NBA Season/Playoffs 2025-26

[Redz]

Can?t believe they didn?t call a time out. 

[jpotter33]

Woooowwwwww. 4 huge missed free throws down the stretch by both sides, but Atlanta comes out with it!

[Neurotic Guy]

Hawks almost gave it back, but hold on. 1-1. Nice.

[Phantom255x]

CJ McCollum, take a bow. What a night for him

Jalen Johnson and NAW haven't been that great so far this series either, I think ATL can push them to 6 games (like I predicted), those guys feel due too

[Goldstar88]

Looks like ATL just stole game 2!

not so fast

You were saying? 

[Goldstar88]

Scal is commentating for the Nuggets/Wolves game. Ugh..

[SparzWizard]

ATL!!! The upset!!

[Goldstar88]

Jokic flops so much.. Hate that.

[Billz401]

Murray and Braun with the choke job in the 4th

[Yuckabuck33]

What a poor shot from Murray. They're down by 3 and he takes a contested midrange 2, and misses it. Reminded me of 2023 Cs with no timeout being called and take a bad shot.

[Donoghus]

Can't say I'm surprised.  That organization is an utter trainwreck.

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
45s
BREAKING: Billy Donovan is exiting as head coach of the Chicago Bulls after six seasons, sources tell ESPN.

[Redz]

There needs to be a real conversation about Risacher potentially being one of the biggest busts in NBA history. The guy was the #1 pick in 2024 yet he can't even get minutes on the Hawks, not even consistent minutes off the bench really. That's pretty wild. At least with some other busts it was self-inflicted, injuries, or they still were able to produce just not at a "transcendental" level. Risacher is basically like Bronny at this point.

Risacher is a solid player. I do not understand why they are not playing him.

He is more of a Jeff Green level player. Even if he doesn't improve beyond where he is now, he should have a 10-15 year career as a solid starter to valued bench player.

They are playing Kuminga ahead of him. Personally, I'd rather have Risacher.

Which is fine if he was picked in the middle of the first round or something.  Even Green had to fight off the reputation of not reaching expectations for a long time based on where he was drafted.

[Goldstar88]

 

Jaden McDaniels took perhaps his most notable shot after Minnesota's 119-114 playoff win at Denver in Game 2 on Monday night.

The Timberwolves forward pretty much labeled all the Nuggets' players as bad defenders. Thrown in there were All-Stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

"Go after Jokic, Jamal, all the bad defenders," said McDaniels, who had 14 points and three assists. "Tim Hardaway [Jr.], Cam Johnson, Aaron Gordon, the whole team, just go at them."

So they're all bad defenders?

"Yeah, they're all bad defenders," McDaniels added.

[Who]

There needs to be a real conversation about Risacher potentially being one of the biggest busts in NBA history. The guy was the #1 pick in 2024 yet he can't even get minutes on the Hawks, not even consistent minutes off the bench really. That's pretty wild. At least with some other busts it was self-inflicted, injuries, or they still were able to produce just not at a "transcendental" level. Risacher is basically like Bronny at this point.

Risacher is a solid player. I do not understand why they are not playing him.

He is more of a Jeff Green level player. Even if he doesn't improve beyond where he is now, he should have a 10-15 year career as a solid starter to valued bench player.

They are playing Kuminga ahead of him. Personally, I'd rather have Risacher.

Which is fine if he was picked in the middle of the first round or something.  Even Green had to fight off the reputation of not reaching expectations for a long time based on where he was drafted.

Yes, but this was all known when they picked him.

There was no clear #1 / surefire franchise player or even surefire All-Star in that draft. It happens some times. Like the Andrea Bargnani draft. Or the Kenyon Martin draft.

Draft quality / pick quality matters. Risacher can't be judged against all the other #1s. He should be judged against other players who were available in his pick range & what was known at the time of the draft.

They got a good player. He has some upside. Maybe he makes something of that upside. Maybe he doesn't. If he doesn't, he should be a Jeff Green level player. If he does achieve his upside, he could be a top 10 SF (top 50 player) or perhaps even an All-Star.

[Who]

There was no clear #1 / surefire franchise player or even surefire All-Star in that draft. It happens some times. Like the Andrea Bargnani draft. Or the Kenyon Martin draft.

Draft quality / pick quality matters. Risacher can't be judged against all the other #1s. He should be judged against other players who were available in his pick range & what was known at the time of the draft.

Top 10 picks (in order) in that draft = Risacher, A Sarr, R Sheppard, S Castle, T Salaun, D Clingan, R Dillingham, Z Edey, Cody Williams.

* Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan appear to be the top 2 players in the draft group with the benefit of hindsight.

I am hard pressed to be overly critical of Atlanta not taking Castle #1 after he averaged 11ppg 5rpg 3apg in college. Clingan 13ppg 7.5rpg 1.5bpg projected as a starter quality center more so than a star.

* Alex Sarr was in a similar boat as Risacher. Some potential with little proven ability. Good physical talent, some skill, dodgy proven track record.

* Zach Edey would be up there with Clingan but has injury concerns. More concerns than Clingan headed into the draft in terms of his quickness / athleticism. I'd have him 3rd best so far. Then Risacher & A Sarr.

* Cody Williams, Rob Dillingham, T Salaun are all 3rd stringer level projects 2 years into their career.

* Reed Sheppard still finding his footing in the league. Looks like he will be a player. Not a sure thing though. Struggling as a starter but I expect he will continue to improve as he continues to adapt to the higher levels of athleticism / size in the NBA. Better learns how to find his shooting opportunities against NBA defenses. Again, 12.5ppg 4.5apg 4rpg in college. Not a great resume heading into the draft either.

It was a bad draft.