Why would the NBA schedule the WCF to start a day before the ECF instead of the other way around? It makes no fucking sense given the east semis were finished two days prior to the west semis.
If it was reversed, Knicks would get 3 full days off before playing game 1, and Thunder would get 2 full days off before playing game 1. Instead, Thunder get 1 full day off and Knicks get 4 full days off. Lunacy.
Ton of potential scheduling conflicts with the Pacers and Fever avoided. Plus the TV network scheduling demands. Otoh MSG has nothing going on the rest of this month except basketball.
Just listened to the Simmons Rusillo podcast. They estimated JK contract at $15-20M per year at most. What about a sign and trade with Dallas for Gafford at $14.4 for the final year of his contract? With Flagg coming in and all the bigs they have it seems they'd be open to trading Gafford, but would the warriors be getting enough value for Kuminga? Would Dallas even want him?
I'm not too sure how much stock I put in those dudes. They've never struck me as professionally tuned into the actual workings of the NBA, so I take their commentary more as what they feel he will get paid, which... meh.
It's going to be an interesting offseason for free agents. Currently, only Brooklyn has any real cap space ($55M), with Detroit having some ($24M), and Memphis & Chicago around ~$15M. Unless teams make trades to free up cap space, there aren't going to be a ton of suitors... but at the same time, a lot of the top free agents are likely resigning (Haren, LeBron, Turner, Irving, etc.), so maybe JK is somewhat decently sought after for a team looking for a tank commander, like Brooklyn?
As I mentioned before, Bobby Marks, who used to be an NBA front office guy, valued him at $18-20M. It seems that's the range he's going to get paid. With the new cap rules, teams aren't going to take risks with big contracts and get stuck for years.
John Hollinger (notorious Warrior hater, but also a former FO guy) spitballed an estimate of “$20M… low twenties.” So, same ballpark.
If it does end up a bit on the lower side, I think there are some trade exceptions floating around that could come into play. Sac has one at about $17M, for instance, so I think there are trades that work (financially, that is) if we could find a third team that wanted to shed salary.
I don’t think I have a feel for what they’re likely to do, but glancing at their roster, it seems a little too top-heavy to find a match with us.
But you can pretty easily construct trade-machine-legal deals for mid-tier guys like Gafford, Herb Jones, or Ben Mathurin using Sacramento’s TPE (not saying any of those guys is available, or suitable, just giving examples).
>>>The Sacramento Kings have added Bobby Jackson as an assistant coach to Doug Christie’s staff. Jackson played six of his 12 NBA seasons in Sacramento, including five as Christie’s teammate, and was a Kings assistant coach twice.<<<
I enjoyed watching the Nuggets and found myself rooting for them against the Thunder. But in some ways I'm glad the Thunder won because if they didn't, the Wolves would be facing the Nuggets (partially?) without Aaron Gordon, after facing the Dubs with Curry out for 4.5 games. I think the Thunder will clobber the Wolves and cause a ton of turnovers resulting from their athleticism, shaky ballhandling from the Wolves, and a lack of calls from the refs.
I'd love to see the Pacers win the ECFs - they are a refreshing and well-coached team not reliant on pounding the air out of the ball like Brunson does.
Yeah, I'm just happy that we have 2 good Conference Finals to watch. The fact that the East is an old, bitter rivalry between two contrasting teams and the West is a possible decade-long new rivalry between fairly similar teams is even better.
I don't really have any favorites (or hated teams), but I guess OKC, Knicks, Wolves, Pacers (in that order). I don't really care either way, though, I'd be happy with any of those teams winning (I would've been happy with Denver, too)
But my desire for a new champion (if the Ws didn't win it) has come to pass. With the Pacers vs. Knicks and Thunder vs. Wolves, we're guaranteed of another year of the champ not repeating.
All of the other recent champions are done. Boston is out and in trouble, both because of injuries to their stars and salary cap difficulties; they're probably going to have to jettison some important guys. Denver is out and fired their championship coach AND GM; they have to rebuild the organization's leadership. The Bucks had yet another first-round exit, and Giannis may leave them. The Lakers are out and need help but have limited cap flexibility. The Raptors missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
Here's to the last true dynasty -- your Golden State Warriors.
The refs definitely turned the momentum with the non-calls, especially in the 2nd quarter, but OKC would've won by double digits anyway (maybe by 10-12). Insane for Denver to play Gordon for 25 mins.
OKC was +64 in this series, third most lopsided 7 game series in NBA history. Hard to see much other than an SGA injury that could prevent them from the title at this point with Boston derailed.
I think the two small guards thing Cleveland is doing is not a recipe for playoff success, we saw it a lot with Lillard/McCollum and at some point it always got exposed.
Indiana is good. They play 10 deep and are different than any other team.
They also beat the Cavs 3 out of 4 regular season.
They got off to a really bad start and were very good the last 50 games.
For whatever reason the Cavs 3 point shooting abandoned them.
Garland played hurt. A couple other guys had some issues. Indiana to them is like the Clippers to the Warriors. Anyway they will be on the couch with the Warriors watching.
It's not just you. Since the second quarter they have been giving OKC a pass and calling the same plays fouls on the Nuggets on the other end. Westbrick just blocked Chet clean and they gave him FTs anyway.
New thread up.
Why would the NBA schedule the WCF to start a day before the ECF instead of the other way around? It makes no fucking sense given the east semis were finished two days prior to the west semis.
If it was reversed, Knicks would get 3 full days off before playing game 1, and Thunder would get 2 full days off before playing game 1. Instead, Thunder get 1 full day off and Knicks get 4 full days off. Lunacy.
Ton of potential scheduling conflicts with the Pacers and Fever avoided. Plus the TV network scheduling demands. Otoh MSG has nothing going on the rest of this month except basketball.
Just listened to the Simmons Rusillo podcast. They estimated JK contract at $15-20M per year at most. What about a sign and trade with Dallas for Gafford at $14.4 for the final year of his contract? With Flagg coming in and all the bigs they have it seems they'd be open to trading Gafford, but would the warriors be getting enough value for Kuminga? Would Dallas even want him?
I'm not too sure how much stock I put in those dudes. They've never struck me as professionally tuned into the actual workings of the NBA, so I take their commentary more as what they feel he will get paid, which... meh.
It's going to be an interesting offseason for free agents. Currently, only Brooklyn has any real cap space ($55M), with Detroit having some ($24M), and Memphis & Chicago around ~$15M. Unless teams make trades to free up cap space, there aren't going to be a ton of suitors... but at the same time, a lot of the top free agents are likely resigning (Haren, LeBron, Turner, Irving, etc.), so maybe JK is somewhat decently sought after for a team looking for a tank commander, like Brooklyn?
As I mentioned before, Bobby Marks, who used to be an NBA front office guy, valued him at $18-20M. It seems that's the range he's going to get paid. With the new cap rules, teams aren't going to take risks with big contracts and get stuck for years.
John Hollinger (notorious Warrior hater, but also a former FO guy) spitballed an estimate of “$20M… low twenties.” So, same ballpark.
If it does end up a bit on the lower side, I think there are some trade exceptions floating around that could come into play. Sac has one at about $17M, for instance, so I think there are trades that work (financially, that is) if we could find a third team that wanted to shed salary.
Boston?
I don’t think I have a feel for what they’re likely to do, but glancing at their roster, it seems a little too top-heavy to find a match with us.
But you can pretty easily construct trade-machine-legal deals for mid-tier guys like Gafford, Herb Jones, or Ben Mathurin using Sacramento’s TPE (not saying any of those guys is available, or suitable, just giving examples).
>>>The Sacramento Kings have added Bobby Jackson as an assistant coach to Doug Christie’s staff. Jackson played six of his 12 NBA seasons in Sacramento, including five as Christie’s teammate, and was a Kings assistant coach twice.<<<
https://bsky.app/profile/mikeascotto.bsky.social/post/3lpifh7dh222k
Someone probably already mentioned this, but apparently the Pacers won their last ABA title in 1973. The Knicks won their last NBA title in . . . 1973
I enjoyed watching the Nuggets and found myself rooting for them against the Thunder. But in some ways I'm glad the Thunder won because if they didn't, the Wolves would be facing the Nuggets (partially?) without Aaron Gordon, after facing the Dubs with Curry out for 4.5 games. I think the Thunder will clobber the Wolves and cause a ton of turnovers resulting from their athleticism, shaky ballhandling from the Wolves, and a lack of calls from the refs.
I'd love to see the Pacers win the ECFs - they are a refreshing and well-coached team not reliant on pounding the air out of the ball like Brunson does.
I got Indiana winning in 5. Realistically should be 6, but I’m confident in this Pacers team
How many of the remaining teams have their core players injured?
Who yall rooting for to win it all? I got Indiana. Seems like the kinda team that gets under peoples skin with their cockiness
Get Big Jim his second ring!
Thunder, Knicks, Pacers, Wolves in that order but really just rooting for a couple great Conf Finals. Should be really good
Yeah, I'm just happy that we have 2 good Conference Finals to watch. The fact that the East is an old, bitter rivalry between two contrasting teams and the West is a possible decade-long new rivalry between fairly similar teams is even better.
I don't really have any favorites (or hated teams), but I guess OKC, Knicks, Wolves, Pacers (in that order). I don't really care either way, though, I'd be happy with any of those teams winning (I would've been happy with Denver, too)
Wolves, NY, Pacers and OKC in that order
Pacers are fun.
Indy
Wolves for sure
Knicks tbh.
I like New York’s toughness. And Mikal’s defense is so much fun to watch.
I’m cool with any of the four except the Zombie Sonics (who of course are the most likely champ).
Why not the Zombie Sonics?
and ... If the Knicks win, New York media could get very annoying IMO...
I like defensive basketball so, OK with NYK play, but maybe not sold on T Thibodeau.
They did well this season, so I'll give him credit for that, if he doesn't burn out his starters going on.
I like “Zombie Sonics.” It’s perfect.
Welp, one lucky fanbase either gets their first ‘chip or their first in 55 years. Pretty cool.
It's all about dat (fan) base.
No treble
I think (even with Curry), the Warriors lose this game 7. I also think the Warriors would've already won the series 4-2 by now, though.
And Denver is gone.
But my desire for a new champion (if the Ws didn't win it) has come to pass. With the Pacers vs. Knicks and Thunder vs. Wolves, we're guaranteed of another year of the champ not repeating.
All of the other recent champions are done. Boston is out and in trouble, both because of injuries to their stars and salary cap difficulties; they're probably going to have to jettison some important guys. Denver is out and fired their championship coach AND GM; they have to rebuild the organization's leadership. The Bucks had yet another first-round exit, and Giannis may leave them. The Lakers are out and need help but have limited cap flexibility. The Raptors missed the playoffs for the third consecutive year.
Here's to the last true dynasty -- your Golden State Warriors.
The Celtics were looking like they could dominate for at least a few years before the regular season started. Crazy how quickly things can change.
Celtics have new ownership to contend with too.
I am happy
I rooted against Jokic, Doncic, LeBron James
Tonight I am really happy
One of these things is not like the others… 🎵
How can you root against Jokic?
Flopping?
The refs definitely turned the momentum with the non-calls, especially in the 2nd quarter, but OKC would've won by double digits anyway (maybe by 10-12). Insane for Denver to play Gordon for 25 mins.
OKC was +64 in this series, third most lopsided 7 game series in NBA history. Hard to see much other than an SGA injury that could prevent them from the title at this point with Boston derailed.
Everyone underestimates Indiana. Let’s see what happens if they play. Minnesota ain’t going to be a walk in the park either.
I think Cleveland was the worst matchup for us and Indiana handled them well.
I think the two small guards thing Cleveland is doing is not a recipe for playoff success, we saw it a lot with Lillard/McCollum and at some point it always got exposed.
Indiana is good. They play 10 deep and are different than any other team.
They also beat the Cavs 3 out of 4 regular season.
They got off to a really bad start and were very good the last 50 games.
For whatever reason the Cavs 3 point shooting abandoned them.
Garland played hurt. A couple other guys had some issues. Indiana to them is like the Clippers to the Warriors. Anyway they will be on the couch with the Warriors watching.
Westbrook -34 tonight. Bald Mamba +40 lol
Westbrook was -34 in only 22 minutes. That's efficiency!
Deficiency?
Thunder win 125-93. WCF will be Thunder vs. Wolves
Wolves can't win if they are as sloppy with the turnovers as they were against us. They'll need to significantly clean that up.
Is it just me, or are at least half of those steals fouls?
Not just you, see my comment right below lol
It's not just you. Since the second quarter they have been giving OKC a pass and calling the same plays fouls on the Nuggets on the other end. Westbrick just blocked Chet clean and they gave him FTs anyway.
Thats been OKC's whistle all year - foul people every play for free but breathe on SGA and its FTs