NBA Thread 2019-20

[Dish]

Ding Dong the witch is dead ... the Bulls have fired Gar Foreman.
I'm generally reluctant to be happy about someone losing their job, but this is a hige relief for us Bulls fans who feared nothing would change, even with a new director of basketball ops, as long as Gar had a role in the organization.

Oddly, Covid-19 may end up being the best thing that could have happened for the Bull to clean house and get their $hit together.

Only a matter of time until Boylen is gone, but Karnisovas is by all accounts a great hire, and reportedly the Bulls paid a very high price to get him. JJ Polk by all accounts is a great hire as well.

I believe Nazr Mohammed will be Bulls GM, and he and Karnisovas would work together in Mohammed's first year. Remains to be seen, but that's my gut feeling.

Weird to think there'd be a competent Bulls front office and coaching staff soon.

[MU82]

Devon Dotson of Kansas declared for NBA draft and said he will hire an agent.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Oddly, Covid-19 may end up being the best thing that could have happened for the Bull to clean house and get their $hit together.

Only a matter of time until Boylen is gone, but Karnisovas is by all accounts a great hire, and reportedly the Bulls paid a very high price to get him. JJ Polk by all accounts is a great hire as well.

I believe Nazr Mohammed will be Bulls GM, and he and Karnisovas would work together in Mohammed's first year. Remains to be seen, but that's my gut feeling.

Weird to think there'd be a competent Bulls front office and coaching staff soon.

A little slice of good news amidst the hell we're dealing with.

[Jockey]

Oddly, Covid-19 may end up being the best thing that could have happened for the Bull to clean house and get their $hit together.

Only a matter of time until Boylen is gone, but Karnisovas is by all accounts a great hire, and reportedly the Bulls paid a very high price to get him. JJ Polk by all accounts is a great hire as well.

I believe Nazr Mohammed will be Bulls GM, and he and Karnisovas would work together in Mohammed's first year. Remains to be seen, but that's my gut feeling.

Weird to think there'd be a competent Bulls front office and coaching staff soon.

As a Bucks Fan, I hate this hire.

[MU82]

Season might be over:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/nba-team-execs-agents-are-calling-on-the-league-to-cancel-season.html

Even though the current NBA season is still technically suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, its return this year seems less and less likely with each passing day.

Team executives are starting to feel the pressure, frustrated with the lack of information from the league and pushing for an outright cancellation of the season so everyone can focus on safely resuming play next season.

[Hards Alumni]

Season might be over:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/nba-team-execs-agents-are-calling-on-the-league-to-cancel-season.html

Even though the current NBA season is still technically suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, its return this year seems less and less likely with each passing day.

Team executives are starting to feel the pressure, frustrated with the lack of information from the league and pushing for an outright cancellation of the season so everyone can focus on safely resuming play next season.

Great year to be a Bucks fan.

NO BIG DEAL GUYS.

[MUBurrow]

Great year to be a Bucks fan.

NO BIG DEAL GUYS.

The timing of this has been brutal for Bucks fans, and tough for the NBA as a whole.  If any league is best positioned to try a version of MLB's FL-AZ quarantine league, its the NBA.  Still a big undertaking, and the negotiations for it with the union would be rough, but the number of people you need to make it work is just so much smaller for the NBA than for MLB, and you can play in any college facility or other basketball facility that makes sense.  If covid had popped up in July, itd be really interesting to see what the NBA came up with.

[The Sultan]

All these relocation ideas sound good in general, but when you look at the specifics, they are still REALLY hard to pull off.  That's what the NBA and MLB are up against.

[MUfan12]

Thought this was interesting... bringing up the possibility of expansion to help mitigate losses from the coronavirus- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2890710-should-the-nba-consider-expansion-to-ease-unprecedented-financial-pain

Seattle would obviously be on the list. Wonder where they'd look for a second team, and if realignment would come with it. If it's another western city like Vegas, I'd think the T-Wolves or Pelicans would flip over to the East.

[Uncle Rico]

Thought this was interesting... bringing up the possibility of expansion to help mitigate losses from the coronavirus- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2890710-should-the-nba-consider-expansion-to-ease-unprecedented-financial-pain

Seattle would obviously be on the list. Wonder where they'd look for a second team, and if realignment would come with it. If it's another western city like Vegas, I'd think the T-Wolves or Pelicans would flip over to the East.

Honestly, would be a boon for the T-Wolves and Pels.  More East coast starting times would be better for the fans

[Billy Hoyle]

Thought this was interesting... bringing up the possibility of expansion to help mitigate losses from the coronavirus- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2890710-should-the-nba-consider-expansion-to-ease-unprecedented-financial-pain

Seattle would obviously be on the list. Wonder where they'd look for a second team, and if realignment would come with it. If it's another western city like Vegas, I'd think the T-Wolves or Pelicans would flip over to the East.

Kansas City is a strong possibility with the Sprint Center and no competition during heart of the NBA season. And they could slide into the Southwest Division and end Memphis to the Eastern Conference. Seattle would bump OKC to the Southwest and send NO to the Eastern Conference and the SE Division, bumping Washington to the Atlantic. 

Other than them, Seattle and Vegas I can't think of any that would make sense or could realistically support a team

[shoothoops]

The AP is reporting that the NBA is having exploratory discussions for late July, at the Disney/ESPN Complex for games, housing, practice, one site for all.

[#UnleashSean]

The AP is reporting that the NBA is having exploratory discussions for late July, at the Disney/ESPN Complex for games, housing, practice, one site for all.

Nba.com confirmed it.

Now in talks for finishing the season vs doing a tournament.

[cheebs09]

Sounds like NBA is starting up at the end of July with 8 regular season games. Then a play-in for the 8 seed if it is within 4 games.

I've not seen if there's any change to the playoff format.

[Pakuni]

Sounds like Kyrie is doing his best to kill a return of the NBA.
In case it wasn't already obvious, Kyrie is the worst.

[HutchwasClutch]

Sounds like Kyrie is doing his best to kill a return of the NBA.
In case it wasn't already obvious, Kyrie is the worst.

Totally agree.

[JWags85]

Sounds like Kyrie is doing his best to kill a return of the NBA.
In case it wasn't already obvious, Kyrie is the worst.

I LOVE Kyrie the player. He's an absolutely absurd natural scorer and one of the smoothest ball handlers and finishers ive ever seen.

And I used to defend Kyrie a lot cause I thought he caught some unfair criticism for being a different sort of cat and got scapegoated for some stuff as a result of Lebron.

That being said, he's become increasingly obnoxious and bizarre and just overall annoying. This is no different given that progression. It's disappointing

[The Sultan]

Eh. I don't blame the players for not wanting to work under the proposed conditions. Especially if they want to be involved in protests.

[MUfan12]

That being said, he's become increasingly obnoxious and bizarre and just overall annoying. This is no different given that progression. It's disappointing

I kinda think the "we shouldn't play because it will distract people" line is a little offensive. Like people aren't capable of working towards justice and enjoying a basketball game. If anything, I'd think it would give the players an even larger platform.

Also, his "something is fishy here" line was odd. No league has supported its players speaking up more than the NBA. Insinuating that the league wants to return to play in part to silence protests is ridiculous.

[JWags85]

I kinda think the "we shouldn't play because it will distract people" line is a little offensive. Like people aren't capable of working towards justice and enjoying a basketball game. If anything, I'd think it would give the players an even larger platform.

Also, his "something is fishy here" line was odd. No league has supported its players speaking up more than the NBA. Insinuating that the league wants to return to play in part to silence protests is ridiculous.

Completely agree. These players have the platform for change and the ability to do good specially cause of the NBA, how popular it is, and the attention people pay to it.  And this isn't a "shut up and dribble" situation, nobody is seeking to silence them, it's Kyrie and a select few others declaring that there can't be parallel pathing here.

And not for nothing, if they season was carrying on as planned without COVID, and there was massive protests and social upheaval, there would be no calls to pause games cause they are a distraction. Countless players have been vocal and involved in marches, protests, etc... and they aren't the ones calling for this.

As my buddy said "Kyrie is 'logic adjacent'".  Hell, while I like him, Bomani Jones catches criticism and negativity from people for his attention to racial issues and allegedly playing them up "too much😧" for some people's liking...and even he all weekend was like "come on man, I respect your desire for social change, but this ain't it"

[The Sultan]

I think the issue isn't the playing.  It's the living in a bubble for months.  Kyrie, et. al. could play and also protest in a non-Covid world.  They can't do that now.

And yeah I think they will have a platform, but I can understand how out-of-touch that platform is if you're living at Disney for a couple of months.

[MUfan12]

I think the issue isn't the playing.  It's the living in a bubble for months.  Kyrie, et. al. could play and also protest in a non-Covid world.  They can't do that now.

Is it, doe?

https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1272021048016297986/photo/2

[The Sultan]

Yeah I know what Howard is saying.  I just don't think under "normal" circumstances with these protests happening that the thought of not playing would be out there.

[MU82]

I don't think the players' "platform" will be reduced at all. They will be in the media all the time, both mainstream media and social media.

I do acknowledge they won't be able to go out and join protests, so from the standpoint of speaking at rallies and such, that part of their platform will be reduced. But one could argue that they will be so under the microscope, and there will be so much attention on this season, that their platform will be bigger than ever.

[JWags85]

I don't think the players' "platform" will be reduced at all. They will be in the media all the time, both mainstream media and social media.

I do acknowledge they won't be able to go out and join protests, so from the standpoint of speaking at rallies and such, that part of their platform will be reduced. But one could argue that they will be so under the microscope, and there will be so much attention on this season, that their platform will be bigger than ever.

BINGO. If the driving force is truly enduring change, being in TV in front of millions, with the attention of the media, the press, the fans globally, is FAR more impactful than being one of thousands in a march.  Kyrie could make a more widely seen and impactful statement after a game than MLK ever had the chance to in one of his most enduring speeches.  It's the nature of media and platform these days.

My other issue is there's no "ask". There is the NBA shouldn't be playing argument, ok. And it's cause of COVID concerns, or it's the quarantine bubble, it's the "distraction" angle, it's the not being able to protest. But there is no "this is what we should be doing"...cause I think a plan based any of those arguments would be pretty quickly proven to be completely feasible within the framework of the league restarting.

Again, I support the general message. Sterling Brown showed that even being a millionaire pro athlete doesn't exempt you from the struggles of being a black man in America. But this is just a vague, jumbled cluster of opposition lead by someone who has been enigmatic in the most generous of lights, a disruptive liability at worst.