2020 NBA Catch-All: Offseason

Prederick wrote:

Super happy to see Zion out there tonight. I really hope he stays healthy, but man, looking at him, I have to wonder if his critics have a point and he's just too big to play basketball.

I wonder if it's his body type or if it's the singular focus from an early age on one sport. There's lots of literature on the relationship between doing one sport as a kid develops and future injury. TLDR: injury risk increases if a youth specializes early and risk decreases if a youth does lots of sports before focusing later in development.

Holy sh*t.

Kobe Bryant died in a helicoper crash in Calabasas Sunday morning ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Kobe was traveling with at least 3 other people in his private helicopter when it went down. A fire broke out. Emergency personnel responded, but nobody on board survived. 5 people are confirmed dead. We're told Vanessa Bryant was not among those on board.

It's been confirmed pretty much everywhere, although details and rumors are still abound (some fairly horrifying).

This is probably a good day to hop off Twitter though. The Discourse is already spectacular, and it's only going to increase in its majesty.

Wow. I feel sad for his family.

According to TMZ his 13 year-old daughter was with him. I’m hugging my little girl and crying right now.

Yeah, I'm at work right now and Getty has a bunch of images of him at a game with Gianna (reportedly on the helicopter with him) from back in December and.... yeesh.

Prederick wrote:

Yeah, I'm at work right now and Getty has a bunch of images of him at a game with Gianna (reportedly on the helicopter with him) from back in December and.... yeesh.

Was walking with my wife when it was first reported. Immediately started talking about how he was at a game with his daughter and was really into training her and they spend so much time together. Had a sinking feeling this might be a worst-case-scenario.

Yes they were going to one of her games. Another parent/child from her team were the final 2 passengers.

3 daughters left behind. Oldest 16, youngest born last Jan. Crazy.

I know there was a lot less time to make the decision, but playing tonight feels as wrong as the NFL playing after JFK's assassination.

I imagine it was just too short notice. I didn't even see the first alert until 2:27 EST, and there wasn't widespread confirmation until almost 3. First tip was 3 PM, 3:30 or something.

Nice gesture by the Spurs & Raptors though.

Hug your loved ones. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Sweet lord, officials just said there were nine bodies recovered at the crash site.

Just awful.

Yeah that press conference was something. All reports earlier were 5 dead. Now suddenly 9.

Boston and New Orleans just did the shot clock thing.

Oh maybe that was the other thread. Spurs and Raptors earlier opened their game by taking 24-second violations and letting the crowd cheer for Kobe. Probably all the games today at least will do that.

Yeah, pretty much everyone did it.

Honestly, the part that gets me is Gianna. Like that, at 13. Just desperately, desperately sad.

Ugh. Terrible. Was reading Shaqs Twitter post and it almost got me.

I feel like he had so much more to add also. I don't know what his next move was going to be but he would of crushed it and made a real difference.

Prederick wrote:

Yeah, pretty much everyone did it.

And the later teams tonight started taking an 8-second backcourt violation, then a 24-second. For both his numbers.

Prederick wrote:

Honestly, the part that gets me is Gianna. Like that, at 13. Just desperately, desperately sad.

I can handle a retired athlete death no matter how tragic or early. His daughter and other young people being involved is devastating.

Yeah the kids and the parents gets me. Sad.

Pop, starting his post-game interview tonight: "Good game, tough loss, who cares."

Yup.

He really is my favorite coach.

The sad thing is that his next move was being a father to his daughters and yes he was crushing it when this happened

Not that it's a huge surprise, but the Lakers are doing a great job with their Kobe tribute tonight.

Let us also always be amazed at how, if you get 20,000 people together for a funeral service, there will always be 5-10 screaming jackasses who don't understand how/when to shut the f*ck up.

If Dame is going to make this "pulling up from the logo" thing a regular part of his game, he is going to be utterly unstoppable and the only reason he won't win everything is because basketball is a 5-man sport. Looking at his last 5 games is like standing infront of a blast furnace.

It's always Dame Time

IMAGE(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MNROME-5A9c/hqdefault.jpg)

The shot chart from last nights is disgusting. His comfort with taking insanely long 3s is something else.

That's a definite Woj Bomb. I like it. Warriors banking on culture being able to get more out of Wiggins.

I don't understand this trade for either side.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

I don't understand this trade for either side.

Essentially, the Warrior traded/signed for Russell just so they could trade him for more assets down the line. He wouldn't have been a starter next season and the Timberwolves have been obsessed with pairing him with his best friend, Towns. Wiggins isn't great and is massively overpaid but has finally progressed a little this season. Factor in he plays a position they don't have any starters on. As DSGamer said, bank on the veterans, culture, and coaching staff to elevate some aspects of his game. He has all the tools to be a premier defensive player but he's now on his 5th coach in 6 years.