Around the NBA part 2 - Save Melo from Brodie

[j4remi]

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Ok, I’ma address the elephant in the room. Everyone pretending a new wave of COVID infections ain’t kinda running rampant in the NBA right now. And all the positives lately have been vaccinated individuals.

Who’s responsible? Kyrie? Beal? Isaac? General citizens in everyday life who may be unvaccinated? Or are the vaccines failing? Are boosters needed. Then boosters for the boosters? Then new vaccines for the new variants.

On the flip side are the vaccines working cuz none of the infected have been reported to be hospitalized or deceased. But then again, neither is Kyrie, Beal, Isaac, etc. (who haven’t even been positive in any recent reportings).

I won’t pretend to be smart enough to have a handle on this but it’s getting confusing.

Both of these are probably true. Antibodies decline over time, and breakthrough infections become more likely. So we'll see initial vaccinations still have breakthrough infections, but the vaccines will still keep the impacts mild (for the vast majority, no perfect results of course).

The other thing is Omicron variant so far looks like it's more likely to breakthrough and potentially more infectious than the Delta variant (that's the most prevalent one right now), but on the flipside the initial outlook is that the sickness is more mild. So more infections, but less hospitalizations ought to continue as a trend if that holds.

I have a feeling that players who were skeptical but got the shot to play will also be skeptical of having to get a booster (I know a bunch of people in my life that fit this profile though I keep tryna talk 'em into getting a booster). So I'd speculate that this is the reason we're seeing more spread...and also the old rules probably still apply that as places loosen restrictions, infections increase and as Winter moves people indoors more often the infections increase.

[2010]

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Ok, I’ma address the elephant in the room. Everyone pretending a new wave of COVID infections ain’t kinda running rampant in the NBA right now. And all the positives lately have been vaccinated individuals.

Who’s responsible? Kyrie? Beal? Isaac? General citizens in everyday life who may be unvaccinated? Or are the vaccines failing? Are boosters needed. Then boosters for the boosters? Then new vaccines for the new variants.

On the flip side are the vaccines working cuz none of the infected have been reported to be hospitalized or deceased. But then again, neither is Kyrie, Beal, Isaac, etc. (who haven’t even been positive in any recent reportings).

I won’t pretend to be smart enough to have a handle on this but it’s getting confusing.

Both of these are probably true. Antibodies decline over time, and breakthrough infections become more likely. So we'll see initial vaccinations still have breakthrough infections, but the vaccines will still keep the impacts mild (for the vast majority, no perfect results of course).

The other thing is Omicron variant so far looks like it's more likely to breakthrough and potentially more infectious than the Delta variant (that's the most prevalent one right now), but on the flipside the initial outlook is that the sickness is more mild. So more infections, but less hospitalizations ought to continue as a trend if that holds.

I have a feeling that players who were skeptical but got the shot to play will also be skeptical of having to get a booster (I know a bunch of people in my life that fit this profile though I keep tryna talk 'em into getting a booster). So I'd speculate that this is the reason we're seeing more spread...and also the old rules probably still apply that as places loosen restrictions, infections increase and as Winter moves people indoors more often the infections increase.

Ok, sounds sensible. But why no reports of the 3% of unvaccinated NBA players being infected (yet).

And if they should get COVID (God forbid), should we expect Beal, Isaac (and whoever else – Kyrie at home) to require hospitalization (or even subsequent death). That’s what we’ve been told is the likely consequence for the unvaccinated?

Also, has antibodies among the vaccinated declined this fast? Majority of these players got the vaccine just before the start of the NBA season. So September/October. So the optimal protection duration is roughly only 3 months? So we’re looking at needing boosters every 3 months, in addition to potentially new vaccines to effectively combat the onslaught of new variants?

[TerrenceClarke]

Now everyone wanted to draft Boston all of a sudden

I can only speak for myself but Receipts is easy.... When he was stinking it up. I kept saying he was a lotto talent.

I have them close to each other but I give Boston the edge for shooting ability. I personally have no bias against either one. You can’t go wrong picking them as prospects. I’ve learned to not doubt Kentucky Guards. They constantly perform better than they did in college.

Boston was literally in the same Tier as all the top prospects people are drooling over and his college struggles have not changed much for me personally other than his draft position to get the most value if his selection. Cal has an eye for guards/wings. If we hover around the end of the lottery he has to be in consideration I don’t care what no one in this thread thinks of him.

If you looking at it from a tier perspective Boston deserves Lotto Looks in the later part of it. Once the Williams and Barnes etc etc start coming off the board he will look better and better trust me.

It’s crazy to me to not see the immense value of being able to get BJ Boston if we are picking late lotto. People thinking he is some second round pick is laughable. I would rather follow the pattern that UK guards more often than not are good in the NBA. He has sucked for a far majority of the year. But there is a lot of talent in him. This is the case of talented wing not performing well, not a bum who can’t play at all. UK guards are different in NBA and nothing I have seen from BJ Boston as bad as he has been would make me Close the door. I still see the ability that is tantalizing in spades. Anything past 10 is excellent value for him.

[j4remi]

Ok, sounds sensible. But why no reports of the 3% of unvaccinated NBA players being infected (yet).

And if they should get COVID (God forbid), should we expect Beal, Isaac (and whoever else – Kyrie at home) to require hospitalization (or even subsequent death). That’s what we’ve been told is the likely consequence for the unvaccinated?

Also, has antibodies among the vaccinated declined this fast? Majority of these players got the vaccine just before the start of the NBA season. So September/October. So the optimal protection duration is roughly only 3 months? So we’re looking at needing boosters every 3 months, in addition to potentially new vaccines to effectively combat the onslaught of new variants?

I don't know about the vaccinated vs unvaccinated stuff for the nba because there are a lot of variables that can impact it. A vaccinated player that's running around and reckless will wind up having a better chance of contracting something than a player that just goes to work and then heads home and lives cautiously. But there's a whole spectrum in between and there's also just plain luck factors too.

On the antibodies timing, generally they suggest you get the booster after 6 months or more. I think breakthroughs are more prevalent for pro athletes because they're constantly traveling and have a lot of other types of engagements where they'll be surrounded by crowds. So they're not only in crowded arenas and places often, but they're also in a whole bunch of different places with new populations that could expose them to the virus.

In terms of how often or not often people will need boosters, I can't really say. I think they'd need to review the results for this set of boosters before coming to any hard conclusions. Generally speaking, I usually look at hospitalization and fatalities instead of infections since mild symptoms suck but you can get past them (I do need to look back on Long Covid prevalence for mild cases before I say too much about it though). It's worth mention that the same companies that worked on MRNA vaccines have been working in pill-based solutions so it'd be less intrusive and inconvenient to treat and avoid getting sick.

The new variants could also cause more vaccine needs, but so far I don't think we're there yet (regardless of what Pfizer's CEO says). Between vaccinations and natural immunity; the optimistic outlook is that we can start reducing the speed of variants forming and get everything back to normal...but we'd probably need to lift the patent protections to reduce spread globally to stop new variants that might become problematic in the future and the wealthiest nations have shown very little interest in actually doing that.

[Triple C]

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He coming home

[Rasho Brezec]

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?s=21

[god shammgod]

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?s=21

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

[RHODEY]

It feels weird being a smack dab in the middle .500 team. Its almost worse than being a bad team because even though the record is meh level the expectations are much higher...

[RHODEY]

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He coming home

He is exactly that a nice pole player. And our greatest needs are at point guard and wing. It would be dumb to sacrifice our youth for him.

I don't think the Pacers would want him in the same conference either.

[Guano]

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?s=21

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

time to do right by everyone and move Rose to a contender.

[Worst_to_First]

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?s=21

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

time to do right by everyone and move Rose to a contender.

Bring him home to Chicago.

[TheGreenArrow]

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?s=21

NIKOLA JOVIC FOLKS NIKOLA JOVIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[3toheadmelo]

DSJ with another solid game last night as a starter. 12 points 6 rebounds 5 assists 2 blocks and held Steph Curry to 0-3. Love to see him take advantage of his opportunity.

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[knickstape4ever]

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?s=21

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

538 has our odds at 21%

if the Knicks truly beefed up their analytics team, they'd know that going for it will be futile and its better to tank....our FO would probably ignore it tho

[Worst_to_First]

DSJ with another solid game last night as a starter. 12 points 6 rebounds 5 assists 2 blocks and held Steph Curry to 0-3. Love to see him take advantage of his opportunity.

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Was able to see portions of the game and DSJ was able to manage running his team well.

[knickstape4ever]

wow, Lakers bad. Grizz don't even have Ja

perfect solution: sell at the deadline (Randle, Burks, Kemba, Fournier if possible, etc.)

let Thibs resign to coach the Lakers

[HEZI]

Grizzlies might be better without Morant

[robillionaire]

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?s=21

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

538 has our odds at 21%

if the Knicks truly beefed up their analytics team, they'd know that going for it will be futile and its better to tank....our FO would probably ignore it tho

538 said we’d have the worst record in the nba last year and I can only guess what the odds were when they were 12-15 so maybe these analytics teams aren’t the end all be all of what’s futile

[knickstape4ever]

well damn.....but also, let's hope so

538 has our odds at 21%

if the Knicks truly beefed up their analytics team, they'd know that going for it will be futile and its better to tank....our FO would probably ignore it tho

538 said we’d have the worst record in the nba last year and I can only guess what the odds were when they were 12-15 so maybe these analytics teams aren’t the end all be all of what’s futile

last season was an anomaly, but yes, the odds were low

and we lost in 5 in the 1st round, we didn't belong. what's the best outcome this year? another 1st rd exit? That's Pacers/Magic territory

[YouthMovement]

AD somehow looks washed at 28