Lauri Markkanen - Utahin Marsalkka: All-NBA Snub

[Sebastian]

Well it's definately Sweden we really love to hate! They are a bit bigger and better in almost everything, also the people there are more beautiful and confident and we can't stand it haha! But yea with Russia there was the war with them during WW2 (soviet union of course back then) and some wounds are still so open that many truly hate Russia for that, but it's super complicated so nobody doesn't want too much attention on that. Russia is also so huge and distant country that sometimes we dont even realize that its our neighbour. Finland always looks to the west and we compare everything to other scandinavian countries sweden, denmark & norway. There is a saying in Finland that Finnish person will gladly pay 100€ if his neighbour loses that same amount of money dark humor, but it has some truth in it also.

Yea good that Markkanen is not on the trade. I haven't been so active earlier following the trade rumors until now when this Markkanen case started but OMG I cant believe the amount of rumors there is. Like million tweets, Youtubers making new videos every day about certain rumors.. I think currently in youtube there is more videos with "how Markkanen will fit in Dallas roster" than his highlights

Welcome to the Cavs Fandom!

And I must tell you that I greatly esteem Finland and love learning about it!

I had the true pleasure of hosting Finnish army officers when I was in the US Army and they were truly professional and amazing party animals. And I am actually a historian that specializes somewhat in Nordic history in the modern era, with a focus on the Napoleonic Era, WWI-WWII and the Cold War. And Finland plays a major role in all three of those eras! And I am something of a foreign policy wonk and a specialist in Nordic defense policy (will you buy the F-35 of the JAS-39E?).

And of course, one cannot compliment a Finn without saluting the great Marshal of Finland, Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.

Hammer of the Soviets! Lion of the North! One of the two great Scandinavian statesmen of the past 200 years.

ELÄKÖÖN SUOMI!

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Yes, they might just give you half their army's weapons, and half their air force when the Soviets invaded, even though it crippled their own defense posture against Germany (Finland).*

Or train your army, house and arm them. And take in all your refugees, minus the royal family, and then help rebuild the country (Norway and Denmark) if you were occupied by the Germans.

*The irony of the German invasion of Norway is that the Swedes were unable to refuse German demands because they had gutted their armament and air force helping Finland only two months prior. The timing was most unfortunate.

Gotcha.

Heh

 

[Sebastian]

Gotcha.

Heh

I hit the wrong rep, I am not angry! Lol.

The perfidious Social Democrats should get shit for not letting the Norwegian Queen in. She was a Bernadotte for God's sake!

Edit: I talked about Sweden's role in the Winter War with the Finnish officers and they are of the mind that Sweden did not do enough. But, they do admit that Finland made a mistake not accepting Sweden's offer of a Nordic defensive pact a couple years prior. That Finland was engaging in wishful thinking to just assume Sweden would intervene without a formal alliance. They same about Norway also turning the pact down, and then also not increasing their defense spending either even after the Munich Crisis. Norway made themselves such an easy target for the Germans. It was madness.

But, that just left more Soviets for the Finns to kill.

 

[WorldBExpensive]

Sorry to interrupt the Scandinavian talk but Markkanen looked worse than I expected. He looked good a couple of years ago. Last year I saw him play a couple of games and didn't think much either way. Tonight he looked bad other than 2 or 3 garbage time 3's.

 

[2 For The Brew]

The preseason game looked like the Wehrmacht vs Denmark, 1940, except I think we surrendered faster than King Christian.

 

[Sebastian]

The preseason game looked like the Wehrmacht vs Denmark, 1940, except I think we surrendered faster than King Christian.

At least Denmark had an excuse. They were so outnumbered and outgunned they had zero hope.

This game was the equivalent of the Battle of France.

Yes, people expected the Bulls to be the better team, but on paper the two teams are not so far apart.

Only for the Cavs to collapse more quickly than the French even did.

 

[Cavatt]

Does he expose the ball too much? He got stripped a lot.

His footwork is bad. If he could get his feet under control, he could be a good player, but his footwork is awkward and indecisive.

 

[WorldBExpensive]

Does he expose the ball too much? He got stripped a lot.

His footwork is bad. If he could get his feet under control, he could be a good player, but his footwork is awkward and indecisive.

I don't remember him being that slow in the past. He seemingly couldn't stay in front of anyone on D and even on offense he couldn't get open on the perimeter until he hit those shots late in the game against the back-end of the Bulls bench.

I remember 2 or 3 years ago being pretty impressed by him....last year I saw him play a few times and didn't think much either way. Yesterday was just one game but damn he looked slow. I guess the Bulls know him very well and maybe just exposed his weaknesses.

 

[Step-Back Hook]

I don't remember him being that slow in the past. He seemingly couldn't stay in front of anyone on D and even on offense he couldn't get open on the perimeter until he hit those shots late in the game against the back-end of the Bulls bench.

I remember 2 or 3 years ago being pretty impressed by him....last year I saw him play a few times and didn't think much either way. Yesterday was just one game but damn he looked slow. I guess the Bulls know him very well and maybe just exposed his weaknesses.

His handle and stance is definitely too high and has been one of my pet peeves with him, and he definitely isn't yet as agile he was in his first seasons. Now bc it's just the pre-season it will be hard to conclude on how that will look on later bc if he has tried to undo damage the wrong kinda bulking up might have done to him in the middle of Bulls tenure, it might take few weeks into season before getting the shit work. he had early season injuries in past that also partly effed up anything he might have done in the off-season so hope he stays healthy and can try get things going, whatever he has been working on the off-season.

Things we can be seeing for sure now on pre-season games and early season is if he is going to stay active on court. he has had some tendency to get passive especially after his touches were reduced to half from his seasons 1 and 2 on his season 3 under infamous Jim Boylen coaching. Now, if he can maintain active role in offense and keep up the finishing percentages from last season that were real fine, he will provide enough scoring.

After seeing his games for four years i don't think his stance and handles will be real good any time soon in static offensive situations, so the one thing I would keep eye on if he tries to more drive to the rim if defenses over-play, or if he has trained his passing to provide another dimension on his game. last night his passing was imo better than in many games last season but none of them lead up to assists, when him including, the whole Cavs team kinda had an off night. Lauri has always been much better picking passes up from the move and doing stuff, but his static offense is not gonna be impress anyone anytime soon.

With his defense there was better and worse moments last season, but when he got benched I saw some better recognition on defense so I wish he can pick up good from those moments. If he can get his footwork fast enough he can be at least below average in defense,, and with some parts of D, maybe even average.

 

[Step-Back Hook]

, so the one thing I would keep eye on if he tries to more drive to the rim if defenses over-play, or if he has trained his passing to provide another dimension on his game. last night his passing was imo better than in many games last season but none of them lead up to assists, when him including, the whole Cavs team kinda had an off night.

So now after the scrimmage and two pre-season games I see those little encouraging improvements on passing - last night few decent ones, the kinda modern bigs should be having (was it 3 assists all in all?). K.Love mentoring help? Summer training? Well, ok, as a kid he played guard for years so I guess he should be getting better it or he didn't do anything for it. But he is more aware and accurate in off the drive passes for a very small sample size, at least for what I got used to last two seasons. He was guard as a kid, and had in his hottest stretch of career in 2019 a good period setting 2,3,4 passes in some games as modern NBA wants from their bigs.

Now onto waiting if he can kick a little bit of more physicality on his game. I don't expect or even want anything old school, but for one, being more decisive when going shoulder first for drives so the finishing gets easier. Finishing off the contact will also lead to more FT's and he is great with them. For me, i feel he has been ever since his elbow injury and minor shoulder issue in his past, a bit too careful with contact. But I don't want him to rush in it, bc if he effs up his things on injuries early season, all his possible things he might tried to work on with would be much harder to bring into reality. If people injure right before the season or in the beginning, the learning processes gets hard as he has been for his own bad luck ended up to go: injuring early season twice.

I think we all at this point are so aware of his biggest deficiencies, so I'll just leave it to be. The experience I have had watching all his games is he will be better on defense the better he will get his offense going, so here's for hoping he finds the right tune with Rubio, Sexland etc. and that all of them keep benefiting off each other.

 

[Lee]

So now after the scrimmage and two pre-season games I see those little encouraging improvements on passing - last night few decent ones, the kinda modern bigs should be having (was it 3 assists all in all?). K.Love mentoring help? Summer training? Well, ok, as a kid he played guard for years so I guess he should be getting better it or he didn't do anything for it. But he is more aware and accurate in off the drive passes for a very small sample size, at least for what I got used to last two seasons. He was guard as a kid, and had in his hottest stretch of career in 2019 a good period setting 2,3,4 passes in some games as modern NBA wants from their bigs.

Now onto waiting if he can kick a little bit of more physicality on his game. I don't expect or even want anything old school, but for one, being more decisive when going shoulder first for drives so the finishing gets easier. Finishing off the contact will also lead to more FT's and he is great with them. For me, i feel he has been ever since his elbow injury and minor shoulder issue in his past, a bit too careful with contact. But I don't want him to rush in it, bc if he effs up his things on injuries early season, all his possible things he might tried to work on with would be much harder to bring into reality. If people injure right before the season or in the beginning, the learning processes gets hard as he has been for his own bad luck ended up to go: injuring early season twice.

I think we all at this point are so aware of his biggest deficiencies, so I'll just leave it to be. The experience I have had watching all his games is he will be better on defense the better he will get his offense going, so here's for hoping he finds the right tune with Rubio, Sexland etc. and that all of them keep benefiting off each other.

Did you just quote yourself on your fifth message?

 

[Lee]

Did you just quote yourself on your fifth message?

@Step-Back Hook you dont have the juice to quote yourself here yet.

 

[Man Called X]

@Step-Back Hook you dont have the juice to quote yourself here yet.

Maybe he has the Jews tho? It takes an awful lot of chutzpah to self quote.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Maybe he has the Jews tho? It takes an awful lot of chutzpah to self quote.

can you say chutzpah in real life?

Maybe it is gourimoko the return

 

[Man Called X]

can you say chutzpah in real life?

Maybe it is gourimoko the return

No multi quote bullet point style. Not gourimoko.

*Eat that ass* Last I can find of gourimoko is someone posting with that name on the AVS forums. Seems exactly like him, but that was last year.