2022-2023 NBA Season Thread

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Have something against LBJ? Or merely a big fan of KAJ?

Not a fan of either.

a) I'm a life-long Celtics fan, and so there's that.

b) This is certainly not the place to discuss it, but let's just say I'm not a big fan of either's ignorant, divisive, and pompous public positions (this applies a bit more to LBJ than it does KAJ; although KAJ is well-known among the LA area media to be a complete prick... the local radio guys have noted on air that when Jerry West was a guest, during the commercial breaks he would crack them up, with all kinds of not-suitable-for-broadcast humor and other great stories from his NBA days; whereas when KAJ was a guest, during breaks they basically weren't allowed to speak to him)

[Déjà Bru]

Heh, I also thought you might have been a Cavaliers fan, angry that LBJ skipped town on you, twice!

But hey, KAJ also decamped once, I remember now. In 1975, he asked for a trade from the Bucks to either the Knicks or Lakers.

I agree with your opinion of sports figures with political opinions. Outsized impact from undersized understanding and experience.

[Déjà Bru]

I recall the hoopla of Zion Williamson as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft. I don't recall reading much about him since, however.



This morning, I found out why. It has taken four NBA seasons for Williamson to reach 100 games played, a milestone he reached yesterday in a home game against Oklahoma City.

To begin with, he suffered a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee just before the start of his rookie season. And that season and the next were shortened due to Covid-19.

What would have been his third year in the league, he missed altogether with a fractured right foot. He was supposed to be back in December but the injury was slow to heal.

New Orleans made the playoffs last year, eliminated in the first round by Phoenix. It is fun to speculate how far they would have gone with a healthy Zion Williamson.

But here is what Pelicans fans should be most concerned about — on top of all that time off,

... he’s missed five of the Pelicans’ first 19 games with minor hip and right foot soreness ... In addition to all the injuries, Williamson’s first few seasons have been defined by challenges with maintaining his conditioning and staying in peak physical shape. Fans and media alike were astonished by Williamson’s struggles to keep weight off while going through the rehab process for his injuries.

Still, he's only 22 and won't turn 23 until next July. There is still much potential and it is said that he recognizes the weight problem and how it may be affecting his health and his play. Particularly after he caught "Shaq & Chuck Roasting Zion Williamson."




"Looks like me and Shaq had a baby."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__JF...seofHighlights

[Syd Thrift]

I feel like LeBron gets asked to be too much, although even the wishy washy stuff is better than MJ’s complete hand-washing of anything political or, frankly, Kyrie Irving’s… whatever he does. I generally don’t listen to sports people for their politics, or other non-political celebrities. One thing I will say about the NBA in general, and this doesn’t really apply to James since this happened before he became the de facto spokesperson for the players, is that they’ve been waaay more strident on LGBT issues than players in other leagues. It’s probably partially the close relation the league has with the WNBA (women’s basketball doesn’t have a great history of recognizing its lesbian members but it’s getting better) but there is just a lot, lot less casual homophobia in general and when stuff does happen it tends to get called out.

At the same time, of course, the NBA had its own Colin Kaepernick situation a couple decades before Kaep and it was handled worse, which is saying something (Mahmoud Abdul Rauf). And it’s not like the league is without controversy itself what with the whole Sarver mess, plus the deal with the Spurs and Josh Primo, and Ime Udoka getting suspended for a year for what looks like extreme sexual harassment (not to mention the Nets trying to hire him out from Boston until the backlash became too great). It’s perhaps the most progressive league out there but it’s still a sports league.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I agree with your opinion of sports figures with political opinions. Outsized impact from undersized understanding and experience.

For example,

After answering questions about the Los Angeles Lakers' 128-109 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, LeBron James turned things around on the reporters in the room with a query of his own.

Why, James wanted to know, had he not been asked about a photograph that recently surfaced showing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, at the age of 14, peering over a crowd of white students who were attempting to block six Black students from entering the doors of North Little Rock High School in 1957?

"I got one question for you guys before you guys leave. I was thinking when I was on my way over here, I was wondering why I haven't gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo," James said. "But when the Kyrie [Irving] thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that."

[monkeyman576]

I'm all for athletes having a positive political influence on society, but LeBron needs to shut up and play.

[Cobra Mgr]

I think LBJ made a very good point & called out the media's hypocrisy. If LeBron is expected to voice something on Kyrie, then Goodell, the Rooneys, Mark Davis, Jim Irsay etc, at the very least, should be asked for their opinions on Jerry.

This isn't about LeBron getting on his soapbox unsolicited. This is about the press choosing who & when to put on the vice grips.

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I think LBJ made a very good point & called out the media's hypocrisy. If LeBron is expected to voice something on Kyrie, then Goodell, the Rooneys, Mark Davis, Jim Irsay etc, at the very least, should be asked for their opinions on Jerry.

This isn't about LeBron getting on his soapbox unsolicited. This is about the press choosing who & when to put on the vice grips.

Criticizing something that happened 60 years ago is a tough sell and then comparing it to something that happened this year.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Have something against LBJ? Or merely a big fan of KAJ?

LBJ was complaining that the press didn't come running to him for his take on Jerry Jones' picture in Little Rock, back when Jones was 15.

Really? First, it's football, not basketball, second, who CARES how he feels about Jones!

LBJ's opinion is no better than rich12545's.

[monkeyman576]

Not everything deserves to have the race card played. Irving deserves anything he has coming to him.

[TheMaus2]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

Not everything deserves to have the race card played. Irving deserves anything he has coming to him.

Don't really think that was LeBron's point, but alright. Not sure how he's covering for Kyrie here when he's outright said Kyrie's actions were wrong. Probably definitely more frustrated with having to answer questions about Kyrie controversies, which is fine. Don't know why people are so wound up over this.

[TheMaus2]

Anyway, it's way too early for this but I'm really hoping we see the Celtics-Bucks playoffs matchup that was promised. Hopefully both squads can stay fully healthy and (relatively) unfatigued after a full offseason.

Also, Shams hinting that the Lakers are eyeing the Dec. 15 trade window? Who do they think they're getting?

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

Don't really think that was LeBron's point, but alright. Not sure how he's covering for Kyrie here when he's outright said Kyrie's actions were wrong. Probably definitely more frustrated with having to answer questions about Kyrie controversies, which is fine. Don't know why people are so wound up over this.

He waited several weeks to respond about Kyrie. And there is speculation that he still wants Kyrie on the Lakers so shrug. I think there is a lot of frustration over when and when LBJ responds and what his political and personal motivations are.

[TheMaus2]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

He waited several weeks to respond about Kyrie. And there is speculation that he still wants Kyrie on the Lakers so shrug. I think there is a lot of frustration over when and when LBJ responds and what his political and personal motivations are.

He commented on it a few days after Kyrie got suspended. And there's been speculation about the Lakers gunning for any star available on the market. Again, not weird at all to be upset about this.

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

He commented on it a few days after Kyrie got suspended. And there's been speculation about the Lakers gunning for any star available on the market. Again, not weird at all to be upset about this.

He didn't comment immediately after the post though. And I would criticize anyone who wants to be Kyrie's teammate.

[TheMaus2]

Neither did the Nets. And there hasn't been solid sourcing on anything about Kyrie being a Laker since July. Let's stick to sports, shall we?

[monkeyman576]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

Neither did the Nets. And there hasn't been solid sourcing on anything about Kyrie being a Laker since July. Let's stick to sports, shall we?

If Kyrie was suspended for poor conduct it's a sports issue.

[thehef]

Some of us debated this a couple years ago: The (absurd, IMO) contention at the time was that Kaepernick and Rauf were blackballed because "some white guys went full snowflake." My reply at the time was spot-on, if I do say so myself

Originally Posted by thehef

That's one way to look at it. Certainly a commonly-held opinion in regards to Kaepernick.

TBF, though, Kaepernick opted out of his contract, and - without passing judgement on anyone involved - a case could be made that front offices simply made business decisions that a somewhere-in-the-neighborhood-of-middling QB wasn't worth the hassle of alienating roughly half of their fan base. (I'm surprised more people don't seem to get that this is the most-likely explanation. Probably because it's also the most boring and least-debate-worthy explanation )

As for M A-R, he played a full & effective (compared to his previous numbers) season in the NBA after his anthem-related suspension by the NBA. However, the year after that, his shooting %'s plummeted to atrocious levels, and he left the NBA for a season in Turkey, for more money than he could've received in the NBA (due to his performance decline). Then, after bailing on the Turkish team during the season, and then taking a season off, he returned to the NBA at age 31 for one footnote season (after taking another season & a half off, he then bounced around in foreign leagues for several years)... Much like with Kaepernick, the media-fed/agreeable narrative is that he was blackballed, but, IMO, that is a simplistic view that ignores the game-performance-related components of the situation.

We went back and forth after that, but nothing really changed the fact that M A-R had a fine season after his anthem-related suspension and then saw deterioration in his game, likely at least partially related to his own lack of interest... and that there's no real evidence of a blackball scenario. And in Kaep's case, it's still more of a situation where a so-so QB made himself very controversial. If he had anything close to Brady/Rodgers/Mahomes/Allen talent, he'd be enjoying the tail-end of a hefty multi-year contract right now... In the end, a sports media that is largely sympathetic to Kaep's cause(s), simply want the story to be about blackballing, rather than the more complex, logical, but less-sexy explanation. (CK's less-than-convincing attitude towards actually wanting an NFL return likely hasn't helped.)

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

I'm all for athletes having a positive political influence on society, but LeBron needs to shut up and play.

Agree. Where, IMO, James and many like him cross that line is that the public positions they take are often not only ignorant, but divisive in the respect that they don't just advocate for their position but demonize those who are on the other side. That, in my book, is not positive influence.

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

I think LBJ made a very good point & called out the media's hypocrisy. If LeBron is expected to voice something on Kyrie, then Goodell, the Rooneys, Mark Davis, Jim Irsay etc, at the very least, should be asked for their opinions on Jerry.

This isn't about LeBron getting on his soapbox unsolicited. This is about the press choosing who & when to put on the vice grips.

Calling out media hypocrisy could never get old (especially if it were done somewhat equitably). That said, I don't know why James s/b expected to voice something on any of the above-named except for Kyrie (the one whom he - for purely selfish & cowardly reasons, apparently - chose to avoid, like he does China).

And, as monkeyman points out here...

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

Criticizing something that happened 60 years ago is a tough sell and then comparing it to something that happened this year.

... I see absolutely no reason why James should be asked about what a 14-year old kid may have witnessed some 60 years ago. A case could be made that it's completely irrelevant, let alone as it might apply decades later to the musings of some prima donna athlete in a different sport. But I do realize, sports media is a business and creating saucy stories where none really exist is not exactly a recent phenomena. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of really pathetic people who hang on James' every word.

Originally Posted by dsvitak

LBJ was complaining that the press didn't come running to him for his take on Jerry Jones' picture in Little Rock, back when Jones was 15.

Really? First, it's football, not basketball, second, who CARES how he feels about Jones!

LBJ's opinion is no better than [_______].

A-Frickin'-Men!!! (Although I blanked out the reference to rich12545 because a) I don't understand it, but b) you can pretty much fill in the blank with any Joe Schmoe and it applies )

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

He waited several weeks to respond about Kyrie. And there is speculation that he still wants Kyrie on the Lakers so shrug. I think there is a lot of frustration over when and when LBJ responds and what his political and personal motivations are.

Exactly. He waited until it was safe to speak out and be critical - basically after everyone else in the world had done so and his silence was hurting his image, and that eventually became more important than his friendship with Kyrie.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

Anyway, it's way too early for this but I'm really hoping we see the Celtics-Bucks playoffs matchup that was promised. Hopefully both squads can stay fully healthy and (relatively) unfatigued after a full offseason.

That certainly would seem to be the likely scenario as of now. What a clash that would be! The C's are clearly better than they were last season, and they don't even have Rob Williams - their best frontcourt defender - back yet... The Bucks, OTOH, were missing Middleton when the two teams clashed in an epic seven-gamer last year...

Originally Posted by TheMaus2

Also, Shams hinting that the Lakers are eyeing the Dec. 15 trade window? Who do they think they're getting?

Local LA radio guys are saying that the L's would like to unload Westbrook simply for two or three role players who would compliment what they have and - of course - improve their outside shooting... Who those guys might be and how likelihood that may be from a salaries perspective, I've no clue...

[TheMaus2]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

If Kyrie was suspended for poor conduct it's a sports issue.

awesome. don't really know what that has to do with LeBron's response being delayed when the Nets, Adam Silver, etc waited about the same amount of time before doing anything about the Kyrie issue. The *whole point* of this LeBron thing from yesterday is that he shouldn't have to be the one to answer for the things Kyrie does. It's maybe poor framing with the Jerry Jones thing, but I'm not sure why terminology like "race card" is being thrown out here. No one asked Tom Brady what he thought about the Riley Cooper incident. I think it's bizarre to expect LeBron to be the spokesperson for every NBA player, even if there are insiders (Zach Lowe? lol) saying that LeBron wants Kyrie on the Lakers.