Embid wore 24 tonight in Philly- honoring Kobe. Finished with 24 and 8 - last shot was a fade-away jumper.
Not often you see someone score 13 points in 35 seconds like Tracy did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3EqY5gPrcU
Cam has been ballin finally. Jabari has a rotator cuff injury. Not sure when he returns.
https://www.espn.com/nba/recap?gameId=401161345
New All-Star format announced. First three quarters the teams play essentially 12-minute games, starting at 0-0. $100,000 to the charity designated by the winner of each quarter. However, aggregate scores are also measured, and will be used for a modified-Elam ending fourth quarter: the fourth quarter will be played until one team reaches a score that equals/exceeds the higher of the two teams' three-quarter aggregate scores, plus 24 (chosen as a Kobe tribute). $200,000 to the charity of the winner of the final quarter (which will also then be the winner of the game).
Since it took me about three readings to figure out exactly what this meant, an illustration.
First Quarter: Team Lebron 40, Team Giannis 38
Second Quarter: TL 35, TG 40
Third Quarter: TL 45, TG 44
Fourth quarter begins with the score of TG 122, TL 120, and the first team to 146 (122+24) wins.
I like using the All-Star game to play around with game-play format - good for the league to experiment a bit.
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
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Sources: 2020 NBA All-Star reserves:
East: Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, Ben Simmons, Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo, Domas Sabonis
West: Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Brandon Ingram, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul
5:20 PM · Jan 30, 2020
ETA: Will cross-post in the Dukies in the NBA thread.
Big 4-team trade in the NBA last night, centered around the Rockets trading Clint Capela for Robert Covington:
Incoming Outgoing Houston Robert Covington, Jordan Bell, GSW 2024 2R Pick Clint Capela, Nene, Gerald Green, HOU 2020 1R Pick Atlanta Clint Capela, Nene Evan Turner, BKN 2020 1R Pick, GSW 2024 2R Pick Minnesota Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt, Evan Turner, BKN 2020 1R Pick Robert Covington, Shabazz Napier, Keita Bates Diop, Noah Vonleh, Jordan Bell Denver Shabazz Napier, Keita Bates Diop, Noah Vonleh, Gerald Green, HOU 2020 1R Pick Malik Beasley, Juan Hernangomez, Jarred Vanderbilt
My initial reactions: that's a lot for Houston to give up to get Robert Covington. They must have another deal in the works, as they can't go into the West playoffs with PJ Tucker at center full time. And they gave up their first round pick this year.
Atlanta really upgraded in overall talent without giving up much. But the clock starts now on whether a John Collins + Clint Capela pairing can work. Is this the core Atlanta wants to keep?
For Minnesota, not sure this was the best deal they could get for Covington, who seemed to be one of the most prized players available at the deadline. They got Brooklyn's non-lottery pick this year, and swapped a collection of non-impact players for a different collection of non-impact players. Maybe Malik Beasley will turn out to be good? Maybe they can swap some of these new guys for a real point guard?
And for Denver...meh. This doesn't really move the needle at all. At least they got a pick.
There has been a pretty big division among those who have even gone so far as to argue that he's a top 10 player in the world to those who agree with his peers who voted him the most overrated player in the NBA. I've been in the latter camp and maintained that, while he was a very good fit role player when surrounded by other-worldly talent, any team on which he was Batman or Robin would be headed for the Lottery.
In 38 games so far this year, he's averaging 8.5 ppg, shooting 39% from the field, 28% from 3, 6.4 rpg, and 6.2 apg. He's a bottom tier scorer in the league and was a low percentage shooter even when he could shoot nothing but wide open or close shots because he was playing with Steph, Klay, and Durant. He's a mediocre rebounder. He's a very good passer, but his prior assist numbers were inflated by his teammates. He's an excellent defensive player, but I still think he's overrated on that end. His team has the worst record in the NBA. He's sort of a better passing, worse shooting, much more annoying version of Battier, which isn't a bad thing, but I don't think he ever would have been an All Star if he hadn't been on Golden State.
My opinion (and the prevailing one here in Atlanta too, it seems) is that this is a bit of a head-scratcher for the Hawks. Upgrading talent at this juncture in a wash of a season does nothing but diminish the draft pick potential in a draft that already figures not to be very deep, and as you've noted, Capela + Collins seems to be a pretty clear incompatibility. Lots of chatter suggesting that Collins will be on the move soon...he's not a good defender on a team that struggles rather mightily at that end of the floor, and he didn't make a whole lot of friends or...wait for it...defenders with his PED suspension earlier this year.
Not quite sure what the Hawks are doing with this one (insert joke about the last quarter century here).
I think it makes sense--Capela is too talented for the Hawks not to take this chance, especially when it cost so little. Capela is the exact type of relatively young (25 years old) and talented (13.8 rebounds/g) player that a rebuilding team is trying to add. He'll be a good pick and roll partner with Trae Young, and can clean up some of Young's defensive lapses. And Young's ascendancy--no one predicted he'd be an All-Star starter in year 2--is moving up the timeframe for this team. A core of Young-Huerter-(Hunter/Reddish)-Collins-Capela looks better to me than the core Atlanta had yesterday of Young-Huerter-(Hunter/Reddish)-Collins.
But having Collins and Capela on the floor together could hurt spacing, and Collins hasn't shown he can chase perimeter-oriented forward on defense. So maybe moving Collins makes more sense than giving him a big payday after next season.
Atlanta gets the next the 30 games as a trial run to see if the pairing works, and they get to do so without it costing much of anything. Remember Atlanta has the second worse record in the league, and Capela's presence over the next 30 games likely isn't enough to push them too far from that lottery position.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" -Stephen Hawking
Capela is hurt right now and there is no guarantee how much he will play for the Hawks down the stretch. Not sure this will impact the quality of the Hawks draft pick all that much. It is a weak draft anyway.
I think the Hawks are going to move on from Collins. He is going to demand (and someone will give him) around $25 mil per season when his contract comes up after next season.. or he may expect to get a near-max rookie extension this coming summer. The Hawks needs to decide now if they want to give him that kind of money. I think this trade tells us what they have decided on him and I would expect them to move him either now or (more likely) this summer. He is not good enough on the perimeter to play PF and is not a good enough defender to have as your full time C. When you consider that Capella is due to make $16-18 mil over the next 3 years this deal is essentially trading a bad D rim runner for a great D rim runner while also saving about $8 mil per season in cap space. Not a difficult choice for the Hawks to make and a deal that I really like.
The Hawks are due to have something like $60 mil of cap space in the off-season. There is no way they were going to find free agents to use that upon. Now, they use some of it on Capella while still having a ton of flexibility to take on a free agent or two and make deals. Is it impossible to imagine that Collins plus the Hawks lottery pick could land Bradley Beal?
-Jason "Capella's rim protection might actually make Trae's horrible D into something you can live with... maybe" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
As a Washington Wizards fan who lives in Atlanta and also follows the Hawks, I feel qualified to answer this: no, that wouldn't happen. Due to contracts and cap restraints, Washington is stuck, for better or worse (and this year has definitely been "worse") with a team constructed around Wall and Beal. As long as Wall's massive contract is on the books, there is little incentive to blow it up and go younger. So they might as well try to compete with what they have, and what they have is Beal. How would it improve Washington's situation to pair Wall's massive contract with John Collins making $20+ million a year? They'd be just as cap tied, but with worse players.
Washington's only hope is to run it back next year with Beal, a healthy Wall, Rui Hachimura, Thomas Bryant, and whomever they pick in the lottery (plus hopefully they send Davis Bertans, an upcoming free agent, to a contender for some picks). Honestly, could be worse, they'll have a shot at the 2021 playoffs in the East.
O for sure but they weren't the ones traded. I just don't see how any team is dumb enough to pay bigs what some have been paid. Maybe 6 or so guys are worth paying up for but after that you're better off getting older vets or other guys on the cheap. Never really should go over 12 mill a year, better if you can keep it around 8-12.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" -Stephen Hawking
Wow just reported that Justise Winslow is going to Memphis as part of the trade that sent Andre Iguodala to Miami.
If Memphis trades for Jah, they will have the entire Duke 2015 recruiting class that led us to the title
Coach K on Kyle Singler - "What position does he play? ... He plays winner."
"Duke is never the underdog" - Quinn Cook