Around the NBA 11

[Braggins]

Ben Simmons has completely fallen out of the Nets rotation since the KD/Irving trades. What a swindle his last contract was.

[Diop]

Ben Simmons has completely fallen out of the Nets rotation since the KD/Irving trades. What a swindle his last contract was.

hes off with knee soreness, but that doesn't change that fact.

[Diop]

Plumlee fits nicely on that Clippers team. Very happy for him

[Braggins]

Holy **** I been telling ya'll to watch King's game. They beat LAC 176-175 in double OT on the second night of a back to back. Monk had 45 points and 6 assists on 24 shots including the game tying 3pt shot at the end of regulation. Monk/Fox combined for 129 points created (pts + ast).

Its pretty frustrating that the guy being credited with being the architect of their offense is Borrego's lead assistant, Jay Triano. Monk also said in the post game when asked about the beautiful play at the end of the 1st OT, "Triano drew that up man. He got a lotta quick hitters for 3s" lol.

Watch on YouTube

[Diop]

Plumlee fits nicely on that Clippers team. Very happy for him

They were leading east when I posted that

Then they choked, why did that dude leave monk on that game tying 3 to help defend the 2??

You’re up 3 idiot

[Rich4114]

Holy **** I been telling ya'll to watch King's game. They beat LAC 176-175 in double OT on the second night of a back to back. Monk had 45 points and 6 assists on 24 shots including the game tying 3pt shot at the end of regulation. Monk/Fox combined for 129 points created (pts + ast).

Its pretty frustrating that the guy being credited with being the architect of their offense is Borrego's lead assistant, Jay Triano. Monk also said in the post game when asked about the beautiful play at the end of the 1st OT, "Triano drew that up man. He got a lotta quick hitters for 3s" lol.

Watch on YouTube

I’m really happy for the Kings. It’s good to see our purple cousins make it out of the treadmill and into contention territory. Amazing how good Monk looks in the right environment too. Can’t believe we could’ve signed him for basically minimum but instead drafted James Bouknight. Disastrous move.

[Rays Pompadour]

Holy **** I been telling ya'll to watch King's game. They beat LAC 176-175 in double OT on the second night of a back to back. Monk had 45 points and 6 assists on 24 shots including the game tying 3pt shot at the end of regulation. Monk/Fox combined for 129 points created (pts + ast).

Its pretty frustrating that the guy being credited with being the architect of their offense is Borrego's lead assistant, Jay Triano. Monk also said in the post game when asked about the beautiful play at the end of the 1st OT, "Triano drew that up man. He got a lotta quick hitters for 3s" lol.

Watch on YouTube

I’m really happy for the Kings. It’s good to see our purple cousins make it out of the treadmill and into contention territory. Amazing how good Monk looks in the right environment too. Can’t believe we could’ve signed him for basically minimum but instead drafted James Bouknight. Disastrous move.

You'll feel the same way when we let Bouknight go and he blows up for the Grizzlies or the Nets.

[CuseMayne]

Holy **** I been telling ya'll to watch King's game. They beat LAC 176-175 in double OT on the second night of a back to back. Monk had 45 points and 6 assists on 24 shots including the game tying 3pt shot at the end of regulation. Monk/Fox combined for 129 points created (pts + ast).

Its pretty frustrating that the guy being credited with being the architect of their offense is Borrego's lead assistant, Jay Triano. Monk also said in the post game when asked about the beautiful play at the end of the 1st OT, "Triano drew that up man. He got a lotta quick hitters for 3s" lol.

Watch on YouTube

I’m really happy for the Kings. It’s good to see our purple cousins make it out of the treadmill and into contention territory. Amazing how good Monk looks in the right environment too. Can’t believe we could’ve signed him for basically minimum but instead drafted James Bouknight. Disastrous move.

You'll feel the same way when we let Bouknight go and he blows up for the Grizzlies or the Nets.

I saw it coming with Monk. I highly highly doubt it happens with Bouk though. He's garb.

[luciano-davidwesley]

Holy **** I been telling ya'll to watch King's game. They beat LAC 176-175 in double OT on the second night of a back to back. Monk had 45 points and 6 assists on 24 shots including the game tying 3pt shot at the end of regulation. Monk/Fox combined for 129 points created (pts + ast).

Its pretty frustrating that the guy being credited with being the architect of their offense is Borrego's lead assistant, Jay Triano. Monk also said in the post game when asked about the beautiful play at the end of the 1st OT, "Triano drew that up man. He got a lotta quick hitters for 3s" lol.

Watch on YouTube

I’m really happy for the Kings. It’s good to see our purple cousins make it out of the treadmill and into contention territory. Amazing how good Monk looks in the right environment too. Can’t believe we could’ve signed him for basically minimum but instead drafted James Bouknight. Disastrous move.

You'll feel the same way when we let Bouknight go and he blows up for the Grizzlies or the Nets.

Lol there's no chance Bouknight blows up anywhere. He's just not even close to having a go-to skill at this level he can use to carve out a role in the NBA.

[JDR720]

We let Monk leave for personal issues, he was was almost guaranteed to do well on his new team. Still irritating though, I'd take current Monk over Rozier pretty easily. The worst thing is most of us really liked drafting him too.

Bouknight? I don't think he'll be in the league in a few years. Monk was a better shooter, passer and athlete.

Firing Borrego may end up being the worst decision we've made recently. Although a big reason that is the case is we ended up with Clifford..again.

[Braggins]

I made a quick playlist of the Kings cutting/spacing principles putting the Clippers defense in difficult situations. The high-low site cuts parts off of a lot of plays so I couldn't get any good longer extended sequences of player movement, but its still some impressive stuff.

https://the-high-low.com/video/ids?ids=23DgLx23c58L23YW1323NwIl23P1oM23CLaj23wsHw23JXX823a1z523vlWx23znXm23Vdog23JzrQ

[Braggins]

Read on Twitter

So, ummm, Im not sure if the Hornets could realistically field a competitive offer and its hard to see Miami trading him to a division rival, but if they were going to make a win-now move for an old guy, Jimmy is actually an insane fit. Maybe if they could get a high enough valuation on Bridges they could do a S&T and package him with Rozier and keep this years pick. Lets say they drafted Brandon Miller and trade something like Bridges + Rozier + Kai + Bouk + some number of 1sts/swaps for Butler.

starters: LaMelo ~ Butler ~ Miller ~ PJ ~ Williams
reserve: DSJ ~ Martin ~ Hayward ~ Richards
situation: Maledon ~ McGowens ~ Thor

I don't know if betting on Butlers longevity is a good idea, but thats actually a kind of sick team.

[HornetJail]

nah pass

[Braggins]

I would be interested if you could guarantee me four more years of Butler playing at close to his current level. Hes one of the most underrated players in the league and is the exact type of leader that could usher in a complete culture change for the franchise. They could make the conference finals next season with that team. Would have to see some jumps from from young players to get to a level to beat Celtics or current Bucks, but Jimmy made the finals with a worse Bam and significantly worse version of Herro. LaMelo is better and has a way higher ceiling than current Herro. Mark might not necessarily ever get as good as Bam, but he has the potential to be damn good. Youd also potentially be throwing Wemby/Scoot/Miller into the mix and PJ/Hayward/Martin is a nice crop of role players. They could compete with anyone in the conference besides Celtics/Bucks next season.

The actual full context of the Jimmy quote didn't seem to imply hes on the verge of asking for a trade or anything yet, but you never know what could happen.

[UNCNYC]

Glad to see Isaiah Joe finally doing his thing. I am still a huge fan of his. I wonder if he will stay starting in OKC

[SWedd523]

I don't think production-wise he's really that much better than a decade younger Miles. Better intangibles for sure, but outside of that, I don't think he's a better fit near-and-long term than Miles (assuming he keeps his nose clean)

[Braggins]

Butler is so much better than Miles. They aren't comparable imo.

Butler has a +7.5 BPM this season with an average of +6.7 over the last four seasons (Miles best season is +1.5). He ranks 15th in the league in WAR, 10th in RAPTOR, and 7th in estimated +/- behind only Jokic, Embiid, Lilard, Doncic, Curry, and Kawhi. Hes a top 10ish impact player in the league and has been for years. That says nothing of the difference in terms of intangibles and leadership. There is virtually no chance Miles is ever close to as good as Butler is right now. Theres a good chance LaMelo is never as good as Butler is right now.

Its still not necessarily an easy sell because Butler is 33 and already consistently misses 20-30 games every season. The short term possibilities are at least interesting though imo. He should elevate this team significantly more over the next couple seasons than Donovan Mitchell would have. Although I'm sure we all know if they traded for him his body would immediately fall apart and hed be out of the league in two years somehow.

[Bassman]

Sad to see my target coach Quinn Snyder get signed by the Hawks for 5 years. He’s very smart…perhaps he already told Mitch “nada”.

[JMAC3]

Glad to see Isaiah Joe finally doing his thing. I am still a huge fan of his. I wonder if he will stay starting in OKC

Probably not unless they are benching SGA, Giddey or Dort.
Fundamentally OKC players do not fit together, we will have to see what they do in the coming years.

Neither SGA, Jalen Williams nor Giddey are good outside shooter. So they slam in players around them that shoot the ball well with Joe, Muscala, Jaylin Williams, Dort etc... problem is they are playing Jalen Williams at the 4 which makes them way too small.

A 1-3 of poor shooters isn't sustainable longterm so unless Jalen Williams all of sudden becomes knockdown I doubt those 3 stay together.

[Braggins]

NBA league expansion/overhaul idea - just for fun, not necessarily realistic

goals: no relocations, return classic franchises, reduce games/travel, improve division system, rethink all-star break

NEW TEAMS
~ Seattle Supersonics
~ Kansas City Royals (or Vancouver Grizzlies + Memphis name change)
~ Las Vegas ?

Divisions
(no more East/West conference)

North Division (11) - Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets

South Division (11) - San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, New Orleans Pelicans, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat

West Division (11) - Seattle Supersonics, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Los Angelas Lakers, Los Angelas Clippers, Las Vegas ?, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Kansas City Royals (or VCG)

SCHEDULE
(no b2b's if possible)
preseason
~ 2 games (potentially completely eliminate)
regular season
~ 3 games vs 10 other division teams = 30
~ 2 games vs 22 non division teams = 44
total games = 74

MIDSEASON DIVISION TOURNAMENTS
~ no all-star game/weekend
~ regular season stops for around 2 weeks at midpoint (with each team playing exactly 50% of their total games)
~ during break each division plays a single elimination division tournament
~ each tournament is played at a single location (neutral?) in its region over a number of consecutive days (bubble setup with fans)
~ combine with essence of all-star game weekend by making them week long events with concerts, festivities, etc, essentially regional basketball festivals

example midseason break + division tournament schedule

Spoiler:

day 1-5: break
day 6 (mon): round 1
day 7 (tue): rest/festivities
day 8 (wed): round 2
day 9 (thu): rest/festivities
day 10 (fri): round 3
day 11 (sat): rest/festivities/division all-star ceremony (awards only)
day 12 (sun): finals
day 13-16: break(4 days)

division tournament format
~ seed teams by overall record
~ top 10 ranked qualify
~ teams 1-6 have bye
~ single elimination
~ give some type of attractive reward to winners (maybe get to host next years tournament?)
~ winning teams get division tournament championship banner/trophies

Spoiler:

(a-j = game / # = seed / W = winner / L = loser)
round 1
a(8/9)
b(7/10)

round 2
c(1/Wa)
d(4/5)
e(2/Wb)
f(3/6)

round 3
h(Wc/Wd)
i(We/Wf)

round 4
j(Wh/Wi) - division champion

SCHEDULE FORMAT
(can scrap this idea if it makes scheduling too difficult)
~ First and second half of regular season broken down between a "divisional" portion and "league" portion.
~ The first half (divisional portion) of the regular season each team plays 2 games against division opponents (1 home, 1 away, 20 total) and 1 game against 17 different non-division opponents, for 37 games total.
~The second half (league portion) of the season each team plays 2 games against the 5 non-division opponents they didn't play in first half and 1 game against those non-division opponents they played in first half (27 total) and 1 game against their division opponents (10), for a total of 37 games.
~ This skews the team records during the first half of the season leading into the division tournaments towards how well teams played against their division and makes the 2nd half that leads into the league playoffs more about how you perform against the entire league.
~ This also makes every division game in the 2nd half of the season a potential season series tiebreaker for determining division rank, which should theoretically lead to more meaningful big games as the season is winding down.

PLAYOFFS
(can scrap all of this and do straight up 1-16 seeds with no divisional relevance if you don't like)
~ 16 team bracket
~ top 4 ranked teams from each division automatically qualify, 12 spots (tiebreaker h2h record, always best of 3)
~ 8 teams with the best records among all teams that didn't auto-qualify via top-4 division rank go into double elimination play-in/wildcard bracket
~ top ranked team from each division is guaranteed top 4 seed (and get regular season division winner award)

play-in/wildcard bracket
~ 8 teams with best record among teams that didn't qualify for playoffs via top 4 division rank
~ seeded by record
~ double elimination
~ 2 wins to qualify basically, essentially have to win a best of 3

Spoiler:

(a-j = game / # = seed / W = winner / L = loser)
winners
round 1
a(1/8)
b(4/5)
c(2/7)
d(3/6)
round 2
g(Wa/Wb) - winner qualifies for playoffs
h(Wc/Wd) - winner qualifies for playoffs

losers
round 1
e(La/Lb)
f(Lc/Ld)
round2
i(We/Lg) - winner qualifies for playoffs
j(Wf/Lh) - winner qualifies for playoffs

playoff bracket
~ 16 teams
~ top 4 records from each division qualify (12)
~ play-in/wildcard bracket top 4 qualify (4)
~ first round of playoff tournament best of 5
~ subsequent rounds of playoff tournament best of 7
~ winner is league champion

playoff bracket seeding
top 4
~ 3 division winners (overall season record) + best record among non-division winners
~ ranked 1-4 based on record
5-16
~ remaining qualified teams ranked by record

WNBA TIE IN
~ Potentially make the NBA follow the same 3 division setup and have their division tournaments be the same place/time as the NBA, but with the WNBA games being played on the NBA off-game days. Possible way to boost exposure/interest for the lady ballers.

Conclusions

Spoiler:

I didn't put a ton of thought into every detail, or necessarily think everything all the way through, so im sure theres stuff that could be better, or needs fixed, and there are tons of different variations of possible tournament setups or whatever, but I thought this was a fun idea. It makes the divisions based on the actual traditional geographic regions of the US and keeps the teams grouped together in the way that makes the most sense in terms of location (really stands out if you look at NBA team map).

The maximum number of total games a team could play between regular season, division tournament, and the play-in/wildcard tournament, comes out to 81 games. If the three teams that don't qualify for the division tournaments also don't make the play-in/wildcard tournament, they will end with 74 games, otherwise teams are guaranteed 75 games. The playoff tournament is basically the same number of games, except the slightly shorter best of 5 first round. I'm not positive this setup can work in the same time frame as current season, but it should be close.