Official Offseason Thread 9.0: The Long Road to October

[Bakomagic]

I appreciate that these boys dont get into any real off-court drama (at least so far). No driving like idiots (Lamelo), no DUIs or assault charges, no baby mama drama, etc... I know its not a huge accomplishment for most normal people, but for young NBA players its different lol.

Disagree, me and my contemporaries struggled with plenty of those issues in our late teens/early 20s and that was without millions of dollars and winning the genetic lottery.

[pepe1991]

I appreciate that these boys dont get into any real off-court drama (at least so far). No driving like idiots (Lamelo), no DUIs or assault charges, no baby mama drama, etc... I know its not a huge accomplishment for most normal people, but for young NBA players its different lol.

Disagree, me and my contemporaries struggled with plenty of those issues in our late teens/early 20s and that was without millions of dollars and winning the genetic lottery.

I mean, they do, all of them have personal lifes and go through different phases in life, it's just about ability to keep their personal and team's relationships apart and far away from media.

[VFX]

Teams interview guys during the draft process for a reason.

People here would probably be surprised that certain players aren’t even considered because of their disposition and attitude.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Orlando FO definitely has a type but the PR team probably do a phenomenal job of keeping the players bad behavior out of the papers.

[pepe1991]

Keep in mind that Lakers team , players, stuff and his family menaged to keep secret of Lamar Odom being on cocaine for like half of decade, by the tail end, he was doing crack and winning titles. Shot out to anti drugs &PEDs nba protocol

Back to sa Kasun story, Paul PIerce wasted 2 bottles of whiskey on night before a game, without his podcast nobody would ever know anything about it, pretty much same with Barkley story that he told himself, years later, that he was drunk because he was celebrating trade to LA Lakers ( trade that never happened )

More infamous cases are guys like Chris Herren or Spancer Haywood who were hooked on cocaine during their careers ( Haywood fell asleep during practice... In middle of nba finals... Because he was getting down from last night's cocaine party ).

Vast majority of stuff never gets to a public, or you find out years after, so we really don't have clue what's going on inside lockerroom, if everybody keep their mouths ( and social media) shut.

[Residual-Heat]

They're a lot more mature than many of their peers in their age group. You can see it in the way they talk and the way they act.

[Rainwater]

I appreciate that these boys dont get into any real off-court drama (at least so far). No driving like idiots (Lamelo), no DUIs or assault charges, no baby mama drama, etc... I know its not a huge accomplishment for most normal people, but for young NBA players its different lol.

Disagree, me and my contemporaries struggled with plenty of those issues in our late teens/early 20s and that was without millions of dollars and winning the genetic lottery.

Same here. I feel like your 20s is the hardest and most transformative part of your life.

[Audi]

They're a lot more mature than many of their peers in their age group. You can see it in the way they talk and the way they act.

Some guys, for sure. But think about a guy like Cole being on a team like BK/POR/CHA etc and there's a good chance he would've been one of those jokesters who is not-too-serious about winning. The difference maker is that our guys all hold each other accountable and (perhaps more importantly) also highly regard and respect Coach Mose.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

They're a lot more mature than many of their peers in their age group. You can see it in the way they talk and the way they act.

I think we have a lot more media trained guys. They repeat the same things every time. They do act very different to their peers though.

I have been watching basketball for a long time so I don’t know if I just some how missed it, but I have noticed this year and last year that our guys are always in a huddle together talking. I don’t remember seeing to much of that from any team.

[RookieStar]

If you and your family know you belong to that elite fraternity of playin a sport while earning millions to tens of millions to hundred of millions of dollars, you can bet the smart ones train that person as strict as the royal family in behaving to the public.

A golden goose as it were. Cutting the head by just a single PR nightmare? Yeah... no.

[OrlChamps2030]

If you and your family know you belong to that elite fraternity of playin a sport while earning millions to tens of millions to hundred of millions of dollars, you can bet the smart ones train that person as strict as the royal family in behaving to the public.

A golden goose as it were. Cutting the head by just a single PR nightmare? Yeah... no.

And then you have a guy like Anthony Edwards who gives no ****s about PR but every team in the league would love to have him

At the end of the day, the juice (talent) has to be worth the squeeze.. If Chuma Okeke pulled a Ja Morant he’d be playing ball in Iraq next season

[drsd]

..

Relief from boredom?

Watch on YouTube

[RookieStar]

If you and your family know you belong to that elite fraternity of playin a sport while earning millions to tens of millions to hundred of millions of dollars, you can bet the smart ones train that person as strict as the royal family in behaving to the public.

A golden goose as it were. Cutting the head by just a single PR nightmare? Yeah... no.

And then you have a guy like Anthony Edwards who gives no ****s about PR but every team in the league would love to have him

At the end of the day, the juice (talent) has to be worth the squeeze.. If Chuma Okeke pulled a Ja Morant he’d be playing ball in Iraq next season

TBF , he and Ja did their shenanigans when they were guaranteed to be superstar status alreadty. Like top 10 in the league.

You can bet their people wpuld have coached them what to do and how to act during predraft

[three3d]

Is it just me or does it seriously look like Paolo just loves basketball and his craft and is in the LAB this Summer putting in SERIOUS work? He wasn’t in Vegas for Summer League this year like he was last season. He’s also not hanging out in Paris or around Team USA, he just looks like he loves basketball and wants to hoop every single day.

[mattdelray1220]

Paolo is going to be a top 5 player within 3 years.

[T-Cat]

Read on Twitter

[RookieStar]

Read on Twitter

Still cant forgive Wade for trying to rob AG of his 2nd slam dunk title.

[Skybox]

Read on Twitter

Still cant forgive Wade for trying to rob AG of his 2nd slam dunk title.

Agree…it shouldn’t really matter to purists, but you know it was important to AG- especially at that point in his career. He obviously worked really hard on it and Wade crapped on the whole project. I thought it was really disrespectful- beginning of the end of the dunk contest (when the judges became more of a show)

[Skybox]

Fran looking so aggressive & confident …keep it rolling into next season.

[T-Cat]

Read on Twitter

Still cant forgive Wade for trying to rob AG of his 2nd slam dunk title.

Agree…it shouldn’t really matter to purists, but you know it was important to AG- especially at that point in his career. He obviously worked really hard on it and Wade crapped on the whole project. I thought it was really disrespectful- beginning of the end of the dunk contest (when the judges became more of a show)

I'm surprised a lot of people don't know who Franz is at this point? I like how a lot of players were aggressive in the game especially at the rim instead of settling for jump shots. I'm a fan of the coaching staff in the Olympics and Franz is benefiting from it (developing killer instincts). How will he Paolo co exist?

I'm still not a fan of his euro layup/floaters