Ongoing pro/college basketball thread (2023-24)

[miami_fan]

I just turn the game on and I was wondering after the first replay what the hell was taking the officials so long to eject Victor Wembanyama from the game.

[RainMaker]

Just throwing this out there but if you are the Wizards, would you trade the #1 pick for Giannis? You'd be contenders right away with that roster.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Just throwing this out there but if you are the Wizards, would you trade the #1 pick for Giannis? You'd be contenders right away with that roster.

I thought about this. I don't think going all in on AD's health is smart though. Outside of the obvious teams (Knicks, Lakers, Wolves, Heat, Celtics), i think Atlanta might be one to watch.

On a side note, I think the Lakers played the Thunder as well as they possibly could without Luka. Reddick seems like a pretty solid coach and got everything he could out of that roster.

[Ksyrup]

Brandon Clarke of the Grizzlies died at 29. RIP.

[JPhillips]

The Wizards need to swing big because otherwise they are a team with a ceiling of #5 seed and no real way to get better before they get worse.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I thought about this. I don't think going all in on AD's health is smart though. Outside of the obvious teams (Knicks, Lakers, Wolves, Heat, Celtics), i think Atlanta might be one to watch.

Well, Giannis was drafted a year after AD. While he has not been injured as much as AD, his game is not one that will age well.

[miami_fan]

Anthony Edwards congratulating the Spurs for the series win with 8:00 remaining in the game, losing by 33 knowing he was being pulled from the game is one of the dumbest made up controversies of this basketball season.

[whomario]

OKC Spurs game 1 was excellent fun. Love that Wemby's reaction to being guarded by small players was to move closer to the basket (only 2 threes, maybe a couple others outside the paint). Basically had 13 dunks and layups + a bunch of FTs. And that one Steph Curry range three to tie it in OT.
In general pretty impressive win by the Spurs (missing Fox, too).

[Atocep]

Not sure when the last time I saw a player abused defensively as bad as Harden was the over the 2nd half of the 4th quarter and OT last night.

[miami_fan]

Knicks fans are paying for rival fans' mortgages and for rival fans' kids' college tuition throughout this year's playoffs.

[Danny]

Knicks up by 19 at half time of game four but it's ok cause Analytics say Cavs should be up by 15.

[Lathum]

The worst thing for the Knicks may be the long lay off. They would start the finals tomorrow if they could.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Danny

Knicks up by 19 at half time of game four but it's ok cause Analytics say Cavs should be up by 15.

I am torn between two thoughts. One side has me believing that Kenny Atkinson has no clue what expected score actually is and just parroted something one of the analyst told him to sound smart. The other side believing that Atkinson knows what expected score is and instead ripping guys like James Harden for playing like shit, chose to try to draw all the negative press to himself and not have it go to the players.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I am torn between two thoughts. One side has me believing that Kenny Atkinson has no clue what expected score actually is and just parroted something one of the analyst told him to sound smart. The other side believing that Atkinson knows what expected score is and instead ripping guys like James Harden for playing like shit, chose to try to draw all the negative press to himself and not have it go to the players.

Harden looked completely done in that series. The Knicks just decided to abuse him defensively and made no secret of it. He'll be 37 next year and coming off a playoffs where he probably gave up almost twice as many points as he scored and turned the ball over almost 5 times per game.

He's going to opt out and sign another deal with Cleveland that's more team friendly, but it's at the point where it's going to be very difficult to win in the playoffs with him playing the minutes he's going to get.

[Atocep]

Looking at the draft, Cooper Flagg is younger than: Caleb Wilson, Darius Acuff, Mikel Brown, Nate Ament, Brayden Burries and is only about a month older than Dybantsa and Peterson.

[CrimsonFox]

Just discovered this....FUN!

The Malice at the Palace~!

[Lathum]

Knicks are in trouble. Wemby has had about as bad a game as he can have and it's still a 2 point game in the fourth,

[JPhillips]

I don't really believe in clutch, but if it exists the Knicks have it. I've never seen a better fourth quarter team than the Knicks this playoff run.

[JPhillips]

Sorry. This is all my fault.

[RainMaker]

I cannot believe I may be alive to see the Knicks win a title. I also can't fathom what the celebration will be like if they pull this off.

[miami_fan]

Stacey King, 3-time NBA champion with Bulls, dies at 59 - ESPN

Damn. Stacey King was one of my favorite League Pass announcers and seemed to be beloved among Bull fans I know in Chicago.

RIP

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Stacey King, 3-time NBA champion with Bulls, dies at 59 - ESPN

Damn. Stacey King was one of my favorite League Pass announcers and seemed to be beloved among Bull fans I know in Chicago.

RIP

He had one of the greatest sports quotes of all time after Jordan's 69 point game when he told reporters after the game that he'd always remember that night as the game he and Michael Jordan combined for 70 points.

[bhlloy]

Basketball refereeing is so fucking absurd. There’s no other sport on earth where the standard of what a foul is varies so wildly from minute to minute, by what shoes the players are wearing, the alignment of the planets or what mood the wives were in the morning.

[JPhillips]

If tonight was the beginning of Everything Trump Touches Dies for the Knicks the crashout here will be epic.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Basketball refereeing is so fucking absurd. There’s no other sport on earth where the standard of what a foul is varies so wildly from minute to minute, by what shoes the players are wearing, the alignment of the planets or what mood the wives were in the morning.

It’s really the sports where the refs can have the most impact at this point in my opinion. It was debatable before they took away balls and strikes from the umps but not anymore IMO.

[bhlloy]

That’s definitely true, and I’m sympathetic to the fact it’s probably the hardest to referee due to the speed, athleticism and the fact there’s contact on almost every play that could be called and if you called the game to the letter of the rule book each game would end in a farce. But for the love of God, decide what’s acceptable to be called a foul so every player isn’t in foul trouble by the end of the first quarter, train the referees that you expect to see that level called consistently and then cut any that don’t do it. It really should be that simple.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

If tonight was the beginning of Everything Trump Touches Dies for the Knicks the crashout here will be epic.

Truly insane to have that historic win streak and all the good vibes of the city to then decide to invite the world's most famous pedophile and his creep friends to kill it.


Would be really cool if the Knicks win it all but they are playing with fire.

[JPhillips]

Oh no. Trump killed the Knicks.

[Lathum]

Everything he touches dies

[Ksyrup]

Not quite. It took more than a game, a couple of days, and half of the next game, but they seem poised to win it all. I still expect it to go 6 but what happened last night is definitely a back-breaker for SA.

I'm glad I stayed up for that. I kept waffling on shutting it off and going to bed. 20 point game about 10 minutes left. Then it's down to 15, then 12. Once they got it under 10 with, I don't know, maybe 4 minutes left, I almost shut it down. But SA couldn't score and then it was down to 5 and I was in for the rest of it. When Hart blew that breakaway I thought they were going to come all the way back and still lose. But they didn't.

[Danny]

De'Aaron Fox is one dumb player.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, he was terrible. He threw the ball away 3 or 4 times, looked like a 12 year old rec player.

[miami_fan]

There was dumb basketball all round on both teams. Missed layups, missed FTs, bad passes, bad shots, no boxing out and more. The moments when they came kept being too big for the player or players at that particular time. I don't think it is a coincidence that the player who has handled the biggest stage the best is the guy who has been there before and won a title.

[Danny]

Nico Harrison. Trade Doncic for peanuts, and let Brunson go for nothing.

[miami_fan]

Congrats to the Knicks fans. The cool thing about the Knicks winning for me is like the Cubs, I don't think there are any bandwagon Knicks fans. Knicks fans have let the world know they are Knicks fans all their lives. Of course, they are going to be more annoying than ever. But even that is okay because Knick fans have always been annoying

Jalen Brunson is the perfect face for the Knicks championship team. I prefer to look at the positive side and credit the Knicks front office led by Leon Rose World Wide Rob aka William Wesley without tanking.

Jalen Brunson as your franchise player? For that money and you have to hire his daddy as an assistant coach?

Trading the former #3 pick and emerging star and a six man of the year candidate for the Kawhi Leonard wanna-be from the Raptors?

Five first round picks for Mikal Bridges?

Firing Thibs for bleepin Mike Brown?

They traded FOR Karl Anthony Towns for chrissakes!

I can't revise the history with this team. I did not believe they could do it until I actually saw it because I had watched the Knicks my entire life. The Knicks always found a way to screw it up. They figured it out and they deserve all their flowers for doing so.

[Swaggs]

It’s crazy how resilient the Knicks were. I was looking through some of the box scores and the Spurs had greater than a 90% chance to win in three of the four losses. I’d love to see the percentage of time the Spurs led throughout the series.

I did think Spurs coaching was a weak link and their offense looked lost when they had some of those leads. Also not sure about the subbing patterns with Wemby, but they really need to get another solid 4/5 somehow. Kornet is a competent NBA player, but he needs bumped down a spot in the rotation. I think there are probably 10+ head coaches in the league that convert some of those into wins, so Mitch Johnson should have a fairly hot seat (but I doubt he will).

[Lathum]

Wemby really coming off like a big cry baby

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

It’s crazy how resilient the Knicks were. I was looking through some of the box scores and the Spurs had greater than a 90% chance to win in three of the four losses. I’d love to see the percentage of time the Spurs led throughout the series.

How about how long the Knicks led in the series?

It's not how you start... it's how you finish.

And the Knicks finished the 2026 NBA Finals with 4 comeback wins.

PER ELIAS: The Knicks led for only 23.6% of the time in this series, by far the lowest percent of time spent leading by a Champion since the 1971 Finals. pic.twitter.com/VF8R9Ps8ax

— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) June 14, 2026

I did think Spurs coaching was a weak link and their offense looked lost when they had some of those leads. Also not sure about the subbing patterns with Wemby, but they really need to get another solid 4/5 somehow. Kornet is a competent NBA player, but he needs bumped down a spot in the rotation. I think there are probably 10+ head coaches in the league that convert some of those into wins, so Mitch Johnson should have a fairly hot seat (but I doubt he will).

The Spurs just looked young all around IMO. Mitch Johnson looked like someone who began coaching in earnest in 2016, became a full time assistant coach in 2020 and was basically Wemby's warm up coach before Pop stepped down. I believe this is his first head coaching job at any level. And yes that warm up coach stint resulted in Mitch and Wemby becoming really close so that seat won't be too hot at least at the start of next season.

The offense became very 3 pt heavy but I don't blame Johnson too much. That is this era in the NBA. More than anything I think Johnson shorten his bench too much. Wemby averaged less than thirty minutes a game in sixty four regular season games. Ramping him up to 34 per during the playoffs is not that usual. Ramping him up to almost 40 minutes during the Finals was unnecessary given how often the Spurs were leading and how winded he looked with lesser minutes. I don't think Kornet was unplayable in this series. He should have gotten more minutes if only to not have Wemby being gassed at the end of games. De'Aaron Fox has to be benched in favor of Dylan Harper. Hell, Fox should not have gotten a hundred more minutes than Keldon Johnson.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Wemby really coming off like a big cry baby

I don't know. He seems like the same guy who said things like “In our national anthem, we talk about blood, too. We’re willing to spill blood on the court. It’s no big deal. If it allows us to win gold, I’m all for it.” after a semifinal win and then warned that "I'm learning, and I'm worried for the opponents in a couple of years," after the loss in the gold medal game in the last Olympics.

I know it was played up as Wemby becoming a villain during the postseason especially during the Finals. I see it more as him trying to learn the difference between regular season basketball, playoff basketball, and Finals basketball all in a three month period. Usually, someone like him gets his ass beat physically and loses a series, learns how to take the punishment and how to dish it back out to your opponents(if the team does not bring someone in to do it for you) and you go again the following year. The Timberwolves reveal that chink in his armor and Wemby's response was to elbow a player in the head. The Thunder tried but it was more like an annoyance than physical play. All the while, he kept winning and advancing. The Knicks could do both, Wemby couldn't handle it and his team finally lost. From what I have heard, he has said as much.

[Atocep]

Darryn Peterson doing everything he can to justify the difficult label by refusing to meet with anyone other than the Wizards prior to the draft.

[Danny]

Congrats to the Knicks, a well deserved NBA championship!

I dont agree with the Wemby critique. Besides Magic what all time great led their team to an NBA title as the clear best player by that age?

[Atocep]

Mike Brown has to have one of the strangest coaching legacies and paths to an NBA title by a coach. And at some point the Kings have to look themselves in the mirror and accept the fact that their organization is garbage and needs change.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Mike Brown has to have one of the strangest coaching legacies and paths to an NBA title by a coach. And at some point the Kings have to look themselves in the mirror and accept the fact that their organization is garbage and needs change.

Or the realization that teams succeed in spite of Brown rather than because of him.

[JPhillips]

Wemby is 22 and Harper is 20. The Spurs are fine and one of the favorites to get to the finals next year.

[JPhillips]

dola

No, Spike Lee doesn't deserve a championship ring and if he's offered he should decline.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Or the realization that teams succeed in spite of Brown rather than because of him.

Never mind that this is objectively wrong. The case can be made that Mike Brown has not deserved to be fired from any of his head coaching jobs and the teams that fired were significantly worse with him no longer on the bench.

During his first stint with the Cavs, the team won at least fifty games and their first two sixty win seasons with either Mo Williams or Larry Hughes playing second fiddle to Lebron. The Cavs fired him hoping that Lebron would stay. Then The Decision happened. The Cavs went 64-166 the next three years under Byron Scott.

His first season with the Lakers was marred by the lockout. He still won over sixty percent of the games that year before losing in the second round. He was fired 5 games into the next season. The Lakers lost in the first round that year and then spent the next six seasons winning less than forty games.

Brown returned to Cleveland after they got rid of Scott and improved the team from 24 to 33 wins with a team led by Kyrie and Dion Waiters. He was fired so new GM David Griffin could hire his own guy. That guy ended up being David Blatt who significantly improved on what Brown did winning 53 games and going to the Finals. Besides Blatt's brilliance (sarcasm) I am sure adding Lebron and Kevin Love to the roster to go with Kyrie played its small part.

Brown went to Sacramento taking over a team that was 30-52 and had not had a winning season for over 15 seasons. He won 48 games the first season, made it to the playoffs taking the defending champs to seven games before losing. He then won 46 games before being fired after starting 13-18. The Kings won 22 games in their first full season without Mike Brown as HC.

Finally, Brown took over a team that had been making steady improvement under Thibs. He improve the offense (ORtg went from 118.5 to 119.8) and the defense (DRtg from 114.3 to 113.3) got over the Eastern Conference hump and ended up winning the title.

[RainMaker]

Brown was pretty good in the series I thought. First 2 games they basically neutralized Wemby on the defensive end and forced San Antonio to re-work their entire defensive strategy from Game 3 on.

Really happy to see Brunson win one. Was considered a backup PG out of college and not athletic enough or tall enough to be a starter. The Knicks got trashed by every analyst for signing him. And the knocks on him are correct. He isn't as athletic and he is small, but the man is a hell of a basketball player. Nothing flashy either, just reliable.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Wemby is 22 and Harper is 20. The Spurs are fine and one of the favorites to get to the finals next year.

Them and OKC should be battling it out in the West for years to come. And agree that the team is incredibly young which was what we saw at the end of those games.

Fox is an issue though. He was given that massive contract to be that veteran PG who can settle the young guys down and keep things in check. Not only did he fail at that, but he was often the problem. I would not feel comfortable with him being my PG as a contender.