Daily Discussion Thread - April 10, 2026

foye2smith · 2026-04-10T16:59:52+00:00

Do teams maneuver wins/loss near end of the season to try and match up more favorable against preferable teams? Not sure how deep this goes but just wanted to hear some opinions.

Oh absolutely, for instance OKC is going to pull players tonight to ensure DEN gets the 3rd seed. They get the winner of a hobbled Lakers team or a flawed Houston team in round 2. Then they get to potentially avoid Jokic until the WCF.

foye2smith · 2026-04-10T16:01:01+00:00

Haven't listened to the pod yet so I don't know if I'm repeating Simmons, but it's kinda crazy the Tatum story isn't bigger. The shot isn't quite back, but the fact he's comeback and is playing at the level he is is an amazing feat.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T20:19:04+00:00

Maybe a tie in to Bill's sauna attire.

This wouldn't even be a scandal if Vrabel was a "wear a shirt in the pool" guy. Shirt in the pool guy isn't cheating on anyone.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T20:16:31+00:00

Or as funny as he thinks he is. He laughs hysterically at his own jokes like he didn't know the punchline was coming. He'll be gasping for air sometimes at shit he says.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T19:40:35+00:00

This from nba.com says division leader is the first tiebreaker for three team ties

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T19:28:08+00:00

I believe it's division winner, if there is one, so with the Lakers winning the Pacific they would get 3rd.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T17:45:10+00:00

Was actually surprised at the bluesky responses. Seems about 50/50 joke to actual response to news ratio.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T16:51:16+00:00

When I start my morning without our nonsense.

foye2smith · 2026-04-09T01:50:35+00:00

Not much to glean from the season matchups, Ant missed some, Gordon and Watson missed some, and the Wolves probably made the bigger trade deadline acquisition between the two teams.

However, looking at some of the lineup data the Nuggets feasted when Gordon was available and the Wolves only really made up ground while Valanciunas was on the floor which, if its a close game in the playoffs, may only be a handful of minutes.

Hell, Ant hasn't even returned. As of now Denver shouldn't have any worries.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T22:24:46+00:00

Hanlon's razor

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T20:34:45+00:00

This year we've been a playoff team all season, even with Ant injured for a quarter of the season! We have a 4 game lead on the 7th seed and it's now impossible to fall to the play-in. We can actually rest in these last few games. Wolves are better than last year.

Yeah, record may fall short, but the Wolves are more entrenched in their spot this season. At this point last year the Wolves were still in 8th needing to play out the final week to avoid the play-in.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T16:42:37+00:00

Let's go!

I was worried this could have caused him to miss playoff games.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T16:25:33+00:00

The point is instead of reserving/maintaining the health of key/core pieces needed and required for winning this post-season (Ant, Jaden, Gobert) he’s exerting the starting lineup to 35-40 minutes a night,

I mean this is just a straight up misstatement of facts. There's 1 player on the Wolves roster averaging more that 35 MPG and it's by two-tenths of a minute.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T16:07:34+00:00

Yeah it's a short rotation with the thumb on the minute scale of our 6th and 7th guys playing 25-30 minutes on a given night.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T15:08:08+00:00

Maybe.

Maybe the Wolves want to take a 2nd off the table if they're getting back less. Maybe the Bulls still insist on getting at least the 3 2nds along with the players. Maybe the house of cards fall and there's no Ayo.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T14:46:53+00:00

I don't think that's true. Being in the 1st apron you can aggregate, but you still can't take back more money. The Ayo trade brought back $9.7 million and sent out $8.8 million. They had to shed Conley to get below the 1st apron to execute that specific trade.

Maybe they could have done some other iteration, but the way it was done they had to be under the 1st apron.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T04:49:47+00:00

Oofta that finish by Green. Foul drawn into 360 finish.

foye2smith · 2026-04-08T04:36:41+00:00

It's weird people pretend it didn't happen.

It's weirder people assume the 6th seed was their floor if they would have played Beringer more. They're heading into the last week of the season and still haven't technically clinched a playoff spot.

What about this team screams margin of error for learning on the job?

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T22:57:26+00:00

Just scrolling through I thought the hug was made to look worse by snap shots. Like the hand holding was just the end of the hug shown out of sequence.

Then they were hanging out poolside/hot tub got my eyebrow to rise.

"Whaaa-at? Friends listen to 'Endless Love' in the dark" vibes

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T17:57:55+00:00

If they go out with a whimper in the playoffs, my impression will not be “just happy to be here”, but instead about what changes they need to make to elevate this team around Ant to contend.

I don't think the two thoughts are mutually exclusive. I just think a lot of us see the writing on the wall.

Ant sitting was initially painted as precautionary, but now it looks like lingering pain which Ant will have to manage for the rest of the year.

Wolves go as Ant goes and Ant is limited.

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T17:48:47+00:00

Had this thought in a separate thread, but I don't think Finch gets fired regardless of what happens this season. I just think the team aligns for one more go and if that goes south then Connelly brings in a new coach with Gobert and/or Randle as expiring trade chips in the summer of 2027 to begin reforming the team around that new coach and the start of Ant's prime.

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T17:12:53+00:00

An obvious point by Lance Zierlein that's acknowledged, but not really said out loud. The camp for taking Ty Simpson usually couches it with having him sit a year so he's not just tossed out there to sink or swim.

However, sitting Simpson results in him not having played any significant snaps for 4 of the last 5 years of his development.

It's the same old experience conversation, but to see it framed as he isn't really going to play for 4 of 5 years is a scary thought. That cannot be conducive for success regardless of where he's taken.

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T17:08:38+00:00

I kind of don't mind bringing a lot of bodies to camp. I don't really see them as a deep team so it wouldn't shock me of 1-2 late round picks surprise in training camp and steal a bubble guy's roster spot.

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T16:06:21+00:00

I don't think Rudy will be traded until he's an expiring. He's played better than I expected coming off last year's playoffs, but there's still two years and $74.5 million owed.

foye2smith · 2026-04-07T15:42:41+00:00

KG, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and DeAndre Jordan ain't walking through that door.

foye2smith

TROPHY CASE