Talk about a college all star team
I kind of wish G league teams were more regional. In terms of the last 5 guys on the roster.
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The Bulls have played 16 clutch minutes. Their defensive rating is 58.8. That is why theyāre 6-1. Bulls opponents are shooting 9/32 from the field, 1/11 from 3 and have taken just ONE free throw.
70-12 pace
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FACT (yes filter this is a full sentence)
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It looks like the Pistons are going to be tied for the best record in the East if the Bucks hold on to their lead against the Bulls.
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Cade had 34 points and 10 assists and Duren had 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 steals. It was vs. the Nets but they were without Tobias (and Ivey) and lost Isaiah Stewart to a nasty ankle twist early in the 2nd quarter. They continue the road trip at the 76ers on Sunday.
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Tied for the best record in the East and 4-0 against the West!
EDIT: All alone in first place!
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OK, so I suffer from anxiety driven sleep-maintenance insomnia, Iām bored, so Iām going to fire off some NBA takes here to spark conversation. I know the season is young, I know the samples are small. I have league pass, Iāve seen every team at least once save: The Clippers (I just hate watching them), The Jazz (why?), The Nets (same). I think thatās true, off the top of my head.
Teams that have been meaningfully better than I thought in a way that I think may matter long term:
The Sixers (will mention them more later) - Embiidās stats are ok when heās out there, but he really hasnāt helped them - they just have three guards who have been buckets so far (and a fourth on his way back?). George isnāt a star anymore, but an elite shooter, when he returns, would be a nice add.
The Pistons - I think they seem meaningfully better, mostly because of their defense. I thought theyād be a protected seed again, somewhere around 4-6. I think the defense has been so good for the most part (and some of the teams I liked in the East will be on the inverse of this list), they look like a top 3 seed.
The Lakers - I donāt like this anymore than anyone else, but whoever plays with the ball puts up a 45/12 every night, so IDK.
Teams that have been meaningfully worse than I thought in a way that matters.
The Mavericks - I didnāt think these guys would be awesome, but I was pretty sure on 40+ wins, and they just arenāt anywhere close. Their frontcourt depth doesnāt matter if none of the three can play over 40 games, they tried to start a lineup where nobody could dribble at an NBA level with predictable results, and now the team is revolving around DLo. Flagg has been objectionably bad, but this team is almost engineered in a lab to make him look terrible. Davis is fat!
The Magic - a large part of the Pistonsā rise in my estimation. Bane just stands in the corner, they have no idea how to work him in. The huge investments in Wagner and Banchero look more and more like investments in fringe all-stars (I think this was the expectation for Wagner, certainly was not for Paolo), Isaac being done hurts. They still canāt and donāt shoot threes.
The Hawks - Youngās injury obviously is nobodyās fault and hurts here, but everyone I was sort of optimistic about helping them hasnāt been very good - probably leading with the fact nobody can shoot outside Kennard so far. Losing Tre will strong effect both offense and defense in inverse directions, but heās played 5 of their 7 games, itās hard to say this team should be 22nd in offense. Also, net, theyāre about the worst rebounding team outside the Celtics, which I guess was predictable given the roster.
Players who have been meaningfully better than I expected in a way that may sustain:
Tyrese Maxey - Heās not going to shoot 47% from three, admittedly, but heās at a comfortable career high in basically every metric, and heās a guy who, basically every season of his career save last, has been better than I thought heād be. Last year all the injuries left him to be the man, and he couldnāt do it - this year, heās been able to at about the same usage. Heās also managed to stop being dead-meat defensively, which is extremely difficult at his size.
Isaiah Stewart - I just didnāt see āDPOYā (non-Victor division) coming? Heās played at the level. Needs more minutes!
Jaime Jacquez Jr. - Was ready to write him off last year, but heās awesome, and itās not hot shooting (his 3ās have been terrible). Heās just been a bully, bangs guys into the post and scores/draws fouls, and his passing chops are really shining. Easy 6MOY leader.
Players who have fallen short of expectations in a meaningful way
Paolo Banchero - This is part of where their leap was supposed to come from, and heās just the same guy. Part of the theory of the team here is that they can live with a sub-par facilitator at PG (because Suggs does other things) because Franz and especially Banchero are ++ passers for their spots, and that just doesnāt seem to be the case. Theyāre not BAD passers, but not enough to cover for the lack of a PG. This offense just becomes Paolo and Franz pounding the rock way too much, and Iām critcizing Paolo partly because Iām a homer, but also because Paolo, not Franz, was supposed to be The Guy - if theyāre equivalent (they are), heās falling short.
Zion Williamson & Ja Morant - availability was always theoretically the major problem here (for different reasons), but Zion was generally awesome when he was on the floor, and it was easy to trick yourself into thinking that all of Morantās āstuffā was preventing him from really ever coming back. But both these guys have played so far, I think they are just very obviously not what they were, forget what people thought theyād become. A version of Zion that shoots 48% from 2 is simply a bad player, not even a good one. Ja is probably at least a league-average PG on the merits, but itās increasingly obvious heās just a grenade with pin pulled at all times, and āleague average PGāsā arenāt worth all that.
Anthony Davis - I will admit that I have always disliked him - heās so obviously extremely gifted, but wrapped in a laconic, low effort, just wimpy package. The exagerrated falls 200 times a game, always looking like heās just sustained a career ending injuryā¦I canāt take him. But I always thought he was mostly good! He doesnāt play defense anymore, he doesnāt run the floor, heās overweight. He can still score in the post, but thatās really it - heās washed!
Rookies who have performed in a way that makes me re-evaluate my take:
VJ Edgecombe - Knew he was a high character kid, but I thought he was a reach, and if had to choose, 6 months ago, the top 5 pick that would bust, this is it. I donāt think I realized how much his athleticism would pop. He wonāt keep shooting this well, but I was worried heād fall into ābench energy guyā world, and I think thatās not happening.
Dillon Harper - I thought heād be good, but that it would take time. No, it just turns out heās very good, like now!
Cedric Coward - The draftās late-riser, the dude who went from under-the-radar to lottery. Heās just a beast, very obviously going to be a $30 million player. Grizzlies do lots of things wrong as a franchise, but their talent evals are pretty unimpeachable.
Khaman Maluach - For a team with basically no draft assests or cap-space due to the stretching of Beal going forward, passing on that Pelicans pick to draft a guy who canāt get on the floor is roooouuuuugh. Oso Ighadaro is a nice find and Nick Richards I guess scratches ācompetencyā but the bar to SOME playing time here isnāt very high.
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I wonder if Orlando needs to trade one of the two players for a PG. Moseley isnāt a good Xs and Os coach!
Just testing the theory hereā¦
Filter this!
ā¦and yup. Is full sentence.
Banchero is empty calories.
Heās just not doing the thing he was supposed to
this is often a problem with college/ scouting is that people see big guys who ācanā handle or pass as an example and extrapolate it forward but it doesnāt get to the crux of āok but are they GOOD at it, like over mediocre?ā
Banchero CAN handle and pass some in the NBA context but not well enough to pin your offense to
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Drummond can shoot threes???
Big win for the Pistons in Philly without Stew Harris Ivey.
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Okay fine donāt embed https://x.com/statmuse/status/1987718122166497549
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My favorite was Cade throwing one down on Drummond
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This part (video included) after Reed and Bona each got a tech made me laugh:
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Cade is the best player in the East other than Giannis. I will not accept any rebuttal from anyone on this.
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