MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
I think im going to set my hopes for Johnson, who i dont think we'll need a top 3 pick for.
I can see a world getting him 4-6
I can see a world getting him 4-6
OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread
- Thread starter hockeylover
- Start date
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
Jackucionus feels like a MAsai pick though
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Silver Admits NBA Ratings Are Down, Not Ready to Blame Product
Adam Silver acknowledged the decline in ratings this season, but didn’t cast blame at the amount of threes teams are taking.frontofficesports.com
Adam Silver is delusional. His NBA is awful to watch; from three pointers, to load management, to all star and NBA cup gimmicks, etc, this version of NBA is built for YouTube clips not actual game viewership.
He needs to go, and this league needs an overhaul.
Hard disagree on pretty much all fronts.
- I think Silver is bang on about viewership issues being part of a broader trend of a dying medium. When we get data from streams next year I think we'll see a much better picture about where the eyeballs went. Watching NBA games on traditional TV requires fairly expensive sports packages that a lot of people just don't want to pay for anymore. In a lot of the big US markets, there are specialty channels owned by the teams that you need a specific subscription to for you to watch games. Lakers and Knicks specifically.
- "Awful to watch" is uhhh...fucking delusional mate, settle down. I'm as much of a stan for 90's-00's basketball as anyone, but the pace was way slower, the paint was regularly choked to death with multiple 6'10+ bigs and games often devolved into 1v1 iso contests. The game today is way faster, way more dunks (35% increase since 01-02), way more passing and off ball movement, and foul baiting seems to be way less of an issue than it was 5 years ago. Yes, it's way less physical, back to the basket post ups are basically dead, and 3 pt shooting is obviously up
- NBA cup is fine, I wouldn't call it a gimmick. Players seem to actually care a bit about winning it, which is the first step in it become part of the culture and tradition of the league.
The 3 point issue is overblown imo. There is always an ebb and flow to style of play as new strategies emerge, certain styles win championships, some copycat the champions and others start drawing up new methods to beat them. There's usually some level of whinging about the dominant style of play in any era. Someone will figure out a new style of play that beats 4 guys running to the 3 point line in transition or the league will make some small rule tweak to make defences more efficient against the 3 or whatever. This is tempest in a teapot type stuff. The league doesn't need an overhaul.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
Like do people miss a world where the teams starting PF was an putrid scorer who had strong rebounding numbers because he was allowed to stab people to get them?
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Yeah, I don't think Johnson goes higher than 5th personally. He projects as average to average plus defensively at peak isn't a jump off the page type of athlete.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
He feels like an excellent complement to Barnes and the rest of what we have
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
The Anthony Mason era.
I loved that era and still do because nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but not gonna lie, I enjoy seeing 3-4 gazelle's run the break off of a rebound because they don't have to wait to give the ball to the designated 6'3 guy because he's the only one who can dribble the ball up court and pass without fucking it up.
Do I wish a few of those gazelles would run the lanes instead of flaring to the fucking corners? Sure. But I think as the style of play evolves, some of that will come back as well. Right now too many guys have the green light and the next evolution with be taking shots away from certain guys.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
I was first going to cite Larry Johnson, but that felt really mean.
Then i was going to cite Kurt Thomas, but thats the wrong era.
Mason is a good one, but if i may.....Otis Thorpe.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Best shooter in the class imo, and that he can do it off of the dribble would allow us to still run the offence through Scottie, look for RJ on those rolls and cuts, but always have a later clock option if Tre gets the ball as a 2nd-3rd option in a set, but the shot isn't there immediately.
mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
Anecdotal but cable tv prices seem to be coming down.
Deckie007
Well-known member
The lack of variety is a downside for me...but really the best bucket getters in the game are all generally 3 level scorers anyways. KD, Curry, LeBron, Luka, SGA, etc. Some of the games can certainly turn into ugly 3p shooting contests, which is not much fun to watch.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
This was extremely well timed:
No, NBA teams are not all playing exactly the same way
And if you think they are, you're not paying attention to the right things
www.lastnightinbasketball.com
I think that the impression comes from post offence disappearing. Offensive 7 footers are face up players who can shoot now. "Traditional" centres have morphed into limited role rim runners or defence and rebounding monsters (Gobert, iHart). There are two guys in the top 20....maybe 3, who can work back to the basket. Jokic, Giannis, AD.
So it just feels like everything is face up jump shooting, P/R get downhill to the rim or kick to the corner for a jumpshot if the D rotates, etc. DHO or P/R at the top to create separation or a switch.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
I think we should listen to mindz. Captain sex in my world.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Prices that include the sports packages?
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
There's no real right or wrong here, it's all perception. You either like what you see on the court or you don't. My only suggestion is to be aware if your criticisms are your own or are being influenced by a growing narrative that tbh, Shaq started. I love Shaq, but his idea of what peak NBA offence looks like and mine, are deviated slightly. I appreciate the shit out of big men, but watching bigs back each other down from the mid post all night to throw drop step 7 foot baby hooks at the rim isn't that entertaining.
I was resistent at first, but I like a blurring of the lines between positions. I like seeing 6'9 guys who can pick up a defensive rebound and immediately lead transition offence the other way and make skill plays in the open court. I don't like the volume of 3's....but that's a side effect of the shooting being so much better than it used to be (except in Toronto, apparently...). 10 years ago if you were a 40% shooter from 3, you were a top 10 shooter in the league. There are currently 55 guys with 3pt% higher than 40% ffs. The 55th ranked shooter in 2015 was Devin Harris with a .357%.
But I think there's going to be a natural oscillation here so basically, don't worry about it. In 2023 the true value per 2 point shot attempt was higher than the true value of each 3 pt shot attempt for the first time in basically ever. We've reached peak 3 pointer and it comes down to the volume mediocre or worse shooters are jacking up shots at. Some organization is going to figure this out, build a system around it and exploit something (Actually...I think OKC already has) and win playing that way. If you look at the top 10 in 3 Pt attempts this year:
1) Boston
2) Chicago
3) Charlotte
4) Golden State
5) Minnesota
6) Brooklyn
7) San Antonio
8) Cleveland
9) Phoenix
10) OKC
Notice something? A bunch of those teams are bad offensive teams. Now, Boston has the best offence in the league and they're the current system built to exploit this current era. But OKC is 2nd in Ortg, right behind Boston (big gap between them and the other top offensive teams) and while OKC takes a decent volume of 3's, their offence is actually built around slashing to the rim and they take a ton of middies
Fwiw, here's the top 10 offensive net rating teams:
That's a pretty diverse set of offences there.
mbow30
Spudmeister Supreme
Yeah. Paying $45 less for tv/internet/cell then I was paying for just tv/internet a few years ago. Got all SN and TSN.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
Im seeing rumours of the Raps adding Demar back or DeArron Fox
Am I high? Are these authors high? Both ? Neither? Halp
Am I high? Are these authors high? Both ? Neither? Halp
LeafOfFaith
Well-known member
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Rumors where? I haven't seen shit.
I don't see either making sense tbh. Demar would be cheap and his shot making/creation would be welcome but the perimeter D has always been weak and it's a position we don't have a shortage of young guys to give minutes to right now. Sacramento has been mentioned as being interested in Bruce Brown, maybe someone is putting 2+2 together here, but they're coming up with 146 if that's the case. Demar isn't trying to ride off into the sunset yet, he wants to play for a playoff team, wants to be out west, and still seems salty about how things went down with Masai regarding the Kawhi trade. I can't see it.
Fox makes some level of sense but only for us. Fox is upset in Sacramento because they're losing...moving here does not fix that. Fox is probably the best version of whatever we hope IQ might turn into, so I could see some interest from us, but I couldn't see us wanting to torch all of the assets Sacto is going to want in that trade. Honestly that sounds like a Houston or Orlando type move with where they are, what they have/need.
If I had to guess, I'm going to say this is theory crafting being done regarding the quiet little Bruce Brown rumour that's out there but no one wants to take credit for (Sacto, SAS, Denver, LAL interested). Basically that Bruce might not even play a game for us before he's traded.
MyNameIsJonas
Well-known member
to expand the idea for Demar was like Demar for Brown Okay and 2nd and Fox was Brown, and a fuck ton of picks