General NBA thread

[Henry]

Congrats to the Nuggets and Denver for their first ever NBA championship. Here's a crazy fact: the Nuggets are the first Western Conference Team to win a championship since 1979 who are not based in California or Texas.

More trivia on the table, the Nuggets along with the San Antonio Spurs, are the two teams from the original ABA (1967-76) who never won a ABA championship. Also, the Denver Nuggets was originally called the Denver Rockets but at the time when the ABA talked of the merge with the NBA since they already have a team called the Rockets, the Denver Rockets did a contest and changed their name to Nuggets as a nod and tribute to the original Nuggets.   

Conversely, the other two former ABA teams have won a championship in the ABA, but not the NBA. The Pacers won in 1970, 1972 and 1973, and the New York Nets won in 1974 and 1976. These two teams would compete in three NBA Finals combined, and end up on the losing end each time (the Pacers in 2000, and the then-New Jersey Nets in 2002 and 2003).

Congrats to the Nuggets for winning their first championship!

[jgb191]

To begin the earliest batch of summer news:

Adam Silver announced yesterday that he has tripled up on the Ja(mel) Morant suspension.  Morant's first suspension was only a meager eight games, now it is more than thrice what his first length was.  Even so, I still believe it's way too lenient, but Adam Silver is the commissioner and I'm not.

Mike Jr. Dunleavy has been promoted to now being the new GM of the Warriors.  And the Michael Jordan era is finally over, he sold his ownership stake.  There is something about legendary players that turn into a complete bust in other higher up basketball roles (coach, manager, VP/CEO, Owner/Chairman, etc).

NBA Draft is next week, I sure hope the Spurs get some good luck from this draft.  I don't know anything about this Victor Wembanyama player but I haven't heard very many positive things about his physical size.

[Billy F 1988]

And the Michael Jordan era is finally over, he sold his ownership stake.  There is something about legendary players that turn into a complete bust in other higher up basketball roles (coach, manager, VP/CEO, Owner/Chairman, etc).

MJ selling NBA ownership stake was merely a ploy for his NASCAR stint with Denny Hamlin.

[Henry]

"Mr. Paul Goes to Washington", as the Suns trade Chris to the Wizards for Bradley Beal.

[Big John]

"Mr. Paul Goes to Washington", as the Suns trade Chris to the Wizards for Bradley Beal.

and he finds out about the trade from his son who heard aeard aboutg it broadcast.

[Life in Paradise]

"Mr. Paul Goes to Washington", as the Suns trade Chris to the Wizards for Bradley Beal.

and he finds out about the trade from his son who heard aeard aboutg it broadcast.

and if you believe that......it was announced by Phoenix two or three weeks ago that they were going to either waive or trade Paul

[Henry]

No surprise here: Victor Wembanyama is now the No.1 overall pick of the San Antonio Spurs. Then he's followed by Brandon Miller to Charlotte, and Scoot Henderson to Portland. And the Thompson twins round out the top five.

[KeithE4Phx]

"Mr. Paul Goes to Washington", as the Suns trade Chris to the Wizards for Bradley Beal.

Whereupon he was shipped post-haste to Golden State for Jordan Poole and draft picks.

https://arizonasports.com/story/3526156/chris-paul-traded-warriors-wizards-redirect-former-suns-pg/

[Ted$8roadFan]

Boston Celtics have traded Marcus Smart to Memphis in a three-team deal that brings Kristaps Porzingis to the Celtics. Trading Smart is very controversial.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Following Damian Lillard going to Milwaukee, the Celtics have acquired Jrue Holiday from Portland.

[jgb191]

James Harden is now in his fifth -- that's 5th -- team of his career.....four of which in the last 20 months or so.  And it seems like the former OKC Thunder stars always get reunited with him....Russell Westbrook with the Rockets and now Clippers, and Kevin Durant with the Nets. 

As for the Clippers, this year looks to be their one and only shot at the title with so much talent stockpiled on that roster.  Everybody is a free agent next summer, and it doesn't look very likely that they'll be able to keep all of them together next season, unless they all take paycuts.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Harden has managed to blowtorch his way out of town with his last three teams. The Clippers were probably his only choice, and that says as much about them as it does about him. It will be interesting to see how their Big 4 play together.

[thspfc]

Personally I'm not a fan of this in-season tournament. If you need gimmicks to make your regular season games interesting, that's indicative of a problem that gimmicks can't solve. Once the real playoffs start nobody will care about what happened in this tournament.

[JayhawkCO]

James Harden is now in his fifth -- that's 5th -- team of his career.....four of which in the last 20 months or so.  And it seems like the former OKC Thunder stars always get reunited with him....Russell Westbrook with the Rockets and now Clippers, and Kevin Durant with the Nets. 

As for the Clippers, this year looks to be their one and only shot at the title with so much talent stockpiled on that roster.  Everybody is a free agent next summer, and it doesn't look very likely that they'll be able to keep all of them together next season, unless they all take paycuts.

The Clippers cannot beat the Nuggets. It's their bogey-team.

[Henry]

Personally I'm not a fan of this in-season tournament. If you need gimmicks to make your regular season games interesting, that's indicative of a problem that gimmicks can't solve. Once the real playoffs start nobody will care about what happened in this tournament.

Tell that to the WNBA, where the in-season tournament originated. Then again, nobody cares about the WNBA anyway.

[jgb191]

I'll go a step further and say I disagree with the Play-in tournament.  For several decades it's been 82 games deciding the playoff set-up.  If you can't make it in the top eight seeds after 82 games, you don't deserve a playoff spot.

[Alps]

Personally I'm not a fan of this in-season tournament. If you need gimmicks to make your regular season games interesting, that's indicative of a problem that gimmicks can't solve. Once the real playoffs start nobody will care about what happened in this tournament.

Tell that to the WNBA, where the in-season tournament originated. Then again, nobody cares about the WNBA anyway.

You are just anti-woman. There are plenty of fans outside of your man-only realm.

[Henry]

Personally I'm not a fan of this in-season tournament. If you need gimmicks to make your regular season games interesting, that's indicative of a problem that gimmicks can't solve. Once the real playoffs start nobody will care about what happened in this tournament.

Tell that to the WNBA, where the in-season tournament originated. Then again, nobody cares about the WNBA anyway.

You are just anti-woman. There are plenty of fans outside of your man-only realm.

I resent that comment. I never said I wasn't a fan; in fact, I follow the Storm and Sky on a regular basis.

As for the NBA's new in-season tournament, let's just see how it plays out.

[ET21]

Chicago Sky is the most recent championship in the city as well, better then what the Bulls have done in the last 25 years

[The Ghostbuster]

As you are all likely aware, there was a brawl on Tuesday night early in the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors. And once again, Draymond Green made himself look like an immature, undisciplined, hot-tempered jackass. Although he received a five-game suspension (while Klay Thompson, Jaden McDaniels, and Rudy Gobert got $25,000 fines), I am beyond fed up with Green's many antics. I think the league should ban him for at least a season without pay, although I doubt that would get Green to clean up his act. I see Draymond Green as the NBA's version of Ndamukong Suh.

[Henry]

I'm calling it now: Seattle and Las Vegas for the next expansion teams! The rebirth of the Sonics would make a great companion team for the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena, while the recent news of the Oakland A's relocation is boosting Vegas' chances even higher than before.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I'm calling it now: Seattle and Las Vegas for the next expansion teams! The rebirth of the Sonics would make a great companion team for the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena, while the recent news of the Oakland A's relocation is boosting Vegas' chances even higher than before.

Seattle deserves an expansion team, since the removal of the Sonics was one of the worst crimes in NBA history. And now that Las Vegas has the Golden Knights, Raiders, and soon the Athletics, it only makes sense that an NBA franchise should follow. One question: if Seattle and Vegas got teams, would the league expand to 34 teams, or would two (2) franchises have to relocate?

[Henry]

One question: if Seattle and Vegas got teams, would the league expand to 34 teams, or would two (2) franchises have to relocate?

There are 30 teams right now, so how in the world did you get to 34? Adding Seattle and Las Vegas to the current batch would make 32, and I think the dust has settled after the crazy franchise shift of the aughts and early teens that saw (in this order) the Grizzlies, Hornets-Pelicans, Sonics-Thunder and Nets switch cities.

[jgb191]

New York does not need two teams, I'd say move the Nets to Baltimore.

[hotdogPi]

New York does not need two teams, I'd say move the Nets to Baltimore.

The NYC metro area has 1/15 of the US population. It deserves two teams.