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https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/viral-twitter-joke-about-jonathan-kuminga-growth-spurt-dupes-espns-kendrick-perkins/ar-AA1cOKFU Respectfully shared without (need for) further comment.

Wasserman... specifically Wasserman... at BR has a good mock draft history. So, but... while I respect his ability to guess who goes when to whom, it's less clear that he has a good sense of anything beyond that.

He was supposed to be gone last off-season, and I spent a few posts engineering proposals to get him to ATL. Really would seem to hinge on their free agency ambitions. But fwiw, that situation raises my Spidey senses to remember the Kendrick Williams situation in OKC... low cost, solid upside guys that the GM doesn't have to feel all that motivated to move. But also fwiw. If we're going to make a trade, knowing none of the particulars, please let it be with HOU. They are the one team in a position to make us a fair deal on its face that, in turn, would predict we get to be serious participants in gaining a primo MLE free agent. Iow, if tax is the considerable motivator it has been, and so we really are going to move a big, I'm not sure there could be a better deal than what @JayBirdHawk has come up with here.

Horsewind reported yesterday that the first shoe has dropped in POR, ie, that the decision is made to keep the #3 pick. That would strongly suggest the next shoe will drop, sending Dame to BRK, MIA, or some other team lurking behind the curtain. A lot of fog clears as soon as that happens. But still seems most likely to me that any moves Landry, Korver, Snyder and Associates Inc make hinge on who drops in the draft, or does not. Makes sense that we won't know anything until sometime during Thursday's extravaganza.

I've been one to believe the fuller story is that whoever is responsible for the KVon trade is responsible for the root cause of all that went wrong ahead of Quin's arrival. That decision did not go over well with hardly anyone... fans or the head coach. We paid dearly for the presumption that JDay would be an adequate replacement... particularly when BogBog was not able to contribute in a meaningful, consistent way until about 35 games in... almost half the regular season. Junior eventually got the chance that muah argued he needed to be given much earlier. I also was disappointed to see JJ slow to be given a full on rotation piece treatment... even lost an avatar bet on that one. But even that situation was served up by the KVon trade prime mover whoever he was... Harkless was considered by almost no one to be a decent fill-in for Gallo, and once it became clear to Nate that he was going to have to give Junior some significant minutes, he likely was super uncomfortable with doing that with a second for-all-intents-and-purposes rookie. When you don't win sufficiently to meet expectations, fingers naturally start getting pointed, and frustrations boil over. Spose my point would be, if a person is so very persuaded that this roster falls so short, how does one reach that conclusion, while at the same time, one is persuaded this team was dealing with uber-substantial issues created by the head coach and/or front office from the start. Statement more than a question.

Fwiw... Convincing?

Jay, that's an empty... one might even say snarky... response. You'll not find a single occasion where I have suggested that I have some exclusive insight that merits your quoting me. Not one. Do I argue for my conclusions adamantly? If you want to prosecute me, at least prosecute me accurately. For that. Now, I get it, you want to read into my arguing my conclusions aggressively as "self-importance." That's what people do when they don't wanna take on the substance of what someone says... start making assumptions about the person and making it about him/her rather than the substance... feeling "I might not be able to debunk the facts or logic, but at least I can take the disliked person down a notch." There's an audience here to whom your approach appeals... a couple or three right here in this thread recently... but there's likely also an intelligent audience who see through your schtick for what it is. Don't underestimate that. Notice, please... in closing... I've said not one word about you as a person in this. All of it regards your comments/behaviors toward me. (I could. But I stopped doing that years ago, as I realized what that approach said more about me than the person who had become the object of my scorn.) So, to AHF's post's point... I'm here to talk basketball, to talk draft, and in this case, to talk specifically about discerning between what is worthwhile to give any attention versus what may isn't so much. Not my fault that there are anti-discernment people here who aren't real happy about my take. It happens.

Appreciate the question. There's no new news in the post. The Fischer podcast intel was already reported. So what was the point? One is left to think the point was that the UGA grad was lending some new logic to the equation. To which I said... So, why are we quoting the UGA grad at all as-if his tweet is somehow "interesting." (Now, granted, if you didn't already know that Fischer had said that, maybe that part would be interesting to you.) But I've seen young Grant cited here in the last week as-if someone whose insight is to be highly regarded... and discernment suggests maybe others among our own community are at least as insightful, if not much more. For the record, I'm living up to my pledge not to engage the one poster who so resisted my original call for discernment. It's fine.

Boys (and girls)... dunno... think you might wanna reconsider that discernment thing this close to the draft. Silliest of season. A lot of flapping gums trying to seem important.

That's two votes for "no" on discernment. During silly season. Alrighty then. So, curious, any GT grads around here who we might wanna give special audience to?

If that's what you're going to read into it, that's not a surprise... par for that course. Seem to be one to look to take a conversation on substance over into the personal attack realm as often as the substance part doesn't seem to agree with you. Otoh, others would note that this discernment drum is a drum I've been banging pretty consistently.

This is who you're quoting, as-if someone with insight. But oh yeah... I forgot... you're the one here who voted a big Bugs Bunny "NO!" on discernment. ... hehe... never mind then. But for the record, there's about a dozen people here, I imagine, who deserve at least as much of your attention when they post something on Twitter or otherwise. Just sayin. As to the UGA grad's logic... huh???... if you're wanting #10 with Lively as the target, theoretically, why wouldn't you be willing to part with your current starting center.

Wha? My comment was very specific to Shams... arguably among the handful of NBA writers most widely regarded... taking time not only just to report... which, in itself, I double-dog-dare ya, nay, triple-dog-dare ya to find Shams spending time reporting on assistants being let go... but the way in which the termination was reported... going beyond merely reporting to actually shaming the Pels in light of how the assistant had been such a good influence for Zion and how she'd been so loyal to the organization. Did you get that? Because this attempt at spanking me doesn't seem to get that. Indeed, the very story you just posted (s'helpme) demonstrates a media DEI mindset that is set to castigate any organization that doesn't satisfy their idea of how an organization checks off demographic boxes. To the contrary, then... no... DEI is a thing, and the takeaway here is to beware of aggravating the DEI-minded media... Shams, apparently, being on that bus. Sure. Hire a woman assistant coach. But try to hire a woman who will tell the DEI media to go to hell if/when she's let go. There's a book from a few years back called Please Stop Helping Us. DEI media do not help women by running in to defend them against the evil NBA teams. Treat women the same as you treat men, period. Be consistent. That will help. 21st century chivalry does not.

Still big preference still for using the pick to upgrade a slot rotation piece... but... Have been on the Lively, Coulibaly, Cason train for some time now. Black, too, but whereas I thought he could end up falling because of his funky shot, that doesn't seem likely.

Assuming it's all true, really hate that our front office would have serious leaks like that.

Concur with most of that. It's about the ranking. As you suggested, the numbers declined for the overall team. So you look at the relative performance, and what worked better, regardless of the overall team's outcome. Each of the last three seasons have been remarkable for their own reasons. Reasons. Not excuses. This past season was really 3 mini-seasons... First 30-35 was characterized by players getting used to a major new asset on the floor, the missing assets from 21-22, and BogBog's absence then his getting back and getting reintegrated. Next 20-25, the internal turmoil became extant, and Nate's seat got hot. Final 24, new coach, and some limited but significant changes were under way. Talent is there. Wasn't that we couldn't defeat the league's best. It was that we lost so many games that should have been won decisively. Mere aging... maturity will likely make this team better. But you add to that... with all due respect to Nate, sincerely... the addition of one of the NBA's most highly regarded coaches... Coming off a post season in which we impressed, outperforming the expectations of most... We're in a much better place than most seem to want to appreciate... One upgrade on it's own truly could make us next year's version of the Nuggs.

This seems Uber believable to me.

Big, if true. No. Check that. Huge, if true. Please let it be true. Please please please.

What the 2-man net points number suggests, particularly over the course of 3 seasons with a variety of other players and even coaches in the mix... Between their combined defense and their combined offense (we tend to look only at offense, by any honest observer's assessment), the JC/CC duo are consistently among the most effective on the entire team. I respect others holding other opinions based on their eyeballing certain video clips. But the focus on offense misses, by definition, a whole other half of that picture.

Dunno what that is... ....are we accepting rumors now on the basis that Elon Musk didn't strike down something posted?

Yikes.

Yeah. Seems to suggest an Ayton deal of some kind is done but not yet announced.

Right... and it would seem that among the dominos at the top of the chain are Portland (by virtue of being the team with the most consequential pick slot still in question), and Houston (by virtue of being the team with enormous cap space). Once Landry and his people have a sense of what those two are going to do, his path might... might... emerge from the fog of war.

1. Grant Shirley is one of us. He is not a reporter. 2. He is quoting a site that, to my knowledge, has no actual regard in the first place. THAT SAID... I'm the original Lively advocate around here as far as I know.

"Numerous?".. Glen, if you're reading this... who other than Jake Fischer are you counting enough to constitute "numerous"??? I mean I take Jake now as a serious informant on his own. But who else with any credibility has weighed in?