NBA

[Kapitan]

Preseason basketball isn't exactly must-see-TV, but the Wolves face the Knicks on ESPN at 5 pm CT today. I'm actually planning to watch, as I think it'll be fun to see how some of our newcomers are fitting in. Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo from the recent trade; rookies Rob Dillingham and Terrance Shannon Jr; and even relative youngsters likely to see action such as Josh Minott, Leonard Miller, Jaylen Clark, and Luka Garza.

Plus, facing Tom Thibodeau and the just-traded KAT adds a little spice.

It doesn't hurt that, with the Vikings on their bye week, I'll be a little starved for local sports today.

[Kapitan]

Maybe it's faint praise, but that was one of the best preseason basketball games I've ever seen. Both teams really treated it almost like a real game through the first three quarters. Stars often sit, and starters often play just a fraction of their typical minutes--see Phoenix's game right after MIN v NYK on ESPN, where the Suns sat their entire starting lineup plus key reserves Grayson Allen and Josh Okogie!--but everyone who was active played a good amount of time. Minnesota had three starters play 27 or more minutes; New York had three play 29 or more.

The Wolves were without a still-rehabbing (but reportedly fully practicing and close to return) Julius Randle and Mike Conley (DNP-Old), but their depth really showed. And it was necessary, because starting wing Jaden McDaniels picked up four fouls in about 3 minutes! Naz Reid played poorly. Rudy Gobert was up and down ... and yet it was a tight, hard-fought game. 

Anthony Edwards is a true star. I think everyone knows it by now, but if you don't, just believe me. He was phenomenal at MSG, too, with 31 points on 11-19 shooting in 27 minutes.

The matchup against KAT and Thibs made it fun. Donte DiVincenzo going at his old college and pro teammates, ditto. 

[Kapitan]

Yesterday ESPN ran a feature on the 76ers' revamped lineup and plans to protect stars Joel Embiid and Paul George from injuries, including probably not letting either one ever play both games of back-to-backs and holding Embiid out of the preseason. George, though, has been playing.

Last night he hyperextended a knee and will miss some time. A quick online search suggests 2-4 weeks is the most typical recovery time for that injury, though the more severe end can require surgery and up to 6 months recovery.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Oct 15, 2024 12:21:48 GMT Kapitan said:

Yesterday ESPN ran a feature on the 76ers' revamped lineup and plans to protect stars Joel Embiid and Paul George from injuries, including probably not letting either one ever play both games of back-to-backs and holding Embiid out of the preseason. George, though, has been playing.

Last night he hyperextended a knee and will miss some time. A quick online search suggests 2-4 weeks is the most typical recovery time for that injury, though the more severe end can require surgery and up to 6 months recovery.

Oh, that's lovely. I'm not excited or optimistic about this coming season, just curious. Yep, just curious.

[Kapitan]

I'm expecting (based largely on that ESPN feature) this year's 76ers to look a lot like the past few years' LA Clippers, meaning a lot of DNP-Rest for the stars, staggering of games, etc. It's going to be interesting to see how many games Embiid, George, and Maxey ALL play together. My guess is not many.

The idea of course is to preserve them for the playoffs. But if the Clippers are our model, I'd have to note that they won three playoff series in five years with that core and philosophy. And Leonard in particular ended up missing a lot of those playoff games regardless of the rest. I'm not sure the preventative approach of load management necessarily works...especially for the injury-prone guys it's intended to protect.

[Kapitan]

The real NBA season begins tonight!

Boston v New York for the 6:30 (CT) game; Minnesota v Los Angeles Lakers for the 9:30 game.

I'm pretty excited about the season. We had some turnover including the loss of an All-Star in Karl-Anthony Towns, but I think we became a better and certainly deeper team through that trade (and other offseason moves). And I think our draft was a homerun--which actually I did not think at the time, but especially having made the KAT trade to obtain some solid backup PG help and free up some space financially, I do think now. 

[Kapitan]

Tough start to the year with a loss. But also some news about which I have mixed feelings: the Wolves signed center Rudy Gobert to a 3-year, $110 million contract extension.

We're currently a "second-apron taxpayer" team, meaning we're so far above the cap that there is a different set of rules for teams like us: not just exorbitant fines on player salary that end up costing the team something like 4x the face value of deals, but restrictions on free agency (can't sign anyone above minimum salary); trades (can't take in any additional money and can't package outgoing players into a deal); and even losing draft picks. It's BAD.

That's one reason the Wolves were so aggressive in the draft with the trade for rookie lottery pick Rob Dillingham, and it's one reason the KAT trade looked so promising. While that trade basically had us even in this year's salary expenditures, it got us Julius Randle's expiring deal instead of KAT's ongoing supermax, not to mention by taking in multiple guys, it's easier to be flexible. It looked like we could avoid the second apron going forward.

And yet we sign a 32-year-old center to a 3-year, big-money extension!?

The good side of it is Gobert actually took a short-term hit in exchange for longer-term security. He was scheduled to make something like $46m next season, but this extension begins next season, replacing that contract with a smaller annual figure (about $10 in savings next season). Not only do I like that for the books, but I like Gobert's attitude about it. The man will have earned something like $260 million in NBA salary by the end of this season. That's going to be $370 million by the end of this contract extension. He's going to be fine. So to give back a bit to the team to allow them to keep a strong roster around him, I like it. Same as Jalen Brunson did. Plus, he is still a good player. He's big, he rebounds, he impacts offenses with his rim protection. He's aging, but he's not washed up.

The negative side of it is Gobert is already becoming a situational player in the modern game. More teams are challenging him by making him come out and defend the pick and roll rather than allowing him to sit in front of the rim. When teams go small, or have big but mobile centers, it can cause real trouble. It's a leaguewide style thing, so maybe with the recent draftings of Donovan Clingan and Zak Edey, things will go back his direction. That would be great for us. If not, that hurts. Plus, while he's not washed up, he IS 32. He'll be 33 when the extension kicks in, 35 when it ends (unless he uses the player option after Year Two). His game is on the decline already, statistically speaking. It's not likely to improve again at this stage.

Hopefully we're still able to stay under that second apron, because if he cost us that flexibility, I'm opposed to this. Otherwise I'll try to keep a more open mind and judge it based on his play.