2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[Donoghus]

Just please don't bring back Mark Jackson.

[Goldstar88]

Holmgren and Webanayama do not like each other. 

[SparzWizard]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

[celticsclay]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

[Celtics2021]

I think most NBA teams would retire Haslem's number if they had a player like Haslem.

OKC retired Nick Collison, San Antonio retired Bruce Bowen and Avery Johnson, Sonics retired Nate McMillian.  Grizzlies have said they're retiring Tony Allen's number.

I didn't know about Collison. That seems absolutely crazy to me. He never even averaged double digit points or rebounds. Why did he do that? That is like if Kornet kept signing here for ten more years on vet mins and we retired his number.

If I had to guess, it's a loyalty thing and him being a foundational piece when the team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City and trying to establish a new identity and gain a foothold as the Thunder. And he didn't leave like Durant did.

Who knows.

They also had no other numbers to retire.  It was the 10th year of being in OKC, and all other players of note to the franchise (Durant and Westbrook, primarily, but even Ibaka) were still playing.  Collison was a lifer and a hard-worker, so why not?  Durant and Westbrook will get their days at some point if they want them, but the Thunder might have had to wait another decade if they were waiting for those two to be the first with retired numbers.

[President Red]

I'm all for fans being ejected if they get overly abusive to the players, but I just read the following in the Suns-Mavs game recap at ESPN:

"Doncic also was responsible for the ejection of a fan when he overheard a Suns supporter yell to Doncic that he was tired and needed to get on a treadmill. With the game still going, Doncic immediately turned and pointed in the direction of the fan. The fan was ejected a few minutes later."  https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401585253

Seriously?  I didn't watch the game; was there more to it than reported here?  As described, that seems absurd.

[SparzWizard]

I'm all for fans being ejected if they get overly abusive to the players, but I just read the following in the Suns-Mavs game recap at ESPN:

"Doncic also was responsible for the ejection of a fan when he overheard a Suns supporter yell to Doncic that he was tired and needed to get on a treadmill. With the game still going, Doncic immediately turned and pointed in the direction of the fan. The fan was ejected a few minutes later."  https://www.espn.com/nba/recap/_/gameId/401585253

Seriously?  I didn't watch the game; was there more to it than reported here?  As described, that seems absurd.

I would understand if guys are throwing the n-word or any racial slurs directed at the players, but this? Jeez lol

[SparzWizard]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

[Phantom255x]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

He tries so hard to be like Draymond. I hate to say it but I think the 2022 Finals experience and "beef" with Draymond hurt him. He was trending upwards up until that point. I wish he had focused more on himself and his team during the Finals after Game 1 instead of constantly beefing with Draymond all series and making it a point to act like an "instigator"

[Roy H.]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

He tries so hard to be like Draymond. I hate to say it but I think the 2022 Finals experience and "beef" with Draymond hurt him. He was trending upwards up until that point. I wish he had focused more on himself and his team during the Finals after Game 1 instead of constantly beefing with Draymond all series and making it a point to act like an "instigator"

I think that's right.  His talk of studying Draymond's past so he'd have trash talk material, the fake tough guy persona, etc.  I like tough players, but with Grant it always seems fugazi.  In those Finals, he started marketing himself, and I think it really cost him as a player.  It bled over into the next season with him clashing with Joe.

But, it worked for him.  He's got $50 million.  I don't think he'll see another MLE contract, though. 

[Celtics2021]

Wes Unseld Jr. out in Washington.  Ownership remains in place.

[Roy H.]

: For Malcolm Brogdon, a lot of executives around the league think it would take at least a first-round pick to get him from Portland. I spoke with Brogdon recently and wrote about it on HoopsHype. He mentioned enjoying his role on the one hand being valued for his leadership, but it’s definitely been a challenge with the young guys because their emphasis is on the development of Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and Anfernee Simons. – via HoopsHype

[Who]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

He tries so hard to be like Draymond. I hate to say it but I think the 2022 Finals experience and "beef" with Draymond hurt him. He was trending upwards up until that point. I wish he had focused more on himself and his team during the Finals after Game 1 instead of constantly beefing with Draymond all series and making it a point to act like an "instigator"

Grant himself says he is not an "instigator" but a "responder" meaning he never starts these conflicts but he responds when people have a go at him.

He did not start the conflict with Jimmy Butler. Jimmy started it. Grant just responded.

I like players who don't back down. I like Grant's attitude on the court.

[SparzWizard]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

He tries so hard to be like Draymond. I hate to say it but I think the 2022 Finals experience and "beef" with Draymond hurt him. He was trending upwards up until that point. I wish he had focused more on himself and his team during the Finals after Game 1 instead of constantly beefing with Draymond all series and making it a point to act like an "instigator"

Grant himself says he is not an "instigator" but a "responder" meaning he never starts these conflicts but he responds when people have a go at him.

He did not start the conflict with Jimmy Butler. Jimmy started it. Grant just responded.

I like players who don't back down. I like Grant's attitude on the court.

Not when it comes at the expense of your team. Just respond it with your play and quickly transition to defense instead of chirping back. Chirp back after you win the game or something.

Grant standing on top of Durant sounded like an instigating move to me, even if it was Durant of all people. He's growing out to become another lite Draymond or lite Dillon Brooks.

[Celtics2021]

Grant Williams acting like a fake tough guy and then Nurkic came in and shoved him away from Durant.

Have to side on Nurkic on this.

As time passes it seems like we made a pretty good decision moving on from Grant. He needs to get it together. He is not good enough of a player to cause headaches for teams.

Yup. He flopped his way out the game. Getting ejected in the 3rd quarter when Nurkic posted him up and flopped to the floor. Can't even be a reliable player for his team

He tries so hard to be like Draymond. I hate to say it but I think the 2022 Finals experience and "beef" with Draymond hurt him. He was trending upwards up until that point. I wish he had focused more on himself and his team during the Finals after Game 1 instead of constantly beefing with Draymond all series and making it a point to act like an "instigator"

Grant himself says he is not an "instigator" but a "responder" meaning he never starts these conflicts but he responds when people have a go at him.

He did not start the conflict with Jimmy Butler. Jimmy started it. Grant just responded.

I like players who don't back down. I like Grant's attitude on the court.

Not when it comes at the expense of your team. Just respond it with your play and quickly transition to defense instead of chirping back. Chirp back after you win the game or something.

Grant standing on top of Durant sounded like an instigating move to me, even if it was Durant of all people. He's growing out to become another lite Draymond or lite Dillon Brooks.

Did you actually see the play, or just read about it?  Grant bumped into KD lightly while closing to guard him after a pass and KD flopped to the ground.  Grant stumbled over KD’s left ankle as he took a step to the official to complain about the foul call, as he does after every foul, and Nurkic came in from nowhere to push Grant from behind with a lot of force.  Then Grant got into it with Nurkic (understandably so) and then KD got up and got into it with Grant (in part because Nurkic was there to back him up I’m guessing) so Grant got into it with KD also.

Maybe Grant had done something on a prior play (although it was early in the game), but I don’t know what Nurkic got riled up for.  It was a soft foul and there was no post-whistle interaction between Grant and anyone but the official until Nurkic charged in about two seconds after the whistle blew for the foul.  Grant deserves his share of criticism for things, but he really wasn’t instigating anything this time.