2023-24 NBA Season thread

[Guest]

Lakers wearing gold at home and Suns wearing purple as the visitors. The sports world is right again, at least for one night.

[SFGiants58]

I'm gonna be sad when James Harden retires - his drama is one of the most entertaining parts of any NBA season. What happens once his ambition outstrips his abilities on the court?

[dont care]

22 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

I'm gonna be sad when James Harden retires - his drama is one of the most entertaining parts of any NBA season. What happens once his ambition outstrips his abilities on the court?

It already has, part of the reason Philly won’t trade him, they’ll get no value for him. Even the Nets aren’t dumb enough to take him back.

[BBTV]

12 hours ago, dont care said:

It already has, part of the reason Philly won’t trade him, they’ll get no value for him. Even the Nets aren’t dumb enough to take him back.

 

Harden (and the Sixers in general) are the anti-Phillies and anti-Eagles.  I can't imagine two franchises that are more involved in the community and where each player independently does so much local work and supports good causes.  They - especially the individual Phillies - truly feel like your neighbors.

 

But the Sixers?  Maybe it's due to Josh Harris' ownership, but other than hiring 3rd-party contractors to half-assedly build basketball courts that people get shot at, haven't done anything of note that I can think of.  Embiid randomly showing up at pickup games to block dudes' shots and then leave, doesn't count.

 

I never expected Harden to try and become part of the community, because he was never going to be here long term, and was clearly just a lease as opposed to a purchase.  But he's basically gone out of his way to avoid the community, and has basically just been aloof since he's been here.  Some guys are just like that - and it's fine, but it gets them less leeway.  TO is a great example.  Despite the sit-ups in the driveway incident, people still had his back in his feud with the Eagles and McNabb.

 

I'm totally fine with players holding out to get their way, including Harden.  We'd all do it if we had that leverage, and had the safety net of hundreds of millions in our bank account.  It's just part of the business.  Buttttttttt... ads others have mentioned, he really doesn't have the leverage in this case, since nobody wants him, and he's said he'll only sign an extension with one team, and publicly gone to war with the guy with the power (and who just a year ago was wacking off to videos of Harden playing.)

 

TL;DR

I have no issue with what Harden is doing.  I just think he may have miscalculated just a bit.

[BBTV]

Oh, another thing - while I don't follow the NBA, I do occasionally listen to sports radio and watch ESPN, and heard that the Sixers might be in trouble for Harden's behavior!

 

Apparently if someone (especially a star) isn't playing, he has to be injured (I guess it's something with the war against 'load management'?) so since Harden isn't on the injury report, the team is in violation of some rule.  Now that's some .

[DG_ThenNowForever]

24 minutes ago, BBTV said:

Oh, another thing - while I don't follow the NBA, I do occasionally listen to sports radio and watch ESPN, and heard that the Sixers might be in trouble for Harden's behavior!

 

Apparently if someone (especially a star) isn't playing, he has to be injured (I guess it's something with the war against 'load management'?) so since Harden isn't on the injury report, the team is in violation of some rule.  Now that's some .

 

You found his leverage.

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

You found his leverage.

 

Great point.  I doubt it was intentional, but it does work to his favor.

 

The Sixers are claiming that he's missing required games (I think "required" == national) because he missed so many practices that he's not in "game shape" and would be risking injury, so their medical staff advised him to sit out.

 

"The NBA's player participation policy allows teams and players an out for injury, personal reasons and "rare and unusual circumstances." A team could be fined $100,000 for a first offense, with increasing penalties thereafter."

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38751350/nba-investigating-76ers-james-harden-participation-policy

 

As much as I'm pro-player (not Pro Player as in the defunct apparel company), there should be some exception here that helps teams out when their players choose to pursue this option.  

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I'm pro player too, but recent NBA off seasons have really tested that.

[The_Admiral]

6 hours ago, BBTV said:

Harden (and the Sixers in general) are the anti-Phillies and anti-Eagles.  I can't imagine two franchises that are more involved in the community and where each player independently does so much local work and supports good causes.  They - especially the individual Phillies - truly feel like your neighbors.

 

But the Sixers?  Maybe it's due to Josh Harris' ownership, but other than hiring 3rd-party contractors to half-assedly build basketball courts that people get shot at, haven't done anything of note that I can think of. 

 

Haven't the Phils been owned for many years not by A Guy but by a whole consortium of local businessmen? Maybe that's kept them a little more grounded in the community than all the NBA teams owned by hedge fund managers from somewhere else. All the small-timers from the old David Stern bloc are cashed out or dead. But even by NBA standards, I've gotten that vibe from the Sixers, too: take their years of tanking while spreadsheet-jockeying and add trying to drop a new arena into a neighborhood because they think they deserve it.

 

That rule is nonsense, by the way; coaches are entitled to healthy scratches. That's the point of having more players than roster spots. 

[BBTV]

17 hours ago, the admiral said:

Haven't the Phils been owned for many years not by A Guy but by a whole consortium of local businessmen?

 

There's probably something to that.  Someone in that consortium seems to die every year now, and the current "managing partner" John Middleton is quietly buying more shares from the estates of the deceased.  That's not a bad thing - he's a local billionaire ready to spend (in his words) "stupid money".  The managing partner has always made 90% of the financial decisions, and I think only needed the approval of the others for BFD things like going over their approved payroll, financial decisions regarding stadium financing, etc.

 

Since Bill Giles stepped down (he was the one that claimed that the Phillies were a "small market franchise"), the next managing partner (Dave Montgomery) really built a culture of connecting with the community, loyalty to long-time employees (they've had the same PA announcer since the mid 70s, and while he was let go by the Eagles and now has a bit of a speech impediment due to surgeries for sinus cancer, he is there for as long as he wants to be) only having high-character players (though they've had a couple of misses there, but have been better than most), and again, connecting with alumni, and again, the community. 

 

Objectively, they really do all of the non-playing stuff really well.  Their only swing-and-miss in recent years was allowing Pete Rose to come back for alumni weekend last year, where he proceeded to degrade their female beat writer, curse repeatedly on the live broadcast, make fun of John Kruk only having one ball due to cancer, etc.  But overall, their record is amazing.

 

 

Also to your point, the Sixers were much better when they were owned by the Flyers and managed by Pat Croce (local fitness person turned millionaire, who was the face of the franchise during the Iverson finals run).  He wanted full control of the Sixers, and Ed Snider wouldn't hand it over, so he left, and the Flyers didn't give two Fs about the Sixers, so their whole operation turned to hell, then Josh Harris came in and it just got worse. 

 

Josh Harris doesn't give a damn about the teams or communities he operates in.  Commanders fans are complete idiots for all their "we're different because he's from here and said he visits his grandma sometimes".  He's a POS, and while he's so focused on raising the value of his assets that he'll likely get them a new stadium, anyone who thinks he cares about the teams, fans, or communities is hopped up on goofballs.  Goofballs, I tells ya.

 

EDIT:

Ed Snider was absolutely outstanding at community stuff and culture.  It's obvious what's happend to the flyers on ice since he died, but off ice is just as bad.

[GDAWG]

I will be shocked if the Mavericks don't self destruct by midseason.  

[Guest]

Rockets wearing red at home and Warriors wearing blue. I'm down with color-on-color games like that, not so much on orange versus red or something with very little contrast.

[Guest]

I guess Harden will not play for Philly in the first-ever in-season tournament.

[Germanshepherd]

Draft picks are two first, two seconds and a pick swap. 
 

If more than two of Harden/Russ/Kawhi/PG13 are healthy come playoff time I’ll be shocked. 

[BBTV]

I guess they wanted expiring contracts.  What a F'd up league where lousy players are desirable simply because of their contracts.  Harden's is expiring too, so I'm not sure if/how this is really worth it unless it would have rolled over due to him not playing.

 

This is the same league where Jamal Mashburn was traded for several times after he had retired.  How does anyone think the CBA is good for anyone?  It's great for superstar players, but pretty lousy for everyone else.

[who do you think]

Morey didn't get the guy he was in love with (Mann, whoever that is), so I'm guessing the league office got involved and encouraged Josh Harris to direct his employee to give the declining star what he wants. Maybe the pick swap will be worth something, if it activates after the transmission finally falls out for good on this cobbled-together Clippers' "superteam" that's always on at least one donut tire come April.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Can anyone give me a quick rundown of this in-season tourney? Seems absolutely mental to risk injuries for some Dollar Tree trophy.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

42 minutes ago, who do you think said:

Morey didn't get the guy he was in love with (Mann, whoever that is), so I'm guessing the league office got involved and encouraged Josh Harris to direct his employee to give the declining star what he wants. Maybe the pick swap will be worth something, if it activates after the transmission finally falls out for good on this cobbled-together Clippers' "superteam" that's always on at least one donut tire come April.

 

Yes. Philly got hosed and who knows what the Clippers have.

[Digby]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

I guess they wanted expiring contracts.  What a F'd up league where lousy players are desirable simply because of their contracts.  Harden's is expiring too, so I'm not sure if/how this is really worth it unless it would have rolled over due to him not playing.

 

 

Phila is not competing with Milwaukee and Boston this year either way if Harden doesn't want to do his job. So same outcome but extra picks and fewer bad vibes, though a revolving door of old guys at power forward will probably make for some memes on the court this season. Assuming their situation isn't totally radioactive by next summer they'll be a big free agency player.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

8 minutes ago, Digby said:

 

Phila is not competing with Milwaukee and Boston this year either way if Harden doesn't want to do his job. So same outcome but extra picks and fewer bad vibes, though a revolving door of old guys at power forward will probably make for some memes on the court this season. Assuming their situation isn't totally radioactive by next summer they'll be a big free agency player.

 

 

There seems to be still a decent chance Embiid asks for a trade and this whole thing combusts on itself.

 

I hope we end up at least being done with econ nerds running basketball teams for a while.