2017-18 Daily Discussion

They went to Lithuania for the cheerleaders.

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Haven't seen any NBA cheerleading team do their dance routine or do flips while wearing high heels.

Watching the Cavs vs Nuggets and Jesus, Larry is just murdering Plumlee.

He has 2 surefire highlight dunks already.

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Don't do them like that Larry, don't do them like that.

This tanking war is just crazy. Any of the 8 bottom teams(4 from each conference), could end up as a winner of the worst record. Grizzlies are showing that they absolutely have no intention to win at all.

Clutch performance by Lillard.

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Great to hear Kevin Calabro on the call, too.

Clutch performance by Lillard.

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Great to hear Kevin Calabro on the call, too.

Lillard is unreal, one of the best clutch players in the game. Finally got his all star nod this year (Overdo).

I like that Portland team, but its a longshot that they make any noise in the playoffs. Nurkic not being able to stay out of foul trouble (And struggling on the road), and Ed Davis as his primary backup... It won't cut it. They have shuffled the SF position more than any team in the league, between Turner/Harkless/Vonleh (when he was on the team), even throwing Napier in there with a small ball lineup.

If Turner had production like he did under Brad Stevens, they would atleast have consistency in the starting lineup or even the second unit. But bottom line, Evan Turner isn't an off ball player. Sticking him on the floor with Lillard/McCollum, or even Napier when Napier is handling the ball, renders him almost useless. He gives you length on defense, but he's inconsistent on that end as well.

The Blazers are one of my favorite teams in the league, I wonder what they will do in the offseason. We could see McCollum moved.

How about the Clippers quietly winning 9 of 12 since acquiring the new guys, even with Bradley and Gallo missing half the games; winning all the games they were supposed to too, with some impressive wins in Boston and Denver. Meanwhile, Blake carrying the Pistons to 6-9, and they were supposed to be the win-now team; gotta love when you seemingly gut your team and it ends up helping you (Clippers). Like I said before, very reminiscent of the Carmelo deal, granted some of the wins were against tankers, but who isn't tanking these days?

Interesting developments:

Pelicans are on a 10 game winning streak, arising the question if Cousins is really needed there. But 2 best teams they beat were Clippers and Spurs in that stretch, rest were junks.

Portland Blazers on 8 game winning streak, sitting at 3rd only behind godly Warriors.

Craaazzy, CP3 and Harden streaking 17 straight wins. Only 1 game ahead of the Warriors but they seem to be unstoppable at the moment.

Pelicans are still a scary team. Jrue Holiday is playing amazing basketball, I'd like to say the most consistent stretch of his career.

I've kind of lost words for Anthony Davis, he impacts the game in so many ways. He is a freak of nature.

The questions about Cousins will come up again about whether he is a winner or not, considering his abysmal record with the Kings (not entirely his fault), and now the Pelicans success without him. No doubt Boogie is a talent, but he can't keep trending in this direction his whole career.

Emeka Okafor was a solid pickup, been out of the league over 5 years and comes right back in and makes an impact, as a starter no less. I think it works because Okafor doesn't really look for his offense, which opens up Davis and the others to be more aggressive offensively. With Okafor being able to focus 100% on defense (averaging 3.9 BPG per 36 minutes), it's a major positive for the Pelicans.

And the strange case of Rondo continues. You never know which Rondo you are going to get night in and night out, however... he's seen an uptick in production since Cousins went down. He seems a lot more aggressive (he needs to be).

I worry about the Pels bench, with Ian Clark as a primary backup. I like that depending on the matchup they can start Mirotic and bring Okafor off the bench. Or rest Okafor and play Diallo and Mirotic, but they just don't get enough consistency out of the rest. Sure, Darius Miller can give you a random 15-20 points here and there, but otherwise he is just a ghost out there.

Not sure why they dumped Tim Frazier after he had a breakout season for them

Not sure why they dumped Tim Frazier after he had a breakout season for them

IDK, he started 35 games for them last season. He's barely touching the floor for the Wizards (15 mpg). I thought he would play more when Wall went down.

The Pelicans' first round pick keeps getting lower and lower. Good job, GarPax! Shrewd.

Steph needs some new shoes. He has a history of ankle injuries from his early career when he wore ankle top shoes. Not sure what's up with his shoes now, but he needs to get back to whatever has been working in the last few years

How about the Clippers quietly winning 9 of 12 since acquiring the new guys, even with Bradley and Gallo missing half the games; winning all the games they were supposed to too, with some impressive wins in Boston and Denver. Meanwhile, Blake carrying the Pistons to 6-9, and they were supposed to be the win-now team; gotta love when you seemingly gut your team and it ends up helping you (Clippers). Like I said before, very reminiscent of the Carmelo deal, granted some of the wins were against tankers, but who isn't tanking these days?

To be honest I felt like the Clippers completely robbed Detroit in that trade. I understand they needed star marketing power. But even giving up THarris for Blake and nothing else isn't fair for Detroit. Blake is just not a very good player. Doesn't fit into many offenses. And as he continues to lose athleticism his game becomes more and more awkward. I can't stand watching the dude play iso ball. Your a big. Not a point forward. Nobody wants you to be a point forward.

Anyways I've read a couple stories about Cousins toughness mentality rubbing off on Davis; for the better that is. Something I definitely wouldn't have envisioned. I wonder how much impact he's still making now that he's sidelined; regardless good to see some competition and variety in both conferences.

The Pelicans' first round pick keeps getting lower and lower. Good job, GarPax! Shrewd.

Yeah but if they'd kept Mirotic, the league would have forced them to play him!

Who knew that bottoming out would be so difficult?

I agree about Blake. He and Deandre were so much fun to watch at the beginning. Dunks everywhere. The mozgov dunk, the highlights kept coming. Adding the best PG in the league created lob city but even then Blake was already changing his game. He would catch the ball on the perimeter, wait for the defense to settle before making a move. This was so frustrating to watch compared to the athletic Blake we were used to. By the end, he started taking more long jumpers and now is taking 3s, getting further and further away from the basket.

I feel that if he stayed inside like a Julius Randle and occasionally took mid-range jumpers to keep people honest, he would have been more effective. He went from all star starter lock, someone fans really wanted to see, to being completely out of the all star picture. I mean even the clippers were advertising lou Williams to sell tickets instead of blake

Isn't that what the league is trending towards though, bigs who can spread the floor with outside shooting?

I mean yes, the trend is that every player can shoot, from 1 to 5. But he's become a weird ass player. Plenty of bigs that are at least half successful using the mid range, post, quickness and first step. But from what I've seen Blake has basically tried to become a slashing wing, only he's what 6'10? And before you say Ben Simmons, LBJ, or Greek Freak, he doesn't have the quickness, handles, or finesse as those guys (who am I kidding whose going to compare him to them).

I absolutely agree a big who can shoot, and even penetrate and cause some rotations on D is valuable, but he was doing shit that completely negates his strength, and vertical advantage. Seriously who is coaching this guy into thinking this is the route to take>? An iso, slashing point forward (Blake) is very much different than the typical stretch 4 most people envision.

It's probably a combination of his various injuries, and a misguided attempt to expand and diversify his game.

The reason Blake stopped making all-star games is because he can't stay on the floor. That's the main reason why the Pistons likely made a huge mistake in trading for him, and it's also a big reason why he has taken on a less flashy play style.

Like with KD and Westbrook, Blake and CP3 would often step it up and show off different aspects of their game when the other was out. Blake has shown potential as a point forward, and so they developed him as their ball-handler of the future. It didn't look amazing so far this season, but he did miss like a month with an injury. It's one game, but I liked what I saw of him against the Raptors. The Pistons have little choice but to make Blake the primary ballhandler right now.. Ish Smith is their point guard!

I hope that he doesn't just camp at the three-point line, becoming Rasheed without the defense or the attitude. But if he can be a better version of what Turkoglu was for SVG's Magic? That would be kinda cool I guess. IDK, Van Gundy is probably getting fired after this season, and at best they would find themselves in the East's treadmill class with Indiana, Washington and Miami. But I'm willing to give Blake the benefit of the doubt.

Good points.

Elsewhere, presenting Hassan Whiteside in "Stop Hitting Yourself"!

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Well, the Rockets had a nice winning streak. Kuddos to the Raptors. Bad defense though at the end of the game, they shouldn't have allowed that 3PT shot by Gordon.

I feel that if he stayed inside like a Julius Randle and occasionally took mid-range jumpers to keep people honest, he would have been more effective. He went from all star starter lock, someone fans really wanted to see, to being completely out of the all star picture. I mean even the clippers were advertising lou Williams to sell tickets instead of blake

Very good point. He is in a very weird place in the league atm; can put up numbers, but isn't actually being effective. Pretty much a has-been.

I hope that he doesn't just camp at the three-point line, becoming Rasheed without the defense or the attitude. But if he can be a better version of what Turkoglu was for SVG's Magic? That would be kinda cool I guess. IDK, Van Gundy is probably getting fired after this season, and at best they would find themselves in the East's treadmill class with Indiana, Washington and Miami. But I'm willing to give Blake the benefit of the doubt.

I actually remember thinking when he was a rookie what kind of player he would be in the waning years of his career when his athleticism was gone; I figured he would just be like a Juwan Howard, setting screens and stuff.

Turkoglu, Giannis, LeBron were/are all point-forwards... I still can't see Blake as anything more than a big. His play style has gotten more and more unnatural as the years have passed. He went from being himself, to trying to copy LeBron, or some weird hybrid.

Iguodala is another good example of a point forward; he and all those guys are naturally SF's, whereas Blake's a PF. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

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I used to be a fan of Whiteside when he first was found by Riley. But his poor body language and antic put me off now I dislike him very much. Embiid also is a tool himself. Not surprised they had things going on on that day.

Jennings on a 10-day with the Bucks for your dose of nostalgia; never did know what happened to this guy.