Anyone watching NBA Playoffs?
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@approxinfinity so what do you think?
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@Crimsonorblue22 I think he’s a gifted passer but don’t think he can manage a game, not now, maybe never in an elite capacity. If he can learn to play off the ball then I think he could have a high ceiling playing second fiddle to someone like LeBron. But if he is drafted by a crappy team where he is expected to run the show from day one I think yes he’s going to get destroyed.
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@approxinfinity I think that’s a bad comparison, if I’m not mistaken Curry lost most of his supporting cast from the 08 EE team. I think they pretty just had him after that, I tell you this watching Curry in 08 and Trae last year not knowing what we know about Curry now I’d still take him over Young. Young’s team quit on him last year, I think that was obvious. I do think Young’s game is better suited for the NBA but he has to be more of a team player, ain’t no NBA team gonna let some rook come in and think they run the show.
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@kjayhawks I’m with you. How do you review a judgement call? That’s my only complaint about the call. I can see reviewing foot placement for the ring under the basket, for three pointers, or out of bounds but to review a block/charge?
Unless it’s blatantly obvious the ref was out of position to make the call, why review? And if the ref was out of position, why did he blow his whistle?
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@kjayhawks “… ain’t no NBA team gonna let some rook come in and think they run the show.”
39 years ago that was the big question about Magic Johnson joining Kareem’s Lakers. His versality and personality won everyone over, but most importantly he cared mostly about winning and proved it by setting everyone else up. Sharing the basketball is what endears players to a ball possession teammate. If Trae concentrates on his assists, driving and dishing, and just letting his phenomenal shooting be a constant threat (rather than 1st option), he will have a lengthy and happy pro career because his passing ability is mind-boggling.
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Refs can review the position of the feet to determine if a 2 or a 3 was scored or if the player was out of bounds. The block/charge call is not reviewable…unless the refs are reviewing the position of the feet and only then they can also check if the defender was in position.
What we see on TV is obviously different than what the refs see and sometimes the have a much better view than we do and sometimes their view is blocked by other players and need a replay so they make an initial call knowing they will be reviewing it unless the other refs confirm it was the correct call; this is why they have a meeting and decide if a replay is needed; this is only allowed on the last 2 minutes of the game and OT. The process was created to minimize a bad call deciding a close game at the very end; naturally the rule is not perfect but helps/hurts teams equally. On the replay it was pretty obvious LeBronwas outside the circle but, unfortunately fir him, it was also obvious he was not set in position to take the charge so the block was called. Under the current rules reversing the original callwas the correct call.
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@JayHawkFanToo I think it is weird to let that judgment call be reviewed as an add-on if the justification is to prevent a bad call from deciding the game. Any bad call can change the outcome. Fouls called that don’t actually occur. Goal-tending. A Marcus Smart style flop. Even a travel. If you open the door to one with that justification, I see no reason to not open up others. It is only the last 2 minutes after all.
On the call the other night, I think controversy could be avoided if the rule said an offensive player has to be given room him to take a full step, or say, for him to move 2 or 3 feet when moving toward the basket–enough to realistically change his direction to avoid contact. Even if that had been ruled a charge, as the announcers thought, it would have been based on whether LBJ was in position before the upward motion began. That still would not have given Durant any chance to change direction once he is lifting off his plant foot. Moving the focus to the offensive player’s “realistic opportunity to avoid contact” would avoid encouraging these collisions.
Or just get rid of charge calls inside a larger restricted area.
We might all agree on something–return to technicals for continued bitching and highly demonstrative disgust with calls. Players get fined if they say so much as “that was a bad call” calmly in a discussion with the media, but in a game they go nuts and rave all over the court. This would actually help players, I think. For example, LBJ had reason on a couple of other calls to be unhappy but he then got distracted and missed a defensive possession. I saw Thompson do that, too.
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@mayjay you maybe right to an extent but Young isn’t in the same galaxy as those 2 in terms of talent.
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@kjayhawks Not overall, certainly. But I think he can be as a passer–his court vision is fabulous–but not if he takes his score-first mentality to the League.
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@mayjay the problem I have with officiating in any sport is the same problem I have with moving violations. I would prefer a consistent enforcement of the rules, not arbitrarily reviewing some plays or speed gunning some cars or taking pictures at some lights but not others. Im not advocating monitoring everywhere, just finding a way to be clearly and understandably consistent. A system of rules that is inconsistently enforced is confusing and it’s not hard to find fault in however it plays out.
I feel like the so called “purist” take on keeping human officiating just creates drama and uncertainty. And augmenting the refs with replay in some cases just means that certain cases might now be correct if the ref interprets the replay correctly, while others still are wrong, and the game takes longer, with one team benefiting from these random timeouts. Net effect, the game can still be unfair from a rules enforcement perspective.
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I agree that young is very, very talented. Kruger did him and the Trae young team no favors. I have no idea how he will do, just wanted to hear your thoughts. I heard he gained 11 lbs of muscle and he’s the best player in the draft, or was that porter who said that?
I think he will need to get a lot tougher, both physically and mentally. Such a crybaby, but that fits w/the nba. Does it matter Kruger didn’t have him play D? Can he play off in the passing lanes? What about porter? Can he still play at a high level? I think about the Giles kid, have we ever seen him play?
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@Crimsonorblue22 Trae thinks he is the best player in the draft. He’s not even the best guard, however.
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@approxinfinity Players want the refs to be perfect when they do not foul or are fouled. They are happy when the refs miss their fouls or are undeservedly awarded FTs.
Replay is funny because of the possibility of improved calls vs ridiculous attempt at perfection. I am all for allowing a couple of challenges per game, but not for a 2 minute replay to decide if 3 tenths of a second should be put back on the clock after every play in the last 5 minutes of every game. The NCAA tourney was excruciating with those.
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I really like this perspective from JR Smith:
“That’s pretty much who I’ve been my whole life. I’ve always been the one guy who is the butt of the jokes or the one guy who does something crazy and everybody has got to look at or whatever the case may be. And then I just come back and be myself and play the next day,” Smith said. “I don’t really dwell on things too much. I’ve been like that my whole life, and that’s what it looks like it’s going to continue to be. So I just got to go out there and be me. I told somebody right after the game that I’m glad it happened to me, as opposed to anybody else on my team. To be in that situation is tough, and it’s not a situation that everybody can handle. So I’m glad it happened to me.”
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You know they only called 2 fouls on LeBron the entire game including that reversed call so he really had no reason to complain at all. Not many fouls called, 12 on the Cavaliers starters and 15 on the Warriors.
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@JayHawkFanToo After the strip was called, he started complaining about fouls on the other Cavs and non-calls on the Warriors, exacerbated by the reversed charge call. LBJ played a helluva game but certainly let the refs get in his head, which (with exhaustion, probably, that seemed to affect everybody as I think you said) really diminished his OT performance.
Maybe we should go to playground rules, get rid of refs, and have players call the fouls. Challenges go to replay upstairs, where a group of refs with access to a huge screen vote within a minute of the first replay or their vote doesn’t register. Any call that is reversed results in change of possession, or free throws to the other team, or better yet, 5 mins bench time for the flopping player. Any challenged call that is upheld gets an extra FT. Use Internt’l rules for goaltending and eliminate charge calls altogether.
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I am not sure how much NBA you watch, since I have the NBA TV package,I watch quite a bit so I am fairly familiar withe the players and attitudes. LeBron complains every single time a foul is called on him and every time he thinks he has been fouled and a foul is not called; some players are just built that way. In the current NBA LeBron is in my opinion the biggest whiner of them all; it does not mean he is not good, he is without a doubt the best player in the League and one would think that with all that talent he would just play and quit complaining…you seldom saw Duncan or other great player complain much.
I have no doubt that a lot of dislike of him derives from his “i am perfect and I don’t foul and when I turn the ball over is because I was fouled” attitude. He is not alone in this regard and many of the big names are/were this way even when they get a favorable whistle the majority of the time, Jordan certainly did. See if you can find the video of an interview with Jordan where he details all the tricks he used to get calls like grabbing the shirt of the player guarding him and pulled against him and a foul would be called against the othre player every time and s on.
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@JayHawkFanToo Tim Duncan is the exception not the rule for greats, isn’t he? Most everyone is not as classy as Duncan.
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Yes and no, he did not complain to the refs but often made the face of disbelief that many consider whining. While it is true that a lot of the great ones complain a lot there are also many that do not or did not. I started following basketball in the very early 70s and in all this time I have seen my share of whiners and LeBron might not the biggest of all time but, among current players, he is up there near the top with Dwight Howard and Chris Paul.
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@JayHawkFanToo This face? The man has a large mouth. Makes him look very demonstrative.
Ref, “please don’t eat me.”
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Trae Young is two years younger than Steph Curry was when he entered the NBA. He’s not where Curry is now as a ball handler and passer, but he is certainly ahead of where freshman Steph Curry was. Now, that obviously doesn’t mean that Trae Young will become an NBA all star and MVP. But he is much further along as a PG prospect now than Steph Curry was after his freshman season at Davidson.
We have to remember that Curry was not a major prospect coming out of high school. Curry was not even an NBA prospect after his freshman year, when he averaged 21 points, but less than 3 assists per game.
Curry didn’t average more than three assists per game until his junior year, when it became clear that he could run a team. Young has been doing that since he was in high school, and averaged over 8 assists per game at OU. Curry’s assist to turnover ratio was basically 1 his freshman and sophomore years. Young’s was not great, but it was better than that, and again, he did that as a freshman, while Curry didn’t equal that production until he was a junior.
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@justanotherfan so you think he will be successful?
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@Crimsonorblue22 I should have said “I don’t know” to that question when you put me on the spot. I take back what I said, having had some time to mull over it…I think playing second fiddle to LeBron might break Young’s soul. Running the show on a crappy team where they’re expected to stink for a couple years is probably exactly what he needs.
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He has a quick shot that he can get off in lots of different situations, particularly off the dribble. Being able to shoot off the dribble and in catch and shoot situations, as well as being a gifted passer means that even if he doesn’t develop a real slashing type game at the next level, he can still shoot >40% from three in the NBA while averaging 6-8 assists. That won’t make him an all star, but he can be a good starter with numbers like that.
Can he be a star? That’s a more difficult question because it is difficult for a player that size to be a star in the NBA without having elite athleticism. You basically have to be Steph Curry. He, like most guys his size in the NBA that aren’t super athletes, will be a liability defensively, although he isn’t a bad defender, just that he will be physically overmatched most nights at the next level.
So if “success” means star, or even all star, then no. The chances that he will develop into that combination of player (Steph Curry 2.0) are low. But that’s a pretty high bar for success. I think he can be a good player and a starter on a playoff, championship caliber team. If that is the definition of success, I think he meets that.
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@JayHawkFanToo Go Warriors
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Go Capitals!
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May the best team win, hopefully without any more controversy.
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I don’t know why? Yet I’ve made a point to watch this NBA Championship series.
A few musings?
The King is playing the best he’s ever played. Yet Dude does whine a lot.
Warriors are just loaded. They can just take over a game in a blink of an eye. That 3 point shooting is deadly.
Refs getting to much blame and the spot light.
Warriors are going to win another championship.
The King should move on from Cleveland. He paid his dues. I would say Philadelphia would be a great place for him. If the Lion Killer can stay healthy? They would become the best team in the history of the game.
Anyways take my comment with a grain of salt. As I don’t watch much NBA, yet I would like to hear some feedback from those that do.
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I believe LeBron wants to finish his career in the biggest stage which means either L.A. or NYC. He bought a second mansion in L.A for $23M a few months ago and if I were a betting man I would say the Lakers are the most likely destination.
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@JayHawkFanToo But how do you think he would get along with the dysfunctional Balls? Edit: which is all of them…
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Why would Lebron go to the west, having to battle the Rockets and Warriors, when he can stay in the East and deal with the Celtics? Lebron would have to get another superstar like Paul George or Kawhi Leonard (if healthy) to join him in LA to even dream of having that team compete with Houston or Golden State with the distance between those squads and the Lakers.
Maybe he goes to Philly. The Knicks are so poorly run I can’t imagine him there, and the Nets don’t have enough assets to make sense.
The only options are to either go somewhere with a foundation in place (Philly) or have a deal in place with another superstar to join up in an unnamed location. Lebron plus another star makes any East team an immediate title contender.
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@justanotherfan Philly seems like a great choice.
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The Lakers indicated the have no interest in Liangelo that already worked out for them and little Ball is a few years away. In any case, if they get in the way, Lebron will squash them and ship them out like he has done before with other players. Daddy Ball is no match for LeBron’s clout.
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@JayHawkFanToo I don’t know…after all, Daddy Dumshit says he coulda stomped MJ. LBJ may be no match for his charm and intellect!
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…only if he is wearing his $500 Chinese made Baller shoes of which he must have lots left since not many were sold.
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mayjay said:
@JayHawkFanToo But how do you think he would get along with the dysfunctional Balls? Edit: which is all of them…
Man hater?
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Looks like the Ball League has been a comical failure so far…
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Low quality hoops in large arenas is not going to work.
Ball should have been looking for small arenas (4,000 seat max), with ticket prices maxing out at $15, with most seats available for $5.
I’ve been to some T-Bones games. That’s about the equivalent quality you could expect here. The T-Bones have lots of tickets for under $10. It’s cheaper than going to a movie or a nice restaurant. Smaller settings aren’t bad, especially if you can get good local following. Unfortunately, Ball wants this to be a big deal rather than building with some saavy.
Heck, even the MLS found their success by building smaller soccer specific stadiums. The teams that have soccer specific stadiums all have capacity of 31,000 or less. Many MLS teams started out in larger stadiums and then eventually downsized as they built their own facilities.
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Agreed. The G League that has considerably better basketball drew 1.6M fans total including the playoffs which drew large audiences and inflated the numbers. When you consider it had 25 teams playing 50 games, it averages an attendance just over 1,000 per game. Most team have ongoing promotions the include 2 free children tickets with one adult ticket which means the paid attendance is likely under 1k per game at $5-$15 per ticket. I try to catch games with former KU players and the attendance looks to be in the hundreds. Since the teams are associated with NBA teams, they get to use the facilities at little or no cost, most of the teams have some sponsorships and none is even close to being profitable.
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The G-League isn’t intended to turn a profit. It is a developmental ground for everything - coaches, trainers, players, front office staff, support staff - because you literally are running a franchise.
The Rockets have used their G-League team to develop strategy.
The Raptors use their to develop potential coaches. The Spurs have as well.
Several teams have sent young executives to their G-League teams to help run them. That’s why every NBA team will have an affiliate in the next couple of years. They are about developing talent and strategy at every level more so than turning a profit.
The G-League is beyond just developing players, although that will likely be the next frontier as the G-League expands player development strategy.
The G-League’s growth will likely kill off any real secondary basketball league in the U.S. because other leagues have to turn a profit, while the G-League will access better talent without needing to turn a profit.
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Again, agreed. My point was that with all the player talent it has and all the help it gets teams cannot even break even. How exactly does daddy Ball expect to stay in business under his current business model?
Daddy Ball just posted that after Lonzo contract is over, he will only play for a teams that signs all 3 of them…i get the feeling Lonzo was not consulted on this…
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Totally agree on those points.
My guess is that a team will offer LiAngelo a G-League deal, while Melo and Lonzo are in the NBA. LiAngelo on a G-League roster isn’t too far fetched. He’s a solid player, just not an NBA player.
That will certainly affect the market for Lonzo, and could handicap him ultimately. But its not out of the ordinary for NBA teams to sign the less talented brothers of top players for a few years.
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I watch last few minutes last night because it was a close game and I’m quickly reminded why I dislike the NBA. You could’ve called numerous moving screens that were obvious and everytime a player gets a foul called against him he throws a complete fit, what a great message for the young viewers. No wonder we see more arguing with the refs in college, most of them watch this trash.
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@kjayhawks The NBA is unwatchable for me.
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LeBron:
“Understanding especially where my boys are at this point in their age. They were a lot younger the last time I made a decision like this four years ago. I’ve got a teenage boy, a preteen and a little girl that wasn’t around as well. So sitting down and considering everything, my family is a huge part of whatever I’ll decide to do in my career, and it will continue to be that. So I don’t have an answer for you right now as far as that.”
It seems he wants to leave but only his family keeps him in Cleveland.
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LeBron bough a $25M house in LA a couple of months ago and now has two homes in LA and the one in Cleveland/Akron. He wants to finish his career in the biggest entertainment place in the country and that is without a doubt Los Angeles. It would not surprise me to See the Lakers shed a few players and get LeBron and another big name to make a run for multiple championships…of course, LeBron will also need a Former Jayhawk to win more titles…
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@JayHawkFanToo LeBron won’t win anything with the Lakers. Even if they land him and Paul George, they’re not making it past Golden State or Houston anytime soon.
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Both Golden State and Houston have free agents coming up and only so much money so their make up in a couple of years will be in all likelihood different. This has been the norm in the NBA and the period of dominance by a single team runs in cycles.
