AROUND the NBA:

[Chicagojk]

Philly just won their 4th game in a row to start the season.  Grimes played 39 minutes including the entire overtime (where he had a couple of key steals).  He is playing over 30 minutes a game and has the highest net rating on the team.  I'm surprised he is getting this much playing time given the contract situation.  Maybe he was right to bet on himself.

I have several issues with how Morey builds teams, but I really admire how he constantly finds talent in the draft and via trades.   He always has an itchy trigger finger though.   However he evaluates players he typically finds value when value is hard to find.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://nypost.com/2025/10/29/sports/phi...ks-tenure/


Interesting read. How Phil Jackson blames Carmelo Anthony for his failed
tenure with the Knicks.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://x.com/IanBegley/status/1983647859909259689

The NBA says the opening week of the 25-26 season was the
highest watched in 15 years.

[meistermatze]

https://nypost.com/2025/10/29/sports/phi...ks-tenure/


Interesting read. How Phil Jackson blames Carmelo Anthony for his failed
tenure with the Knicks.

Wow, Melo sounds like the kind of cancer I always suspected him to be. Sure, it's just hearsay but if both Karl and Jackson share similar experiences, it's hard to ignore. Even if both have a history of being difficult themselves, lol.

[Smitty]

@TheDunkCentral
Shams says to keep an eye on the situations of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, and LeBron James

[omahen]

@TheDunkCentral
Shams says to keep an eye on the situations of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, and LeBron James

I think Trae could be most realistic out of the three. There doesn't seem to be much love between Atlanta and him in terms of them seing him as a franchise player. He is just so difficult (impossible?) to build a title contender around. His defense is several levels below Luka and he is much more difficult to hide on defense due to his size. Problem is, he will not fetch much due to him being a FA in the summer. 

Giannis leverage increases exponentially if he waits until the summer. His trade value will also decrease greatly in the summer, as no team will give up a lot without him committing to resign with them.  I would be surprised if Milwaukee trades him without him asking out, despite them being able to get much more for him now than in the summer. They are a non FA destination and they have to show they take care of their franchise player. Basically all they have done so far. 

LeBron is an interesting situation and was already discussed a lot. His contract makes him difficult to trade and he has a full no-trade clause further limiting the possibilities of any trade to happen, even if there would be interest for it. Reaves continues to improve (based on first five games) and he seems like a long term running buddy next to Luka as he can play on and off the ball. Despite neither of them is a good defender, I think it is possible to build a good enough defense around them if you have the right pieces (two athletic 3-D wings and a good center). LeBron is of course not in the long term picture. While he is still a great player, Lakers might actually look better if they could get a good wing or two for him. Both in the short and the long term. On the other hand, he is in the discussions for best player ever and still puts up excellent numbers. He is also biggest cash machine. If he would really want to leave, he wouldn't pick up his option and pick a team of his choosing in the summer. It is also very unlikely that he would be a leader of a team that trades for him and has title aspirations (so basically same situation he has with Lakers now). Also, that team would need to have much higher title chances than Lakers for LeBron to make sense. Lakers will not take a bunch of trash for him. Long term deals only if good players or rookie deals, otherwise expirings and draft capital. If there was anything to happen, I think it would be done in complete silence and in full cooperation between LeBron, Lakers and the third team. There is a certain executive with proven experience in this field who might get desperate enough to pull the trigger. But his teams results would need to improve to become appealing destination for LeBron to join his good buddies

[david75090]

VJ Edgecombe wears number 77.

[Chicagojk]

VJ Edgecombe wears number 77.

He has looked really good and the Sixers are thrilled.   Maxey still kills me.   It is weird that our front office had blowup several years ago and the issue is the both liked a player who wound up not being good.    Maxey was never considered.

Anyway, I do think the Sixers blueprint should be something to consider if the do want to play big.   You need 3- guards who can create and shoot.   I love those type of teams.  If you can have size in the paint, even  better.   But you need a bunch of guys who can get into the lane and cause all sorts of problems.  Drive and dish.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4679...oint-night


Luka and Wilt are the only ones to do this. Crazy.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4679...-vs-knicks

It's early, but the Bulls are 5-0 for the 1st time since the Jordan era.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

[Ja Morant] when asked what went wrong and why he looked to have low energy tonight: “Go ask the coaching staff… they had a whole spiel. Go ask the coaching staff why.” When asked what could’ve been done differently: “According to them, probably don’t play me… it’s cool. It’s cool bro.”

[omahen]

[Ja Morant] when asked what went wrong and why he looked to have low energy tonight: “Go ask the coaching staff… they had a whole spiel. Go ask the coaching staff why.” When asked what could’ve been done differently: “According to them, probably don’t play me… it’s cool. It’s cool bro.”

Morant was shooting I think 19 % from three before the Lakers game, and his percentage certainly didn't improve in this one. Since he is a no threat from three it is not that difficult to guard him, even though he is very good. Poor shooting percentage from three was the main problem for Memphis in this early part of the season.

I don't know what is going on with him and the training staff, but perhaps cleaning up some of his stuff would help him.

[omahen]

Morant suspended for one game by the team for conduct detrimental to the team (Shams). Beginning of the divorce?

[Chicagojk]

Morant suspended for one game by the team for conduct detrimental to the team (Shams). Beginning of the divorce?

Might be.  I don't think either side is happy right now.  They tend to win regular season games when Morant is healthy though.   It just seems like he is a guy who won't age well.    I think Memphis is right to be cautious.  Tough spot to be with such a popular player in the city though.   Memphis could potentially re-set themselves pretty quick, but they still seem capped as a good team, not a great one.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Morant suspended for one game by the team for conduct detrimental to the team (Shams). Beginning of the divorce?

I personally think Ja doesn't get along with his new coach, Tuomas Lisalo. I could be wrong, but Taylor Jenkins let him have his way. And Lisalo is introducing a new scheme that stresses more cutting and ball movement and less isolation.

[omahen]

Trevor Lane made a good podcast on Ja. He asked himself, which team would actually want (want as in pay big) a PG that potentially brings a bunch of problems and is a PG that can't shoot, which is perhaps most difficult kind of player to build around. He also has two more years of his contract and teams might be reluctant to gamble on a player with so many question marks. He listed Mavs among other examples - would Mavs rather have DLo at PG or pay some valuable pieces for Ja, that might have a negative impact (as in off the court) on Flagg? He thinks Mavs would rather have DLo. His conclusion is that most likely scenario is that Memphis and Ja stay together. Everything of course just his opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rei3zfEoGG4

[KillerLeft]

Trevor Lane made a good podcast on Ja. He asked himself, which team would actually want (want as in pay big) a PG that potentially brings a bunch of problems and is a PG that can't shoot, which is perhaps most difficult kind of player to build around. He also has two more years of his contract and teams might be reluctant to gamble on a player with so many question marks. He listed Mavs among other examples - would Mavs rather have DLo at PG or pay some valuable pieces for Ja, that might have a negative impact (as in off the court) on Flagg? He thinks Mavs would rather have DLo. His conclusion is that most likely scenario is that Memphis and Ja stay together. Everything of course just his opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rei3zfEoGG4

Why should the Mavs trade for the right to keep Morrant buried on their bench when they can just not play DLo and Williams for free?

[Chicagojk]

Grimes with 22 pts, 13 assists and 7 rebounds in a win tonight.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

I was told Grimes was only racking up numbers playing in meaningless games to end the season.

He might be better than any guard on the Mavs roster.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Grimes with 22 pts, 13 assists and 7 rebounds in a win tonight.

He's been putting up numbers ever since he was traded. Another one that got away. If Philly ever gets reasonably healthy, they might make some noise. They've got good wing depth.