2023-24 Around the NBA Thread

[Mainstreet]

OKC should go all in for Mikal/Claxton.

That would be a scary good team.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here are the starters for the All-Star team both East and West.

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[Phrazbit]

Ayton had his best game in a while, 18 and 17 in a upset win on the road.

Should have put money on his overs, guy is like clockwork. A few times a year he gets a bunch of heat for something stupid he said or a few really awful games in a row and it shames him into trying for a little bit.

 

[Russ Smith]

The 2 minute report from the Kings and Warriors will be interesting. Kuminga dunks to put the Warriors up 1 with 47 seconds left. Fox misses but Sabonis gets a hand on it tips it out they save it and Huerter misses an open 3. Sabonis tips the rebound and it falls to Curry who's laying on his back but his head was touching out of bounds Kings ball. Then you see the replay and see why Curry was on the floor, he got hit in the face by Keegan Murray(?) or Barnes, and knocked down during the scrum for the rebound. Kings inbound play works perfectly dunk for Sabonis.

Kuminga gets the ball in the post, draws contact on the left shoulder from Sabonis but no call, then as the ball is popping free from the contact, Barnes fouls him on the shooting hand. On the replay it appears the ref is saying the ball was coming loose before the contact by Barnes but they apparently decided the contact by Sabonis was incidental. Warriors inbound Curry gets trapped loses his dribble game over Kings by 1.

My suspicion is the last sequence with Kuminga they will say was not a foul but I'm going to be really curious about the no call on Curry getting decked. I think the tips by Sabonis were legit, he was behind a Warrior but I don't think he fouled going over for the tip, but if Curry isn't laying on his back from the contact he's got the rebound, if they call the foul it's bonus so he's going to the line for 2 shots likely to put them up 3.

It appears the time off after the tragic passing of an assistant coach has given Curry the break he needed, he doesn't look exhausted, and Kuminga has 25 and 31 back to back. But the defense is still the problem if they're going to make a move they should, we keep seeing Jarrett Allen rumors but I can't imagine Cleveland 10 games over 500 is going to trade their leading rebounder and weaken their defense just to add someone like Wiggins, or Moody who's about to come back, and it's pretty unlikely now they'd move Kuminga he's just playing too well now.

Moody and Payton are both close to back, Moody apparently closer. They really need a healthy Payton to jumpstart the defense the problem is he's been hurt twice, came back too quickly twice and got hurt again. They really don't want to rush him this time but they need him.

 

[Covert Rain]

Ayton had his best game in a while, 18 and 17 in a upset win on the road.

Should have put money on his overs, guy is like clockwork. A few times a year he gets a bunch of heat for something stupid he said or a few really awful games in a row and it shames him into trying for a little bit.

Emphasis on a little bit.

 

[Ronin]

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[Ronin]

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[Suns_fan69]

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Inevitably, he'll go off for 38/8 against Phoenix with 9 3's when they play later this roadtrip.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

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Kind of a weird tweet to be honest. He has played a grand total of two games with Miami.

 

[Covert Rain]

Kind of a weird tweet to be honest. He has played a grand total of two games with Miami.

Makes no sense. Look how long it's taken for our guys to acclimate.

 

[Superbone]

Makes no sense. Look how long it's taken for our guys to acclimate.

Gotta hit them while they're down.

 

[Hoop Head]

Kind of a weird tweet to be honest. He has played a grand total of two games with Miami.

That's one of those troll accounts that just point out when guys play poorly. Wouldn't pay much attention.

 

[Proximo]

Rozier's numbers are going to drop no longer being the top option. Nonetheless I think it was a pretty good deal for Miami

 

[Lorenzo]

I heard doncic scored 73 today against Atlanta.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Sucks book scores 60 and 70 in losses

 

[Hoop Head]

Sucks book scores 60 and 70 in losses

In the last week 2 guys have scored 70+ and 2 other guys went off for 60+ on the same night in losses. Wonder if that will ever happen again.

 

[Raindog]

In the last week 2 guys have scored 70+ and 2 other guys went off for 60+ on the same night in losses. Wonder if that will ever happen again.

Actually, probably more and more frequently. Scoring is going on an upward trend, and that doesn't look like it will abate.

In my opinion, the 3-point shot has become too easy and they probably need to move the line back some. The game is all about shooting from the three now, and has pretty much made full court fast break and post-up basketball all but irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, it dulls the excitement of the game. They might as well just be playing half court.

 

[swagron]

Actually, probably more and more frequently. Scoring is going on an upward trend, and that doesn't look like it will abate.

In my opinion, the 3-point shot has become too easy and they probably need to move the line back some. The game is all about shooting from the three now, and has pretty much made full court fast break and post-up basketball all but irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, it dulls the excitement of the game. They might as well just be playing half court.

Agree. NBA is almost unwatchable today. It’s just chucking up 3s and whining.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Actually, probably more and more frequently. Scoring is going on an upward trend, and that doesn't look like it will abate.

In my opinion, the 3-point shot has become too easy and they probably need to move the line back some. The game is all about shooting from the three now, and has pretty much made full court fast break and post-up basketball all but irrelevant. As far as I'm concerned, it dulls the excitement of the game. They might as well just be playing half court.

I think they should remove the corner three and move the rest of the line back 2-3 feet. This would immediately take away the side spacing created by corner threes and make the remaining 3 point attempts a little lower percentage. This should encourage teams to run more sets to get midrange shots and in. This would very likely bring the post up game back to some extent as well.

 

[DJ Tabooh]

I think they should remove the corner three and move the rest of the line back 2-3 feet. This would immediately take away the side spacing created by corner threes and make the remaining 3 point attempts a little lower percentage. This should encourage teams to run more sets to get midrange shots and in. This would very likely bring the post up game back to some extent as well.

But midrange shots analytically are some of the worst shots in basketball. I don’t think the 3 point line is the issue as much as it’s about volume. Even with Book and Luka canning 6 and 8 threes respectively, they still shoot under 40% from 3.

We’re in an era of scoring masterpieces with at least 10-15 guys who can just go absolutely bananas offensively. I definitely wish more emphasis was paid to defense but I doubt that happens moving forward.

 

[AzStevenCal]

The problem is that the players have long since outgrown the dimensions of the game. Every change they make to try and work around the thing they won't change (court size) tends to fix a problem or two while creating problems elsewhere.

There are things about today's game that I dislike but I've been an NBA fan since the 60's and that statement would hold up in each era - none of them were close to perfect. Personally, I like the overall rules of today's game if they would just fix the refereeing (starting with the flops, the acting).

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

But midrange shots analytically are some of the worst shots in basketball. I don’t think the 3 point line is the issue as much as it’s about volume. Even with Book and Luka canning 6 and 8 threes respectively, they still shoot under 40% from 3.

We’re in an era of scoring masterpieces with at least 10-15 guys who can just go absolutely bananas offensively. I definitely wish more emphasis was paid to defense but I doubt that happens moving forward.

The volume is there because even when shot at 35-36% it is still more efficient than a 50% 2 point shot. If you artificially lower the average percentage of 3 pointers than they will naturally start to be taken less often. Also by removing the corner 3 you immediately take away the most efficient type of 3 that teams are trying to get a lot of.

 

[GatorAZ]

I heard doncic scored 73 today against Atlanta.

Scored/assisted on 89 points.

 

[Joe Mama]

The problem is that the players have long since outgrown the dimensions of the game. Every change they make to try and work around the thing they won't change (court size) tends to fix a problem or two while creating problems elsewhere.

There are things about today's game that I dislike but I've been an NBA fan since the 60's and that statement would hold up in each era - none of them were close to perfect. Personally, I like the overall rules of today's game if they would just fix the refereeing (starting with the flops, the acting).

Oh man Steve. I usually agree with much of what you say and where I don't I at least understand you're thinking. Am I really understanding though that you believe the biggest problem with the officiating/rules in the NBA today is the flopping? If so I could not disagree more.

I thought the new flopping rule was completely unnecessary about 10–15 years late. In fact the few times I've actually seen it implemented this year I would say minimally 50% should have resulted in a foul on the other player and not the"Flopper".

If there's a concern that there's too much offense and not enough defense in the NBA today there are a few basic rule changes… No changes just start enforcing the standing rules to help.

1. Stop allowing offensive players to ram their way through a defender. This is not posting up. It's an offensive foul and it's blatant and easy to call. To be fair we could call this The nurkic rule just as well as we could call it the dončić rule (My preference).

2. Call moving screens consistently. Again this is a pretty easy call. Make the screener actually establish position and stop allowing the moving screens.

3. Start calling carrying the basketball when it's obvious. I'm not talking about the more borderline stuff. I'm talking about the very obvious carries that give an unfair advantage to the ball handler.

4. This one doesn't help the defense and than point #1, this is the I've been complaining about for a while here and probably where I get the most disagreement. Either get rid of charging from the ball defender all together or start calling it by the letter of the law… In which case it will never be called because it rarely actually happens. It's dangerous, it's almost never called correctly and it takes away the most exciting plays in the game. Just look at that crap call last night against Allen in the last minute or two of the game and then look at what happened to Julius Randle today in the New York Knicks/Miami Heat game.

Honorable mention goes to stronger enforcement of the defensive three second rule.

Flopping? Not even sure I would have that in my top 10

BTW I think the idea of getting rid of the corner three-pointer is kind of intriguing, but then you would really have to start enforcing the defensive three second rule. Frankly I kind of like the NBA G league free throw shooting rule. Keep making the calls when they occur… Especially in the playoffs, but just make the free throw shooting process go faster.

Anyway, I think this is all fun discussion. Go Suns! Have a great rest of your weekend people.

Joe

 

[Russ Smith]

LeBron is just amazing. Remarkable double OT game tonight but the man is insane, 38 years old he goes 36 20 boards 12 assists and hits the game winning FT's after Curry buried a 3 to put the Warriors up 1.

For me the play of the game is Warriors up 2 they get the rebound and on a 3 on 2 break Podz shoots and misses a wide open 3 pointer. At that point in the game I don't care how good he is, and he's good, the only 2 guys who can take a transition 3 are Curry or Klay(who hit 3 huge 3's in the late parts of the game). It's a 3 on 2 you gotta get a layup out of it I know he was open but I think that cost us the game. You can argue Kuminga's missed FT earlier was the losing margin but we gained the lead after that, just didn't like the shot by Podz, and after he missed D Lo comes down 3 on 2 the other way and rips a 3.

48 minutes for Bron, Curry 43 minutes 46 points 7 assists.