2022/3 season thread

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121167571#Comment_121167571

I was just thinking that him and Lowry would work well, Holiday gets to start for a contender and plug the Heats PG gap, while the Blazers get Lowry in as a veteran to mentor Scoot.

Osmosis Jones

The pick and swaps from Milwaukee are way out but they line up well with what should be a bad Bucks team by then.

By the 2029 pick Giannis will be 34 and everyone else from their current core will be retired. They don't have any FRPs and only 2 Seconds between now and then so they won't be improving through the draft either.

That being said whatever return Portland gets for Holiday needs to have a much more immediate impact, be it young players or 2024 draft picks.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121168375#Comment_121168375

apparently the Sixers really want Holiday they also obviously want Harden gone (who naturally Portland don't want), so yet again another 3 way deal would be needed to get Harden moved to LA.

The Clippers couldn't get Harden since they had nothing to offer but if they send future FRP to Portland (that Philly didn't want but Portland would) it just might work now Philly want Holiday but need a 3rd to facilitate?

Philly want Harden gone before the media day this weekend and Portland want to flip Holiday quickly, so that possible deal if its legit, could even happen today.

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121168516#Comment_121168516

Yeah the market for Holiday seems pretty active, he's a player any competing team would like and ironically he's also somewhat of a "Dame Stopper" which is exactly what contenders in the East now need.

ButtersSuki

For those of you who listen to No Dunks or watched The Starters…

http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/nba/tas-melas-no-dunks-fractured-skull-recovery.html

Very sad, hope he gets through it. Always seemed like a very nice guy.

ButtersSuki

So the trade….

Having had time to digest it I’ve come to think it’s a very good move for the Bucks. Dame will supercharge their offence, which is really needed. They’ll be worse defensively for sure, but this is an offence first league, but I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how this pans out.their half court in particular will improve just from having Dame, his range, his pick and roll ability, his ability to create something from nothing etc. A huge win for Milwaukee.

Portland did ok out of it but it will be better when it’s finished. The Holiday next move will be very interesting. Even though he’s not as good a player as Lillard he’ll have more interest from more teams than Lillard. There’s so many teams who will want him they’ll play everyone off each other and likely get a huge haul in return. As a Boston fan I’d like to see him land there. But so many teams will want him, esp. the 76ers according to many reports. Tim Bontemps made a great suggestion on Windhorst’s pod that GSW should trade him for Chris Paul…..that would be some backcourt, and Paul’s expiring would be hugely tempting for Portland.

The Suns return? Slightly better than “Meh”. I think they just wanted to get rid of Ayton tbh and we’re taking Nurkic anyway…that part of the deal was supposed to have been done 2 weeks ago apparently. They got 4 players in return so I suppose it’s a win but Nurk isn’t the player he once was, and I might be one of the few who think Grayson Allen is ok but they’re all bench players basically. I suppose it gives them some depth, but you just have away a former No. 1 pick for very little.

The Heat must be wondering WTF happened.

Osmosis Jones

The Ayton part of the trade has me really excited as a Portland fan, his position in Phoenix was untenable and Portland capitalised by getting him for next to nothing.

Allen is a pretty good rotation player and he'll definitely have his chance to show it on a thin Suns team.

Nurkic is no good. He was good 5 years ago but there's very little he can actually do well out there. He's a defensive anchor who gets in a tonne of foul trouble and can't guard the perimeter or the PnR to save his life. If Suns fans thought they were frustrated with Ayton's soft finishes wait until they see Nurk free under the basket trying a left handed flip shot instead of just dunking it.

Nas Little hasn't really developed since coming into the league, he's injured all the time too.

Keon Johnson will be cut for sure.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121172092#Comment_121172092

I thought it'd be between Goodwin and Johnson for the final spot but Goodwin is tight with Beal so yeah Johnsons gone.

Osmosis Jones

Also Portland social media have made posts saying goodbye to every outgoing player, and welcoming every incoming player....except for Jrue Holiday, have to assume he's gone before training camp.

Corvo

Yeah there is no way Portland will hold on to Jrue, doesn't fit their timeline despite him obviously being a fantastic professional.

I think Miami deserve a fair bit of criticism here (as it stands currently). They are far worse than last year, Butler/Lowry etc. will be a year older.

Unless Riley can pull something from nothing...

Carcharodon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121170343#Comment_121170343

I agree, all the teams involved pretty much got what they wanted/needed, Bucks have done week for me, they needed something and this is definitely something that could be great, may not work but definitely worth it.

Something needed to happen, Miami have been left out in the cod but they couldn’t offer much at the end of the day

Osmosis Jones

Very happy with how many teams seem interested in Jrue.

Celtics reportedly in negotiations, but for salary to work they'd have to give up good depth pieces so not sure anything will happen.

2smiggy

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1708511286596686032?t=ixEBm3SYLZwyuDqq_2C7mg&s=19

Not sure how I feel about this as a Celtics fan. I really liked Rob Williams.

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121180827#Comment_121180827

Welp, it happened.

Delighted for Portland with that return, I'd be happy to hold onto Williams for sure, and Brogdon can be flipped for even more assets.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121181616#Comment_121181616

Celtics trading Williams is very unexpected. Guess they have Porzingis starting at 5 and Horford 4?

Thats weakened their pool of forward/centers a lot.

Portland now have Brogdon to flip.

Scoot, Simons, Sharpe, Williams and Ayton is a tidy looking group of starters!

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121181613#Comment_121181613

Giving up Williams is I suspect something they will regret long-term given his age and Horford on his last legs…..you could have legitimately argued for Williams as DPOY last year (2021-22). As a Celtics fan I’m torn on this, even with his injury history. They’re all in for sure now and if it works all is forgiven, but I’m not sure on this. If KP or Horford get injured - which is probably more likely than unlikely - they’ll have a massive hole to fill there. A risky move imo.

the most interesting part of it is Holiday is the ideal defensive guard for Lillard, so I wonder how much that played into this?

Osmosis Jones

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121182516#Comment_121182516

Yeah to that last point, I have to assume Milwaukee were hoping he'd go anywhere but Boston.

I'm very excited about Rob, to go from a C rotation of Nurkic/Eubanks to Ayton/Williams is beautiful.

The East is looking like a two horse race right now, anything can happen in the playoffs but I'd pretty confidently say it'll be Boston and Milwaukee as the top two in the conference (barring significant injury crises)

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121182516#Comment_121182516

The Celtics have had a bad time off season imo.

Both Williams and Smart gone for Holiday and Porzingis.

2smiggy

they lost Rob Williams, Grant Williams, Brogdan and Smart. They gained Holiday and Porzingis. The starting rotation is stronger, but they better not be getting too many injured during the year !!

Jack Daw

I just saw that the Dallas Mavericks are playing against the Minnesota Timberwolves In Abu Dhabi on October 6th.

I hope the NBA and the journalists who cover it are aware that homosexuality in the UAE is punishable by death.This seems to be a massive oversight on their behalf not to have realsied this.

Seeing as playing the all star game in North Carolina was unacceptable to the NBA due to LGBTQ issues I hope they will be similarly appalled with the lack of LGBTQ rights in UAE and immediately announce this event is cancelled.

It wouldn't be like the NBA to pontificate on issues and not back it up with meaningful action, as Adam Silver said before the NBA is a values based organisation so I expect if enough people remind them of this they will do the right thing and cancel the game.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121184670#Comment_121184670

There is zero chance this will be cancelled. Zero. Do you really think that they didn’t know this until you pointed it out?

Why? The same reason the NBA are reluctant to criticize China….money.

The NBA want to grow their product in the Middle East, not cancel it.

Btw, and to be clear, I’m not disagreeing with what you’re saying, but it’s very easy for organizations like FIFA and the NBA stand up for things in the West, but once they move Eastwards all that goes out the window. And it’s not just them, almost every brand that celebrates pride in the West are silent in the Middle East and the East on it.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121185973#Comment_121185973

I know they won't do anything it's just the incredible hypocrisy of the NBA and it's players (and various other sports leagues) that really ticks me off, particularly with the NBA as they were so explicitly political for a good few years and it seemed like a lot of players were really browbeaten into going along with some of it when they clearly didn't really care about anything apart from the bottom line (which I'm 100% fine with). Silvers "Values based organisation" comment from a few years back was such crap.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121186156#Comment_121186156

I’m not defending the NBA on this, but they’re no different from any other brand on a global level. They’ll preach to the West and how to the East (the Pride example again).

The US played warm up games there before the World Cup btw, and there’ll be a lot more events like this when the Saudis etc. want ownership of NBA/NFL etc. teams in the coming years like they’ve done with European soccer.

It’s not going to stop unfortunately.

pjohnson

Jimmy Butler

Osmosis Jones

His career has been a shambles since the MVP season

https://twitter.com/esidery/status/1709344751139381401?s=46

irishguitarlad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121192409#Comment_121192409

"Making a scene", he sounds like an absolute baby.

LuckyLloyd

They should just trade him. If a star wants out, let them go. That is the reality of the modern NBA, Philly will be best served moving on.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121192974#Comment_121192974

They cant just trade him for buttons. They have to find a way to match his salary for a deal to work. And Harden has made it clear he only wants to move to Los Angeles. After his conduct leaving Houston, New York and now Philadelphia no one other than the LA teams will touch him with a barge pole, and of them the Lakers have never been linked to him so its a one horse race with the Clippers having f all assets to actually do a deal.

And as much as Lillard wanted Miami theres no doubt he will show up and perform for the Bucks. With Harden he will just sulk if its not LA he is sent to. This is way more of a Harden issue than a sixers one.

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121194083#Comment_121194083

I think you can go out and agree some deals and put them on the table for him. Philly are not taking that approach, and I don't think making this a stare down helps.

eagle eye

I've been out of touch with things for a few days. Come back to see we traded away Rob Williams and Brogdon for Holiday.

I feel sick, two of our best players and a hugely talented and improving player gone now this off-season.

I was very happy with the team we had and confident they'd win championships.

I have absolutely no confidence that we'll do anything now. When you have three big names on the roster bad things happen. The old saying two is company three is a crowd comes to mind.

I'd prefer Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon to Holiday all day every day.

I'd prefer Rob Williams to Porzingis who has looked like a busted flush for most of the last three years.

I'm bemused and confused at the business done by the Celtics this year.