NBA Thread

[BallDontLie]

[Atiba Applebum]

Would a Lakers Heat final be even more unexpected than it was a few years ago?


Also, love Jimmy going as Black Tayne

[BallDontLie]

Nice… deep cut lol. Just needs to kick up the 4d3d3d3

[DaleSr]

Suns and Warriors both get knocked out. Love to see it.

[Lenny the Fatface]

Knicks will be fine if they can trade Randle, you can blame everyone else fucking up on youth.

[mynameisnotjeff]

Knicks will be fine if they can trade Randle, you can blame everyone else fucking up on youth.

I have a few friends that live in Sacramento and for a second I got second hand hype. A Knicks v Kings final would’ve been wild.

[BallDontLie]

Suns and Warriors both get knocked out. Love to see it.

[Atiba Applebum]

Ja ja ja.  No, I’m not laughing in Spanish.  I just can’t believe what an idiot Morant is. 

[The Ghost of Lenny Kirk]

[BallDontLie]

Ja ja ja.  No, I’m not laughing in Spanish.  I just can’t believe what an idiot Morant is.

Jesus… just looked him up. That kid needs a sabbatical…

This aged well…

“ after the Grizzlies were eliminated with a 40-point loss to the Lakers: ““I've just got to be better with my decision-making. That's pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just [need] more discipline.””

[Atiba Applebum]

Expand Quote

Ja ja ja.  No, I’m not laughing in Spanish.  I just can’t believe what an idiot Morant is.

[close]

Jesus… just looked him up. That kid needs a sabbatical…

This aged well…

“ after the Grizzlies were eliminated with a 40-point loss to the Lakers: ““I've just got to be better with my decision-making. That's pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just [need] more discipline.””

Guy needs to move in with Adrian Peterson

[exlurker]

I posted this exact gif a year ago, and it's my pleasure to post it again

This is becoming one of my favorite traditions

[PatrickSkateman]

Props to Jayson Tatum.

Sucks the Sixers won’t make it past the second round again, but this is a pattern of behavior that’s been in place since Doug Collins.

[swellbowed]

[rawr1922]

Dale Sr always right about Doc Rivers. His 10th game 7 loss yikes

[BallDontLie]

Lmao

https://www.twitter.com/GeekedUpProd/status/1657940628976685056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1657940628976685056%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=

[DaleSr]

Doc trick y'all

[exlurker]

If a 7 seed faces an 8 seed in the finals, the regular season might well and truly be dead

I'd be all for the NBA finding ways to further incentivize, you know, trying.

I like the idea of higher seeds getting to pick their opponent from all the lower seeds.

[Atiba Applebum]

If a 7 seed faces an 8 seed in the finals, the regular season might well and truly be dead

I'd be all for the NBA finding ways to further incentivize, you know, trying.

I like the idea of higher seeds getting to pick their opponent from all the lower seeds.

Is the idea of having a league with that level of parity in competition a bad thing??

[The Ghost of Lenny Kirk]

https://twitter.com/DwightHoward/status/1658313827812016129

[exlurker]

Expand Quote

If a 7 seed faces an 8 seed in the finals, the regular season might well and truly be dead

I'd be all for the NBA finding ways to further incentivize, you know, trying.

I like the idea of higher seeds getting to pick their opponent from all the lower seeds.

[close]

Is the idea of having a league with that level of parity in competition a bad thing??

No, but there’s barely any real reason to bust ass for wins in the regular season, and outside of my team I barely pay attention to regular season, and then tune in for the playoffs.  One extra home game ain’t enough of a reward in the playoffs to incentivize overtaxing your players

Whereas every NFL game has huge stakes. A regular season NFL game between two shit teams on a Thursday gets better ratings than other sports’ playoff games

I love the “pick your opponent” thing also because it adds some spicy gamesmanship. The bucks would’ve picked the Nets I gotta think,  C’s probably pick the Hawks, but hard choice for the Sixers, between Heat, Cavs, and Knicks

[ohtight]

Doc trick y'all

Embiid*** dude is a fucking clown and a fake MVP.

Fuck Boston. Heat in 5.

[BallDontLie]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

If a 7 seed faces an 8 seed in the finals, the regular season might well and truly be dead

I'd be all for the NBA finding ways to further incentivize, you know, trying.

I like the idea of higher seeds getting to pick their opponent from all the lower seeds.

[close]

Is the idea of having a league with that level of parity in competition a bad thing??

[close]

No, but there’s barely any real reason to bust ass for wins in the regular season, and outside of my team I barely pay attention to regular season, and then tune in for the playoffs.  One extra home game ain’t enough of a reward in the playoffs to incentivize overtaxing your players

Whereas every NFL game has huge stakes. A regular season NFL game between two shit teams on a Thursday gets better ratings than other sports’ playoff games

I love the “pick your opponent” thing also because it adds some spicy gamesmanship. The bucks would’ve picked the Nets I gotta think,  C’s probably pick the Hawks, but hard choice for the Sixers, between Heat, Cavs, and Knicks

I think a temporary answer could be reducing the number of regular season games… putting an emphasis on actually winning your division. Or caring rather… similar to baseball when the division title comes down to the wire between two teams is fun as hell. Potentially Earning a “bye week”. I know there’s the play in, so that idea is probably a wash… but 60 games seems feasible.

[Lenny the Fatface]

If a 7 seed faces an 8 seed in the finals, the regular season might well and truly be dead

I'd be all for the NBA finding ways to further incentivize, you know, trying.

I like the idea of higher seeds getting to pick their opponent from all the lower seeds.

The answer is a shorter season, roughly 64 games during the same time span but with no more back to backs, and you do away with the play-in. That way the players get more rest, and there’s more competitive urgency. The problem is the billionaire team owners will never sacrifice the ticket revenue for a higher quality product and would rather push a narrative that the players are assholes.

Edit: basically what the dude above me said.

[Atiba Applebum]

There is no way in the world a sports league will ever reduce the number of games played.   

I think this season is just screwy where you have lebron and curry in lower seeds who can turn it on in the playoffs and disrupt things.   Boston and Denver’s post seasons have gone according to plan.

I just don’t see any competitive athlete having the takeaway after this post-season that it doesn’t matter how much they win in the regular season because their odds of success in the postseason are the same 1-8.   Did anyone in the NCAA tournament feel that way when lower seeded teams went further than ever before?

[doomstation55]

Yeah, I think of the Hawks who tried to coast in the season following their ECF appearance. Feels like they lost at least a year of development by not being concerned in the regular season. Banking on one (possibly two) play in games won’t bode well for any team without a 39 year old Lebron.

Things also looked weird since the Bucks got bounced due to shitty coaching ultimately (which I feel like Bud losing his brother made him look worse than his usual mediocre self) and the Grizzlies lost Adams and haven’t looked the same since.

[Atiba Applebum]

Find out who wins Wemby tonight.   Hopefully it’s Spurs or Blazers bc I like Pop and Lillard and want to reward them.

[Lenny the Fatface]

There is no way in the world a sports league will ever reduce the number of games played.   

I think this season is just screwy where you have lebron and curry in lower seeds who can turn it on in the playoffs and disrupt things.   Boston and Denver’s post seasons have gone according to plan.

I just don’t see any competitive athlete having the takeaway after this post-season that it doesn’t matter how much they win in the regular season because their odds of success in the postseason are the same 1-8.   Did anyone in the NCAA tournament feel that way when lower seeded teams went further than ever before?

I think in the NBA the mindset has shifted towards  homecourt advantage not being worth the grind if that means you sacrifice your best players’ health for post season. You can tell that was the Clippers’ approach with the load management, for Miami to all of a sudden give a shit definitely shows some sort of posturing, and the Lakers definitely felt more confident playing Memphis instead of trying to get the 5th seed to play a Phoenix team that looked insane on paper.

Seeding matters more with NCAA hoops because the best 4 teams in college (probably with 3-5 future NBA players each) get to play the 60-64th best teams in the nation (that all have zero future NBA players), that’s a much greater skill gap than a 2 seed or a 5th seed in the NBA. And with a single elimination tournament, any crazy shit can happen so you want to control as much as possible.

But I would say the uselessness of the regular season has been in question since Popovich was sitting his starters out 15 years ago.

[BallDontLie]

the players should force the owners hands lol get the union involved. Demand 60 or so games. Even worse when the team is charging premium ticket prices for a third string line up…

NCAA is one and done tourney though… in 7 game series maybe seeding, with lesser reg season games, will matter. Especially if you get a series off of some sort…

Maybe it’s a better product maybe not. Just seems like it’ll also reduce injury/fatigue..

[The Ghost of Lenny Kirk]

 

the players should force the owners hands lol get the union involved. Demand 60 or so games. Even worse when the team is charging premium ticket prices for a third string line up…

NCAA is one and done tourney though… in 7 game series maybe seeding, with lesser reg season games, will matter. Especially if you get a series off of some sort…

Maybe it’s a better product maybe not. Just seems like it’ll also reduce injury/fatigue..

only way the owners would agree to a shorter season is non-guaranteed contracts and players dont want that.

i do question the usefulness of load management, clippers got bounced fast and it feels like it was an unclear benefit to players like anthony davis.