The Poole story just feels grim. A lot of NBA fans don’t seem to mind laughing and that’s all well and good but I dk. Have my worries about what all is going on between his ears.
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Yeah I’m sort of thinking he’s not ok. He certainly looks miserable
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Hardaway finished with 32. Most second half points by a bench player on 12/12/23.
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And he did it against the NBA Cup 
Champs!!!
Damn they couldn’t even get THJr a picture like all the others listed? #disrespect
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Caris is having a pretty nice night in his second game back: 22 points (8-14, 3-5, 3-4) 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
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Caris finished with 26/3/5 3 steals and a block. The Cavs lost to the Celtics by 9.
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I hadn’t heard this before but on today’s show, Sam Webb was saying that Jordan Poole told Draymond that he was only “Number 30’s backpack” prior to the sucker-punch. Pretty funny.
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weird insult. draymond’s the one who shoots like he has a backpack on, not steph
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30/4/8 for JP tonight…and the Wiz win!
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I think it’s time that Livers had a send-down to the G-League to see if he can get right. He’s really struggling right now. I think the Pistons shouldn’t have brought a guy who hasn’t played competitive basketball in seven months right into the mix. I’m sure they did it because they were desperate for some sort of fix but it hasn’t paid off for Livers or the team.
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Two more weeks:
Kobe Bufkin has like…4 more weeks minimum on the stated timeline?
Moussa Diabate is listed as being out with a “sore hip” and hasn’t played in 2 weeks. “Sore hip” is NOT code for “G-League”, I even looked.
Jett Howard played about 11:30 over 3 games of the Magic’s past 5. He scored 9 points on 5 shots. As you may have guessed, the games weren’t that competitive (30+ point win, two 17 point losses). He was 2/3 from 3.
An injury to Joe Ingles has given Caleb Houstan some relatively regular rotation minutes over the past 2 weeks - 4 of their 5 games, about 15 minutes per game. The Magic have oddly not played many competitive games lately, and the two they did play involved his lowest minute load and a DNP, so I’m not positive where he rests in their hierarchy (I still think not in the rotation if everyone is healthy, but one of the first guys in if they aren’t?). Regardless, he scored 19 points in these 4 games (a hair under 5 per game) but took 15 shots to do it. He was 4/14 on threes (28.6%) and 2/2 on twos (that’s…100%). Given that “making threes” is kind of his purpose, I’m assuming this has not given him a firmer grip on PT.
I won’t add to @JD1 's post this morning regarding Livers, he’s not doing well, the lack of ramp up to the NBA level (ie, he went to the Pistons after missing a ton of the off-season and no rehab assignment is probably one of the more minor signs of organizational rot in the franchise (needing a 4th year 2nd round draft pick with 71 games of NBA experience RIGHT NOW is a bad sign?) but his numbers over the past two weeks: about 18:45 a game (cut down to 4 last night), 2.9 points on 20.6% shooting, 13.6% from three. I can’t speak to his defense, but the Pistons are getting shredded there, so he’s not saving them (not that saving them is his job). A real franchise would be able to afford to send him to the G League.
Franz Wagner is continuing to struggle a bit from 3 and generally balance his higher usage role with his efficiency. He’s had a 17/6/5 with 2 turnovers in the past two weeks - pretty good - but the scoring efficiency is lagging a tad. He shot 13% from three, which is making the rest look a little weak, but also went 28/60 (48%) from 2, which is 3 points under his season average and about 7 points back from last year. The three point shooting is on a pretty consistent attempt rate to last year, so I think that’s still just make or miss stuff, but the two point shooting is on an increase of about 2 attempts per game which, statistically, he’s missing both. He’s by no means BAD, but is struggling a little to consolidate his gains. To the positive, he’s lifted his rebounding rate from 9% to 11% this year, his assist rate from 17% to 18%, and his shot rate pretty substantially while seeing his turnover rate drop by 3%. That’s a pretty good trick! His “stocks” are also up about 1% combined, and for the first time in his career, most advanced metrics grade him out as a positive defensive player. There’s still plenty to like here, just hopefully his scoring comes around.
Here’s a video of Jordan Poole flopping, then falling over in his flop-sweat (literally!).
I won’t belabor this one today. These two weeks have been his best this season: close to 18 points per game, 48.5% from the floor, 43.9% from 3, 3.6 assists, 2.9 turnovers. The assists/turnover ratio is still pretty gnarly, but he played probably 3 of his 4-5 best games of the season in this 7 game stretch - 23 on 16 shots in a close loss to Philly, 30 on 18 in their win (!!) over Indianapolis, and 28 on 18 in a loss to the Kings.
Mo Wagner has hit a little bit of a rough patch in the past two weeks (5 games): His shooting is still ok - “only” 50% from the floor (he had been at 63%, but regression to means, etc) and going 3-9 from the line didn’t help. He also only took 6 shots total in a pair consecutive 17 point losses to the Celtics. It’s his worst stretch of the season, but also not a nightmare - for the time being, we’ll just chalk it up to natural ebbs and flows and move along.
Caris Levert had a minor injury cost him the first 3 games of this stretch (after missing the final game of the last one), but has come back for the following 4 and done pretty well. 15.8 points, 3.5 assists, 4 rebounds, and close to 2 steals per game. As always, his turnover numbers are a bit sloppy, and his shooting efficiency a tad questionable (63 points on 55 shots isn’t AWESOME) but this is a team desperate for a 2nd guy who can dribble when either Garland or Mitchell sit, and he’s provided that (only 17 of his close to 600 minutes so far have come with both of those guys on the floor).
Tim Hardaway Jr. continues to bomb away happily, and is continuing something of a comeback season. He scored 18.7 points per game, playing 6 of their 7 in this stretch, including games of 20, 25, and 32 points. He only shot 39% from the floor, and 32% from 3, neither of which are so hot, but his attempt rate is just way up (he had 2 major stinkers in this stretch in which he combined for 7/27 from the floor and 2/11 from three). He plays quite a bit with most of the Mavericks starters, most notably Luka, but the team is largely struggling when he does play, as they really struggle to rebound at all when he’s on the floor (both their offensive and defensive rebounding rates fall by 7% when he plays vs. when he doesn’t). Obviously “getting rebounds” has never been his thing, but perhaps this is a consequence of his age/roster related shift from being a 2 to being a 3.
The best story this week, and it’s not close, is Duncan Robinson. We’ve observed lots of the trends already - improved shooting, a sudden growth in on-ball reps and play-making, relatively low turnovers, but the longer those things exhibit themselves, the more “real” it becomes. He scored nearly 15 per game in their past 7 games, making 46% of his shots, and 42% from three - and this includes a 1 point, 0/7 (0/6) stinker. He handed out nearly 4 assists per game (including games with 7 and 6) two about 2 turnovers - hitting the 2:1 assist/turnover threshold. There are SOME indications the playmaking is a little stretched…prior to this period, he had 1 game with over 2 turnovers, and he combined for 10 in a two game stretch here, but still…this is pretty staggering stuff. One thing to note - Tyler Herro has returned in their final game of this stretch, moving Duncan to the bench. He still played 22 minutes, and the Heat tend to play a host of 6’6" to 6’8" guys and start lots of combos, so who knows (Kevin Love also started), but worth keeping an eye on.
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That Poole video is comedy gold.
So is this our video game depth chart?
PG: C. Levert, J. Poole
SG: T. Hardaway, K. Bufkin
SF: D. Robinson, I. Livers, J. Howard
PF: F. Wagner, M. Diabate, C. Houstan
C: M. Wagner, C. Castleton
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Houstan is a 2/3 in the nba
This is pretty funny. How good is this hypothetical team? They’re going to get abused down low but it’s maybe not that bad? Gotta be better than the Pistons at least
It’s bad
Not having an actual PG is basically disqualifying. One guys defense rises to “better than average”.
We do have a few big “3” little “d” guys, nobody here is a good rebounder for their position except maybe Diabate but it’s his only NBA skill. Hardaway and Duncan don’t have much utility without anyone who can pass
Better than the Pistons
Well
I’m gonna say “no”. Unsurprisingly the fit is bad (given this isn’t an actual roster)
Maybe you didn’t intend to but I feel like you’re underselling Franz season a tad. Last year he was doing what he did for a bad team, and now he’s doing a little more, a little worse (so far), but on a good NBA team. That’s improvement IMO even though the stats make it seem like a minor regression
Reading it again, I’m probably just being a bit defensive of my boy Franz. I just think he’s a legit good high usage player on a playoff team which no Michigan player has been able to say since… Jalen Rose??
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I think a ton of the difference, though, is on the defensive side of the ball, which isn’t his primary contribution point.
I’d also argue that after the first 20 games, the Magic were actually pretty good last year!
How’s this:
What conference produces the best NBA team?
For example, big ten’s 12 man roster would be like (off the top of my head)
C: JJJ
PF: OG
SF: Franz
SG: Huerter
PG: Conley
Duncan, Draymond, Keegan Murray, Bridges, Levert, Mo, Harris off the bench
tough cut: Timmy. They are worse than Timmy, but would consider Ayo just to get someone else who play PG, and Tillman as another big. B10 is thin up front and at PG, lots of 2-4’s
I think that starting 5 is legitimately excellent. Worried about PG depth
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