NBA Thread

[GeorgesGoons]

George is not worried about anyone in the West

nope, the Memphis 3 has played together less than 5 games this season. JJJ would be an absolute stud if he would stop taking dumb 3 pointers and making even dumber fouls. There is no reason for him to come out from the free throw line on his guy to try and block a shot from the corner (probably exaggeration here). Every time I watch them he is in foul trouble. I do love the Adams/Clarke combo at Center. Clarke adds so much athleticism and Adams is a hell of a passer from that position with the high pick and roll.

[shel311]

You telling me he is developing a shot outside of 4' from the hoop

Your boy Morant could benefit from being more like Zion and shooting less 3s, he's not good at it. Never has been


Obvious context that Zion hasn't shot many but Zion is at 34.7% for his career, Morant at 32.7%

Morant has pretty quietly been inefficient scoring this season but no one seems to care. It's weird. Of the top 25 players in the league based on PER, Morant has the worst TS% at .547. Craziest part is the 2nd worst is wayyyyyy higher at .574(Lebron)

[shel311]

George is not worried about anyone in the West

[GeorgesGoons]

You telling me he is developing a shot outside of 4' from the hoop

Your boy Morant could benefit from being more like Zion and shooting less 3s, he's not good at it. Never has been


Obvious context that Zion hasn't shot many but Zion is at 34.7% for his career, Morant at 32.7%

Morant has pretty quietly been inefficient scoring this season but no one seems to care. It's weird. Of the top 25 players in the league based on PER, Morant has the worst TS% at .547. Craziest part is the 2nd worst is wayyyyyy higher at .574(Lebron)

The beginning of the season got it into his head that he is a 3 point shooter. He started the first 5 or so games shooting over 40% from 3. He needs to keep it where his bread and butter is, drive to the hoop, finish with his left and get to the free throw line. I think now that Bane is back, and once he starts hitting his stride, Ja will slow down on the 3 point shooting (I hope). Memphis is eerily similar to the Warriors, neither team is good on the road.

[GeorgesGoons]

Good god Luka. First in NBA history with a 60/20/10

95/33/23 over the last 2....hohum

[ReignOnU]

Ja really isn't shooting a bunch more 3s than he was on pace to shoot 2yrs ago. It's the nature of what is going on with the offense that is dictating his opportunities. Last year he benefited from having Melton, Anderson and a healthy Desmond Bane. He was able to spend more time off ball and slashing. This year his usage rate is up a bunch (he's top 5 in the league) and the offense has to go through him. Their best shooting options are Bane (who's missed 1/2 the season so far), a goofy white guy and their backup PG (Jones). It's not optimal that Ja and JJJ are shooting sub 35%, but they need to be perimeter threats for this team right now. Also, to be fair, has shown to be a very capable 3pt shooter and should be taking 4-5 3s per game.

With that said, I think we're close to Ja's ceiling right now. If you look at where he's at in his career, with his style of play, he's trending slightly better offensively to where Russ was, but he's not really as good of a defender. It was at this point in Russ's career where Harden left and Russ started going crazy with usage rate and generating Reb/Asts. Ja should essentially be in that situation right now. Both are trending up, but watching the games, I'm not convinced that there is much more he could produce with this team.

Meanwhile, Zion is a pretty interesting case. His usage rate has been consistent throughout his career. Even with Ingram out, it hasn't changed. But if you watch the games, what he's doing on the court has. He's maintaining all of his shooting efficiency, while also allowing CJ to play off ball at times to take advantage of his shooting. He seems like he's the ultimate team player and willing (and capable) of doing whatever the team asks him to do. Personally, I'd like to see him shoot more. At some point, he's going to have to make the Blake Griffin transition and when he does, I think he's going to surprise some people. I think he's very capable of pushing 38%-40% from 3. I'd expect over the next 2 years, with NO having the ability for CJ, Ingram or Zion to initiate the offense, we're going to see another addition to his game.

As for NO vs Memphis... I'll watch NO all day. I think they are the more complete team, I love how they pressure teams with their defensive ability/length on the perimeter and I like the variety in the offense. When I look beyond Ja and JJJ for Memphis, I'm not very impressed or entertained by the other guys. I think Brooks is shitty version of Buddy Hield and brings little to nothing net positive to the team. Konchar, meh. Adams has been committing robbery in this league... there's no less than 20 guys in the league that can do what he does, plus give you some form of offensive production and much better shot blocking presence. Meanwhile, NO has a balanced "big 3" that offer variety of offensive options, and they are surrounded by athletic young talent like Jones, Murphy and Daniels that have some really nice upside. If NO figures out how to keep this squad together for a few years, it's going to be a really nice run.

[shel311]

Talk to em, Reign!!!

[shel311]

Obviously Ja is a fantastic player.

Ja is a big liability on defense. He's one of the worst wing defenders in the NBA. He may improve but I'm not sure he ever gets to, say, average. Zion has gone from bad/low effort to at worst average but likely above average defender this season.


I wouldn't worry much about Ja's inefficient scoring but it's something to keep an eye on. And I don't think he should be anywhere near an MVP or top 5 discussion until he gets back to being an efficient scorer.

Zion seems to finally have a good feel for the game and knowing when to take over and reading defenses to attack and shoot or attack and pass. He's now averaging 31/8/6 on 64% shooting in his last 11 games.

[ReignOnU]

For Zion, I need to see him figure out how to produce consistently vs. Giannis and teams like Chicago (DeRozan, Vuc, etc), Denver, Miami and Toronto, where they have a combination of great height/length and multiple physically strong players. Zion is a force 1v1, but these teams have found success against Zion by collapsing with multiple options.

The recent Milwaukee game was a one that I really looked forward to as a bit of test to see where he and the Pels are. They didn't really get the result/performance that they needed. So still some work to do, but I'm pretty confident in their ability to get there.

[shel311]

Milwaukee is the team that gives him trouble. They recently put Lopez on Herb Jones and he completely ignored Herb all game and just helped so Zion was trying to score over Giannis and Lopez

The other teams you listed, Zion shoots over 60% for his career against each team but only 46% against Milwaukee, the worst FG% against any 1 team for him.

[shel311]

Zion hurt and Ja allegedly punched a minor.

Me and George's worlds are falling apart!

[GeorgesGoons]

Zion hurt and Ja allegedly punched a minor.

Me and George's worlds are falling apart!

pretty sure nothing will happen with Ja. The DA declined to press charges. Zion will Zion. How long did they say he is out this time? 6 years?

[GeorgesGoons]

Ja lets :20 run off the clock by not touching the ball. He does this a lot when they are up. Pretty sure the NBA makes a rule change next season

[The_Niddler]

Yeah, pretty simple change. You have 10 seconds to get the ball past half court once it is inbounded even if your player doesn't touch the ball.
I don't blame him at all though. Take time off to help secure the win.

[GeorgesGoons]

Yeah, pretty simple change. You have 10 seconds to get the ball past half court once it is inbounded even if your player doesn't touch the ball.
I don't blame him at all though. Take time off to help secure the win.

I think it's smart as hell. CP3 does this as well. If you are up by 10+ this eliminates possessions at the end of the game for your opponent.

[shel311]

No CJ, no BI, no Zion for tonight's game at Dallas... at least I didn't pay good money to take my kids to their 1st game.

Wait, I did? Well darn!!!

[Weasel]

No CJ, no BI, no Zion for tonight's game at Dallas... at least I didn't pay good money to take my kids to their 1st game.

Wait, I did? Well darn!!!

Brutal

[GeorgesGoons]

No CJ, no BI, no Zion for tonight's game at Dallas... at least I didn't pay good money to take my kids to their 1st game.

Wait, I did? Well darn!!!

it's probably a 50/50 shot at whether Zion would be playing.

[nick]

Not saying there's a reason to, but it's impossible to dislike JA Morant

[qazhby]

Not saying there's a reason to, but it's impossible to dislike JA Morant

He's so corny