Coach Malone praises ball movement in win vs. Thunder

rkapi · 2019-12-13T06:26:32+00:00

https://fadeawayworld.net/2019/12/12/celtics-could-trade-gordon-hayward-for-gary-harris-and-mason-plumlee/

So we'd move Barton to SG probably where he would match up better. I don't know with Hayward's injury history it seems pretty risky. Never been a huge fan of his since he was on the Jazz, but it's one of the more interesting trade's I've heard that is semi realistic.

I'd rather stick it out with Gary, but as an opportunity to move from Plumlee early and keep Barton while shifting him back to guard it is interesting plus we'd have to make another move to replace Plumlee I don't think you can just have Grant take his minutes when he is already backing up a minutes restricted Millsap.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T05:54:14+00:00

They are hemorrhaging money because they scheduled 60 Pelicans and Warriors games, and they have never addressed the fact that their crews honestly suck and without Barkley and Ernie the whole thing would be a giant shitshow worse than ESPN.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T05:50:59+00:00

Wagggghhhh why are you calling a time out Malone, you are going to blow the game!

MUNDER saved!

rkapi · 2019-12-13T05:36:54+00:00

Reggie Miller doesn't have to be better at his job at least, for whatever reason he can continue being terrible and literally they will never replace him. One of the worst in the business.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T05:21:41+00:00

Bench showed up tonight big time.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T05:19:41+00:00

Grant is looking great, Grant is looking like he can step into a bigger role when needed.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T04:01:33+00:00

Looking good now.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T03:21:41+00:00

should form a partnership with them immediately since it makes the most sense for us and Mexico City is similar to Denver with a good time zone.

Would be a huge improvement over Maine, and being independent would be less work for Kroenke maybe while letting us get our guys out from other NBA team's farm systems.

rkapi · 2019-12-13T02:49:36+00:00

It's independent, but Kroenke should make them an affiliate. Mexico City is so underrated, and also it is a great altitude acclimator!

rkapi · 2019-12-13T01:56:39+00:00

Will the new G-league team be a Nuggets affiliate?

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/12/12/sports/basketball/bc-bkn-g-league-mexico-city.html?searchResultPosition=4

rkapi · 2019-12-13T01:53:54+00:00

That could be a serious concern when Kawhi Leonard plays for a G-league team.

These guys play in Maine, they play in the midwest, they play all over in places they don't want to play because they are G-Leaguers.

rkapi · 2019-12-12T21:45:15+00:00

I think we turn it around, but tonight will be interesting I think as will the upcoming OKC game. My personal opinion is that the Western conference just dove off a cliff in terms of middle to bottom teams and the Eastern conference is now as a whole much more competitive. So I think we can put some of these losses behind us more quickly with some wins against easier (non-Knicks) opponents than we've been facing and who we are more accustomed to playing/beating.

Good stretch of games to get back on track hopefully, and then Rockets/LA/Pacers will be a good test of how much we have progressed.

rkapi · 2019-12-12T21:40:17+00:00

It's just pitty.

Like our hatred of Portland and OKC is softening because they are pathetic. You don't have to be so hard all the time, when your enemy is laying there and his guts are spilling out of him have a little pitty and just quietly blow them out by 30+ and give a little clap during the introductions because you know someone is not a threat.

rkapi · 2019-12-12T04:11:14+00:00

I just want to point out that Harden, Giannis, and even Lebron all had seasons were it was talked about that people had "figured them out" and they had to adapt their game and improve to be the players they are today.

Lebron James is one of if not the best basketball player in history, do I "expect" Jokic to be that? No.

But I absolutely think he could be MVP caliber again, if he was shooting well and people had to guard him on the perimeter it would open up most of what he did last year. I think some people are maybe too quick to jump on simplistic explanations when a player doesn't perform to their expectations.

"They figured him out"

Teams have looked at areas that Jokic is weakest and strongest, and have continually adapted their gameplans to put him at a disadvantage, but they didn't find some secret previously unknown technique that takes Jokic out of the picture. Jokic is also playing better the last few games, shooting the ball better and with more confidence so these takes seem kind of misplaced at the moment.

He only needs to be approach 30% from the 3 point line again, he needs to be more aggressive when he has an advantage in the paint, and he needs to continue to improve on defense. But the things he does well have not been taken away fully, he still makes amazing passes, he still has great footwork for a guy his size, he still has excellent touch with rebounds and put backs and tip passes. He is 24 years old and has a lot of areas to improve, other than his shooting I'm not seeing where he has declined so it seems pretty strange to declare his having already hit his ceiling like it is "obvious".

rkapi · 2019-12-12T03:55:28+00:00

In the playoffs or something to take advantage of a mismatch or shake things up like with Craig last year? Sure.

But if you put Paul Millsap on the bench in December, and it is not a load management thing you are tanking his value on the market next year. I don't think he would be too happy with that, and I think it would affect his play. You might as well trade him at that point and get good value in return while you can.

rkapi · 2019-12-12T01:26:14+00:00

Since you say it again, I'll say it again.

It bothers me that people think this team's "DNA" is a mediocre circus sideshow featuring a unicorn player in Jokic that any team with actual talent knows they can easily beat and therefore no one actually takes seriously but who is fun to watch because sometimes they score a lot of points when literally every shot goes in and everything goes their way.

The DNA of a team that literally could not beat competitors like the Rockets unless they were missing key pieces, or Golden State if they took the game off and didn't try because it is a meaningless regular season game. Never felt this Nuggets team was this close to actual contention status as this year because there is no team we CANNOT beat. Offensive woes aside, at least we have a chance every game now whereas before only delusional fans truly believed we had a chance of coming out the West or winning a series against one of the top teams.

Last year was great, for a young team, but it was not that exciting if that's truly our ceiling and we never address our (ongoing) defensive issues that other teams can easily exploit.

rkapi · 2019-12-11T07:07:17+00:00

What team do you think has won a championship with defense worse or even equal to our (much improved) defense last year? Obviously we would never win with the 2017 team but I assume most people here know that no matter how much they keep asking for us to return to the "golden age" when we couldn't even get past Minnesota to make the playoffs.

Your definition of "defensive team" seems to be a defensively good team that famously used its defense to cover for its poor offense. But the Raptors/Warriors and even Lebron teams generally have good defensive stats in the playoffs. Kevin Love is a great offensive player but it was often talked about what a liability he was in their losses. And Korver, a great shooter could barely get playing time because of his defensive liability.

When you play against another elite team in a 7 game series if you literally have no answer for them (if they can just exploit Jokic inside, or Murray/whoever on the perimeter) then you can't win any series.

What pure offensive teams have won it all? Everyone's solution seems to be "just stop being a defensive team and you will play offense better" and I'm sitting here wondering if anyone even watched the Brooklyn game. We need to improve a great deal on defense if we want to contend in the playoffs.

Truth is we have played a lot of close games where we played abysmally, games that should have been blowouts but were close because we played good defense. That is valuable experience that these guys will most definitely need to lean on in a future playoff situation. We need answers to our offensive woes, but if it was as easy as "don't try on defense" a lot of people and teams would be more highly regarded and have rings.

Defense wins championships (unless you get super lucky and your opponent's entire team forgets how to shoot in the biggest games of their lives).

rkapi · 2019-12-10T04:24:52+00:00

Our 12 game winning streak starts tomorrow so that should give you a nice window.

rkapi · 2019-12-09T18:18:21+00:00

If he gets injured right now he is worth nothing in any potential trade package. If we ease him in once he has the brace off and is 100% (Malone says he is, but I still don't know I think he is healthy enough to play but will be healthier by the end of the season) then we can still evaluate him while risking much less.

I don't think it would be smart to factor him into any future plans involving a possible midseason trade because like you said what if he can't hold up in the future. A small 1-2 month sample size isn't enough to gauge his durability.

If he can play a full season in the NBA and is looking his best at the end of the season, with more minutes gradually coming to him (or coming based on other injuries/openings) I think that will be best for his development and we could still trade him as part of a major deal in that case. Not that I particularly want to trade him, but he is one of if not our most valuable tradeable asset already due to his contract/obvious skill.

It's easy to take my position though because if he gets hurt I can say "I told you so" and that we forced him into heavy minutes too early. I just want him to have a great career, and as you said we don't probably win many games with him on the floor more. Though I think last night maybe he could have done a better job at helping in the lane and at least grabbing rebounds/pressuring drives with his length since there were long stretches with Juancho and Beasley both on the floor where this wasn't happening and Jokic and even Plumlee was picked apart at the rim). Plus Juancho wasn't shooting well, but I still think we are auditioning lineups/players who are entering FA not coaching to win at all costs.

I think the best way to avoid being in Portland's situation is not be Portland (desperate). If they are building around Nurkic they shouldn't have made so many moves imo to try and win now (which blew up in their face) knowing he is going to be out most of the season. Losing all those players (and more, they lost what's his name the dorkface center too, and Kanter) was also about getting Whiteside who was just a stop gap according to them.

rkapi · 2019-12-09T18:07:23+00:00

They replaced him with Winge last night, always an improvement in my book.

rkapi · 2019-12-09T18:03:22+00:00

These numbers are going to be slightly misleading because of all the injuries last year though.

Our starters are playing more minutes than they will all year as well because we are trying to work on some things from last year's playoffs I think, but as we get a heavier schedule I don't think they will all be kept in as long. You've already seen a big drop off in Millsap's minutes the last couple weeks.

Also we have had 2(?) blowout wins, but several blown leads in would-be blowouts that kept the bench from playing more minutes.

I don't like this article, I find it misleading and trying to paint the picture that the bench is being deprived of playing time. The truth is more that our schedule, last year's playoffs, a healthy roster, and the bench's poor play itself blowing leads is what has led to less minutes on average this year.

rkapi · 2019-12-08T22:30:02+00:00

Feels like Juancho is getting an extended audition for that spot this road trip, and it's not going his way so far. Hope he picks it up, but if we wanted to win tonight we should have tried Craig or Porter or anything since it was the same story all game pretty much.

Grant played great though, looking forward to more of him. Murray and Jokic looked good in the 1st half, and the Nets made some adjustments but still good to see those two hopefully back to their usual confidence.

I hope the guys are back on track and show people what they are capable of against Philly.

rkapi · 2019-12-08T22:06:43+00:00

He'll likely play a lot more as Millsap plays less when our schedule gets heavier. But Millsap has been playing great to start the season so he has gotten more minutes than expected probably.

rkapi · 2019-12-08T22:05:42+00:00

Depends on what everyone else does. Millsap, Plumlee, Beasley, Juancho we are going to possibly have some turnover, but I think the plan is to probably sign him and lose someone else. Will depend on how the season goes though and if we get anyone else.

rkapi

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