The problem is, Buddy is a better defender than Doug, even tho both are bad.

I think it was pretty clearly a move designed to free up more minutes for Mathurin and Sheppard. I'm not sure how long they're going to keep holding out hope for Benn, but given how beneficial rookie deals are, at least a few more years.

In other news, Oladipo waived by the Grizz. Generational bag fumbler imo. So happy he passed those offers

i know a late 1st is basically worthless, but still, they traded one for kelly olynyk, an expiring contract ?? maybe something called ochai agbaji was the key to trade ... looked him up and it turns out that his value is "grady dick's friend", and friendship is magic. priceless

then apparently there was interest in bruce brown but they couldn't get anything done, will try again in the summer. awesome. and gary trent is also expiring, so does noboby want him or is he re-signing?

was gonna say that it's pointless to tank bc they traded their 2024 1st for jake poodle, but apparently it's top-6 protected (they currently 7th last), so it turns out that they should have unloaded everyone they could and really steered into the slide to help them keep this pick


masai just mashing all the buttons out here...


serious failure by his management team not realizing that he sucked and convincing him to take the money. especially after so many injuries, and he wasn't that good to begin with

Oladipo was once quoted as saying he was gonna go down as "one of the greats of the game". He's a better singer than he is a basketball player, and he ain't even that good of a singer.

Gary Trent Jr is my least liked player.

Raptors should let him expire and let him live out his remaining years.

Full disclosure, I currently stink at betting nba games. But I'm liking mavs and under tonight. Knicks are walking wounded.

I know there are 29 other teams, but there are like 12 people left on 2p2 and I'm venting.

Pacers Give: Buddy

Pacers Get: Korkmaz, Morris, 3 2nd round picks

***

Pacers Give: 2nd round pick, Morris

Pacers Get: Dougie Buckets

***

Pacers Give: 2nd round pick:

Pacers Get: Corey Joseph, Cash

***

Pacers Waive Korkmaz

Pacers Waive Corey Joseph

So in summation:

Pacers Give: Buddy

Pacers Get: Doug+1 2nd Round Pick

Gross

Curry is 6/6 from 3 with 3 min left in the 1st quarter. Pacers are doubling him and he's just pulling up at the logo and hitting. For those of you with League Pass, this may be one of those nights

lol Doc

Doesn't look like the Knickers are going to be able to pull this one out

Yeah. It didn't end up happening, but this was one of those nights where Curry could have broken the single game 3pt record.

It seems entirely possible that Curry will still be the best shooter in the league on the day he retires.

Has that ever happened? Has a player ever been the best in the league at something when he retired. I'm guessing that Wilt may have been the best rebounder in the league when he retired. Can't think of anyone else.

What does that even mean though? Assuming Curry plays as long as he can, it seems unlikely that he'll be the most effective shooter in the league, even if he's technically the best shooter since effectiveness is also dependent on athleticism. If we're simply basing this on skills specifically rather than in-game effectiveness, I'm not sure if this type of excellence is all that uncommon.

With that said,

Bill Russell was probably the best defensive player in the game when he retired, which is even more impressive than just being the best shooter.

Cash considerations tho

Almost no great player literally plays for as long as he is able to make a roster. I am suggesting that Curry at age 39 or whatever might still lead the league in three pointers made while being among the leaders in efficiency, just like he is this year.

Gotcha, I mean Curry is the best shooter in history by a huge margin at this point (and at a time when shooting is more important than ever) and this is true regardless of what happens to Curry at age 39 or when he chooses to retire. It feels like almost a disservice to his legacy (I think he might have an argument for a top-5 player all time when it's all said and done) to point out something that's kind of cool but might not become true depending on how he ends his career. What you're saying might also have been technically true of Klay Thompson had he suffered a season-ending injury during the preseason, since he led the league in 3PM last season with great efficiency.

So without any extrapolation, looking at Curry's current season, it's amazing because well, Curry's amazing but it's not historically dominant even accounting for age. Ray Allen at 35 had a fairly comparable 3-point shooting season to Curry's current season (Ray Allen was 2nd in 3P% and 5th in 3PM, Curry this season in is 22nd in 3P% and 1st in 3PM). At age 35, Rodman was both the best offensive rebounder in the league (18.9% ORB% vs 2nd place Will Purdue at 15.2%) and the best defensive rebounder in the league (32.2% DRB% vs 2nd place Ervin Johnson at 29.6%) and obviously overall (25.6% RB% vs 2nd place Charles Barkley at 20.7% or if you prefer per game #s, which eliminate some guys due to missed games, 16.1 vs 2nd place Mutombo at 11.6). And I checked Rodman because I know he was amazing as a rebounder even at age 35, I'm sure you can find lots of others that were dominant in a single stat at age 35.

Part of what makes Curry so impressive is the efficiency and volume though- at age 35 Ray's 4.7 3PA per game was the 13th highest average of his career, and his role didn't require him to create for himself as often.

Curry at age 35 is attempting 11.7 3PA (1st in the NBA), tied for the 2nd highest average of his career. His 3P% ranks 22nd, but his 3P% is 3rd among the 21 players averaging at least 7 attempts per game, and the only 2 guys from that group ahead of him % wise are 3.7 & 4.5 attempts per game behind him.

Also, I'm amazed at the mileage Doc Rivers has gotten out of winning a championship 16 years ago with KG, Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rondo. Yeesh.

Agree with this - keep in mind Ray Allen is nowhere near as good or impressive than Curry - but I think a lot of that is captured here:

In terms of comparing attempts to his own past seasons, that has a fair amount to do with where the league is going:

Ray Allen peaked in terms of 3PM/G in 05-06 (3.4), when the average team made 5.7 per game
Ray Allen averaged 2.1 at age 35 and 2.3 at age 36 when the average team made 6.5 and 6.4 per game respectively

Curry averaged 5.1 3PM/G in 2015-16 (haven't done the math but eyeballing that looks like his peak relative to the league) when the average team made 8.5 per game
Curry is averageing 4.9 3PM/G this season when the average team is making 12.9 per game

So in terms of 3-pointers made relative to an average team, Ray Allen went from 60% at peak to 32% at age 35 and 36% at age 36. Curry went from 60% to 38% at age 35. In terms of efficiency, Ray Allen also shot well above his own career average those seasons, while Curry is a bit below his career age this season. This isn't entirely fair because the Warriors were years ahead of the league - and at some point it's hard to scale up volume regardless of league context - but I think what he's doing at 35 is fairly normal relative to his peak, as in what's amazing is how good he has been overall, not how well he's kept up as he aged.

Might be the GOAT politician in sports coaching history. I mean that team was absolutely loaded and the most remarkable thing about that championship run was how they got taken to Game 7 by the 37-45 Hawks in Round 1 and the 45-37 Cavs (and barely won Game 7 by 5 points) in Round 2. And their all-time great defense was pretty much the work of Thibs (and KG) - what did Doc do?

I think comparing a single players 3PM to average team 3PM for players of different eras is a flawed metric for the same reason. The league has changed. 60% relative to team average would be impossible for anyone to achieve in the 2023-2024 NBA. Curry's volume and efficiency from 3 have been relatively stable from 2015-2016 through now.

And first among players averaging more than 8 attempts per game.

Got to give the old guys some credit.

Steph only missed 3 games (only 1 game for rest).
LeBron only missed 5 games
Durant only missed 7 games (none for rest).

And all still killing it.

Also Durant having a shooting split of 54/42/90 since he came back from an achilles injury just seems insane.