2022-23 NBA Season Thread

[qman316]

Details on the league's new seven-year collective bargaining agreement:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ning-agreement

We were just discussing load management, so now they're giving players incentive to play more with requiring games played eligibility for some of the player awards.

The in-season tournament is an attempt to make the regular season more meaningful. A number of fans on some sites I'm reading aren't fans of the idea. Any thoughts on that or other elements of the new agreement?

I didn’t love it. I was hoping for a better solution/stricter rules or punishment for missing games. I feel like most the stars resting aren’t in the running for mvp or probably don’t care enough about end of the season awards for this to make a difference. At very least the minimum games played should have been 70 if this was the route they were going to take.

I’m also not excited about an in season tournament and don’t care for it, although the way it sounds structured is better than how I imagine something like this might work but ultimately I don’t care about an in season tournament/winner.

[pwaldo]

Details on the league's new seven-year collective bargaining agreement:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ning-agreement

We were just discussing load management, so now they're giving players incentive to play more with requiring games played eligibility for some of the player awards.

The in-season tournament is an attempt to make the regular season more meaningful. A number of fans on some sites I'm reading aren't fans of the idea. Any thoughts on that or other elements of the new agreement?

One can't wait for somebody to get seriously hurt in the tournament and then for them to instantly scrap the stupid idea.

Two remember a few years ago when people actually questioned people who called the NBA players lazy and soft? Wonder how many more years or better stats Jordan, Malone, or Stockton could have put up if they had "load management". Also probably has nothing to do with the NBA no longer testing for weed. Really breaking the stereotype that the stuff makes you lazy and complacent.

[WilyWestbrook0]

So yep, in-season tournament not a popular idea.

2022-23 season ends on the 9th. In the East, teams are mostly set with only the 6th seed still up for grabs (and likely going to current holder Brooklyn given their schedule and game ahead of Miami). Miami, Atlanta, Toronto, and Chicago appear they will fight in the play-in tournament for the 7th and 8th seeds.

The West is still a playoff battle zone with only four teams clinched. I'm pretty sure the last two seeds will go to one of the playoff experience heavy teams like Golden State and the LA teams. One of them is going to end up in the play-in, though, which could also include New Orleans, Minnesota, and my beloved OKC. Dallas has been massively disappointing and might just quit their way out of it with a long off-season to think about how they want to build around Luka (losing Brunson sure hurt them this season; meanwhile he flourished in New York, who has 5th seed in the East). Utah also probably isn't going to make a serious run as they were expected to be in a rebuild, but Lauri Markkanen was really a standout for them and they had a better season than everyone expected. But they'd have to win every remaining game and other teams would basically have to lose all theirs for them to have a shot at the play-in.

[pwaldo]

Can we now label Ben Simmons a bust? Zion is also quickly approaching that label too

[qman316]

Can we now label Ben Simmons a bust? Zion is also quickly approaching that label too

Two players with talent especially Zion but neither can stay healthy. There was some talk about should pelicans trade Zion and there was a lot of push back people saying can’t trade a generational talent while he is so young, but what good does that talent do for you always sitting on the bench?!?! If I was the pelicans I would at least explore his trade value.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Can we now label Ben Simmons a bust? Zion is also quickly approaching that label too

Simmons reminded me of Lamar Odom early in his career, but surprisingly enough, it looks like he's gonna be worse long-term -- which is crazy when you think about it because Odom said he was doing coke as early as 2004 with the Miami Heat. I don't think anyone could have predicted Simmons' career just falling off a cliff with his attitude, health, etc. It's really one of the weirder stories and careers in sports.

Zion, I think there were always some underlying concerns about his body and how well he would be able to maintain his kind of heavy set and yet explosive athleticism. But he was also hyped to be the next LeBron at times from what I remember a few years ago. James was always the more complete player, showing Magic Johnson-like court awarneess and passing even at a young age. Zion's really just a slasher who probably can't produce long-term with his kind of body.

[WilyWestbrook0]

So yep, in-season tournament not a popular idea.

2022-23 season ends on the 9th. In the East, teams are mostly set with only the 6th seed still up for grabs (and likely going to current holder Brooklyn given their schedule and game ahead of Miami). Miami, Atlanta, Toronto, and Chicago appear they will fight in the play-in tournament for the 7th and 8th seeds.

The West is still a playoff battle zone with only four teams clinched. I'm pretty sure the last two seeds will go to one of the playoff experience heavy teams like Golden State and the LA teams. One of them is going to end up in the play-in, though, which could also include New Orleans, Minnesota, and my beloved OKC. Dallas has been massively disappointing and might just quit their way out of it with a long off-season to think about how they want to build around Luka (losing Brunson sure hurt them this season; meanwhile he flourished in New York, who has 5th seed in the East). Utah also probably isn't going to make a serious run as they were expected to be in a rebuild, but Lauri Markkanen was really a standout for them and they had a better season than everyone expected. But they'd have to win every remaining game and other teams would basically have to lose all theirs for them to have a shot at the play-in.

Looks like they literally did quit. LOL. They gave it to OKC -- which is cool for my Thunder...but wow. The tank was so obvious (sitting their best players in the last game) they're being investigated for it by the NBA:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...d-playoff-hunt

[WilyWestbrook0]

Embarrassing display from the Minnesota Timberwolves, throwing punches at teammate, wall:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...nd-sources-say

[pwaldo]

Simmons reminded me of Lamar Odom early in his career, but surprisingly enough, it looks like he's gonna be worse long-term -- which is crazy when you think about it because Odom said he was doing coke as early as 2004 with the Miami Heat. I don't think anyone could have predicted Simmons' career just falling off a cliff with his attitude, health, etc. It's really one of the weirder stories and careers in sports.

Zion, I think there were always some underlying concerns about his body and how well he would be able to maintain his kind of heavy set and yet explosive athleticism. But he was also hyped to be the next LeBron at times from what I remember a few years ago. James was always the more complete player, showing Magic Johnson-like court awarneess and passing even at a young age. Zion's really just a slasher who probably can't produce long-term with his kind of body.

Odom was hyped up as the best player and #1 pick of that draft but he was a drug addict and into hard drugs so he slide a bit and still had a pretty decent NBA career for a big time druggie. If he stayed off of drugs and put that energy into basketball he probably would have been a slam dunk HOF player.

Don't really know much about Simmons but he's from overseas and I have to wonder if he was playing against top tier talent and if it was just too much of a mental leap going from that to the NBA. A lot of these guys get treated like guys for years and face no defense and face no setbacks then when it happens they mentally melt. That's why players actually benefited from playing in college from the dealing with adversity aspect of it. Simmons just seemed to have the defense part worked out but his offense game wasn't there and he basically fell apart and never improved his game. One has to wonder if maybe he was a later draft pick who wasn't in the spotlight as much (he was a #1 pick and an Upper Deck exclusive so people compared him to Lebron) that maybe he would have had a better career and became a much better player.

[WilyWestbrook0]

Odom was hyped up as the best player and #1 pick of that draft but he was a drug addict and into hard drugs so he slide a bit and still had a pretty decent NBA career for a big time druggie. If he stayed off of drugs and put that energy into basketball he probably would have been a slam dunk HOF player.

Don't really know much about Simmons but he's from overseas and I have to wonder if he was playing against top tier talent and if it was just too much of a mental leap going from that to the NBA. A lot of these guys get treated like guys for years and face no defense and face no setbacks then when it happens they mentally melt. That's why players actually benefited from playing in college from the dealing with adversity aspect of it. Simmons just seemed to have the defense part worked out but his offense game wasn't there and he basically fell apart and never improved his game. One has to wonder if maybe he was a later draft pick who wasn't in the spotlight as much (he was a #1 pick and an Upper Deck exclusive so people compared him to Lebron) that maybe he would have had a better career and became a much better player.

Ben's an Aussie, but he went to college in the States for one year with LSU, a classic one-and-doner. He was one of the few prospects I actually watched a bit in college; I tend not to watch much college ball, but I kept hearing about him and wanted to see what he was about. His ballhandling was really good even then. He then seemed to be on pace for a good career his first few seasons after having to miss his first year with a foot injury, but then I remember him getting stubborn about not wanting to develop his offense further. He just wouldn't shoot and it reached an intractable point during the playoffs in his last year with Philly. From then on he just had a mental drop-off, and has never recovered his career.