NBA Thread

[jermhoosierfan]

9 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

OG became just the fifth player in NBA Finals history to score 30 points and hit a go ahead shot in the final three seconds of a game. The others?

Hakeem, Jordan, Kareem, Jerry West

That is some good company there!

[jermhoosierfan]

21 hours ago, Eagle’s Rug said:

Awesome front page

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZeKKAZsngY/

I saw this post from Kirk Haston this morning.  I figured it would fit in with all the OG talk the last few days.  

[HoosierHoopster]

20 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

OG became just the fifth player in NBA Finals history to score 30 points and hit a go ahead shot in the final three seconds of a game. The others?

Hakeem, Jordan, Kareem, Jerry West

OG is (somehow) underrated. He’s a monster defender and a high level two-way player, but as he scores on basically an as needed basis — he doesn’t really  look to score unless needed and doesn’t try to be “the guy” offensively— he doesn’t get the attention that the high scoring guys get. But he’s dominant when needed, and imo the real key to this Knicks squad (who I mostly otherwise don’t care for). OG is flat out outstanding 

[Stuhoo]

What a game. Damn Brunson. And the Spurs look … young.

Tons of questionable play by the Spurs down the stretch.

[Stuhoo]

OG Anunoby.

Champion.

[LIHoosier]

[LIHoosier]

Oh no, Worldwide Wes gets a ring

OG speech!

[Demo]

Not many guys have taken an axe to their reputation the way Fox has in the last 10 days. Johnson sticking with him over and over late throughout the playoffs was just horrific decision making. And now the the Spurs have a problem. The guy is about to start a 4 year extension averaging almost 60m a year, there is no universe where you can play him ahead of Harper  going forward and he’s completely untradeable for probably the next 3 years. Doubt seriously that he’ll be comfortably down with being the 3rd guard.

[Demo]

CTC is everywhere 

[BtownStrength]

42 minutes ago, Demo said:

Not many guys have taken an axe to their reputation the way Fox has in the last 10 days. Johnson sticking with him over and over late throughout the playoffs was just horrific decision making. And now the the Spurs have a problem. The guy is about to start a 4 year extension averaging almost 60m a year, there is no universe where you can play him ahead of Harper  going forward and he’s completely untradeable for probably the next 3 years. Doubt seriously that he’ll be comfortably down with being the 3rd guard.

Fox has always been low basketball IQ, but now everyone gets to see it. Agree that Mitch Johnson played horrible rotations. And they just have...no offensive game plan whem things go south. Its all reliant on the guards beating their man off the dribble and kicking or lob to Wemby. Now they have the skill to make that work, but the Knicks had wayyyy more structure in the PnR and off ball movement by OG, Bridges, and Shamet. 

Its good to see Mike Brown get a ring while Fox goes home empty. 

[Home Jersey]

The Knicks led for something like less than 30% of the series, but won it 4-1 and were 6-2 this season against SAS. 

Mitch Johnson... has a lot of growing to do as a coach.

And OG, KAT, Mitchell Robinson was the perfect rotation of defenders to deal with Wemby.

[BGleas]

50 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

The Knicks led for something like less than 30% of the series, but won it 4-1 and were 6-2 this season against SAS. 

Mitch Johnson... has a lot of growing to do as a coach.

And OG, KAT, Mitchell Robinson was the perfect rotation of defenders to deal with Wemby.

The Spurs are going to have to hope Harper develops into a closer, which is entirely possible, or they will need to acquire one. 

Wemby is obviously phenomenal and a freak of nature, but he's not an offensive game closer. He doesn't have a reliable offensive go-to move. 

In close games in the NBA you need a guy or two that you know can get you buckets under pressure. 

The Spurs are super young and can develop it, but right now they don't have it, and it showed when these games got to winning time. 

[HoosierHoopster]

10 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

What a game. Damn Brunson. And the Spurs look … young.

Tons of questionable play by the Spurs down the stretch.

If coached by Pop they would’ve won this series. The 27 point collapse in NY with the Spurs taking like 8 3’s in a row down the stretch never happens under Pop, and yep, more poor coaching at home. It’s both a young team inexperience as a playoff team, and a team coached by a young relatively inexperienced coach. 
Spurs will probably come back next year with a highly motivated Wemby, like the highly motivated Duncan early on after their finals loss, and with the experience to know what it takes to win a finals. 

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, BGleas said:

The Spurs are going to have to hope Harper develops into a closer, which is entirely possible, or they will need to acquire one. 

Wemby is obviously phenomenal and a freak of nature, but he's not an offensive game closer. He doesn't have a reliable offensive go-to move. 

In close games in the NBA you need a guy or two that you know can get you buckets under pressure. 

The Spurs are super young and can develop it, but right now they don't have it, and it showed when these games got to winning time. 

Agree on Wemby and I really like Harper and Castle... Harper probably should've been playing more instead of Fox this series IMO.

I think the Spurs need a back up C that isn't Olynk, Biyombo, or Plumlee... someone in that mold, but younger. And Wemby has to keep developing on offense. 

They should have a bright future with this core, but need to make some tweaks to the supporting cast and possibly a different HC. If Pop were on the sidelines this series likely plays out differently IMO. 

[HoosierHoopster]

10 minutes ago, BGleas said:

The Spurs are going to have to hope Harper develops into a closer, which is entirely possible, or they will need to acquire one. 

Wemby is obviously phenomenal and a freak of nature, but he's not an offensive game closer. He doesn't have a reliable offensive go-to move. 

In close games in the NBA you need a guy or two that you know can get you buckets under pressure. 

The Spurs are super young and can develop it, but right now they don't have it, and it showed when these games got to winning time. 

Wemby’s only 22. Imo i/ experience and not skill, he’s fully capable of dominating anyone but he was carrying the hopes of all Spurs fans at 22 with no prior finals experience and most other starters around him are very young. Next year he’ll be finals mvp and NBA champ imo.

also some poor, inexperienced coaching involved here

[BGleas]

4 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Agree on Wemby and I really like Harper and Castle... Harper probably should've been playing more instead of Fox this series IMO.

I think the Spurs need a back up C that isn't Olynk, Biyombo, or Plumlee... someone in that mold, but younger. And Wemby has to keep developing on offense. 

They should have a bright future with this core, but need to make some tweaks to the supporting cast and possibly a different HC. If Pop were on the sidelines this series likely plays out differently IMO. 

Agree. As a Celtics fan I'll always love Luke Kornet, but his minutes killed the Spurs in this series. They need a quality big that can allow Wemby to rest in the playoffs and also play alongside him for stretches. They need an Al Horford type that can play with Wemby and spell him as well. 

The Spurs definitely have a bright future. They need to figure out the De'Aron Fox situation because Harper will need to become the point guard, and Fox absolutely killed them. I think he had money on the Knicks. 

 

[BGleas]

12 minutes ago, HoosierHoopster said:

Wemby’s only 22. Imo i/ experience and not skill, he’s fully capable of dominating anyone but he was carrying the hopes of all Spurs fans at 22 with no prior finals experience and most other starters around him are very young. Next year he’ll be finals mvp and NBA champ imo.

also some poor, inexperienced coaching involved here

Yeah, like I said Wemby is a phenomenal, dominant  freakish player. No doubt. And like you said, he's only 22 and will continue to get  even better. 

No doubt about all of that. If/when the Spurs do win a title, he'll almost assuredly be the Finals MVP. 

But with that said, to be a closer he's going to have to develop an unstoppable offensive move or bag. He's super young, but at this point he's not a guy that in a close, tight playoff game that you clear out on 3-4 straight possessions and say, "take us home big fella". 

He's more LeBron than he is Jordan/Kobe. All three all-time greats with multiple titles and Finals MVPs. 

[Demo]

8 minutes ago, BGleas said:

Agree. As a Celtics fan I'll always love Luke Kornet, but his minutes killed the Spurs in this series. They need a quality big that can allow Wemby to rest in the playoffs and also play alongside him for stretches. They need an Al Horford type that can play with Wemby and spell him as well. 

The Spurs definitely have a bright future. They need to figure out the De'Aron Fox situation because Harper will need to become the point guard, and Fox absolutely killed them. I think he had money on the Knicks. 

 

Man, I don’t know what you do with Fox. 4 and 230 or something like that, who’s taking on that thing?  But Harper has to play. What’s the biggest contract that’s ever been just straight up waived? 

[Stuhoo]

The Spurs have a multiple championship quality core of Wemby, Harper, Castle, and maybe Vassel. But their role players got exposed in this series.

They need some easily acquired pieces—a bully backup big, a shooter or two (or three), and a tough-minded small guard.

There are countless players that can be found with those qualities. They’ve already assembled the hard part-multiple young franchise cornerstones.

[BGleas]

10 minutes ago, Demo said:

Man, I don’t know what you do with Fox. 4 and 230 or something like that, who’s taking on that thing?  But Harper has to play. What’s the biggest contract that’s ever been just straight up waived? 

Yeah, I don't know what the Spurs do with Fox. IMO I put him above Mitch Johnson as far as blame for this series, and Mitch Johnson was pretty bad, so that tells you how awful Fox was. 

They have to figure something out. Harper needs to take over, but you can't have Fox coming off the bench. 

In Celtics fan circles a few weeks ago there was talk that Fox would be a good fit with Tatum and Brown. After watching Fox the last two series, and I get he had a hurt ankle, but hell no. I don't want him anywhere near my team.