than both of the twins and will be unlikely to match them as a defender - might be looking at prime butler vs Simmons/kawhi level defense. His path to equaling/exceeding them in value will likely come from improvements in his shot and his ability to serve as a primary initiator, leaning into his passing vision as well as his handle to be a true pg, which is something neither of the twins can do currently.

[Ice009]

I've been meaning to ask, is Amen a much better athlete than his brother? I'd assume he is at least a little bit, but since they're twins, I'm not sure how that works. If they're about the same athletically, what made Amen the higher pick?

[Mugen]

I've been meaning to ask, is Amen a much better athlete than his brother? I'd assume he is at least a little bit, but since they're twins, I'm not sure how that works. If they're about the same athletically, what made Amen the higher pick?

Early scouting reports pegged Amen as a slightly better athlete than Ausar but the gap is razon thin.

Amen was the higher pick as he had playmaking/lead guard upside that Ausar didn't. I don't think Amen can be a full time PG (for the same reasons I don't think Castle will be a lead guard) but his upside is pretty crazy.

[Ice009]

Early scouting reports pegged Amen as a slightly better athlete than Ausar but the gap is razon thin.

Amen was the higher pick as he had playmaking/lead guard upside that Ausar didn't. I don't think Amen can be a full time PG (for the same reasons I don't think Castle will be a lead guard) but his upside is pretty crazy.

Thanks for the explanation as that gives me a great idea between the two. Looking at their games now, do you think that scouting is pretty accurate (I haven't really watched either player outside of Spurs games).

[Mugen]

Thanks for the explanation as that gives me a great idea between the two. Looking at their games now, do you think that scouting is pretty accurate (I haven't really watched either player outside of Spurs games).

I've watched Amen more than Ausar, but yeah pretty accurate from what I've seen.

[TeKu]

Really good article on JJJ's contract situation and how team-friendly, declining contracts can sometimes have unintended consequences: https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/25...ba-this-season

Nice article, your Vassell point is a good one but what I took from it was we should really root for JJJ to not make All-NBA this season as he will then definitely be a free agent in the 26 off season when we have capspace. Pairing him with Victor would be crazy!

[spurraider21]

[scott]

Center market dominos starting to fall

Also, LOL @ the Wishcasters who ever thought the CHA was going to convey

[LeBowen]

So we could've had Richards for one of our scrubs and two CHA SRPs.
Good job, Brian!

[mo7888]

I'm jealous..

[scott]

Brian busy in some underground eastern European child internment camp, scouting impoverished 12 year olds with RC. No time to for trades.

[scott]

PHX also saves $20MM on their tax bill by making this move, FYI

[LeBowen]

Embiid is unsurprisingly out, now it's a foot injury.
If Sixers completely collapse, Bulls will surely make the play-in.
Trae is out tonight, should be an easy win for the Bulls.

[Robz4000]

Embiid is unsurprisingly out, now it's a foot injury.
If Sixers completely collapse, Bulls will surely make the play-in.
Trae is out tonight, should be an easy win for the Bulls.

Hawks beat the Celtics when he was out before tbh.

[RC_Drunkford]

I told y'all he was available. Smh we still gotta watch Zach Collins...

can we at least get Day'Ron Sharpe?

[mo7888]

I told y'all he was available. Smh we still gotta watch Zach Collins...

can we at least get Day'Ron Sharpe?

Can we? Surething... Will we? We like what we have..

[spurraider21]

richards making 5m/year would have been a nice use of some of our million second round picks. we even owned 2 of charlottes!

we'll have to give away some to dump branham and potentially wesley as well

[mystargtr34]

Trading our guys is just not what we do. We’re a family :pop

[spurraider21]

I told y'all he was available. Smh we still gotta watch Zach Collins...

can we at least get Day'Ron Sharpe?

speaking of people named Sharpe, i think some people might start owing rascal apologies. shaedon has been playing well

[Robz4000]

Trading our guys is just not what we do. We’re a family :pop

we've won enough championships, time to let somebody else have a turn