Betrayer

That's a lot of words to say, "I F***ed up. This is on me." JB is a great coach when it comes to making bad teams very good, building a culture, and putting in an overall scheme. He's not good at lineup management or any sort of in-game strategy. He's what I thought Monty would be: An amped up version of Casey. The in-game Xs and Os probably aren't fixable unless you get him a really good play-calling assistant coach. However, these lineup screw-ups seem like they should be correctable if he would just own it and realize his mistakes. It's not rocket science. It's as simple as, "Defense is how we win and we're giving up too many points tonight, so let's play our best defenders instead of sitting them down the stretch."

They beat us (#1 team in the East) and they beat the Spurs, who beat the Thunder (#1 team in the West). Clearly Utah is the best team in the NBA and they're winning a championship.

“Playoff JB” shows up again and benches one of the best perimeter defenders in the league then goes into the postgame complaining about defense. And where was the guy JB just said was the best rim protector in the league? Also on the bench. Inexcusable. Yeah, they’ve could’ve won anyway with some free throws made throughout the game and some better execution down the stretch, but I'm pinning this one on JB for making them play with one arm tied behind their backs.

League should be addressing fouls and referees, not tanking. Fix the game by allowing the defender the right to his space and making it a no-call or offensive foul when the offensive player initiates contact.

Came to say that as well. Terrible list.

Outside of a second scorer to help Cade, I want them to focus on getting a couple 2-way players. The odds of getting a second scorer who can also defend are slim, because those are All-Stars, so I won't put that requirement on that slot. However, any other slot you're trying to fill I'm looking for "3 and D" at a minimum for me to consider the trade. No more role players who play great D but can't shoot or guys who can shoot while getting targeted every play on the other end like Duncan.

This is why you can't take him off the floor regardless of his shooting. Getting stops and creating easy buckets on the other end more than makes up for his lack of shooting. JB playing him less than 30 minutes a game is a crime that I'm sure we'll revisit come playoff time just like last year when it cost us the series with the Knicks.

I've been meaning to call this out as well. It's really weird because last year I distinctly recall commenting about how good they were with their challenges, especially after the Monty season where he couldn't ever get one right. This year the problem I'm seeing is JB goes too far with wanting to show his trust in the guys and be their buddy. I see them pleading with him to challenge and him doing it when he should be trusting the guys behind the bench with the iPads.

That 4th quarter defense was insanely good from guys like Ausar, Holland, Stew, and Green. I felt like I was counting off stock after stock for about 6 minutes of game time. 16 Steals and 10 Blocks total with Ausar having 7 stocks, Stew having 5, and every player in the starting lineup getting at least 1 steal. Held Charlotte to under 90 points. Great stuff.

Career 42% 3pt shooter who's a very good defender...sign me up.

The Pistons could have shot better and that would have solved the issue, but this might have been the worst officiated game I've seen in years. Ref initiates contact with Ausar and so he tosses him. Should've just been one tech. Meanwhile Lebron basically arm wrestles a ref last week and doesn't get anything. That same ref gives JB a tech for pulling Cade off the court as they're heading to the locker room. That shot clock violation/non-possession call was bogus since Washington had both hands clutching the ball before dropping it. Same ref doesn't give JB the timeout as he's calling for it while standing right next to him on the sideline when Duren gets the rebound. Oh, and Duren was fouled big time on that rebound with AD draped all over him. Oh, and AD was standing out of bounds. At one point it was something like 21 to 7 on FTAs and Dallas wound up shooting something like 16 more than the Pistons even though we're the team always going to the paint. Someone check that ref's Fanduel account. What a joke.

A few bad apples always have to ruin for everyone else. The occasional $5 prop bet on a lower tier player just for fun is really the only time I open my betting app.

Josh Hart's thumb is gonna have a busy offseason if that happens.

Don't love his attitude, but it's a short contract so it's worth the gamble. On the court, he'd be a huge upgrade in the shooting department and he's a solid player in other ways as well. As Del said, depends on the price, which I think will be too high since he's having a career season and the Nets are trying to capitalize on that while he's hot. But I really don't think Trajan will do anything at all this season. Maybe a Schroeder level deal like last year near the deadline. He's not out there "firing all the bullets in his clip" like Weaver. He also probably feels like he's playing with house money with the team in the #1 spot as young as they are.

He did get fouled so he had legitimate beef with the no call. Also, I don't think he expected to ref to start moving forward like that to where they wound up running into each other. Without his momentum carrying him right into the ref's face I doubt they call a technical. Guy's jump up and down like that on every play.

That doesn't seem likely to me. He didn't even take Stew out after the T he got (if I recall correctly). This is Stew, I think JB knows he plays with high emotions, and more than that I think the team likes it and rallies behind it.

Intense game that had me screaming at the tv more than a few times. Another game against Boston and another look at what teams will do against us in the playoffs. They hunted Robinson on every play and probably scored 40 points in matchups against him alone. Speaking of playoff gameplans, this is another one where Duren goes against a weak front line and doesn't produce because Boston wasn't going to just let him rim run and lob all day (6pt, 3 reb). This is why you don't pay him over 30M/yr. It's not like you can put him out there when Cade's on the bench and run the offense through him and he certainly isn't a DPoY candidate. Don't be fooled by Cade having the Chris Paul effect on his Center and making him look like an All Star.. Holland does a lot of dumb stuff out there, but he was also one of the few guys who ran through the gaps and attacked the zone defense as you should. Javonte was great in his minutes. I thought he'd be an end of bench guy, but I actually don't mind his minutes this year. He really defends and plays his role on offense as well. 34% from three isn't outstanding, but on this team he's one of the few guys you might be able to call "3 and D" - something we sorely need more of. I liked the defensive effort from Ivey in this one. On offense he settled for threes way too often when he should have been using that speed to penetrate. He looks slower...maybe he's just getting back into game shape. JB almost blew this one with his lineups in the last few minutes. Javonte shouldn't have been taken out for Robinson who was getting hunted all night. You're basically giving them points. And Stew should've been on the court instead of Duren - this is probably true on most nights, but especially in this game. Luckily Cade did his thing and closed it out regardless.

Getting to the finals would be incredible in just the second year after winning 14 games. It depends on what "all-in" means though. I don't think the East is so good that they have to go superstar hunting and gut the team to chase Booker or something. A fringe All-Star like Trey Murphy, or someone similar, could really set them up to the be the favorite right now for presumably far less.

I think the response here is, "Duh." Today's sports news consists of one guy saying "Team X could show interest in Player Y at some point in the future" and then a hundred outlets reporting that as sourced news for clicks.

AD's agent is really stoking the fires with these fake leaks.

When you're trying to replace your only pure shooter in the lineup, the answer is Lanier, not Jenkins. It doesn't matter that he's a rookie, he's just a qualified as a 2-way player and they're basically the same age. it's all about the archetype you're looking to replace. And I like Jenkins, but he's a backup PG. His role is playing the 13 minutes Cade doesn't play. Let him cook against bench players and be a spark for the reserves. Let him grow into your Jose Alvarado.. I didn't think I would dislike LeVert this much. Even when he's playing well, his flailing limbs and head-down dribble make me seriously unhappy. In a game like this, it's infuriating. JB keeps going to him in the clutch and it's a terrible move. Two things can be true. We can lack shooting and also need to have Ausar in the lineup as much as possible. This team's best offense is defense and you don't have to fight the zone when you're in transition. Not to mention that a zone sucks for defensive rebounding so Ausar's offensive rebounding is very important. We were a huge net positive in his minutes just as we were in the playoffs last year when JB sat him. Play the man 30+ mpg!

Maybe if you add in Anthony Davis. Barely.

I'm not interested in bringing back Schroeder. If we're talking to Sac, then give me Keon Ellis.

Much like comparing salary numbers to the past, counting stats have become meaningless.

You're very lucky then. As someone who was a runner and dealt with shin splints off an on, I became well acquainted with this muscle.