New on Sports Illustrated: Best In Their Prime Teams & Ranking Rebuilds | Open Floor

-

The Mailbag, Bradley Beal vs. Trae young, NBA's top rebuilds and more.

In today's episode, Michael and Rohan open up the mailbag and wonder if the Trail Blazers are better than everybody thinks they'll be, discuss which team would be the best if every player on it were in their prime, debate Trae Young vs. Bradley Beal, and rank the NBA's current rebuilds.

The following transcript is an excerpt from the Open Floor podcast. Listen to the full episode on

podcast players everywhere or on SI.com.

Michael Pina: Are we under rating or undervaluing or sleeping on the Portland Trail Blazers? The narrative is just very negative, I feel because of the trade rumors—there was the offseason debacle with their head coach search. But you look at this roster, you dig into some of the lineup data from last season, particularly after they got Norman Powell. And it's like this team was good and they have Dame. And if Dame's committed, if C.J. is healthy, if everybody's healthy, they can be really good.

Rohan Nadkarni: I think the issue with the Blazers are known. We know that they can be pretty good every year. I think the issue is we know what their ceiling is, which is that they are just one of those teams that need things to break right for them to have a deep playoff run. You know, the year they went to the Western Conference Finals, they just kind of had the bracket fall in their favor. And I still think that's their high or most ceiling, is to make it to the final round in the West. I don't think they're going to make it to the Finals with their current core.

Listen to Open Floor: SI's NBA Show
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | iHeart

Find recent episodes on SI.com. Join the Open Floor Globe fan community on Slack.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New on Sports Illustrated: NBA Draft Big Board 3.0: Top 80 Prospect Rankings

-
Image
Ranking the top 80 players in the 2021 NBA draft with the NCAA tournament in the rearview. View the original article to see embedded media. With three months until draft night and the NBA’s regular season winding down , the league at large has begun shifting full focus to the off-season. Players have until May 30 to declare as early entrants for the draft, after which point the predraft process will open up in full, leading up to the combine and lottery at the end of June . Our Big Board is long overdue for an update, and fully expanded out to 80 prospects as we all attempt to make sense of the big picture moving forward. As usual, the Big Board is primarily based on my personal evaluations from both live viewings and on film, in many cases dating back several years. The rankings also incorporate feedback and opinions I glean from NBA executives, scouts, and others around the industry. This is not a mock draft, and team fit is not considered, but it is also intended to be somewhat
Read more

New on Sports Illustrated: The Patriots’ Post-Brady Era Begins Now

-
Image
In Mac Jones, Bill Belichick drafted a Round 1 quarterback for the first time ever—and looks to usher in a return to dominance. Of course the first time Bill Belichick drafts a first-round quarterback, it’s one for whom he could get an unvarnished scouting report from good buddy Nick Saban —and without even having to do any draft-day maneuvering. Now, the post-Tom Brady era in New England really begins. The Patriots treated 2020 as something of a gap year, with a league-high eight opt-outs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a starting quarterback, Cam Newton, who didn't sign with the team until June. They were, for the first time in two decades, mediocre, but that 7–9 record bought them the ticket to a fresh start: the No. 15 pick, which they used Thursday night on Alabama QB Mac Jones. The oft-cited statistic that Belichick had never drafted a QB higher than pick No. 62—used on Jimmy Garoppolo in 2014—was inherently flawed, given that Belichick had Brady as a starter for 19 of
Read more

New on Sports Illustrated: NCAA Board of Governors Unanimously Votes to Extend Mark Emmert’s Contract

-
Despite recent controversy, the NCAA Board of Governors voted unanimously to extend Mark Emmert's contract through 2025. The NCAA Board of Governors unanimously voted to extend president Mark Emmert's contract through Dec. 31, 2025. The news was announced Tuesday as a one-line news item buried within a larger update after the board's quarterly meeting. He's the fifth president in NCAA history and has been in the role since 2010. Emmert previously held high-ranking roles at Washington, LSU, Connecticut and Montana State. His base salary is reportedly $2.7 million.  Within the announcement, the Board reaffirmed its commitment to updating name, image and likeness rules. Dellenger: Inside the Hidden Industry of Name, Image and Likeness and the Changing World for College Athletes Emmert came under fire after disparities were shown between the men's and women's college basketball tournaments this year, specifically the weight room. Prior to the public backlash,
Read more