Greg Finberg
@GregFinberg

The Washington Wizards will officially retain their 2025 first-round pick.

The New York Knicks owned the rights to the pick if it fell outside the top 10.

The protections move over to 2025-26, where the pick is top-8 protected.

https://x.com/NBA_NewYork/status/1905384230688858543 Kolek knows Fiserv Forum very well

…just to stubbornly prove a point.

Now, how serious is that?

How serious is it for him to post that, or how serious would it be for Thibs to actually do that?

You can’t be serious! It might be wrong to not to start Kolek, I don’t know. The coach is supposed to know better. But phrasing it like that? “Just to stubbornly prove a point?” Have you people got up on the wrong foot today?

Amazing game-winning shot by Giddey. Happy for Bulls fans who could use a little excitement for once.

Shirley.

Amazing game-winning shot by Giddey. Happy for Bulls fans who could use a little excitement for once.

It was a crazy ending. The Bulls went on a 9-2 run in the last ten seconds! LeBron made two very bad mistakes that led to two three-pointers. Then came Giddey’s lucky shot.

Bulls might be on to something. Coby White and Giddey seems like a good back court.

And remember how some here thought OKC pulled a fast one on the Bulls by trading Giddey for an over-30 defensive specialist? OKC is obviously fine either way, but don’t quit your day jobs, fellas…

Bulls ending was totally insane. So was that pass from Jokic. Had to watch it five times yesterday just to figure out what he did.

Shirley you can’t be serious. Got it.

I don’t really care who Thibs starts in these games, so long as Kolek gets 20+ minutes.

I understand what you’re saying, Alan, but this time i think i disagree. If i was the coach i think i’d start Delon Wright, he’s used to it, and he can hold his own. I looked at his stats from the past 3 seasons and he is very careful with the ball, very low turnovers for him too (like Kolek). But he defends a lot better than Kolek and i think we might need that to start the game. And then Kolek will come, with less pressure, and if he performs well he can play more minutes than Wright.

I agree with cyber, although as I said, both should play 20+ minutes until Brunson and Payne get back, just in case one them needs to play any significant minutes in the playoffs.

And Deuce.

I agree with cyber, although as I said, both should play 20+ minutes until Brunson and Payne get back, just in case one them needs to play any significant minutes in the playoffs.

Let’s hope it’ll not be both.

I guess we *really* hope it’ll not be both. Just the mere thought of it brought the entire site to a complete standstill.

Obviously if it is both, we are probably losing in the first round.

I would love to see one of the other wings get some time on the court instead of Shamet, who clearly sucks. Get Dadiet, Beauchamp, or McCullar out there.

We’re sorry. Mr. McCullar being out there was for one game only, just to whet your appetite for next season. We regret to inform you that Mr. McCullar will no longer be available.

Our magic number vs. the Pacers for finishing above them in the standings (we have the tiebreaker) is 7. Looking at the schedule, I think the Pacers are reasonably likely to go 6-3. That means we would have to finish 4-6 to clinch the 3 seed. If we go 3-7, not only might the Pacers catch us, but if one of those 7 losses are to the Pistons, we could easily get bumped down to the 5 seed.

We play the Celts, Cavs (twice), Pistons, Suns, and Hawks. If Brunson isn’t back, I could see us losing all of those games. That would leave the Bucks, Blazers, Sixers, and Nets.

I think we will end up at #3, but have much less confidence than I did a couple of weeks ago. And I honestly would be fine with dropping down.

I might be interesting to see who the Cavs and Celtics play against us. They are both locked in and have no incentive to win unless they have a preference for who to play in round 2. Other than that, they should rest all their starters. Personally, I doubt the Celtics care either way, but the Cavs may actually want us to seek some revenge. If they are afraid of us, they aren’t ready for the Celtics or Thunder.

After being benched in favor of Onyeka Okongwu and dangled in trade talks before the deadline, the early expectation is Hawks center Clint Capela will sign elsewhere in unrestricted free agency this summer, league sources told HoopsHype.

I agree on the Bulls.

They looked like they were in a hopeless rebuild position. Now you can suddenly see some light and see a path to being very good in 2-3 years.

I posted about Giddey’s almost quadruple double the other day. He had 8 steals to go along with everything else and Coby White also seems to be breaking out as well.

Firing Taylor Jenkins seems pretty weird to me

Grizzlies are 44-29, seems like this move only warms up Thibs seat.

I don’t want to appeal to authority, but NBA teams usually aren’t this weird, so I assume there’s some crazy behind the scenes shit going on here.

I wouldn’t want him here, but he’s way too good of a coach to get done dirty like that unless there’s something else going on (like he’s about to be sued or something like that).

If Taylor Jenkins can be fired, Tom Thibodeau absolutely, positively can be fired.

The one Grizzlies fan I know says the fanbase has been unahppy with Jenkins for a while. They’re mad the Grizzlies can’t beat good teams and they have some problems with his rotations (this honestly sounds familiar)

If Taylor Jenkins can be fired, Tom Thibodeau absolutely, positively can be fired.

wow!

Giddey has always been a talented player, it was always just a matter of him finding consistency. He’s only 22 and is inching up to a 3 BPM this year. He has gotten his 3PT shot together and he stuffs a boxscore with the best of them.

OKC should have held onto him.

I can’t believe it is basketball related.

We should consistently be sniffing around for OKC leftovers. They have way more talent than they can use.

He’s the winningest coach in Griz history and there are a handful of games before the playoffs. Something happened behind the scenes.

Add the Bulls to the list of teams likely to surpass us via internal development before the Celtics meaningfully decline.

I’m all aboard the Taylor Jenkins train. Our starters aren’t getting any better or more durable. We need to develop some bench depth and he’s done a pretty great job of that.

@DrewHill_DM

The Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins on Friday, just 9 games before the end of the regular season.

The franchise made the move after a steady decline on defense and a lack of buy-in since the turn of the new year

Grizzlies reporter. This sounds very similar to ____

Memphis is a weird team. A young core that includes a mercurial PG, a center who is allergic to rebounds, a bunch of guys who are injured all the time, and a dozen replacement level guys who somehow play better than the sum of their parts. I’m from the “NBA coaches don’t matter much” school, but Jenkins seems to have been borderline genius at making that work all this time.

Re:the Bulls, Coby White is “breaking out” the way RJ Barrett is breaking out: slowly and barely visibly.

Scottie Pippen JR is pretty good and went undrafted. I would be interested to see what could happen with Dadiet long term.

20/5/4 on 59 TS seems decent to me and he’s a perfect fit next to a questionable shooter and good passer in Giddey. I’d easily pick Coby over RJ.

Ummm..what is wrong in Memphis? Jenkins is an excellent coach. For them to dump him in-season when they are still playing well despite injuries and bad roster decisions is just not logical. Something else has to be goin on

If Taylor Jenkins can be fired, Tom Thibodeau absolutely, positively can be fired.

Can you imagine what Jenkins would be able to do with this team? His minutes distribution is very similar to Thibs though. So maybe that part of it isn’t so great. Don’t get me wrong- I still believe in Thibs, no matter how frustrating he can be. Nostalgia, I guess. But I wouldn’t mind Jenkins if the team moves on. My pick for next coach was only Dan Hurley because I never thought Jenkins would be available. Now it seems we have 2 really good replacement options available should Thibs leave

Sam Amico
@AmicoHoops
Report: Celtics could look into trading Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday

This is what I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

Brown and Tatum are both young enough to retool instead of thinking about any kind of rebuild.

Derrick White is very good, on a reasonable contract, and 30. So he’s got some good years left.

Those 3 plus their bench is still a very good team.

Holiday is the tough one. He’s on the books for 3 more years, getting old, and starting to slip a little. They probably want to trade him, but who is going to want him for that long. They may not get much for him except shorter contracts and bench players.

If the new Celtics ownership wants to break up the team, they may have no choice but to move White. Other than Taytum, who’s going nowhere, he’s the best value they’ve got in terms of age and talent relative to contract.

They may not get much for him except shorter contracts and bench players.

Mikal for Jrue and a pick?

OKC should have held onto him.

I can’t believe it is basketball related.

The “official” line was that he wanted to start and does his best work with the ball in hands. That was not going to happen with Shai there and Giddy did not want a bench role. So he was either going to be a bad fit in the starting lineup, an unhappy bench player or get traded for something that helped win a championship now. They opted for the latter.

We should definitely be looking for OKC castoffs in coming years. They have so many talented players and so many picks, it’s close to 100% certain some young talent is going to get away simply because they can only keep so many players to begin with and some others are going to be buried on the bench, unhappy and want out.

OKC should have held onto him.

Knicks should have been in on him. I’d trade Mikal for him in a heartbeat.

What salary cap compliant trade could the Knicks have made for Josh Giddey…?

His salary is 8.3. If Leon’s cap sheet is such that he can’t make a trade for a guy making 8.3 and obtain his Bird rights, then Leon isn’t doing a very good job with the ol’ cap sheet.

“The “official” line was that he wanted to start and does his best work with the ball in hands. That was not going to happen with Shai there and Giddy did not want a bench role.”

Doesn’t make sense. Giddey started in all of the 210 games he played in for the Thunder and averaged one less minute per game than he has for the Bulls. All of those seasons also featured SGA.

From Pro Football & Sports Network:
Giddey is in the final year of his 4-year, $27,214,807 rookie contract, as he will become a restricted free agent in the offseason. For the 2024-2025 NBA season, Giddey is making $8,352,367, which is great value considering his level of play this season.

Giddey boasts a net worth of $10 million reportedly, with the endorsement deal for cereal brand Wee-Bix contributing to that. Giddey signed a 4-year, $40 million deal in 2021, which was more lucrative than his actual NBA contract.

Scottie Pippen JR is pretty good and went undrafted. I would be interested to see what could happen with Dadiet long term.

What does Scottie Pippen, Jr have to do with Dadiet? Could two player’s NBA background be more unalike?

Regardless, I’ve already bought prime real estate on Dadiet Island. My only problem is I’m 73 and I might not live to see it become valuable 🙂

Can you imagine what Jenkins would be able to do with this team? His minutes distribution is very similar to Thibs though.

Is this opposite day or something? Jenkins’ minute distribution is about as far from Thibs’ as humanly possible. No player on the Grizzlies has averaged even 32 MPG this season.

I think it’s blindingly obvious that the Cs need to move Brown for an expiring, packaging assets if needed. He is their worst starter and their highest paid. Might be worth looking at taking him for Towns if it lets us reload on picks a bit. Then we can ship Bridges out for some size.

Been listening off and on today to Herring’s appearance on the Macri podcast. He confirms what I’ve heard elsewhere: the vibes with Mikal seem way off, and he does not come across like he’s happy to be here, for whatever reason.

I would be extremely surprised for next season to begin with both Thibs and Mikal on the team. So it becomes a question of who Leon chooses, and what he can get for Mikal if his first loyalty remains with Thibs.

Doesn’t make sense. Giddey started in all of the 210 games he played in for the Thunder and averaged one less minute per game than he has for the Bulls. All of those seasons also featured SGA.

They told him they wanted to play him off the bench because the fit was not right. He said he didn’t want to. So they accommodated him with a trade.

I guess that was a true win/win, then. The Thunder and Giddey are both thriving without one another.

His salary is 8.3. If Leon’s cap sheet is such that he can’t make a trade for a guy making 8.3 and obtain his Bird rights, then Leon isn’t doing a very good job with the ol’ cap sheet.

He could, of course, “make the trade” assuming OKC did not have to consent. The question is what package of players that make within $7.5M of $8.3M could we have sent them that would make them want to do that?

He could, of course, “make the trade” assuming OKC did not have to consent. The question is what package of players that make within $7.5M of $8.3M could we have sent them that would make them want to do that?

If we hadn’t blow our entire war chest on an average NBA starter we could have given them whoever and enough picks to make that the best value package they’d have gotten. It would have been a much better return than the average NBA starter we got for those assets and likely would have left us with assets left over to add depth.

Alternatively, we could have targeted Caruso instead of Bridges, whose BPM this year would be the best on our team. We really made just about the worst move possible.

Giddey is having a nice run of late but he’s a defensive sieve and although he’s shooting the 3 much better this year he still doesn’t really get guarded out there. I’m still pretty dubious of his fit as an important player on a high level team and I really don’t think he would’ve been a good fit here with Brunson+KAT already needing to be protected on D.

We really made just about the worst move possible.

i hate when that happens..

Nah. Trading Jalen Brunson for Cam Reddish straight up would have been worse.

we could have given them whoever and enough picks to make that the best value package they’d have gotten

OKC needs more picks like this board needs more Doogie comments.

That is sad to hear about Mikal. I wonder what is up?

I just find it hard to believe he didn’t want to be here and that Josh and Jalen weren’t really pushing for him to be here to finish the NOVA voltron. I find it hard to believe Leon would have made that trade simply on a hunch that the Nova boys wanted him here.

He’s started. He’s played heavy minutes. Is it his role? Is there weird resentment because we ended up having to trade Divo later and we could have kept him if we had picks to package with Randle?

I’m guessing he’s just unhappy with his role? This is why I wish Mitch could start and we could move Hart to the bench. There have been a few games where Hart was out and Mikal started doing more Hart things in his absence. But right now with Brunson (and McBride) injured, you would think this would be his time to step up.

Brunson took a pay cut (not really but sort of) to stay here and make it possible to extend Mikal when the time comes. I really wish we knew what was going on in his head.

I absolutely disagree that the Thunder need more picks.

A woman I work with just messaged me: “Pedants Unite.” Made my day.

If I had to guess, it’s the role thing. He’s never had to be the point of attack defender on a team before, certainly not to this extent, and he doesn’t seem to like it.

It’s really frustrating. If we do trade him, we definitely won’t recoup the full value we gave up. That’s why I’d be more inclined to replace Thibs with a more flexible and creative coach to see if he can find a way to make this group work together better.

Honestly the easiest most logical fix for the current team once everyone is healthy is to start Deuce for Hart. Thibs will never do it though but at the very least that lineup should get significant minutes together come playoff time.

BBA, would you rather it be Jalen-Deuce-Bridges-OG-KAT
or Jalen-Bridges-OG-KAT-Mitch?

I’m not BBA, but I think it would have to be with OG instead of Mitch. Starting Mitch alongside KAT and having a bench anchored by OG and Hart would be fantastic but sadly unrealistic as Mitch cannot play starter minutes and if he started Thibs would not be able to help himself from playing Mitch 32-35 minutes per game. Mitch would likely be injured after five games or so of doing that, as he is unfortunately not built for it.

Don’t think OG would want to come off the bench, and the question was really about Deuce or Mitch, but your point is still valid about starter minutes, at least for the near term.

Jalen-Deuce-Bridges-OG-KAT makes the most sense to me. And it would definitely take the POA burden off Mikal. It could also risk making the bench minutes very ugly on the nights where Cam’s shot isn’t falling, since Hart is a reluctant shooter and Mitch and Precious are non-shooters. But if Thibs is smart about keeping at least a couple of starters on the floor at all times, I think it could work very well.

Hart isn’t *always* a reluctant shooter. In fact, sometimes he’s quite the opposite. As the bench anchor, he’d have to locate the shooter that is inside his soul on a more consistent basis.

https://bsky.app/profile/owenphillips.bsky.social/post/3llhmoja4jc2z

Interesting thread where the creators of various all-in-one advanced stats answer the question of whether they think reporters should be using their respective stats to decide MVP votes.

Gemini just told me Brunson is a go for tonight. Has anyone seen that anywhere?

Re: Mikal I think it’s the stress of being thrust into a role he’s not qualified for. He’s not an elite PoA defender or really an elite defender at all, and he’s not the kind of talent worth 5 1RP. I think he’s a good guy who accurately sees himself as the proximate cause of the disappointing trajectory of this team, and that weighs on him.

I sympathize. He’s been Peter Principled and he knows it. That’s much more sympathetic that someone who’s oblivious to it, like Phil Jackson was.

Gemini; dey is a liar. Brunson is out everywhere I look, including the 4:30 p.m. official NBA Injury Report.

Gemini; dey is a liar. Brunson is out everywhere I look, including the 4:30 p.m. official NBA Injury Report.

DEY!? Am I to believe there is a commander or governor of the Janissaries of Algiers involved here? Poppycock!

what the

He confirms what I’ve heard elsewhere: the vibes with Mikal seem way off, and he does not come across like he’s happy to be here, for whatever reason.

Maybe he doesn’t like Josh? He seems like a pain in the ass to be around. Or maybe he doesn’t like Thibs?

Not only “dey,” but “dey is.”

Susan Dey is 72 years old. Jeezus.

https://bsky.app/profile/owenphillips.bsky.social/post/3llhmoja4jc2z

Interesting thread where the creators of various all-in-one advanced stats answer the question of whether they think reporters should be using their respective stats to decide MVP votes.

It’s interesting to me that the EPM and DARKO guys came to different answers seeing as they have similar goals and both incorporate multi-year data… unless he’s specifically referring to Actual EPM that tracks single year performance instead of predictive value.

I definitely think we should follow DARKO’s take that multi-year stats be excluded for an award that’s about this season.

Was in the weirdest meeting with a makeup artist and the Golden State Warriors walked by. Mikal is more valuable to the Knicks than Thibs is if we’re talking basketball.

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