Moderators Popular Post lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Moderators Popular Post Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 “You’re either born a willow, or you’re born an oak. That’s all there is to it.” Sadly, there would be no trip to Shanghai, nor Tokyo, for Nate McMillan. It just wasn’t in the cards for the esteemed head coach of the Indiana Pacers, an assistant for Team USA men’s basketball, as Gregg Popovich took over the reins from Coach K. The 2019 FIBA World Cup, a qualifier for the Olympic Games sure to be held in 2020, extended well into mid-September, and while he and fellow assistant Steve Kerr would have to quickly shift to NBA training camps, the Pacers faced a pair of preseason exhibitions lined up in India shortly thereafter. McMillan, a Coach K assistant for the 2008 and 2012 gold medalists (Team USA 43-1 in FIBA play during Nate’s tenure) reappointed for Coach Pop’s staff in 2018, respectfully bowed out. He also had a great idea for an active NBA head coach to replace him. A young protégé, down in Atlanta. Lloyd Pierce would get the nod in April 2019 to take McMillan’s seat, furthering a bond that would extend through McMillan’s hire as LP’s assistant the following year. As we now know, Pierce had no designs on bringing his precocious NBA point guard with him to USA Basketball. His explanations exacerbated a strained relationship that greased the skids for him when his Hawks floundered through the All-Star Break in 2020-21. LP gets canned, with McMillan begged not to depart with him, but to take over on an interim basis. The rest is Hawkstory. Since 2020, Pierce and McMillan have fully traded places, at least in terms of NBA employers. Nate now has the challenge of plugging the leaks in the coach-star player relationship that was spewing water just weeks ago. And, wouldn’t you know it, it’s almost Olympic qualifying time for USA men’s hoops once again. In knockout play back in 2019, Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic personally saw to it that Team USA would not repeat as FIBA World Cup champs. The Americans, finishing seventh in that tourney, would qualify anyway, as the second-best FIBA Americas team. The winner, Spain, and World Cup MVP Ricky Rubio took over the FIBA Men’s World Ranking from USA just last month, with Argentina and Australia not all that far behind. Throughout that time, Pierce extolled the virtues of giving Olympic-sized opportunity to the likes of Harrison Barnes and Mason Plumlee, players who sacrificed their busy NBA offseasons for the benefit of their country. LP could only look on, last summer, as Popovich plucked Spurs yung’un Keldon Johnson as Brad Beal’s COVID replacement at guard, just ahead of the one-year-delayed Olympic trip to Japan. Pierce was not retained under Kerr’s reformulated Team USA staff in the planning for Paris 2024-ish. So he and his outmoded mindset won’t be factors for which NBA players get taps on their shoulders to ensure USA Basketball secures their Olympic qualifiers in 2023’s FIBA World Cup in South Asia next summer. He can focus on his primary task, which is ensuring Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t blow a gasket on a nightly basis. More importantly, Hawks minority owner Grant Hill has taken over as USA Basketball Director, already vowing to dump the prerequisite for American NBA stars to commit to at least two years of national service. Thus, the coast is clear, beginning this summer, for Trae Young and his brand to make his big splash in international championship play. Unless… A sturdy Young, coming off a stellar postseason, became America’s Bucket Creator in 2021-22 by leading players of all nations in Total Points Created by Assist (the Spurs’ Dejounte Murray checked in at 4th), as well as Points Made. Largely due to subpar shooting from the field for the better part of two months, Trae settles for second place behind Donovan Mitchell (2019 World Cup seventh-placer for USA, along with Myles Turner; I’m counting Jaylen Brown as a 3) among USA-eligible guards in points scored. He’s also looking up at just one other fellow countryman in the points-generated department. To everybody these days in pundit-world, Trae Young is Chris, while his counterpart tonight with the Pacers (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Indiana), Tyrese Haliburton, is Raymond. Officially everyone, 100 percent, now that Knicks (??) legend (???) Wally Szczerbiak mustered up the szcztrength to szczay he’s szczorry for calling the Pacers’ newest sensation a wannabe All-Star. On the daily, Haliburton is siphoning off the All-Star votes that Kyrie stans and embittered Knick fans would have given to Trae. “He seems like a guy no one wants to play with,” goes the poison-pill about Young on the national airwaves, a product of his own struggles, his team’s, and the redirected media attention once Mr. Irving rediscovered his senses. Tyrese, meanwhile, began this season strong, and the 2019 FIBA u19 gold medalist may have a leg up on 2024 if there are still remnants of the Team USA loyalists hanging around. But it should be noted that Atlanta (17-16, but after a 4-1 start), for all its faults, returns from the holiday break and enters the Fieldhouse a half-game ahead in the standings, the Pacers’ (17-17, but after a 6-1 start) glitches of late resuming with a bad road loss yesterday in Zion-less, Ingram-less New Orleans. Based on press clippings alone, you would have thought that it was Tyrese (-18 through 32 games) with the positive plus/minus, not Trae (+16). It's far from Haliburton’s fault that Indiana, while still exceeding many preseason expectations, is receding to the muddled middle in the NBA East. Carlisle is fielding essentially four wing-sized guards and Turner in his starting lineup, one of Aaron Nesmith or rookie Andrew Nembhard serving duty at the 4-spot alongside Buddy Hield (back to 2.6 APG after the post-Kings trade assist-making spree concluded last season). The net effect is a team that lives off of threes (40.1 3FGAs/game, 4th in NBA) and help-defender stocks (5th in team SPG, 2nd in team BPG), but at the expense of hackery (22.0 personals/game, 3rd-most in NBA) and defensive rebounding (NBA-worst 68.7 D-Reb%). New Orleans shot just 30.0 percent last night, yet the Fighting Naji Marshalls outperformed their visitors (25.7 3FG%) as the Pacers allowed 16 O-Rebs (out-boarded 54-36) along the way to a 113-93 defeat. Haliburton got his stocks but was otherwise pedestrian (4-for-12 FGs, 12 points, 6 assists 3 TOs, minus-19 in a team-high 31 minutes), and he will be eager to bounce back before the home crowd. Furthermore, Trae’s fellow Big 12 alum knows there will be few guard spots left when Kerr and Monty Williams plug all their guys into Team USA. Maybe some steadier performances going forward could not only secure a trip to Salt Lake City in February, but to points across the Pacific as soon as this summer. McMillan will have to hold out a little longer for the return of Clint Capela (out, strained calf), while De’Andre Hunter is questionable to appear today due to a lingering ankle sprain. But the signals are there that the Hawks’ core players, knock on wood, are nearing full-health, and that Jalen Brunson’s Knicks may not be the Top-6-seed juggernauts Szczerbiak thought they were. Atlanta (wins @ ORL and @ CHA over last 9 away games) can revive its reputation with meaningful road wins. They will have a strong chance to pull one out tonight, if Onyeka Okongwu and John Collins can spread Turner thin (reserve big Jalen Smith is thin enough as it is) in the paint. Also, if they defend the perimeter without committing silly fouls, and if Trae commits to regaining his poise and playing above the noise. For these All-Star-caliber talents in the near term, the most accessible rings for both Trae and Tyrese are of the colorful, interlocking-five variety. Young understanding that his current head coach has his team’s best interests at heart, while recognizing his former coach can’t hold him back any longer, could be the mindset that not only gets Atlanta trending back upward, but punches his ticket on next summer’s Orient Express. If you catch my Tokyo Drift. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 The Pacers sustain the look of overachievers as they, like the Spurs, stay comfortably below the salary floor. It grants ample room for Indiana to negotiate an extension with its longest-tenured and literally biggest trade piece. ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Chris Duarte (questionable) has missed time for Indy due to a sore ankle, while Daniel Theis (knee surgery) and Kendall Brown (tibia stress-reaction) remain on the shelf. Vit Krejci (stepped on a toy by the tree?) joins De'Andre Hunter as questionable due to ankle sprains. Jarrett Culver's back with the team from the G-League Showcase, but is out with a non-COVID illness. ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Sothron Posted December 27, 2022 Premium Member Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Capela is out too. I'm guessing no Capela and Hunter tonight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Coming up next, The Kaminsky Method! Annnnnd action! ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member MarylandHawk Posted December 27, 2022 Premium Member Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 I was just about to post Kaminsky and John playing together. I would like to see that a little bit to see how it works. John would be the rill man again. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Lightly related to the OP, but I forgot that Indianapolis' original NBA team, one of the founding members of the post-BAA league, was dubbed the Olympians because they had a few members of Team USA on it, including the 1948 gold medalists, who also starred for Adolph Rupp at nearby UK. When two of the Olympian stars admitted to their roles in the 1951 CCNY point shaving scandal, the Commish suspended them for life, and the team was disbanded by 1953. Naptown would do without an NBA team until the Pacers were admitted from the ABA in 1976. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Olympians ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnice Posted December 27, 2022 Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Haliburton clinic..lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 27, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Bonus points for the name of the TV show and the character with the quip in the LP, I mean, OP. ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Final_quest Posted December 27, 2022 Report Share Posted December 27, 2022 Would love to see Trae show he's the alpha over Haliburton. Gonna need our gunners to fire away and Onyeka to show up tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 28, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Not sure a G-Leaguer can play at the AAA level and for the NBA club on the same night, but 2022's NBAGL and Finals MVP Trevelin Queen finished the earlier game here at the Fieldhouse with the Mad Ants (howdy, Justin!). No word on Duarte's status yet, but again, they're loaded at the wing spots without him. ~lw3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud2nique Posted December 28, 2022 Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Thanks lw3. We need a W. Go Hawks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud2nique Posted December 28, 2022 Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 4 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said: If you catch my Tokyo Drift. I gotta reread this whole thing The Uber driver it’s me shaking back here . Steaaaadyyyyyy…. Steaaaadddyyyy Traveling in the rain ️.. Xmas Highway shenanigans… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted December 28, 2022 Author Moderators Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 42 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said: Bonus points for the name of the TV show and the character with the quip in the LP, I mean, OP. ~lw3 Pencils down! https://yellowstone.fandom.com/wiki/Lloyd_Pierce ~lw3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member BrazilianHawk Posted December 28, 2022 Premium Member Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Let's go Hawks! Gonna need a strong showing by Frank the Tank and JC to win this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member JayBirdHawk Posted December 28, 2022 Premium Member Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted December 28, 2022 Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Shootout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member BrazilianHawk Posted December 28, 2022 Premium Member Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 lol OO. GET THE BALL! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrell Posted December 28, 2022 Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 JC made a 3!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShooterSays Posted December 28, 2022 Report Share Posted December 28, 2022 Is Griffin hurt? Literally don’t understand going to J Holiday before AJ. Sometimes Nate I just can’t 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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