2022-23 NBA Thread: “you’ll never let me down like the Heat did”, Miami fan says to giant pile of cocaine (3 Viewers)

[identikit]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

 

[MAC_32]

10 off Carmelo's record.

He's gone cold now. Won't hit it.

Dude finishes with 57 and they STILL lose to a Minnesota team playing without KAT and Ant. Inexcusable.

Meh. Better teams lose all the time. It’s a long season and **** happens.

That attitude is fine in December, but not so much in late March with only 10 games left, and the difference between the 5/6 seeds is playing the Cavs or playing the Sixers...

Given their schedules I don't think the 6ers are locked into the 3. Last week's L may end up being the difference maker even if the Cavs finish hot though.

They're a lot closer to the 2 seed than the 4 seed.

They are, but Sixers have the much tougher schedule, as he alludes to. Cavs could easily go 7-2 (if not better) which means Sixers going 4-7 would let Cleveland pass them. Sixers have no gimmes left. Still probably unlikely, but far from impossible.

Cavs only have 8 games left. Let's say they go 6-2.

Philly has 10 games left and is 4 full games up on them. Philly would need to go 3-7. (I'm already counting tonight as a W)

If the Cavs win tomorrow I'd bet on over 6.5 wins.

 

[Deamon]

10 off Carmelo's record.

He's gone cold now. Won't hit it.

Dude finishes with 57 and they STILL lose to a Minnesota team playing without KAT and Ant. Inexcusable.

Meh. Better teams lose all the time. It’s a long season and **** happens.

That attitude is fine in December, but not so much in late March with only 10 games left, and the difference between the 5/6 seeds is playing the Cavs or playing the Sixers...

Given their schedules I don't think the 6ers are locked into the 3. Last week's L may end up being the difference maker even if the Cavs finish hot though.

They're a lot closer to the 2 seed than the 4 seed.

They are, but Sixers have the much tougher schedule, as he alludes to. Cavs could easily go 7-2 (if not better) which means Sixers going 4-7 would let Cleveland pass them. Sixers have no gimmes left. Still probably unlikely, but far from impossible.

Cavs only have 8 games left. Let's say they go 6-2.

Philly has 10 games left and is 4 full games up on them. Philly would need to go 3-7. (I'm already counting tonight as a W)

If the Cavs win tomorrow I'd bet on over 6.5 wins.

7-1? I don't see it. But sure, then all Philly needs to do is go 4-6

 

[The Gator]

wild last few minutes in the GS/DAL game. very fun

 

[MAC_32]

10 off Carmelo's record.

He's gone cold now. Won't hit it.

Dude finishes with 57 and they STILL lose to a Minnesota team playing without KAT and Ant. Inexcusable.

Meh. Better teams lose all the time. It’s a long season and **** happens.

That attitude is fine in December, but not so much in late March with only 10 games left, and the difference between the 5/6 seeds is playing the Cavs or playing the Sixers...

Given their schedules I don't think the 6ers are locked into the 3. Last week's L may end up being the difference maker even if the Cavs finish hot though.

They're a lot closer to the 2 seed than the 4 seed.

They are, but Sixers have the much tougher schedule, as he alludes to. Cavs could easily go 7-2 (if not better) which means Sixers going 4-7 would let Cleveland pass them. Sixers have no gimmes left. Still probably unlikely, but far from impossible.

Cavs only have 8 games left. Let's say they go 6-2.

Philly has 10 games left and is 4 full games up on them. Philly would need to go 3-7. (I'm already counting tonight as a W)

If the Cavs win tomorrow I'd bet on over 6.5 wins.

7-1? I don't see it. But sure, then all Philly needs to do is go 4-6

...which is why I said last week's L may be the difference, but it is certainly in the range of potential outcomes. 6ers schedule is brutal. All moot if the Cavs suffer a 3 day hangover in NYC like they did in South Beach 2 weeks ago though.

 

[GroveDiesel]

What the heck? Gotta go down to the “Mavs don’t play defense” video.

Did they somehow just get totally confused and forget which basket they were defending or what?

 

[Deamon]

10 off Carmelo's record.

He's gone cold now. Won't hit it.

Dude finishes with 57 and they STILL lose to a Minnesota team playing without KAT and Ant. Inexcusable.

Meh. Better teams lose all the time. It’s a long season and **** happens.

That attitude is fine in December, but not so much in late March with only 10 games left, and the difference between the 5/6 seeds is playing the Cavs or playing the Sixers...

Given their schedules I don't think the 6ers are locked into the 3. Last week's L may end up being the difference maker even if the Cavs finish hot though.

They're a lot closer to the 2 seed than the 4 seed.

They are, but Sixers have the much tougher schedule, as he alludes to. Cavs could easily go 7-2 (if not better) which means Sixers going 4-7 would let Cleveland pass them. Sixers have no gimmes left. Still probably unlikely, but far from impossible.

Cavs only have 8 games left. Let's say they go 6-2.

Philly has 10 games left and is 4 full games up on them. Philly would need to go 3-7. (I'm already counting tonight as a W)

If the Cavs win tomorrow I'd bet on over 6.5 wins.

7-1? I don't see it. But sure, then all Philly needs to do is go 4-6

...which is why I said last week's L may be the difference, but it is certainly in the range of potential outcomes. 6ers schedule is brutal. All moot if the Cavs suffer a 3 day hangover in NYC like they did in South Beach 2 weeks ago though.

I fully agree their schedule is brutal, and I'm not being over confident on them, but they're 9-1 in their last 10. I think they will manage 4-6.

 

[jvdesigns2002]

What the heck? Gotta go down to the “Mavs don’t play defense” video.

Did they somehow just get totally confused and forget which basket they were defending or what?

Apparently a ref said something to the effect of “Warriors ball, Mavs timeout”. Somehow the Mavs thought he indicated that it was Mavs ball/Mavs timeout. Because of that—they lined up on their offensive side of the court thinking that they would inbound it at half court. Of course—the Warriors knew it was their ball and took advantage of the Mavs being on the opposite end of the court. On the live cast—one of the commentators said that Mark Cuban mentioned that he would protest the game if the Mavs lost by 2 points or less. We’ll see if that ends up coming to fruition.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

What the heck? Gotta go down to the “Mavs don’t play defense” video.

Did they somehow just get totally confused and forget which basket they were defending or what?

Apparently a ref said something to the effect of “Warriors ball, Mavs timeout”. Somehow the Mavs thought he indicated that it was Mavs ball/Mavs timeout. Because of that—they lined up on their offensive side of the court thinking that they would inbound it at half court. Of course—the Warriors knew it was their ball and took advantage of the Mavs being on the opposite end of the court. On the live cast—one of the commentators said that Mark Cuban mentioned that he would protest the game if the Mavs lost by 2 points or less. We’ll see if that ends up coming to fruition.

He should protest his own coach being a moron.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

one of the commentators said that Mark Cuban mentioned that he would protest the game if the Mavs lost by 2 points or less. We’ll see if that ends up coming to fruition

Cuban went right to the Twitters: https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1638726798698586116?cxt=HHwWiIC9herV9r0tAAAA

 

[The Big Donkey]

What the heck? Gotta go down to the “Mavs don’t play defense” video.

Did they somehow just get totally confused and forget which basket they were defending or what?

love it. hope the mavs end up lottery at #11.

 

[Encyclopedia Brown]

That's some haircut on Jock Landale. It's a cross between Larry Fine and Sean Penn in Carlito's Way.

 

[Frostillicus]

So with about 10 games to go the West has all of 3.5 games separating hosting a playoff series and missing the play-in. I don't remember anything like this. Nine teams in that mess for 7 spots.

 

[Moe.]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

 

[identikit]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

 

[encaitar]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

Correct. If it was their ball they would've had the option to move it to their half and likely expected to do so.

Mavs are gonna win this appeal IMO. There was one ref that was standing on the baseline on the same side of the court as the Mavs, so even the whole ref crew didn't know the call. No idea why the ref allowed the inbounds without at least pointing and indicating it was Warriors ball. Seems pretty stupid to me.

 

[msudaisy26]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

Correct. If it was their ball they would've had the option to move it to their half and likely expected to do so.

Mavs are gonna win this appeal IMO. There was one ref that was standing on the baseline on the same side of the court as the Mavs, so even the whole ref crew didn't know the call. No idea why the ref allowed the inbounds without at least pointing and indicating it was Warriors ball. Seems pretty stupid to me.

I don't think they win the appeal. The ref signals Warriors ball and timeout Mavs. I am sure there was some confusion after the timeout and the refs should have held up the inbounds when all the Mavs were on the wrong side of the court, but this is one play in the 3rd quarter and just taking that bucket away doesn't magically mean the game is tied, plus we have no idea if the Warriors would have still scored after a regular inbounds.

The last time a protest was actually won they had to go back and replay the game from that point. I just don't see them doing that here.

I think Cuban is a fantastic owner and great for the NBA, but he comes off bad here. Saying he would only protest the game if it was decided by 2 points and calling that play the worst miscall in NBA history.

 

[Jayrod]

I wouldn't let that happen in a HS game. However, I also don't let the offense take a quick inbounds after a turnover to get a cheap fast break and the NBA does that all of the time. We are taught to take our time before inbounding to make sure the other officials are all ready and that the other team is ready to play and knows which way we are going. The only time I've ever broken this philosophy is if a team won't leave their huddle after a TO or quarter break and we've given them multiple warnings to take the court. If the offense is ready to go and they are just walking onto the court, I'll give a really loud whistle and hand the inbounder the ball. But again, that is only after multiple warnings. I thought it was shocking to let the Warriors inbound without doing anything to alert Dallas. I honestly think the refs were confused about which direction the Warriors were going for a second. Like they knew it was Warriors ball but thought they were going the other way (I know I've forgotten which way teams were going for a second and had to look at the benches and then check which half we are in).

 

[Jayrod]

As for Cuban's protest....I don't think he should win it. The score differential effected a ton of how the game played out and bringing teams back to finish that game seems impossible at this point in the season with their schedule full and they don't play Golden State again this year.

 

[SWC]

if he wins the appeal would they start the game over from the point of the wrong inbound or what i dont know the rules on this one if that is the case i bet the nba finds some way to say oh hell no because imagine the logistics to play 1 and a half quarters of bball over again take that to the bank brohans

 

[Anarchy99]

IMO, people didn't know what was happening on the inbounds play for GS / DAL. Even Kerr said after the game he thought it was GS ball, but where the players and refs were on the court after the timeout, even he wasn't sure. They should have gotten everyone on the same page before handing the ball to the Warriors. When that didn't happen, they should have blown the whistle, reset the game and shot clocks, and replayed those few seconds. Since that didn't happen, I think the Mavs are out of luck. As already mentioned, the league doesn't have the time and desire to get both teams together to replay 20 minutes of basketball in the last weeks of the regular season.

 

[SWC]

also bucks won last night yay take that to the bank bromigos

 

[thecatch]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

Correct. If it was their ball they would've had the option to move it to their half and likely expected to do so.

Mavs are gonna win this appeal IMO. There was one ref that was standing on the baseline on the same side of the court as the Mavs, so even the whole ref crew didn't know the call. No idea why the ref allowed the inbounds without at least pointing and indicating it was Warriors ball. Seems pretty stupid to me.

I don’t recall what the standard is for winning an appeal but it’s way beyond “the refs screwed something up that affected the game.” IIRC the Kings appealed a game where the issue was whether a player had touched a ball on an inbounds pass on the last play of the game, and there was video evidence that a player had gotten a finger on it. Still lost.

 

[Anarchy99]

Team Records vs. Top 8 other teams (MIL, BOS, PHI, DEN, MEM, CLE, SAC, NYK, BRK)

MIL: 12-7 (DEN, BOS, MEM, MIL still to play)
BOS: 14-9 (MIL, PHI remaining)
PHI: 13-8 (DEN, MIL, BOS, BRK remaining)
DEN: 7-8 (MIL, PHI remaining)
MEM: 9-9 (MIL remaining)
CLE: 9-14 (BRK, NYK remaining)
SAC: 8-10 (DEN remaining)
NYK: 12-12 (CLE remaining)
BRK: 7-16 (CLE, PHI remaining)

 

[Leeroy Jenkins]

Sixers need to be resting Embiid and Harden for the playoffs at this point. Why risk them if both are sore right now on this West Coast trip?

 

[Instinctive]

We suck anyway. Would rather try to win the lottery. And I have a financial stake in winning via selling our playoff seats lol.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

Correct. If it was their ball they would've had the option to move it to their half and likely expected to do so.

Mavs are gonna win this appeal IMO. There was one ref that was standing on the baseline on the same side of the court as the Mavs, so even the whole ref crew didn't know the call. No idea why the ref allowed the inbounds without at least pointing and indicating it was Warriors ball. Seems pretty stupid to me.

I don't think they win the appeal. The ref signals Warriors ball and timeout Mavs. I am sure there was some confusion after the timeout and the refs should have held up the inbounds when all the Mavs were on the wrong side of the court, but this is one play in the 3rd quarter and just taking that bucket away doesn't magically mean the game is tied, plus we have no idea if the Warriors would have still scored after a regular inbounds.

The last time a protest was actually won they had to go back and replay the game from that point. I just don't see them doing that here.

I think Cuban is a fantastic owner and great for the NBA, but he comes off bad here. Saying he would only protest the game if it was decided by 2 points and calling that play the worst miscall in NBA history.

Yeah, really low likelihood that he wins the appeal. It was a weird play, but to suggest that they would have won the game if not for this single play is dumb. For practical purposes, they lost by 5 points. The W’s let Reggie Bullock shoot a wide open 3 with < 1 second left in the game (thus closing the gap to 2 pts).

Either way though, the refs were absolutely wrong to let the play unfold as it did. The Mavs were clearly confused, and the refs are responsible for properly communicating with both teams. It doesn’t seem that happened — although we are talking about Jason Kidd so……

 

[msudaisy26]

Sixers need to be resting Embiid and Harden for the playoffs at this point. Why risk them if both are sore right now on this West Coast trip?

You do realize who the coach is? He left Embiid in last year when they were up 30 with like 4 minutes left in the game and Embiid missed the next 2 playoffs games.

 

[zoobird]

Terrible job by the refs in the GS-Dallas game. Obviously the inbounds play was the worst, but shortly before that GS turned the ball over when Lamb got knocked down from behind and no foul was called.

 

[Deamon]

Sixers need to be resting Embiid and Harden for the playoffs at this point. Why risk them if both are sore right now on this West Coast trip?

My hope is that the 3 seed is set in stone with a few games left and they rest everyone but who knows. I liked what they did with the bulls where embiid didn't play the 2nd half, but he surely couldn't have been happy with his per/game stats dropping. I think he wants MVP more than he says.

 

[General Malaise]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Terrible job by the refs in the GS-Dallas game. Obviously the inbounds play was the worst, but shortly before that GS turned the ball over when Lamb got knocked down from behind and no foul was called.

Ugh. Yeah, that Lamb play was absurd.

 

[Anarchy99]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

There's been talk here in BOS of trading Jaylen Brown for Lillard. As a Celtics fan, I am generally not a huge fan of trading for a player 6 years older. Brown is back in the news this week for having given multiple interviews where he conveyed that he wasn't happy, didn't feel appreciated, and wasn't sure if he would commit to the Celtics long term.

 

[General Malaise]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

There's been talk here in BOS of trading Jaylen Brown for Lillard. As a Celtics fan, I am generally not a huge fan of trading for a player 6 years older. Brown is back in the news this week for having given multiple interviews where he conveyed that he wasn't happy, didn't feel appreciated, and wasn't sure if he would commit to the Celtics long term.

Obviously, I would take Brown in a heartbeat for Lillard, but this city can't have nice things. It'll never happen. The toothless GM will trade him this summer for 2nd round picks, expiring contracts and whatever Duke player that busted out of his former teams (Justise Winslow, Cam Reddish, Rodney Hood).

And I would hope beyond hope that Lillard lands on a wining team ready to contend. I want nothing but the best for him. He gave Portland everything he had and was loyal all along the way.

 

[Capella]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

Not really. Orlando has been to two finals the last 30 years.

 

[General Malaise]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

Not really. Orlando has been to two finals the last 30 years.

That's fair. And Chet's coming.

We are the new Charlotte.

 

[FatMax]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Let the man go. Should have traded him last season but the rudderless team ownership group dawdled and did nothing but puke salary for little to nothing in return. It's a moribund franchise that is on the precipice of irrelevance and years of bleakness. We are going to be the new Orlando.

Not really. Orlando has been to two finals the last 30 years.

That's fair. And Chet's coming.

We are the new Charlotte.

Sorry man.

After getting teabagged by the entire NBA for the better part of two decades, sodomized by ownership, and having a GM that couldn't find his own *** with a map, I totally understand. I'm just going to enjoy this while I can. Go Kings.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Blazers should have moved on from his era as far back as Jrue/Rondo running him and CJ off the court in the playoffs many years ago.

Guess the catalyst is finishing behind 2 teams that came into season in full tank mode and 4 teams (NO/LAL/MN/GS) who have missed their franchise players for much of the season. The second they inked Simons long term, Dame should have been out of town.

We get it. No one wants to live in Portland. That doesn't mean you should continue to be a poverty team refusing to rebuild. Milwaukee / Sacramento aren't exactly hotbeds and are contenders in their conferences.

Portland has had PLENTY of complimentary talent come through through Lillard's tenure. Who has Lillard ever made better........

No one.

The window on Dame competing as "the guy" in Portland has long been closed.

 

[Craig_MiamiFL]

1 game separates 7th-12th seeds in the West. While they don't have the best overall team talent of the lot, the Thunder look the best right now

 

[msudaisy26]

Sounds like Dame doesn't want to stay with the Blazers.

Link

Blazers should have moved on from his era as far back as Jrue/Rondo running him and CJ off the court in the playoffs many years ago.

Guess the catalyst is finishing behind 2 teams that came into season in full tank mode and 4 teams (NO/LAL/MN/GS) who have missed their franchise players for much of the season. The second they inked Simons long term, Dame should have been out of town.

We get it. No one wants to live in Portland. That doesn't mean you should continue to be a poverty team refusing to rebuild. Milwaukee / Sacramento aren't exactly hotbeds and are contenders in their conferences.

Portland has had PLENTY of complimentary talent come through through Lillard's tenure. Who has Lillard ever made better........

No one.

I feel like I was leading the trade Lillard bandwagon like 3 years ago. It still makes me laugh that Philly fans said they had to take Simmons in a Lillard trade or the franchise would be moved another city.

 

[Moe.]

It seems like the refs did a horrible job communicating there, but why were there zero Mavs players on the Warriors side of the court? if it had been the Mavs ball they would have been inbounding from the same spot, right?

I think the Mavs called a TO so it would have been inbounded from the front court?

Correct. If it was their ball they would've had the option to move it to their half and likely expected to do so.

Mavs are gonna win this appeal IMO. There was one ref that was standing on the baseline on the same side of the court as the Mavs, so even the whole ref crew didn't know the call. No idea why the ref allowed the inbounds without at least pointing and indicating it was Warriors ball. Seems pretty stupid to me.

Isn’t that only the last two minutes of the game?

 

[trader jake]

Any percentage chance above "<1%" for the Mavericks feels overly optimistic to me. Hate this team. And I'm usually an optimist (may have been the only person who said "WCF" last year.

Sorry Instinctive. Saw all the same problematic things (specifically structural defensive collapses) with Jason Kidd in his second year as head coach in Milwaukee. All I can say ...it only gets worse.

Add in the organization wagering so much to bring in Kyrie and I really, really don't like what that means for the Mavs future. Dallas may have the toughest piece of any championship puzzle already in place with Doncic, but the rest appears to be in disarray.

Sure resembles how New Orleans mismanaged the roster around a younger Anthony Davis or how the Knicks made some of the similar results>process decisions while building around Carmelo Anthony.

 

[Yo Mama]

Mavs look like they continued their protest into tonight’s game against the Hornets. Oof.

 

[Yo Mama]

Mavs look like they continued their protest into tonight’s game against the Hornets. Oof.

Severely short-handed tanking team on the second night of a back to back. Tough loss.

And of course Dennis Smith Jr hit the dagger 3.

 

[Instinctive]

Tonight was weird. There were defensive breakdowns, but there were also a lot of great contests that went in anyway.

Idk. I think they were poorly coached last year and DFS + Bullock + Maxi and the asst coach were able to overcome, but now the lack of discipline shows too much, especially as a guy like Wood makes no improvement at all the entire season on basic positioning.

Luka + Kyrie + Green + Maxi + Bullock is a really solid core. BUT, they need: Green to become a true stopper, Hardy to become a 3rd ball handler to rely on, and two guys who can protect the rim and rebound. Brook Lopez, Myles Turner, ****ing Zubac, Hartenstein, the C buried on the Kings who i forget, Kessler, Mark Williams, Sengun, Vanderbilt, Poeltl...

Many of those guys were available this year, many more in recent seasons, and some obviously you'd draft. But still. A first for Wood instead of using it on a guy like Kessler is a brutally bad move if you're not gonna coach or play the guy.

 

[Frostillicus]

Kessler sucks anyway.

 

[Frostillicus]

And I did think he would be good for a little while, but before the season even started I remember suddenly thinking he'd a bust. Nailed it.

 

[Desert_Power]

Mavs look like they continued their protest into tonight’s game against the Hornets. Oof.

Severely short-handed tanking team on the second night of a back to back. Tough loss.

And of course Dennis Smith Jr hit the dagger 3.

Hornets legend Svi Mykhailiuk leading the team in minutes

​

 

[thecatch]

Not saying he should win ROY or anything, but Keegan Murray is about to break the rookie record for three pointers and ranks 4th among *all* NBA players with 400+ attempts in 3P%. Pretty awesome that he’s been able to step in as a rookie and contribute to winning at a high level on a good team (yes, I can’t believe I typed that last sentence about the Kings). If he can take another step and become either an above average defender or shot creator, he’ll be a star level player.

 

[Anarchy99]

Not saying he should win ROY or anything, but Keegan Murray is about to break the rookie record for three pointers and ranks 4th among *all* NBA players with 400+ attempts in 3P%. Pretty awesome that he’s been able to step in as a rookie and contribute to winning at a high level on a good team (yes, I can’t believe I typed that last sentence about the Kings). If he can take another step and become either an above average defender or shot creator, he’ll be a star level player.

I hardly get to watch the Kings, but I did catch their entire game against the Celtics the other night. Murray only looked ok to me going 3-10 from behind the line. I caught the other SAC / BOS game back in November and Murray didn't do much offensively (1-6 from three with only 3 points total). I get it, those are only 2 games out of many, and he's done much better in other games.

As far as becoming an above average defender, Sacramento put up very little resistance against Boston in either game. The Kings are a fun team to watch and have a refreshingly fast pace. But man, their defense some nights leaves a lot to be desired. Maybe they need to pull back on the throttle some offensively and hunker down more on defense.