NBA 2019-20: Hoopingest place on earth

[M2]

Miami sweeps Indiana.

Pacers are better than this showing. Bad luck with injuries played a big part.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in Indiana's off-season.

Big question is should Dipo stay or should he go?

[dubc47834]

Miami sweeps Indiana.

Pacers are better than this showing. Bad luck with injuries played a big part.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in Indiana's off-season.

I think if they werent in this bubble, this series goes ti 6 maybe 7 games.

[Betterread]

Indiana has lost in the first round of the playoffs five years in a row, three of those without winning a game. They have no young guys who might make a jump in quality so I guess they aspire to be like Portland of the east.

They never rebuild though, do they? I think the last time they were league dregs were the Chuck Person years - the late 80s

[Revering4Blue]

Indiana has lost in the first round of the playoffs five years in a row, three of those without winning a game. They have no young guys who might make a jump in quality so I guess they aspire to be like Portland of the east.

They never rebuild though, do they? I think they last time they were league dregs were the Chuck Person years - the late 80s

There's been no need to tank. Within the past 25 years or so, the franchise has assembled three distinct championship-level cores (One NBA Final appearance and several Conference Finals appearances) with the benefit of only one Top 5 selection: Rik Smits in '88. It's not as if they're Philly circa draft day '13 - Only one true coveted asset (J'Rue Holiday) and owing several first round picks due to ill-fated deals that failed to move the needle.

As for the first round exits of the past five years, when did they realistically have a chance to win any of their series?

2016 - I'll give you that. That's the series against Toronto in which the Pacers had a sizable lead towards the end of the third quarter on the road, but Vogel inexplicably rested several starters and reserves that were lighting it up, instead of going for the jugular and it came back to bite the Pacers and the soon-to-be fired Vogel.

2017 - Not a very well constructed team during PG 13's last year in Indy. Beating the Cavs, who still had Irving at the time? Wasn't happening.

2018, the first season with Sabonis and Dipo, they lost in Cleveland in game 7. That's the game and series in which the Pacers' brains collectively locked, as for some reason, they stopped attacking the rim, acting as though the Cavs had prime Olajuwon patrolling the middle instead of Thompson and Nance Jr. And nobody else in the East ousted the Cavs in LeBron's swansong.

While you can argue that they should have at least won a game in this playoff series, they weren't advancing in this season or last. They were too banged up.

As for young guys possibly making a jump? Among others. Aaron Holiday and Goga Bitadze. And over the past three seasons or so, Kevin Pritchard has demonstrated an ability to sign/acquire many contributors at non-prohibitive cost. No reason that trend can't continue. In fact, his only misstep (a doozy, nonetheless): Drafting T.J Leaf in '17 instead of John Collins, Anunoby and others.

[M2]

Indiana has lost in the first round of the playoffs five years in a row, three of those without winning a game. They have no young guys who might make a jump in quality so I guess they aspire to be like Portland of the east.

They never rebuild though, do they? I think the last time they were league dregs were the Chuck Person years - the late 80s

They've had a lot of turnover though. Myles Turner is the only guy left from the start of this run. Give them Sabonis and they've got some upside.

[Betterread]

They were seeded higher than Miami this year and I picked them to win. And Dipo is such a good guy and Butler is such a ******bag.
Indy will reload, but to make a jump they have to diversify and improve their offense. The Brogdon/sabonis P and R is impressive, but they need another isolation playmaker as a different dimension.
Where do they draft? They might get lucky this year and find a good playmaker as I think it’s a weird draft year and there could be quality talent through the entire first round.

[Revering4Blue]

They were seeded higher than Miami this year and I picked them to win. And Dipo is such a good guy and Butler is such a ******bag.
Indy will reload, but to make a jump they have to diversify and improve their offense. The Brogdon/sabonis P and R is impressive, but they need another isolation playmaker as a different dimension.
Where do they draft? They might get lucky this year and find a good playmaker as I think it’s a weird draft year and there could be quality talent through the entire first round.

Seeding means virtually nothing this season for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, the Pacers played exponentially better against an intact Philly team, as well as against the Lakers in this bubble in contrast to the turd they laid against the Heat.

Agree with your second paragraph. They cannot solely depend upon Oladipo to fill that role.

Not that it's a big deal, but they have no first rounder this season thanks to the Brogdan sign and trade

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[M2]

Where do they draft? They might get lucky this year and find a good playmaker as I think it’s a weird draft year and there could be quality talent through the entire first round.

No picks until #54, but I expect they'll be active in the trade market.

[M2]

The first half of the Lakers-Blazers was like

[M2]

I know we have some here who dislike Jimmy Butler, and I get why, but it's getting impossible to insist he's not a money ballplayer.

He was dragging the post-Rose/Noah/Deng Bulls into the playoffs and they dropped by 14 wins after he left.

Then he ended a 13-year playoff drought in Minnesota. When he left the team dropped by 11 wins.

Then he goes to Philadelphia and gets them within a rim bounce of beating the eventual NBA champions in the 2nd round of the playoffs. After he left, they dropped a #6 seed and got swept in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Then he goes to Miami, which has gone from lottery team to at least the 2nd round of the playoffs.

As mercenary as he's been in recent years, he's also made his team better everywhere he's played.

[Stray]

Herro's been impressive so far. Wasn't sure how Spo's rotations would work in the playoffs, but he has played Herro in 46 out of the 48 4th quarter mins so far. That's a lot of confidence in your rookie.

[Bourgeois Zee]

The first half of the Lakers-Blazers was like

I think you got the answer you were looking for when you showed how incredibly unlucky the Lakers were in the Game One.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Big question is should Dipo stay or should he go?

I'd look to deal one of Turner and, if they get a good haul, I'd be fine with dealing Oladipo as well.

TJ Warren can take over the scoring load. Jeremy Lamb is underrated. (His was a huge injury no one is talking about.) Brogdon proved he was for real. Sabonis took a step forward. Even the Holidays look like real players.

I wonder if Washington could be tempted to deal Beal (and change) for Dipo and Turner?

[BillDoran]

The first half of the Lakers-Blazers was like

Brutal. That was varsity versus JV-level domination. When the non-AD and Bron Lakers are hitting shots, there's not much to be done.

I'm most impressed with the Lakers defense. They get buy-in across the board, and there's some dudes that can really play D. Between Javale, Dwight and AD, they protect the rim as well as any team in the league.

The most interesting developments after the game one loss was Bron going into the post, and AD feasting on 17-footers. Gary Trent has no chance whatsoever in the paint. He can hang with James on the perimeter, but he looks like his little brother in the post.Stotts has no idea what to do with AD. So they put Nurk or Whiteside on him, and they just let him knock down jumpers all night. In Stotts's defense, I don't know that there's much you can do with an engaged Davis.

I'm ready to move on from Melo. He's hit some shots on a depleted team, and they all play nice when a microphone is in front of them, but I can't stand his ball-stopping ways. Even when he's hitting, I think he's a bad fit for that offense. There are plenty of guys n the rotation that want to hang onto the ball, Melo's 15-second backdown in the mid-post really stifles flow and robs the offense of energy.

No idea how the Blazers improve. That roster is pretty locked-in (and Olshey has shown no interest in making real changes). Dame and McCollum are incredible offensively but porous on defense. Nurk is a really nice center (on a great contract), but unless he can find another gear, he's merely a good NBA big; not a guy that can really punish middling guys. Trent's got some real promise, but he's forced into guarding big guys, when he's at his best as a 2 or undersized 3. Collins helps, but he's not really a move-the-needle guy. He young, so there's hope. Hood can score the basketball, and that's about it. Coming off a pretty serious injury too, so not entirely sure what you'll get. Ariza can help in a playoff series but not sure you'll get too much from him over the course of a season.

They have some money to spend (getting out from Whiteside's $27 million deal), but they have lots of holes. They need a backup PG (unless Simons can take a step forward), lots of help on the wing, preferably defensively oriented, and a backup big.

Assuming good health, they're probably a middle-of-the pack playoff team next year. Not exactly where you want to be when your franchise stars are in their prime.

[M2]

Brutal. That was varsity versus JV-level domination. When the non-AD and Bron Lakers are hitting shots, there's not much to be done.

I'm most impressed with the Lakers defense. They get buy-in across the board, and there's some dudes that can really play D. Between Javale, Dwight and AD, they protect the rim as well as any team in the league.

The most interesting developments after the game one loss was Bron going into the post, and AD feasting on 17-footers. Gary Trent has no chance whatsoever in the paint. He can hang with James on the perimeter, but he looks like his little brother in the post.Stotts has no idea what to do with AD. So they put Nurk or Whiteside on him, and they just let him knock down jumpers all night. In Stotts's defense, I don't know that there's much you can do with an engaged Davis.

I'm ready to move on from Melo. He's hit some shots on a depleted team, and they all play nice when a microphone is in front of them, but I can't stand his ball-stopping ways. Even when he's hitting, I think he's a bad fit for that offense. There are plenty of guys n the rotation that want to hang onto the ball, Melo's 15-second backdown in the mid-post really stifles flow and robs the offense of energy.

No idea how the Blazers improve. That roster is pretty locked-in (and Olshey has shown no interest in making real changes). Dame and McCollum are incredible offensively but porous on defense. Nurk is a really nice center (on a great contract), but unless he can find another gear, he's merely a good NBA big; not a guy that can really punish middling guys. Trent's got some real promise, but he's forced into guarding big guys, when he's at his best as a 2 or undersized 3. Collins helps, but he's not really a move-the-needle guy. He young, so there's hope. Hood can score the basketball, and that's about it. Coming off a pretty serious injury too, so not entirely sure what you'll get. Ariza can help in a playoff series but not sure you'll get too much from him over the course of a season.

They have some money to spend (getting out from Whiteside's $27 million deal), but they have lots of holes. They need a backup PG (unless Simons can take a step forward), lots of help on the wing, preferably defensively oriented, and a backup big.

Assuming good health, they're probably a middle-of-the pack playoff team next year. Not exactly where you want to be when your franchise stars are in their prime.

I was waiting for one more game to post this, but it seems largely ceremonial, so - during this seven-year run, the number of wins the Blazers have gotten in the series where they've been eliminated are 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0 and (probably) 1. That's not a contender. That's a team getting participation trophies. If "made the playoffs" is your bar, then they're doing fine. Betterread was making this same point about Indiana, though I think that squad has more upside with Sabonis in the mix.

Portland gets punished on the wings. Aminu and Harkless are no great shakes, but it's been a dive off the cliff without them. Until Ariza showed up, they had no one out there (as you noted, Melo's just been empty calories). They have to count on Dame and CJ to win the guard matchup by an absurd amount to compensate for how much they're going to lose on the wings on a given night. And it's not new. The need for better wing play has been what's kept from taking the step for years now. And I'm not sure there' a lot of help coming on this roster. Collins isn't a wing. He's a big who seems to have a so-so ceiling. Nassir Little would do well to be a dependable 2nd unit guy in the coming years. Rodney Hood is going to be coming back from an Achilles tear. Mario Hezonja and Wenyen Gabriel aren't serious options for a good team. Anfernee Simons has a loooooong way to go to be good.

Trent is the one guy who seems like he could handle a bigger role, but that role is probably CJ's job. I think they owe it to Dame and their fans to shake it up. They needed all of his hero ball this season just to squeak into the playoffs with a losing record. Golden State is back next year while Memphis, Phoenix and Nola should continue improving. Time is cruel. Portland needs to make something happen.