AROUND the NBA:

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Castle remind me of a young Westbrook. Incredible talent. Irrational confidence. Only knows one pace.  Absolutely no control.  Monster dunk followed by turnovers that make me question if he even belongs in the NBA.

He has no fear that's for sure. He's a much better shooter than Russ though. I like his game and toughness He’s got some dawg in him. I agree he needs to cut down those turnovers. But him and Harper are going to be problems for years to come.

[cow]

Castle is just being asked to do too much with Fox and now Harper hurt not to mention the minutes he's playing.  Averaging 10 turnovers is rough, but this is only his second year.  All things considered, stealing one from OKC on the road is a win.

[Jmaciscool]

Castle sucks, in fact I'll give some free advice to any potential Spurs front office types that may be reading this: get rid of this guy asap, preferably to a team you don't like, such as the Mavs.

[Smitty]

@LegionHoops
Stephon Castle now has the most turnovers over any 2-game stretch in NBA postseason history.

19 turnovers (!!!)

[Chicagojk]

It just shows not to make conclusions on small samples.  I made a post saying that Hartenstein may not be playable in this series against Wemby.  A lot of others had similar thoughts.

Last night he did exactly what he needed to do.  Be physical with Wemby.  Make them call fouls on you.  Then attack the boards when Wemby is looking to block shots. Wemby is going to dominate and get his points.  If allowed though, you hope the physical play wears him down just a little as the series goes on.

[Chicagojk]

Mavs need to find a Harrison Barnes trade. Not for what he can do on the court. San Antonio got Barnes and the right to swap picks with the Kings in 2031.

What was the reason for that trade. Why did the Kings do it? I am not a big Barnes fan but he is a true professional.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7295492...bob-myers/

Is Jameer Nelson a candidate to take over from Daryl Morey?

[F Gump]

It just shows not to make conclusions on small samples.  I made a post saying that Hartenstein may not be playable in this series against Wemby.  A lot of others had similar thoughts.

Last night he did exactly what he needed to do.  Be physical with Wemby.  Make them call fouls on you.  Then attack the boards when Wemby is looking to block shots. Wemby is going to dominate and get his points.  If allowed though, you hope the physical play wears him down just a little as the series goes on.

This is the point I keep making about the value of Gafford. The potential physicality of the game, and the need for a player who can impact it, is very under-noticed.

[dirkfansince1998]

Series is turning me into a Spurs fan. OKC and the refs has been a story for a while now but yesterday it was blatant. Hartenstein fouling Wemby on every single possession was already mentioned.
How did the refs miss this. By the rules this is unnecessary and excessive contact. Not a play on the ball. Flagrant two.

https://x.com/TheHoopCentral/status/2057289462913409363

Not to even mention SGA's flopping. Three years ago the league changed the rules to prevent flopping but they aren't enforcing them.

That said. As long as OKC is getting away with it they would be stupid to change things. And as long as this is a league wide issue the Mavs would be stupid to ignore it. In the current NBA players that know how to get away with BS are an asset.

[cow]

Mavs need to find a Harrison Barnes trade.  Not for what he can do on the court.  San Antonio got Barnes and the right to swap picks with the Kings in 2031.

What was the reason for that trade.  Why did the Kings do it?  I am not a big Barnes fan but he is a true professional.

I was just thinking that Barnes' game has aged really well.

[Chicagojk]

Castle sucks, in fact I'll give some free advice to any potential Spurs front office types that may be reading this: get rid of this guy asap, preferably to a team you don't like, such as the Mavs.

The turnover hurt.  Especially the live ball turnovers he had last night.  The telecast kept mentioning this too.  The live ball turnovers are just killer against OKC.

With that being said, I am blown away how good Castle is now.  Way better than what I expected.   For a second year player to be playing this well is scary.  The high pressure reps he is getting (and mostly thriving) are so important and will make him so much better moving forward.   To have a second year player who already looks like a championship running mate is impressive.  Then they have a rookie who also looks like a future championship running mate.    Lottery luck did them well.

[Knutsen]

The turnover hurt.  Especially the live ball turnovers he had last night.  The telecast kept mentioning this too.  The live ball turnovers are just killer against OKC.

With that being said, I am blown away how good Castle is now.  Way better than what I expected.   For a second year player to be playing this well is scary.  The high pressure reps he is getting (and mostly thriving) are so important and will make him so much better moving forward.   To have a second year player who already looks like a championship running mate is impressive.  Then they have a rookie who also looks like a future championship running mate.    Lottery luck did them well.

On a lot of his turnovers he‘s just getting whacked without a call on his drives to the basket. If he would get the calls SGA gets he‘d have half the turnovers.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Series is turning me into a Spurs fan. OKC and the refs has been a story for a while now but yesterday it was blatant. Hartenstein fouling Wemby on every single possession was already mentioned.
How did the refs miss this. By the rules this is unnecessary and excessive contact. Not a play on the ball. Flagrant two.

https://x.com/TheHoopCentral/status/2057289462913409363

Not to even mention SGA's flopping. Three years ago the league changed the rules to prevent flopping but they aren't enforcing them.

That said. As long as OKC is getting away with it they would be stupid to change things. And as long as this is a league wide issue the Mavs would be stupid to ignore it. In the current NBA players that know how to get away with BS are an asset.

All that physicality, holding, and grabbing that Hartenstein got away with against Wemby isn't gonna fly in SA. He'll pick up a ton of fouls. I can just about guarantee the refs call a different game.

[dirkfansince1998]

Thoughts on the hack-a-Robinson approach? Just looking at his shooting percentages it is working but in game one it felt like the Cavs killed their own momentum in the 4th quarter.

[CooPerFan]

Knicks are definitely not an easy finals opponent for Spurs/Thunder

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://www.hoopshype.com/story/sports/n...206555007/


Micah Nori is a finalist for the Blazers job.

[Mavs2021]

Series is turning me into a Spurs fan. OKC and the refs has been a story for a while now but yesterday it was blatant. Hartenstein fouling Wemby on every single possession was already mentioned.
How did the refs miss this. By the rules this is unnecessary and excessive contact. Not a play on the ball. Flagrant two.

https://x.com/TheHoopCentral/status/2057289462913409363

Not to even mention SGA's flopping. Three years ago the league changed the rules to prevent flopping but they aren't enforcing them.

That said. As long as OKC is getting away with it they would be stupid to change things. And as long as this is a league wide issue the Mavs would be stupid to ignore it. In the current NBA players that know how to get away with BS are an asset.

Why OKC will never allow Dort to leave. If what you say is true about Hartenstein/Wembanyama then the same becomes true about Hartenstein. Though those calls might change soon. NBA obviously wants this to go seven games. 

Nevertheless chances of teams to extract some value from Caruso´s contract have greatly improved, when Hartenstein provides some Wembyvalue.

[windjc]

Why OKC will never allow Dort to leave. If what you say is true about Hartenstein/Wembanyama then the same becomes true about Hartenstein. Though those calls might change soon. NBA obviously wants this to go seven games. 

Nevertheless chances of teams to extract some value from Caruso´s contract have greatly improved, when Hartenstein provides some Wembyvalue.

Lucky for OKC the salary cap doesn’t apply to them and they can keep all their players even with the championship roster premium. Oh well, life’s not fair I guess.

[dirkfansince1998]

Why OKC will never allow Dort to leave. If what you say is true about Hartenstein/Wembanyama then the same becomes true about Hartenstein. Though those calls might change soon. NBA obviously wants this to go seven games. 

Nevertheless chances of teams to extract some value from Caruso´s contract have greatly improved, when Hartenstein provides some Wembyvalue.

Caruso has probably been their 2nd best player in the playoffs. Going to be an interesting summer. Personally I would let Hartenstein walk and use one of the picks to replace him. Dump Wiggins and Joe in a trade.

[F Gump]

Lucky for OKC the salary cap doesn’t apply to them and they can keep all their players even with the championship roster premium. Oh well, life’s not fair I guess.

I assume that ^ is a joke. Because OKC will probably have a multi-player blood-letting this summer. If they keep everyone, they will be FAR over Apron 2, and buried in tax and in consequences for having such a bloated payroll. On paper, they also have too many (more than 15) players locked up, when you include their draft picks. 

They might do some "unexpected" things because of the roster/payroll issues.

1 Their draft picks at 12 and 17 hold value, but because they add salary AND a player too, those picks are in the way in OKC. The salary for a pick just makes their already-impossible payroll even worse. 
... I am hearing that if they do a pick trade, they might NOT want to trade up (even bigger salary to add), they might prefer keeping 17 over 12, they might even trade down from 17, and it's even possible they would trade completely out of this draft, even though it's a "good draft" (if they get a decent offer of a future pick in exchange, 0 picks may be their wish).
2 OKC has multiple "moving parts" to their payroll that they can use to easily lower their payroll. The 2 draft picks can easily be traded, and they have 3 players with team options (Hartenstein, Dort, Ken Williams). 
3 Tax line is expected to be about 201M, and 2nd apron about 221M.
4 If you include all the players under contract, including the TOs, and both picks, they are at about 260M payroll. That would bring a 240M tax bill, plus the extreme roster-building penalties. No way.
5 If they keep NONE of those moving parts - trade away all the picks, and decline all the TO's - they almost fix their payroll. The remaining 12 players total 196.2M payroll, which leaves enough room under the tax line to fill the roster with 2 minimum salary players. 

If they add ANY of those 5 players, they end up over the tax line. There's about 20M space between tax line and A2. Here are the 5 moving parts.
Hartenstein  28.5M [I can envision a possible scenario where his TO is declined, but they re-sign him at ~20M).
Dort            18.2M
K Williams      7.2M
Pick 12          5.8M
Pick 17          4.5M

6 Here's the hard truth. They have to get rid of ALL those moving parts to land below the tax line. 

7 One alternate "stay tax-free" course might be to trade Caruso (19.6M) and then keep either (a) Dort, (b) the 2 picks, or © Hartenstein on a decline-and-re-sign at about 20M. 

8 Can they tolerate a "stay under A2" scenario (which would cost about 40M in tax plus an extra 20M in payroll plus potentially costs them revenue sharing and a share of tax collections)? If so, they could keep a 20M chunk of those moving parts. 

It's not an easy situation to solve. Whatever they do, it sure looks like they will have to make some talent-losing choices that I'm sure they don't want to make.