[Repo]

[CA Dreamin]

So...

The NBA draft lottery was today. First off, I'm relieved the Sixers landed in the Top 6. They had a trade with OKC years ago, that included their 2025 1st round pick, but it was Top 6-protected. By tanking this year, and landing in the Top 6, Philly keeps their pick and doesn't have to pass it off to the Thunder. Like the Thunder need help, please 😶 . (Chances are we'll have to give OKC our 2026 1st round pick, but that's next year's problem.)

But the big story of the draft lottery was the Dallas Mavericks getting the #1 pick. A couple months after making the worst trade in modern NBA history. I'm not one who believes in conspiracies in pro sports, but something smells very fishy here. The 11th worst record in the NBA (still good enough for a playoff spot, by the way), a 1.8% chance of getting the #1 pick...and they get it? That's very suspicious. That sounds like a pre-arranged deal made before the head-scratching Doncic-for-AD trade. LA got its star, and the NBA's most-profitable team got much more press and viewership. DAL got Doncic off their payroll, and acquired a big-name player that made the trade seems foolish, but still plausible to the public. But the tank job and landing of the #1 pick...welp that would make more sense of it all.

[AfterHours]

[AfterHours]

Re: Giannis potentially leaving Milwaukee...

Unless Milwaukee can somehow swing some deals to get back into legit contention next year, I do want him to move on. He is close to a once per generation player and I hate to see his prime go to waste (besides the single title year). However, even though perhaps a team like Houston would be an amazing fit (can you imagine their defense????), I do actually hope he joins and makes a contender in the East, because I really, really want to see him and Jokic go at it in the NBA Finals while still in their primes. Jokic might be the better player, but Giannis is a force of nature, hyper competitive and athletic. The clash of styles and back and forth war of two players who (each in their own style) are not afraid, don't back down, and are the surest, most reliably dominant forces in the NBA, would be awesome to watch.
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[Repo]

Uggghhhhh.....!!!! Does not look good for Tatum! I'm thinking achilles which just sucks.

But even b4 that, we, as a team, really do get tight in crunch time. Our 3s fell off. Besides Tatum (Brown was in foul trouble), everyone seemed afraid to shoot. Not sure what to make of this, but it's real. Team psychologist a la Ted Lasso?! 🤔

Also, Porzingas was definitely off and still sick with whatever it is he has. I feel for him.

Anyways, not our best look. I just hope Tatum is ok!!! 🙏

[Repo]

[AfterHours]

Link



Link

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[AfterHours]

This might be a controversial take, but I am in favor of the odds of the draft being completely eliminated and having equal odds for every team (or a majority at least). This would completely eliminate tanking. Or at least all the lottery teams having equal odds. Or, maybe there is a tweak you could make to ensure the top 8 (or something like that) don't get a top pick. Anyway, the main idea being equal odds for a majority of teams to eliminate tanking and to better reward teams that are making an honest attempt at building themselves and remaining as competitive as possible. A team should not be "rewarded" for getting the worst record, which is also consequently (often, these days especially) a case of them tanking their season.

Or maybe even having a separate playoffs for the bottom half of all non-playoff teams that play for the order of the draft. Champion of that gets #1 pick, runner up the #2, etc. It happens simultaneous to the regular playoffs. That could actually be awesome and would eliminate any reason for tanking and would keep all teams trying to build as good a team as they could throughout the season to prepare for whichever playoffs they make it to. Would be a huge cash flow for the NBA as well as it gives every single team something to play and build towards, and it keeps all fan bases interested and rooting for their teams.

Hire me Adam!
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[Repo]

[AfterHours]

Now that the achilles is official, it sucks for Tatum and Boston fans and for the competitive potential of the Finals. Barring some miracle (and Porzingas suddenly coming back to life), they're done and the Knicks are surely going to finish them off in one of the next two games. Boston, regardless of how they've fared against the Knicks, had the most realistic shot in the East of having an epic back and forth match with OKC -- that is, IF OKC gets there. I do think any of the three other East teams could give Denver a very interesting match if they manage to get past OKC. No, I don't think Min has much of a shot against Denver or OKC. That said, this has been a very tough to predict playoffs so far, so what the hell do I know anyways 🤣

I am so looking forward to Denver vs OKC -- easily the most fascinating series so far. Besides game 2 and the sheer volume of 3s, and a bit higher pace, this has, defensively, been much closer to a mid-90s-through-2010 playoff series with how hard "easy" shots have been to come by. What a shock that the players shooting percentages and averages drop across the board, huh? What happens if Jokic figures out how to maneuver their defense and actually has a good game? Isn't this bound to happen the more games we accumulate? Maybe not though? Maybe Jokic is just going to scratch and claw his way through? After all, OKC is just about a perfectly built defense to make things tough for him; the only comparison to their defensive versatility that I can think of off the top of my head may be the 96 Bulls -- with Rodman, for the Bulls, and Holmgren for OKC, being each team's defensive unicorn that you can't really replicate and that neither team has a comparison for. ...The fact that it's 2-2 with Jokic scraping by so inefficiently (though still having a big impact) is pretty amazing. Plus there's the talent differential -- though that can be a bit overstated (even by myself). While OKC is deeper for sure, and among the deepest teams of all time, Denver probably has the slightly superior starting 5, which matters more in the playoffs when starters usually play bigger minutes, the bench tends to shorten, and the stars have far less reason to save themselves across a season full of games in these do or die situations.

With Boston out of the picture, I do think the winner of this series is taking the whole thing. OKC being a much surer thing than Denver, in that I would have them as the heavy favorite over everyone else except less so vs the Cavs, whereas I would have Denver as a favorite (but not heavy) over everyone else but probably just barely over 50/50 vs the Cavs <<<< Obv the Cavs would have to get past the Pacers which is becoming less and less likely, and the Pacers have looked like the East's best team this post season.
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