nycericanguy wrote:

Philc1 wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:I don't think KAT or Mikal are untouchable at all, heck neither is OG IMO. Especially if Giannis becomes available, I could easily see us offering KAT and either Mikal or OG. Brunson is the only untouchable.

That would be too much even for Giannis. I’d offer Mikal and Hart tho.

Supposedly Spurs are the favorites. They have a lot of draft picks next several years and are way under the cap plus Silver wants to put Giannis with Wemby together and create another international superteam

you think the best they could get would be Mikal and Hart?

KAT + either isn't too much at all, it's not enough if anything.

Giannis, Brunson + OG or Mikal would be the best trio in the NBA

Agree. The only person who would be happy accepting that package for Giannis is Nico. Spurs or Houston are the teams to beat, especially for a Bucks team that would be looking to rebuild.

DLeethal wrote:

Chandler wrote:

HofstraBBall wrote:

Clean wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/LakeShowYo/status/1918130825130065929

This is the perfect example of the coach drawing up an amazing play. The player fumbled but the coach got him an open shot. Look at this play vs the Thibs play we were talking about before. If you can't see the difference in quality I can't help you.

How did it turn out?

Every fan has this dream of drawing up fancy plays. But if you have played or coached you would know plans usually change with every pass and additional detail. Reason why so many coaches like ISO and PnR. Simple play that has few working parts.
ImHO, a play with this many passes was a bad call. One, for reason I just mentioned above. And 2 with 4 seconds left you do not draw up a play that has that many components. You end up getting a rushed shot.

I've watched this "play" probably 20 times now. Malik is curling around the arc (literally following the arc from one side of court to the other), through a scrum (initiated by McBride channeling his football instincts and holding some guys up) and is moving sideways/backwards for the pass. I'm not buying that this was the play so much as what materialized out of the scrum

I think the play was Cade all along and he got small nads, and rattled by Mikal's blitz. And even if Malik caught the ball he was going to need to get his feet under him and I'm not sure he'd be so open by then

the difference in this series is even if Cade played well he'd miss or fumble that critical shot, and JB and KAT did not

Detroits biggest shots were from others, e.g., Schroeder.

That said, as I urged before the play we needed to cover Beasley and Harris because I didn't fear Cade (would live with that), and we somehow let Beasley get free

Cade's inability to hit game breaking shots is not being talked about enough. He could have iced 2-3 games and came up short each time.

https://bsky.app/profile/tommybeernba.bsky.social/post/3lo73idu4t22m

Per NBA tracking data, Mikal Bridges was the primary defender on Cade Cunningham for 85 possessions over the full six-game series.

In those 85 possessions, Cunningham shot just 11-for-29 from the floor (38%) and had more turnovers (8) than assists (6).

martin wrote:Some randos have opinions on ghost screens

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/alanhahn/status/1918354351783067748

So can one of you guys who knows what they’re saying take it one step further? Is the reason this was effective that ausar was loading up expecting contact, and that’s when Jalen put the brakes on?

Chandler wrote:Imagine if OG outdoor dribble. He’s deceptively super strong

He has a tougher task ahead of him. He has the opportunity to make an immense impact if he can keep Tatum in check

Imagine it's game 7 vs Celtics --- 5 seconds left in game Knicks down 1.

Hart steals ball see's OG racing 2 steps in front of Tatum on the break - Hart makes perfect finger tip pass to OG 8 feet from the basket and ask yourself does OG pull in the pass and make the bucket or is that pass caroming off OG's butter fingers out of bounds?

My guess would be -- at a minimum OG fumbles the pass and or trips on his drive to hoop.

Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:FWIW Monica’s radio call credits the “fly by screen” from Bridges to cause Thompson jump and overplay the left side which Brunson used to put him on skates.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJJrp7xxv16/?igsh=b2pweTRpaWU4d3l3

I’ve been dogging Thibs all series so you have to give him credit when 1) we haven’t seen this particular action all year up until now and 2) it worked.

Monica is so expressive when watching. I love her calling games.

yes but does she want to enter the existential fray of whether that was a ghost screen or not.

Monica = Whoopie Goldberg in Ghost

LivingLegend wrote:

martin wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Thibs made adjustments after game 2 and after game 5. Give him SOME credit. After game 2 he started hiding Brunson on Thompson on defense which helped us big time in games 3 and 4 until Pistons figured out how to exploit it in games 5. Thibs made adjustments after that because we rarely saw any high low baseline dunks from Duren to Thompson last night.

Also I rewatched the last couple mins and Josh Hart’s help defense was REALLY good on our last few defensive stops. Those stops were all schemes the way we navigating the Cade PnR and rotated the help. So give Thibs a little credit where it’s due. I don’t think he’s right for this team going forward but he had some bright spots in this series along with some sour spots.

Thibs isn't maximizing this roster I agree, but I don't think he's the problem either. I start to see more and more it's KAT's defense and just clumsy offensive game.

Ugh I still haven't watched all of the losses and didn't catch last nights game so I'll start there.

I'm super curious to see how Leon handles this offseason and if he continues to build around Brunson and KAT or deviates.

The 3 guys I'd guess are untouchable are Brunson, Hart, OG.

Hart wouldn't be untouchable with a new coach but tend to agree if Thibs is back Hart will be back.

I do think Mikal/Kat are potential pieces -- moreso Kat just due to lethargic defensive effort.

KAT has to step up against Boston in a BIG way to gain himself the no-trade option. If not, I'd guess Leon keeps him on the available list.

nycericanguy wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

VDesai wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:Bridges with 35 seconds, wow

KAT fouling out was huge. Duren is trying to box out Mitch and is out of the position and Mikal sneaks in. Mitch then makes a huge defensive play on Cade's shot the other end. Mitch in the last min makes a big difference.

Mitch was ghastly ALL NIGHT LONG --- a -10 in 13 minutes with 3 boards, 0 blocks and 1 point ---- plus fact Pistons targeting him via hack.
I forget sometimes but then Mitch quickly reminds me how bad he is at basketball -- he's challenging Duece for biggest disappointment in playoffs.

Kat +8 and 15 boards but was crappy on offense.

I'm not a huge fan of +/- for 1 game sample sizes but if you want to use that he had 13/11/2/2 and a team high +9 in just 23 minutes the previous game.

Don't think he's 100% in game shape, feels like things are moving a bit fast for him, but we need him.

Prior game he was outstanding - I agree.

Like I said sometimes I forget (prior game) but Mitch always reminds me how bad he really is at basketball (literally a zero outside of rim protection and length).

And come on - how long does it take a 27 year old athlete to get into shape???

He's been playing since 2/28 -- maybe by next Xmas he will be ready to go.

Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:

Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:

DLeethal wrote:FWIW Monica’s radio call credits the “fly by screen” from Bridges to cause Thompson jump and overplay the left side which Brunson used to put him on skates.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJJrp7xxv16/?igsh=b2pweTRpaWU4d3l3

I’ve been dogging Thibs all series so you have to give him credit when 1) we haven’t seen this particular action all year up until now and 2) it worked.

Monica is so expressive when watching. I love her calling games.

yes but does she want to enter the existential fray of whether that was a ghost screen or not.

She's a Thibs lover so that makes her biased and thus cannot have a basketball opinion.

if Clyde retires she should get the call. Send Wally out to pasture at this point

Hahn's actually pretty solid which surprises me BUT I do like Monica very much. Wally is brutal.

Chandler wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

VDesai wrote:

Alpha1971 wrote:Bridges with 35 seconds, wow

KAT fouling out was huge. Duren is trying to box out Mitch and is out of the position and Mikal sneaks in. Mitch then makes a huge defensive play on Cade's shot the other end. Mitch in the last min makes a big difference.

Mitch was ghastly ALL NIGHT LONG --- a -10 in 13 minutes with 3 boards, 0 blocks and 1 point ---- plus fact Pistons targeting him via hack.
I forget sometimes but then Mitch quickly reminds me how bad he is at basketball -- he's challenging Duece for biggest disappointment in playoffs.

Kat +8 and 15 boards but was crappy on offense.

Mitch had a couple of good moments, but I agree a huge disappointment. He should have been feasting on the boards. And however many years later he still brings the ball down after offensive rebounds instead of keeping it high. And it's not like he lacked time to improve his FTs

Kat hit a couple of tough buckets. He will be MUCH better in the next series. I don't know how Boston will guard him. their bigs are softies

I thought this early and I think it's held true.

I think Mitch got in great shape (dropped quite a few pounds) and I think he's light in the rear-end right now (being pushed around some under the rim). He's almost too skinny. He spent years trying to bulk up but post injuries think Knicks pushed hard for less weight. He may need to add 7-10 next year because he's not holding up on the boards most games.

martin wrote:

Chandler wrote:

martin wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Thibs made adjustments after game 2 and after game 5. Give him SOME credit. After game 2 he started hiding Brunson on Thompson on defense which helped us big time in games 3 and 4 until Pistons figured out how to exploit it in games 5. Thibs made adjustments after that because we rarely saw any high low baseline dunks from Duren to Thompson last night.

Also I rewatched the last couple mins and Josh Hart’s help defense was REALLY good on our last few defensive stops. Those stops were all schemes the way we navigating the Cade PnR and rotated the help. So give Thibs a little credit where it’s due. I don’t think he’s right for this team going forward but he had some bright spots in this series along with some sour spots.

Thibs isn't maximizing this roster I agree, but I don't think he's the problem either. I start to see more and more it's KAT's defense and just clumsy offensive game.

Ugh I still haven't watched all of the losses and didn't catch last nights game so I'll start there.

I'm super curious to see how Leon handles this offseason and if he continues to build around Brunson and KAT or deviates.

The 3 guys I'd guess are untouchable are Brunson, Hart, OG.

KAT is untouchable. So is Mikal. it's just their first year. those guys get 2 and I expect continued improvement

biggest issue IMO is our assistant coaches who are Thibs' call. they are dinosaurs.

Next biggest issue, and this is a big one, is you need at least one guy off the bench with real swagger and clutch gene.

If thibs wanted my advice, I'd say Mitch and McBride are talented and valuable assets for a trade. We need someone like Donte or SHroeder. They can suck all game, or all year, but will show up for the real battles. right now Mitch and McBride are wilting in the moment. I love both guys but they don't have that killer instinct we need

I like to play devil's advocate role more than anything.

How do you tell how well assistants are doing versus how well players execute what they should be doing?

Only when both happen can we say things are going well so that's always a tough battle for me.

Martin - you couldn't tell how GREAT Johnny Bryant was when he would whisper to Thibs that Hart had 3 fouls or we had 1 timeout left?