There's no way someone willingly takes Austin Rivers in a trade. But if they can, go for it. Sucks that Milos is done but since it was so early I didn't have time to fall in love so that's a plus, I guess.
The Bucks don't have a true PG but they aren't really short of play makers. If the Suns are just looking to dump him, they could trade him for pretty much whatever they want as they are far enough under the cap. The move you are suggesting is basically a dump, and I'm guessing they could get a pick back that is better than Milwaukee's. I'd love it if that were the case though, as I enjoy the Bucks. Even if they did trade with the Bucks, I'm sure the Suns would rather just move Bledsoe for Monroe and picks. I'm not sure why they'd want Dellavedova's contract and they don't need to worry about the contracts matching up.
Game winner was hit by a guy named Mike James, who was playing in Greece last year.
Have they done any coaching work with him on boxing out at the free throw line or is the rub on him that it's still an "effort," "does he want it?" deal?
IND shot .667 for the game and over 74% percent (46/62) from inside the 3P arc. Apparently the message about defense wasn't really taken to heart.
I still don't believe in this "loaded" Wolves team. No defense or shooting and a crappy bench. Playoffs sure, but I don't see a 50-win team.
Insane talent but dude simply misses too many games every year. Has only topped 70 games once (last year). I’m not sure if I pay the Davis price even if he were available.
Oladipo is a beast and one of the better two-way players in the league. He took a ton of undeserved heat for being a poor return for George which I never really understood. I really like the Pacers as a darkhorse in the EC regular season with their depth. They are a legit contender for a 4-5 seed imo.
Meh. Fairly typical Blake dunk in which he uses his off hand to pommel-horse himself up on his defender's chest, back or shoulders. That one's borderline, but a lot of his so-called "posters" are pretty obvious offensive fouls.
Who could have guessed that Oladipo's strengths in OKC were being squelched by Mr. Triple Double Stat Chaser?
He was also a terrible fit with Westbrook and it really hurt his game last year.
I still hear from a lot of Ducks and Warriors fans that he needs to learn how to box out better, on free throws and in general.
Know what my favorite Sam Ray Not comment about Westbrook’s stat padding is?
As a disclaimer I'm a Westbrook fan and thought by far he was the most exciting player in basketball last season. The idea that Westbrook "stole" a bunch of rebounds from his teammates could get a triple double has become commonplace. That take would make sense; except OKC was the best rebounding team in all of basketball last year, 46.6 per game. If his teammates were siphoning a bunch of rebounds so Westbrook could average a triple-double; than it's illogical to say that hurt the team's rebounding. What is more likely is that OKC getting premium rebounding from their PG allowed them to lead the league in rebounding.
I think the issue was not that he was stealing rebounds from teammates (since a rebound is a rebound, and you may be right that getting it right into the PG's hands allowed them to get into their break quicker) but that he was regularly selling out on contesting perimeter shots — one of the most important jobs of a PG in today's NBA — in order to rack up those rebounds. Check it out:
This would all be more relevant if the Thunder didn't finish 10th in defensive rating last season. If they were a truly bad defensive team, then maybe sacrificing perimeter contests wasn't worth it; but by allowing Westbrook to self-initiate the offense, OKC was able to fully maximize their abilities on offense while also playing well-above league average on defense. I think that was a strategy that paid off for OKC but YMMV.
Obviously his assist rate was down; he want from playing with Elfrid Payton to prime Russell Westbrook. What did people actually expect from Oladipo heading into the season? For him to average 20+ ppg? I don't remember anyone predicting that he was going to make a big leap once he was traded to OKC, but maybe there were. I'm not saying Westbrook was the ideal teammate for Oladipo, but the idea that he made him much worse based on the first few games of the 2017-2018 season, doesn't seem very definitive.
10th is solid, but solid doesn't mean it can't be improved. Adams, Roberson and Oladipo (their three top minutes guys last season, after Westbrook) are all excellent defenders. Maybe they're top 5 if Russell puts in better effort on defense? He certainly has all the physical tools to be a great defender.
Well, if we're going to point out their above-average defense, we should also point out their below-average offense (105.0 pts allowed per 100 possessions, #17 in the NBA). Maybe that was maximizing their limited abilities, but it's nothing special. It could well be that allowing bigs to rebound more would have made their offense worse. It's also a mathematical certainty that if Westbrook scored with anywhere near the elite efficiency of the other MVP candidates (LeBron, Durant, Curry, Harden, Kawhi, IT, e.g.) their offense would have been been significantly better.
See Bosox79's comment above.
Haha, I like you too! And yeah, I don't know about "disdain", but I will consider Westbrook at least mildly overrated, relative to the other top-line NBA superstars who he beat out for MVP, until he shows that he can lead a great team, make his teammates better, and/or play more efficiently — especially in the playoffs, when his worst hero-ball tendencies tend to emerge (giving rise to the whispers that he's "easy to guard"). Advanced stats like RPM that adjust for quality of floormates do rate him highly (though not as highly as LeBron or Curry), but those are somewhat theoretical compared to actual scoring efficiency and actual team wins.
There was actually no contact at all with Gobert. He turned his head away as a tribute to Fredrick Weis.
Geez you're really criticizing the player for his role changing? You must put the numbers in context with the schemes he's playing within when evaluating a player. Finally, I was impressed with Oladipo's growth last year once he got out of Magic Hell.
No. I'm saying his game was crippled playing along Westbrook because he was forced into a role that didn't really suit him. He's going to be much better this season.
Well he had an increased role in Orlando and he put up basically the exact same stats; except for a decline in assist percentage which was expected.
Yeah, when he was younger. You would expect him to continue to improve as a player at 23. The fact he put up the same stats means he stalled. Granted, that could have also happened in Orlando.
