Big night for the LaVine trade evaluation as well. We could see the narrative completely flipped on that tomorrow morning. All such takes will be forgotten by next season, cause these games have such low reputation in the eyes of the national media, but LaVine scoring 40 to carry the Kings while the Bulls lose would resound violently at least for a day.
It's kind of wild that Zach's Chi vs Sac FG% and 3pt% wound up exactly the same. I don't think I've ever seen that before when a player got traded midseason.
FG:
Chicago: 8.6/16.9 = 51.1%
Sac: 8.2/16.0 = 51.1%
3pt:
Chicago: 3.2/7.3 = 44.6%
Sac: 3.2/7.2 = 44.6%
Zach had a really good quarter in a play-in game once so I assume he's capable of doing it for, idk, two quarters? The very nature of the play-in is kind of perfect for him, he can either hit 8 threes or go 2/9 from the field and neither would be shocking.
Miami has looked pretty bad lately and so I get that the Bulls are favored. But I'm personally expecting Spo to once again thoroughly outcoach Donovan (who is a good coach himself!) and lead the Heat into a totally irrelevant beat down with the Cavs.
I don't see Atlanta going anywhere. Trae seems pretty ready to move on.
I'm a long time Trae apologist so take this with a grain of salt...but they are starting Mohamed Gueye in the postseason. This isn't a whole version of the team, just in the play-in bc it's the east
I remember Dejounte Murray looked like he was going to tackle him in the play-in last year. This is now a rite of spring, like Chicagohenge and the return of the swallows to San Capistrano.
I'm pretty ready to say I was over reacting to yesterday's game. Trae was very hot and cold in the game, but is often like that. But I agree with your point - the team sucks, got rid of a bunch of functional players and I just think he doesn't care too much whether they make the playoffs or not.
2) I’m curious how many consecutive years the Hawks, Bulls, and Heat have to make the play-in before the NBA starts to ask themselves if this is working
3) Other than Rob Pelinka, there must be no one who loves Nico Harrison more than AK. The top spot for front office incompetence no longer belongs to Chicago!
Bulls front office is probably only 10th worst in the league. Phoenix Suns are the worst, there are some teams making the playoffs that are worse, they just have the superstars that the Bulls lack.
I guess that's the hard part about evaluating how well these guys are doing. Yes, Phoenix's front office has massively failed, but at least they've tried. AK will never fail as badly because he'll never try as hard. Which is worse?
Phoenix is worse. It's not like AK hasn't tried, he's just not that good at this. We have enough transactions to say he's not good at transacting, we have lots of picks to determine he's not that good at picking.
Phoenix gave up their future for Bradley Beal, and is now stuck in a fundamental way and may not be able to get enough for Durant to get out of it. No assets and bigtime low value contracts, that's bad. Booker at this point is a 10 year vet. Everything sucks over there.
Trading for Bradley Beal could be considered trying, but I'd much rather fail at picking Pat Williams than trade for Bradley Beal.
Phoenix and Chicago's front offices are just playing different games, I don't know that it makes much sense to measure one against the other.
The Beal trade is the kind of thing that involved agents and personal managers and probably a SoundCloud rapper named "çleO" who tells Durant he spits fire all sitting at a table and hammering it out. Ishbia wanted "star #3" because that's what the awesome teams do, and Beal was available, and the collective brain trust worked it out. At no point do I imagine James Jones was doing much more than taking notes (or at least telling his secretary to do it). His lack of culpability is probably reflected by the fact that he's outlasted 3 coaches in 3 years. The move with their 2031 1st round pick alone (trading their unprotected 2031 for 3 "least favorables" coming from among current playoff teams) would be fireable under even an indulgent owner. That it's not suggests it probably wasn't his doing but the asshole doing the firing.
James Jones is a mediocre figure (there were some hilarious exposés about his work habits and lack of attendance before he made the genius move of hiring player/coach Chris Paul), a better person would have resigned but he seems realistic about where he is in the NBA world and that would just hasten his exit from having an office with a big TV.
Best of luck to Miami but Jimmy stole their soul and they're playing without one. I'm not going to turn every post into a Jimmy Appreciation Thread but he was incredible last night. Sometimes it's really easy to reduce players to their stats (even their advanced stats) but watching a game like that makes you recoognize Jimmy isn't 17 ppg and Steph isn't just 4% better at 3 pointers than other people.
Any of the play-in teams in the East could go 2-0 or 0-2 and win or lose by 40, which I guess adds some random chaos element to it.
We are going to be seeing playoff Jimmy from here on out, I think. I remember reading somebody's analysis of the trade deadline moves and they were asking some anonymous NBA scout whether their trade put Golden State into the championship mix. Sure, the scout said, honeymoon Jimmy is a m****rf****r.
It’s just insane at this point. The Kings GM got fired for trading for Bulls players, yet the Bulls GM who kept those players too long and keeps just creating different versions of a 39 win team is here to stay.
Even as somebody who thought almost this entire Bulls season was a fluke, I STILL got suckered in and thought they'd be able to beat a couple of these turd teams to get the 8-seed. Maybe the best example of never believing in Mickey Mouse March that I can remember!
Basically two ways to get to the Finals: have a really good team or just keep showing up every year and looking sad outside the chain link fence until they feel bad and wave you in.
For those who don't want to watch him make an idiot of himself, you're not missing much. The beat is clearly getting more and more tired of his bullshit and asked some pretty pointed questions. But in usual AK fashion, he just mumbles random things that have nothing to do with what he was asked and the media members aren't allowed to follow up.
“Arturas, we’re currently seeing GMs get fired only a couple of seasons after winning a title. Specifically, this just happened to your old team in Denver. Why do you believe it’s the right decision for you to remain in this position when you’ve accomplished much less than those who have been let go?”
- A question that should have been asked, but wasn’t.
I get it that the Bulls are 'stuck in the middle' and don't have nearly the talent to compete with OKC, Cleveland, Boston, etc.. Having said this, what the Bulls are doing is so much better than Philadelphia and Phoenix's situation. Philadelphia's signing of Paul George (34 years old now) to a four year $212 million dollar all guaranteed contract is the dumbest thing in the world. PG only played in 41 of the 82 games this season. Phoenix had the highest payroll in the league ($220 million dollars this season) and didn't even make the play-in game. Would much prefer to watch the Bulls hustling and overachieving.
Bro, Philadelphia has those guys, plus Tyrese Maxey, and likely the #5 pick or better in this draft. They have all of this and almost all of their own picks and a few others and swaps mixed in.
You cannot under any circumstances say the Bulls are doing "so much better" than the Sixers because Paul George.
Big night for the LaVine trade evaluation as well. We could see the narrative completely flipped on that tomorrow morning. All such takes will be forgotten by next season, cause these games have such low reputation in the eyes of the national media, but LaVine scoring 40 to carry the Kings while the Bulls lose would resound violently at least for a day.
It's kind of wild that Zach's Chi vs Sac FG% and 3pt% wound up exactly the same. I don't think I've ever seen that before when a player got traded midseason.
FG:
Chicago: 8.6/16.9 = 51.1%
Sac: 8.2/16.0 = 51.1%
3pt:
Chicago: 3.2/7.3 = 44.6%
Sac: 3.2/7.2 = 44.6%
Zach had a really good quarter in a play-in game once so I assume he's capable of doing it for, idk, two quarters? The very nature of the play-in is kind of perfect for him, he can either hit 8 threes or go 2/9 from the field and neither would be shocking.
Or vanish for the 1st half and then demand the ball with 4 minutes to go in a 20 point loss. Full spectrum Zach LaVine experience in this game.
Miami has looked pretty bad lately and so I get that the Bulls are favored. But I'm personally expecting Spo to once again thoroughly outcoach Donovan (who is a good coach himself!) and lead the Heat into a totally irrelevant beat down with the Cavs.
I don't see Atlanta going anywhere. Trae seems pretty ready to move on.
I'm a long time Trae apologist so take this with a grain of salt...but they are starting Mohamed Gueye in the postseason. This isn't a whole version of the team, just in the play-in bc it's the east
I remember Dejounte Murray looked like he was going to tackle him in the play-in last year. This is now a rite of spring, like Chicagohenge and the return of the swallows to San Capistrano.
Moving on from Trae is ideal for Atlanta.
I'm pretty ready to say I was over reacting to yesterday's game. Trae was very hot and cold in the game, but is often like that. But I agree with your point - the team sucks, got rid of a bunch of functional players and I just think he doesn't care too much whether they make the playoffs or not.
My top three thoughts today:
1) I’m rooting for Matas to have a great game
2) I’m curious how many consecutive years the Hawks, Bulls, and Heat have to make the play-in before the NBA starts to ask themselves if this is working
3) Other than Rob Pelinka, there must be no one who loves Nico Harrison more than AK. The top spot for front office incompetence no longer belongs to Chicago!
Bulls front office is probably only 10th worst in the league. Phoenix Suns are the worst, there are some teams making the playoffs that are worse, they just have the superstars that the Bulls lack.
I guess that's the hard part about evaluating how well these guys are doing. Yes, Phoenix's front office has massively failed, but at least they've tried. AK will never fail as badly because he'll never try as hard. Which is worse?
Phoenix is worse. It's not like AK hasn't tried, he's just not that good at this. We have enough transactions to say he's not good at transacting, we have lots of picks to determine he's not that good at picking.
Phoenix gave up their future for Bradley Beal, and is now stuck in a fundamental way and may not be able to get enough for Durant to get out of it. No assets and bigtime low value contracts, that's bad. Booker at this point is a 10 year vet. Everything sucks over there.
Trading for Bradley Beal could be considered trying, but I'd much rather fail at picking Pat Williams than trade for Bradley Beal.
Phoenix and Chicago's front offices are just playing different games, I don't know that it makes much sense to measure one against the other.
The Beal trade is the kind of thing that involved agents and personal managers and probably a SoundCloud rapper named "çleO" who tells Durant he spits fire all sitting at a table and hammering it out. Ishbia wanted "star #3" because that's what the awesome teams do, and Beal was available, and the collective brain trust worked it out. At no point do I imagine James Jones was doing much more than taking notes (or at least telling his secretary to do it). His lack of culpability is probably reflected by the fact that he's outlasted 3 coaches in 3 years. The move with their 2031 1st round pick alone (trading their unprotected 2031 for 3 "least favorables" coming from among current playoff teams) would be fireable under even an indulgent owner. That it's not suggests it probably wasn't his doing but the asshole doing the firing.
James Jones is a mediocre figure (there were some hilarious exposés about his work habits and lack of attendance before he made the genius move of hiring player/coach Chris Paul), a better person would have resigned but he seems realistic about where he is in the NBA world and that would just hasten his exit from having an office with a big TV.
This is perfect, yeah. I mean, had I an office with a big TV, which I do not, I would be very reticent to let go.
Some forms of trying can be super damaging. The KD and Beal trades will set them back for yearrrrs
Best of luck to Miami but Jimmy stole their soul and they're playing without one. I'm not going to turn every post into a Jimmy Appreciation Thread but he was incredible last night. Sometimes it's really easy to reduce players to their stats (even their advanced stats) but watching a game like that makes you recoognize Jimmy isn't 17 ppg and Steph isn't just 4% better at 3 pointers than other people.
Any of the play-in teams in the East could go 2-0 or 0-2 and win or lose by 40, which I guess adds some random chaos element to it.
We are going to be seeing playoff Jimmy from here on out, I think. I remember reading somebody's analysis of the trade deadline moves and they were asking some anonymous NBA scout whether their trade put Golden State into the championship mix. Sure, the scout said, honeymoon Jimmy is a m****rf****r.
game thread UP: https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/7d3e0601-8561-4491-8acb-7a5733453bad
Kegs of more vomitspit 🤢
Haha
Ironic that the Sacramento Bulls were also the 9 seed and lost their play-in game last night.
Guess the Kings aren't quite as bad as the Bulls. They fired their GM last night. Wish we could say the same...
It’s just insane at this point. The Kings GM got fired for trading for Bulls players, yet the Bulls GM who kept those players too long and keeps just creating different versions of a 39 win team is here to stay.
Even as somebody who thought almost this entire Bulls season was a fluke, I STILL got suckered in and thought they'd be able to beat a couple of these turd teams to get the 8-seed. Maybe the best example of never believing in Mickey Mouse March that I can remember!
We'll always have March.
And now you don't get your $4k... :(
I hedged hard on the Heat last night so I at least didn't lose any money lol
The last three seasons:
40 wins, play-in loss to the Heat
39 wins, play-in loss to the Heat
39 wins, play-in loss to the Heat
Can SOMEONE in charge of this team have some pride? This is insanity at this point.
#continuity
I'll write it up, but currently AK is confirming that no: no pride
It's a success and we're on the right track and please keep me in this job my vision needs time
Patience: we're only three years into the play-in tournament at this point. What we need is patience.
Basically two ways to get to the Finals: have a really good team or just keep showing up every year and looking sad outside the chain link fence until they feel bad and wave you in.
Remember when AK came in and specifically stated that mediocrity was not an option and it seemed like he was taking a shot at GarPax? Fun times.
In case anyone else is as dumb as me and wants to watch AK make an idiot of himself, here's his media session.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq2rypLpqRc
For those who don't want to watch him make an idiot of himself, you're not missing much. The beat is clearly getting more and more tired of his bullshit and asked some pretty pointed questions. But in usual AK fashion, he just mumbles random things that have nothing to do with what he was asked and the media members aren't allowed to follow up.
“Arturas, we’re currently seeing GMs get fired only a couple of seasons after winning a title. Specifically, this just happened to your old team in Denver. Why do you believe it’s the right decision for you to remain in this position when you’ve accomplished much less than those who have been let go?”
- A question that should have been asked, but wasn’t.
I get it that the Bulls are 'stuck in the middle' and don't have nearly the talent to compete with OKC, Cleveland, Boston, etc.. Having said this, what the Bulls are doing is so much better than Philadelphia and Phoenix's situation. Philadelphia's signing of Paul George (34 years old now) to a four year $212 million dollar all guaranteed contract is the dumbest thing in the world. PG only played in 41 of the 82 games this season. Phoenix had the highest payroll in the league ($220 million dollars this season) and didn't even make the play-in game. Would much prefer to watch the Bulls hustling and overachieving.
Bro, Philadelphia has those guys, plus Tyrese Maxey, and likely the #5 pick or better in this draft. They have all of this and almost all of their own picks and a few others and swaps mixed in.
You cannot under any circumstances say the Bulls are doing "so much better" than the Sixers because Paul George.
NEW POST: https://www.blogabull.com/p/reminder-that-thing-you-like-actually