Around the NBA - March 2018

[KeepOnRollin]

IF you knew our 1st round pick would only land around 25th (instead of around 16 which it looked like at the time) in the draft would you go back in time and give it up for Mirotic? Guy is still balling out.

Now, I still not sure they would have done the deal with us as we would have had to send a bad contract and we would be in luxury tax this year (instead of getting out of it and waiting until next year) so this probably an even more pointless scenario then normal as it wouldn't have happened anyways but.. nice to dream I guess.

 

[KeepOnRollin]

The Bucks are a HORRIBLE defensive team. If they would even be average in that area I could see them as a top 3 east squad.

And just like that they hold a team to 14 points in a quarter. But on the whole season they are horrible in most defensive-metrics.

 

[jonnyboy]

How will you want Dame to handle it when it gets to this phase of his career?

Definitely not to just roll over and participate in a tank job. There is just no pride in that IMO. I'd rather my team fight til the end regardless of lottery implications. I know there's plenty of guys here who support tanking but I think it's just bullshit in an industry that already overcharges fans to view their product.

 

[KingSpeed]

Knicks winning tank battle in Sacramento

 

[THE HCP]

Timbers-0
Galaxy-0

 

[riverman]

Good. I can't stand Thibodeau. He yells as much as Doc Rivers during every game I've ever watched.

He reminds me of the penguin from the Batman series

 

[BBert]

Dirk probably has zero investment in tanking this late in his career. He probably legitimately wants to play decent basketball in his last years in the league. Tanking won't pay any dividends for the Mavs while he is an active player. I'd be pissed too wasting my last years pretending to care.

I don't know. Dirk and Cuban have been pretty loyal to each other for an awfully long time. Cuban clearly told Dirk he wants to tank. I could see Dirk doing Cuban a solid. And the Mavs aren't playing for anything either way. Dirk can go out and play his best, and the team will still lose. They legit suck. I don't see how it affects him at this point.

 

[THE HCP]

This is WRONG right? Why does he have US with a higher number than the Wolves if we are AHEAD of them in the standings? Am I missing something?

 

[handiman]

I don't know. Dirk and Cuban have been pretty loyal to each other for an awfully long time. Cuban clearly told Dirk he wants to tank. I could see Dirk doing Cuban a solid. And the Mavs aren't playing for anything either way. Dirk can go out and play his best, and the team will still lose. They legit suck. I don't see how it affects him at this point.

Also, Dirk has pretty much any Mavs front office job he wants when he retires, so he might be just as interested in landing the next star talent as he eases into the executive portion of his career.

 

[Sarni]

If Dirk wanted to compete right now, he wouldn't still be playing for Dallas. It has been clear for two years that they are in rebuild mode and won't win much. He is probably fine with that as he should clearly understand the need to acquire better quality of talent, and as already mentioned above he might see himself as a front office part in the future so it will also be in his best interest to get a high draft pick.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

This is WRONG right? Why does he have US with a higher number than the Wolves if we are AHEAD of them in the standings? Am I missing something?

You're missing the fact that the Wolves have played more games.

 

[crandc]

The Sunday SF Chronicle had a feature on players to watch down the stretch. No Blazers. Not surprising since the author, Bruce Jenkins, has hated the Blazers all the way back to Drexler days.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

 

[Chris Craig]

Pull off what, that terrible looking jersey

 

[Chris Craig]

This is WRONG right? Why does he have US with a higher number than the Wolves if we are AHEAD of them in the standings? Am I missing something?

Blazers have to win 18 to make the playoffs? Oh 3rd place

 

[riverman]

Pull off what, that terrible looking jersey

I'm trying to figure out which Denver Nugget shoe he's wearing...powder blue?

 

[tester551]

Blazers have to win 18 to make the playoffs? Oh 3rd place

I think they are saying 3rd place. This is a combination of Blazer wins AND losses for whatever team is at position #4 (in this case, NOP).

This website does a better job conveying the information:
http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/westernwinmagicnumbers.html

 

[hoopsjock]

I think they are saying 3rd place. This is a combination of Blazer wins AND losses for whatever team is at position #4 (in this case, NOP).

This website does a better job conveying the information:
http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/westernwinmagicnumbers.html

A team's magic number is to make the playoffs not a specific seed. The number isn't simply how many wins they need it is a combination of their wins and losses from other teams outside of the playoffs.

So if the Blazers win tonight the number becomes at worst 17 depending on what happens with other teams. It's really complicated to do magic numbers with 7 teams having a realistic shot at 5 spots.

 

[Natebishop3]

It's called luck. That's not a skill play. That's a dumb luck play.

 

[tester551]

A team's magic number is to make the playoffs not a specific seed. The number isn't simply how many wins they need it is a combination of their wins and losses from other teams outside of the playoffs.

So if the Blazers win tonight the number becomes at worst 17 depending on what happens with other teams. It's really complicated to do magic numbers with 7 teams having a realistic shot at 5 spots.

That's what I said. Except, it's not a combination of losses from people outside the playoffs - it's losses of the #9 team.

The Hardwood Paraxomium tweet showed the magic number being 18. If you'd click the link I provided, Portland's actual magic number is 15. That's why I said that I think they were saying for the 3rd seed....but it wasn't clear.

 

[Natebishop3]

 

[Chris Craig]

A team's magic number is to make the playoffs not a specific seed. The number isn't simply how many wins they need it is a combination of their wins and losses from other teams outside of the playoffs.

So if the Blazers win tonight the number becomes at worst 17 depending on what happens with other teams. It's really complicated to do magic numbers with 7 teams having a realistic shot at 5 spots.

Yeah it makes it confusing as hell

 

[Wizard Mentor]

You're missing the fact that the Wolves have played more games.

That's probably it, but the internet doesn't have enough memory to store what @HCP is missing

 

[Strenuus]

Why did we show this?

 

[Boob-No-More]

Why did we show this?

To give me hope, that even at the age of 56, I could still potentially win a dunk contest - in Japan, where any dunk on a 10' rim automatically warrants a 9 out of 10 score.

BNM

 

[Natebishop3]

Why did we show this?

You don't see the humor in it?

To give me hope, that even at the age of 56, I could still potentially win a dunk contest - in Japan, where any dunk on a 10' rim automatically warrants a 9 out of 10 score.

BNM

This guy gets it.

 

[BonesJones]

The Bucks are a HORRIBLE defensive team. If they would even be average in that area I could see them as a top 3 east squad.

Middleton is overrated on that end as of now. He's become only an average defender.

 

[KingSpeed]

Wow Pacers. Surprise team of the entire NBA.

 

[SportsAndWhine]

Go Memphis!

 

[-Ace-]

Wow Pacers. Surprise team of the entire NBA.

Even more than us?