29 Comments

Apparently the NBA is considering doing occasional outdoor games as a promotional thing. One of the more recent times that happened was when the Suns hosted one preseason game outside each year from 2008-10, including this fun game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2fyqvbN6vE

Fun to see rookie Steph Curry play alongside starting SF Kelenna Azubuike, against a Phoenix Suns squad that includes a guy named Leandro Barbosa. Oh, and spoiler alert, the Dubs win. So between that and coronavirus stuff, I think an outside game here and there sounds like a pretty good time.

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Maybe they should do the "mid season tournament" as the outdoor thing... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Might as well be 3on3, that could be cool

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Yep, totally agreed on this one, Kuminga shows a lot of talent on offense and pretty low BBIQ. I can imagine Draymond or Kerr getting furious at him for not making the right pass, which will doubtlessly happen at least once during his rookie season. But I'm also optimistic that he'll get some non-garbage minutes to learn from those mistakes, because he's already got the length and power to just blast past Summer League-level guys whether he plays smart or not.

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I think he shows pretty good bbiq for someone 18 and 6'8. Most 6'8 wings cant pass for shit

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It will happen a lot more than once. He will be an 18 year old rookie playing against the best talent in the world. I expect that Kuminga will make a ton of mental mistakes. The thing that would be really disappointing is if his shot fails to improve since that is almost entirely about coaching and putting in the work.

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> The thing that would be really disappointing is if his shot fails to improve since that is almost entirely about coaching and putting in the work.

I disagree with this. A lot of guys work really hard but just don't have the inherent ability (like hand/eye coordination) to be shooters.

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The dream is fading

***

The growing expectation in Spain is that former All-Star center Marc Gasol will sign to play with the Spanish second division club he owns (Girona) after securing his formal release from Memphis after last week's trade with the Lakers.

https://twitter.com/thesteinline/status/1437490553797681155?s=21

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Did the Warriors even reach out? I'm skeptical.

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Player/owner! That's a next level slashie.

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Player: Marc, wake up, that was your rotation!!

Marc:

Player: I…

Marc:

Player: I am not worthy… godfather.

Marc: better.

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You know... I hope we're going to make it to training camp, at this rate we're trending toward insanity pretty hard... I hope we'll be able to snap out of it.

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Fif... teen... more... days. Yagarhghagagrhhhh...

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Seriously? That's sooo long!

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Well, that was three days ago so now it's down to 12 days!

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Sep 13, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

On topic, great to get a deep dive in a Kuminga game for those of us (probably most :)) who haven't watched him at all except for summer league. Thanks!

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OT: Interesting commentary on Simmons from BBallBreakdown. I have to say while I've never been a fan of Doc, the video highlights some very strange sets that do not bolster my image of him. Wonder what Simmons might look like with a better idea of how to use him than displayed here. (No, still don't want him on the Dubs).

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Simmons away from doc and embiid will be a monster. they should have known simmons and embiid wouldn't work and even still they were one shot away from the 2019 finals

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If Ben S were willing to play the role of Kevon Looney plus other wonderful stuff, then he can probably work alongside Dray on offense and defense. Not sure he will scrap with big bigs, screen hard, and operate actively off-ball.

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Whooaaaah, I completely disagree that Kuminga’s shot mechanics look “pretty reasonable”.

Firstly, Kuminga’s form finishes out rather than up (aka the slingshot mechanic) which probably is a result of his lack of power that he generates from his legs (instead emphasizing wrist/forearm use). Secondly, Kuminga shoots the middle of his face (an indication that he might be a left eye dominant shooter) which results in a slight hitch in his shot. That is not even mentioning his absolutely abysmal footwork where there is zero consistency jumping from Left/Right to Right/Left, to Hop. He has no consistent footwork pattern which is anathema to a good jump shot.

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Yea, JK's FT shooting definitely displays the whole "lack of legs" thing. He extends his legs and there's this lag with his arm motion... so it ends up being heavily reliant on arm/wrist strength.

It seems like a common problem with bigger/stronger players but at least it's not as bad as Jermaine O'neal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlwBjfK6wdk

Or Anthony Mason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSPvZU5VJoQ

(I'm not a shot doctor either)

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It's something you can get away with if you're stronger. I started shooting jumpers again, and had to throw with all my arm strength to get the ball to the hoop from distance until I remembered to shoot it earlier in my motion to actually leverage my leg push (or at least that's the thinking that works for me).

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Yea, I can totally relate to that. Also, my "out of my own ass" thinking is that if you let your legs focus on the power, you free up your arms/hands/wrist to really focus on the "alignment" and "aiming" aspects.

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I’m not a shot doctor, so it’s interesting hearing these specific problems with the shot — obviously it’s not working well now.

I haven’t heard any scout say his shot is broken so hopefully the issues are correctable ones.

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His shot isn't broken, but it definitely requires a crapton of tweaks to fix. I'm no shot doctor either, I just did a crapton of research/training when I was in high school because I desperately wanted to get off the bench in Varsity.

I was that uber defensive PG who can pass (I watched a lot of Rondo) but who wasn't the best shooter and I worked insanely hard to improve my jumpshot.

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If you do as much research as Eric, would that be an Eric Crapton?

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👏...👏...👏...👏

You get a slow clap-ton for that one.

👏...👏...👏...👏

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Slowhands

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