The Official NBA 2022-23 Season Thread

[stevew]

Yeah there’s no place in the league for pieces of shit like Dillon Brooks, too.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The "Ja Wick" memes have been a Twitter highlight today.

[flere-imsaho]

My older son & I went to the Bucks v Sixers game last night and had a good time. It's been a while since I've been to an NBA game and I have to say I found the stadium (Fiserv Forum) really modern and great. We had tickets in the 8th row behind the Bucks' bench, which was super cool, especially as my son is a big Giannis fan.

Shame the Bucks lost. From my perspective the Bucks just got predictable on offense and couldn't shut Harden down, down the stretch. And anytime Embiid wanted that stepback jumper, he had it.

[miami_fan]

I am not even a Lakers fan but I am stressed watching Anthony Davis play. I am prepared for him to pull up lame no matter what he is doing on the court.

[JPhillips]

In a world where U.S. congress members send out Christmas cards with pictures of their families holding military-grade weapons, why is the Morant thing an issue?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

In a world where U.S. congress members send out Christmas cards with pictures of their families holding military-grade weapons, why is the Morant thing an issue?

Go to any dictionary in any conservative household, look up thug, and you will see Morants picture.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

In a world where U.S. congress members send out Christmas cards with pictures of their families holding military-grade weapons, why is the Morant thing an issue?

Because white people can be trusted to use guns responsibly. It's literally in the Constitution.

Just for posterity, I'm pretty sure anyone here knows I'm saying this with the greatest of sarcasm.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

In a world where U.S. congress members send out Christmas cards with pictures of their families holding military-grade weapons, why is the Morant thing an issue?

I'm pretty sure most of us are laughing at him is because he's an idiot jeopardizing millions playing pretend, not because we give a shit that he has a gun. He seems to have the IQ of a kumquat.

It's an issue since it violates NBA rules (and possibly Colorado state law), so ask them about that aspect.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

In a world where U.S. congress members send out Christmas cards with pictures of their families holding military-grade weapons, why is the Morant thing an issue?

Because the messaging is the same for both whether they realizes it or not. If you come to confront the member of Congress or Ja, they have a weapon and are prepared to use it. I'm no expert but that does not necessarily stop people from confronting you. It does ensure that when they do, they bring their own weaponry because they know you have yours. I have as much confidence in Ja's individual ability to use his weapon effectively when confronted as I do the individual abilities of those members of Congress with those pictures to use theirs effectively when confronted. Which is to say, I have zero confidence in either. From an outsider's point of view, the difference is Ja seems to be allowing people greater access to test his gun skills than those members of Congress ever will.

[Atocep]

It may be a while before Ja plays again. This has to be up there as one of the dumbest things an NBA star has done. Since this was in Denver its likely Ja had the gun on the team plane which would trigger an automatic 50 game suspension. And that's potentially just the tip of the iceberg since he has other investigations pending.

The Memphis front office should be looked into as well. He's been a mess on social media for over a year, but at the very least the incident with the Pacers should have had them looking into Ja and his crew.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Atocep

It may be a while before Ja plays again. This has to be up there as one of the dumbest things an NBA star has done. Since this was in Denver its likely Ja had the gun on the team plane which would trigger an automatic 50 game suspension. And that's potentially just the tip of the iceberg since he has other investigations pending.

The Memphis front office should be looked into as well. He's been a mess on social media for over a year, but at the very least the incident with the Pacers should have had them looking into Ja and his crew.

I guess they would investigate hard enough to determine if he brought his gun on the plane. It does say he has to register his gun with the team. So as long as he randomly found a gun on the way to the strip club (not included in the definition of a facility or venue, he should be okay.

I don't think he will play for the rest of the season either btw. The prep work need to start now for how they handle the offseason and the press during that time to get him back on the court with as little fanfare as possible.

[JPhillips]

I don't expect this because of, yeah..., but the NRA should jump in here and make some positive inroads with black gun owners. Boebert has shot video of herself breaking the law by carrying in DC and nothing was really even said about it.

I think gun culture is nuts, but the difference in treatment between white and black gun owners makes no sense.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I don't expect this because of, yeah..., but the NRA should jump in here and make some positive inroads with black gun owners. Boebert has shot video of herself breaking the law by carrying in DC and nothing was really even said about it.

I think gun culture is nuts, but the difference in treatment between white and black gun owners makes no sense.

I musta missed Boebert waving a gun around in a strip club, on the heels of multiple incidents with similar questionable judgement.

The attempted equivalency here is downright silly.

Ja Wick ain't getting grief because of his race, he's getting grief because he's done a number of stupid things in a short time span.

[flere-imsaho]

A law's a law, Jon.

[JPhillips]

Boebert has videoed herself breaking the law in DC and she's claimed to have had her gun on the floor of the House when it was banned.

But it isn't really about her, people wave guns around all the time and there are no repercussions. This is just another day in America.

edit: The conservative position is that the Constitution allows people to carry guns without training or license anywhere they want.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

A law's a law, Jon.

I oppose the law that Morant is accused of violating (if I understand it correctly at least), same as I oppose the one Boebert would be violating.

But that legal violation is not why he's turned into the subject of such ridicule.

[flere-imsaho]

Jon, surely you understand that Boebert is also a subject of ridicule. It's just the a a Venn Diagram of those who are ridiculing Morant over this and those who ridicule Boebert over, well, pretty much anything she does, looks like two unconnected circles.

[Lathum]

Is it really that hard to understand that a large segment of the population views a white guy brandishing a gun as a proud patriot but a black guy with dreads brandishing a gun a thug and criminal?

[miami_fan]

No charges in Colorado for Ja.

[Atocep]

In local news for me, Shawn Kemp was arrested by Tacoma police for bring involved in a drive by shooting and there's video of him firing the shot. Drive by is used loosely here. It looks like he was in a car, drove up on someone, hopped out and fired a shot.

[Lathum]

KD may be done for the season and into the playoffs after slipping on water during warm ups last night.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Atocep

In local news for me, Shawn Kemp was arrested by Tacoma police for bring involved in a drive by shooting and there's video of him firing the shot. Drive by is used loosely here. It looks like he was in a car, drove up on someone, hopped out and fired a shot.

Waaa...why? Dude.


Edit: Never-mind. Kemp claims the other guy fired at him when Kemp confronted him about stealing his phone. We will see how it plays out, but not jusy Kenp firing at people for some dumb reason.

[Ghost Econ]

Between Ja, Kemp, and Brandon Miller incoming, I guess the NBA has become a shooter's league.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Lathum

KD may be done for the season and into the playoffs after slipping on water during warm ups last night.

Insane clip capturing this. Looks really bad

[stevew]

We all know Kemp doesn’t shoot blanks.

[Ghost Econ]

Ja going to rehab. He's gonna need to cut his entire family is out of his life if he wants to get back on the right path.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

Between Ja, Kemp, and Brandon Miller incoming, I guess the NBA has become a shooter's league.

They all are just exercising their 2nd amendment rights.

[Ksyrup]

Apparently Boban has done so well in commercials that AT&T decided to give Steven Adams a try?

[miami_fan]

A bit more accelerated than I expected but it looks everyone followed the script in the Ja Morant situation in the appropriate manner.

Grizzlies sent him away for a bit.

No charges from law enforcement in Colorado

Ja enters the counseling program IN FLORIDA like two days ago. I am not really sure why the location of the program was so significant but every report seemed to emphasize the location.

NBA suspends him for eight games which includes the six games including tonight that Ja has already missed.

Jalen Rose conducts the Barbara Walters tribute video with Ja.

Ja has left the counseling program a new man.

[Lathum]

Watching the Clippers/ Warriors game and they were talking about some player, I was only half paying attention. They said this player has played 181 consecutive games and that is second longest current streak in the NBA.

Thats a joke.

[SirFozzie]

When even a fan of the winning team says the refs completely botched the last few minutes of a game, you know it was bad.

They were pretty bad in the lead up (missing a Goubert elbow to Jaylen Brown who is wearing a mask because of injury, but catching the retaliation), but it was prime refshow in the last few seconds.

Celtics get an offensive rebound with a few seconds left. Wolves try desperately to steal and/or foul . Celtics coach comes running out on the floor to call timeout. Despite the celtics player having the ball when this happened, the refs ignore this, and don't call a foul either, deciding it's a jump ball. edit: They don't T up the coach for running all the way across the floor for the TO

Then it goes the other way, Grant Williams basically steals the ball out of the refs hands on the jump ball, and Celtics get possession, and two free throws which basically ice the game (up 4 with 1.1 on the clock), The refs then eject two Timberwolves players for complaining about the jump ball result, Celtics hit one more (technical) free throw, and the Wolves hit a meaningless buzzer beater to make it a 2 point game at the end.

Not biased referees, just SHIT referees.

In fact, the last two minutes report should just be two pictures: 1 of the refs taken pre-game, the other being the betting area after 10 rounds of cow chip bingo.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Watching the Clippers/ Warriors game and they were talking about some player, I was only half paying attention. They said this player has played 181 consecutive games and that is second longest current streak in the NBA.

Thats a joke.

I feel like load management has gone too far, personally. I understand protecting the investment and the longer careers that result, but it hurts the on-court product and is turning off a number of fans from bothering to show up to the arena. The star players in particular are missing something like 19-20% of the games.

[Ksyrup]

My daughter is dying to see Steph Curry play. We live 3 hours from Indy, 5 from Cleveland and Detroit, 6 from Memphis and Chicago. Ain't no way in hell I'm planning a trip to see an NBA game when the reason for going might just be sitting on the bench in a suit.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I feel like load management has gone too far, personally. I understand protecting the investment and the longer careers that result, but it hurts the on-court product and is turning off a number of fans from bothering to show up to the arena. The star players in particular are missing something like 19-20% of the games.

If we want less load management in the pros, we probably need to practice more load management in middle school basketball, high school basketball, club basketball, basketball camps, international basketball, etc. The number of games a lot of these guys are playing before they even make it to the age of eighteen much less the NBA is ridiculous. ESPN did a series on this a few years ago which went into great detail of the issue. I'll link for those who are interested.

'These kids are ticking time bombs' -- The threat of youth basketball

Under the knife -- Exposing America's youth basketball crisis

This bit illustrates what I was talking about regarding the number of games youth players are playing.

It's difficult to tally how many hours of basketball today's athlete might play before he reaches the NBA. But consider that a parent could sign their child up for organized youth basketball as young as 7 years old -- and continue on that path all the way through high school. How many games might that equate to? Officials from one of the most prestigious teams on the Nike EYBL circuit estimate that someone who played consistently between 7 and 19 -- over a span of 13 years -- could easily play more than 1,000 organized games (which doesn't include club-team practices, or pickup games, or workouts with trainers).

Or, to put it another way: enough games to encompass more than 12 NBA seasons.

[stevew]

The Mavs really should just tank it out now. They can keep their pick if it falls within the top 10. Looks as if they won't make the playoffs at this point. Which seemed improbable at the trade deadline.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

If we want less load management in the pros, we probably need to practice more load management in middle school basketball, high school basketball, club basketball, basketball camps, international basketball, etc. The number of games a lot of these guys are playing before they even make it to the age of eighteen much less the NBA is ridiculous. ESPN did a series on this a few years ago which went into great detail of the issue. I'll link for those who are interested.

'These kids are ticking time bombs' -- The threat of youth basketball

Under the knife -- Exposing America's youth basketball crisis

This bit illustrates what I was talking about regarding the number of games youth players are playing.

It's the phrasing of the quoted bit that I don't like about the point they're trying to make. The "starting organized ball at age 7" part specifically. That's nothing new, that was the case for hoops as far back as the 1970s at least ... cause that's around the time I remember starting. (baseball was age 5)

Rec/youth seasons ran 10-12 games generally, a little more if you had a tournament run or played in a next level tournament regionally. MS seasons were another 10-15 games a year, HS was always 22 games regular season plus any post-season play (in-state only for Georgia, ymmv). Those numbers really aren't much different for those traditional categories today.

I find it kinda ironic that the "1,00 games" figure comes from an elite traveling circuit person ... because that niche is responsibile for virtually all the increase.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It's the phrasing of the quoted bit that I don't like about the point they're trying to make. The "starting organized ball at age 7" part specifically. That's nothing new, that was the case for hoops as far back as the 1970s at least ... cause that's around the time I remember starting. (baseball was age 5)

Rec/youth seasons ran 10-12 games generally, a little more if you had a tournament run or played in a next level tournament regionally. MS seasons were another 10-15 games a year, HS was always 22 games regular season plus any post-season play (in-state only for Georgia, ymmv). Those numbers really aren't much different for those traditional categories today.

I find it kinda ironic that the "1,00 games" figure comes from an elite traveling circuit person ... because that niche is responsibile for virtually all the increase.

In too many cases rec, middle school and even high school basketball are in the category of pickup games at this point. My son played MS basketball last year. It was organized as yes there were refs and coaches at the game. At best the kids got great cardio from running up and down the court and jumping for rebounds if that is what they actually did. The one or two kids who were also playing for a club team as well were able to work on things that their club coaches told them to work on like dribbling with their left hand the whole game. The holy grail was having four or five players who all played for the same club team run sets on their own two or three times a possession passing up layups to run plays again. After those "games", the parents would rush the kids out to get them to the real practices and workouts.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I find it kinda ironic that the "1,00 games" figure comes from an elite traveling circuit person ... because that niche is responsibile for virtually all the increase.

But that niche is the pool from which NBA players (well, domestic ones at least) will come, which was the original point of this discussion (needing load management for NBA players).

[Brian Swartz]

Detroit sports have ruined another successful coach. Former Coach of the Year Dwane Casey is now doing the 'transitioning to the front office' bit.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It must suck to be a T-Wolves fan.

[Ksyrup]

I feel like the only way to solve the last week of the season problem is for the league to just end the season on a random day within the last 2-3 weeks of the regular season. Today's GS/POR game was an abomination.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It must suck to be a T-Wolves fan.

Just remember how much was traded for Gobert and how unplayable he is in the playoffs and now this just ahead of the play-in game.

SI

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Just remember how much was traded for Gobert and how unplayable he is in the playoffs and now this just ahead of the play-in game.

SI

Everything you said about Rudy's play on the court is absolutely true. However, calling someone a bitch in that environment is an invitation to have that person throw a punch at you. I am not arguing whether it is right or wrong, I am just saying that that is usually the case in that environment. Best case scenario is Rudy pulls Anderson to the side at some point and let's him know that he better have his guard up if he calls him a bitch again.

It is now being reported that Gobert has been suspended for one game.

[sterlingice]

I wasn't judging on the merits of the fight - honestly, I haven't dug into it enough to know who was in the right. This feels like one of those where it doesn't really matter - even if you're 80% in the right, you screwed up enough to get suspended for a playoff game.

SI

[miami_fan]

The sad part for Gobert is most people myself included think the T-Wolves will be better off with him sitting at home. Throwing the punch might be his biggest contribution to the team for the entire playoffs.

[Ksyrup]

I feel like we take for granted how insane Steph Curry is.

This is not normal pic.twitter.com/QwvtiADN1I

— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) April 15, 2023

[sterlingice]

I was waiting for him to brick the FT at the end

SI

[Lathum]

Got the kings at 75-1 to win the title. Off to a good start

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I feel like we take for granted how insane Steph Curry is.

There is definitely a coach that benched Steph Curry for launching these types of shots when he was in middle and high school instead of dumping to the big man in the post. I kinda wish he would invite that coach and the big man to his HOF induction and tore into them a la Michael Jordan during his HOF speech .

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

There is definitely a coach that benched Steph Curry for launching these types of shots when he was in middle and high school instead of dumping to the big man in the post. I kinda wish he would invite that coach and the big man to his HOF induction and tore into them a la Michael Jordan during his HOF speech .

His name is mark jackson.