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#1
10-15-2024, 05:11 PM
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OT: 2025 NBA Season
The most beautiful, exciting team sport in the world (with apologies to soccer) is about to begin a new season.
A few random thoughts and prognostications: I think the TWolves got the better of the KAT trade. I personally like KAT. I just think he comes up short when it counts. If Randle can shoot a few percentage points better, it’s a no-brainer. DeVincenzo is a great shooter and gritty defender. The Mavs suffered against Boston because their best players (Doncic, Kyrie) are great volume shooters who can’t defend. So they added Klay, a pretty good (at this stage) volume shooter who can’t defend anymore. Not sure how this makes sense. OKC just put themselves over the top by adding Hartenstein and Caruso. They were very skilled but lacked toughness and rebounding. Has there been a better GM over the past decade than Sam Presti? (Outside of Bob Myers) I don’t think so. Playoffs: (West) OKC over Denver (East) Boston over New York Finals: Boston over OKC. MVP: SGA ROY: Reed Sheppard (but Matas Buzelis looks really good too) MIP: Wemby COY: Billy Donovan First Team: SGA Doncic Brown (Bos) Tatum Jokic Last edited by XXtwindad; 10-15-2024 at 05:20 PM. 
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#2
10-15-2024, 05:57 PM
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Yes this is a wonderful time of year! My fantasy football team is driving me bonkers so I look forward to the distraction even more.
I’m not a KAT fan and was disappointed in the trade because I really liked that Knicks team last year and I’m not sure if he’ll be the right fit there. I hope so; it’s good for Basketball capital B when the Knicks are good and no, I’m not generally a Knicks fan. Most interesting team in my book, probably colored by me being a fan, is the Grizzlies. What will post-suspension, post injury Ja look like? How will the offense look with Ja and Edy? I think they will be fascinating with the wide range of talent they have. With all that I agree that OKC is the team to beat in the West. Second most interesting, from maybe the soap opera standpoint is the Lakers. Neophyte coach, ageless Lebron and shouldn’t be in the NBA (yet anyway) Bronny. Hopefully, for everyone’s sake, but especially Bronny’s, they put him in the G- League. The “chip on the shoulder” force will be quite strong with the Celtics.
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#3
10-15-2024, 06:15 PM
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Please let this be the last year of Lebron and the Lakers. Please let him retire and take his son with him wherever that may be so that the Lakers can start to rebuild into a championship. However, I have no faith in Jennie to do what’s right and lead the organization back to greatness, it seems she is just interested in filling seats and making money.
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#4
10-15-2024, 07:48 PM
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Knicks will dominate. Look out.
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#7
10-16-2024, 12:42 PM
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Oh geez, here goes my winter productivity out the window.
The Knicks will be good, but I really wish they would have run it back with their more homegrown talent than by trading away Hartenstein and Caruso. KAT has never impressed me. Like Anthony Edwards, he sometimes seems to be playing basketball in order to fund his videogame habit. He'll play hard and in your face when things are going well for him and the team, but when the pressure and adversity kick in, he's never been there. But, he does seem to be in better shape this preseason than he has been previously, and perhaps playing with a diehard baller like Brunson will help his attitude. I am not a fan of Lebron The Man, and I don't think Lebron The Player's peak was anywhere near the greatness of many other all-time greats. But, the longer he plays the more impressed I become. What he's doing at this point of his career is remarkable. So he has my respect there, but I'm not routing for the Lakers. I would love a Kings vs Knicks championship. Two teams that play great team ball with minimal flash or major marquee all-stars. Can't stand Anthony Edwards. He's been spoken of as the next face of the league but I doubt it. My girlfriend taught an adorable 4th grader kid last year who worships the Celtics and Jayson Tatum, so our household is now kinda sorta a Celtics household, as long as they're not playing the Knicks. Never thought I'd route for the Celtics... I think Miami and Jimmy Buckets were both underwhelming last year. Hoping they rebound (literally and figuratively) this year and make some noise. The league is more fun when Jimmy is healthy and causing mischief. Ja Morant was my favorite player until all the gun stuff happened. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I'm not going to get fooled again. The kid should have been made an example of and booted from the NBA. It's a privilege to play basketball, not just for a living, but for gajillions of dollars. His behavior demonstrates that he does not deserve and cannot handle that privilege. The NBA letting him off with what is an expensive slap on the wrist, but a relative slap on the wrist none-the-less, is disgraceful. Of course the Grizzlies will let him play, because integrity goes out the window when there are seats to fill and jerseys to sell. Hi Kyrie. I love basketball, but more often than not I hate the NBA and basketball culture.
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#8
10-16-2024, 09:28 PM
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Quote:
Morant seems to have put the league in an intractable situation. The league pride itself on being the most socially responsible and forward thinking sports organization. And gun violence is a huge issue. So why isn’t Morant gone? Well, obviously because you’d have to go back to AI to find a player so relentlessly electrifying. If it were a twelfth man branding a gun (twice!) he’d be gone, gone, gone. The league has a hypocrisy problem. Irving is a different matter, at least to me. Although I think these issues have been litigated in a prior thread, the crux of the matter is still germane: how do you penalize “speech?” Meyers Leonard (a pretty good backup big) uttered an antisemitic slur while playing a video game and his career went up in smoke. Irving is a unique dude, in the truest sense of the word. To the best of my knowledge, he hasn’t totally disavowed his contention that the earth is flat. (Judging by his play, the edge of the earth is probably more visible when playing “d”). That should tell you quite a bit. I actually have a few friends like Irving. They occupy the extreme ends of the political spectrum, to the point where supporting “uber left” and “uber right” candidates is a natural progression. (No politics…just illustrating a point). Lots of conspiracies abound in that nexus. And, inevitably, some groups are always on the receiving end of the “Conspiracy Rainbow.” I firmly believe that Irving believes most of what he said. But he’s gone on the requisite apology tour, which should suffice. (Unless you’re Meyers Leonard who apparently didn’t have a boarding pass for the Apology Bus.) Also in Kyrie’s favor: he’s a well-known and vocal advocate for Black and American Indian populations, and that counts for a lot. The question still remains: how (and for whom) does speech get penalized? I don’t have an answer for that. As it stands, Kyrie got rebuked. That works for me. There’s a part of me that admires his chutzpah. That takes it full circle. Last edited by XXtwindad; 10-16-2024 at 09:43 PM.
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#9
10-17-2024, 09:30 AM
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As far as Ja, looking for precedent, Gilbert Arenas was suspended for most of a season after brandishing a pistol in a locker room confrontation, but the suspension didn’t occur until after he apparently joked about it in a team huddle during a game. I think his suspensions were likely fair and appropriate, especially considering it’s unlikely any actual laws were broken.
I’m glad all the stupid things I did in my late teens and early 20’s were just limited to local witnesses. Last edited by Spaghetti Legs; 10-17-2024 at 09:32 AM.
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