2018 NBA Catch-All - LeBron Fallout Edition

Also the thunder might not suck now?

Prederick wrote:

I canNOT believe we are not talking about the biggest NBA news of 2017, namely LAURA DERN AND BARON DAVIS ARE A THING?!?!?!?!?

They have a bit in common: she worked with dinosaurs in Jurassic Park and he worked for a dinosaur in Donald Sterling.

So, Giannis of the Milwaukee Bucks is leading the NBA in All-Star voting at the moment.
IMAGE(https://media.giphy.com/media/9wVfv6iIIhCda/giphy.gif)
You know Stern would have had him shipped to New York, LA, Chicago, Boston, or Philly by now if he were still in charge.

This is my favorite take of the day because it’s 100% accurate. So glad Silver is the commissioner now.

The thing I remember David Stern the most for as a Celtics fan was him screwing us over after the Reggie Lewis death. I started watching the NBA in the 90's and it had to be the worst decade the franchise has had. Only thing I really had that decade was enjoying the greatness of Jordan.

"Stern and the NBA infamously refused to provide the Celtics with cap relief after the death of Reggie Lewis. That decision stunted Boston’s growth in the following years and no doubt contributed to team falling into the abyss. To make matters worse, the season after the decision on Lewis, the league passed a new rule saying that if another situation like that ever arises, a team gets half of that player's salary taken off the cap. The Celtics were obviously furious with Stern and the league, and that fury boiled over in March of 1995, when the commissioner attended Reggie Lewis Night at the Garden."

I like Silver a lot. He's been very impressive since taking over and has worked well with the NBAPA.

I didn't start watching the NBA again until Stern retired. He basically condemned the Vancouver Grizzlies to death at the outside. Came up with ridiculous draft rules that severely affected the team and recommended his buddy be the GM.

He also let the Sonic's leave. F him.

Vector wrote:

I like Silver a lot. He's been very impressive since taking over and has worked well with the NBAPA.

I didn't start watching the NBA again until Stern retired. He basically condemned the Vancouver Grizzlies to death at the outside. Came up with ridiculous draft rules that severely affected the team and recommended his buddy be the GM.

Out of the curiosity, what were the draft rules that affected the Grizzlies? Almost forgot they had a team up there.

mindset.threat wrote:
Vector wrote:

I like Silver a lot. He's been very impressive since taking over and has worked well with the NBAPA.

I didn't start watching the NBA again until Stern retired. He basically condemned the Vancouver Grizzlies to death at the outside. Came up with ridiculous draft rules that severely affected the team and recommended his buddy be the GM.

Out of the curiosity, what were the draft rules that affected the Grizzlies? Almost forgot they had a team up there.

I think he's referring to the Grizzlies and Raptors not getting early draft picks for like the first 3 or 4 years after they entered the league. Prior to that if an expansion team finished with the worst record in the NBA there was nothing stopping them from getting a high enough pick to draft a Shaq, etc.

I always saw that as a tacit admission on the part of the NBA that the league had become somewhat diluted. It was probably just a result of lobbying by some of the owners who'd watched the lottery get filled up with 4 new teams over the course of 2 seasons.

Notably, the top 3 picks in the top-heavy 92 draft were Laettner, Shaq and Mourning.

That's exactly right. The Raptors were able to still draft pretty well and wound up with good players while the Grizzlies only draft two players of note (Abdur-Rahim and Bibby) and were never able to get a high pick despite being utterly terrible.

The Raptors and Grizzlies didn't come into existence until the 95-96 season, however.

Vector wrote:

The Raptors and Grizzlies didn't come into existence until the 95-96 season, however.

That's what I'm saying. By the time the NBA got to the Raptors and Grizzlies the Heat, Hornets, Magic and T'Wolves had been falling into the lottery regularly. With high picks as well. Before the modern expansion began I believe the lottery was like 7 teams or something. Including the Raptors and Grizzlies it would become 13 teams. I imagine this was frustrating for owners in small markets struggling through the 90s.

The problem is (and I agree) that David Stern made one of his trademark impromptu decisions. Like when he took away a ridiculous number of Minnesota draft picks over Joe Smith, but then turned a blind eye to tampering elsewhere.

Or like the time he told the refs to let Shaq get away with offensive fouls...

I keed, I keed.

I'm still unconvinced by the Raptors but boy did they ever dominated Milwaukee in the 3rd quarter last weekend. I don't really know what happened (well, it seemed like every shot went in) but it was fun to watch.

Vector wrote:

That's exactly right. The Raptors were able to still draft pretty well and wound up with good players while the Grizzlies only draft two players of note (Abdur-Rahim and Bibby) and were never able to get a high pick despite being utterly terrible.

You forgot about 'Big Country' Reeves! The only Vancouver Grizzly I can name.

I can't help but think the Raptors would have suffered a similar fate had they not hit on Vince Carter at #5. Although they did start building the arena before MLSE bought them so between control of the arena and the deep pockets of MLSE maybe I'm wrong.

Roke wrote:

I'm still unconvinced by the Raptors but boy did they ever dominated Milwaukee in the 3rd quarter last weekend. I don't really know what happened (well, it seemed like every shot went in) but it was fun to watch.

Vector wrote:

That's exactly right. The Raptors were able to still draft pretty well and wound up with good players while the Grizzlies only draft two players of note (Abdur-Rahim and Bibby) and were never able to get a high pick despite being utterly terrible.

You forgot about 'Big Country' Reeves! The only Vancouver Grizzly I can name.

I can't help but think the Raptors would have suffered a similar fate had they not hit on Vince Carter at #5. Although they did start building the arena before MLSE bought them so between control of the arena and the deep pockets of MLSE maybe I'm wrong.

I did not forget about Big Country. Ugh! Guy was great for two seasons, got injured, and then decided he just didn't want to play anymore.

In the Raptors first 3 drafts they brought in Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Tracy McGrady, and draft-day trade for Vince Carter. That should have been enough to get into the playoffs.

The Raptors current success will entirely come down to whether DeRozan and Lowry can not play hero-ball in the playoffs. DeRozan learning to shoot threes and pass makes him look like an actual star player rather than a Iverson chucker.

Speaking of drafting, the last 5 picks for the Raptors have been outstanding (Wright, Powell, Poeltl, Siakam, and Anunoby). Powell is the weakest right now and is perfect insurance once an injury hits since he's also the most proven. Having those young guys, Bebe, FVV, and Miles is one of the best benches in the league.

Grizzlies' misses while drafting was more at fault than league rules. Go look at their misses.

Mike Bibby second in a draft with Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, and Dirk Nowitzki still on the board springs to mind.

Then there was the deal how the team was being sold so they got pressured into trading Steve Francis for a bunch of spare parts.

Stern certainly had his bad points but I think the Vancouver thing was doomed from the outset.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Grizzlies' misses while drafting was more at fault than league rules. Go look at their misses.

Mike Bibby second in a draft with Paul Pierce, Vince Carter, and Dirk Nowitzki still on the board springs to mind.

I'm not complaining about who they picked, which is true for every single team in the NBA forever, but where they picked. Bibby, in particular, is a weird one to harp on because he was one of the few successful draft picks in the entire draft. Pierce, Carter, and Nowitzki went all were supposed to (with Carter and Jamison being traded for one another).

Blind_Evil wrote:

Then there was the deal how the team was being sold so they got pressured into trading Steve Francis for a bunch of spare parts.

That wasn't how that went down. The team was sold after Francis was drafted. They were forced to trade Francis because he thought the weather was terrible, didn't understand how Canada is the same as the USA, and refused to report to the team. The ownership stuff is a whole other problem as it, like most other teams that eventually get moved, involves the new ownership lying about how committed they are. At least Heisley only kept up his charade for less than a season.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Stern certainly had his bad points but I think the Vancouver thing was doomed from the outset.

And the GM was personally recommended and original ownership pressured into bringing him in by Stern. The bad trades and draft misses could literally be blamed on Stern since he was the guy who got his buddy into the position to make those moves. Funny how Stu Jackson went to work for the NBA head office and never held a NBA team management position since.

Personally, I don't think the NBA in Vancouver was a great idea anyway. While I really liked watching, Vancouver is a strange sports city. Even the Canucks, the biggest draw, only do well if the team is winning consistently. There's no real basketball culture here, either.

I wonder what Steve Francis had against Vancouver. Everything I've ever heard was that it's an amazing place to live.

JeremyK wrote:

I wonder what Steve Francis had against Vancouver. Everything I've ever heard was that it's an amazing place to live.

This was almost 2 decades ago and Americans were pretty ignorant (more than now) about how things were in other countries.

DSGamer wrote:
JeremyK wrote:

I wonder what Steve Francis had against Vancouver. Everything I've ever heard was that it's an amazing place to live.

This was almost 2 decades ago and Americans were pretty ignorant (more than now) about how things were in other countries.

It was definitely this. There have been many interviews with players that were shocked it wasn’t either a frozen wasteland or just rained all the time. Some were extremely petty and hated that Canada didn’t have their favourite cereal.

Vancouver used to be outstanding but is impossible to live here now. The housing market has pushed everyone out. No one can afford apartments, absantee landlords, and many shops downtown have closed and their empty doorways are homes for drifters. It peaked in 2011 and then the city was destroyed following losing game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Where they picked us the issue? You'll have to explain. They got the 6th pick in the draft before they had played a game. Then they picked 3, 4, 2, 2, and 2. If you're saying they should have gotten the first or second pick in their first year... That's not how any expansion has happened in any sport, so far as I know.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Where they picked us the issue? You'll have to explain. They got the 6th pick in the draft before they had played a game. Then they picked 3, 4, 2, 2, and 2. If you're saying they should have gotten the first or second pick in their first year... That's not how any expansion has happened in any sport, so far as I know.

Per the wiki:

“Both the Canadian teams were hampered by the NBA's decision to deny them one of the top five picks in the draft. The teams would not be allowed a top draft pick in the following three seasons, even if they should win the lottery. The teams were also hindered from using their full salary cap the first two seasons.”

The Raptors had decent management and were able to get over it. Grizzlies had Stern’s guy in charge and weren’t. As far as I can tell, no other expansion teams had these sort of restrictions.

The Vegas Golden Knights franchise of the NHL was able to win the lottery in the last draft and were given the same odds as the third last team.

Houston Rockets "storm" Clippers locker room and the police were called and forget all that, just scroll down and watch Shaq and Chuck's reaction.

Rat Boy wrote:

Houston Rockets "storm" Clippers locker room and the police were called and forget all that, just scroll down and watch Shaq and Chuck's reaction.

That was really funny. The whole thing (Shaq and Chuck’s reaction) is worth a watch.

What I don’t get is what Chris Paul was hoping to do when he got there. So dumb.

Roke wrote:

I'm still unconvinced by the Raptors but boy did they ever dominated Milwaukee in the 3rd quarter last weekend. I don't really know what happened (well, it seemed like every shot went in) but it was fun to watch.

Kidd is a well below league average coach who tries to fit square pegs into round holes with impressive consistency.

Vector wrote:

Speaking of drafting, the last 5 picks for the Raptors have been outstanding (Wright, Powell, Poeltl, Siakam, and Anunoby). Powell is the weakest right now and is perfect insurance once an injury hits since he's also the most proven. Having those young guys, Bebe, FVV, and Miles is one of the best benches in the league.

Powell was actually a 2nd Round pick of the Bucks that they did not keep because they traded him and the acquired Clippers 2017 1st round pick for Greivis F***ing Vásque. Thanks, Kidd.

They would have screwed up that 1st rounder anyway. Since taking Jabari Parker in 2014, their last three firsts were:

Rashad Vaughn
Thon Maker
DJ Wilson

Just a Gawd awful waste. Maker is a bottom 2-3 Center in the league, Vaughn's option was not picked up, and DJ Wilson was a College Junior role player who had 2 good weeks. Given they passed on Sabonis and Portis makes it even worse.

At least they hit on Brogdon in the second round.

The longer Kidd stays, the greater the fears are that Giannis will be wasted in MKE with a yo-yo team.

DSGamer wrote:

That was really funny. The whole thing (Shaq and Chuck’s reaction) is worth a watch.

I thought the Emergency Alert was going to be part of the gag!

DSGamer wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Houston Rockets "storm" Clippers locker room and the police were called and forget all that, just scroll down and watch Shaq and Chuck's reaction.

That was really funny. The whole thing (Shaq and Chuck’s reaction) is worth a watch.

What I don’t get is what Chris Paul was hoping to do when he got there. So dumb.

Shaqs laughter cracks me every time I watch

EJ, Kenny, Charles, and Shaq are pretty much my favorite thing ever on TV. I'd watch those 4 discuss any topic anytime.

Same. I was laughing so hard at that. Especially Chuck's "Come on, man".

The reality is Chris Paul is probably really tough, 5'10" or not, but it still was amusing. Also, NBA Twitter was really funny last night. #thisleague, indeed.

The NBA is like a real life WWF drama, where they actually play for real. I think that is kind of awesome.

Well that OKC / Cavs game was pretty disappointing for a nationally televised game. Not competitive from the 1st quarter on. The Cavs seem very dysfunctional, I am not sure they can pull it together without some big trades soon. If I had to bet I would say they do not make the finals this year.

Did you see LeBron's retweet? Someone tweeted the Cavs were trying to trade for Bird, Magic, Shaq, Jesus Shuttleworth, Air Bud, etc. And Lebron replied, "and Teen Wolf too". Pretty hilarious.