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NBA 2021 - Randle Hearts


Relic

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2 hours ago, Relic said:

In before Aldridge "his heart wasn't in it anymore" jokes.

 

But seriously, great career. Glad they caught any potential problem before it cost him more than just the career. 

He was a monster in Portland, and yeah, most definitely a good thing they caught it.

Farwell to the one man consistently willing to try and block three pointers from the paint.

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Well, Draymond, Klay, Wiseman and Wiggins for next season doesn't sound too bad. Its too late for this season and probably isn't enough to contend but maybe someone else will step up. Oubre is probably gone though. 

In other news, Lillard and Mitchell are the latest to hit the injury list. Hopefully it isn't anything serious, otherwise its another two playoff teams sunk.

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The Nets strategy of being the most talented on paper is not going well.  The 2011 Heat struggled that first year to get everyone to fit together, and that was with the entire regular season to work things out.  The Nets had half a season after the Harden trade, and then Durant got hurt, Irving wandered off, Harden got hurt, etc.  Even if they are close to healthy in the playoffs (which is not looking very likely), they're going to have no chemistry at all. 

And if the playoffs started today, their path would be Miami, Milwaukee, @Philly.  I don't think they can beat those teams in three straight series.  Nobody wants to get Miami in the first round after how much they turned it on in the playoffs last year. 

I'm looking forward to rooting against Brooklyn in the playoffs, I think it's gonna go great. 

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40 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Eh, I'd have liked the Nets to fail even before the season started and the trades and buyout signings, but not from Aldridge retiring, KD being in and out and Harden missing altogether. I want them to lose on the court with no excuses.

And yet, the team is constructed in a flawed way that lacks resilience.  This is just one of the ways that team can fail.  The Nets failing cannot be blamed on missing Aldridge, he was just a cherry on top.  We'll see if the Big Three are on the court in playoff time - my suspicision is that they will be, although it's quite possible one or two of them will be at less than 100%.  But how well those guys play together ESPECIALLY if anyone is less than 100% is definitely up for debate. 

Regardless, the Nets were making moves about winning championships, not about making excuses for why they didn't win a championship.  If they fail to put it together, it's on them. 

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4 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

And yet, the team is constructed in a flawed way that lacks resilience.  This is just one of the ways that team can fail.  The Nets failing cannot be blamed on missing Aldridge, he was just a cherry on top.  We'll see if the Big Three are on the court in playoff time - my suspicision is that they will be, although it's quite possible one or two of them will be at less than 100%.  But how well those guys play together ESPECIALLY if anyone is less than 100% is definitely up for debate. 

Regardless, the Nets were making moves about winning championships, not about making excuses for why they didn't win a championship.  If they fail to put it together, it's on them. 

:dunno:

Its not about that. Its the difference between them falling flat on their face and breaking their nose in a 100m race or doing so while drunk and stumbling. I very much prefer the former. Thats it.

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2 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

:dunno:

Its not about that. Its the difference between them falling flat on their face and breaking their nose in a 100m race or doing so while drunk and stumbling. I very much prefer the former. Thats it.

I agree that if we're looking for the joy in seeing a heel team fail that it is definitely more enjoyable to see them go down with their Big 3 on the court than with one of them wearing a suit on the sideline complaining about "what could have been".

We all wish that injuries weren't a part of sports, but they are.  In the NFL it's a huge problem where often great teams are just a shell of themselves come playoff time.  In the NBA, it usually isn't the primary factor of who wins a 7 game series, but there are exceptions.  The 2009 Celtics, the 2013 Thunder, the 2015 Cavs and the 2019 Warriors all had a very good chance at a title if they had stayed healthy.  But they didn't and that's just how it goes. 

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More and more, I think this season's signature buzzword will end up being "injury". Nearly every storyline involves that word, in some combination with the conjunction "if". 

Today's league injury report is absurd. Lebron, AD, Kawhi, Mitchell, Dame, KD, Harden, Thompson, and Murray are all injured right now. A dozen more stars to key rotational pieces past that. It's incredible how many teams' 2021 expectations have been severely impacted by a significant or scary injury to their stars. Throw in many players missing time to contracting Covid, or swaths of rosters having to isolate simultaneously due to exposure.

The wild scheduling the past two seasons absolutely plays a part. No matter who wins the Finals this year, there will be about fifteen fanbases who will look back at this year and think their team's plans got hosed due to their star or rookie going down.

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Injuries are not an excuse in the playoffs, every team has had to endure the same long season and competition. If you fall to injury you were not as fit or able as the other guy, you lose end of story.

@Nets no excuses you bought all your advantages now show up or get off the court.

If they fail to put it together, it's on them."

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8 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Injuries are not an excuse in the playoffs, every team has had to endure the same long season and competition. If you fall to injury you were not as fit or able as the other guy, you lose end of story.

@Nets no excuses you bought all your advantages now show up or get off the court.

If they fail to put it together, it's on them."

Its not about fairness or deserving or anything in that vein. The satisfaction from watching them unravel on court is many times greater than watching them shrugging their shoulders on the bench. Its only a hair better than seeing them win really.

__ 

Anyway, contenders aside, who do you guys think will make the bottom three? Houston seems a lock. Despite OKC being in full "player development mode" since SGA went down, their lead seems too big to go all the way down. Its up to whether the other three teams in between manage to make up the difference in the few remaining games.

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46 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Anyway, contenders aside, who do you guys think will make the bottom three? Houston seems a lock. Despite OKC being in full "player development mode" since SGA went down, their lead seems too big to go all the way down. Its up to whether the other three teams in between manage to make up the difference in the few remaining games.

My Wolves are the team to watch on that front given we have the second worst record and a top 3 protected pick in a very frontloaded draft. 

And it looks like we're going to get our horrific third win in four games tonight. 

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54 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Anyway, contenders aside, who do you guys think will make the bottom three? Houston seems a lock. Despite OKC being in full "player development mode" since SGA went down, their lead seems too big to go all the way down. Its up to whether the other three teams in between manage to make up the difference in the few remaining games.

The Magic lost to the Rockets on Sunday.  After weirdly beating the Clippers then the Hornets, they're 1-9 since.  They're now only a half game ahead of the Pistons.  They are doing their part to suck as much as possible.

Also, the only team they beat in that 1-9 stretch is the Bulls.  Who currently are the 8th worst team in the league and are 5-10 since the trade.  The draft is looking pretty fun for Orlando.

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Can someone explain this play in tournament to me?  Both the format and why the hell any team would want to be in it?

Seems to me that if I’m in slot 9 or 10, I’d rather lose and have a shot at the lottery than win just to get swept by the best team in the conference.  Am I missing something?

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The format is that the 7th team in the standings plays the 8th team to decide for the slot for the 7th seed.

Then the 9th team plays the 10th team plays for the chance to challenge for the 8th seed. The winner of which plays the loser of the other for the 8th seed.

__

It depends on the person? I think the odds of the lottery are vanishingly low and might as well be non-existent. If you make it, then great! But its not something you want to count on. Otherwise, it gives a team hit by early injuries a better chance to climb back?

On the other hand, being in the playoffs gives your players more exposure and as long as they don't embarrass themselves, would increase their value and popularity. It might even aid their development. Plus more games means more money I guess.

Personally, I don't care either way. My preference is for them to even out the schedule and make it straight 1-16, with maybe double eliminations and escalating best of 3/5/7 depending on the round. It'll be rough on scheduling and travel though. And they'll lose revenue from the division and conference games although you could maybe make a separate tournament out of it.

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There’s a better way to eliminate tanking while also rewarding teams that hard their season’s nuked due to injuries. First, we need expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas to get the league to 32 teams. The top 16 teams at the end of the season get seeded 1-16 and a week to 10 day break to recover. During that break period, the teams that failed to make the playoffs play in a 16 team single elimination tournament, again seeded 1-16 based on record. The final four teams in this tournament get the top four picks with the “championship” game deciding who gets first and second and the third and fourth place teams play to determine their position in the draft. After that picks 5-16 are determined by record. This way there’s zero incentive to be the worst team in the league.

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26 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

There’s a better way to eliminate tanking while also rewarding teams that hard their season’s nuked due to injuries. First, we need expansion teams in Seattle and Vegas to get the league to 32 teams. The top 16 teams at the end of the season get seeded 1-16 and a week to 10 day break to recover. During that break period, the teams that failed to make the playoffs play in a 16 team single elimination tournament, again seeded 1-16 based on record. The final four teams in this tournament get the top four picks with the “championship” game deciding who gets first and second and the third and fourth place teams play to determine their position in the draft. After that picks 5-16 are determined by record. This way there’s zero incentive to be the worst team in the league.

I don't think the play ins are to eliminate tanking. Teams going for the bottom aren't in position anyway.

Also, your proposal just shifts the goal to barely miss the playoffs? Sure, its harder to thread the needle, and you need some semblance of competence, but you're going to see teams not in direct contention keep players out for longer and more often. 

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