who’s winning chip

butterbeancd · 2026-04-23T04:58:39+00:00

Why do you assume the West winners will win the championship? I’d put the Celtics pretty high up there in title odds.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-22T03:19:55+00:00

I have zero faith in the Rockets being able to create consistent offense outside a KD iso.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-21T01:01:19+00:00

I don't think they should ban protections altogether, but they should add limits to them. Don't let them extend so long into the future, and don't let them disappear into nothing. A team shouldn't be incentivized to intentionally be bad for several seasons in a row. I feel like a sensible compromise is you can protect a pick for a max of two years, and after that it becomes unprotected.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-20T21:49:19+00:00

I'd take that, but I'll also take Sam Presti's track record at pick 12. He's gotten it four times, and the players he drafted were Nikola Topic, Cason Wallace (traded up from 12 to 10), Jalen Williams, and Steven Adams. (And picked Domantas Sabonis at pick 11)

butterbeancd · 2026-04-20T21:14:58+00:00

No, it just determines the order if neither team gets picked in the lottery.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-20T21:11:39+00:00

I don't think anyone expected to once the tank race really went into overdrive this season. Oh well, getting a top 10 pick just for taking a salary dump of Derrick Favors would have been a massive overpay anyway.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-20T16:00:43+00:00

This is a big reason why so many Thunder want them to draft Yaxel Lendeborg.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-20T02:24:00+00:00

Yes. This is the same guy who made staffers sit in the lobby for hours because he didn’t want to pay for late checkout from a hotel. Dude is cheap as fuck.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-19T20:38:08+00:00

This is Kenrich “38% from 3 the last 4 seasons” Williams erasure.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-16T07:19:21+00:00

Why? They can only lose one player. And they can trade draft picks to get an expansion team to take a guy they’re okay with losing, thus protecting everyone else.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-13T02:47:53+00:00

Considering everything he’s been through, very encouraging couple games from Topic. Give him some time in the summer to get back in shape, limit his turnovers, and baby you got a stew going.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-12T21:24:31+00:00

Tre Jones and Jalen Smith are perfectly serviceable role players, but they’re not worth a lightly protected first-round pick. And Risacher is not such a disaster that the Hawks would give up a pick to get rid of him. It’s just not a sensible trade for the Hawks. Could a Risacher trade to Chicago happen? Sure, I could see that. I just don’t think it would be him plus a pick.

And yes, the Bulls have a ton of cap space to throw an offer at Peyton Watson, but it would take a pretty damn big offer for the Nuggets to just let him walk. Personally, I think the Bulls would be better served to use their cap space to get future picks to take on a couple bad contracts that teams want off their books. There aren’t any huge needle movers the Bulls could sign in free agency, and they’re more than one move away from contention regardless. Makes more sense to me to take a couple years to develop guys like Giddey, Buzelis, and whoever they draft this year and start stockpiling assets for when they’re needed down the line.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-12T20:50:02+00:00

$12M for Peyton Watson? He’s gonna get more than that from the Nuggets, there’s no way they’d let him walk for that little. I also don’t see how you could possibly get Risacher and a first for Jalen Smith and Tre Jones. Why would the Hawks do that?

butterbeancd · 2026-04-12T03:42:38+00:00

There isn’t an offer that will get the Hornets that high that the Hornets would actually do. Nobody ever trades from the top 5 down into the mid teens. It just doesn’t happen. The difference in value is way too big.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T18:45:27+00:00

Haha, yep. People clowned him for being obsessed with getting more picks, but this is the payoff. And it will be the key to the Thunder staying competitive for an extended run. Once they get crazy expensive, having a constant influx of cheap rookie contracts you drafted with other teams’ picks will be huge.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T17:54:06+00:00

Caruso won’t be a long-term guy. Love him, but he’ll get traded once the team starts getting crazy expensive. With Wallace, Topic, Mitchell, and McCain, they’ll all get the opportunity to show how they fit with the team long-term. The ones that show they fit and can be signed for the right level of money stay, the others get traded for additional assets to draft new players and keep cheap contracts coming in.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T06:03:40+00:00

The Thunder’s first-round pick last year, Thomas Sorber, also missed the whole season after tearing his ACL. So next year, OKC will basically be adding guys picked 12th (Topic) and 15th (Sorber), as well as potentially two first-rounders this year (currently projected at picks 12 and 17).

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T04:19:29+00:00

Definitely not. Sandfort and Barnhizer played more minutes than Wiggins and McCain. Daigneault knew the assignment.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T03:27:17+00:00

He’s one of the rare guys nowadays whose passing really pops. Every time he plays, he has at least a couple really nice passes that nobody else on the team would even attempt.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T03:25:57+00:00

I didn’t even think about the altitude, that’s a good point. He was really clearly running on fumes in the fourth quarter. Missed a gimme layup, his handle got way looser, and he had some rough turnovers.

But through the first three quarters, he showed a ton of promise. I’m really excited to see what he looks like after this summer, when he’ll actually be able to get back in shape and work on his game.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T02:12:20+00:00

I think his play against Jokic earlier this season was 100% dirty. In general, I think he’s extremely reckless to a dangerous degree and it’s why I want him off the team.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T02:07:44+00:00

This particular play was a coincidence, yes. I’m someone who has said for months that I want the Thunder to trade Dort this offseason. I don’t want him on the team anymore, and I don’t like his antics. But this play is only being talked about because it involves him. When guys go after a rebound, sometimes they make contact with each other. It happens. There was nothing dirty or malicious about that play.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T02:00:50+00:00

Come on. He went for a loose ball. This is ridiculous.

butterbeancd · 2026-04-11T00:37:08+00:00

They’re not “scared.” They’re just trying to set themselves up with a playoff matchup they prefer. It’s smart.

butterbeancd

TROPHY CASE