NBA Season 2024-25

[slightly biased bias fan]

No surprise there.

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
1m
BREAKING: The Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Mike Budenholzer after finishing in 11th place with a 36-46 record in his one season, sources tell ESPN.

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
1m
A year after 49 wins, the sixth seed and the No. 13 ranked defense, the Suns plummeted to third-worst in the NBA on defense and went 10-18 after the All-Star break.

For the third straight offseason, Phoenix is changing coaches.

Mat Ishbia is moving quickly towards being in the upper-echelon of worst pro sports owners.  Hopefully Bill Chisholm looks at Phoenix as a case study of what not to do.

100%

I think what makes Ishbia so bad is he refuses to acknowledge he has made a mistake and start a complete rebuild. In one of his most recent interviews, Ishbia STILL thinks the Suns can retool to compete for a title.

If Ishbia was not so stubborn, he would understand that the Suns need to get their picks back from Houston and look to rebuild immediately because Utah has their 2031 pick (unprotected).

I promise you, we will win championships.

- Mat Ishbia message to Phoenix Suns fans

[Phantom255x]

Gambadoro is a very reliable Suns reporter and he said KD is definitely gone.

He lists the Rockets, Knicks and Wolves as suitors barring a deep run from any of them. Spurs could be possible too.

Honestly KD in Minnesota would be cool. Ant idolizes him too and Durant would absolutely give them a lethal 1-2 punch. Knicks or Spurs would be interesting too. If the Spurs managed to get Durant to pair with Wemby, Fox and Castle that'd be something.

Maybe something like Barnes, Vassell and a bunch of picks for Durant.

[Who]

Sam Amick: League sources confirm, with @Eric Nehm, that the Bucks? Damian Lillard has been cleared of deep vein thrombosis and is off of blood thinners. Lillard also played three-on-three yesterday, then was re-tested today. He?s out for Game 1, with no clarity from there regarding Game 2 and beyond. His ramp-up will determine that timeline.  via Twitter sam_amick

That's huge news. If MIL can split the first two, they could have a chance to take the series if Lillard returns by Game 3.

With this good news, I am picking the Bucks over the Pacers in 6 or 7 games.

[jpotter33]

Sam Amick: League sources confirm, with @Eric Nehm, that the Bucks? Damian Lillard has been cleared of deep vein thrombosis and is off of blood thinners. Lillard also played three-on-three yesterday, then was re-tested today. He?s out for Game 1, with no clarity from there regarding Game 2 and beyond. His ramp-up will determine that timeline.  via Twitter sam_amick

That's huge news. If MIL can split the first two, they could have a chance to take the series if Lillard returns by Game 3.

With this good news, I am picking the Bucks over the Pacers in 6 or 7 games.

Should add another good challenger to Cleveland, too.

[Phantom255x]

Sam Amick: League sources confirm, with @Eric Nehm, that the Bucks? Damian Lillard has been cleared of deep vein thrombosis and is off of blood thinners. Lillard also played three-on-three yesterday, then was re-tested today. He?s out for Game 1, with no clarity from there regarding Game 2 and beyond. His ramp-up will determine that timeline.  via Twitter sam_amick

That's huge news. If MIL can split the first two, they could have a chance to take the series if Lillard returns by Game 3.

With this good news, I am picking the Bucks over the Pacers in 6 or 7 games.

Should add another good challenger to Cleveland, too.

Either team can give CLE some fits. Unfortunately the first round will be a breeze for them

[Who]

James Edwards III: Mitch Robinson said the most he weighed was 290 and he?s down to 269.

I don't understand these players getting out of shape. The team had a chance to compete for a title. They were depending on him. He is their only defensive big man. He is the 5th / 6th best player on the team. He is paid a lot of money.

How can you let down your teammates and fans like this?

[celticsclay]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
15m
Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is finalizing a deal to become the new president of basketball operations of the New Orleans Pelicans, sources tell ESPN. Dumars was president of the Pistons from 2000-14, building the 2004 Detroit championship team. Now returns home to Louisiana.

Seems like a good choice by NOP.  Will be interesting to see what he does with Zion.

Not really.

When Joe Dumars was the Pistons GM, he made some horrendous decisions:

- Picking Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony

- Traded for washed up Allen Iverson

- Drafted Greg Monroe over Gordon Hayward & Paul George

- Drafted Brandon Knight over Kemba Walker (who was literally next player selected)

- Traded away Khris Middleton after only one season

- Cycled through 5 head coaches in 7 years during the Pistons successful period (2003-2010)

Given Joe Dumars is from Louisiana, this seems like a hometown favour.

While I don?t think he is amazing, it seems a bit unfair to only list his negative moves and no give him any credit for the good ones. Drummond and especially prince were good draft picks. Trading Bob sura for Rasheed Wallace was great. He also got rip Hamilton for stackhouse. He also signed billups when he was not highly sought after and managed to get Ben Wallace when hill was going to leave anyways. This all directly led to the chip and other deep playoff runs. There have been many gms that didn?t accomplish that.

[Celtics2021]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
15m
Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is finalizing a deal to become the new president of basketball operations of the New Orleans Pelicans, sources tell ESPN. Dumars was president of the Pistons from 2000-14, building the 2004 Detroit championship team. Now returns home to Louisiana.

Seems like a good choice by NOP.  Will be interesting to see what he does with Zion.

Not really.

When Joe Dumars was the Pistons GM, he made some horrendous decisions:

- Picking Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony

- Traded for washed up Allen Iverson

- Drafted Greg Monroe over Gordon Hayward & Paul George

- Drafted Brandon Knight over Kemba Walker (who was literally next player selected)

- Traded away Khris Middleton after only one season

- Cycled through 5 head coaches in 7 years during the Pistons successful period (2003-2010)

Given Joe Dumars is from Louisiana, this seems like a hometown favour.

While I don?t think he is amazing, it seems a bit unfair to only list his negative moves and no give him any credit for the good ones. Drummond and especially prince were good draft picks. Trading Bob sura for Rasheed Wallace was great. He also got rip Hamilton for stackhouse. He also signed billups when he was not highly sought after and managed to get Ben Wallace when hill was going to leave anyways. This all directly led to the chip and other deep playoff runs. There have been many gms that didn?t accomplish that.

Agreed, he did a great job putting together that team, which won a title and was one of the top teams in the conference for most of a decade, appearing in six straight conference finals.  That is not easy.

That said, he did not adapt to a changing game, and had too little patience with coaches (firing Flip Saunders after a 59-23 season and conference final loss to the eventual champion was ridiculous).  The question is can he adapt now, and will he quickly turn over all the staff in New Orleans the first time they don?t meet his expectations, which are likely too high?

[Phantom255x]

So apparently you can to go the Grizzlies game tomorrow for as low as $9 

[Who]

there is optimism within the franchise that Kyrie Irving will be able to return from his ACL tear prior to the 2026 All-Star break.

Irving's contract status is also a question as he could become a free agent this offseason. The Mavericks have interest in having Irving decline his player option for 25-26 to sign him to a new three-year deal.

"The expectation around the Dallas Mavericks, Kyrie Irving, is that he will play a good chunk of next season," said Shams Charania. "There is optimism that he will be back by January.

"He's got, before that, a $45 million player option. That's the next situation that Nico Harrison and the Mavericks will have to deal with. The goal for the Mavericks has been to rip up his player option and give him a three-year deal potentially. To align him with Nico Harrison's three years and Anthony Davis' three years."

Worried about Luka's health & injury proness but fine with giving Kyrie a 3 year deal at 33 years of age coming off an ACL injury and missing the first 1/3rd of next season.

[celticsclay]

Shams Charania
@ShamsCharania
?
15m
Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is finalizing a deal to become the new president of basketball operations of the New Orleans Pelicans, sources tell ESPN. Dumars was president of the Pistons from 2000-14, building the 2004 Detroit championship team. Now returns home to Louisiana.

Seems like a good choice by NOP.  Will be interesting to see what he does with Zion.

Not really.

When Joe Dumars was the Pistons GM, he made some horrendous decisions:

- Picking Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony

- Traded for washed up Allen Iverson

- Drafted Greg Monroe over Gordon Hayward & Paul George

- Drafted Brandon Knight over Kemba Walker (who was literally next player selected)

- Traded away Khris Middleton after only one season

- Cycled through 5 head coaches in 7 years during the Pistons successful period (2003-2010)

Given Joe Dumars is from Louisiana, this seems like a hometown favour.

While I don?t think he is amazing, it seems a bit unfair to only list his negative moves and no give him any credit for the good ones. Drummond and especially prince were good draft picks. Trading Bob sura for Rasheed Wallace was great. He also got rip Hamilton for stackhouse. He also signed billups when he was not highly sought after and managed to get Ben Wallace when hill was going to leave anyways. This all directly led to the chip and other deep playoff runs. There have been many gms that didn?t accomplish that.

Agreed, he did a great job putting together that team, which won a title and was one of the top teams in the conference for most of a decade, appearing in six straight conference finals.  That is not easy.

That said, he did not adapt to a changing game, and had too little patience with coaches (firing Flip Saunders after a 59-23 season and conference final loss to the eventual champion was ridiculous).  The question is can he adapt now, and will he quickly turn over all the staff in New Orleans the first time they don?t meet his expectations, which are likely too high?

Yeah I do think there is a chance he not adapted to the current NBA. He certainly was behind on recognizing the diminishing value of bigs and the second part of his tenure had a lot of bad moves. I just think it is fair to list all his bad moves and not include some of the best ones any team has made this century (Rasheed Wallace is one of only trade deadline deals that directly led to a championship).

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

I fully expect the Heat to lay a good solid beat down on the Hawks before going on to make the Cavs lives miserable in a drag out, no hold barred 6 game series.

[Goldstar88]

Atlanta has no scoring right now outside of Trae. Can?t see Miami losing this game.

[Who]

I am surprised by how little impact K Ware has on defense. I don't expect his positioning to be that good but I do expect moments / flashes of defensive potential.

I am surprised how few shots he blocks / alters / challenges at the rim. Especially compared to how many dunks he can get on alley-oops on the other end. He doesn't play above the rim on defense. It is strange.

It also looks like his athleticism has dropped off since the draft. That he has put on a fair bit of weight and doesn't elevate like he did prior to the draft or in summer league. Even on those alley-oops.

[Phantom255x]

Levert is the only non-Trae Hawks player that can create his own shot and looks competent. The rest of them look terrified to shoot or are clueless about what to do when they have the basketball