alley oops and slam dunks, the NBA thread

mdgoonah41

this is our thread to talk about the NBA.

kind of a weird free agent group. curry and durant will definitely stay. CP3 is a big wildcard. lowry wants to get paid but im not sure who will pay him. almost no centers available.

then you have guys like paul george who are in limbo. what will blake griffin do?

summer league starts in a few weeks.

get excited.

Gazza M

can't tell if lavar is a marketing genius or a total buffoon 😆

Rex

Definitely a buffoon. Can't imagine it will be long before he starts spouting shit about the Lakers that everyone knows must come from his kid, and then it begins. It won't be boring though! 🙂

Jens

Come the start of the season I'll be watching but I'm not buzzing for the league to start back up like previous years as it is in a weird place right now. The dream team debate has been done to death, as far as I am concerned if you play by the rules everything is fair game, but these last playoffs were the worst I have seen by a long shot where competitive balance is concerned. The level of basketball played by Golden State is breathtaking, but if they keep running roughshot over the league like the previous couple of years, and dropping only the single game in the playoffs, that's not healthy for the league.

Rex

Super teams have no doubt been financially successful for the NBA brand for years and years.

mdgoonah41

to be honest, i lost my love of the NBA in 2002 or so. the sixers run to the finals had me excited, and then it fell off a cliff. i only got interested in the NBA again when the warriors won their first title because they played exciting basketball and they seemed to be trying to do things differently, which was appealing to me.

the NBA is exciting right now because there are a bunch of really talented players, and now there is a villain in the warriors. for a while, lebron was a villain, then he became a hero. even if there is a risk of the league being top heavy, there are still lots of interesting storylines and players to watch. OKC was shit this season, but westbrook had a crazy year. milwaukee wasnt a serious contender, but giannis was a must watch player every night. still a ton of stuff going on.

mdgoonah41

the knicks. awesome.

mdgoonah41

and phil is out. lol

mdgoonah41

CP3 to the rockets.

the NBA is nuts

Bryant

That's going to be a strange fit after Harden did very well as a PG. You got two of the most ball dominant players in the NBA together and only one basketball.

Rex

...and there are noises they are pushing hard to get PG13 too, another ball dominant player. 🙂

mdgoonah41

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19758988/zach-lowe-chris-paul-james-harden-running-houston-rockets-nba

Claudius

Maybe they'll dump some franchises if the super team trend continues. Just embrace it.

Bryant

if anyone needs a laugh:

mdgoonah41

Claudius wrote:
Maybe they'll dump some franchises if the super team trend continues. Just embrace it.

ironically, it seems like teams are not viewing the warriors as an inevitability, so they are being aggressive and trying to build the strongest team they can. spurs wanted CP3. boston is supposedly trying to both sign hayward and trade for george. the cavs are trying to get george.

what the league has learned (which i think the sixers showed) is that there is very little upside in being average. either go for it or blow it all up and try to build a strong base.

Jens

mdgoonah41 wrote:
what the league has learned (which i think the sixers showed) is that there is very little upside in being average. either go for it or blow it all up and try to build a strong base.

Agreed, and the league should reinforce this point by reducing the number of slots for the playoffs.

flobaba

Oh that's more complicated than it sounds.

Rex

The change I would like to see is scrapping this Eastern and Western Conference nonsense for the playoffs. So what if teams have to travel more in this day and age? 1 v 16, 2 v 15 and so on, regardless of whether they are in the east or west I say!

Bold Tone

mdgoonah41 wrote:
Claudius wrote:
Maybe they'll dump some franchises if the super team trend continues. Just embrace it.

ironically, it seems like teams are not viewing the warriors as an inevitability, so they are being aggressive and trying to build the strongest team they can. spurs wanted CP3. boston is supposedly trying to both sign hayward and trade for george. the cavs are trying to get george.

what the league has learned (which i think the sixers showed) is that there is very little upside in being average. either go for it or blow it all up and try to build a strong base.

I wanted CP3 to join the Spurs as i thought that would elevate them to Warrior's level.

mdgoonah41

Jens wrote:
mdgoonah41 wrote:
what the league has learned (which i think the sixers showed) is that there is very little upside in being average. either go for it or blow it all up and try to build a strong base.

Agreed, and the league should reinforce this point by reducing the number of slots for the playoffs.

here is what i would love to see:

top 8 teams in each conference make the playoffs

the four worst records in each conference go into a "consolation bracket" tournament. worst plays eight worst, second worst plays seventh worst, etc. best of 3 in each round.

so the draft order would be

first 8 picks based on the winners/losers from the consolation tournament
picks 9-14 would be the teams that did not make either the playoffs or the consolation bracket
picks 15-30 based on the playoff teams the way it is currently done.

i see 2 big benefits to this:

just ending up with the worst record doesn't give you the highest odds for the top pick. in fact, it would reward teams who try to maintain at least some talent. the team with the 5th worst record could go on a nice run and win the consolation bracket, vaulting up to #1 based on their merits, not just ping pong balls
the NBA could market the hell out of it and would generate extra tv revenue. show those games on the NBA network.