2020-21 NBA Season Discussion

[Jordan Syndrome]

What the league or the Nets need to do with the situation of Kyrie?

It's unprecedented what he is doing.

Could you imagine working for a company and then you "no call, no show" for a week as you travel during a pandemic to your sister's birthday, meeting ten's (maybe hundreds) of strangers without a mask?

What does this say to you as his teammate? How could you ever respect this man?

[Peregrine01]

I wonder if Kyrie's head is even in basketball anymore. He seems to be the guy who always asks the question "what's the point?" If you go down that route, you realize that everything's trivial.

[HeartBreakKid]

It's worth pointing out that every team save one that LaVine has ever been on has been better with him off the court than on. Including in small sample size, this one. At some point we need to realize that just putting up points on good efficiency doesn't make you a high impact player. Anyone recall Kevin Martin?

Blaming Zach LaVine on his teammates? Nah. Yeah his teams have sucked, but he's been a major reason why.

I feel like everyone who actually pays attention knows he's not a positive impact guy but he puts up numbers and has flashy highlights and plays for the Bulls so I guess he gets hype, I don't get it though.

It's the D'Lo phenomenon. It happens to almost any player with a flashy handle who can score on any efficiency.

Honestly I think guys in general who fit that prototype get a bit of a bump no matter their standing.

D'lo is not a very efficient scorer though.

[bondom34]

I feel like everyone who actually pays attention knows he's not a positive impact guy but he puts up numbers and has flashy highlights and plays for the Bulls so I guess he gets hype, I don't get it though.

It's the D'Lo phenomenon. It happens to almost any player with a flashy handle who can score on any efficiency.

Honestly I think guys in general who fit that prototype get a bit of a bump no matter their standing.

D'lo is not a very efficient scorer though.

Just looking to career,they're w/in about 2% TS of each other. And noted "on any efficiency", more or less the style. Lavine hasn't been crazy efficient himself.

Mostly just lead guards who are volume scorers with some flash/style to their game. Honestly at a much higher level a guy like Kyrie fits too, guess I should just say guys who get twitter highlights where people want to talk about their handles and getting in their bag.

[HeartBreakKid]

It's the D'Lo phenomenon. It happens to almost any player with a flashy handle who can score on any efficiency.

Honestly I think guys in general who fit that prototype get a bit of a bump no matter their standing.

D'lo is not a very efficient scorer though.

Just looking to career,they're w/in about 2% TS of each other. And noted "on any efficiency", more or less the style. Lavine hasn't been crazy efficient himself.

Mostly just lead guards who are volume scorers with some flash/style to their game. Honestly at a much higher level a guy like Kyrie fits too, guess I should just say guys who get twitter highlights where people want to talk about their handles and getting in their bag.

I don't think D'lo is a very flashy player though.

D'lo doesn't seem like a great example because for the most part he's not a very well liked player outside of one or 2 years, and most of his career he has been dogged as a massive disappointment. Also, I think his overratedness came from his association to winning (Nets making the playoffs) than flashiness. Zach Lavine has never been on a team that has been on the playoffs if I can recall.

[bondom34]

D'lo is not a very efficient scorer though.

Just looking to career,they're w/in about 2% TS of each other. And noted "on any efficiency", more or less the style. Lavine hasn't been crazy efficient himself.

Mostly just lead guards who are volume scorers with some flash/style to their game. Honestly at a much higher level a guy like Kyrie fits too, guess I should just say guys who get twitter highlights where people want to talk about their handles and getting in their bag.

I don't think D'lo is a very flashy player though.

D'lo doesn't seem like a great example, because for the most part he's not a very well liked player outside of one or 2 years, and most of his career he has been dogged as a massive disappointment. Also, I think his overratedness came from his association to winning (Nets making the playoffs) than flashiness. Zach Lavine has never been on a team that has been on the playoffs if I can recall.

IDK, maybe I think of him that way, but he's referred to as an "all star" despite one appearance as a 2nd alternate and known mostly for having some handles and a bit of flashy scoring in my experience. Maybe I'm off on it, but that type of player.

Do see what you're saying with the winning though, I think some of it came from his scoring numbers as well. Not sure without thinking more but don't consider them drastically different caliber players.

Actually the Nets that year were barely better w him on court than off (crude measure, but still a little funny).

[MartinToVaught]

I'm confused why Paul George is so much more hated than Kyrie when all he's really done is make some dumb comments and not back them up in the playoffs. Nothing he's done comes close to the level of narcissistic and disrespectful behavior we've seen from Kyrie throughout his career.

I also hope Kyrie gets at least as much criticism over skipping games for a birthday party that Kawhi gets over skipping games for a chronic medical condition.

[MartinToVaught]

What the league or the Nets need to do with the situation of Kyrie?

It's unprecedented what he is doing.

Could you imagine working for a company and then you "no call, no show" for a week as you travel during a pandemic to your sister's birthday, meeting ten's (maybe hundreds) of strangers without a mask?

What does this say to you as his teammate? How could you ever respect this man?

The NBA needs to share some blame here too. They have spent decades coddling and rewarding players' egos - often at the expense of teams and their fanbases.

It would be considered a big deal if Patrick Mahomes or Mike Trout or Nathan MacKinnon skipped several games just to attend a birthday party, with no explanation given to their own team, but it's not even surprising anymore in the NBA. And they wonder why ratings are dropping.

[Clyde Frazier]

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welp

[Peregrine01]

I was expecting the Nets to be drama-filled but not like this and not this fast. Kyrie clearly thinks that he answers to no one.

[Doctor MJ]

I was expecting the Nets to be drama-filled but not like this and not this fast. Kyrie clearly thinks that he answers to no one.

I was at my wit's end with Kyrie before this recent stuff, and I'm with you: I thought the Nets culture would be fragile, but I had thought the danger would come later after the Nets struggled while healthy.

I see Kyrie as a guy who has essentially created his own reality that diverges from the rest of the world and tends to tie itself up in a bow that lets him feel not only right but righteous.

Going into the Bubble last year Kyrie made comments painting himself as a hard core revolutionary in the BLM movement and actively taking issue with those who were still playing basketball and using basketball directly to get a message out. Kyrie seems to think that him just being him is revolutionary, but to me he's a guy who really isn't doing anything for anyone other than himself but is delusional enough to think otherwise.

He's not alone in being like this of course - I'll refrain from getting into politics - he's a product of the times, but there are two things really on my mind right now.

1. It's astonishing to think that he's doing this to Durant RIGHT after they actually got started playing together. I mean, this is the exact situation he chose, and he's f-ing it up immediately without any sense of loyalty to others.

2. I've said before and I'll say again: Kyrie is the kind of guy who could actually become a threat to retire from the NBA and create a rival to the NBA. He couldn't of course making an NBA-sized league, but he wouldn't need to. With a population of young people who like the players more than they like watching 5 on 5 basketball, it's entirely possible that there'd be a market for a 1 on 1 league which Kyrie would do great in. Wouldn't draw the kind of revenue that the NBA has, but of course it wouldn't need to if it's just making money for superstar players with lots of followers.

Should that happen, we could end up in a situation where the NBA loses credibility compared to its former self, sees revenues fall, and then the whole precarious thing might teeter and fall. Pro basketball ain't going anywhere and if the NBA makes smart choices neither will it, but someone like Kyrie is a danger.

Last note: If you're thought is "C'mon, Kyrie could never actually work to get anything done like that!", you're right of course, but he may not need to personally competent if he's surrounded by others who are.

[bondom34]

Seeing the post above by MTV and have a hot take:

I still kinda like PG. I'm going to absolutely make Playoff P jokes, because its kinda funny once in a while, but he's an excellent player who gets a bad rep off cherry picked games most of the time.

[bondom34]

Bol Bol at the 3!

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[xb3at band1tx]

KD dropping 30 and 7 like it's nothing but it seems like putting his chips on Kyrie might've doomed them

[Peregrine01]

2. I've said before and I'll say again: Kyrie is the kind of guy who could actually become a threat to retire from the NBA and create a rival to the NBA. He couldn't of course making an NBA-sized league, but he wouldn't need to. With a population of young people who like the players more than they like watching 5 on 5 basketball, it's entirely possible that there'd be a market for a 1 on 1 league which Kyrie would do great in. Wouldn't draw the kind of revenue that the NBA has, but of course it wouldn't need to if it's just making money for superstar players with lots of followers.

Should that happen, we could end up in a situation where the NBA loses credibility compared to its former self, sees revenues fall, and then the whole precarious thing might teeter and fall. Pro basketball ain't going anywhere and if the NBA makes smart choices neither will it, but someone like Kyrie is a danger.

Last note: If you're thought is "C'mon, Kyrie could never actually work to get anything done like that!", you're right of course, but he may not need to personally competent if he's surrounded by others who are.

You really think a 1 on 1 league would get traction? I mean, a big appeal about team basketball is all the passing, strategizing and team chemistry that goes along with it. I think the dynamism of the game gets lost when it's stripped down into just a mano-a-mano game. Besides, in 1 on 1 it's generally big men who end up dominating and who wants to see a couple big men back down each other in the post.

[MisterHibachi]

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Lmfao

[MartinToVaught]

It's astonishing to think that he's doing this to Durant RIGHT after they actually got started playing together. I mean, this is the exact situation he chose, and he's f-ing it up immediately without any sense of loyalty to others.

In fairness, KD's getting a taste of his own medicine here on the whole loyalty thing. It wasn't that long ago when KD screwed over Westbrook, made the weakest free agency move in sports history, and then started sneak-dissing Westbrook on social media to deflect criticism away from himself.

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He and Kyrie deserve each other. And really, everyone should have seen this coming from Kyrie when he quit on a perennial Finals team because of his ego.

Kyrie is the kind of guy who could actually become a threat to retire from the NBA and create a rival to the NBA.

Couldn't disagree more. He's not mature or reliable enough to run a venture like that. If he did ever try to start his own league, it would be just as much of a farce as when LaVar Ball tried it.

Last note: If you're thought is "C'mon, Kyrie could never actually work to get anything done like that!", you're right of course, but he may not need to personally competent if he's surrounded by others who are.

He doesn't have the people skills to make that happen. There's a reason why he's already left two teams on bad terms. He's the type of guy who would run off anyone competent because he thinks he knows everything. He's a genius and everyone else is just a "pawn" according to him.

[bondom34]

They call him icy hot for a reason.

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Edit: Actually....nevermind atm lol.

[GSP]

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?s=19

Lmfao

WTFFFF

[MisterHibachi]

Two great games down the wire right now, Jokic vs KD and Herro vs Embiid.