Basketball Megathread (Current Topic: 2023-24 Season) - Lounge

BARDAMU

baystateoftheart wrote:

Valuing a worker's loyalty to a boss and not supporting them in switching jobs to pursue better working/living conditions and/or salary isn't very leftist of you... Wink

* shakes fist *

it's mostly an emotional reaction, not very rational on my part (as mentioned in my previous post)

LedZep

BARDAMU wrote:

I honestly wouldn't feel this way if he'd just stayed for at least one more season. It just hurts is all, I dunno, I'm still nursing it.

Nice one
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

kokkinos

LedZep wrote:

So you dislike every NBA superstar in the last 2 decades except for like Timmy and Kobe?

I think Dirk deserves to be included in this list, Curry/Lillard and at some point further down the line Giannis are on their way there as well, there are also Beal/Klay Thompson who you might argue are second tier stars.

baystateoftheart wrote:

Valuing a worker's loyalty to a boss and not supporting them in switching jobs to pursue better working/living conditions and/or salary isn't very leftist of you... Wink

Well, the fans-players relationship aren't entirely based on logic -as Bardamu already admitted - , so I would rather keep politics out of it, but have no problem with your approach either, I wish more people displayed similar socio-political sensitivity. That being said, I'd suppose it depends a lot on the specific circumstances, it's hard to make an a priori conclusive argument. If the reason is any of those you bring up, it's fine by me, not to mention it could be even worse, i.e. the swap might be against the player's will, but if it's something like "I'm not good enough to win a championship by myself, so I'll join a superteam" then I'll hold it againist him, it's something that does hurt his legacy as one of the greats - obviously I'm not talking about Kawhi, as I said in a previous post I quite like the guy.

But this analogy by Bardamu was legendary anyway, so anything else is secondary.

Romanelli
Bone Swah

Gender: Male
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

There are NO fan / player relationships in the NBA. Superstars run the league, and they play where they think they have the best chance at exposure / rings. Players form their own teams, and they do not give a crap about you, the fan. If you get a title in your city, feel fortunate...but don't for a minute think they did it for you.

Teams like Denver, Atlanta, Minnesota, Memphis...etc...are farm teams to give high draft picks a place to prove themselves before they get to choose where they play, and who they play with. And that is the deepest flaw in the NBA.

If a team like Toronto wins a title, cherish the fuck out of it. Because in the real NBA world, titles go where the LeBrons go, or where the most talented players decide to come together. That's the reality of the NBA. It's not for you. At all. It's all for them. Because the NBA is completely a players league. That title in Toronto was an anomaly. You probably won't see anything close to it for the next 20 years. Raise that banner, and raise it high. Cuz it ain't coming back any time soon...
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May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Romanelli wrote:

There are NO fan / player relationships in the NBA. Superstars run the league, and they play where they think they have the best chance at exposure / rings. Players form their own teams, and they do not give a crap about you, the fan. If you get a title in your city, feel fortunate...but don't for a minute think they did it for you.

Teams like Denver, Atlanta, Minnesota, Memphis...etc...are farm teams to give high draft picks a place to prove themselves before they get to choose where they play, and who they play with. And that is the deepest flaw in the NBA.

If a team like Toronto wins a title, cherish the fuck out of it. Because in the real NBA world, titles go where the LeBrons go, or where the most talented players decide to come together. That's the reality of the NBA. It's not for you. At all. It's all for them. Because the NBA is completely a players league. That title in Toronto was an anomaly. You probably won't see anything close to it for the next 20 years. Raise that banner, and raise it high. Cuz it ain't coming back any time soon...

This is one of the reasons I'm not as a big of a basketball fan as I am for other sports. I'm all for players having freedom and choices, but it seems they have too much freedom in the NBA. It's boring to me seeing the teams who win these days constructed with multiple superstars who decided they wanted to play together. There are exceptions. But nevertheless, when superstars change teams in free agency, it's about chasing championships and boosting egos. With the exception of Lebron returning to CLE, they don't do it for the city nor the fans. Kawhi went to the Clippers for that team/city but remains to be seen if they'll win. But anyway, as a 76ers fan, it feels kinda hopeless seeing the monster team the Brooklyn Nets have built. Irving, Durant, and Harden...this team may dominate Golden State-style for the next few years. And I really don't care for the mentality that created this super team. When you're the underdog, I thought the goal was to beat the other team on the court, not join them.

19loveless91
mag. druž. inf

Can I just brag a bit about getting the top 9 in the west correct in my pre-season prediction haha. I mean the order is not the same, but while Jazz isn't even *that* much of a surprise, the Suns completely caught me off guard. I expected them to get to playoffs, but I think I just underestimated CP3's impact. Amazing. Lakers are obviously lower than expected because of injuries, while Nuggets and Mavs sort of edged towards where I expected them to be. Glad that I didn't buy into the Pelicans hype.

East was.. uhhh, more confusing. Obviously was barely paying attention to what the Knicks were doing off season, but it looked like roughly the same team as last year. Pleasant surprise in any case. Hawks I'm not that surprised, but it's still amazing what a difference a coach made. Especially pleased about Bogdanović's impact, I really like him as a player, and I still think Bucks are kicking themselves to waste the chance with him.
Pacers and Raptors were a disappointment, but it was kind of coming, wasn't it...
Kind of scared of what the Nets are capable off. The few times that I watched them, it looked liked they only played about as hard as they needed to. How many times they played in full strength anyway?

Play-in expectations:
Lakers beat Warriors for 7th, Warriors beat Grizzlies for 8th. I don't see Spurs winning.
Lakers are going to be a problem in the playoffs.
Wizards beat Celtics, Celtics beat Pacers (who beat Hornets).

Overall favourites have to be the Nets. In the west I wouldn't be surprised if it still ends up being one of the LA teams.

LedZep

19loveless91 wrote:

Can I just brag a bit about getting the top 9 in the west correct in my pre-season prediction haha. I mean the order is not the same, but while Jazz isn't even *that* much of a surprise, the Suns completely caught me off guard. I expected them to get to playoffs, but I think I just underestimated CP3's impact. Amazing. Lakers are obviously lower than expected because of injuries, while Nuggets and Mavs sort of edged towards where I expected them to be. Glad that I didn't buy into the Pelicans hype.

Well done, my whole bracket is a mess. Did not expect Embiid to go to the next level, Utah is a surprise as are the Hornets, Phoenix is a huge surprise, Knicks are one of the biggest surprises in recent regular season history, Lakers are injured, Celtics and Raptors are whatever. And of course the Harden trade. The only things I've predicted correctly is Nets, Heat and Nuggets.

Predictions would be:

Lakers over Warriors
Grizzlies over Spurs
Warriors over Grizzlies

Wizards over Celtics
Pacers over Hornets
Celtics over Pacers

And Tony Snell for MVP.
_________________
Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

BLEED GREEN, BABY!!!

Wizards going down! Hoping for a good game. have to take my kids back to their Moms at that time so will also have fun looking for a nice dive bar out there to watch the game.

kokkinos

19loveless91 wrote:

Can I just brag a bit about getting the top 9 in the west correct in my pre-season prediction haha.

Considering what a tricky season it was, that's a huge achievement, nicely done Applause

My predictions failed miserably, exactly as it was expected. Even when it comes to the one team I was sure would be hot, this is what I had written back then...

kokkinos wrote:

2. 76ers - Last season was a setback, now it's their time. Curry and Green will add much needed perimeter shooting, Simmons for MVP ( too much wishful thinking, but who cares).

Yeah, I picked the wrong guy to step up Embarassed

LedZep wrote:

And Tony Snell for MVP.

Well, that's a lock, the question is if it will be unanimous. I guess not, it takes a player of Scalabrine's calibre to accomplish such a feat Laughing

Regarding play-in, I'd go with
Warriors > Lakers
Spurs > Grizzlies
Lakers > Spurs
and
Wizards>Celtics
Pacers>Hornets
Celtics>Pacers

In terms of the bigger picture, I'd love something like Blazers/Suns vs Mavs and 76ers vs Bucks, but let's be real, Nets are the team to beat.

19loveless91
mag. druž. inf

LedZep wrote:

Well done, my whole bracket is a mess.

Oh you're not that far off, your top 8 in the west were all the right teams, you underestimated Suns, but so did I. I think the actual order would be impossible to get in a year like this.

I did pick 76ers as a #1 team in the East though, but even then I didn't see them as favourites to come out of the east, never mind now when the Globetrotter Nets exist.