2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[johnnygreen]

Jaylen's pre-dunk gimmicks were subtle, but really good. While his dunks could have been a little more creative, he made up for some of it with the power he added to each dunk.

I really liked the Dee Brown call back, and the Michael Jackson white glove/I have a left hand game dunk.

[radiohead]

Jaylen was embarrassing

Wasn’t great but nothing to be embarrassed about

Agreed. And at least he joined the contest unlike all the others who were invited but declined. He did his part to bring star power back to the dunk contest.

[radiohead]

Jaylen's pre-dunk gimmicks were subtle, but really good. While his dunks could have been a little more creative, he made up for some of it with the power he added to each dunk.

I really liked the Dee Brown call back, and the Michael Jackson white glove/I have a left hand game dunk.

If only he covered his eyes before the dunk! I found it kinda funny though. Obviously that wasn’t the plan and the fact that he still did it after drew boos from the crowd i think.

[liam]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency... 

[jambr380]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

Bam is now the only Center and the only representative of the reining EC champion Miami Heat. If he didn't make the first cut, he would have definitely made it as an injury replacement.

How KP got beat out by Scottie Barnes is beyond me. They replaced Embiid with a forward (and Randle with a guard) and went with a guy from a horrible team with worse stats/impact than KP. We are by far the best team in the NBA at this point and there were 14 EC All-Stars - we definitely deserve 3. Especially since people constantly talk about how stacked the Celtics are and how Tatum isn't a real superstar because of it.

[ozgod]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

The simplest answer is they probably don't want one team to contribute more than 2 players. The last time a team had at more than 2 players picked for the ASG was in 2017, when the Dubs had Steph, Klay, Dray and KD picked. They were 47-9 by the All Star break and they had made the Finals losing to Cleveland the year before, and had won it the year before that. I can kind of understand why they had 4 players picked.

2015 they had 3 players picked in Steph, Klay and Draymond, along with Atlanta, who had Al, Millsap and Jeff Teague. Those 3 I find harder to justify (thought ATL was 43-11 at the time of the break).

The only other time I remember recently was us in 2011, when we had KG, PP, Ray and Rajon. Apparently Detroit had 3 players picked in 2006.

It's not exactly 100% meritocratic, but I can understand why they would want to share the accolades around. I don't agree with it, I think we deserve at least 3, but I understand it. They want as many fans from as many teams as possible tuning is as this is a commercial thing as much as a representative thing. Now if it was an All-NBA selection I think that should definitely be meritocratic.

[G-Bones]

I would rather our players get the rest.  Sure White and Portzingis deserved to be selected.  But, they are all focused on the championship.  Go Celtics!!!

[Vermont Green]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

Bam Adebayo is a very good player.  I have no problem with him being an all star over Porzingis.  He is a solid 20/10 and pitches in over 4 assists.  Porzingis is really good too.  Has the 3-ball that Adebayo doesn't, but overall, this does not seem unfair or a blatant snub or anything like that.

[Celtics2021]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

The simplest answer is they probably don't want one team to contribute more than 2 players. The last time a team had at more than 2 players picked for the ASG was in 2017, when the Dubs had Steph, Klay, Dray and KD picked. They were 47-9 by the All Star break and they had made the Finals losing to Cleveland the year before, and had won it the year before that. I can kind of understand why they had 4 players picked.

2015 they had 3 players picked in Steph, Klay and Draymond, along with Atlanta, who had Al, Millsap and Jeff Teague. Those 3 I find harder to justify (thought ATL was 43-11 at the time of the break).

The only other time I remember recently was us in 2011, when we had KG, PP, Ray and Rajon. Apparently Detroit had 3 players picked in 2006.

It's not exactly 100% meritocratic, but I can understand why they would want to share the accolades around. I don't agree with it, I think we deserve at least 3, but I understand it. They want as many fans from as many teams as possible tuning is as this is a commercial thing as much as a representative thing. Now if it was an All-NBA selection I think that should definitely be meritocratic.

While what you say is largely true, the Celtics have a 6-game lead, which is the largest in a conference since those 2014-2015 Hawks.  As All-Stars are selected by conference, record relative the conference seems relevant. Also, the Hawks had four All-Stars that year, not three, as Korver also was selected as an injury replacement.  I think there’s a pretty strong argument that the Celtics should have had a third All-Star based on the quality of the team, and there were clearly two viable options in White and Porzingis for the honor based on their individual play.

[hpantazo]

Jaylen's pre-dunk gimmicks were subtle, but really good. While his dunks could have been a little more creative, he made up for some of it with the power he added to each dunk.

I really liked the Dee Brown call back, and the Michael Jackson white glove/I have a left hand game dunk.

If only he covered his eyes before the dunk! I found it kinda funny though. Obviously that wasn’t the plan and the fact that he still did it after drew boos from the crowd i think.

Yeah, that would have been an exceptional dunk if he had managed to execute it properly.

[Neurotic Guy]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

The simplest answer is they probably don't want one team to contribute more than 2 players. The last time a team had at more than 2 players picked for the ASG was in 2017, when the Dubs had Steph, Klay, Dray and KD picked. They were 47-9 by the All Star break and they had made the Finals losing to Cleveland the year before, and had won it the year before that. I can kind of understand why they had 4 players picked.

2015 they had 3 players picked in Steph, Klay and Draymond, along with Atlanta, who had Al, Millsap and Jeff Teague. Those 3 I find harder to justify (thought ATL was 43-11 at the time of the break).

The only other time I remember recently was us in 2011, when we had KG, PP, Ray and Rajon. Apparently Detroit had 3 players picked in 2006.

It's not exactly 100% meritocratic, but I can understand why they would want to share the accolades around. I don't agree with it, I think we deserve at least 3, but I understand it. They want as many fans from as many teams as possible tuning is as this is a commercial thing as much as a representative thing. Now if it was an All-NBA selection I think that should definitely be meritocratic.

While what you say is largely true, the Celtics have a 6-game lead, which is the largest in a conference since those 2014-2015 Hawks.  As All-Stars are selected by conference, record relative the conference seems relevant. Also, the Hawks had four All-Stars that year, not three, as Korver also was selected as an injury replacement.  I think there’s a pretty strong argument that the Celtics should have had a third All-Star based on the quality of the team, and there were clearly two viable options in White and Porzingis for the honor based on their individual play.

All-star weekend is a talent show - primarily an opportunity to put itself on display for the public and sell the league.  I flipped the spectacle on a few times because I wanted to see Jaylen. I regret almost every minute of the collective 30 or so that I spent watching the flashing lights, circus announcements, gratuitous interviews, and not very compelling ‘competitions’.  I did catch Sabrina shooting threes which for me was the only interesting minute of the night. 

Looking forward to real games.

[celticinorlando]

How is Bam in the All Star game and not Porzingis? Prorzingis is on the best team in the league with 20.2 pts on great efficiency. Bam is on a play in team with 20.2  pts on worse efficiency...

Bam Adebayo is a very good player.  I have no problem with him being an all star over Porzingis.  He is a solid 20/10 and pitches in over 4 assists.  Porzingis is really good too.  Has the 3-ball that Adebayo doesn't, but overall, this does not seem unfair or a blatant snub or anything like that.

Bam is also a much better moving screener and flopper.

[celticsclay]

Is there any chance last night was the last dunk contest? I feel like last night was up there with rock bottom. No dunk anybody is going to remember. Mcclung was mediocre by his standards, and he is not even close to an NBA player (he should not be allowed to participate). The judging seemed completely random. Or maybe they move the dunk contest up in the evening and make the 3pt shootout the final main event. I would be fine if they just got rid of the dunk contest at this point. I only watched cause of Jaylen.

[radiohead]

Is there any chance last night was the last dunk contest? I feel like last night was up there with rock bottom. No dunk anybody is going to remember. Mcclung was mediocre by his standards, and he is not even close to an NBA player (he should not be allowed to participate). The judging seemed completely random. Or maybe they move the dunk contest up in the evening and make the 3pt shootout the final main event. I would be fine if they just got rid of the dunk contest at this point. I only watched cause of Jaylen.

I usually don’t care about all star weekend, but got intrigued with JB joining the dunk contest. Hopefully he inspires other guys to join. As he said, he just wanted to have fun and was not afraid to be “meme’d”. Hopefully guys like Anthony Edwards follow JB’s lead and lend their “star power” to the dunk contest next year. That’s the only way to save this competition.

[hpantazo]

Is there any chance last night was the last dunk contest? I feel like last night was up there with rock bottom. No dunk anybody is going to remember. Mcclung was mediocre by his standards, and he is not even close to an NBA player (he should not be allowed to participate). The judging seemed completely random. Or maybe they move the dunk contest up in the evening and make the 3pt shootout the final main event. I would be fine if they just got rid of the dunk contest at this point. I only watched cause of Jaylen.

I usually don’t care about all star weekend, but got intrigued with JB joining the dunk contest. Hopefully he inspires other guys to join. As he said, he just wanted to have fun and was not afraid to be “meme’d”. Hopefully guys like Anthony Edwards follow JB’s lead and lend their “star power” to the dunk contest next year. That’s the only way to save this competition.

Judging from his comments afterwards and his lack of fresh ideas for dunks, I think Mcclung has had enough of the dunk contest as well. The NBA needs to invest in it and revamp it with star power or replace it with a new event. I'd love to see a defense oriented event. Something like who can hold the top scorers to the lowest point totals in 2-3 minutes of half court one on one.

If they want to keep the dunk contest, go with a team competition. The team with the best set of dunks wins, and you can only use teammates for assistance and not random dudes from the crowd like Shaq. That may also take some of the pressure off of guys who are worried about getting singled out for poor dunk performances if it's in a team setting. The team does not necessarily need to be an NBA team, get a group of 4 guys who want to form a dunk team.