SilasCoade

Was rice limping coming off the court at the end there?

That Bertans deal is so fucking terrible. I mean it stretches the limits of believability.

You are ridiculous. Every single team in the league would be better off with KD on their roster than with Kyrie. This is obvious and without question.

You've repeatedly said you'd take Kyrie over KD generally, if not specifically regarding the Mavs. I mean, it would be ridiculous for any team, but are you therefore conceding that as GM of the Mavs you would take KD over Kyrie today?

Nope what? Nope that's not what you meant even though that's what you've repeatedly said? Or nope, you're quadrupling down on the worst take on the basketball board? Honestly, KD + Luka + ten dudes from the G-league is at least as good as what they're rolling out there now.

Wait, just so I'm clear, you think the Mavs trading for Kyrie for half a season with a chance of signing him to a longer deal is better than if they had traded for Kevin fucking Durant who is under contract for another 3 years and still a dominant offensive force and serviceable defender? And you are doubling and tripling down on that position even with the benefit of seeing how little Kyrie does to help the Mavs as currently constructed? This has to be a bit. No one is this stupid.

At the time Ja was maybe defensible if we're being exceedingly generous based on projected career for the next 4-5 years. After he went full not so much though.

We will see, but I wonder if the whole Kyrie trade was strictly to get Kyrie's Bird rights for a sign and trade deal after the season. There are several teams sort of on the cusp of going from tankers to contenders (Utah, Hou, OKC) who would potentially have picks to trade back in exchange for the salary and production of Kyrie. Clippers may be looking to blow up the PG/Nephew duo, which could make them interesting trade partners as well.

More than that, wasn't his "insider info" on KD's free agent situation before he went to GS the biggest reason he got air time on ESPN to begin with?

Lol would be awesome to see them put it up there with a pair of crutches instead of a number like that announcer's mic.

I mean, actually the correct answer is "yes, assuming the scale is logarithmic."

People suck

I think that's great. Celebrations should be reserved for rare events lest they become cheap and meaningless. Imagine Steph shimmying after every 3 ball splashes through. Would that seem fun? Of course not. But Russ blindly throwing darts at the board and randomly hitting the bullseye is cause celebre.

lmao, that's way too much effort. I answer calls from my wife and my mom. That's the whole list.

I never went crazy like that but I did think Klay was pretty much done early in the season. I was wrong.

Whole thing screams substance use to me. and not in the way that probably 80% of the league dabbles in substances. more in the way that he's barely handling his shit and is close to gloriously flaming out.

Why aren't you expanding the garage you asshole cheapskate?

Everyone knows Owen Wilson can't coach, what FAU presupposes is that he can.

There are other options than just fewer games. One would be reducing travel by having each team host mini tournaments where multiple teams are in town for several days. They can do back to backs without the travel then have a few days off before the next tournament at home. They should also put some marketing effort into building more team loyalty amount fans and reducing the fan devotion to individual players. Incentives and methods to protect players' health are not and IMO should not go away, but if fans are there for the team they'll be happier with the experience.

Blepharospasm

Not referencing botched switches or rotations on doubles. Just Luka drifting into the paint with his eye on the ball handler at the top of the arc while his man slides to open space in the corner and on the wing. It's possible they were in some sort of zone, but if so it was the shittiest zone of all time. And performing better than his typical terrible defense is still not "a very good game on defense."

Jesus, fuck, no he did not. In a span of like 10 minutes in the second half there were at least three times where he just completely ignored his man leading to an open look or a scramble as guys tried to cover up for his lapse.

Luka has to be better. That's it. If he gives effort on defense and stops wasting time whining to the refs when he's getting to the line 20 times a game, the defense will improve. This season is a wash and was a wash before the Kyrie deal. Luka needs a better offseason to get his body right. He's carrying 15 pounds of bad weight, at least. The Mavs offensive efficiency is decent but they are nearly last in pace. That has to change and Luka needs to be in shape to lead that change. The 2023-2024 team should bear little resemblance to the current roster. Basically keep Luka, Maxi, and Josh Green. They need to dump THJ and Bertans for younger 3 and D guys. Use Kyrie and Wood in sign and trade deals to bring in complementary stars who are not allergic to defense. Dejounte Murray or Mikal Bridges would be the model, though neither is likely to be available. Let all the other UFAs on the roster walk (I mean specifically do not under any circumstances re-sign Dwight Powell). Thybulle is going to be RFA from Portland that would be a decent pickup. Bringing back Seth Curry as a FA would be nice as well. Yuta Watanabe would be a good FA pickup for the right price. The Bulls might be sellers, so Caruso, Vucevic, and even Lonzo might be worth kicking the tires. Maybe none of the above specific transactions occur, but the current team is constructed haphazardly and goes only as far as the superstar with the dad bod at age 23 can carry them. Good luck with that.

I've been there too. Also great. I'm like a truffle pig for kolaches. Found a place here in my small town in Washington that makes them. Not really the same but damn good anyway.

That sucks. I loved stopping in there.