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If they allowed kicked balls, this is what the NBA would be like (70 yard Soccer goal)

https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1573143867435589632/video/1

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Almost everyone has Steph ranked #2 behind Giannis, ESPNRank has him #5. Ok, boomers.

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Brian Windhorst argues LeBron James is still a Top 5 Player: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXTHVa61ZvQ

Brian Windhorst advocating for LeBron James? Stop the presses!

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What I would like to understand is whether or not he wants to be on the Warriors. Or whether he wants to go to team which will pay him more and where he can be a starter? Other players, like Wiggins, I have talked about how much they value being on this team. Has anyone heard this from Poole?

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Crossing fingers!

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Really insightful Old Man & The Three conversation with Ben Simmons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT1n31Wh0P0

Hope the young man has an injury-free and successful season....

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I'm glad he has this channel/outlet to tell his side.

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I'm unlikely to hear his interview. Anyone got a summary of 'his side?'

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I'm going from memory. There weren't really distinct bullet points but more a general sense of his perspective so I'll try to summarize but it is a somewhat subjective take depending how you want to interpret his response.

* Even before that playoff series, he has always known shooting was a weakness. Hears all the noise. He works on it, JJ says he's seen how much Simmons works on it.

* Build-up of all the noise around his shooting really messed with his head. "Should I keep shooting? Should I not?"

* The play in the playoffs was not the "cause" but really the tipping point.

* He knows he should've dunked it after watching replay but had to make a quick decision at the time and just plain misjudged where everyone was.

* Both JJ and Ben agree that Doc and Embiid threw him under the bus.

* Only one (I think) teammate reached out after the incident to check in. Felt like his teammates and circle abandoned him.

* Lots of completely made up stories in media. Eg. he did not tell teammates to "f--- off"... in fact such a visit by teammates did not even happen

* Had to get right mentally.

* He's had a history of back issues. Entire side of body locks up. He wasn't making up excuses to not play. Wants to play.

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That was perfect. Thanks so much for sharing.

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If Andre announces right now that he is in, it would take the wind out of the sails of a wide open training camp competition for that 14th spot which, by NBA rules, the Warriors have to fill. The 15th spot is optional and its common knowledge the Warriors want to leave it open. If Andre joins the team now, a player in training camp will have to be GP2 good in order to force the Warriors to pick them up.

My hope is as follows. Open competition for the 14th spot and I don't care who gets in so long as Trevion Williams is a Warrior in 2022-2023, be it roster, 2-way or Santa Cruz full-time. Andre gets a Steve Nash deal, "Special Assistant", that enables him to work (and work out) with the team in a limited capacity. This allows him to save wear and tear on his tires, but also keeps him in shape and come mid-season, see if he feels good enough to suit up for the back half of the season and the playoffs. It also allows the Warriors to determine the need at that time for his services. If the team is healthy and Moody and JK are shining, Andre can just ride this season out in the back seat. Or some injury makes it evident that they could really use Andre on the court. We don't know now what things will look like then.

Of course, I scream, you scream, we all scream for Iggy. But do we expect him to be healthy in the playoffs going through all the rigamarole of the 82 game regular season, crisscrossing the country, suiting up, icing down, etc? And those post-game interviews required of players with min vet salaries can be brutal. So why not be creative? Get him in the building for the first half of the season, on salary, and on his own terms. And come March, or whenever the roster cutoff for playoff eligibility is, that 15th spot will be there.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022Liked by punk basketball

The moral value structure in your country, dear friends, never stops to amaze me. You have politicians that defend strenuously the right of every teenager to have an assault rifle in his backpack. Then Eme Udoka, coach of the year, is not allowed to have a relationship (a regular one, I gather) with a Celtics' employee. And they talk of a 1-year suspension! All this, while the Phoenix Suns owner, notorious racist and mysoginist, is allowed to roam freely the NBA arenas. Sorry, but despite living in a country where social justice is far from perfect, I find all this absurd.

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Closing this issue, I think that on the basketball point of view it is a huge loss for the Celtics, worsened by the timing, just before the camp. Plus, they already had the big smash of Gallo's injury. It's likely that the Celtics season will be very badly affected. Unfortunate and sad, but good news for us.

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Sep 23, 2022·edited Sep 23, 2022

Sorry. I apologise. My initial judgment was biased by having far too few elements on the Udoka issue. I didn't mean to offend anyone nor to stir anger. No citizen of any country in the world, except perhaps Bhutan and Malawi, can throw the stone in a glasshouse (we have a nice way to say it, "scagliare la prima pietra", that comes from a Bible episode)

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My friend, I'm firmly convinced that I have to live years in another country to simply try to get the differences from my country laws and habits, and understand them

Too weird try to judge from thousands of miles, in my humble opinion

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You're right, my friend. Thus my apologies.

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The issue (to the Celtics organization) isn't that Ime cheated on his partner. If he had done so with a random woman he met at a bar, this would be a non-issue as far as the team is concerned. The issue is that he had a sexual relationship with a subordinate within the organization and under US workplace laws that have been in place for many decades now, that constitutes harassment and leaves the company/organization legally liable in case of a lawsuit. You're viewing it through a lens of what is moral or not but his suspension or any other punishment will be in regards to him violating company policy, not in regards to how faithful he is to his wife/fiance/partner.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

> All this, while the Phoenix Suns owner, notorious racist and mysoginist, is allowed to roam freely the NBA arenas

You mean the guy who was banned for a year from "roaming freely in the NBA arenas" and is now being pressured into selling his teams? That guy? Also, you shouldn't throw stones in glass houses.

Finally; yes our gun laws/practices are insane and indefensible. It sucks.

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You are right, I apologise. Definitely, Italy is not a social role model, we have plenty of hard issues (tax collection, corruption, domestic violence) that I shouldn't forget.

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Non farei mai cambio con loro

Neanche per un istante, con nessuno dei 50 stati

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Nemmeno io. Se votassi negli USA un partito simile a quello che voterò domenica, diamine, probabilmente mi ritroverei a Guantanamo Bay. A proposito, tu sei riuscito a votare?

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Domenica voto

Top secret ;-)

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I don’t think it’s about Italy at all. I think it’s it from the outside American laws and practices look really weird. Sarver can operate and be sexually promiscuous in the workplace for many years, but Udoka who had sex with an employee is banished for a year. ( yes I understand about workplace laws, but an outsider may not and Sarver avoided any censure for his behavior to employees for many years, whereas Udoka is already censured now ). We punish people for their sexual practices, but give them assault rifles if they want one. It must look very weird to an outsider.

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We don’t know enough about the Udoka situation to speculate.

But either way, it has nothing to do with Sarver’s actions or teenagers with assault rifles (neither of which you’ll find many people here support).

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deletedSep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022
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I remember I had a crush for Nia when she was in "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"

I was in High School when it was broadcasted in Italy

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So is the staff member with whom he was messing around with.

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But why do you support arming teenagers with assault rifles?? Clearly your moral value structure is broken. ;-P

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I didn’t mean to point my finger at anybody here.

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Sep 22, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Has anyone seen anything about the Japan games being televised?

ESPN has nothing ... but you figure someone (NBA TV, maybe) might pick it up for a tape delay.

I'm looking forward to Rui Hachimura getting a standing ovation every time he touches the ball (OK, maybe not).

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I wonder if Google TV will pick it up. They usually do.

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Sep 22, 2022Liked by punk basketball

My YouTube TV Warriors channel says it's going to record on NBATV

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author

NBA.com says League Pass will show it and 95.7 will carry it on radio.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

Awesome! I'm out of market, so NBA TV it is. Thanks!

Edit: League Pass, I mean. Time to go sign up for the year.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

LP plus VPN and you always get the game. EDIT: plus price drop on LP. good deal IMO. https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2022/08/31/NBA-League-Pass-price-goes-down.aspx

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Nice, thanks.

I wasn't sure what was going on ... nba.com had $99, but on the Roku app, it still said $199 for the year. So, your link was very timely.

I guess the app has not updated yet.

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Same. My first non cable year in a decade. Hulu seems like the way to go ?

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Starting to listen to The TK Show with Kerr…

First thing that jumps out is Kerr refutes SAS report that Kuminga has attitude/work ethic problem, saying he’s done everything they wanted all summer.

https://twitter.com/timkawakami/status/1572708116999049216?s=21&t=nZLjsWn79Rg-zg10RmznLA

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The other thing that stood out to me was Kerr’s statement that Andre’s been in with Rick Celebrini and the training staff the last couple weeks assessing where he’s at physically.

To me that makes it sounds like he wants to come back if they can come up with a plan to keep his body functional.

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RemovedSep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022
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I think poodle’s ability to start at either the 1 or the 2 when either Steph or Klay are out makes him really special. Not a lot of players can really fill in both spots as well as he can. He has to keep working on his defense, but it’s gotten better every year so I’m optimistic.

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lol poodle 😂

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

He’s got the dawg in him, even if the dawg’s name is Fifi.

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That dawg can hunt and there isn't a working poodle on the planet named Fifi.

Get those blasphemous teacup kicking dog poodles out of your head. :)

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And JP is certainly a working poodle! Respect.

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So Sarver is selling the Suns? Hmm, who will take the deal? And will the Suns move to another city or state?

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Do you think it's a lost cause in PHX? Phoenix is the 5th largest city by population in the USA and still growing. The team is winning. The arena's not real big but it was remodeled not long ago. With a new managing partner, they have a chance to rethink their marketing and improve attendance. There has been talk for some time of the NBA returning to Seattle, so I guess there's that, but it's nowhere near the population of PHX.

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Sep 22, 2022·edited Sep 22, 2022

Wait. what? Phx is 5th largest in the US?

Without looking it up, I thought it it'd be something like bottom half of the top 10. Guessing population order off the top of my head:

NYC

LA

CHI

DAL

PHI

SF (bay area)

ATL

BOS

SD

PHX

HOU

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Kangz are 35th!

Man they almost made the play-in...

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!!

Houston, we have a problem (with people’s awareness that it’s the 4th biggest US City).

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PHX is literally 5th largest city (for instance it is bigger than SF or Oakland). But as a metro area it is #14

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_and_metropolitan_areas_of_the_United_States

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Yeah true, and it's not like I love PHX. I'd way rather hang out in Seattle. But I don't like to see franchises move if they can reasonably be successful where they are, although I recognize sometimes it's what needs to happen. Nothing against OKC but I wasn't happy when the NBA abandoned Seattle to start with, and the league DOES sorta owe Seattle a fresh chance. But even at #14, that's a legit big league sports town.

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The winters are nice, but without some more creative thinking, they're going to start running out of water.

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A few nights ago I had a dream where the headlines were about how Iguodala, Livingston, Matt Barnes, and maybe a couple more all re-signed with the Warriors. And in my head I just went, "oh right, that makes sense, they need people who know the system to show the rookies the ropes." Not keeping count of the # of roster spots at all...

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Sep 21, 2022Liked by punk basketball

Robert Williams has another scope on his knee, out for at least 4-6 weeks.

https://theathletic.com/3612630/2022/09/20/celtics-robert-williams-to-miss-4-to-6-weeks-following-second-surgery-on-left-knee-sources/

They rushed him back last season and he was neither effective nor healthy. And probably re-injured himself in the process. I hope they have long enough memories to bring him back when he’s fully healed, not when they wish he is.

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Most predictable thing in the world. Damn.

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It was so weird watching him play in the Finals. Kawhi-like levels of limping and looking busted combined with flashes of crazy athleticism. Hopefully they didn't run his knees into permanent trouble!

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My thought is that the number of games and minutes he can contribute are what you would expect if not more than a typical 14th man. Considering his influence on young players and connection to the core players I say absolutely bring him back on the Vet Min. Morale and player character development, not just player development, is an integral part of the Warriors philosophy that has contributed to the winning atmosphere and the plain winning. I also want to see another year of Andre stripping young hot shots and seeing their faces, like, "where did the ball go?"

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I’m pretty skeptical of Andre’s ability to stay healthy enough to play games, but I suspect he could stay healthy enough to play in practice, workout with the team, etc. It seems like it would be worth it to have him on the bench at games, and practicing/working out with the team…but who knows if that’s enough for him. I hope he comes back, but we’ll see.

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Sep 21, 2022·edited Sep 21, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot

> [Jordan Poole is] much stronger and more athletic than I think people realize, even maybe more than he realizes, so can he become a two-way guy like Klay Thompson? That’s his next step.

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Some stuff that wasn't in the printed transcript that I thought was interesting. Some of it we probably already assumed but it's the first time I'm hearing it from a coach.

* Tracking data on players, and its indications of player fatigue, heavily influences how they practice.

* Before season starts, the team assesses potential load of each player throughout the season and then identifies games that make sense to sit out.

* Hiring of Klay's brother to staff is part of league-wide trend of hiring coaches who are capable of playing pickup so teams have extra bodies for pickup/practice.

* Kerr envisions Kuminga being a player who you can give the ball to on the elbow and create his own shot (like Kawhi or PG) but obviously still has a ways to go.

* Kenny Atkinson is "JK's guy"... works very closely with JK

* Raja Bell, who played for the Suns, on his own experience with Sarver: never witnessed anything racist but definitely "tactless" moments and "off-color things"; Bell says this isn't uncommon behavior amongst NBA owners (note: he was not defending Sarver, just giving his own thoughts)

* Kerr: within a couple weeks of being GM, knew he didn't want to be GM and wanted to be a coach. GM role is like being given a blank canvas and you have to go paint something with an infinite number of moves versus being coach is like being given puzzle pieces and figuring out how to best piece them together.

* Kerr: xmas day against Suns felt like the game where they felt they could do something special

* Will try to be more calculated in Steph's minutes this year

* Kerr: "JTA is my guy"

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This is an awesome quote from Kerr about Wiseman: “The biggest thing for James is he has the capability to be a really dominant defender with his size and speed, but it takes a ton of reps, so we’re going to be asking him to defend, and run the floor, and be that lob threat.”

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I'm predicting 13 ppg and 7 rpg along with 1.3 bpg.

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I know it’s “just” the minimum, it’s going to be close to $3 million for a 10+ vet this season. I wonder how much that $3M in “easy (and guaranteed) money” means to him at this point? He’s made $182M for his career and has all his business interests and such, but I have no idea of his net worth. If he takes home $2M after taxes and agent cut, that’s still two million samolians to add to his VC fund, spend on whatever.

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The $3mm costs the team $21mm? That's the crazy part to me. Why not just offer him $5mm as a special advisor, and bring him in to play next year in a "break glass in case of emergencies" situation. Not sure what that would be ofc, and Andre has to keep working his ass off to stay in shape.

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That's still only 1% of his net worth. A VC and entrepreneur can make much more than that in a year. It's really about whether he wants to put his body through another year for a chance at a 5th ring and to burnish his HOF creds, I think.

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If someone’s net worth is $1M, $10K is still a welcome addition.

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True. But if someone told a millionaire that they would give them $10,000 for training for and completing a marathon, the person might or might not do it. It would probably depend a lot on if they like to run and if they were willing to train. Anyone would like a gift of $10,000, but with a million already in the bank, the extra $10,000 would not be life-changing. It would have to be worth it for other reasons.

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