NBA 2022 off-season: the Durant Decision

[Wilbur]

11 hours ago, Ramsay B. said:

Just watched game 5 of the ‘91 finals on NBA TV(Jordan’s 1st). The amount of travels called was astonishing. I’d say like 8 or 9 at least, and on guys like Jordan and Magic and at pivotal moments. It just makes me laugh because my dad used to say they got away with murder back when this was live. 

Literally every travel then wouldn’t have been called now. The little step before dribbling.

Did you enjoy the HoopVision "Game from Every Decade" video, where he shows the evolution of the game play and officiating?  I thought it was terrific.

 

[Slurktan]

On 9/23/2022 at 5:59 PM, Rhom said:

A friend sent me this.  I don’t know where he read it, but he’s a level headed guy who follows lots of NBA news.

So the Cs didn’t care about Udoka’s relationship until he apparently started aggressively sexually harassing her once everybody found out about it. Once Nia Long found out (via the Cs investigation), he started harassing the woman.
 

So as I say, don’t know the veracity… but that makes total sense to me.

If that stuff is true he's done as an NBA coach.

[Greywolf2375]

On 9/26/2022 at 1:33 PM, Slurktan said:

If that stuff is true he's done as an NBA coach.

and he should be, I'm just astounded at what people think they can do because of a job title.

On the small scale, sucks for the players and their shot at a title, but I haven't seen anyone come forward to continue defending him.

[Tywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Greywolf2375 said:

On the small scale, sucks for the players and their shot at a title, but I haven't seen anyone come forward to continue defending him.

And interestingly, most of the public faces that initially supported him have walked said support back. 

[Greywolf2375]

19 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

And interestingly, most of the public faces that initially supported him have walked said support back. 

True - and honestly I was very surprised at  honesty of how that was done.  It wasn't a meek "Well, we all make mistakes...".  Barnes owned up to not knowing the facts and then doubled down on his retraction.

 

[Tywin et al.]

A bit more information has trickled out and what's surprising is the consistent reporting that part of the problem is what Udoka did on the front end. The verbiage being used is kind of choppy, but I'm taking it as he was acting in a coercive manner. Bomani Jones addressed the issue on his podcast today, and without giving any details he said every rumor he's privately heard, which range the spectrum, are basically all valid grounds to fire someone.

[DireWolfSpirit]

I read in another forum Udoka slept with a Celtic VP's wife and he will never be back on the sidelines there.

[Relic]

3 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I read in another forum Udoka slept with a Celtic VP's wife and he will never be back on the sidelines there.

This sort of speculation is incredibly toxic. There are a lot of rumors flying around, and a bunch of bored ass internet detectives are spending dozens of hours trying to figure out which female employee he slept with. Which (i hope this goes without saying) is incredibly fucked up for women working for the Celtics organization. Needless to say the Cs are doing a piss poor job protecting their female workers on this one. Shame on them.  

[Calibandar]

What can they do about it now though? People will speculate endlessly. They could release the name of the person he had this relationship with , but what if that person doesnt want that to happen (which we can easily imagine reasons for).

But indeed, the unfortunate side effect is that the magnifying glass is then extended to all the women in the staff.

Edited October 2, 2022 by Calibandar

[Relic]

2 hours ago, Calibandar said:

What can they do about it now though? 

I guess its too late now? I don't know. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

 

https://basketball.realgm.com/images/basketball/5.0/template/basketball-icon.gifRealGM Poll

Thank you for voting.

Which player will win Rookie of the Year in 2023?

Banchero	52.7%
Murray	12.4%
J. Smith	7.7%
Ivey	14.8%
Mathurin	7.3%
Sharpe	5.1%

Total votes: 830

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Early polling heavily favoring Paolo to achieve the ROY.

[DireWolfSpirit]

The preseason games begin.

[Rhom]

7 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The preseason games begin.

Tyrese Maxey looked really good last night FWIW.  20 points on 8 shots in just 14 minutes.  Some good passing and above average defense too.

 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Piston play Knicks on TNT tonight, I will miss it cuz work. Just ready to see how our new parts fit.

[DireWolfSpirit]

19 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Piston play Knicks on TNT tonight, I will miss it cuz work. Just ready to see how our new parts fit.

So Cade and Bey shooting was cold and they lost badly. Nice part was our rookies tore it up.

Each rotation player got about 20 minutes, Ivey with 16 points on 6/9 shooting, Duren 14 boards.

Each on first night against NBA players pretty nice. Duren is a beast already at 18 years old still and Ivey is at another gear fast than anyone else.

Fun, but the overall team needs to bottle this talent and step up a level. My patience is wearing with Beys extreme streaky shooting. You never know whether hes getting 40 or going 1/12.

[Argonath Diver]

The East is going to be crazy this year (Although I think I've said that several years in a row now to varying accuracy). Absolutely no optimism here regarding my Bulls. After watching this weird amalgamation of mismatched talent bizarrely win a bunch last year all the way to #1 in the East, their true colors showed once injuries forced a change in their gameplan.  ESPN predicted 38 wins - whoof! Surely it'll be in the 40s again, right? But hell, I don't know - those kids in Detroit might indeed sneak up. Cleveland suddenly looks great. Washington might be good-ish, not bottom-tier. The Nets might actually be awesome, or they might be another complete trainwreck. The Celtics might fall apart without Udoku, or their talent alone might give them a top seed. Who the fuck knows! There's no sport I'm less likely to gamble on, ever, than pro basketball. I don't have any refs in my pocket, of course.

[Tywin et al.]

19 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

Absolutely no optimism here regarding my Bulls. After watching this weird amalgamation of mismatched talent bizarrely win a bunch last year all the way to #1 in the East, their true colors showed once injuries forced a change in their gameplan.  ESPN predicted 38 wins

They might struggle to crack 40 wins. Lots of speculation Lonzo might miss the entire season and his injury could be career altering. 

[Tywin et al.]

Sounds like Draymond either punched or smacked the shit out of Poole at practice today. Hell of a way to kick off the season.

[Argonath Diver]

Draymond Green is a specific kind of athlete, one that we all have seen in our own eyes through whatever sport it may be.

He could be one of my all time favorite players for his niche, if he weren't a complete piece of shit. He's that guy. 

[Maithanet]

13 hours ago, Argonath Diver said:

There's no sport I'm less likely to gamble on, ever, than pro basketball. I don't have any refs in my pocket, of course.

Interesting that you say that because I actually feel like playoff basketball is weirdly predictable at times.  Like if one team has a slight edge over another and goes up 2-0 in the series, then it's like an 75% chance that the other team wins game 3.  Or conversely if two teams seem really evenly matched and then one takes game 3 on the road to go up 2-1, you can be pretty confident that the other team will win and tie it up. 

Obviously it's not ironclad, but I feel like there are a LOT of games in the playoffs where I just feel like we know who "wants it more" and then they get the hustle plays, the refs give them a little home cooking, and they get the W.  I've actually considered tracking my impression of this "feeling" compared to betting odds to see if I'm just imagining it or not.