Monte was the original plan. He almost committed. Then his mom got frustrated that Michigan was pressuring him into committing early.
The fun of June 15th back in the day!
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Beilein offered Walton, Morris and Demetrius Jackson all at once and it was first come, first served for the PG spot.
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Monte and Derrick on the same day but Monte in the morning and Walton in the evening IIRC.
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Yup. If Walton didnāt jump at it, Morris probably would have eventually committed to Michigan.
It worked out for everyone in the end. All 3 ended up being good college PGs.
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They wanted Monte, Austin and Donnal to all commit the same day. Monte was going to but didnāt.
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now no one commits until June of their senior year(at the earliest)!
June 15th used to be electric
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It was. But still doesnāt compare to Portal Month
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Interesting comp, I think if we sliding doors it, there are years weād have been better off with Monte (probably their sophomore and junior years?) and years weād have been better off with Derrick (freshman and senior?). Pretty different players though - Waltonās shooting probably plays better their freshman year, and we definitely needed his superior shooting (even if they ended up scoring about the same) as a senior. That 15-16 team though is probably better off with Monteās superior play-making.
Both really good players though
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With Ainge as the GM for the Jazz, heāll ask for an outrageous comp. He shouldāve traded him away a couple of years ago when his stock was at its highest.
What is Malik Beasley personally offering to Danny Ainge in this scenario in order to acquire Lauri. Dinner? Shoulder rubs?
I am not clear what agency he has
(Good sign Malik intends to be back)
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Yeah, thatās the main takeaway for me.
Recommended reading: The Five Clickbaits You Meet on the Internet, by Mitch Albom Jr.
You beat this Pacers team when
(1) you match their effort in transition. nothing free off misses and esp. not off makes. press them yourself even!
(2) you attack their perimeter D and donāt settle for midrangers. they will let you turn the corner and if Turner tries to protect, you can OREB and score.
if theyāre beating you w this stuff, Hali can give them enough pure shotmaking to keep them in any game they play or run you off the court if you didnāt respect them enough to show up.
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Crazy good defense from Nembhard last night. Probably the best Iāve seen the Deathstar version of Shai defended.
Being allowed to be as physical as they are with him matters a lot for that. Nembhardās good but I think Carlisle is doing a lot of ādare them to foul my guys outā stuff that I donāt really care for either.
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every sport eventually becomes this unless the central governing bodies are incredibly determined to not let it happen, huh
Teams are always incentivized to grind on this stuff. And Silver obviously heard objections that the game isnāt physical enough and decided to push the game this direction, esp. in the playoffs.
I donāt think rewarding the Pacers for being the most adept at grinding these kinds of edges is very fun though.
They are mostly winning bc they figured out the increment you can play harder by playing less is worth it if you play a certain style. And I think thatās interesting if somewhat concerning as well. Iām not convinced this is a dominant strategy but as a baseball person it worries me.
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The NBA has to find a happy medium of the physicality of the game. The regular season was not physical enough yet the pendulum has swung too far into the physicality in the playoff. Players has commented that they were shocked by the playoff basketball physicality.