Magic Johnson: This may be living in LakerLand, but I think the businessman thing has faded in memory and he is known some now for his FO incompetence and goofiness on Twitter and on TV. But by "flawed" I meant more "less than competent" than "ethically deficient."

Recently, it appears that there has been a theme that Andrew Wiggins is figuring things out/playing better with the Warriors. He has been shooting a bit better recently but is this anything more than a good shooting stretch?

Seems like his best landing spot would be a team that plays fast, shoots lots of 3s, and has a greater need for ballhandling than finishing/scoring. If Lonzo can focus on getting out in transition, setting up his teammates, and playing active D, maybe he can be successful despite the shooting woes

I agree totally about Lonzo in Chicago. What do we think it'll cost to get him? For any of these teams.

On that possession, Miami had four defenders crowding Embiid in the paint, and one sprinting in from the perimeter for a hard double. None of it meant a damn thing. Rookie center Precious Achiuwa was so concerned with playing honest, hands-free defense that he allowed one of the game’s most confident scorers to slink into a turnaround jumper. The only way to combat Embiid’s physicality is with matching force, which Embiid will exploit to draw a foul. Avoiding the call, however, submits a defender to a positional game they are destined to lose—one in which a bigger, stronger player will mash them into the paint until a basket comes easy. Most of Embiid’s lower-scoring performances this season came against increasingly desperate defenses. No player sees more outright double-teams in the post than Embiid, according to Synergy Sports, less because the strategy is effective than because it’s less certain to fail.

Same Wiggins, new "best shape of his life" type articles.

As a Wolves aside, I am rapidly losing faith in Rosas. This means I have little to no faith in the owner, GM, head coach, or most of the players.

I agree totally about Lonzo in Chicago. What do we think it'll cost to get him? For any of these teams.

From the past couple years, I would guess New Orleans wants draft picks. I'm not really sure how they want to build around Zion and Ingraham, but maybe collecting enough draft picks to bundle for a star....wing, maybe would be the way to go.

Krawczynski (Twolves beat writer at the Athletic) had a piece about him that says he's also doing better on defense. As I haven't watched a game yet this season (because of stupid VPN problems) I can't say. But if he can turn a decrease in usage into an increase in efficiency, and bring more awareness and effort on team defense, he's a useful player. Not a max one, of course, but maybe only overpaid by 20MM/season.

Kyle Neubeck @KyleNeubeck
my early take is that the Lakers wearing blue in this matchup should be illegal

The Lakers aren't winning this game as they just seem to be fighting it. 4 consecutive missed FTs by LeBron and AD are the nail in the coffin.

Why are the Wolves on national television?

Anyone have a sense of what's going on with Miami?

I rarely like "mortgage the future" trades unless the return is some Anthony Davis-esque unicorn.

Here is the link to BTF's mock draft of Hunter. He went #5 in our mock.

I’m not sure how good he is at basketball, but I know he is good at describing how hard basketball is.

Where's the Trae Young conversation these days? I continue to find it odd that he's still not actually an elite (%) shooter.

I’m not sure how good he is at basketball, but I know he is good at describing how hard basketball is.

I think the Hawk defense has certainly improved. By most stats, Capela has been a top 5 defender in the middle. That's allowed Collins to play out on his man more often and has improved his defensive numbers. Hunter is a solid defender, Cam is alright. The elephant in the room is of course Trae, who is trying harder on defense but is still a pretty big liability. But the other Hawks have helped out more this year.

I would say the only other bad Hawk defender is Huerter, and I don't really like when he and Trae are on the court at the same time.

As a side, I was going through DRPM and noticed that Giannis and Ben Simmons were near the bottom of the league. I would guess that's just small sample size weirdness, but is there anything else there?

Just a thought exercise: what could the wolves get for Towns?

And, of course, he threatened to kill John Calipari. In 1994, no. 8 Temple lost a buzzer-beater to no. 13 UMass on national television. It was barely a basketball game, resembling more of a fistfight. Chaney took exception when he saw Calipari briefly talking to an official as he exited the Minutemen locker room before the postgame press conference. Chaney couldn’t stand a competitive edge. He quit the Harlem Globetrotters because the games were rigged. Chaney wasn’t afraid of danger or consequence. He once tackled a school shooter while he was teaching teenagers. Calipari, an upstart coach at the time, was going to learn the game, even if Chaney had to give the lesson himself.

...Calipari tried to defend himself, but it didn’t matter what he was saying. You listen when Chaney talks. “Shut up, goddammit!” Chaney spat back. “I’ll kill you! You remember that. When I see you, I’ll kick your ass. Kick your ass! You’ve got a good team and you don’t need that edge. That’s why I told my kid to knock your ####### kid in the mouth!”

Towns isn't leaving before Taylor leaves. If and when Taylor sells, who knows what the new owner will do?

Related, which team has the worst ownership situation in the NBA? Would you rather have Taylor, Tilman Fertitta, or Vivek Ranadivé owning your team?

Related, which team has the worst ownership situation in the NBA? Would you rather have Taylor, Tilman Fertitta, or Vivek Ranadivé owning your team?

IMO, plenty. I think there is a lot of rightful skepticism of Towns. This is a wing's NBA. I don't think Milwaukee would trade Middleton for Towns, just to give an example I'm close to. Building around a poor defending big is difficult, especially in a one-big NBA.

“Talk about a chaotic organization,” one agent said.

“He seems like he’s trying too much to be Jerry Jones,” said one front office exec.

“His intentions are good but in terms of hiring the basketball people and letting them do their work, he both hires bad basketball people and doesn’t let them do their work,” an executive said. “That’s a bad combination.”

It's really hard to find a team that wants to contend that has a defense first, low usage big that can play alongside Towns. I think that limits his market as I understand it.

boston. atlanta. portland. san antonio. OKC. dallas. memphis. toronto.

any of those teams could make towns fit without much effort.

Atlanta - no, this doesn't work. You can't put Trae and KAT on the same team and try to contend.
Portland - same issue as Atlanta, but Dame is a bit better.

Dallas - This doesn't work. You'd have to trade Porzingis, and I think the Zinger is a better fit next to Luka.

You didn't mention, but also maybe relevant: Miami.

On Wiggins, I saw those articles too and looked at the numbers the other day. Basically, his 3P% is up (small sample) but everything else is the same, including a putrid defensive on/off, which is more damning than ever given that he is being replaced on the floor by a replacement level guy this year.

Same Wiggins, new "best shape of his life" type articles.

The central improvement by Wiggins has been his sudden zeal for shot blocking, something that wasn’t ever in his bag previously. He’s sent back 4.5 percent of opponent shots this season, far and away the best figure among non-centers and good enough for 17th overall in the league.

I don't really get why Kerr is giving Oubre so much rope.

Oleh Kosel @OlehKosel
Stan Van Gundy says that since the guards played so well yesterday, JJ Redick didn't get into the rotation again. By the time, things went south, SVG didn't want to throw him out there at that point.

Jake Madison @NOLAJake
With the Pelicans and trades a deal usually happens right after an abundance of smoke. Have to figure Redick is gone very soon

Jon Johnson @jonjohnsonwip
Joel Embiid endorses bringing back JJ Redick. Make it happen.