NBA 2019-20: Hoopingest place on earth

[BuckeyeRed27]

The can’t miss anything Jamal Murray has showed up, so probably going to be a Game 7.

[Boston Red]

The can’t miss anything Jamal Murray has showed up, so probably going to be a Game 7.

Utah has been incredibly weak this second quarter so far.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Utah has been incredibly weak this second quarter so far.

Survived pretty well those last 4 minutes which could have been a tipping point. Just like Denver had to be happy to be down 6 at the end of the first, Jazz are equally thrilled to be down 5 at half time.

Weird game so far.

[Boston Red]

Didn't love Niang taking two big 3s in the 4th quarter for Utah. Good player, but not the right guy at that time. Gonna take a miracle now tonight. Murray probably isn't going to miss enough to let Utah back in it.

[BuckeyeRed27]

Didn't love Niang taking two big 3s in the 4th quarter for Utah. Good player, but not the right guy at that time. Gonna take a miracle now tonight. Murray probably isn't going to miss enough to let Utah back in it.

They were open looks set up my Mitchell, just have to make them.

There’s nothing Utah can do when Murray goes crazy. Generally they are playing decent defense on him, he just doesn’t miss.

[Boston Red]

They were open. Just thought the moment was too big for Niang.

Murray isnt human right now.

[BuckeyeRed27]

They were open. Just thought the moment was too big for Niang.

Murray isnt human right now.

It absolutely was, but when Bogdanovic isn’t there someone is going to get their ball in their hands in the clutch.

I guess we will see which Murray shows up on Tuesday. This version is beatable but Conley and Clarkson or Ingles also have to bring their A games. They were more like B games tonight.

[M2]

What Murray and Mitchell have been doing in this series has been exceptional. Like, they're still talking about this 30 years from now.

[adkindo]

Eastern Conference semis will go chalk. Bucks over Heat. Raptors over Celtics.

I am actually leaning the opposite.

[adkindo]

Just terrible news. For one thing, he was only 7 months older than I am. He certainly was a player that was well ahead of time. Man, imagine him as a small ball center today. He could play every frontline position equally well, and that was very rare for his era. It seems unreal that four members of the Blazers 1990 NBA finals team are no longer with us - Petrovic, Duckworth, Kersey and now, Robinson.

Rest in peace, Uncle Cliffy.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

Petrovic died in a manner young men commonly die...not being cold, just saying young people die in accidents. The other 3 were so young to die from health problems. Duck was only in his 40's and Kersey and Cliff in their early 50's.

[Revering4Blue]

Utah has been incredibly weak this second quarter so far.

And this underscores one of the keys to the series before it even began -- and I'm not at all suggesting that the Jazz will not pull this series out in 7: You're (The Jazz) are already missing one of the best shooters in the game, and your bench rotation has basically consisted of only two players (Niang and Clarkson) capable of playing more than 3 or so minutes a night. And you're going up against one of the deeper teams in the league, who's just gotten a key defensive cog (Harris) back. I'm not sure what Snyder can do to counter. Perhaps go back to starting Morgan in a cosmetic starting role to pick up early fouls etc. instead of a starter. Or bite the bullet by going smaller on the second unit by playing Mudiay, with his long wingspan. We shall see.

[Revering4Blue]

Petrovic died in a manner young men commonly die...not being cold, just saying young people die in accidents. The other 3 were so young to die from health problems. Duck was only in his 40's and Kersey and Cliff in their early 50's.

True. And you're right, one death is not like the others. But even so, that '90 Finals matchup took place 30 years ago, but I remember it as though it were yesterday. It's still mind-boggling to me, just as it's mind-boggling to me that Petrovic has been gone for 27 years.

[M2]

And this underscores one of the keys to the series before it even began -- and I'm not at all suggesting that the Jazz will not pull this series out in 7: You're (The Jazz) are already missing one of the best shooters in the game, and you're bench rotation has basically consisted of only two players (Niang and Clarkson) capable of playing more than 3 or so minutes a night. And you're going up against one of the deeper teams in the league, who's just gotten a key defensive cog (Harris) back. I'm not sure what Snyder can do to counter. Perhaps go back to starting Morgan in a cosmetic starting role to pick up early fouls etc. instead of a starter. Or bite the bullet by going smaller on the second unit by playing Mudiay, with his long wingspan. We shall see.

Ingles being sort of useless has complicated matters. And, as you noted, Harris potentially tips the scales. Utah's scoring is coming almost exclusively from Mitchell, Conley and Clarkson. Harris hits them right where it hurts them most.

[Revering4Blue]

Got a burr in my saddle with a historical team remake. The 1980s Denver Nuggets were a great coulda, shoulda, woulda team. Alex English refused to age as he got deeper into his 30s and Fat Lever was a do-everything guard. In 1986 they had a legit chance to take the Western Conference, but Calvin Natt got banged up a bit and they fell to eventual conference champs Houston in the 2nd round. The team needs some defense, some depth and (oddly for such a high scoring team) some outside shooting.

In real life they'll trade the 1987 1st round pick that becomes Olden Polynice (which means it can fetch you Scottie Pippen) for Darrell Walker. I have been summoned from the future to change the timeline. There will be no failed Darrell Walker experiment. Yet what do we do instead?

Step 1 - I don't trust Natt's knees. This will come home to roost in the 1st game of the 1986-87 season, but in the summer of 1986 we've got a window to move the Pit Bull. The New Jersey Nets are entering what looks to be a long trip into the abyss. They can see it coming. Their best player is Buck Williams, who's great as the doing the donkey work on a good team, but he doesn't have the offensive game to carry a bad team. So we're going to trade Natt (who can score), a 1986 1st rounder (#16) and a 1988 1st rounder for Williams and the Nets' 1990 1st rounder. The Nets can replenish their stores sooner and Natt, theoretically, will put up some points. Meanwhile, Buck adds the backbone Denver needs and something tells me that 1990 Nets pick will fit like a Glove.

Step 2 - The Nuggets are going to discover what a prolific three-point shooter can bring to the team in 1987, but we're going to advance that process by a year and add more than one shooter. The New York Knicks have a guy who might be the most underappreciated player in the NBA. He's been forgotten in the sands of time, but Trent Tucker is a baller. He will retire with a .408 3P%. He's a 6'5" lockup defender who also takes care of the ball pretty well (career 2.5 assist-to-turnover ratio). His per 36 ppg is 16.5 and the Knicks are never going to give him starter's minutes. For some reason Bill Hanzlik is a well-regarded 6th man. So we're trading him for Tucker. The Knicks think they've got an improved version of Ernie Grunfield, but what's really happened is Denver's added a shooter/defender to its high-paced system. Lever and Tucker will be mugging opposing backcourts.

Step 3 - I'm going to address depth via free agency. A year from now, the Nuggets are going to trade for Michael Adams and let him fire at will. Yet the Mad Bomber is a free agent today. I don't have to trade for him. I can just get him for nothing and he's instant excitement off my bench. Also, he can play next to either of Lever (which worked like a charm in real life) or Tucker. In addition, I need a 6th man and Rod Higgins is an intriguing combo forward who just bounced between four teams the previous season. He'll keep playing well into the '90s when someone figures out he's got a tasty outside shot. Well, we've heard tell he drains it from the outside during practices and we're going to sign him for peanuts and let him do it in games. Now we've got Tucker, Adams and Higgins, and Alex English has gobs of space in which he can operate.

Step 4 - We still have the #18 pick in the 1986 draft. In the discarded timeline the Nuggets will draft Mark Alarie, and he will be perfectly boring. Instead of going with a "safe" pick from a major program, we're going way off the board for a three-time NAIA All-American named Dennis Rodman. We have noticed the value T.R. Dunn has brought to the team as a tireless worker and we will forever regret trading Bobby Jones for the sack of protoplasm named George McGinnis. This Rodman kid looks like he can play up tempo all night long, defend just about anyone and sweep the glass (either as a Buck Williams sub or alongside Buck).

Fallout - This team is going to be miserable to play against moving forward. Pace, space and a dog mentality toward defense. Also, it's got that 1987 draft pick still in its pocket. I've stepped on too many butterflies for it to land in a spot where I can trade up for Pippen, but I might be able to pull off a trade up to snag Reggie Miller. We keep Vernon Maxwell in 1988. We never draft Todd Lichti in 1989, instead grabbing this center out of Serbia named Vlade Divac (who eventually replaces the underrated Danny Schayes/Blair Rasmussen duo). And that 1990 Nets pick turns into Gary Payton, who runs the team through the next decade as Doug Moe takes his rightful place in the coaching pantheon.

Great job! Some thoughts on this post:

Step 1 - Even though the Nets still managed to qualify for a short-lived stay in the playoffs in '86, the end was coming for that core after Michael Ray Richardson was banned from the league midway through that season. But they somehow in that summer of '86 believed that drafting the late Pearl Washington (Great College player, but an NBA bust, and I did NOT see that coming) and signing Orlando Woolridge, which cost them an '89 lottery pick, while Woolridge missed a considerable amount of time with drug issues, would stabilize that core. And the rest is history. And given that Williams, three year later, only netted them Sam Bowie, who did play well as a Net and Mookie Blaylock, who they traded away for minimal return after drafting Kenny Anderson, they held on to him too long as you alluded to.

Natt, however, IIRC, was viewed as an injury risk circa Summer of '86. So, I'm not sure that Natt and picks alone would have gotten it done. But it could have been reconfigured with additional players and picks, and not necessarily all 1st rounders, with a '90 pick swap or '91 pick swap - the idea to snare Mutombo, assuming the Nuggets go a different route with another impact player in the '89 draft, with Lever remaining healthy '91 - '95 or so in this alternate universe.

Step 2 - That would have been a great trade for both teams, actually. Hanzlick, IMO, would have been a nice addition to the Pitino-era Knicks. And Tucker would have allowed them to go bigger in the '89 draft and avoid Lichti, who still may have been a solid pro if not for a bad car accident before his rookie season in which he was badly injured and he also had to suffer through the major trauma of losing his girlfriend in that accident.

Step 3: Love this! In addition to unlocking Adams' talents in Moe's system. His signing also would have allowed the Nuggets to deal Mike Evans while he still had some value. Higgins, too - especially when you consider how Nelson utilized him with the Run TMC teams in the Bay Area -- would have made a ton of sense. He would have seamlessly replaced Elston Turner in the rotation, after Turner signed with Chicago that Summer.

Step 4: Ah, the drug draft of '86. The draft in which talents such as Rodman, Duckworth, Price and Hornacek somehow fell into the second round, even though, IIRC, the USA today '86 mock had Rodman going to the Nuggets with one of their picks. What may have been. "Safe" picks from major programs, from that era who failed to distinguish themselves in the NBA is a really good topic for another time. Full disclosure: At the time, FWIW, I liked the Maurice Martin pick, but I was "meh" on the Alarie pick. The Alarie pick would have been a lot worse had he not been dealt in the Fall of '87 with Darrell Walker to Washington for Adams and Jay Vincent. That deal directly led to the '88 divisional crown.

Fallout - Not much to really add here. All solid moves. While I agree with Divac in '89 and Payton in '90, it would have been interesting to see how the late Cliff Robinson would have performed in Denver with that core, especially if the '90 pick becomes '91 and Mutombo is selected as I mentioned.

Many Nuggets fans, and rightfully so, point to the Mutombo, Abdul-Rauf (talk about a player whose game would have fit even better in today's NBA landscape) core as the chief example of a Nuggets core not living up to it's potential due to lapses in upper management. But the Nuggets core that you've chosen, even though they rebounded from Natt's injury by capturing the '88 divisional title in an absolutely loaded year for the division, fell off a cliff after that season and it could have been avoided, prolonging Moe's tenure.

[adkindo]

True. And you're right, one death is not like the others. But even so, that '90 Finals matchup took place 30 years ago, but I remember it as though it were yesterday. It's still mind-boggling to me, just as it's mind-boggling to me that Petrovic has been gone for 27 years.

oh yeah....a lot of people see the Pistons won that series 4-1....but every game besides Game 3 was a back and forth dog fight