2022-'23 NBA Season

booth

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Although he is never mentioned in the MVP, Domantas Sabonis is having an MVP-type year. He trails Embid only in scoring in stats this year. Yet, I never him mention in the running for MVP.

 

white lightning

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Although he is never mentioned in the MVP, Domantas Sabonis is having an MVP-type year. He trails Embid only in scoring in stats this year. Yet, I never him mention in the running for MVP.


That is a very good point. Sabonis is also leading the nba in rebounding. Very impressive. I'm glad that the trade to Sacramento
has worked out so good. Amazing that he averages over 7 assists per game. He could score alot more but is very unselfish.

Hoping we will finally see the return of Doncic tonight. He has 11 games left in the season to try and catch or pass Embiid.
 

white lightning

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The Utah Jazz got another big win tonight in their playoff chase. It was another game without Lauri Markannen their best
player. He should be back soon and will be healthy for the playoffs assuming they make it. Despite Markannen not playing,
the Jazz continue starting 3 white guys. They had Olynyk, Kessler and Fontecchio.

Kelly Olynyk 19 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal
Simone Fontecchio 12 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists
Walker Kessler 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 5 BLOCKS
 

Rocky B

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If he gets a real chance with significant minutes he would be a 20 ppg and 6 rpg.. his ball instincts are pure.
Garza was player of the year and dominant....Yet the Murray brothers, who were role players at best, get swallowed whole by the media and crappy draft pundits......When Garza played for Iowa, he was a man amongst boys. Obviously, he doesn’t have any upside, and the brothers that didn’t perform as well have tons.....Wake the F up America......
 

white lightning

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Garza was player of the year and dominant....Yet the Murray brothers, who were role players at best, get swallowed whole by the media and crappy draft pundits......When Garza played for Iowa, he was a man amongst boys. Obviously, he doesn’t have any upside, and the brothers that didn’t perform as well have tons.....Wake the F up America......
So true. I checked the box score for the Minnesota Game yesterday and he wasn't even listed on the roster. Same old anti white hatred that
we see on so many of the teams. It makes me sick to my stomach. Our guys deserve better as they have so much talent!
 

Warhawk_46

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Mavericks lost again. Cuban filing a complaint against the officiating for a free basket given to Golden State. The Mavericks loss essentially swung their post-season odds three places. Crazy!
 

white lightning

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Mavericks lost again. Cuban filing a complaint against the officiating for a free basket given to Golden State. The Mavericks loss essentially swung their post-season odds three places. Crazy!

 

Warhawk_46

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Mavs looking pretty bad into the 4th quarter again… the pairing of Doncic and Irving is like oil and water. One of the more asinine moves Cuban has made.
 

Warhawk_46

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Im eating my words as it looks like the Mavericks are coming back. Luka with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists through three quarters. Mavs within 10 points.

Hopefully they pull of the comeback and Luka has another triple-double!
 

white lightning

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Im eating my words as it looks like the Mavericks are coming back. Luka with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists through three quarters. Mavs within 10 points.

Hopefully they pull of the comeback and Luka has another triple-double!
I'm watching it and checking on the March Madness too. I would rather have Luka score 40 points or more than a triple double. He is
only .04 behind Embiid who is also playing tonight. Doncic needs to outplay him in the scoring title chase as after tonight we only have
8 games left. He can't afford to have any off games unless Embiid struggles really bad but that is unlikely!
 

Warhawk_46

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I'm watching it and checking on the March Madness too. I would rather have Luka score 40 points or more than a triple double. He is
only .04 behind Embiid who is also playing tonight. Doncic needs to outplay him in the scoring title chase as after tonight we only have
8 games left. He can't afford to have any off games unless Embiid struggles really bad but that is unlikely!
What’s crazy is Luka has sat out the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter… why is Kidd keeping the best player in the bench that long to begin the last quarter of the game??
 

white lightning

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Well another night and another loss for Dallas against a sub 500 team. Like I said the trade sucks. While Kyrie can score he doesn't pass the
ball and plays defense when he feels like it. He is an aging 31 year old premadonna. Horrible trade and they almost always lose with Luka
and Kyrie both playing. Again Kyrie needs to pass the ball more but if he hasn't learned by now he isn't going to change!

It's a great night for so many of our guys but I just don't feel motivated to post the box scores tonight. It's not just the Mavs losing almost
every game. They very possibly will miss the playoffs. Then Luka scores 34 and Embiid goes off for 46 tonight. Doncic's chance of winning the
scoring title is almost a long shot now. Then they may not make the playoffs so i'm just not in a good mood. Sorry guys.

Maybe someone will do the leading scorers for tonights games. So many great performances all across the NBA.

If not maybe in a little while I will try to post them. Just in a bad mood as it feels like Cooper Kupp and what should have been!!!
 

Warhawk_46

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Well another night and another loss for Dallas against a sub 500 team. Like I said the trade sucks. While Kyrie can score he doesn't pass the
ball and plays defense when he feels like it. He is an aging 31 year old premadonna. Horrible trade and they almost always lose with Luka
and Kyrie both playing. Again Kyrie needs to pass the ball more but if he hasn't learned by now he isn't going to change!

It's a great night for so many of our guys but I just don't feel motivated to post the box scores tonight. It's not just the Mavs losing almost
every game. They very possibly will miss the playoffs. Then Luka scores 34 and Embiid goes off for 46 tonight. Doncic's chance of winning the
scoring title is almost a long shot now. Then they may not make the playoffs so i'm just not in a good mood. Sorry guys.

Maybe someone will do the leading scorers for tonights games. So many great performances all across the NBA.

If not maybe in a little while I will try to post them. Just in a bad mood as it feels like Cooper Kupp and what should have been!!!
I’m right there with you brother… In a bit of a funk with how things are devolving around us. I am now of the mind to start seriously planning a move off-grid.
 

white lightning

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NBA Scoring Leaders 3/24/23

Luka Doncic 34 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 block

Gordan Hayward 25 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists
S. Mykhailiuk 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

Josh Giddey 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists

Franz Wagner 16 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists. 2 steals & 1 block
Moritz Wagner 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists

Kristaps Porzingis 23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks
Corey Kispert 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block
Deni Avdija 21 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal

Doug McDermott 18 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal

Grayson Allen 25 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals
Pat Connaughton 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks

S. Fontecchio 26 points and 2 rebounds
Kelly Olynyk 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists & 2 steals

Dom. Sabonis 27 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists & 1 steal
Kevin Huerter 29 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal & 1 block
 

Phall

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NBA Scoring Leaders 3/24/23

Luka Doncic 34 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 block

Gordan Hayward 25 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists
S. Mykhailiuk 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists

Josh Giddey 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists

Franz Wagner 16 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists. 2 steals & 1 block
Moritz Wagner 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists

Kristaps Porzingis 23 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks
Corey Kispert 26 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block
Deni Avdija 21 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal

Doug McDermott 18 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal

Grayson Allen 25 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals
Pat Connaughton 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks

S. Fontecchio 26 points and 2 rebounds
Kelly Olynyk 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists & 2 steals

Dom. Sabonis 27 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists & 1 steal
Kevin Huerter 29 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal & 1 block

Luke Kennard broke the Memphis Grizzlies franchise (whatever that is) record with TEN threes, scoring exactly 30 points in a blowout win against the lowly Rockets.

Easy to overlook Svi Mykhailiuk's yeoman effort in the Hornets' win over the heavily-favored Mavs. He's been jerked around the league a few times after his prolific career at an elite Kansas program saw him go undrafted. As for Gordan Hayward, he's been paid so much that it's impossible for me to feel sorry for him. He hasn't done white players any favors by being so expensive while injury-prone.

A 23-15-4 stat line for Nikola Vucevic in 30 minutes as the Bulls dismantled the Blazers. Caruso just hustled, as usual. For Portland, Ryan Arcidiacano (who recently captained a collegiate national championship team) got must be one of his first-ever starts, but went 0-5 with six assists. I hope he keeps up his shooting so he can drop his dimes.

Fontecchio for Utah had a (NBA) career performance in defeat. He's clearly worth minutes, so there's no need for Utah to stash him on their bench as a 27-yr old "rookie." (For those who didn't follow, Fontecchio co-starred for an overachieving Italian team in this past summer's Euro championships).

Pretty good night for the whites! I'm sure I missed a couple, too.
 

Phall

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Should Austin Reaves be paid $100 million guaranteed dollars? Wow, this is a disco frenzy! I don't know!


Take a deep breath, Lakers fans. I know all of this feels familiar. An undrafted guard has emerged as a key rotation player. He is thriving as the Lakers deal with major injuries elsewhere on the roster. His presence is keeping a potentially doomed season afloat. He's setting himself up for a major payday in the process. The Lakers lost Alex Caruso when this happened two years ago. Here's the good news: the Lakers can legally match any offer another team makes Austin Reaves as a restricted free agent this offseason. If they want to keep him, it will be well within their power to do so.

Until a few weeks ago, doing so seemed like it would be a relatively affordable endeavor. While the Lakers could've locked Reaves up for two more years at close to a minimum salary had they managed their cap sheet a bit more effectively in 2021, the advantage of letting him reach restricted free agency in 2023 was that it effectively capped what the Lakers could offer him at the maximum amount allowable by the Early Bird Rights they've gained by having him on the team for two years. As Spotrac's Keith Smith laid out in his excellent piece on Reaves' new contract, that worked out to roughly $51 million over four years. He would make roughly $14.1 million in the final year of such a contract, a figure that's probably lower than what he is worth now.

In other words, this would've been a bargain: a four-year commitment to an established 24-year-old with no significant history of injuries in a salary environment expected to see significant cap growth. No team is foolish enough to turn down that sort of opportunity. Not even the one that lost Caruso.

Of course, that relied on the idea that, from a value standpoint, Reaves was relatively similar to Caruso. They are very different players, but they represented similar things to the Lakers. For the most part, neither were particularly impressive box score players. Their impact was felt in advanced metrics and on-off numbers. Good things happened when Caruso and Reaves were on the floor. The progression felt somewhat similar: undrafted youngster grows into solid role player and earns solid role player money.


The last few weeks have created an enviable problem for the Lakers. Reaves is becoming something more than just a solid role player. While it's far too early start speculating about stardom, Reaves is quietly growing into one of the most efficient offensive guards in the NBA.

He might have just saved the Lakers' season on Sunday when his 35 points held off an Orlando Magic comeback and preserved a desperately needed victory. He's averaging 15.4 points per game since the Lakers traded Russell Westbrook on a preposterous 58-43-81 shooting line that has never been matched by a 15-point scorer over a full season. In the month of March, he has attempted 77 total free throws. That is more than DeMar DeRozan (67), James Harden (58) and Trae Young (53).

And these aren't role player passes. These are high-end starting point guard passes... and they all come from a single half of a single game.


"Wow, Sam, are these Austin Reaves' passing highlights for the entire season?"

"No, this is from ONE HALF against the Magic on Sunday." pic.twitter.com/ZWXSiJIeFN
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) March 20, 2023
It's too early to say where this is going, but it hardly matters because Reaves scales up or down so seamlessly. He's spent the first two years of his career playing with Westbrook and LeBron James. He's perfectly comfortable functioning in a catch-and-shoot capacity when necessary. But stick him Dennis Schroder and D'Angelo Russell instead and he turns into this higher-usage free-throw merchant and floor general. Virtually every metric praises his defense, and the eye test supports him there. Reaves was far more advanced than most rookies in terms of footwork and floor-navigation a year ago, but lacked the physical strength to hold his own in the post or fight through screens. He's bulked up this season, and at 24, he still has room for both literal and figurative growth. Every team in the NBA wants an Austin Reaves.

And this is where things get complicated for the Lakers, because while they can offer Reaves only the Early Bird max (which starts at 105 percent of the average player's salary), other teams have no such constraint. So long as they have the cap space to do so, they can offer Reaves an extra $29 million on top of the $51 million the Lakers are free to give him for a total of $80 million over four years.

Once again, Lakers fans, take a deep breath. This does not mean the Lakers will be unable to retain Reaves. The NBA offers a workaround, but it's a risky one. In 2002, the Washington Wizards used their cap space to offer then-restricted free agent Gilbert Arenas a six-year, $60 million contract that exceeded Golden State's Early Bird Rights. This meant that they legally could not match the offer, and were forced to watch Arenas grow into an All-Star with the Wizards. Soon after, the NBA changed the rules to ensure that never happened again. This is the infamous Gilbert Arenas Provision.


Players limited by the Arenas provision, like Reaves, cannot make more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception in the first year of a new deal. Their second-year salary on such a contract would see only a 5% increase in salary. But years three and four? They can go all the way up to the max. The signing team can use its cap space to structure the cap hits as the average annual salary in each of the four years. But the Lakers don't have cap space, and would therefore be stuck with that backloaded structure. Here's what a maximum-salary Arenas Provision deal would look like to the Lakers, as projected by Smith.

2023-24$11,368,000
2024-25$11,936,400
2025-26$27,724,010
2026-27$28,971,590
Total$80,000,000
You could argue that this salary structure actually benefits the Lakers financially, at least compared to paying Reaves a flat $20 million per year. Their roster is currently constructed to operate above the cap, which will mean re-signing their own players and paying the luxury tax for the fourth consecutive season. That would subject them to the repeater tax, which will make limiting next year's team salary paramount.

By backloading the deal, the Lakers would give themselves two years to sort out their finances ahead of Reaves' jump. There are two other factors worth watching here: the new CBA (which is being negotiated as we speak) and the new media rights deal (which is expected to kick in for the 2025-26 season). The former could change the luxury-tax rules in ways that either help or hurt the Lakers. The latter could increase the cap by so much that an enormous salary jump for Reaves just isn't that bothersome.

But remember, the Lakers are not the Warriors or the Clippers. Even though they outspend most of their competition, they operate within a budget, and that's what makes this situation so tricky for the Lakers: they literally can't set a budget for the 2025-26 campaign right now because they don't currently have a single player under contract for that season. In fact, only three Lakers have fully guaranteed contracts for next season: James, Anthony Davis and Max Christie.

The Lakers will have a better idea of their outlook by this summer, when, at the very least, they will have to make long-term decisions on D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura. But between the summer of 2023 and the 2024 offseason, they'll also need to make decisions on Christie and whoever they retain among the non-guaranteed group of Malik Beasley, Mo Bamba and Jarred Vanderbilt. And, of course, James and Davis.

Are James and Davis still earning max money in 2026? Does Russell expect to remain a $30 million player in his next deal, and does he want a long-term pact or short-term flexibility? How much does the idea of a possible cap spike windfall factor into negotiations for players like Hachimura, Vanderbilt and Bamba, who have thus far earned limited salaries in their careers and may want to see if 2025 free agency looks anything like 2016 once did? The Lakers still have draft picks to dangle in trade discussions this summer. There might be another meaningful player or two to consider here. For all we know, the Lakers will be entering the 2025-26 season having paid the luxury tax in the previous five seasons and the repeater tax in the last two of them.

A team with the revenue the Lakers have at their disposal probably shouldn't fret over that... but... well... that was true in 2021 as well and we all saw how that went for Caruso. The market is going to be a bit more limited this time around. Any team hoping to throw this sort of offer at Reaves would need at least $20 million in cap space, and according to Smith's most recent projections, only eight teams fit the bill right now: Houston, Utah, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Detroit, Indiana, Sacramento and Orlando. The Rockets, Kings, Pacers and Pistons probably have too much invested in guards to justify this sort of expense.

But the Magic have only specialists in their backcourt and would absolutely love a player as balanced as Reaves. The Jazz have only two guards under guaranteed contracts for next season in Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji. The Thunder aren't positionally picky and will gladly take a bit more ball-handling and defensive help. Gregg Popovich has no love for the Lakers, and could really use an upgrade on Tre Jones at point guard even if he did. More cap space teams could emerge in the coming months. There are going to be suitors here.

Reaves may not quite reach his $80 million max, but he's playing himself out of the $51 million deal the Lakers surely hoped to give him this offseason. No matter where the final number falls, it's almost certainly going to force the Lakers into a backloaded contract, which will, in turn, enforce upon them an uneasy degree of financial uncertainty. Whatever the price winds up being, the Lakers should pay it. But after what happened to Caruso, their front office has lost the benefit of the doubt on such matters. Fans will be uneasy until the ink dries on his next contract.
 

El Gringo

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What a night for the white man!! Thanks for the detailed updates guys. I’m especially pumped for Kennard who could easily score 20 a night if he didn’t have his minutes constantly screwed with his whole career.

 

Bucky

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Gee only us here at CF knew what Reaves is capable of! Pay the man!
 

Freethinker

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What a night for the white man!! Thanks for the detailed updates guys. I’m especially pumped for Kennard who could easily score 20 a night if he didn’t have his minutes constantly screwed with his whole career.

Thanks for the share. That was fun to watch!

Kennard is a good player. He’s only had 1 season in which he received over 30 mins per game. Year 3 in his career (2019-20) and his last with Detroit. He averaged 15.8 ppg. In his only other year averaging over 25 mpg, he averaged 11.9 ppg on a Clippers team of ballhogs. Since his 3rd season, he’s improved his shooting averages by at least 5 percentage points.

I think if he received another season that matched his career high in mpg (33), he would be a 20 ppg guy factoring in his improved shooting and assuming he took more shots as an established vet. The Grizzlies are stacked at guard, so I don’t think this scenario happens there, but he he plays well the rest of the way maybe he can parlay that into a starting role on a team in need.
 

white lightning

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Thanks for posting that video of "Long Range Luke" a.k.a. "Cool Hand Luke". What a night for Kennard. Good to see him crack
a smile at the end after he hit his 10th 3 pointer for a Grizzlies Franchise Record. Yeah it doesn't matter what our guys do unless
they go to a handulf of teams. The Grizzlies have been a little better than the Clippers but he should be a starter. We all know
that. The league and the players for the most part do not like white guys stealing the hilites and scoring alot of points. So the teams
and coaching staffs make sure that they don't. Tell me a team like the Mavericks couldn't use Kennard. There are so many others.

I hope Kennard gets paid alot of money because he deservess it. HIs numbers would be so much highter in a fair world!
 
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icsept

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Well another night and another loss for Dallas against a sub 500 team. Like I said the trade sucks. While Kyrie can score he doesn't pass the
ball and plays defense when he feels like it. He is an aging 31 year old premadonna. Horrible trade and they almost always lose with Luka
and Kyrie both playing. Again Kyrie needs to pass the ball more but if he hasn't learned by now he isn't going to change!

It's a great night for so many of our guys but I just don't feel motivated to post the box scores tonight. It's not just the Mavs losing almost
every game. They very possibly will miss the playoffs. Then Luka scores 34 and Embiid goes off for 46 tonight. Doncic's chance of winning the
scoring title is almost a long shot now. Then they may not make the playoffs so i'm just not in a good mood. Sorry guys.

Maybe someone will do the leading scorers for tonights games. So many great performances all across the NBA.

If not maybe in a little while I will try to post them. Just in a bad mood as it feels like Cooper Kupp and what should have been!!!
I liked the trade, but now it’s obvious they gave up too much. Dallas gave up their 2nd and 3rd best players. Combine that with losing Brunson to free agency, they lost their 2nd best player from last year. And the only player they added is Kyrie. They’ve promoted a couple of scrubs from the bench. Their roster totally sucks.
 

white lightning

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What’s crazy is Luka has sat out the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter… why is Kidd keeping the best player in the bench that long to begin the last quarter of the game??

 

El Gringo

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Thanks for posting that video of "Long Range Luke" a.k.a. "Cool Hand Luke". What a night for Kennard. Good to see him crack
a smile at the end after he hit his 10th 3 pointer for a Grizzlies Franchise Record. Yeah it doesn't matter what our guys do unless
they go to a handulf of teams. The Grizzlies have been a little better than the Clippers but he should be a starter. We all know
that. The league and the players for the most part do not like white guys stealing the hilites and scoring alot of points. So the teams
and coaching staffs make sure that they don't. Tell me a team like the Mavericks couldn't use Kennard. There are so many others.

I hope Kennard gets paid alot of money because he deservess it. HIs numbers would be so much highter in a fair world!

Kennnard and Sabonis complimenting Luka would have been the dream team and Cuban had the resources to pull it off. I was for the Kyrie trade but was ignorant to how important the roll players they let got to get him as iscept pointed out.
 
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