NBA Thread 2019-20

[MUBurrow]

Jim Boylen is starting to look like what happens when your average NFL coach takes over an NBA squad.

[Dish]

The Boylen stuff has been brewing for a while now. The players didn't like him before he was named head coach. Gar wanted Hoiberg fired last year and replaced with Boylen. I've heard stuff here and there, and after Saturday's loss, my Bulls buddy said all hell was going to break loose, and looks like he was right.

[GGGG]

The Boylen stuff has been brewing for a while now. The players didn't like him before he was named head coach. Gar wanted Hoiberg fired last year and replaced with Boylen. I've heard stuff here and there, and after Saturday's loss, my Bulls buddy said all hell was going to break loose, and looks like he was right.

https://www.blogabull.com/2018/12/11/18133119/chicago-bulls-john-paxson-jim-boylen-mutiny

[RJax55]

https://www.blogabull.com/2018/12/11/18133119/chicago-bulls-john-paxson-jim-boylen-mutiny

The only hope for this franchise is for Jerry to die or to cede full control over to his son, Michael. And, even then, fans have no idea of whether Michael has the vision/ability to institute a Rocky Wirtz style house-cleaning.

[4everwarriors]

Bucks lay another egg, hey?

[MU82]

The Utah Jazz gave Draymond Green the Derrick Wilson treatment last night.

Green has made one 3-pointer in the last 2 months, and his percentage has been declining for years down to this year's 20%. So teams have been backing off of him, daring him to shoot. And the Jazz took it a whole 'nother level. On several possessions, his "defender" backed up all the way into the lane while he was at the 3-point line.

One could make a pretty good argument that with Durant, Curry and Thompson, the Warriors don't need Green to shoot 3s, but they can forget about finding lanes to drive the ball if Green's man can play 10-15 feet off of him with impunity.

[wadesworld]

The Bucks are currently in first place in the East but are a half game back of the Raptors.

[BM1090]

The Bucks are currently in first place in the East but are a half game back of the Raptors.

The Bucks are a half game ahead of the Raptors. I get what you're saying but even the NBA acknowledges the Bucks are 0.5 games ahead.

[wadesworld]

The Bucks are a half game ahead of the Raptors. I get what you're saying but even the NBA acknowledges the Bucks are 0.5 games ahead.

The Bucks have 25 wins to Toronto's 27 wins, so Toronto is 2 games ahead in the win column, or 1 full game difference in terms of standings. The Bucks have 10 losses to Toronto's 11 losses, so the Bucks are 1 game ahead of Toronto in the loss column, or 0.5 games ahead in terms of the standings. So overall they're 0.5 games back in the standings.

But the Bucks have a .714 winning percentage compared to Toronto's .711, so the Bucks are listed as in first place despite being 0.5 games back in the standings.

It's why the Bucks are at the top of the list in the Eastern Conference standings but also listed as 0.5 games back, while Toronto is listed below the Bucks in the standings but have a dash next to their "games back."

[MU82]

Wow ... you're really blowin' my mind here, wades.

Let me know if that's still the case at the end of the season, man.

[GGGG]

Giannis posterizing Jon Leuer is very enjoyable.

https://deadspin.com/giannis-antetokounmpo-buried-jon-leuer-with-the-dunk-of-1831433357

"Jon Leuer comes but....he may as well not of" is pretty funny commentary too.

[StillAWarrior]

Did anyone else see that ridiculous non-call in last night's Warriors-Rockets game?  Wow.  I'm not a Rockets fan (or a Harden fan), but I'm glad Harden nailed a circus shot to help mitigate that idiocy.  What the hell happened there?  Think the NBA will address it?

[GGGG]

And the thing is, since it wasn't called out of bounds, they can't review it.  Which seems strange to me.

[MUfan12]

Did anyone else see that ridiculous non-call in last night's Warriors-Rockets game?  Wow.  I'm not a Rockets fan (or a Harden fan), but I'm glad Harden nailed a circus shot to help mitigate that idiocy.  What the hell happened there?  Think the NBA will address it?

It was a horrid mistake, but I sure hope the focus is on how great that game was, and Harden's heroics. Wildly entertaining second half and OT.

[Jockey]

It was a horrid mistake, but I sure hope the focus is on how great that game was, and Harden's heroics. Wildly entertaining second half and OT.

The weird thing is that the official closest to the play (with a clear, perfect view) didn't call it out of bounds.

If an official doesn't get suspended for such gross incompetence (this was not a judgement call) - anything goes now.

[Jockey]

Butler continues to be a cancer. I can't understand why any team would want him (hence, the reason he has been traded twice is a short period).


League sources have told ESPN that Jimmy Butler has aggressively challenged coach Brett Brown on his role in the offense, complicating an already tenuous chemistry among the team's Big Three hierarchy.

Butler has been vocal in his contesting of Brown and his system, including a recent film session in Portland that some witnesses considered "disrespectful" and beyond normal player-coach discourse.

[RJax55]

Butler continues to be a cancer. I can't understand why any team would want him (hence, the reason he has been traded twice is a short period).


League sources have told ESPN that Jimmy Butler has aggressively challenged coach Brett Brown on his role in the offense, complicating an already tenuous chemistry among the team's Big Three hierarchy.

Butler has been vocal in his contesting of Brown and his system, including a recent film session in Portland that some witnesses considered "disrespectful" and beyond normal player-coach discourse.

This is the third coach in a row that's he's had issues with. I wonder what the problem is?

[Jockey]

Must be the coaches

[JWags85]

This is the third coach in a row that's he's had issues with. I wonder what the problem is?

To be fair, Hoiberg had issues with a lot of people and is not being considered for NBA jobs.  Jimmy had no problem with Thibs, he had a problem with the roster.  If Thibs was still coaching the Bulls, the Butler trade likely doesnt happen.

That being said, this isn't a great look.  Cancer is a bit strong, but he's having trouble finally being on a very good team and not being the man.  People downplay the role of it, but thats why coaches like Kerr and Phil Jackson have been so successful, not cause they are X and O masters, but because they manage personalities so well.  Butler certainly isn't the only guy who has had an issue in situations like this.  Should be interesting given Brown has only been the head of a rebuilding team up until this year and came from a Spurs attempted ego-free culture.

[RJax55]

To be fair, Hoiberg had issues with a lot of people and is not being considered for NBA jobs.  Jimmy had no problem with Thibs, he had a problem with the roster.  If Thibs was still coaching the Bulls, the Butler trade likely doesnt happen.

That being said, this isn't a great look.  Cancer is a bit strong, but he's having trouble finally being on a very good team and not being the man.  People downplay the role of it, but thats why coaches like Kerr and Phil Jackson have been so successful, not cause they are X and O masters, but because they manage personalities so well.  Butler certainly isn't the only guy who has had an issue in situations like this.  Should be interesting given Brown has only been the head of a rebuilding team up until this year and came from a Spurs attempted ego-free culture.

Not a great look, he's been on the 76ers less than two months!

The way he orchestrated his departure from Minnesota was as silly as it gets. I loved the guy at MU, but its becoming harder and harder not to call him a team cancer.

[MUBurrow]

People downplay the role of it, but thats why coaches like Kerr and Phil Jackson have been so successful, not cause they are X and O masters, but because they manage personalities so well.  Butler certainly isn't the only guy who has had an issue in situations like this.  Should be interesting given Brown has only been the head of a rebuilding team up until this year and came from a Spurs attempted ego-free culture.

It's getting impossible to deny that JFBs constant problems are a product of JFB wanting to be the man over wanting to win and him not being able to adapt his game to an evolving, flow-based, NBA offense.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Butler continues to be a cancer.

"Brown has told people within the organization that he had no issues with that exchange and considered it within the confines of the relationship that he has developed with Butler, sources said."

Sounds to me like these are two grown men having a frank conversation trying to get the best out of themselves and the team they have. Media-driven non-story. Brown coached under Pop, you think he doesn't welcome & appreciate direct talk?

I can't understand why any team would want him

"The Sixers (25-14), who are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference, are 16-8 since the deal -- 15-6 when Butler plays."

15/21 = 71.4% a.k.a. 2nd best win % in the league for the season. NBA teams want to win, and Butler is a winner. What's left to ponder?

[MU82]

People downplay the role of it, but thats why coaches like Kerr and Phil Jackson have been so successful, not cause they are X and O masters, but because they manage personalities so well.

JWags, this is the most astute comment I read on Scoop today.

The great coaches and managers in pro sports are those who are best at managing egos. Jackson was the best I've ever seen at it.

[Pakuni]

Woj bomb .... Thibs fired.

[Dish]

Woj bomb .... Thibs fired.

In the middle of all the NFL tweets, I had to triple check the blue check mark to make sure I read that correctly.