2023-24 NBA Season thread

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

Looks like the league is pretty much forcing them to do this. Early reports were that the Lakers wouldn't do it if they won, as their policy has always been championship banners only. I understand why Silver would want them to do it from a business sense, as it provides more legitimacy to this tournament, but it's a bit of a joke that a franchise that doesn't consider conference or division titles banner worthy is doing it.

 

We'll see what happens with the IST moving forward. In-season tournaments are pretty awesome in soccer, so adding additional cups/trophies/banners will become more normalized as the tournament continues.

 

Seeing the Lakers (or any team) drink out of the NBA Cup was pretty neat. Yes, it's aping the NHL, but also it's cool to see an early celebration after winning a tournament.

 

The IST has some kinks to work out, but on the whole it's been pretty great.

 

My recommendation is to make the title game count for an extra regular season win. That makes it worth it big time.

[BBTV]

6 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

My recommendation is to make the title game count for an extra regular season win

 

In theory, the tournament winner is a good team, so awarding them an extra win affects competitive balance even more.  In reality, it's currently not possible to evaluate the quality of the winner based solely on the tournament, since it's so randomized with games on seemingly-random days and some teams caring more than others  But even if that changes, an extra win would be a no go.

 

An alternate reward could be to give the IST winner the automatic tiebreaker when it comes to seeding, even if they go 0-4 against whoever they're tied with. If two teams are tied for the #1 seed, using the IST as tiebreaker could be some motivation. For some team on the fringe of the playoffs that just happens to win the thing, that could mean everything. 

 

 

[Digby]

Pretty sure the Play-In Rounds have already fulfilled the five-year quota for screwing around with the NBA playoffs as it is, no thanks!

[Germanshepherd]

If the Lakers don’t end up winning it all, the memes about that banner are going to be hilarious.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 minutes ago, Germanshepherd said:

If the Lakers don’t end up winning it all, the memes about that banner are going to be hilarious.

 

Probably one of the many reasons the Lakers didn't want to put up an IST banner to begin with.

[GDAWG]

Oklahoma City gets to keep their only major league team around for the next 30 years:

 

 

 

 

 

[FiddySicks]

I love Draymond. Dude was the glue for four championship squads. Even I think this is getting tiresome. The league should suspend him for half of the season at this point  

[SFGiants58]

6 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

I love Draymond. Dude was the glue for four championship squads. Even I think this is getting tiresome. The league should suspend him for half of the season at this point  

 

It's just depressing to see how trashy he's become the past two seasons. Like, how hard is it not to be slapping and punching players? I get that he might be "in the right" or "protecting the other players," but this trash is excessive. No suspension is going to fix those deep-seeded issues.

 

It's probably time for the Warriors to rebuild, given the state of the team right now. Ah well, getting four titles out of a championship window means I can't complain about the team for at least 15-20 years.

[FiddySicks]

I think you’re probably right, but they have basketball’s version of Derek Jeter and they’re never going to give that up. Everyone else, though? Boy bye. 

[SFGiants58]

You can't really replace the best three-point shooter ever (Steph), but you can replace the diminishing returns of the supporting cast around him.

 

Klay's decline is definitely troubling, especially after the contract talks stalled out earlier this year. While I don't think he'd leave the Warriors, leaving him behind to rebuild a younger core sure sounds appealing.

[BBTV]

Cool, a team taking $900M from the residents of its mid-sized home city.  I get why people would vote for it, and I probably would too if it meant losing the only team I had, but it still seems scummy from the team, when others can somehow privately finance their own arenas (I say that knowing that the city usually pays for infrastructure upgrades and they do get tax breaks, but not that much.)

[Digby]

Apparently it's a 1% sales tax that the city ALREADY has to fund upgrades to the arena that will soon be obsoleted; this vote just extends the duration of that sales tax and redirects to Arena Number Two. (Clay Bennett, generous as ever, will kick in only $50 million to this construction project.) 

 

I am tempted to dunk on people who voted for this but doing this in a special election with teeny-tiny turnout is not exactly democracy in action.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Warriors had everything possible go their way in route to four titles, including the cap bump, rolling the KD contract into Wiggins, and some well-time opponent injuries. The rise to the top is just as unprecedented as the fall to the bottom (again), and Klay cooling off and Dray losing his mind should be expected at this point.

 

Dray out for the rest of the season seems the best punishment for him. The Warriors can't and won't control him; the NBA needs to.

[SFGiants58]

4 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Dray out for the rest of the season seems the best punishment for him. The Warriors can't and won't control him; the NBA needs to.

At this rate, I’m expecting a big public freak out that ends with a TMZ headline and several thousand dollars in property damage. Think Barret Robbins or Alonzo Spellman-level bad.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Draymond out indefinitely. Has this ever happened before? I feel like most suspensions come with a number attached to them. "Indefinitely" could be 10 games or 50 games. Who knows?

 

Warriors organization should be fined too. They've allowed this behavior to happen for years.

 

And also the refs who have Draymond special treatment for whatever reason.

[tBBP]

15 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Draymond out indefinitely. Has this ever happened before? I feel like most suspensions come with a number attached to them. "Indefinitely" could be 10 games or 50 games. Who knows?

 

Warriors organization should be fined too. They've allowed this behavior to happen for years.

 

And also the refs who have Draymond special treatment for whatever reason.

 

Yeah, just last season, with Ja.

 

(Who by the way is now 10 games away from returning to the court...)

[DG_ThenNowForever]

26 minutes ago, tBBP said:

 

Yeah, just last season, with Ja.

 

(Who by the way is now 10 games away from returning to the court...)

 

Well there you go.

 

That didn't end up being very long, did it?

 

I have the memory of a goldfish. Too much stuff happens.

[BBTV]

Let it be like hockey. Someone does you wrong, you dance around each other, punch each other till one goes down, shake hands, and it’s over. Teams play short handed for 5 minutes.  I literally see no flaws in this plan. What could go wrong. 

[tBBP]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

Let it be like hockey. Someone does you wrong, you dance around each other, punch each other till one goes down, shake hands, and it’s over. Teams play short handed for 5 minutes.  I literally see no flaws in this plan. What could go wrong. 

 

Well shoot, the NBA has already incorporated elements from soccer/football to generate interest; why not add another one from another sport? It ain't like David Stern is Commish anymore...*

 

Spoiler

*Some ppl will get that.

 

[who do you think]

Because he died from eating too many pigs-in-a-blanket? If not then I don't get it.