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The Athletic has a great ($$) article polling retired players on a bunch of questions;

I thought this one was pretty interesting:

7. 3-point shooting is a bigger part of the NBA than it’s ever been since the 3-point line was introduced beginning with the 1979-80 season. Is the prevalence of the 3-point shot a positive or a negative for the current quality of play?

Big positive: 34.7%

Slight positive: 16.1%

No change: 1.7%

Slight negative: 30.5%

Big negative: 15.3%

Just different: 1.7%

There's a lot of grousing right now about how bad it is for the game and everyone can't be Steph (fair) so I thought it was interesting to see a poll of retired players showing a pretty different perspective, with only 15.3% saying it's a big negative.

A lot more at the link: https://theathletic.com/3014155/2021/12/15/nba-retired-players-survey-on-steph-giannis-lebron-future-stars-top-coaches-rule-changes-how-the-game-has-evolved/

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Kevin Knox entering the Health and Safety Protocols. Curry out in NYC after Tuesday's game partying with KD and others. Warriors have avoided it so far but COVID does seem to be getting closer and closer.

Wiggins' probable reluctance to get a booster shot is an under the radar big story, they don't really have any other SFs you'd be comfortable starting right now (although perhaps Klay could fill in once he's back). Hopefully they can convince him to get it.

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Chris Paul (unsolicited) gives props to Steph for breaking the three point record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CnUyQz6WHs. Classy.

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JJ Redick + Tyrese Haliburton on Steph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1I-lXgxRts

Have to say, I always low-key liked Redick as a player, but he's amazing as a podcaster and his NBA commentary is always insightful.

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UTA hires Danny Ainge to oversee bball ops. It was bad enough to have to play in Utah, no knock, just sayin'. Now the team is led by a guy who doesn't give a rats ass about his players or their lives. Horrible move for UTA. Sends a bad message to a really good team trying to get over the hump. If your a player, time to get your luggage out of the garage.

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Current NBA top 10 teams, per BB-Ref’s Simple Rating System (basically, net rating adjusted for strength of schedule):

Tier 1

1. GSW +10.46

2. UTA +10.42

====

Tier 2

3. PHO +5.84

4. CLE +5.76

====

Tier 3

5. MIA +3.75

6. MIL +3.14

7. BKN +2.75

8. CHI +2.29

9. MEM +2.18

10. ATL +2.06

https://www.basketball-refe...

If you had the Cavs effectively tied with Phoenix and significantly ahead of the Heat, Bucks, and Nets in the DNHQ pool … come up and collect your prize!

Meanwhile, the Lakers are #21 at -1.57, propped up record-wise by virtue of a bunch of overtime squeakers against crappy teams.

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Q. Will the return of Klay cause a dip in Curry's Points p/g and have a negative impact on Curry's MVP chances? We know Curry is going to sacrifice what he can to get his splash bro going. OR, will the return of Klay just take the lid of the offense, increasing Curry's efficiency, and moving the team Points p/100 up - which, with their current point differential, seems ridiculous?

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I personally don't like Dray's take on NBA bringing back increased testing (from his latest podcast). He feels like he/they were misled that once you get the vaccine, no more testing 'ever'. Also he thinks Kyrie's stance of not getting vaccinated makes sense now and is legitimate.

To each their own. Mutation was a reality from day one and so was the fact that vaccine may not work long term or was 100% perfect. May be NBA/team doctors did a crappy job of conveying the same to players.

To be fair to Dray, CDC has been bad in communicating the changing reality from day one.

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Just did a long ass breakdown of all of Kuminga's minutes in the NYK game. It's way too long. But I'll try to break this up into something human sized and not too boring

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The best part for me about Steph's record breaking shot was that it gave the Warriors the lead in a close game.

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This is a cool video. But why do they have a graphic of Wiggs in the final frame ;-)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1471134781710684164

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Shorthanded Clips are leading fully healthy Utah in SLC by seven with eight minutes remaining in the 2nd. Go Clippers!

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POLL: *What is your single favorite Curry three?* And, if you feel like it, why? You have 2977 choices not including playoffs. Mine is ball-handling against the Clippers with everyone in their stupid powder blue uniforms trying to steal it, getting away and hoisting; and my reason is that Kerr even referred later to the way he looks so frustrated with Steph's decision-making, yet pleased with the outcome, and after that realized that there's just not the same standards for what constitutes a good shot for Steph. It's an era-defining moment.

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Do we really need the super close up shot of lebrons D tea bagging the camera man

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