The Hawks land the number 1 pick. It's not a great draft, but it does open up the opportunity for them to deal Trae Young and rebuild on the fly. The challenge would be finding a trade partner. His style of play is difficult to bring into an established roster so I don't think his actual value will come close to his perceived value.

Glad to see an OK team that tried get the top pick.

Suck it tankers.

My guess is that this makes it way less likely they move on from Trey. If they are picking Sarr like most project, then they are already going to move on from Clint Capella and Onyeka Okongwu. Trading those guys and Murray give thems lots of ammo to building around Trey and Sarr. It opens up a good many options.

Raptors tanking for nothing was funny

Then again, my nephew who covers the team professionally says this might set off a complete rebuild. Sarr will need time to develop, so this might just be the excuse to dump most of the team and start over.

I don't know if they have the guts to do it. I do think moving on from Trae would be the smart move in the long run. His style of play is incredibly difficult to build around. Undersized, ball dominate PG, volume shooter, god awful defender. He's essentially the modern AI in some ways.

The roster, as constructed, is poorly built and this would be a great excuse to hit the reset button and not have a complete fan meltdown.

I think the fans will melt down if they trade Trey. Just from what I have seen online, people seem pretty hostile to the idea. As for me, I agree with you. He is a near impossible player to build around.

Trae and Murray to the Spurs for Filler/4/8/all of the Hawks picks back?

There is zero chance the Spurs bring in Trae Young. They already have too many guys on the team who think the team is better off with them shooting than them getting the ball to Wembanyama. I think Young should be traded. The issue I have in trading Young and then drafting Sarr, the team could give the impression that Sarr is the new centerpiece of the team. He is not that IMO.

Caitlin Clark having a "welcome to the league, rook" first half. 7 points 1 assist and 5 turnovers.

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There is also a good bit of a welcome from the officials. A little bump here and a little grab there.

Caitlin got slightly better as the game went along. She is going to have to find ways to get to and make shots at the basket. Eleven of fifteen shot attempts from behind the three point line is making it too easy for the opposition.

It's really fun to watch Jokic play. Like watching a guy you'd see at a YMCA dominate the best players in the world.

The whole team has got to get some chemistry, or at least get on the same page. It looked like the Suns just doubled the ball and no one worked to help them out. The team only had 16 assist and 25 turn-overs. It's like they didn't have a cohesive plan.

I watched 30 seconds of the Fever game and saw Clark was in trouble. She couldn't shake the defenders just to get outlet passes after a rebound. Definite wake up call, I'm sure.

Amazing player. Imagine being seven feet tall, two hundred eighty four pounds in 2024 and having the gall to only take three shots from three point range and settle for dominating everything within fifteen feet of the hoop.

The hate he gets from some of the old guard is crazy.

Jokic is a very talented basketball player. He gets away with a lot though. He can use his body like a battering ram but the moment he gets it back it's a foul on the defensive player. He also switches hit pivot foot and always gets away with it.

He only averages like 5-7 FTs a game during the season and playoffs. Considering the amount of contested shots around the rim and inside the FT line he takes whatever calls he's 'given' seems somewhat negligible (and it's definitely not that people avoid contact either). Closer to Shaq than Harden in terms of the way contact on him is called imo.

I assume you are talking about Shaq cause he is the only old guy that has an issue with Jokic specifically. I don't think there will ever be a big man Shaq likes that is not a Shaq clone. There is still a general prejudice against European players for a lack of toughness that has been there since the 90's that continues to be ridiculously false.


That might be the case but I can't see evidence of that in this series.

So the Fever is got destroyed by the Liberty in their home opener. Not a big surprise given the Liberty won the East and has last year's MVP Breanna Stewart had a huge game.

It is early but the Fever would be better off having Kelsey Mitchell being the primary scorer at least early on. Caitlyn's forcing her own offense and is force feeding the ball to Aliyah Boston.

Howling noises or something

The TWolves-Nuggets series has been crazy as hell. Tonight, TWolves up 50, have separate runs of like 29-2 and 26-1 and the crowd got free Chick-fil-A thanks to 2 missed FTs.

Kinda tough when there's literally ONE reason anybody on the planet gives the slightest fuck that the Fever exist. Only Atlanta managed lower attendance than the Fever last year, which is kinda life as a bad team.

So they can lose featuring her OR they can lose with a perhaps more reasoned approach ... but one of those might generate temporary eyeballs so, uh, which one we reckon they're gonna do?

That was from a purely basketball point of view. I get that she is the draw and she needs to be the focus for marketing. It is also the reason Christie Sides has about five or so games to figure this thing before she becomes an accelerated version of Paul Silas as the Cavs head coach. Again, that is not a concern for the marketing folks. It just might be be better for the team in general and Caitlyn specifically if there was more of a focus on Caitlyn the great passer and offensive creator than on Caitlyn the scorer at this point.

Oh I agree wholeheartedly. But with the "she's the greatest thing EVER" narrative, basketball sense has flown out the window.

And let me be clear: I like Clark well enough, but she's not the second coming of Cousy/West/Jordan/LeBron all rolled into one either.

As a long-time coach friend of mine put it "she's basically Pete Maravich with better passing" and that doesn't seem far off reality.

I thought of this statement when I just saw they announced that the Dream-Fever games are going to be relocated to State Farm Arena. Clark is making the league some bank at least as of now. Also, I didn't realize the Dream was playing in College Park. It might not be fair because I believe they have been trying to revitalize the area, but I wouldn't be crazy about being in College Park at night. For those not familiar with Atlanta, College Park is right outside the airport, and it suffers the same problem most major airport adjacent neighborhoods do.

To paraphrase the English, if this is considered a slight, game's gone!

The only playoff series a Maravich team ever won was when he was relegated to 11 minutes a game as a aging veteran.

I would not be remotely surprised if that wasn't Clark's fate.

I would love to see the psychological analysis of the mental impact having Anthony Edwards around has had on Karl-Anthony Towns. It remind me of a light version of the D-Wade/Lebron dynamic early on with the Heat.

WNBA investigating Aces' deal with Vegas tourism authority - ESPN

I am confused as to what the league is investigating. Instead of just paying A'ja Wilson or Kelsey Plum to advertise Las Vegas , the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, they paid every player on the team. The tourism board for the cities where the other teams are located or some other advertisers could always pony up if they want. This feels like when Jerry Jones was making exclusive deals for the Cowboys.

I have watched three times as much WNBA as the NBA playoffs. What a weird timeline.

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I've watched 4 games, and those are the first 4 WNBA games I have ever watched. It has been entertaining.

I'm a Lakers fan for over 50 years. I was watching them play Denver and LeBron was chastising Russel for not taking care of the ball, LA was up 3 at the time of the Russel turnover. LA puts up a good defense, forces a bad shot, get the rebound and can go up 5 or 6. LeBron brings the ball up, dribbles around the logo for about 10 seconds, and... jacks up a three. No play run, just jacked up a 33 foot three. If it were Caitlin Clark I would gladly take that uncontested three and live with the miss. LeBrick? No. I turned off the game and haven't watched NBA since.

I'm taking Lebron jacking up a 53 foot three than any shot Russell Westbrook would have gotten during his time with the Lakers.

I've enjoyed following the Mavs this year but I'm extremely pessimistic going into this series. Maybe the extra couple of days will be enough to get Doncic healthy but otherwise this could be a quick one.

This is shaping up to be a really interesting draft. There isn't an elite talent at the top and there seems to be solid depth, but it's a lot of same-y talent throughout. Two of the top 5 are also centers and there's not much need for centers in the top 5 outside of Atlanta and Washington at 1 and 2.

Sarr seems like the safest bet of the guys in contention for the top pick, Risacher seems like the guy that's gotten hot at the right time but the metrics don't back up the hype, and Ron Holland is the guy people seem to have forgotten about because he was young for his level and in a bad situation.

What San Antonio does is probably the most interesting part of the draft. They have picks at 4 and 8. Reed Sheppard would be ideal, but I don't see him getting past Houston at 3. IMO Holland and Knecht would be a solid pair to put around Wemby. Topic is another guy if his medicals check out.

While Westbrick was there I didn't watch any Laker games. ;) I tried a couple of times, but No. Why put yourself through that when you don't have to.

OLD MAN ALERT!

Can we get back to coaches not looking like they are volunteering at the local boys and girls club while on the sidelines?

Joe Mazzulla looks like he has been on a helluva bender.

While my wife and I are binging a tv show, I'm watching the Fever-Aces game on my phone. I need help.

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Example $5,384 why I don't gamble on sports. Doncic recovering has been the difference.

What a long strange trip it was for Bill Walton, who passed away at the age of 71

Celtics end up winning ANOTHER close game (which is unusual, they've been known to get VERY stagnant offensively in closing out games). Feel bad for Indy a bit, the injury sucked, but they'll be back, hungrier then ever to make up for this sweep.

If I was MORE of a gambling man, I might put money down on the Timberwolves in game 4, mostly because if the Mavericks ALSO sweep, there will be NINE DAYS before Game 1 of the final (Unlike most playoffs, the NBA finals happen on pre-set dates). The refs will likely allow everything short of a machete attack to keep the series going.

Bummer about Walton. He was great in the booth. Never really watched him play, but supposedly he was pretty awesome.

I wonder what Donbitch thinks of Xmas. What a moaning grinch

I don't want to be the guy that only focuses on Caitlin Clark at her worst.

As much as I loathe to say this, I wholeheartedly agree with ESPN's headline of last night being her most complete game. She is still shooting way too many threes (3-10) but other than that she played a great all around game. She is finally getting more use to the idea that she will get hammered when she drives in the paint and just accepting the free throws that come with that. Don't get me wrong, she is still whiny when she does not get a call. She is just trying to fight through the contact more that she did before. She was shying away from the contact too often earlier. She is passing to the open player as opposed to forcing the ball to a specific player. I don't think she will ever be on the all defensive teams but she now looks more engaged in playing on ball and off ball defense and rebounding around the basket not just long rebounds.

Clark's shot chart from last night was a basketball nerd's wet dream. Four for six not just on twos, not just in the paint, but almost exclusively in the restricted area. Three for ten on shots not just from behind the three point line but almost exclusively from twenty five feet or more. I know that the logo threes are what people want to see but she is too good of a shooter all over the court to not mix in a few mid range shots here and there.

In non-Caitlin, non-rookie news, despite a stinker last night, Diana Taurasi is averaging almost 17ppg, 5 boards and 1 assist so far 13 days before her 42nd birthday.

So Clark is female Luka Doncic. :D

Come on now flere! It's 2024! We have gone beyond limiting comparisons of white players to other white players, black players to another black players etc.:mad:

She is the female James Harden;)

You can't really make the Clark-Harden comparison if you don't have statistics on her on-court performance correlated to the quality of (male) strip clubs in the city where she's playing.

So, I stick by my comparison. :D

Can’t believe I gotta pull for Kyrie

Who asked for these in-game (as opposed to in between quarters) head coach interviews? This is not baseball where the manager is not actively coaching the team during the game. These interviews are beyond ludicrous.

I've been watching a montage of Clark taking shot after shot and then saw this:

CC accepting ROTY at the end of the season pic.twitter.com/DjJLuk3lIi

— 𝓜𝓪𝓻 (@Cait22fever) May 31, 2024

This also explains why “most free throw attempts by a rookie” is essentially a list of players who were expected to be generational talents

It also explains why CAREER free throw attempts is a list of some the fiercest, toughest competitors of all time…

And Dwight Howard pic.twitter.com/JqHB7OeHgl

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 2, 2024

I can't believe they shut down the NBA for a week before the finals. Ridiculous.

By they, I am guessing you mean the Mavs and the Celtics?

They play when the league tells them to play.

The whole NBA playoffs is weird to me based on timing because I just spent 2 weeks in the UK so I saw zero basketball. I missed the entire conference finals. Now I'm back and the finals start a week later. I feel like a new season should be starting more than the finals should be happening.

The gap in the NBA finals happens every once in awhile. Pretty sure 2015/2017 both had huge gaps. I do think the league should have a contingency plan to at least move it up to Tuesday instead of Thursday but it is what it is.

It's somewhat surprising they don't hold the lottery and/or announce the award winners during this time. I don't think either would be enough to take away from the conference finals, if they went the distance.

It hasn't helped that this has been probably the least compelling and competitive NBA playoffs in a long time. 7 of the series have been 4-0 or 4-1. I'll check in for the finals, but this is by far the lowest amount of NBA playoffs I've ever watched. The jack 3s style with blowouts all over the place just isn't interesting.

I don't understand why they can't move the games up in this scenario. They say its for planning but if both conference finals went 7 games they would only have a few days to plan. Then they have this stupid Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday schedule for Games 1-3 of the finals. There's nothing else on in the summer so why not just play every other day.

The last game of any conference finals was Thu May 30, right?
They resume Thu Jun 6, right?

That's a week of downtime.

That's one day different than the schedule for starting the Stanley Cup finals.
Is that one extra day THAT big a deal?

I prefer the "when things can reasonably start, they start" model of old, but this isn't just an NBA thing.

Not really THAT different than recent years tho, is it?

Number of 0 or 1 win losers prior to the Finals in recent years
(starting with last year)

6(2023) ,6, 5, 6, 8, 8.8, 6, 7,4 (2019)

So counting this season, half of the last 10 years have had either 7 or 8 series that weren't close. This is pretty much the norm.

And there's also the typical number of 7 game series this season (3) over the past decade.

This is what the NBA has been in terms of post-season competitiveness for a decade.

Yeah, that's not great. I also think having Giannis, KD, EMbiid, Lebron & Steph all out after the first round (and Jokic out by the next one) really hurt the star power too.

Anecdotally, it certainly feels like there were more 7-game series back in the 80s and 90s.

Maybe with better coaching/analytics, the better team in a series is just too good now.

Who is gonna tell the owners of these arenas not to schedule other events during the conference finals to make sure the arenas are available just in case they have to move up the finals?

I am pretty sure there was a concert on the same night and time as Game 6 of the West finals in the same arena. I know they could change times etc. but still. The calendar for some of these venues have very little flexibility in them.

Also there is a lot of overlap with NBA and NHL teams in the same arena.

Well you just had to know that was gonna punch my curiosity button lol

This will be a little misleading perhaps however, because first round was best of five until 2003. Also, only 6 teams in each conference made the playoffs until 1984

1980s, number of 7 game series by year
1,4,1,0,2, 0,1,2,4,0 = 1.5 avg/yr

1990s, number of 7 game series by year
2,0,2,2,5,3,1,2,1,0 = 1.8 avg/yr

Okay, to try to compensate toward apples/apples, I'm only going to count 7 game series after the first round for the newer decades, since those couldn't exist in the first round in the 80s/90s

2000s, number of 7 game series by year
2,3,1,1,2,2,3,0,2,2 = 1.8 avg/yr

2010s, number of 7 game series by year
1,1,2,2,0, 1,3,1,2,2 = 1.5 avg/yr

2020s, number of 7 game series by year
2,2,3,2, 2 (so far) = 2.2 avg/yr

So actually pretty consistent, with an uptick in the past 5 years.

Giannis- 29 years old, 10th year in the league
KD-35, 15th
Embiid- 30, 7th
Lebron- 39, 20th
Steph- 36, 14th
Jokic- 29, 8th

I am not rushing these guys out the door just yet but it will be nice to have casual fans getting to know guys like Tatum, Luka, Ant, etc. this postseason.

Dan Hurley didn't leave for Kentucky, but the Lakers?.....

BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Connecticut’s Dan Hurley to become the franchise’s next coach and are preparing a massive, long-term contract offer to bring the back-to-back national champion to the NBA, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/6WPrigPvAW

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 6, 2024

Funny, as everything I saw just yesterday was preparing for JJ Redick to get the job once the finals were over.

Nothing has happened yet, but Hurley did inform the team that he is in talks with the Lakers. At least he is not sneaking it up on them. Reports are that he has been in talks with them for awhile now. He might still back out if hasn't agreed yet. I can see why he might be hesitant just as much as I can see why it is a tempting offer. They talk like they are throwing a Brinks truck at him.

This video is the closest thing we'll get to non-XXX rated basketball porn.

Blocked

At one point in the first quarter it certainly felt like that, though.

I just found out people call Caitlin Clark "Ponytail Pete," and I kind of love it.

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I hadn't heard that one but, yeah, it works pretty good

Hurley staying at UConn.

After hearing that LA was planning a huge long-term offer, ESPN says he turned down 6 years, $70M. My only question is, what took him so long? THAT's a "breaking the bank" offer?!

That’s not even a good offer. Hey bro we need you to take less than Monty Williams(who sucks )

I was reading $18 mil per and over $100 mil in total value was the expected offer. That would have been difficult to turn down. 6 years and $70 mil made it easy to say no.

Especially not when Ballmer just gave Ty Lue $14 mil to coach the Clippers.

Can the Buss family afford $18 mil per year for a head coach? The family’s net worth is like $700 mil and that is all from owning the Lakers reportedly. Not paupers by any means but evidently they have the lowest net worth among NBA owners. I read that Todd Boehly and Mark Walter own minority shares in the Lakers. I know little about Walter but from his time at Chelsea, Boehly does not appear to be a guy who is giving a head coach $18 million without more of a controlling interest in the organization overall.

https://www.theonion.com/the-onion-s...ark-1851529041

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I guess I’m living under a rock, but I didn’t know that Dan Hurley was related to Bobby Hurley until literally about 30 seconds ago

I know I had jokes last year but full credit to Joey M. and his offensive system. The Celtics are just getting easy shot after easy shot.

Not over yet (The Celtics themselves forced a game seven down 3-0), but almost there.

They are just abusing Luka in their sets. Going at him on almost every play and Luka's defense has been exposed.

Blocked

Windhorst goes OFF on Luka for 90 seconds. SO much so that SVP didn't need to ask Windhorst to clarify/expand or create discussion.

They did a lot of that especially in the second half. It was beyond that though. Other than the eight minutes in the fourth quarter when the Celtics did not run offense sets being up twenty, every possession ended in a quality shot from a person who could hit the shot that was taken. Every possession came to a logical conclusion. Conversely, three out of every four Mavs possession looked like Luka and Kyrie were competing in a Olympic level game of HORSE where you got extra points for shot difficulty.

Luka deserves all the criticism. That was just a childish performance last night and not just from a maturity standpoint.

This is a serious, not sarcastic, question, because I'm not exactly an expert on the NBA, but has there been a championship whose star player disdained playing defense like Luka has/does? I mean, was Curry similar and they had to hide him on defense?

I'm thinking of guys like LeBron and Jordan and they certainly locked down people on defense when push came to shove.

The Warriors did hide Steph on defense during certain points of their run. But hiding Steph meant putting him to guard Matthew Dellavedova, or a George Hill, or even in the most recent title season a Marcus Smart. Not to mention, having prime Klay, Draymond and guys like Iguodala and Wiggins around him made things easier.

I don't think Luka has a disdain for playing defense. I don't think he is good at it. I don't think he is ever going to be capable of being a lock down defender like a Lebron(?) or Jordan. He has definitely improved defensively both on ball and off but he needs to improve even more. Given everything that is expected offensively (whether he should still have that heavy offensive responsibility should be looked into) Luka can't be expected to lock anyone up defensively. But still, he was pretty good defensively throughout the playoffs. The issue is he does not give a consistent effort on the defensive end.

That being said, this is the worst match up for Luka defensively. He can't guard any of the Celtic starters consistently even if he made the sacrifice at the offensive end. He does not have that sort of athleticism IMO. Best case scenario would be for Luka to take Horford on the defensive end and dare the Celtics to make Horford the offensive focus. When he is left on an island against Tatum, Brown, Holliday or even White, Luka is food. The Celtics don't have a Harden or a KAT who on 40% of the offensive possessions their team plays will just stand on the three point line and never move which would allow Luka to rest on the defensive end.

Magic was a pretty awful defender as well. Probably worse than Luka, honestly, when you consider he didn't have to defend the space today's players have to defend.

My problem with Luka's game is that he puts his team at a serious disadvantage consistently with the constant complaining. Complaining about calls happens all the time, but the better players learn there's a time to just stop talking and take out your frustrations on the other team.

I agree with most of what Windhorst said last night. I sent a text to a friend of mine saying something similar after the game. For all the grief Irving can cause, when the game is on the line, he's locked in trying to make plays, not chatting with the refs, his teammates, or whoever else will listen about how a call was missed 5 plays ago.

Working the refs to get calls later on is one thing. Annoying the refs is another. And it's not like he doesn't get calls. But he's not getting ALL of the calls. No one does.

someone talk ESPN/ABC Execs off the bridges.. 3-0 in the NBA finals, 3-0 in the NHL Finals.

They were expecting Finals Methadone, weaning us off, instead, they're getting Finals 8-Ball of Crack

I've watched all 3 NHL games nearly in total. I've watched about 10 minutes of the NBA finals total.

I don't think I've seen a single second of that live.

Joey M. needs to tell Tatum that he has no chance of winning the MVP. He is speeding down the Luka from Game 3 road.

Angel Reese got a flagrant 1 call after hitting Caitlin Clark in the head as she was going up to the rim. Be ready for the right wing hot takes on what was a pretty standard basketball foul.
That said, it is surprising how much more I am enjoying watching the WNBA over the NBA.

Watched a clip of the foul by Reese on Clark. It doesn't deserve the media attention it's getting. Reese went for a block from behind, missed, and hit Clark in the head. Flagrant 1 is the right call by the rule of the game. It's nothing more than that.

I get that Clark is the new toy that's going to save the WNBA but the exaggerated drama over physical play against Clark is annoying. She's going to get fouled. She's going to be played physically. The women's game isn't a polite game. The ladies play hard. Clark will adjust as will everyone else. Right now, she's a rookie that is being welcomed to the league.

Wow, second row Joe got it done.

It has been interesting to see some of the debate about the on court physicality. I am surprised at how many people seem to have a similar viewpoint that I do. The WNBA allows too much physicality, the NBA does not allow enough physicality. If you put both leagues on the opposite ends of a NBA2K game slider for fouls, I am probably going to move the slider a click or two closer to the WNBA. I really despise the touch fouls and I have seen less than ten flops total for the entire season. All fouls in the WNBA and as we have spoken about women's and girls' basketball are of the proverbial playoff fouls variety.

I keep seeing the news about a cheap shot on Clark, then I watch the clip and it's something that happens almost every night in the NBA. Reese deserved the Flagrant 1 but people are acting like this is Malone taking out Isaiah.

Clark won't get beaten up so much after she has a full year of pro-level weight training. She has no strength right now and gets tossed around like a child.

I would usually do this to make fun of the idea that Player X will be forever know as an NBA champion. Guys like Ish Smith and JaVale McGee being introduced as NBA champions for eternity is just hilarious.

However even though he did it with the Celtics, I gotta give a shout out to an underrated player and someone who has seemed like a really classy guy his entire career.

Al Horford, NBA Champion.