2022-2023 NBA Season Thread

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Stop it, Donovan.

I said, "STOP IT, DONOVAN!"

Yes, he is fun to watch!

[Antonin]

But I'm still worried that something is wrong. His left hand was already injured, and he has been favoring it a lot more.

[Antonin]

Last night's Cavs vs Nets game was extremely satisfying. Most of it was quite ugly on our part, but in the last 2-3 minutes or so you could see a great example of what Cleveland media people call "Cavaliers basketball."

The defense tightened up, and several players made major contributions to the victory. The local people didn't interview Mitchell after the game, but it looked like he missed the second free throw on purpose. After that it was obvious why Caris LeVert is such a useful player for our team. Somehow he was able to keep the ball and spot Isaac Okoro in the corner, all alone.

Okoro is mainly a defensive player, but he practices that corner 3-point shot all the time, according to his teammates. It was the first game-winning shot of his career. He was so excited afterwards he could hardly speak.

[Cobra Mgr]

Even though Miami is about to win their division, are they still going to have to do the playoff round?

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Even though Miami is about to win their division, are they still going to have to do the playoff round?

What do you mean? I don't understand your question.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

What do you mean? I don't understand your question.

The 1st 6 teams automatically play in the 1st round. Teams 7-10 play a play in tourney. 8 @ 7, 10 @ 9. Winner of 8 @ 7 wins the 7th seed & enters the 1st round. The loser hosts the winner of the 10 @ 9. Winner of that game gets the 8th seed. Miami currently has the 7th best E. Conference record, though leading their division.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

The 1st 6 teams automatically play in the 1st round. Teams 7-10 play a play in tourney. 8 @ 7, 10 @ 9. Winner of 8 @ 7 wins the 7th seed & enters the 1st round. The loser hosts the winner of the 10 @ 9. Winner of that game gets the 8th seed. Miami currently has the 7th best E. Conference record, though leading their division.

Divisions don't matter anymore for standings. You get to hang a banner stating that you won it.....and that is about it

If Miami stays in the 7th seed, they are subjected to the play in game. Regardless of winning whatever division.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Divisions don't matter anymore for standings. You get to hang a banner stating that you won it.....and that is about it

If Miami stays in the 7th seed, they are subjected to the play in game. Regardless of winning whatever division.

I was slightly wrong about this.
Divisions winners are counted in tie breakers. After head to head

[Cobra Mgr]

When do you see what you can get for Zion Williamson? On one hand he is only 22 & the numbers are sick. One the other hand, he has played only 114 out of a possible 241. When do you say the value of having his potential on your payroll not worth what you can get on the trade market?

[thehef]

I remember when the comparison of Zion was to a young LeBron. Turns out it was closer to a late-30's LeBron - in terms of availability at least

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

When do you see what you can get for Zion Williamson? On one hand he is only 22 & the numbers are sick. One the other hand, he has played only 114 out of a possible 241. When do you say the value of having his potential on your payroll not worth what you can get on the trade market?

I don’t think New Orleans can get value for him. So I would go with hoping he has a stretch of healthy play and then either using that to boost his trade value or hoping his injury history is largely behind him.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

I don’t think New Orleans can get value for him. So I would go with hoping he has a stretch of healthy play and then either using that to boost his trade value or hoping his injury history is largely behind him.

IDK if he has a healthy stretch in him. I think you trade him while there might be some GM's who think there might be some hope. Before it is a forgone conclusion among the rank & file.

[Antonin]

Originally Posted by thehef

I remember when the comparison of Zion was to a young LeBron. Turns out it was closer to a late-30's LeBron - in terms of availability at least

I remember that also. I feel sorry for Pelicans fans--Zion is not even remotely as durable as LeBron James. I think that makes LBJ's time in Cleveland even more special. We witnessed the rise of a once-in-a-generation athlete.

[thehef]

Interesting that the NBA is going to implement a mid-season tournament, where the games will count in regular-season standings. Apparently, from something I saw in a tweet:

- “Pool-play games baked into the regular-season schedule starting in November”

-8 teams advance to a “single-elimination tournament” in December.

- “The Final Four will be held at a neutral site, with Las Vegas prominent in the discussion.”

- Each in-season tournament game would count toward regular-season standings

- Final two finalists “would ultimately play 83 regular-season games”

- Winning players and coaches will earn additional prize money.

Seems like there is the potential here for something interesting, but we shall see... The two main things I'm wondering about:

1) How seriously will teams & players take these games? If some teams aren't giving their all (or close enough to it), and the Orlandos and Detroits are making it the final four, it's going to be a joke (except perhaps for the Magic and Piston fans). These games count towards the regular season, so obviously they'll be taken at least as seriously as the regular season. But if, say, we get to the final four and teams are implement their load management as usual...

2) If teams are still ending up playing 82 (or 83, for the finalists), that means that some on-the-fly schedule changes will be required at some point - at least for the 8 teams that advance to the tournament. So how that all plays out should be interesting... And for the two finalists, will that 83rd game count in any tiebreaker scenarios?

One change to the CBA that I definitely like: The 65-game minimum to be eligible for awards. Anything that might curtail load management is good with me. I hope this extends to any awards that might be incentives in player contracts.

Of course, the way around this is to suit a guy up and play him for a very minimal amount of time. Heck, Kawhi won't even need to stretch & warm-up to be inserted for the last few seconds of the first quarter... especially if it's a meaningless game at the end of the season... and load managing a guy to a mere 65 games won't really be much of a challenge; this season no team has more than 15 back-to-backs, with most teams in the 12-range. So now that I think about it, this is going to have very little affect on curtailing load management, in all likelihood.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by thehef

One change to the CBA that I definitely like: The 65-game minimum to be eligible for awards. Anything that might curtail load management is good with me. I hope this extends to any awards that might be incentives in player contracts.

Of course, the way around this is to suit a guy up and play him for a very minimal amount of time. Heck, Kawhi won't even need to stretch & warm-up to be inserted for the last few seconds of the first quarter... especially if it's a meaningless game at the end of the season... and load managing a guy to a mere 65 games won't really be much of a challenge; this season no team has more than 15 back-to-backs, with most teams in the 12-range. So now that I think about it, this is going to have very little affect on curtailing load management, in all likelihood.

My understanding is that this is going to be for all awards.


And it seems that load management is more team driven than player driven.
Players seem to want to play but teams often sit them based on what their medical and sports science people tell them.

That is not true in every case. But it seems for the most part when a player takes a game off or is slow coming back from injury it is team driven.

And I do not really see players warming up and playing 2 minutes and then intentionally fouling to be subbed out.

First off, most players whom I have seen interviews with, will tell you that just getting warmed up and going through pre game is almost as intensive as the game itself.
Getting your body loose and in condition to play.

Second, if they play a minute or two and then are subbed out, that will kill their per game averages, and players will hate that.

It remains to be seen if this will do anything towards the load management epidemic. But it is a start

[Syd Thrift]

The “epidemic”, if there is one, is more about the season being too long. I don’t think making it very slightly longer for a couple teams will affect that, especially not in November and December. I suspect it’ll make those games a little more fun for the fans and competitive for the players but to be perfectly honest it’s not really those games that get sloggy, it’s the ones in the middle to late part of the season when it’s shaken out who the big contenders are and who’s going to tank for high lottery picks. If this happened in, say, February, I think it’d ring a lot harder. Leave March for the NCAA, and then April is the playoffs (and the playin which, frankly, also adds a good deal more drama at the end of the year where there wasn’t any prior).

Otherwise, I don’t know, maybe fans just have to get used to it. I don’t hear about a “load management epidemic” in baseball because nobody wants to be Cal Ripken anymore. For that matter catchers commonly missed 30, 40 games a year and that’s just accepted. Basketball players used to play all 82 games and 40 minutes a night; they also used to be washed up an awful lot by the time they were 30. Take the good with the bad, I say.

[rudel.dietrich]

82 is too many, but I just don’t see how the toothpaste will ever be put back in the tube in regards to lowering the number of games.
Even with say a 70 game season. That is 360 games missed of revenue.

Back to backs should be eliminated completely. But unless someone on either side is willing to give up money, we will not see a shortened season.

And I have come full circle on the issue. I used to not have an issue with player rest. But as more and more studies show it does not help, and it has become so prevalent I see it as an issue.
Perhaps the league's #1 issue.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

82 is too many, but I just don’t see how the toothpaste will ever be put back in the tube in regards to lowering the number of games.
Even with say a 70 game season. That is 360 games missed of revenue.

Back to backs should be eliminated completely. But unless someone on either side is willing to give up money, we will not see a shortened season.

And I have come full circle on the issue. I used to not have an issue with player rest. But as more and more studies show it does not help, and it has become so prevalent I see it as an issue.
Perhaps the league's #1 issue.

There was a time, a fair amount of years ago, that I could, and did, play full court basketball for several hours a day. Almost every day.

These guys are professional athletes, theoretically in exceptional physical condition..yet they can't play 30 minutes worth of game clock? Seriously?

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

There was a time, a fair amount of years ago, that I could, and did, play full court basketball for several hours a day. Almost every day.

These guys are professional athletes, theoretically in exceptional physical condition..yet they can't play 30 minutes worth of game clock? Seriously?

I…..
Don’t think you read anything I wrote above.

And yes, we all know you and Dr. Naismith were the co-inventors of the sport.
You go out of your way to mention your playing days only about twice a week

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

There was a time, a fair amount of years ago, that I could, and did, play full court basketball for several hours a day. Almost every day.

These guys are professional athletes, theoretically in exceptional physical condition..yet they can't play 30 minutes worth of game clock? Seriously?

Please don't tell me I'm reading someone comparing their pick up games w/the pace that NBA players have to weekly go at in games & multiple practices for a period of 8-9 months straight.........