Game 1

[HardcoreHokie]

This new roster is really surprising me.  Hanging with the Raptors on the road in Toronto.

No Melo, no Mark, no Cody Martin.

Starting Micic, Grant Williams, and Tre Mann…  with Bertans playing big minutes.

Can’t watch the game but anyone who is…how have they looked today?

[HardcoreHokie]

Sucks we lost at the Raptors.  Bertans hit a 3 to give us the lead inside of two minutes, but we couldn’t hang on.

Side note:  watching NBA TV and a replay of Malik Monk GOING OFF for 39.  Might not be popular opinion, but letting him go was a big mistake for this franchise.  I always loved his upside and now it’s shining in Sacramento.  He’s locked up 6th Man of the Year.

[Daddy_Uncle]

14 hours ago, HardcoreHokie said:

Sucks we lost at the Raptors.  Bertans hit a 3 to give us the lead inside of two minutes, but we couldn’t hang on.

Side note:  watching NBA TV and a replay of Malik Monk GOING OFF for 39.  Might not be popular opinion, but letting him go was a big mistake for this franchise.  I always loved his upside and now it’s shining in Sacramento.  He’s locked up 6th Man of the Year.

We have enough good gaurds. We need more bigs on the team as last night vlearly demonstrated 

[Ttaroshi]

20 hours ago, HardcoreHokie said:

Sucks we lost at the Raptors.  Bertans hit a 3 to give us the lead inside of two minutes, but we couldn’t hang on.

Side note:  watching NBA TV and a replay of Malik Monk GOING OFF for 39.  Might not be popular opinion, but letting him go was a big mistake for this franchise.  I always loved his upside and now it’s shining in Sacramento.  He’s locked up 6th Man of the Year.

It made me sad, too. Hopefully, the next game will be different.

[HardcoreHokie]

Our leading scorers today were Micic, Tre Mann, Grant Williams (all recent additions)…and B Miller.

Lamelo needs to get back on the court ASAP or the trade talks will intensify.

If he’s going to be the face of the franchise, he HAS to be out there every game.

[Sir Big Spurr]

14 hours ago, HardcoreHokie said:

Our leading scorers today were Micic, Tre Mann, Grant Williams (all recent additions)…and B Miller.

Lamelo needs to get back on the court ASAP or the trade talks will intensify.

If he’s going to be the face of the franchise, he HAS to be out there every game.

I know I keep beating this drum, but wtf are Ball and Williams doing? Who misses 3 months with a bruised back? And I know ankle injuries are more complicated, but I was at the Memphis game several weeks ago and Ball was doing an individual workout before the game. He looked perfectly fine. These guys just come across as soft to me. I know they’re talented, but you can’t count on them. You can’t build a team around soft players like that. 
 

Is it normal for NBA players to sit out as long as they want to? Does the team not have any say in players returning from injury?

[HardcoreHokie]

11 minutes ago, Sir Big Spurr said:

I know I keep beating this drum, but wtf are Ball and Williams doing? Who misses 3 months with a bruised back? And I know ankle injuries are more complicated, but I was at the Memphis game several weeks ago and Ball was doing an individual workout before the game. He looked perfectly fine. These guys just come across as soft to me. I know they’re talented, but you can’t count on them. You can’t build a team around soft players like that. 
 

Is it normal for NBA players to sit out as long as they want to? Does the team not have any say in players returning from injury?

I don’t understand it either.  LaMelo needs to get out there.

Change of subject, but I definitely didn’t do my homework on Davis Bertans.  They call him the “Latvian Laser” for a reason…dude shoots lights out at 6’10 and is pretty athletic.  He was adored on his previous teams.  

He’s scoring 14 off the bench every game since he’s been here (more consistent than Hayward in less minutes). We really made out with those trades.

[MechaZain]

On 3/6/2024 at 12:16 PM, Sir Big Spurr said:

I know I keep beating this drum, but wtf are Ball and Williams doing? Who misses 3 months with a bruised back? And I know ankle injuries are more complicated, but I was at the Memphis game several weeks ago and Ball was doing an individual workout before the game. He looked perfectly fine. These guys just come across as soft to me. I know they’re talented, but you can’t count on them. You can’t build a team around soft players like that. 
 

Is it normal for NBA players to sit out as long as they want to? Does the team not have any say in players returning from injury?

And risk re-injury for what? A lower pick in the draft? They've probably been ready for awhile but are being kept on ice at this point.

[HardcoreHokie]

6 hours ago, MechaZain said:

And risk re-injury for what? A lower pick in the draft? They've probably been ready for awhile but are being kept on ice at this point.

Because he’s the face of the franchise and he needs to be out there playing.  If it’s serious, fine..rehab him.  But it doesn’t sound serious, he’s so young, he needs to play through it if he can.  People pay his salary to watch this team, his job is to play.

These new players need to get adjusted to playing with Melo, point blank.

[frankw]

I get both viewpoints about LaMelo playing. You don't want to risk him to injury if it's a lost season. At the same time. Hey how about we acknowledge the elephant in the room? We haven't won a playoff series since the 2001-2002 season. At the end of the day if we ever want to change that it has to begin with the culture. And star players not playing if they can actually go is a tone setter for the locker room that is never going to get us over the hump let alone somehow win a championship. It's that simple.

[CamWhoaaCam]

All I want to know is who do we take in the draft?

 

This Reed Sheppard kid from Kentucky is getting a lot of buzz lately. Do we take him and move on from LaMelo?

 

I'm kind of tired of seeing him on the bench. He's a supermax player if he can't stay healthy he's no good for us moving forward.

[HardcoreHokie]

I know Memphis is missing major pieces right now, but beating them (handily) in Memphis last night is pretty impressive for the Hornets.  The new guys seem to be playing well together.

[CamWhoaaCam]

I know my bracket won't be perfect, but I'm really confident about UNC chances of winning the Nat'l championship. This team looks so much better than last season. Getting rid of Love was a blessing.

 

The scary part is Bacot is no longer asked to carry the scoring load. He has help now.

 

This is our year!

[HardcoreHokie]

PJ Washington is not very good.  Seeing him on a decent team, it’s pretty clear.