The Official NBA Season Thread: NBA Cup Night

[lawdog1]

nba is a story driven league. they need a main character. always been like that.
media heads need to find someone to talk about day in and day out.

And more so than with any other major US sport, former NBA players and other media talking heads who follow it seem to much prefer finding reasons to criticize the game rather than celebrate it and its current players.

 

[HIM]

Without a doubt.

Series gonna be a ton of fun. Will be interesting to see how the Wolves defend Luka.

McDaniels is great, but he's the kinda frame Luka tends to just overpower when he's healthy. Luka and Kai both torch heavy drop coverage so Rudy stuff gets a little weird.

Do they play KAT on the centers and Rudy on PJ/DJJ to let him roam a bit and just dare them to stay hot from three? That'd be my guess.

Funny enough, I think this is where Gobert will thrive as the backline defense for those Luka and Kyrie drives. This series, more than the first 2, will depend on the role players hitting the open corner 3's. Can DJJ and PJ keep it up?

 

[trappedintime]

THJ is the guy I’m keeping my eye on for the Mavs, especially with the size advantage against OKC being neutralized this round. McDaniels needs another good series for the Wolves.

 

[WASHED KING]

And more so than with any other major US sport, former NBA players and other media talking heads who follow it seem to much prefer finding reasons to criticize the game rather than celebrate it and its current players.

You can thank ring culture and Jordan stans for that. NFL players are still celebrated for their careers whether they win a Super Bowl or not and championships are seen as team accomplishments instead of individual ones.

 

[adobecs4]

Bench depth/production, defense, rebounding, team ball when it matters most. Must be nice

 

[ALNotSure]

If he’s supposed to replace Chuck eventually then I’m good with ending the show next season

Draymond can have his crap podcast but anyone else giving him an audience is nasty work.

We already got Perk. Now Draymond?

 

[Vincent Van Goat]

Haven’t checked numbers but lukas been mostly awful from anywhere besides the paint

Need him and Irving to start hitting pull-ups and mid rangers

Irving needs to press whatever button he has to turn into a downhill driver like Murray was

 

[nick.]

I didn't see any of the early game post game press conference. Haliburton pouring salt in the wound

You can do whatever you want when you show out & win.

BUT

He did not wear the hoodie pregame. Put it in his travel bag "just in case"

 

[Cashflow]

 

[antidope]

You can do whatever you want when you show out & win.

BUT

He did not wear the hoodie pregame. Put it in his travel bag "just in case"

I feel yall, but that's just human nature. Most people don't boast up front in fear of the backlash.

 

[651akathepaul]

THJ is the guy I’m keeping my eye on for the Mavs, especially with the size advantage against OKC being neutralized this round. McDaniels needs another good series for the Wolves.

He seems to like going off against the Wolves too...I concur

Not sure yet what defensive gamelan the Wolves will unfurl for the Mavs, but as been said and as seen, the Wolves have options.

I can see Kyle Anderson having a bigger reserve role this series and a Luka assignment and NAW spelling Conley earlier to matchup with Kyrie.

 

[antidope]

Media Draymond is bad now

 

[Coupé It]

What's wrong with that formula? Isn't that what soccer does. People just followed around Ronaldo and Messi and rooted for whichever team they were on for the last 2 decades. Seemed to work for them

True, but why not have it be a mixture? Why can’t you do both?

Support your players and support your team?

Those Messi and Ronaldo fans are still huge Madrid and Barça fans.

Bron left Cleveland and Miami and you guys haven’t looked back at them since.

 

[Platinum State]

Unless you work in the marketing department at the NBA offices, why does it matter who the "face" of the league is, what they look like, or where they're from?

With the exception of NFL, the major American sports leagues are truly global.

I dont think the MLB, MLS and NHL are global at all

 

[pmatic]

THJ is the guy I’m keeping my eye on for the Mavs, especially with the size advantage against OKC being neutralized this round. McDaniels needs another good series for the Wolves.

THJ stinks.

 

[dasitmane]

Media Draymond is bad now

If no one reposts his takes maybe he'll just fade away.

 

[Coupé It]

I dont think the MLB, MLS and NHL are global at all

They’re not.

They’re North American but definitely not global.

Only global league we have is the NBA.

 

[JMB10215]

The face of the NBA matters. I don't know why you guys act like it doesn't. This is the NBA. Since its takeoff in the late 70s/80s its been a player driven league right now. Basketball is a unique sport in which it only has 5 players playing at a time, that means one player can have more influence over a game. One player can absolutely win you a game in basketball. Its just the nature of the sport. Other team sports require more moving parts. Players will always drive the culture in the NBA vs teams. Unless said player happens to play for a legendary franchise.

 

[addict4sneakers]

The face of the NBA matters. I don't know why you guys act like it doesn't. This is the NBA. Since its takeoff in the late 70s/80s its been a player driven league right now. Basketball is a unique sport in which it only has 5 players playing at a time, that means one player can have more influence over a game. One player can absolutely win you a game in basketball. Its just the nature of the sport. Other team sports require more moving parts. Players will always drive the culture in the NBA vs teams. Unless said player happens to play for a legendary franchise.

Too much parity for that. You can market the game around 5 guys right now. It’s a global game right now. New TV contract coming too.

Everything is ok

 

[N41D]

Funny enough, I think this is where Gobert will thrive as the backline defense for those Luka and Kyrie drives. This series, more than the first 2, will depend on the role players hitting the open corner 3's. Can DJJ and PJ keep it up?

Haven’t checked numbers but lukas been mostly awful from anywhere besides the paint

Need him and Irving to start hitting pull-ups and mid rangers

Irving needs to press whatever button he has to turn into a downhill driver like Murray was

Luka shockingly landed at 39% from three in the OKC series. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

Kai gonna have to be aggressive getting to his spots and hitting that hard pull-up middy game, no doubt.

The Mavs played Rudy off the floor two years ago against Utah, but the support guys were making shots and he kinda got forced into a space of indecisiveness and ended up getting cooked no matter what he did.

Gonna be all hands on deck and there's definitely gonna be stretches like we saw with Denver last night where they go 5 or 6 minute stretches knee deep in the mud offensively.

 

[lovehateself]

I dont think the MLB, MLS and NHL are global at all

They’re not.

They’re North American but definitely not global.

Only global league we have is the NBA.

Id say MLB is

just look at their homepage

 

[broncos19dm]

 

[lawdog1]

As pmatic alluded to last night, the parity in the NBA also is having an impact on a new face of the league getting established. The guys who have had that title before like Bird, Magic and MJ (some would argue Kobe) were making deep playoff runs in consecutive years for the better part of a decade. We're not seeing that right now, so it works against any one player putting his stamp on being the face of the league.

Ant's looking like the guy right now, but things can change quickly in today's NBA. Look at the Grizzlies - just a few years ago they were looking like they had next in the West and Ja was in a position similar to where Ant is now. A few injuries and some off-court shenanigans later and they were back in the lottery. (* I AM NOT SAYING I EXPECT ANT TO DO ANYTHING DUMB LIKE JA DID). Just can't take anything for granted in the league anymore.

 

[WASHED KING]

Will never forgive them for how they did Ja

 

[addict4sneakers]

Will never forgive them for how they did Ja

He was running around like he was Pac