Jaylen Williams and Chet are definitely good. Dort is like a spry PJ Tucker. I think the fact that they’ve turned this bevy of nobodies (the big Jalen Williams, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace) into quality role players (Wallace moreso because rookie point guards are notoriously bad) suggests they have a really good developmental framework in place, which Daignault deserves some credit for
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I assume you mean Jalen Williams? Cause yeah he and Chet and Shai are a pretty insanely nifty and synergistic big 3. We’ll see what OKC can do before those guys get the rookie max extensions
They definitely have both great development and very good draft scouting. I don’t think anyone was touting SGA as a potential future mvp til after year 3 which is kind of rare
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My roster building philosophy is that you need a core made up of an all-star guard, wing/forward and big. OKC is in great shape with Shai-Jalen-Chet. Now they need to build around them. Dort is a good piece. Isiah Joe is a good shooter. They have so much draft capital I think they’re set up to be good for a long time.
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You cannot expect me to consistently get my Ja(y)len Williams’ straight! Assume from here out out I am referring to the smaller good one
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They really do need to trade the lesser one for the good of the basketball community.
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Are you reading my posts in the Pistons Forum?
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Was being kind of facetious, I def believe everybody who says their big three is legit and that they have a number of good role players. But I like to just, yknow, try to see it for myself, veil of ignorance style.
So: I decided that I came around on Dort to at least not hating him bc I think he’s having a significant effect on Luka even tho he doesn’t have these big splashy plays. I think him playing 40 min is maybe kind of silly tho. He’s a real issue for their offense.
Chet def has some issues related to being very young and tall that I suspect will go away in a few years. But he also clearly affects shots at the rim even when he’s not getting a ton of blocks. His offense in this series seems like it’s really affected by having one or both of Dort and Giddey on the court.
Jalen Williams, I didn’t focus on a ton.
Overall, I want to watch their D more closely. Was spending a lot of time on their O bc I’d heard they were interesting and was annoyed they just bogged down w simple 1-5 ball screens. They went pure switch hunting late and that didn’t go that great either? They weirdly won that game in large part bc they went into so much SGA/Jalen iso ball and never turned it over while playing sick D. Was frustrated they didn’t run off misses, like, ever. They were forcing a ton and playing small and Dallas has Luka and Kyrie out there that hate doing things like getting back and playing with multiple efforts. Feel like those guys will play with effort if you make it easy for them to do it?
Fun disgusting game.
I have always had a soft spot for OKC because my mom is from there, and I’m so happy that they were able to tear down and rebuild so quickly. everybody focuses on how presti amasses picks but landing shai in the PG trade was his biggest move by far. he’s somehow become a little underrated as one of the best executives in the NBA.
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re: dort, have to be willing to live with him looking like a football player whenever he tries to dribble when he’s capable of slowing down one of the top scorers in the NBA. his three ball is cromulent too. hit a big one last night.
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It was funny watching his 3 pt line last night. Dallas was plenty happy to let him rip from 3 and I think he was like 1 for 6 and then 2 for 9. But that final make was pretty huge. If he’s actually making the easy looks he gets it all works pretty well on O? But it’s been a pretty big struggle so far seems like. 46% TS for the series so far is not ideal.
Hit 39% behind the arc with his lowest attempts since his rookie year. Hitting 42% this playoffs as well. He has never lacked for confidence.
No! Fortunately for me frequenting Pistons forums is not one of my vices. Certainly not after the past few years!
yeah wouldn’t say he’s a good shooter - very slow release - but he’s willing to take the open ones and his percentage has steadily improved. more than anything though, his skill set and body type are pretty much ideal for defending a luka doncic. or an anthony edwards, for that matter.
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Lu’s a 35% three point shooter on 1600+ career attempts, the arc is improvement but maybe this year’s 39% was over-heated, his first year was 23%, which he’s obviously better than. His volume is solid (close to 7 per 36 mins).
I think he is officially “fine” at shooting threes.
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yep, agreed. perfectly cromulent.
TIL cromulent is a made up word! It came from The Simpsons
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Really, all words are made up when you think of it
(yes, I know it’s from the Simpsons)
Apparently it has been placed in Merriam-Webster
“Embiggens? I’ve never heard that word before I moved to Springfield.”
“I don’t know why, it’s a perfectly cromulent word.”
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I scrolled through the Matas recruiting thread. Dot said that someone on the coaching staff said he was the best player they’ve recruited.
https://twitter.com/TheDunkCentral/status/1790447656206053798?t=GaKQhlfOA-7VtkHp1kXgvA&s=19
Bron helping JJ get a gig?
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If I was making millions doing podcasts there is NO WAY I would ever take a head coaching job
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