It's hard to find July success stories given the small sample size, but a few developments from Vegas have legs going forward.
Article from the Athletic on our rookies summer league performance. Text below:
Denver’s draft class shines
The Nuggets’ strategy of intentionally going old with late-ish draft picks was certainly … interesting. But it also may prove effective, if summer league was any indication. The early returns on all three of the defending champs’ picks were excellent, as Strawther, Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson all played well in Vegas.
In particular, Tyson — the last player picked of the three at 37th — stood out. The stretch four from Clemson was lights-out as a shooter, making 18 of 36 3s and 20 of 23 from the line, and the volume here is as important as the accuracy. He hoisted a triple every four minutes and looked comfortable launching both on the move and off screens.
More importantly, he did just as much damage inside the arc, moving off the ball and using his size to finish around the rim. Tyson wasn’t just some limited catch-and-shoot guy — he was second in all of summer league in total points! Add in solid defense and quick on-ball decisions, and he looked as plug-and-play into a rotation spot as any rookie at summer league.
His teammate Strawther, the Nuggets’ lone first-rounder at 29th, was an even more willing launcher with a summer-league-high 47 3-point attempts, averaging one every three minutes. While not as prolific as Tyson inside the arc, he too managed to mix things up enough to generate a decent number of free-throw attempts and shot 12 of 23 inside the arc.
Pickett, the 32nd pick out of Penn State, also had a solid summer. An acquired taste as a smart, physical big guard, he handed out 28 assists against 10 turnovers and shot 20 of 35 inside the arc. Perhaps at least as notable for a point guard not renowned for his athleticism, he blocked five shots in five games.
Think Monty is still a huge outlier. Decent coach, maybe top 1/3 in the league even but to be near pop is crazy.
35% in a week is pretty good. I feel like from here we’ll see steady growth and continue building and when Reddit inevitably kills oldreddit we’ll get a big influx and be ready for it.
At least it’s a team option for the 2nd year for brown so pretty low risk if it doesn’t work out too!
I like Dame and feel like if he had gone about this better he would’ve came out with minimal hate but waiting until after the grant deal, only wanting to be dealt to Miami, and now threatening to sit out is a bit much.
Like he’s earned a bit of choice in wanting to go to a contender with all he’s done for Portland but if you force yourself out this kind of way you burn up your goodwill pretty quick
Think Bruce brown was a great pickup to go with Hali, will definitely miss him on the nuggets. Think they make the playoffs baring any injuries and Hali has potential to make all nba in the coming years
Edit: Spelling
I agree unmatched is a really fun option. There’s even a digital version that was recently released which is an easy way to try it out to see if you’d want to get the physical sets. Think there’s fan created rules online for a 3 person match if you don’t have 4.
Yeah I think having a new coach is what they’re hoping will be the difference maker. I think if Giannis was healthy they would have made the ECF/Finals but don’t think they would’ve beat the nuggets with bud as coach.
Bud is a good regular season coach but has consistently struggled in the playoffs due to lack of adjustments. Outside the year they won (and sometimes even in that year) it felt like they never played up to their talent level
Yeah it was the one platform they were optimistic about.
Think they were right on the short term issues but we’re already starting to see apps developed and make the signup easier for less tech savvy people so I think we’ll see more and more come.
Also helps that Twitter and Reddit did their changes around the same time so more people are willing to move since others are as well.
Front office insider and salary cap expert John Hollinger explains the new free agency approach around the NBA.
Interesting article talking about the shift in recent years of less stars being outright signed as free agents. Think a lot of that is the last CBA (and now the new one) making it a bit easier to keep you own players with things like the super max, higher raises, etc.
Think it’s a win for small market teams that normally would lose players to big markets and the players themselves are still getting paid so don’t think they care too much since they can always still leave if they don’t like their situation the team just ends up getting assets back more often now.
Free-agent forward agrees to one-year deal with defending champs (Woj/Twitter)
Don’t think that’s quite enough but think your on the right track with OKC being the 3rd team. They’re already having the issue of having too many picks and herro matches the timeline they have so it makes sense for them to be involved.
I’d be down to moderate. Love the nuggets and talking basketball so would be willing to put the work in!
Mark Jackson better be next. Literally would rather just not have announcers when he’s on.
Something like multi-Reddit’s would be cool have down the line to be able to browse multiple communities that are similar at the same time.
Unless the minimum agents they get are good good I still would give Nuggets the edge. Booker was shooting absurdly lights out in their 2 wins this year. KD wasn't himself having to come right back from injury and didn't get a lot of time with the team so I expect he'll do better and booker will improve but the Nuggets likely get better as well. Nuggets are all just entering their prime and the core (besides Bruce) is under contract for another 2 years at least and Bruce even hinted at returning at the parade. Unless the suns get insane value back for Ayton I just think the Suns don't have the defense or good enough 5-8 to offset that.
Years ago it was what /r/NBADiscussion was at it's best. More in depth analysis and people actually caring about the game along with cool things like the 3 point shooting challenge, the playoff mascot art, etc. Now it's 95% the drama, don't get me wrong trade season is fun but it feels like most of that sub doesn't even like to watch basketball.