NBA Chatter Thread

NBA draft is 2 weeks from today and the OKC Thunder still don't have a head coach.

There aren't even any rumors about candidates.
 
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1bigfan13 said:
NBA draft is 2 weeks from today and the OKC Thunder still don't have a head coach.

There aren't even any rumors about about candidates.
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The pelicans old coach.
 
Avdija is my top choice for the Bulls, not really a fan of Ball or Edwards who definitely have higher ceilings but have massive holes in their games. I could be talked into Hayes or Okongwu potentially also.
 
Rev said:
The pelicans old coach.
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Why do you hate me, @Rev?

Nothing personal against Gentry but I kind of want to see them go the unconventional route and go with someone who's never been a HC. A few weeks back team beat writers actually floated the idea of Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammond.
 
1bigfan13 said:
Why do you hate me, @Rev?

Nothing personal against Gentry but I kind of want to see them go the unconventional route and go with someone who's never been a HC. A few weeks back team beat writers actually floated the idea of Spurs assistant coach Becky Hammond.
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I have no idea who it was but I clicked on the thread I saw that Gundy was hired as the Pelicans coach. Figured he could use a job.
 
Dec 22nd season start date has been approved by the NBA & NBPA. Christmas day basketball has been saved.

Free Agency will likely be bumped up a bit as well. And the trade moratorium should be lifted within a week.

As an aside, there's finally a little movement in the OKC Thunder head coach search. Some guy I never heard of (Will Weaver) is the leading candidate. He's a younger guy (36 years old) who has experience as a Nets assistant coach and who is currently the HC of some pro team in Australia.

Nick Nurse and Mike D'Antoni came out of nowhere as well. So I'm hopeful. I'm just glad they didn't settle for some recycled coach like Alvin Gentry.
 
The next 4-5 weeks are going to be insane as far as trades, the draft, free agency, etc.
 
Simpleton said:
Avdija is my top choice for the Bulls, not really a fan of Ball or Edwards who definitely have higher ceilings but have massive holes in their games. I could be talked into Hayes or Okongwu potentially also.
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Agreed, I could see Avdija being no more than Nikola Mirotic though, but it's not a great draft.

Edwards I would probably take due to hoping he's a Trae Young type shooter/scorer, but I'm not enamored with Ball, or Hayes for that matter, or any of the other bigs like Toppin.
 
Smitty said:
Agreed, I could see Avdija being no more than Nikola Mirotic though, but it's not a great draft.

Edwards I would probably take due to hoping he's a Trae Young type shooter/scorer, but I'm not enamored with Ball, or Hayes for that matter, or any of the other bigs like Toppin.
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Yea, Avdija is 6-9+ with legitimate handles/passing ability/vision. He has some holes in his game, and in a draft like 2018 or 2019 he'd probably go around 6-8 when you have clear franchise types at the top like Zion/Morant or Ayton/Doncic, but those don't exist in this draft so you bump him up a few spots.

I love prospects that have the size/ability to rebound and the handles/passing ability to immediately spark the break on their own after defensive rebounds. It's one of LeBron's biggest strengths, Doncic as well, and conceptually Avdija has that combination (obviously nowhere near the levels of those guys), so I'm willing to roll the dice on that at 4 in a shit draft.

Ball has it too a bit, so I'd be ok gambling on him as well, but I think I prefer Avdija even though Ball's ceiling is probably higher.
 
More OKC Thunder news.



Horford has a terrible contract and OKC has enough damn 1st round picks. It's time for them to start adding some actual NBA level players and stop collecting draft picks.
 
Patrick Williams for the Bulls, who knows?

I was focused on guys who projected as playmakers/facilitators, Williams isn't that but he might have as high a ceiling as almost anybody in this draft in terms of multi-dimensional 2-way ability. It seems these days that 90% of the time how a player turns out comes down to how good organizations are at player development, so Williams will be an interesting test case for the new regime.
 
This year's draft class just might be the weakest class since that 2013 class.

Isaac Okoro from Auburn went 5th overall. To me he seems like another version of Andre Roberson. Athletic guy with good length and defensive skills who can't shoot.

This morning I'm reading The Ringer's player analysis and draft recap and they compare his skills to Gerald Wallace and Justise Winslow. :lol

I can't believe a player with those player comps went 5th overall.
 
OKC went with a couple of international players who I know very little about. Some 7' Serbian who apparently has the skill set of Porzingis and a G from France.

I was hoping they'd draft Desmond Bane but he went at the backend of the 1st round just a few picks before our 34th pick. Kinda reminds me of 2015 when OKC fans were praying that Devin Booker fell to them at 13 then PHX picked him at 12 and the rest is history.

Bane is a guy who I think will be able to immediately contribute. He's a 4 year college player who already has an NBA body. Plus he's a great shooter. 20 years ago Bane is probably a top 10 pick but modern NBA GMs are more infatuated with potential and the unknown. So 3 & 4 year college players get bypassed more often in favor of the "mystery box".
 
1bigfan13 said:
This year's draft class just might be the weakest class since that 2013 class.

Isaac Okoro from Auburn went 5th overall. To me he seems like another version of Andre Roberson. Athletic guy with good length and defensive skills who can't shoot.

This morning I'm reading The Ringer's player analysis and draft recap and they compare his skills to Gerald Wallace and Justise Winslow. :lol

I can't believe a player with those player comps went 5th overall.
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Yea, this is one of the weakest drafts in forever at the top, that's why I don't mind rolling the dice on a size/athleticism prospect like Williams who has pristine work ethic/intangibles with a baseline of being a very good defender/3+D type who can play a Jerami Grant type of role.
 
Simpleton said:
Yea, this is one of the weakest drafts in forever at the top, that's why I don't mind rolling the dice on a size/athleticism prospect like Williams who has pristine work ethic/intangibles with a baseline of being a very good defender/3+D type who can play a Jerami Grant type of role.
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I don't know about the Chicago assistant coaches but Billy Donovan's ability to influence the development of young players didn't impress me. Which surprised me given that he was a career college coach prior to making the jump to the NBA.

In his 5 seasons in OKC there were only 2 young players who I saw that made massive improvement under Billy D. Jerami Grant and Darius Bazley. And honestly I give Chris Paul more credit for Bazley's development than I do the coaches. CP3 practically adopted Bazley this past season.

Maybe the problem was with the OKC's assistant coaches. Time will tell.
 
1bigfan13 said:
I don't know about the Chicago assistant coaches but Billy Donovan's ability to influence the development of young players didn't impress me. Which surprised me given that he was a career college coach prior to making the jump to the NBA.

In his 5 seasons in OKC there were only 2 young players who I saw that made massive improvement under Billy D. Jerami Grant and Darius Bazley. And honestly I give Chris Paul more credit for Bazley's development than I do the coaches. CP3 practically adopted Bazley this past season.

Maybe the problem was with the OKC's assistant coaches. Time will tell.
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He deserves some credit for Gilgeous presumably, although it's not necessarily just the HC, some organizations in general just develop players better (Miami, Utah, etc.), so I hope that's what the Bulls can develop into.
 
The Mavs were beating the Clippers 77-27 at half yesterday. Holy hell.
 
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