OT: The 2023 NBA season is off to a weird start.

[XXtwindad]

The two NBA finalists are embroiled in controversy. First, the Celtics head coach, Ime Udoka, sleeps with a team staffer and gets suspended for the season. Normally, I’m not bothered by consensual affairs, but, you know, don’t **** where you eat and all.

Perhaps more worrisome is the Dubs’ situation. Perpetual hothead Draymond Green sucker punched the ascendant Jordan Poole during a scrimmage. That seems like it might be a bridge too far even for someone notorious for pushing boundaries.

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

The two NBA finalists are embroiled in controversy. First, the Celtics head coach, Ime Udoka, sleeps with a team staffer and gets suspended for the season. Normally, I’m not bothered by consensual affairs, but, you know, don’t **** where you eat and all.

Perhaps more worrisome is the Dubs’ situation. Perpetual hothead Draymond Green sucker punched the ascendant Jordan Poole during a scrimmage. That seems like it might be a bridge too far even for someone notorious for pushing boundaries.

Forgot to mention the Suns ownership being in limbo after the report that Sarver is a serial POS, and two of the leagues biggest stars looking like hostages in their season opening press conference from BK.

Catch the excitement!

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by yinzerniner

Forgot to mention the Suns ownership being in limbo after the report that Sarver is a serial POS, and two of the leagues biggest stars looking like hostages in their season opening press conference from BK.

Catch the excitement!

Oh yeah…I forgot something! From the Paleolithic Files. Silver lost his nerve so the players stepped up to fill the void. Good riddance.

[Spdntrxi]

Dubs would be better w/o Green. They might still have Durant if not for Green.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Spdntrxi

Dubs would be better w/o Green. They might still have Durant if not for Green.

At this point, the Dubs might be better off without Green. Doubtful they would’ve won any of their titles without him. He most likely did contribute to Durant’s departure, and for that I give him credit. I really hated the Durant era Dubs. Like the Giants with Bonds. Stand around and watch the alpha dude make something happen. Boring.

OTH, Green was arguably responsible for their 2016 finals loss due to being ejected and hard to see how Poole doesn’t leave if Draymond stays. I love DG. But really hard to keep making excuses for the guy. Unless you’re Bob Meyers.

[72gmc]

People have been making excuses for Draymond for too long.

[jm714]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

OTH, Green was arguably responsible for their 2016 finals loss due to being ejected and hard to see how Poole doesn’t leave if Draymond stays. I love DG. But really hard to keep making excuses for the guy. Unless you’re Bob Meyers.

Give Lebron credit for instigating that ejection. He stepped over Green on the floor and Green took the bait.

But in the end the NBA wanted Cleveland to win that championship.

As a lifelong Laker fan I wish Lebron never came to the Lakers and I wish he would force his exit from the team now like he has orchestrated his past departures.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by jm714

As a lifelong Laker fan I wish Lebron never came to the Lakers and I wish he would force his exit from the team now like he has orchestrated his past departures.

So, you want to get rid of LeBron, but keep Westbrook?

[jm714]

Originally Posted by Louis

So, you want to get rid of LeBron, but keep Westbrook?

Why Pelinka brought Westbrook on board is beyond me. Everyone knew it was a bad move. The Lakers need to stop pretending they are contenders and just blow up the lineup and start fresh. The league has passed them by.

That covid bubble was a gift championship that made them think they can still win.

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by jm714

The Lakers need to stop pretending they are contenders and just blow up the lineup and start fresh.

[mstateglfr]

Originally Posted by jm714

Why Pelinka brought Westbrook on board is beyond me. Everyone knew it was a bad move. The Lakers need to stop pretending they are contenders and just blow up the lineup and start fresh. The league has passed them by.

That covid bubble was a gift championship that made them think they can still win.

I have enjoyed the near decade of ineptitude. The organization has made obviously terrible choices over and over again and its nice when the large teams are impacted by their dumb moves.
The Knicks have been a joke for basically this entire century, having finished over .500 only 4 times. And the Lakers have been in a nearly 10 year slump of their own doing. Its glorious.

From the absurd contract they gave Kobe, which completely killed their ability to surround him with talent at the end, to the insistence that they can fit square pegs into round holes with the superstar talent they have amassed over the last 5 years- its all a total circus and who doesnt like to watch the high wire act fail?

That NBA Bubble championship made me hesitate for a moment. For just a second I thought 'oh man, maybe they do have this figured out!', but then I saw them play like the Washington Generals a couple months later in the following season and realized the grand experiment would continue to be a total failure.
That NBA Bubble was lightning in a bottle. Good for them for catching it, they certainly have spent enough money and embarrassed themselves in the media enough over the last 10 years to show they put in the work to deserve a title.

[Jaybee]

The bubble championship was mostly Anthony Davis shooting a standard deviation above his career average for a month.

Westbrook, whom I admittedly loved when he was in OKC, is a terrible fit and example 3,422 why players shouldn't be allowed to be GMs during their playing days. LeBron wanted his friends, and he got them. A competent GM and one with enough power (like Griff, when LeBron was a Cav) says "I don't care who your friends are. You're a basketball savant and we're surrounding you with 4 shooters at all times and at least one guy, preferably two, who can run a pick and roll where you're not the ball-handler."

Bringing this full circle, the Nets also have the "player as GM" problem.


Fun stories though: I'm really enjoying the Raptors this year. Positionless basketball! Siakam for MVP!

[RobbieTunes]

Sorry about the NBA soap opera/power struggle situation. I don't watch it, or college ball anymore.

I do, however, like to watch the older NBA clips. Guys with a lot less skill seemed to make up for it with intelligence and determination, or all three, but the older NBA seemed to have a higher % of players who appeared to relish nothing more than to be on the court, giving it 100%.

[xnetter]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Fun stories though: I'm really enjoying the Raptors this year. Positionless basketball! Siakam for MVP!

My Raps are really coming along. We added a ton of depth this off-season - one of our main weaknesses last year. Otto Porter Jr. coming here from the Dubs as a free agent also helped us get over the "good NBA players don't want to play in Canada" stigma.

Raps are the antithesis of the Nets/Sixers/Lakers/Warriors big-tent circuses - no drama or toxic personalities, good vibes, unselfish play, visionary organization that invests in its players, etc etc.

KJ

[yinzerniner]

Originally Posted by xnetter

My Raps are really coming along. We added a ton of depth this off-season - one of our main weaknesses last year. Otto Porter Jr. coming here from the Dubs as a free agent also helped us get over the "good NBA players don't want to play in Canada" stigma.

Raps are the antithesis of the Nets/Sixers/Lakers/Warriors big-tent circuses - no drama or toxic personalities, good vibes, unselfish play, visionary organization that invests in its players, etc etc.

KJ

Raptors are absolutely the most successful combo of front office patience/aptitude/maturity in the league right now, but the Warriors really are only a circus due to Green (and somewhat KD when he was there, but it was a short time). If Green wasn't such a nutsack-targeting psychopath they woud've won the series in 2016 handily. As discussed before he absolutely brings a talent mix that's essential to how the Warriors play and succeed, but he'll be a liabilty as soon as the mileage finally takes its toll.

And Nash leaving the dumpster fire of BK is the best decision anyone's made in the NBA this year. They've now got a crazy situation in San Antonio and their lottery pick being a creep, which was the "adult in the room" for decades. And galaxy brain Kyrie will never stop being a contrarian idiot.

It's too bad as the talent pool of the NBA is at it's highest point since the early-90s. At every position on the court there's no clear-cut best player, and oftentimes the debate can go 5 deep with athletic freaks all over the map.