Around The NBA : 2023-24 Season #2

[Chi town]

Tatum will surely get the supermax. So Jaylen and he will cost over $100M+ to the cap; which is OK. They are on track to potentially being the most winning players of all time (it would greatly help their young playoff record if they sealed a chip).

But then you’ll have Jrue, Porzingis and White adding up to roughly $90M, with the latter two seeking extensions.

So it’s on track to being a record breaking $220M payroll in 2 years or so. Good problem to have if they keep winning.

But I agree — the big implication is this: teams used to hesitate paying players at 35, but they’re getting big 4y deals without much pushback. There’s no chance in hell that the Bulls resign Demar to some team friendly Vuc deal. His performance has been too consistent.

And those deals don’t age well. Look at CP3 for receipts.

[Ice Man]

I feel this is like the paternity leave discussion…

Actually, jokes aside, I do think that the game was easier on players' bodies back in the day. One, the pace is faster and two the players today are heavier, which puts more of a strain on the body. True the game used to be dirtier, but only rarely did dirty plays (most famously, the Kermit Washington punch and the Malone elbow on IT) cause meaningful injuries. They were cheap-ass punk plays, but not overly dangerous.

[Chi town]

I feel this is like the paternity leave discussion…

Actually, jokes aside, I do think that the game was easier on players' bodies back in the day. One, the pace is faster and two the players today are heavier, which puts more of a strain on the body. True the game used to be dirtier, but only rarely did dirty plays (most famously, the Kermit Washington punch and the Malone elbow on IT) cause meaningful injuries. They were cheap-ass punk plays, but not overly dangerous.

Nah. Game was way more physical. Could actually play D. Travel has changed so much to gives these guys was less B2Bs and more sleep too.

[MrSparkle]

Tatum will surely get the supermax. So Jaylen and he will cost over $100M+ to the cap; which is OK. They are on track to potentially being the most winning players of all time (it would greatly help their young playoff record if they sealed a chip).

But then you’ll have Jrue, Porzingis and White adding up to roughly $90M, with the latter two seeking extensions.

So it’s on track to being a record breaking $220M payroll in 2 years or so. Good problem to have if they keep winning.

But I agree — the big implication is this: teams used to hesitate paying players at 35, but they’re getting big 4y deals without much pushback. There’s no chance in hell that the Bulls resign Demar to some team friendly Vuc deal. His performance has been too consistent.

And those deals don’t age well. Look at CP3 for receipts.

Well, they don’t. But teams are willing to hand them out.

CP3 was manageable cause of the non-guaranteed money. Would Phoenix have been better off letting him walk? Dunno about that either. The Durant trade seems to be the kookiest part of their trade history. I’d hesitate to sign a 35yo for 4y deal… I’d completely shut down the idea of trading 2 young fringe star prospects and 5 FRPs for a guy that old, even if it was Michael Jordan. I’d get it done only if I had 3 other superstars to pair him with (old CP3/Beal and Ayton were not rounding that squad out).

[kodo]

I feel this is like the paternity leave discussion…

Actually, jokes aside, I do think that the game was easier on players' bodies back in the day. One, the pace is faster and two the players today are heavier, which puts more of a strain on the body. True the game used to be dirtier, but only rarely did dirty plays (most famously, the Kermit Washington punch and the Malone elbow on IT) cause meaningful injuries. They were cheap-ass punk plays, but not overly dangerous.

Nah. Game was way more physical. Could actually play D. Travel has changed so much to gives these guys was less B2Bs and more sleep too.

IMO, the game was more physical back then and exhausting but the modern game puts more stress on the knees due to the change of direction, like eurosteps. Jabari Parker is 240, was running in a straight line full court from the other basket full speed, and then right before the rim did a hard euro-step putting all that force to one knee in a direction it was never meant to take. ACL gave out, and obviously IMO. In many ways what would have happened in the 90s, a 240 PF goes straight at the rim, defender challenges, they both collide, was safer physically even though there was a collision. A lot of today's bad injuries are non-contact. There was a good article on the rise of ACL injuries and a doctor stated he's seeing a lot more basketball injuries that are normally associated with skiing, which is obviously non-contact.

I think the older era game was both more physical and at the same time less injury prone.

[Chi town]

Actually, jokes aside, I do think that the game was easier on players' bodies back in the day. One, the pace is faster and two the players today are heavier, which puts more of a strain on the body. True the game used to be dirtier, but only rarely did dirty plays (most famously, the Kermit Washington punch and the Malone elbow on IT) cause meaningful injuries. They were cheap-ass punk plays, but not overly dangerous.

Nah. Game was way more physical. Could actually play D. Travel has changed so much to gives these guys was less B2Bs and more sleep too.

IMO, the game was more physical back then and exhausting but the modern game puts more stress on the knees due to the change of direction, like eurosteps. Jabari Parker is 240, was running in a straight line full court from the other basket full speed, and then right before the rim did a hard euro-step putting all that force to one knee in a direction it was never meant to take. ACL gave out, and obviously IMO. In many ways what would have happened in the 90s, a 240 PF goes straight at the rim, defender challenges, they both collide, was safer physically even though there was a collision. A lot of today's bad injuries are non-contact. There was a good article on the rise of ACL injuries and a doctor stated he's seeing a lot more basketball injuries that are normally associated with skiing, which is obviously non-contact.

I think the older era game was both more physical and at the same time less injury prone.

Good way of saying it. Guys played way more and rested way less.

[Ice Man]

I mean, you can call up any random game from the Nineties on YouTube and see that the game was not more physical than today. There wasn't more pushing in the box, there wasn't more contact with shooters, there weren't more hard screens. It's all a myth, perpetrated by old guys and nostalgic fans. As I wrote, there were a lot of dirty cheap shots, until the league started to crack down on such things, but those didn't happen during most games.

Here, watch Bulls - Lakers Game 5 and tell me if you can find one play that wouldn't happen today. Go ahead. Try it.

Watch on YouTube

[Repeat 3-peat]

Nuggets blew a 23 point lead vs the Spurs to lose the #1 seed. Damn.

[HomoSapien]

I mean, you can call up any random game from the Nineties on YouTube and see that the game was not more physical than today. There wasn't more pushing in the box, there wasn't more contact with shooters, there weren't more hard screens. It's all a myth, perpetrated by old guys and nostalgic fans. As I wrote, there were a lot of dirty cheap shots, until the league started to crack down on such things, but those didn't happen during most games.

Here, watch Bulls - Lakers Game 5 and tell me if you can find one play that wouldn't happen today. Go ahead. Try it.

Watch on YouTube

Adam Silver has openly talked about purposely softening the physicality of the game. Is he being nostalgic?

Read on Twitter

/mediaviewer

[Michael Jackson]

I mean, you can call up any random game from the Nineties on YouTube and see that the game was not more physical than today. There wasn't more pushing in the box, there wasn't more contact with shooters, there weren't more hard screens. It's all a myth, perpetrated by old guys and nostalgic fans. As I wrote, there were a lot of dirty cheap shots, until the league started to crack down on such things, but those didn't happen during most games.

Here, watch Bulls - Lakers Game 5 and tell me if you can find one play that wouldn't happen today. Go ahead. Try it.

Watch on YouTube

Adam Silver has openly talked about purposely softening the physicality of the game. Is he being nostalgic?

Read on Twitter

/mediaviewer

I do think the game may be "less physical" in a sense but generally agree that it is more physically taxing. The speed of the game is more intense and how much ground they have to cover.

[Ice Man]

Adam Silver has openly talked about purposely softening the physicality of the game. Is he being nostalgic?

If he was using the term "too physical" to mean that fouls were called differently (aside from hand checking) then yes I think he was being nostalgic. But what I think he meant was that the game was played too much in the interior, with post players banging and pushing and clutching inside, and not enough movement/use of open space. So the NBA has done what it can to encourage more perimeter play.

You still have post players banging and pushing and clutching inside, which is why post scoring is relatively inefficient, because defenders are draped all over centers (see Jokic becoming e red from scratch marks), but now there's so much more perimeter play that overall there is less contact.



That's how I read Silver's comment.

I would also add that I don't know how anybody can complain about the league being physically soft these days when it features Joel Embiid. He and Shaq are the two most physical players I have ever seen in the NBA. The Bad Boys were mean spirited, and chopped you when they can, but Embiid would have rolled those little guys like bowling pins.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[samwana]

Adam Silver has openly talked about purposely softening the physicality of the game. Is he being nostalgic?

If he was using the term "too physical" to mean that fouls were called differently (aside from hand checking) then yes I think he was being nostalgic. But what I think he meant was that the game was played too much in the interior, with post players banging and pushing and clutching inside, and not enough movement/use of open space. So the NBA has done what it can to encourage more perimeter play.

You still have post players banging and pushing and clutching inside, which is why post scoring is relatively inefficient, because defenders are draped all over centers (see Jokic becoming e red from scratch marks), but now there's so much more perimeter play that overall there is less contact.



That's how I read Silver's comment.

I would also add that I don't know how anybody can complain about the league being physically soft these days when it features Joel Embiid. He and Shaq are the two most physical players I have ever seen in the NBA. The Bad Boys were mean spirited, and chopped you when they can, but Embiid would have rolled those little guys like bowling pins.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Embiid is a dirty player. Especially when he is losing.

[dice]

accounting for age, lebron has had the most impressive regular season in nba history. just stupid that he has probably been a top 10 player at age 39

[dice]

Tatum will surely get the supermax. So Jaylen and he will cost over $100M+ to the cap; which is OK. They are on track to potentially being the most winning players of all time (it would greatly help their young playoff record if they sealed a chip).

But then you’ll have Jrue, Porzingis and White adding up to roughly $90M, with the latter two seeking extensions.

So it’s on track to being a record breaking $220M payroll in 2 years or so. Good problem to have if they keep winning.

But I agree — the big implication is this: teams used to hesitate paying players at 35, but they’re getting big 4y deals without much pushback. There’s no chance in hell that the Bulls resign Demar to some team friendly Vuc deal. His performance has been too consistent.

And those deals don’t age well. Look at CP3 for receipts.

true, but he was still all-nba age 34-36

[dice]

Actually, jokes aside, I do think that the game was easier on players' bodies back in the day. One, the pace is faster and two the players today are heavier, which puts more of a strain on the body. True the game used to be dirtier, but only rarely did dirty plays (most famously, the Kermit Washington punch and the Malone elbow on IT) cause meaningful injuries. They were cheap-ass punk plays, but not overly dangerous.

Nah. Game was way more physical. Could actually play D. Travel has changed so much to gives these guys was less B2Bs and more sleep too.

IMO, the game was more physical back then and exhausting but the modern game puts more stress on the knees due to the change of direction, like eurosteps. Jabari Parker is 240, was running in a straight line full court from the other basket full speed, and then right before the rim did a hard euro-step putting all that force to one knee in a direction it was never meant to take. ACL gave out, and obviously IMO. In many ways what would have happened in the 90s, a 240 PF goes straight at the rim, defender challenges, they both collide, was safer physically even though there was a collision. A lot of today's bad injuries are non-contact. There was a good article on the rise of ACL injuries and a doctor stated he's seeing a lot more basketball injuries that are normally associated with skiing, which is obviously non-contact.

I think the older era game was both more physical and at the same time less injury prone.

wanna prevent injury AND make the game more watchable, silver? outlaw the eurostep!

[dice]

I mean, you can call up any random game from the Nineties on YouTube and see that the game was not more physical than today. There wasn't more pushing in the box, there wasn't more contact with shooters, there weren't more hard screens. It's all a myth, perpetrated by old guys and nostalgic fans. As I wrote, there were a lot of dirty cheap shots, until the league started to crack down on such things, but those didn't happen during most games.

love it when people claim that MJ was knocked down every time he went into the lane

[jc23]

assuming the lakers and warriors get the 7/8 i dont see an easy first round matchup in the west.

[DASMACKDOWN]

Wow Grayson Allen 4/70 mil.

Now I gotta hand it to hin. He has had a heck of a season shooting the ball. League leading 46% from 3.

But still that is ALOT for Grayson Allen.

[Ice Man]

Wow Grayson Allen 4/70 mil.

Now I gotta hand it to hin. He has had a heck of a season shooting the ball. League leading 46% from 3.

But still that is ALOT for Grayson Allen.

Mama, raise your kids to be 3-point shooters. They must be relatively tall and fast, compared to the average male. But not athletic marvels. And if they shoot well enough, they can make a TON of money. Like 50x more per year than an Olympic track & field champion (except for Usain Bolt). Not 5x more, 50x more.

[drosestruts]

Mavs Clippers has got to be the best first-round matchup, some good history there between those teams. Third time in 5 years they've met in the playoffs.

These teams are very familiar with each other and the series have been intense. Looking forward to round 3.