General NBA thread

[jgb191]

32 teams in a league is a logical number:  16 teams per conference, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division, 2 NBA Finalist, and 1 World Champions.  I would like to see Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver re-gain NBA teams again to form a Northwest rivalry here.  My idea for new division alignments:

Northwest Division
Oklahoma City
Portland
Seattle-Tacoma
Vancouver

California Division
Golden State
LA Clippers
LA Lakers
Sacramento

Four Corners Division
Albuquerque
Denver
Phoenix
Utah

Texas/Louisiana Division
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio
New Orleans

Southeast Division
Atlanta
Miami
Memphis
Orlando

Mideast Division
Charlotte
Cleveland
Detroit
Washington

Northeast Division
Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia

Great Lakes Division
Chicago
Indiana
Milwaukee
Minnesota

[JayhawkCO]

What is this Albuquerque team?

[jgb191]

What is this Albuquerque team?

I would have voted Albuquerque if the NBA decides to expand to 32 teams.  I have close relatives there and they've been yearning for a team to cheer for.

[JayhawkCO]

What is this Albuquerque team?

I would have voted Albuquerque if the NBA decides to expand to 32 teams.  I have close relatives there and they've been yearning for a team to cheer for.

Gotcha. I misread that this was a realignment plan for the planned expansion. The market is about the same size as New Orleans or Memphis, but I think the economics of the area would probably rule it out.

[jgb191]

What is this Albuquerque team?

I would have voted Albuquerque if the NBA decides to expand to 32 teams.  I have close relatives there and they've been yearning for a team to cheer for.

Gotcha. I misread that this was a realignment plan for the planned expansion. The market is about the same size as New Orleans or Memphis, but I think the economics of the area would probably rule it out.

Yeah I guess Las Vegas probably would make better economic sense than Albuquerque.

[Max Rockatansky]

Two decades ago wasn't the popular census that the NBA would be the first major sports league to put a team in Las Vegas?

[TheCatalyst31]

32 teams in a league is a logical number:  16 teams per conference, 8 divisions, 4 teams per division, 2 NBA Finalist, and 1 World Champions.  I would like to see Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver re-gain NBA teams again to form a Northwest rivalry here.  My idea for new division alignments:

Northwest Division
Oklahoma City
Portland
Seattle-Tacoma
Vancouver

California Division
Golden State
LA Clippers
LA Lakers
Sacramento

Four Corners Division
Albuquerque
Denver
Phoenix
Utah

Texas/Louisiana Division
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio
New Orleans

Southeast Division
Atlanta
Miami
Memphis
Orlando

Mideast Division
Charlotte
Cleveland
Detroit
Washington

Northeast Division
Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia

Great Lakes Division
Chicago
Indiana
Milwaukee
Minnesota

Are you relocating the Raptors? Toronto isn't on there.

[jgb191]

Affirmative!  The Vancouver Raptors.   

[Life in Paradise]

The NBA needs its star players playing more than any other league. Indiana is a perfect example as to why.

Just to note, I'm a Pacer fan and closely follow their games.  Haliburton is a very big part of their success, but they had a multitude of injuries in the first half of the season, and they likely still could have made the playoffs, but it was more important to focus on development of some younger players for next season.  To see some of this all you need to do is start looking at who is on the floor most of the games in the second half and in particular the fourth quarter.

Now you have to wonder if Haliburton will even be the same player post injury. 

There are two factors in this.  The first is whether the Achilles is fully healed (and from what I can tell it is); and the second is whether he mentally will allow himself to do what he did before.

[Henry]

It's now official: Seattle and Las Vegas have been approved for new teams! I'm especially happy for Sonics fans who've been waiting for their long-overdue return. The new team will debut in a milestone season, as 2028 will be 20 years since the original one moved to OKC; now the Thunder can finally get out from under their predecessor's shadow and forge their own history. Which brings us the question that may already has an answer: Will the new Sonics be classified as inactive for 20 years, and the Thunder as a 2008 expansion team, similar to the Browns/Ravens and Hornets/Pelicans situations?

[mgk920]

Right now I would hold off on activating both for a few seasons to see what directions the respective local markets go.

Mike

[Max Rockatansky]

It's now official: Seattle and Las Vegas have been approved for new teams! I'm especially happy for Sonics fans who've been waiting for their long-overdue return. The new team will debut in a milestone season, as 2028 will be 20 years since the original one moved to OKC; now the Thunder can finally get out from under their predecessor's shadow and forge their own history. Which brings us the question that may already has an answer: Will the new Sonics be classified as inactive for 20 years, and the Thunder as a 2008 expansion team, similar to the Browns/Ravens and Hornets/Pelicans situations?

The Sonics franchise name and history has way more value than the Charlotte Hornets does.  I can see the Thunder putting up a fight to keep that history as part of their franchise.

[ET21]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48413577/sources-bulls-fire-vp-arturas-karnisovas-gm-marc-eversley

Another Bulls shakeup, see you again in 7 years when the next regime does the same thing 

[TheCatalyst31]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48413577/sources-bulls-fire-vp-arturas-karnisovas-gm-marc-eversley

Another Bulls shakeup, see you again in 7 years when the next regime does the same thing 

Wake me up when they change the owner.

[jgb191]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48413577/sources-bulls-fire-vp-arturas-karnisovas-gm-marc-eversley

Another Bulls shakeup, see you again in 7 years when the next regime does the same thing 

Wake me up when they change the owner.

Could have been so much worse for the Bulls....at least they weren't owned by James Dolan or Donald Sterling.

I always tell other sports fans:  you can not like your owner/vice-president/manager/coach, but always be wary of the next person in that capacity....could make the team even worse than before.

[TheCatalyst31]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48413577/sources-bulls-fire-vp-arturas-karnisovas-gm-marc-eversley

Another Bulls shakeup, see you again in 7 years when the next regime does the same thing 

Wake me up when they change the owner.

Could have been so much worse for the Bulls....at least they weren't owned by James Dolan or Donald Sterling.

I always tell other sports fans:  you can not like your owner/vice-president/manager/coach, but always be wary of the next person in that capacity....could make the team even worse than before.

That's somewhat true of coaches and GMs, who are in theory hired because of their expertise, but owners are usually just billionaires who may or may not know anything about running a sports team. I'm also a Packers fan, so I know there's a better way of doing things, but if we can't get that I'll keep hating on bad owners.

[jgb191]

That's somewhat true of coaches and GMs, who are in theory hired because of their expertise, but owners are usually just billionaires who may or may not know anything about running a sports team. I'm also a Packers fan, so I know there's a better way of doing things, but if we can't get that I'll keep hating on bad owners.

The way I remembered it back in the 1980's and 1990's, Jerry Reinsdorf (I take it you're a Bulls fan) was a very hands-off owner who stood back and let his experts (who has basketball knowledge) run the show....talking about Jerry Krause and Phil Jackson....Reinsdorf never interfered nor micromanaged; all he did was supply the financial resources.

Which brings me back to the question:  What is the role of the owners?  Should they be active in running the team like Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban?  Or stand out of the way and let his executives/managers do everything?  Seems to be the age-old debate.  Maybe there might be that delicate balance between being too meddling and too passive.

[tchafe1978]

Bucks coach Doc Rivers is out. The team didn't say he was fired, but Doc had hinted recently he wouldn't be back and wanted to spend more time with his grandkids. He will be paid his salary for next season and my move into an adivsory role in the front office.

As a Bucks fan, I say good. The team had only gotten worse with him as coach. I wouldn't mind seeing GM Jon Horst hit the road too. He hasn't made one good move since the Bucks title team in 2021.

[jgb191]

The Rockets take on the LA Lakers in the first round....if they are eliminated in the first round again like last year then the Kevin Durant experiment is not a success.  Even if they escape past the LA Lakers, my Rockets are facing certain elimination by the OKC Thunder in the second round.

[Life in Paradise]

The Rockets take on the LA Lakers in the first round....if they are eliminated in the first round again like last year then the Kevin Durant experiment is not a success.  Even if they escape past the LA Lakers, my Rockets are facing certain elimination by the OKC Thunder in the second round.

If the Rockets can't send the hobbled LA Lakers to the side, there is definitely something wrong.

[jgb191]

The Rockets take on the LA Lakers in the first round....if they are eliminated in the first round again like last year then the Kevin Durant experiment is not a success.  Even if they escape past the LA Lakers, my Rockets are facing certain elimination by the OKC Thunder in the second round.

If the Rockets can't send the hobbled LA Lakers to the side, there is definitely something wrong.

As a Houston sports fan, I can't count out the short-handed LA Lakers or take them too lightly.  LA still has LeBron who even at 41 years still contributes at a playoff-level and knows how to win playoff series; they also have home-court advantage should the series go to Game Seven.  Injury-wise the Rockets don't have their captain Fred VanVleet and Luka Doncic could still possibly come back, and if he does, that totally flips the complexion of the series.

[jgb191]

I was (and still am) hoping for Luka Doncic to return and make it a more competitive series LA & OKC. 

Ant-Man returns and leads the T-Wolves to a Game One win at SA.  As much as I love the Spurs (second-favorite team after the eliminated Rockets), the Wolves have the upper-hand when it comes to playoff experience.  Both teams are great defensively (Spurs have a slight edge on defense), but on offense: Wolves have the Anthony Edwards and the Spurs don't, and I believe that will make the difference.  I do believe that the Minnesota will see their fourth straight Western Conference Finals.

As for my Houston Rockets, they have some questions about their roster management this summer:  Should they keep Kevin Durant?  They have many free agents that they need to consider -- most notably our team captain Fred VanVleet (who missed the entire season).

[Ted$8roadFan]

The Sixers lost again, but looked better. The Spurs got their revenge against the T-Wolves.