Around the NBA: Week 23 (3/23- 3/29)

[Wally_West]

Joe Dumars a fucking terrorist. Dude might’ve sent the pels back another decade with that trade.

[Mori Chu]

Shel asks a good question: why the fuss about tanking now, when it's been a thing for a while now? I think the gambling may be part of it. There are rich and powerful companies that will get mad if teams throw games. These are now official league partners, and they may be yelling at Silver to do something about it.

IMO it's all a matter of degree. A bit of tanking here or there isn't the end of the world. But when a sizable number of teams do it (you can make the case that 10-12 teams are currently tanking to various degrees), that is really bad for the league. I read that teams really like this year's draft class, so that may be increasing the amount of tanking.

What would REALLY damage the league would be if a player or team is caught taking bribes to tank. Like, some shady character goes to a star on a really bad team like the Jazz and says, "Hey, you guys stink anyway, can you just make sure to get fewer than 18 points tonight?"

[Kryptonic]

Shel asks a good question: why the fuss about tanking now, when it's been a thing for a while now? I think the gambling may be part of it. There are rich and powerful companies that will get mad if teams throw games. These are now official league partners, and they may be yelling at Silver to do something about it.

IMO it's all a matter of degree. A bit of tanking here or there isn't the end of the world. But when a sizable number of teams do it (you can make the case that 10-12 teams are currently tanking to various degrees), that is really bad for the league. I read that teams really like this year's draft class, so that may be increasing the amount of tanking.

What would REALLY damage the league would be if a player or team is caught taking bribes to tank. Like, some shady character goes to a star on a really bad team like the Jazz and says, "Hey, you guys stink anyway, can you just make sure to get fewer than 18 points tonight?"

I’m sure with enough time Pablo torre will find something

[O_Gardino]

This is all beyond me but I do wonder why it's such an issue now when teams have been doing it for years. The Sixers' had almost a 5 year plan to tank and ended up with Fultz, Embiid, and Simmons. The Spurs tanked the past 3 years for Wemby, Castle and Harper. Those teams were openly doing it. I get that maybe more teams are doing it now, and it's a weird situation with the Pacers tanking after they were in the Finals last year. I guess the noise is louder now but I think it probably has more to do with money and gambling being involved.

What if there were just restrictions similar to not being able to trade draft picks two years in a row - you can't draft in the top 8 two years in row after you've had a top 3 pick and/or you can't be in the top 3 for five years after you've had that top 3 pick. So take the Spurs for instance:

2023- #1 pick Wemby
2024- even if they have the 2nd worst record they're drafting 9th, so no Stephon Castle at 4
2025- No higher than 9th so no Dylan Harper
2026-2027- no matter how many games they lose they can't draft higher than 4th

I guess that bumps teams up and down the draft order but it is what it is. The point would be that it takes away the incentive to purposely lose games and try for the worst record for multiple years and maybe motivates teams to try and be better quicker.

It's just the latest media outrage.

[O_Gardino]

Joe Dumars a fucking terrorist. Dude might’ve sent the pels back another decade with that trade.

Is Queen really that bad? I mean, the trade was bad, but Queen seems like a good player. I've only watched the games we played against them, but he looked mobile and skilled. His shooting numbers are fine, and his passing and court awareness seem excellent.

I still maintain that the Pels should have tried to bring back CP3 to mentor Queen and Fears.

[TOO]

Derik Queen defends like a log. He's slow in all facets and they are markedly worse when he's on the floor, like 8pts per or something like that. He's basically Boogie Cousins after his injuries

[Superbone]

This is all beyond me but I do wonder why it's such an issue now when teams have been doing it for years. The Sixers' had almost a 5 year plan to tank and ended up with Fultz, Embiid, and Simmons. The Spurs tanked the past 3 years for Wemby, Castle and Harper. Those teams were openly doing it. I get that maybe more teams are doing it now, and it's a weird situation with the Pacers tanking after they were in the Finals last year. I guess the noise is louder now but I think it probably has more to do with money and gambling being involved.

What if there were just restrictions similar to not being able to trade draft picks two years in a row - you can't draft in the top 8 two years in row after you've had a top 3 pick and/or you can't be in the top 3 for five years after you've had that top 3 pick. So take the Spurs for instance:

2023- #1 pick Wemby
2024- even if they have the 2nd worst record they're drafting 9th, so no Stephon Castle at 4
2025- No higher than 9th so no Dylan Harper
2026-2027- no matter how many games they lose they can't draft higher than 4th

I guess that bumps teams up and down the draft order but it is what it is. The point would be that it takes away the incentive to purposely lose games and try for the worst record for multiple years and maybe motivates teams to try and be better quicker.

It's just the latest media outrage.

You guys don't hate it? I do. It's a really bad look for the league. If gambling is the reason to do something about it then maybe it's not as bad for the league as I thought.

[Superbone]

Joe Dumars a fucking terrorist. Dude might’ve sent the pels back another decade with that trade.

Is Queen really that bad? I mean, the trade was bad, but Queen seems like a good player. I've only watched the games we played against them, but he looked mobile and skilled. His shooting numbers are fine, and his passing and court awareness seem excellent.

I still maintain that the Pels should have tried to bring back CP3 to mentor Queen and Fears.

Yeah, I thought people on here were crying that we didn't take Queen instead of Maluach. A little patience and now we're seeing Man Man's potential.

[Split T]

This is all beyond me but I do wonder why it's such an issue now when teams have been doing it for years. The Sixers' had almost a 5 year plan to tank and ended up with Fultz, Embiid, and Simmons. The Spurs tanked the past 3 years for Wemby, Castle and Harper. Those teams were openly doing it. I get that maybe more teams are doing it now, and it's a weird situation with the Pacers tanking after they were in the Finals last year. I guess the noise is louder now but I think it probably has more to do with money and gambling being involved.

What if there were just restrictions similar to not being able to trade draft picks two years in a row - you can't draft in the top 8 two years in row after you've had a top 3 pick and/or you can't be in the top 3 for five years after you've had that top 3 pick. So take the Spurs for instance:

2023- #1 pick Wemby
2024- even if they have the 2nd worst record they're drafting 9th, so no Stephon Castle at 4
2025- No higher than 9th so no Dylan Harper
2026-2027- no matter how many games they lose they can't draft higher than 4th

I guess that bumps teams up and down the draft order but it is what it is. The point would be that it takes away the incentive to purposely lose games and try for the worst record for multiple years and maybe motivates teams to try and be better quicker.

It's just the latest media outrage.

You guys don't hate it? I do. It's a really bad look for the league. If gambling is the reason to do something about it then maybe it's not as bad for the league as I thought.

I hate it and I’ve hated it for awhile, so to me it’s not new. Sure the nba is doing more about it, but the reason we have the current lottery rules is because they were trying to stop tanking as well…clearly it didn’t deter it at all and now they need to go even further. So I just disagree that it’s a new outrage…the league stepped in and basically forced Hinkie out when he did “The Process” in Philly.

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

Disturbing trend most likely attributed to tanking:



So, yeah. It IS getting worse.

[pickle]

[TOO]

Have fun in Saudi Arabia Jaden.

[Shabazz]

Have fun in Saudi Arabia Jaden.

He seems to be going through an episode. Hope he gets the help he needs.

[specialsauce]

Clearly new onset psychosis. Hyper religious. He's got undiagnosed bipolar or schizophrenia. He's the right age of onset.

[Mori Chu]

I didn't realize Ivey's performance had fallen off so much. He was averaging like 14-15 ppg for most of his career, right? And then suddenly this year he's down at 8 ppg, traded, and has a public meltdown. What happened here?

[ShelC]

He never recovered, physically and seemingly mentally, from the injury he had. He's spiraled down ever since. I understand some criticism about the team just cutting him when they should try and maybe help him but maybe he's refused the help. We never know what's going on behind the scenes.