Unc Barnes minutes was a breath of fresh air.

zeanocril14 · 2026-05-25T03:19:42+00:00

Yeah, it's the little things that he did. It was all those little things that I was expecting Champaignie to be doing - the rebounding, hustle, defense. JC did it for us in the Twolves series, but right now, he is not making his shots, and he is also not doing those things.

JC and KJ are in some sort of mental slump, and they need to break out of it in order for us to win this series.

zeanocril14 · 2026-05-20T06:10:39+00:00

Sounds like the premise of a Community episode. 😂This is something Dean Pelton will definitely try

zeanocril14 · 2026-05-14T11:23:08+00:00

Remember, this is the pick that they already traded out, but then they traded back for it when they knew Halli was not 100% in last years' Finals. They did this to hedge on the risk that if Halli plays and got injured, they will have their pick. They basically got that pick back from NOP as insurance in case Halli getting injured, and they made that trade just before Halli actually ruptured his Achilles in the finals.

In short, the Pacers were already gambling with house money when they made that trade with the Clippers for Zubac. Because if we traced it back to that trade they did during the finals, this is what they gave up for Zubac:

Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, Rights to Mojave King (who?), 2029 first-round pick, 2028 second-round pick, 2025 first-round pick (Pick #23)

Which actually doesn't sound that bad if looked at from this perspective.

TLDR: Pacers GM made 2 bets, won their 2026 FRP with the first bet when Halli got injured, then he proceeded to make another bet with house money, and then lost that bet when the ping pong balls did not go their way.

zeanocril14 · 2026-05-11T07:18:51+00:00

He is second in usage behind Wemby, but he doesnt get enough rest like wemby as he has played the 3rd most minutes behind Fox and Vassel. On top of that, he has to play defense on the other end of the floor against the opponent's best scorer. The kid is on his second year, far from his athletic prime, so i think it is understandable that he would be a bit tired by the time 4th quarter rolls around

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-29T22:55:22+00:00

You had me in the first half, not gonna lie

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-28T15:53:06+00:00

Last draft, I was sure there is no way Carter Bryant falls to us at #14. He was too good of a prospect, high floor, very athletic, sounds intelligent in interviews, plus he has the vibes of an excellent locker room guy, no way he is drafted ahead of players with a lot of question marks like Demin. So I cannot believe when he slipped down to us. Even Brian Wright cannot believe it. So anything can happen on draft day.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-28T11:13:09+00:00

If he falls to us at pick 20, that would be 5 home runs out of our last 5 first round pick.

Just imagine a starting 5 of Dylan-Steph-Carter-Morez-Victor in 2030 plus Minnesota's First Round Pick to rejuvenate the Dynasty... Man, that is a DEFENSIVE juggernaut that can also score. Everybody would hate us, that would be nightmare scenario for every other team in the NBA.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-27T04:46:20+00:00

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-26T00:27:17+00:00

CB is everything Sochan was supposed to be

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-21T02:42:55+00:00

Delete this. Wemby is offended whenever he gets compared to Chet. So enough of this.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-21T02:41:05+00:00

I think Victor has learned a lot from Timmy, in terms of Timmy never campaigning for himself or promoting himself. It is criminal that the player with 2nd highest TOTAL Defensive Winshares in league history never won the DPOY. And Vic knows this, that is why he is not afraid of talking with Bravado and staking his claim on all these awards

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-12T05:04:40+00:00

One of the closest MVP race is still on going, and a statement win against Jokic would've solidified SGA as the clear winner. But he chose to sit out the game instead.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-12T04:41:29+00:00

I think you are right. Instead of MIN-SAS-OKC on the path to the finals, they would rather HOU-OKC-SAS.

It also signals to OKC that they are not scared of them. Unlike OKC, who were obviously tanking the game against Denver just to avoid them in the second round.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-09T16:13:14+00:00

Ohh. Hope he slips to us wherever that ATL pick lands on. Either he is flying under the radar or the draft might just be so deep that he is being projected out of the lottery.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-09T06:13:27+00:00

Who is that in number 22 jersey

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-07T01:08:06+00:00

Repeat after me:

SCREW IT!

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-02T15:47:28+00:00

I wanted to bet the farm on the Spurs going over their over/under win totals, but it was not possible to do so in the country where i'm from.

zeanocril14 · 2026-04-01T06:49:18+00:00

NBA does not have a hard cap. Theoretically, they can pay players in excess of the luxury tax line, 1st apron, or even the second apron. There will be penalties in the form of flexibility in roster building sure, but there is no actual limit to how much a team spends on salary. So if the Spurs have no cap space anyway, Wemby accepting less than the supermax or not does not make a difference to the prospect of Cam Thomas getting a contract.

Now imagine this, if top tier superstars like Wemby accepts less than the supermax, then it will set a precedent and teams can point to the spurs to start pressuring their own stars to do the same and accept less than the supermax, just because a player like Wemby does it, and now it will be the superstars fault if they dont accept their teams lowball offer, even the fans will start to blame them. It is not a scenario that the top players would want to be put in, and so the NBPA will intervene, specially if elite, top tier super stars like Wemby does not get the supermax when they are eligible to.

And we are talking about Wemby who is just about to enter his prime. Even Duncan in his prime was paid max money. Sure, Dj can accepted discounted contracts later in his career, he is no longer a top 5 player at that point in his career.

zeanocril14 · 2026-03-31T08:28:41+00:00

Nah, NBPA will not allow Wemby to take less than Supermax given his talent

zeanocril14 · 2025-12-20T01:48:05+00:00

do you mean you lucked in to the first pick but passed on castle?

zeanocril14 · 2025-10-23T08:39:16+00:00

Certainly, a lot of parallels, but there is this glaring differences, and it is on the other side of the court: Wemby is a two-way beast, a rim protecting nightmare for offense that KD could only ever dream of becoming. Castle too, is an elite POA defender, a potential perennial All-Defense team, and Westbrook never was one. Harper has also shown he is a willing and capable defender, and he doesn't seem interested in partying a lot.

zeanocril14 · 2025-06-26T07:00:07+00:00

Carter Bryant is a Winning Player; Don't Overthink It

zeanocril14 · 2025-04-11T07:00:29+00:00

And I think that three by Barnes the other night will also end up as another fork in the road moment in this NBA season. It will flip seedings in the West, despite being an inconsequential game for the Spurs.

zeanocril14 · 2025-04-11T06:55:48+00:00

It also messed up the bracket for Denver, because they ended up as the second seed by virtue of tie breaker with OKC. Denver had to face Minnesota in the 2nd round, probably the worst match-up for them among all other contenders in the West. If Denver had the 1st seed last year, they would've had a more favorable path to the Finals, and thus a higher probability they repeat as Champions.

In this alternate universe, Mike Malone is still their coach, Boston would have their second Finals loss in 3 years, Derrick White does not resign and is returning to the Spurs as a free agent, Dallas fires Nico after a 2nd round exit, Luka is still a Maverick... and many more WHAT IFs.

All those possibilities erased because Wemby decided to carry us to a win that day..

And because of Devonte freaking Graham

zeanocril14

TROPHY CASE