Arena The NBA Thread

It’s not. But with kyrie it probably is.

 

i don't know that he can get a contract after this year. He might have to go on tour with Kanye

 

man, the warriors' second unit defense is so bad.

hindsight is 20/20, but the nets really should have taken what they could get for kd this summer and moved kyrie to the lakers for a pick or whatever. now they almost have to move kd because they have no path forward to building around him. he's just going to be miserable for however much longer his tenure is.

i actually feel bad for kd. not because he tied his fate to kyrie, because that was obviously dumb. but just because of all the crap he got for making the softest move ever and going to the warriors for easy championships, when i really don't think that's what it was about. when kd went the warriors it wasn't because they were going to win not 4. not 5 rings, it was because they were going to play beautiful basketball. they had a chance to achieve a kind of basketball perfection that hadn't been seen before, and that's what appealed to kd. he knew how it would look going to the 73-win team that just beat him, and he did it anyway. but then the outside noise clearly got to him. by the second year with warriors he was already unhappy. either he started to believe that he did something wrong, or more likely he just knew that there was nothing he could do with the warriors that would stop people from thinking that. and maybe he did do something wrong. the warriors became one of the greatest teams in basketball history, but people hated this unstoppable machine. it wasn't fun for anyone but warriors fans, and even for me there were times that i missed the warriors/thunder budding rivalry and the competitive balance of the league before he joined the warriors.

so this time he did what he thought everyone wanted him to, and honestly it's hard to picture it going more wrong. a perfect damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. and yeah, he probably should have stayed with okc, but i can also see why he left.

there is sort of a perfect storm brewing where i could see kd getting traded back to the warriors. i don't know if there's a way to make the money work with all the weird stipulations, but if the young guys on the warriors continue to struggle i could see lacob really pushing for it. he loves kd.

 

The best thing about this is thinking about KD just sitting in the dark absolutely livid.

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2dawzfmo

who says no?

 

Can't imagine the Warriors would trade away Draymond.

 

Simmons. It would require him to be expected to win again.

 

How much draft equity you have the Warriors giving up? Because as written, the Nets say no. But, with some firsts?

 

if you read KD's statement, don't feel too bad. he doesn't seem that upset by what was said

 

i was thinking two firsts probably.

i absolutely can. he punched a teammate, he's been playing bad, and he's on the verge of getting ejected in every game. at some point that just gets old. and moving him would create a void that simmons in theory could perfectly fit into. it would still be a gamble, but at this point i see it as trading a problem for a problem, and i could see the nets doing it because i don't think they're going to have many (if any) other suitors for simmons.

that's the aspect i could see the warriors balking at, but i could see them talking themselves into the idea that simmons on the warriors in the draymond role is a perfect fit and they'll somehow unlock the best version of ben.

 

If I said the same thing about the likes of former Alabama Governor George Wallace or George Zimmerman down in Florida, would it hold the same water?

It's so easy to downplay antisemitism as "people taking things out of context"; and yet any hint of racism against African Americans, it gets front page news. Don't tell me one is worse than the other. They both do not belong in a civilized society.

 

*cough*

When the ADL or the Jewish community says something/someone is anti-semitic, millions to billions of dollars are potentially lost for the offender, all of society denounces them, and they eventually get their apology by making them visit the holocaust museum and donating money to their causes.

When the African-American community says something is racist, we’re generally told that slavery and Jim Crow happened a long time ago and to get over it, rarely do we get an apology, and no one loses any money (in the case of police, they don’t even lose their job).

I agree that both do not belong in a civilized society, but let’s not compare the two or the ramifications/systems of power behind the two groups. It’s a topic for a different thread and a different day.

 

Show me when and where this has happened before. Like I said before, the Clipper's owner was F-I-R-E-D and BANNED FOR LIFE for allegedly saying some racist remarks to an ex-girlfriend over the phone. Jon Gruden was forced to resign last year after some racist remarks that were made in emails.

So far, Irving gets a slap on the face five-game suspension for promoting the Anti-semetic film that features nothing but lies and propaganda BS. Oh, but he apologized to everyone and we're all supposed to forgive him, even though one day before he was pretty adamant about standing by his beliefs.

It's too bad that Clipper's owner didn't apologize in time.

 

I mean, that's some conspiracy theory level "blacks control Jews" BS. It's a patently offensive thing to say in this day and age -- when anti-Semitic attacks are on the rise, and "Jews will not replace us" is a rallying cry for the right wing -- that there's some level of "oppression Olympics" to be played.

If someone makes anti-Semitic remarks -- which should happen very little in the NBA because there really haven't been any Jews playing since Amar'e! -- they should be swiftly punished. Same with making racist remarks of any sort which, as Ahsoka has noted, has pretty much happened.

But the whole "the ADL controls the media and cancel culture" is right out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and I won't stand for you stating it here without repercussions.

 

The ADL is regularly ignored, it has little power. The idea that "the Jewish community" is making people visit Holocaust museums is even less legit than complaints about CRT. When you see something like that, it's almost always unrequested and awkwardly performative. It's the awkward equivalent of some idiot white person saying something ignorant about black people and then suddenly showing up in a daishiki. No one asked for that ****.

 

Literally… didn’t say anything that you’re arguing against. You’re essentially making up things that you would like for me to have said and arguing against them… so I’ll leave you to that.

As far as “oppression olympics”… I agreed with Ahsoka that neither have any place in a civilized society and went further to say that we shouldn’t compare them. Nice try though… weird behavior though and wrong thread for a political discussion. My DMs are open if you want to discuss further.

 

And just for the record, I feel that the notion of persuading someone with an anti-Semitic frame of mind to go to a Holocaust museum is just going through motions and is useless. Do you think if you had a Klan member or Neo Nazi visit a museum memorializing the routes of racism against blacks up through modern times, they would change their minds about things?

 

Wasn't particularly pretty, but Knicks win! Nice way to end my Friday.

 

I saw the Nets slaughtered Washington today without Irving. I understand that the coach has asked the FO if they could extend the suspension for at least the duration of a potential winning streak.

 

Nike suspends relationship with Kyire

 

I guess I don't understand the need for an apology. Kyrie has said stupid uniformed things throughout his career. No matter what he says now no one will believe he is sincere. I'm sure he regrets the fallout he is suffering but I doubt his opinions about the "film" have changed. What good will come from meeting Adam Silver? I think eventually Kyrie will no longer be in the league. He'll be blackballed the way Craig Hodges, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Meyers Leonard were.

I also think the next CBA will be where the owners assert more power essentially due to Nets these past few seasons. Irving and Simmons have held the team hostage and I think the owners are going to throw in measures so that players will not be able to wield that kind of power in the future.

 

Except, you know, Abdul-Rauf did nothing wrong.

 

Yeah but if we want to have a serious discussion about which minorities, races, ethnic groups or religious groups are the target of hate and/or bigotry, then your logic should be applied to so many examples that the general public and social media are straight up ignoring. But anyway, a different discussion for a different topic probably.

On topic, the Bucks have started the season smelling blood. I know it's early but right now they are destroying opposition without Khris Middleton, and they appear to be playing defense at a very high level, with Giannis better than ever. If I were to bet any money on who's going to be the champions, my money is on them.

 

Another nailbiter for Blazers/Suns. I am so grateful that Jerami Grant is a Blazer.

 

It's been talked about, but Milwaukee finally made a long overdue change to their defense. Previously, they focused almost entirely on protecting the rim and keeping opponents out of the paint, conceding open three pointers above the break. Every year under Budenholzer they've given up the most threes in the NBA. It's amazing that they've been so good defensively while getting bombed with threes.

It never made a ton of sense to me. It was basically redundant. They were taking away one thing when they could have been taking away everything, they had the talent to do it. A team with Brook Lopez and Giannis doesn't need to emphasize rim protection, those guys can protect the rim whether they get help or not. You kinda want to bait teams to challenge those guys, because it will work in Milwaukee's favor.

This year the Bucks are allowing the third fewest threes in the NBA, and they are the best defense in the NBA by a huge margin. It's no coincidence that Bropez is having the best shot blocking year of his career at 34, he's being challenged more. Giannis is having his second best shot blocking season.