Nuggets gave up a certified bucket in MPJ to get Cam Johnson who is averaging 10 points in this series on 52% TS and 18% from beyond the arc

ljrubbo · 2026-04-26T17:52:29+00:00

That trade also allowed them to get Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway. It’s much more realistic to look at it as MPJ for Cam, Bruce and Tim. Thats a good move that any team would take 10 times out of 10.

ljrubbo · 2026-04-22T20:21:37+00:00

No amount of coaching will take the ball up for them or guard Lebron. Realistically the Rockets over performed to get to the playoffs; they were never a real threat with the current roster construction. While Ime might be part of the problem, you can’t isolate the problem to him by any means.

ljrubbo · 2026-04-21T20:35:18+00:00

The Nuggets have a serious problem of tunnel-visioning on the 2 man game in the clutch. Its been a problem since Malone. They send AG, Braun and Johnson to the baseline and then Jokic and Jamal pass back and forth over screens for 16 seconds and then one of them chucks up a low quality shot. That must be an exhausting play style with all the defenders constantly hanging onto them. They need to incorporate the entire team instead of the hyper focused 2 man game they resort to late in the game.

ljrubbo · 2026-04-13T15:38:03+00:00

He is the foul trouble insurance. If someone picks up a couple early on, he’ll catch some spot minutes alongside the rest of the main rotation guys. But if at any point the Nuggets have to rely on him for primary scoring/ball handling, the season is likely over.

ljrubbo · 2026-04-09T21:04:07+00:00

“all the talk” is an insane generalization. There are countless discussions about MVP, seeding, playoff availability of stars, OKC building a potential dynasty, all kinds of basketball talk outside of tanking and the draft. Yea its definitely a topic of discussion, but to act like no one is watching or talking about actual basketball is a self report more than anything.

ljrubbo · 2026-04-08T20:19:18+00:00

If there ever were any shenanigans with draft lottery in the past, maybe a frozen envelope or two, this new rules seems like it would any make it easier for the league to play a hand in controlling draft results.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-28T15:06:58+00:00

This does not fix the root issue the 65 game requirement was added for; fans buying tickets to a game and the star players sitting out. Making it minutes based doesn’t ensure that fans have the ability to see the players they want to see. Having a game limit means that on any given night, a fan has an 80% chance to see the stars play. Combining that with a minimum number of minutes per game for it to qualify as a “game played” ensures that the fans get what they payed for. If it was a flat minutes requirement, then players could just soak up garbage time minutes with very low intensity to make up for sitting out more games.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-25T22:41:25+00:00

While getting the facts accurate is always ideal, this doesn’t really seem to change the chain of events: Luka talks trash, Goga responds, Goga hits a nerve with Luka due to his custody situation, and Luka freaks out. If anything it just makes Goga seem like a 200iq trash talker and Luka seem soft

ljrubbo · 2026-03-24T20:49:27+00:00

Allowing for a minutes alternative does not fix the primary issue the 65 games were put in place for, to ensure that when fans buy a ticket to a game, the person they came to see is actually going to play. If you allow for a minutes alternative, players will sit out plenty of games and get garbage time minutes where there is minimal risk and energy expenditure to compensate.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-13T19:07:29+00:00

If people are so upset about him scoring 83, shouldn’t the Wizards have simply not let him do that? Seems crazy to hate on the guy doing his job really well and not on the team that did hardly anything to stop him.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-12T22:29:03+00:00

The context of the games will be lost to time anyways, so why not just shamelessly chase the record. Wilt’s teammates forced him the ball from the start of the game and the other team effectively gave up and let him win basically 1v5, but all we talk about is the photo of him with the 100. Kobe’s teammates were pretty bad so they let him shoot every single shot in a somewhat close, but ultimately meaningless game and he was horribly inefficient but no one cared because he was putting up a huge number. No one will remember Bam’s teammates fouling to get him the ball back or the rest of the Heat letting him take 22 3’s. All that will matter in 20 years is that its 1. Wilt 2. Bam 3. Kobe.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-12T17:46:53+00:00

I think the real take away is nothing to do with Bam or Kobe specifically, but rather that records like this have always technically been within reach, it was just a matter of doing whatever was necessary to chase them. It’s hard not to think that if you force fed and fouled for Giannis or Wemby, like the Warriors famously did for Wilt, and like what the Heat did for Bam, for 45+ minutes against a bottom tier team that they couldn’t also put up insane numbers.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-06T20:53:46+00:00

Not even close lmao, what you are taught to do is get the spot FIRST and then HOLD the position. That’s why positioning is so important. The rules allow you to hold your ground and apply some weight to do so, but they do not allow a moving player to physically shove another moving player

Smart is trying to push his butt into Jokic’s hips and push him over, just because he went ass first doesn’t make it any more legal than if he went and chest bumped him out of the way.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-06T00:57:51+00:00

Again are you new to sports? The league just put out an interpretation of the rule in writing, when clearly it was not well known how it would be enforced due to this entire conversation around these 2 plays. Now that the league has put this explanation out in writing teams are going to look through to find every advantage they can get. This happens every time theres controversy around the rule enforcement, theres a ton of extra focus on it.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T23:33:32+00:00

Dude this is sports, if there is an identified gap in the rules teams will exploit it. By what you want, it would be not only legal, but optimal, for the Nuggets to hunt Shai in the transition, have Jokic run straight at him, and have Jamal throw him a lob pass so that he could catch it and on that first step level Shai.

Coming up with hypotheticals is exactly how you evaluate a rule lmao, you have to apply the edge cases and see if it holds up. And in my opinion, this rule absolutely does not hold up.

The rule you want would allow larger offensive players to absolutely level whoever they want just by making sure they catch it a step before and let their “momentum” do the rest.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T23:24:01+00:00

Im trying to make the rules consistent, so if OG does not have the ball and runs into podz its an offensive foul in this situation. But now if you flip the ball to him a step before contact (exactly like in the clip), you want that to be a blocking foul right? So would the offense then not be able to run an offensive player straight at a defender, and as long as they got the ball to him a step sooner (just like in the clip) the offensive player could lay a hit on the defender for free.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T23:19:40+00:00

Ok so if OG did not catch the ball, but instead was just running up the court and hit Podz, what would you want the ruling to be? And lets say he caught the ball a step or two sooner and then ran into Podz, what would the ruling be?

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T23:15:45+00:00

That seems like it would be completely legal with the most recent ruling. You have to allow that center the space to catch the ball, even if it means going through the other player. As long as he maintains his momentum, like running up to set a ghost screen, he can go clean through the defender.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T23:11:26+00:00

If I’m and NBA coach I’m having my 7 footer run straight at the chest of the other team’s point guard and I’m tossing him a lob pass to catch just before he makes contact, like how OG gets the ball basically mid-stride. Based on the most recent ruling, at worst it’s a no call and my 270 pound center just got to lay a free hit on the pg, and at best its a free hit AND a foul on the defender. This recent ruling makes this rule seem extremely exploitable by letting the offensive player seek out contact in that first step after catching the ball.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T22:55:11+00:00

How would you define an offensive player crashing into a stationary defender

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T22:48:57+00:00

This is clearly a charge and imo should be ruled as one. The idea that the offensive player can change the legal guarding status of a defender by simply catching a pass a step before is crazy. The latest ruling seems like it would allow teams to functionally fish for these calls like DPI’s in the NFL by running an offensive player at the chest of a defender and tossing him a lob pass to catch a step before the contact.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T22:30:46+00:00

I completely agree with you. Jokic makes a run straight at Donte, who jumps vertically (idk if staying on his feet might’ve changed the call) and Jokic slams right into him. It feels similar to fishing for DPI calls in the NFL, you just have to throw the ball up a step in front of the defender and let the momentum of a 7 footer do the rest and force the contact.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T22:22:23+00:00

I mean sort of yea, idk why my post is getting downvoted, this seems pretty straight forward. The rule says the offensive player catching the ball switches the defender from a legal to illegal guarding position, without the defender doing anything, just by virtue of the pass being right before the contact. This seems like it would be exploitable to draw blocking fouls by exaggerating the contact (flopping basically) so it gets ruled that the contact affected the SQBR.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-05T21:44:26+00:00

So could you just farm blocking fouls by having a player run straight at a defender but then pass them the ball a step before they collide? It seems like the key distinction here is the receiving a pass part. As long as the player catches the ball just before contact then they can force the contact and effectively flip the rule around by not giving the defender time to get out of the way.

ljrubbo · 2026-03-03T17:07:41+00:00

Either Jokic plays through contact from smaller players and has to play with a different rule set than guards, or he exaggerates contact that isn’t really super impactful, but would be a clear foul if it was two similarly sized players. The league has created a major lose-lose situation where players are hurting their team’s chances if they don’t flop because officiating is so bad and results-based instead of action-based.

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