In fact, there are other plays where Steph is way more hammy... I remember an elevator doors play in Boston where he pretended to trip and fall to the ground before cutting
The Pacers are trading Domas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holday to Sacramento for Tyrese Hailburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson, sources tell ESPN.
Oh Sacramento, you are always so so dumb. Trading away Hailburton. My god.
A++ for Indiana for giving away Levert and Sabonis and functionally getting 2 firsts and Haliburton.
Edit: Extra Haliburton comment 2 weeks before the trade: "I refuse to let the culture of what the Kings have been in the past take over who I am as a person... I'm a member of the Sacramento Kings so I'm gonna help fix this. It ain't gonna be in a day but ima be here and we're gonna make it work I promise that."
If I were the Kings (I'm not that great with this stuff either) I would've done everything I could to keep Hali... everyone else and thing is expendable. Sacrifice everything to pair Hali with Sabonis.
This makes me so sad. There are great fans in Sacramento. They don't deserve this. You luck out and get a guy like Halliburton then you dump him. Man, that is horrible.
Indiana has made out handsomely over the last couple of trades. I just don't understand the Kings FO thought process at all... are they planning on starting Mitchell and Fox for the shortest back-court in the NBA? And Sabonis is nice but trading away their two best shooters to a guy whose best attribute is passing the ball to shooters? #Kangs, I guess
I guess Sabonis is the best they thought they could get back, but man. Giving up Haliburton is nuts. He's the one guy on that franchise that has the potential to be what they need (a dominant player at his position).
I wonder if there is another trade coming. You could make an argument that center is a position of strength for the Kings now (Sabonis, Richaun Holmes, Damian Jones). I would guess Holmes is next out the door (possibly with Barnes).
I just have never seen what the Kings clearly see in Fox. He's a good player, no question, but the holes in his game (shooting, careless defense) are tough to overcome. Maybe they just couldn't move his contract.
This seems like the polar opposite of last year. Last year it felt like the Warriors could only trust half their roster, and Wiseman wasn’t adapting to Kerrball at all to the extent they had to change everything they were doing just to get him on the court.
This year it seems like the rookies are progressing at an incredible rate within the system and the vets came out like they’ve been playing defense together & Kerrball their whole careers.
Is this a function of the staffing additions showing the value of coaching?
Getting vets and rookies with high basketball IQ?
Having Iguodala and Klay back on the bench in everyone’s ears giving the Warriors 5 experts plus JTA and Lee to get 7 solid Kerrball players on the roster coming into the season + Poole&Wiggs makes 9 bought in players?
What ever the balance is that has been working, I hope they can bottle this formula for team building going forward, because it’s FANtastic!!!
Yes yes and yes. Hard to replicate because so much is a guessing game. But whatever they did last summer when picking these players, I hope they learned from it.
Moody seems to have natural instincts for weakside rim protection, makes me very confident that he'll be able to play the 4 once he gets stronger which would greatly increase the value of his shooting ability.
That clip can also be filed under, what the hell offense was that. Some jabroni trying a straight left handed drive on a set Looney and GP2. He was lucky he got far enough to get blocked by Moody!
They've made a complete mess of actually getting good returns for their players, but I quite like the direction the Blazers have taken. They now have roughly 60 million in cap space for the summer as well as a great backcourt duo in Dame + Simons. At a minimum, they'll probably give a max to Ayton now (which the Suns will likely match, but you never know with Sarver). Additionally, they are contenders for Lavine or Beal or even Harden should any of the 3 become available and aren't able to engineer a satisfactory sign and trade.
Also, Philly might need some team to absorb Harris and/or Simmons in the summer lol.
Lastly, if any star does become disgruntled, they've got an exceptional offer with Simons + their own first this year + New Orleans first + young projects like NAW and Keon Johnson.
Realistically I think they have below a 5% chance to get any of Ayton (Phoenix match), Lavine (why leave Chicago?), or Beal (bad financial move to opt out and sign with Portland) or Harden (Portland has lots of strip clubs, but that's the only reason that makes sense). Even if they were able to get Lavine or Beal it's still the same sort of issue they had previously of an undersize poor defensive backcourt. Though both guys are better than CJ.
They cooould be the dumping ground for Harris and Simmons. Not much higher in probability because it's outside their control, but it makes sense from a fit perspective. Dame, Simons, Harris and Simmons is a solid fit foursome.
Flexibility opens opportunity, but I don't think they have a plan. I think this makes it more likely Dame is traded next offseason then them finding a way to rebuild around him.
Yeah, I guess it's not very artfully done, IMO. Like they have a Hail Mary chance to rebuild around Dame. But even in that scenario they still need to rebuild a whole rotation. If they're tearing down to the studs they didn't get much so far.
Why would anyone pay anything for Harden? He has tremendous basketball skills, but he seems to lack perspective on what makes a team good, like, for example, showing by example how to commit to being in shape.
Since when do the Blazers actually get good free agents? That Cap space has to be for taking in players and picks doesn’t it? Seems like Dame is gone soon.
Ordinarily, I would agree. However, this is a summer where the only 2 non-tanking teams with cap space are the Spurs (who are kinda sorta tanking or at the very least rebuilding) and the Blazers.
New Orleans on the other hand, is completely lost. I hope they go on a big run and grab the 7 or 8 seed (whichever is matched up with the Warriors), I would love to go against a Graham/McCollum/Ingram/Zion defense.
I thought Apricot's dismissive comment about Kuminga's screen in the second E1P example was a great "not a moving" screen. It was up to Klay to use that screen properly, which he did not - a tight curl and cut to the hoop, followed by Kuminga cut to the hoop.
"dismissive" was probably too strong. I think you were attempting humor, which I think you are pretty good at, but in this case, didn't work for me. I thought JK set an excellent screen (even it was a decoy screen) and I thought you made it sound like he didn't.
Feb 8, 2022·edited Feb 8, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot
My favorite play from Kuminga last night was when he waited to find Moody on a Steph/Moody split cut. It was a weird execution where Steph popped out toward the corner in front of Kuminga, but instead of cutting, Moody also popped to the top of the key and was wide open. Kuminga could have handed it out to Curry in tight quarters, but instead held the ball and found moody wide open instead. Good wrinkle and good work from the rookie to find his fellow rookie in position to succeed.
> League personnel believe (Taurean) Prince would prefer a buyout if he is traded from Minnesota, just as (Thaddeus) Young is expected to reach a buyout agreement if he's not moved.
> Meanwhile, Gary Harris has been painted as a potential buyout candidate if he is not moved.
> Elsewhere in the buyout market, Paul Millsap, Tristan Thompson, D.J. Augustin and Tomas Satoransky have been categorized as likely candidates to become free agents.
Is he actually an upgrade over JTA at this point in his career as unless Iguodala decides to retire mid season JTA is the guy the Warriors would most likely have to move to create space.
What has impressed me most about JFK's development over this season (beyond the amazing dunks!!!!) is how far he's come in his decision making. At the beginning of the season, when he got playing time he looked RAW. He made poor decisions on both offense and defense, but showed flashes of greatness that made us hungry for more.
I'm not seeing the mistakes now that we did back then, and that's with him getting more playing time. Sure, he's not perfect (definitely still a rookie), but he has clearly learned from his mistakes and is picking up Kerr's system faster than could reasonably be hoped.
While he might not have been picked for the rising stars challenge in the ASG, if he keeps getting the playing time that he has recently he may very well land on one of the All Rookie Teams at the end of the season. It would be the first time one of our first round picks has made the team since Harrison Barnes.
He’s definitely going exponential on that learning curve. Super exciting! Makes this year feel like every player could be the best player on the floor any given night.
The New Orleans Pelicans are finalizing a deal to acquire Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum for a package around Josh Hart and draft compensation, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
@ShamsCharania
Portland is finalizing acquiring Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomas Satoransky and draft compensation in the CJ McCollum trade, sources said.
@wojespn
Portland and New Orleans have agreed upon a trade --- CJ McCollum, Larry Nance and Tony Snell are on the way to the Pelicans, sources tell ESPN.
I like Josh Hart as a fit in the backcourt next to Dame. But now they've traded CJ, Norm Powell, Robert Covington and Larry Nance for Josh Hart, a couple developmental guards and one 1st round pick.
I think they've opened themselves up to be major cap space team in 2022. I don't know who they'd try to sign. Maybe they're looking at being the team who could take on Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons so the 76ers could sign Harden outright.
Or maybe they have no plan other than cut payroll.
About the first week of the season I predicted the Blazers would fall of a cliff and got pooh-poohed for it. Well, I see their shattered remains down there amongst the other detritus. It 's that red and black thing right there next to those boulders...yeah, right there. Say would you help me put my shoulder back into it's socket?
The team that over pays for the franchise tanking players. The Blazers and Charlotte used to trade them back and forth. With Charlotte looking like a potential contender, who will the Blazers dance with now?
Back to the old music. Great E1P but don’t give in to the conservative ‘there can only be one’ music crowd. Experiment! Grow!
I got you, I will freestyle rap the entire next video
Damn straight! No pain no gain! Though with your rapping perhaps our pain may exceed our gain ;D
looked to me like GPII was revving a motorcycle, for Kuminga's VROOM VROOM play
Loved the Steph acting breakdown... if basketball doesnt work out for him, he can always go into professional tag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWBm5ud20Y
Also, the JK putback made #1 in the top 10 plays of the night
In fact, there are other plays where Steph is way more hammy... I remember an elevator doors play in Boston where he pretended to trip and fall to the ground before cutting
keep those tricks for the playoffs! 😂
I think Steph already applied for a restraining order against pretty much everyone in the NBA, but the refs keep denying it.
Bonus content for young 'uns who don't get some of the old school references in the E1P:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTzA_xesrL8
The Pacers are trading Domas Sabonis, Jeremy Lamb and Justin Holday to Sacramento for Tyrese Hailburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson, sources tell ESPN.
Wtf
Wow
glad for Halliburton though, he should develop nicely alongside Duarte
Sacramento?! What the hell?
Does Duarte still fit the Pacer timeline? Lol
They're just wasting his prime.
Oh Sacramento, you are always so so dumb. Trading away Hailburton. My god.
A++ for Indiana for giving away Levert and Sabonis and functionally getting 2 firsts and Haliburton.
Edit: Extra Haliburton comment 2 weeks before the trade: "I refuse to let the culture of what the Kings have been in the past take over who I am as a person... I'm a member of the Sacramento Kings so I'm gonna help fix this. It ain't gonna be in a day but ima be here and we're gonna make it work I promise that."
If I were the Kings (I'm not that great with this stuff either) I would've done everything I could to keep Hali... everyone else and thing is expendable. Sacrifice everything to pair Hali with Sabonis.
This makes me so sad. There are great fans in Sacramento. They don't deserve this. You luck out and get a guy like Halliburton then you dump him. Man, that is horrible.
Oh geez that extra quote got me. It's like SAC says "nah, we dont want to be fixed".
Indiana has made out handsomely over the last couple of trades. I just don't understand the Kings FO thought process at all... are they planning on starting Mitchell and Fox for the shortest back-court in the NBA? And Sabonis is nice but trading away their two best shooters to a guy whose best attribute is passing the ball to shooters? #Kangs, I guess
If you look at the # and quality of trades by the Kings in just the last five years it’s absurd
I guess Sabonis is the best they thought they could get back, but man. Giving up Haliburton is nuts. He's the one guy on that franchise that has the potential to be what they need (a dominant player at his position).
I wonder if there is another trade coming. You could make an argument that center is a position of strength for the Kings now (Sabonis, Richaun Holmes, Damian Jones). I would guess Holmes is next out the door (possibly with Barnes).
I just have never seen what the Kings clearly see in Fox. He's a good player, no question, but the holes in his game (shooting, careless defense) are tough to overcome. Maybe they just couldn't move his contract.
You just broke this news to me, I gotta go look this up. Holy shit.
Can you believe this guy fell to us at 7th?
I mean, yeah, no one expected him to develop this fast. It's hard to even remember how much of a project he looked like pre-draft.
🤞 Not to jinx it or anything but it's also excellent that he's been healthy.
This seems like the polar opposite of last year. Last year it felt like the Warriors could only trust half their roster, and Wiseman wasn’t adapting to Kerrball at all to the extent they had to change everything they were doing just to get him on the court.
This year it seems like the rookies are progressing at an incredible rate within the system and the vets came out like they’ve been playing defense together & Kerrball their whole careers.
Is this a function of the staffing additions showing the value of coaching?
Getting vets and rookies with high basketball IQ?
Having Iguodala and Klay back on the bench in everyone’s ears giving the Warriors 5 experts plus JTA and Lee to get 7 solid Kerrball players on the roster coming into the season + Poole&Wiggs makes 9 bought in players?
What ever the balance is that has been working, I hope they can bottle this formula for team building going forward, because it’s FANtastic!!!
Yes yes and yes. Hard to replicate because so much is a guessing game. But whatever they did last summer when picking these players, I hope they learned from it.
https://twitter.com/DraftDummies/status/1490886095973740544
Moody seems to have natural instincts for weakside rim protection, makes me very confident that he'll be able to play the 4 once he gets stronger which would greatly increase the value of his shooting ability.
agreed... that was my biggest takeaway in my Moody video last week https://dubnationhq.com/p/explain-one-play-warriors-rookie-6ec
That clip can also be filed under, what the hell offense was that. Some jabroni trying a straight left handed drive on a set Looney and GP2. He was lucky he got far enough to get blocked by Moody!
They've made a complete mess of actually getting good returns for their players, but I quite like the direction the Blazers have taken. They now have roughly 60 million in cap space for the summer as well as a great backcourt duo in Dame + Simons. At a minimum, they'll probably give a max to Ayton now (which the Suns will likely match, but you never know with Sarver). Additionally, they are contenders for Lavine or Beal or even Harden should any of the 3 become available and aren't able to engineer a satisfactory sign and trade.
Also, Philly might need some team to absorb Harris and/or Simmons in the summer lol.
Lastly, if any star does become disgruntled, they've got an exceptional offer with Simons + their own first this year + New Orleans first + young projects like NAW and Keon Johnson.
Realistically I think they have below a 5% chance to get any of Ayton (Phoenix match), Lavine (why leave Chicago?), or Beal (bad financial move to opt out and sign with Portland) or Harden (Portland has lots of strip clubs, but that's the only reason that makes sense). Even if they were able to get Lavine or Beal it's still the same sort of issue they had previously of an undersize poor defensive backcourt. Though both guys are better than CJ.
They cooould be the dumping ground for Harris and Simmons. Not much higher in probability because it's outside their control, but it makes sense from a fit perspective. Dame, Simons, Harris and Simmons is a solid fit foursome.
Flexibility opens opportunity, but I don't think they have a plan. I think this makes it more likely Dame is traded next offseason then them finding a way to rebuild around him.
Oh I agree, I just think they were in a worse situation before.
And I believe trading Dame is the best thing for them to do, so this obviously leaves that option on the table.
Yeah, I guess it's not very artfully done, IMO. Like they have a Hail Mary chance to rebuild around Dame. But even in that scenario they still need to rebuild a whole rotation. If they're tearing down to the studs they didn't get much so far.
Why would anyone pay anything for Harden? He has tremendous basketball skills, but he seems to lack perspective on what makes a team good, like, for example, showing by example how to commit to being in shape.
Since when do the Blazers actually get good free agents? That Cap space has to be for taking in players and picks doesn’t it? Seems like Dame is gone soon.
Ordinarily, I would agree. However, this is a summer where the only 2 non-tanking teams with cap space are the Spurs (who are kinda sorta tanking or at the very least rebuilding) and the Blazers.
I hope you’re right. It would be nice to see a Blazers Warriors rematch in the WCF with Steph and Dame.
New Orleans on the other hand, is completely lost. I hope they go on a big run and grab the 7 or 8 seed (whichever is matched up with the Warriors), I would love to go against a Graham/McCollum/Ingram/Zion defense.
Will Zion really ever play for the Pels again?
Just looked at NO's roster and wow..... is Graham and McCollum really going to be their new backcourt? LOL....
If they still had Jrue Holiday OR Lonzo Ball to pair with CJ that would be a pretty great combo.
They should trade Graham and make McCollum their PG, that would at least make sense to me
However, if what I'm reading is correct, they could've kept Norm and still been under the tax so that's a big flub.
Kuminga definitely looking more comfortable out there, especially screening
I thought Apricot's dismissive comment about Kuminga's screen in the second E1P example was a great "not a moving" screen. It was up to Klay to use that screen properly, which he did not - a tight curl and cut to the hoop, followed by Kuminga cut to the hoop.
yeah, I wasn't really criticizing JK for that... I just think that play was always wired for JK to get that back screen for the lob
"dismissive" was probably too strong. I think you were attempting humor, which I think you are pretty good at, but in this case, didn't work for me. I thought JK set an excellent screen (even it was a decoy screen) and I thought you made it sound like he didn't.
Agreed!
He moving his feet well on defense with out fouling most of the time
"..and he's only getting better every game." Burying the lede in the last half sentence. Nice.
My favorite play from Kuminga last night was when he waited to find Moody on a Steph/Moody split cut. It was a weird execution where Steph popped out toward the corner in front of Kuminga, but instead of cutting, Moody also popped to the top of the key and was wide open. Kuminga could have handed it out to Curry in tight quarters, but instead held the ball and found moody wide open instead. Good wrinkle and good work from the rookie to find his fellow rookie in position to succeed.
Also, Moody really seems to understand his pass first role, I’ve been making the effort to watch him off-ball and he’s moving so well
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2953236-nba-trade-intel-cj-mccollum-has-become-best-player-likely-dealt-at-deadline
Some possible buyout market candidates:
> League personnel believe (Taurean) Prince would prefer a buyout if he is traded from Minnesota, just as (Thaddeus) Young is expected to reach a buyout agreement if he's not moved.
> Meanwhile, Gary Harris has been painted as a potential buyout candidate if he is not moved.
> Elsewhere in the buyout market, Paul Millsap, Tristan Thompson, D.J. Augustin and Tomas Satoransky have been categorized as likely candidates to become free agents.
no, TT please, even in exchange for a Gleaguer to be named later
All the buyout candidates dreaming about a phone call from Golden State, “Hello, Dynasty calling. Are you up for some playoff basketball?”
To me, the Warriors should definitely be trying to add Young if he becomes available.
Is he actually an upgrade over JTA at this point in his career as unless Iguodala decides to retire mid season JTA is the guy the Warriors would most likely have to move to create space.
He could also come in for Bjelica.
I'm a fan of JTA but I'm definitely taking Young. Especially considering all of his experience guarding Giannis.
What has impressed me most about JFK's development over this season (beyond the amazing dunks!!!!) is how far he's come in his decision making. At the beginning of the season, when he got playing time he looked RAW. He made poor decisions on both offense and defense, but showed flashes of greatness that made us hungry for more.
I'm not seeing the mistakes now that we did back then, and that's with him getting more playing time. Sure, he's not perfect (definitely still a rookie), but he has clearly learned from his mistakes and is picking up Kerr's system faster than could reasonably be hoped.
While he might not have been picked for the rising stars challenge in the ASG, if he keeps getting the playing time that he has recently he may very well land on one of the All Rookie Teams at the end of the season. It would be the first time one of our first round picks has made the team since Harrison Barnes.
He’s definitely going exponential on that learning curve. Super exciting! Makes this year feel like every player could be the best player on the floor any given night.
@ShamsCharania
The New Orleans Pelicans are finalizing a deal to acquire Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum for a package around Josh Hart and draft compensation, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
@ShamsCharania
Portland is finalizing acquiring Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomas Satoransky and draft compensation in the CJ McCollum trade, sources said.
@wojespn
Portland and New Orleans have agreed upon a trade --- CJ McCollum, Larry Nance and Tony Snell are on the way to the Pelicans, sources tell ESPN.
I like Josh Hart as a fit in the backcourt next to Dame. But now they've traded CJ, Norm Powell, Robert Covington and Larry Nance for Josh Hart, a couple developmental guards and one 1st round pick.
I think they've opened themselves up to be major cap space team in 2022. I don't know who they'd try to sign. Maybe they're looking at being the team who could take on Tobias Harris and Ben Simmons so the 76ers could sign Harden outright.
Or maybe they have no plan other than cut payroll.
About the first week of the season I predicted the Blazers would fall of a cliff and got pooh-poohed for it. Well, I see their shattered remains down there amongst the other detritus. It 's that red and black thing right there next to those boulders...yeah, right there. Say would you help me put my shoulder back into it's socket?
I believe Portland has just become another “NBA backwater” destination
The team that over pays for the franchise tanking players. The Blazers and Charlotte used to trade them back and forth. With Charlotte looking like a potential contender, who will the Blazers dance with now?