{The Official 2021-22 NBA Thread} - Finals: Warriors vs Celtics…{4-2 advantage warriors } Dubs NBA champs, Curry MVP

ansatsusha_gouki

Land of the Heartless
Platinum Member
I seen it coming though and I thought about you. But he was good tonight at least.

4FDkFo.jpg

Drummond is a good dude but he drive you crazy with his bullshit. As long,Doc tells him he's there for defense and rebounds;he should be fine.
 

jack walsh13

Jack Walsh 13
BGOL Investor
How did Embiid do last night?
Good. Because Korkmaz started Wilin' from 3 in the 4th he didn't have to come back out in the 4th. He embarrassed Valanciunas as usual. Had 22 points in 26 minutes. Maxey had 20 points 7 rebounds and 5 assists starting for the Beige Bitch. That's why I said it really doesn't matter who the Sixers get for that faggot they don't need him. We are better off without that pussy

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playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Report: Pelicans concerned about Zion Williamson weighing more than 300 pounds
By Dan FeldmanOct 20, 2021, 9:00 PM EDT
Layne Murdoch Jr./NBAE via Getty Images
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Zion Williamson‘s health has been central to the friction between him and the Pelicans.
So, it has been impossible to overlook all the peculiarities of Williamson’s latest injury.
On media day, Pelicans lead executive David Griffin announced Williamson broke his foot earlier in the summer then underwent surgery. Griffin stressed the news wasn’t as bad as it sounded to the public, who was learning it for the first time, because it wasn’t fresh to the team. “We were dealing with it all offseason,” Griffin said
Griffin also said, “His timeline should get him back on the court in time for regular season. That would be our hope and our view, and we’re very optimistic about what that looks like.” But when revealing Williamson would miss the start of the regular season, Griffin claimed he never meant the start of the regular season, only during the regular season.
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report:
There’s a strong belief in league circles that the Pelicans were unaware of that procedure until Williamson reported to New Orleans ahead of media day, although one team source contacted by B/R maintained the Pelicans and Williamson were aligned on the injury’s timeline.




He’s since reached north of 300 pounds this offseason, sources said, again fueling concerns among New Orleans staffers similar to the months leading up to his rookie debut. When he joined the Pelicans’ recent preseason trip to Minnesota, several league personnel on hand were struck by his heavier appearance than his listed playing weight last season of 284 pounds. “I know Zion at 280, and he was not 280,” said one observer.
It’s hard to get in shape while recovering from a foot injury. Conditioning would be part of any player’s recovery.
But Williamson’s weight has been a longstanding issue – no matter how much the Pelicans want to deflect.
It’s fair to question whether Williamson’s heavier frame makes him more susceptible to injury. The amount of force he plays with is incredible. With more weight behind that force, that’s a lot of stress to put on his body.
Now, it sounds like there are questions about whether Williamson’s weight has delayed his return. To achieve his goal of making the playoffs, New Orleans badly needs him on the court.
If the Pelicans didn’t know about Williamson’s surgery until media, that is a massive and distressing communication breakdown. It already sounded like some people close to Williamson don’t want him building a stronger connection with the franchise.
For his part, Williamson says he loves New Orleans.
But questions continue to swirl around nearly every aspect of his career.

 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Rival Execs Monitoring Zion Williamson-New Orleans Pelicans Relationship
JAKE FISCHEROCTOBER 20, 2021345
Alerted 18h ago in the B/R App
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS ALERTS


Matthew Hinton/Associated Press
As news of Zion Williamson's latest injury setback trickled out of New Orleans last week, league personnel once again began to speculate on the looming 2022 extension talks between the New Orleans Pelicans and their 2019 No. 1 draft choice.
This is not to say Williamson already has one foot out the door. No top pick in league history has chosen the qualifying offer with a one-year path to unrestricted free agency, versus a maximum contract extension projected to eclipse $200 million over five years. Yet this is how the modern NBA world turns. Front offices are as forthright as ever about scheming to land an alpha like Williamson from a downtrodden rival, and player movement has become equally as fluid.

It's hard not to see the early parallels between Williamson's status in New Orleans and that of Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, where there were once nearly identical rumors about the 2016 top pick potentially taking his own qualifying offer to reach the open market. Simmons eventually accepted Philadelphia's contract and $177 million that same summer New Orleans selected Williamson, but that has meant nothing throughout this ongoing trade-demand saga.
Until Williamson puts pen to paper in July, rival front offices will hope and prepare for the possibility of a Zion free-agency frenzy come 2024. And even if Williamson does re-sign, teams will keep a radar trained onto New Orleans in hopes he seeks a trade like Simmons, just as Chris Paul and Anthony Davis did in NOLA before him.
This is the ever-important backdrop behind last Thursday's news that Williamson won't appear in New Orleans' season opener Wednesday against Philadelphia, as part of a two-week-plus setback in his return from offseason foot surgery. There's a strong belief in league circles that the Pelicans were unaware of that procedure until Williamson reported to New Orleans ahead of media day, although one team source contacted by B/R maintained the Pelicans and Williamson were aligned on the injury's timeline.

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Before Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin addressed reporters last Thursday, word was already circling around the league that Williamson was unlikely to make his 2021-22 debut before November, at the earliest. It was even known in rival front offices that Griffin planned to speak on the matter rather than issue a press release. This all comes after league figures raised a collective eyebrow when Griffin blamed Williamson's season-ending finger injury on poor officiating.

There's an expectation that Williamson will resume play under a minutes restriction when he does take the floor, sources said, typical for stars returning from injury. But with Williamson, who bristled at the training wheels Pelicans officials placed on his reintegration from a torn meniscus injury as a rookie, it could be a higher-stakes game of poker.


Andy Clayton-King/Associated Press
It all seems fair to wonder what kind of urgency New Orleans and Williamson will feel around his return. The Pelicans harbor plans for a playoff push, something Williamson himself strongly noted in early October, while the Williamson camp has at times held a tenuous relationship with Griffin, from the aforementioned 2019 reintegration plan to the fraught hiring of Stan Van Gundy.
This now marks the second time in three seasons Williamson will miss the Pelicans' opening stretch because of injury. He's been hampered with knee and foot maladies dating back to his time as a Blue Devil.
And for all of his apparent gripes about New Orleans' abundance of caution with his health, the combination of Williamson's injury history and his fluctuating weight throughout his early career would concern any front office, especially a small-market nucleus so invested in his long-term availability to the franchise. The risk of reinjury is always too real and far too treacherous.
"I do think there is another gear that I can reach regarding my weight and conditioning," Williamson told The Old Man & the Three podcast in March. "But I think it's like you said, it's finding it. Because I don't want to get to a spot where I'm like, ‘Yeah I lost a lot of weight, but I don't feel strong. I can't do certain things I would do before.' I think it's just finding it. I do think there is another gear I can reach regarding both weight and conditioning."

He's since reached north of 300 pounds this offseason, sources said, again fueling concerns among New Orleans staffers similar to the months leading up to his rookie debut. When he joined the Pelicans' recent preseason trip to Minnesota, several league personnel on hand were struck by his heavier appearance than his listed playing weight last season of 284 pounds. "I know Zion at 280, and he was not 280," said one observer.
"These are the injuries you have to be the most concerned about, a foot injury for a guy with noted weight issues," said one Western Conference executive.


Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
While Williamson did board that flight to Minneapolis, he did not attend preseason road trips to Chicago or Utah, sources said. This after a summer in which Williamson backed out of plans to accompany general manager Trajan Langdon and fellow All-Star Brandon Ingram in Phoenix to attend a Suns playoff game.
Although, according to one team source, Williamson skipped those Chicago and Utah trips to stay back in New Orleans with the team's medical staff and instead focus on his rehab with a strength coach.
All this has occurred before a regular-season game has even tipped. When it comes to harmony within NBA teams, context is everything. Winning has proved time and again to be the magical elixir that can squash or excuse any sign of strife within a franchise. And again, no player has ever turned down such a lucrative rookie extension that Williamson will surely qualify for and New Orleans will surely offer. On media day, Williamson did say it was "all love" between him and Griffin.

If Williamson can return at full force and lead New Orleans into the playoffs, the Pelicans could build momentum toward the future, just as the No. 2 pick from his class, Ja Morant, has done in Memphis. The electric point guard seems all but destined to re-sign with the Grizzlies next summer. League observers far and wide are still wondering whether Williamson will do the same.

 

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
The New Orleans Pelicans Have A Zion Williamson Problem
Morten Jensen


NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - SEPTEMBER 27: Zion Williamson #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans poses for ... [+]
GETTY IMAGES
Alright, Pelicans fans, put down your pitchforks. This won't be a trade piece, at least not in the traditional sense.
Having said that, it's time to address an undeniable truth: Zion Williamson is becoming a distraction for the New Orleans Pelicans.

If not for mysterious injuries or meddling family members, then for sudden weight gain and contractual speculation.
With such an uncertain future in store, New Orleans will need a plan moving forward.

Determining next steps
First and foremost, it's crucial for the future relationship between Williamson and the Pelicans that the organization looks at each aforementioned hurdle individually.




For example, the weight gain seem unlikely to be tied to how family members feel about Williamson's future with the team. More importantly, regardless of his family's feelings, they needn't necessarily represent those of Williamson himself.
That is essentially the first step for the Pelicans. Acquire a higher understanding of where Williamson stands on these potential challenges, as to best map out a road to get everything back on track.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robrei...bay-packers-win-over-the-san-francisco-49ers/

Needless to say, solving these issues in order to build a positive long-term relationship with Williamson should be the overwhelming priority as opposed to trading him.
(We'll get back to that last bit later.)

As for contractual concerns, that isn't a conversation the franchise can yet have with their third-year All-Star, which does complicate matters.
After all, if there is any truth in the returning media rumblings in regards to Williamson possibly taking the qualifying offer, which is still two years away, that changes the situation drastically.
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Until then, the Pelicans need to gauge the situation for what it appears to be on the surface. Media speculation. While Williamson has shown a level of affinity for other franchises, he has at no point stated a desire to leave New Orleans. What looks like a wandering eye, may simply be admiration from childhood allegiances.
The unpopular option
Of course, this is still the NBA. Superstars ask out of their situations somewhat frequently, and with New Orleans still having a fresh memory of the Anthony Davis debacle, it's understandable that they may feel vulnerable.
There's a long season ahead of the Pelicans, and new head coach Willie Green might build a stronger relationship with Williamson, than he had with Stan Van Gundy. Over the course of the next few months, the team will learn more about that dynamic, and whether or not Williamson can find piece under new leadership.
If not, and if both weight and family issues persist, then it might be time to consider a highly unpopular option.
Since the Pelicans aren't expected to make the playoffs this season, per FanDuel Sportsbook, another losing season could culminate in dissatisfaction from both sides. Williamson wants to win now, but New Orleans can make a reasonable counter-argument that it's difficult to win if Williamson can't keep his weight off, as a 300-pound frame is considerably more likely to result in lower body injuries.
Come mid-season, if the Pelicans find themselves dead in the water with no realistic shot to even make the play-in tournament, with an increasingly frustrated Williamson roaming the sidelines, shuffling himself in and out of the lineup pending health, then maybe it's time to lay the groundwork for a 2022 summer trade.
The Pelicans can obviously receive quite the haul for Williamson, and could go in whichever direction they so choose.
If they want to accelerate their timeline and build around Brandon Ingram instead, they can identify players in his age bracket, or older, to make a push for the 2023 playoffs.
Or, alternatively, they could go even younger in similar fashion to what they did after trading away Davis to the Lakers.
The logic behind a trade
Whichever direction the Pelicans would go in under the above circumstances, the logic behind trading one of the most productive young stars in the NBA would rest on stability and assurances.
As it stands, the Pelicans can't trust their own future with Williamson.
They don't know whether his body will hold up given that his weight fluctuates. They don't know if he's truly considering taking the qualifying offer in 2024 and thus becomes a flight risk. They don't know if family members will finally win his ear and poison his relationship with the team.
Those are considerable unknowns, and not minor issues to brush off. Losing Williamson as an unrestricted free agent in 2025 would be nothing short of a catastrophic event for the Pelicans, especially considering his trade value, which currently is high despite the challenges ahead.
While the situation isn't entirely the same, it does resemble a bit of what's going on in Philadelphia with Ben Simmons.
The Sixers chose not to re-sign Jimmy Butler in 2019, instead preferring to go with Simmons as Joel Embiid's long-term sidekick.
As Butler later flourished in Miami, and Simmons stagnating in Philadelphia, it's reasonable to ask what could have been. At the time of the decision to side with Simmons, the young star had tremendous trade value. Had the Sixers instead kept Butler - the better player - around and moved off Simmons for a significant return, odds are good Philadelphia would have made the Finals by now.
Instead, the Sixers are now stuck with Simmons who no team is willing to relinquish much for, with no Butler to soften that blow.
Similarly, the Pelicans could be looking at a situation where Williamson's trade value decreases over the next two years, should issues around him keep popping up. Or worse, his large frame could result in substantial knee injuries, scaring potential trade partners away.
This is not to say the Pelicans need to, or even should, trade Williamson. Doing so is a franchise-altering decision, and one that needs to be widely agreed on from ownership down.
The priority should remain working in unison to create a long-lasting relationship where both parties benefit from one another.
But having a back-up plan in place, if things should worsen, is never a bad idea. As it stands right now, New Orleans might need to have one handy.

 

Mask

"OneOfTheBest"
Platinum Member
Man some of these teams Twitter account is dry just like their front offices and cities they play in…
 
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