Around The NBA : 2025-26

[Avery W]

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Feels like we're heading for a lot of "is faster pace causing more injuries?" discourse, similar to the conversations about the pitch clock in baseball.

[Ice Man]

No. The calf is directly connected to the achilles tendon, and achilles is a real career changer. I think back in older eras where Wemby would be jogging in a straight line, posting up, waiting for a guard to feed him, then mainly using his height and arm length to shoot a hook over his man ignoring a calf injury is probably fine.

But Wemby plays more or less like a guard, live dribble face-up going iso with crossovers, side-stepping into jumpers, euro-step, etc..

I think you just provided the best answer to the question of why today's players have so many more injuries. I had been thinking "too many muscles" but your story sounds more credible. You are correct, the movement on the court these days is just so much more varied than back in the day. For all players, but especially for bigs.

[Avery W]

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[DASMACKDOWN]

So what are we saying? That NBA players are now playing too fast that its impossible for them to play even 70 games?

Teams arent going slower. They will go even faster in the next few years. Its a copy cat league.

Silver is going to have to change something and soon because the league and teams wont govern themselves.

[Red Larrivee]

So what are we saying? That NBA players are now playing too fast that its impossible for them to play even 70 games?

Teams arent going slower. They will go even faster in the next few years. Its a copy cat league.

Silver is going to have to change something and soon because the league and teams wont govern themselves.

There's no incentive for players to play every game and teams won't force them because of the investment. Shortening the season isn't even an option. So this is what we get.

[kulaz3000]

So what are we saying? That NBA players are now playing too fast that its impossible for them to play even 70 games?

Teams arent going slower. They will go even faster in the next few years. Its a copy cat league.

Silver is going to have to change something and soon because the league and teams wont govern themselves.

There's no incentive for players to play every game and teams won't force them because of the investment. Shortening the season isn't even an option. So this is what we get.

Yeah, shortening the season is unlikely to ever happen just because of the money.

The league just needs to find a way to make it more acceptable for players to sit for periods without penalizing the team, because at the end of the day, it benefits the team because they are protecting their asset, but it also benefits the league as a whole if said star player doesn't suffer more serious injuries due to a need to play through niggling injuries.

I think the days of multiple stars grouping together and having a thin talent pool to form the rest of the team just isn't going to work anymore, because it's all about depth of the roster and being able to sustain a quality team with different players missing games throughout the entire season, not only because of injuries but for rest and injury prevention.

[madvillian]

lauri is a superstar.

[DASMACKDOWN]

So what are we saying? That NBA players are now playing too fast that its impossible for them to play even 70 games?

Teams arent going slower. They will go even faster in the next few years. Its a copy cat league.

Silver is going to have to change something and soon because the league and teams wont govern themselves.

There's no incentive for players to play every game and teams won't force them because of the investment. Shortening the season isn't even an option. So this is what we get.

Yeah, shortening the season is unlikely to ever happen just because of the money.

The league just needs to find a way to make it more acceptable for players to sit for periods without penalizing the team, because at the end of the day, it benefits the team because they are protecting their asset, but it also benefits the league as a whole if said star player doesn't suffer more serious injuries due to a need to play through niggling injuries.

I think the days of multiple stars grouping together and having a thin talent pool to form the rest of the team just isn't going to work anymore, because it's all about depth of the roster and being able to sustain a quality team with different players missing games throughout the entire season, not only because of injuries but for rest and injury prevention.

It may sound reasonable but the league isnt accepting it because of the sponsors and media holders. They just fined Cavs 100000 for Mitchell and Mobley resting.

Honestly its very difficult because as a consumer, or media sponsor that pays billions of dollars, they wont accept randomly the top guys not playing. Its hard to build or promote a league like that.

[Ice Man]

Sorry Mr. Kerr, but the issue isn't pace. The pace was higher in the 1970s and early 1980s than it is today. The issue is likely what I echoed earlier on this page (it wasn't my idea, originally) -- that the type of movement has changed. They play now like they are skiing.

[DASMACKDOWN]

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In a selfish way. I am glad that Pax is out from under the hot seat of being the GM. I felt it started to erode the love we should have for him given his years here. He is a legend.

Young fans will only remember him for the GarPax era. Which would obviously view him in a different light.

At least now we can go back to appreciating Paxson the player.

[GoBlue72391]

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In a selfish way. I am glad that Pax is out from under the hot seat of being the GM. I felt it started to erode the love we should have for him given his years here. He is a legend.

Young fans will only remember him for the GarPax era. Which would obviously view him in a different light.

At least now we can go back to appreciating Paxson the player.

I saw him up close for about 30 seconds at the game I attended last month, and any negative feelings I had toward him as a GM were gone. I was strictly viewing him as a former player.

[Ice Man]

The Bulls had Mike, then they had to find the supporting cast. Pax came first, a year before Scottie & Horace were drafted. The Bulls landed him in '86, and while John didn't bring anything better offensively than the team's previous PGs (Kyle Macy, Wes Matthews) he was tougher defensively. He got stuck in. He was a fighter, like Mike.

That's how I remember him as a player -- the second link in the championship chain. A guy who had the stones to meet with Mike's approval, and not many early Bulls could say that.

[madvillian]

The Bulls had Mike, then they had to find the supporting cast. Pax came first, a year before Scottie & Horace were drafted. The Bulls landed him in '86, and while John didn't bring anything better offensively than the team's previous PGs (Kyle Macy, Wes Matthews) he was tougher defensively. He got stuck in. He was a fighter, like Mike.

That's how I remember him as a player -- the second link in the championship chain. A guy who had the stones to meet with Mike's approval, and not many early Bulls could say that.

Paxson played with what VDN used to call "thrust" and it's no surprise Kirk Hinrich was one of Paxson's first picks.

[Ice Man]

Yes, thrust. Exactly!

[Red Larrivee]

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In a selfish way. I am glad that Pax is out from under the hot seat of being the GM. I felt it started to erode the love we should have for him given his years here. He is a legend.

Young fans will only remember him for the GarPax era. Which would obviously view him in a different light.

At least now we can go back to appreciating Paxson the player.

I know the end of his run was a bad taste, but he was very good from like 2003-2012. I got no beef with Paxson. He gave a ton to the team and turned them around from a dark era.

[pipfan]

76 games-that would help. Same length of season, but 6 fewer games (6 fewer back-to-backs).

Do it with expansion

[HomoSapien]

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In a selfish way. I am glad that Pax is out from under the hot seat of being the GM. I felt it started to erode the love we should have for him given his years here. He is a legend.

Young fans will only remember him for the GarPax era. Which would obviously view him in a different light.

At least now we can go back to appreciating Paxson the player.

I'm 40, and that's honestly really how I remember him, too. Obviously I know exactly who he was and his history, but I missed the first three-peat so I never had that fondness of him as a player. I really enjoyed him as a Bulls color commentator and thought he was fantastic early on as a GM... and even though I was highly critical of him later in his tenure, he has this knack of making you feel better about things when you hear him talk.

It was fun watching this video though. For the most part, I didn't think there was much separating Paxson, Armstrong, and Kerr but the innate toughness that Pax had seems to be a trait that would set him apart.