News Expansion Draft Protection discussion - Adam Silver says NBA will make decision on expansion in 2026, cites Seattle and Las Vegas as possibilities

[scott]

Time to move to Ginza

I splurged on the Park Hyatt Shinjuku (well, I cashed in points)... may never leave... going to need to set up a VPN so I can still watch the playoffs

 

[spursistan]

Still have Minnesota's 2030 swap right?

Yeah still got it in principle: "SAS will receive the most / more favorable of its 2030 1st round pick, DAL' 2030 1st round pick and MIN's 2030 1st round pick protected for selection 1"

 

[Arcadian]

Both over Kornet

 

[Kick-Stand]

I splurged on the Park Hyatt Shinjuku (well, I cashed in points)... may never leave... going to need to set up a VPN so I can still watch the playoffs

How are the soaplands? Too bad the no pan kissas got removed. Make sure to check Kabukicho so you can see the area that Kiryu made famous.

 

[Area 51.247]

This looks to pretty much nail it... though I have to ask... what's the point of even having divisions? I never even look at the division standings and honestly I can't even remember who is in what division.

Unless the NBA is going to grant automatic playoff berths to division winners... what's the point? In this hypothetical map, to use a practical example, would GSW be given an automatic Top 6 (or even Top 4) berth? Go back to the old days when you had worse teams with home court advantage in the first round because they were division winners?

One thing that might be a factor is whether having two mega-market teams in a division gets the best revenue draw and competitiveness league wide; ex: LAC and LAL or NYK and BRO.

 

[Rafa]

We're going NFL-style.. I would swap Philly and Toronto just to keep the East coast teams together. The north west will be the weakest division for a while. In the medium term, I expect Vegas to be an attractive free agency destination and could be the next best thing after the Lakers..

View attachment 1262

Looks beautiful. No complaints getting Antman out of our conference either long term.
Makes way too much sense for the NBA to actually implement though tbqh, the real solution will be significantly less elegant

 

[Ice009]

Yeah, sending Minnesota East is like giving them a handful of top-5 lottery picks for nothing. I'd love to see them send the Spurs east, but doubt it happens.

Looking at that map on the previous page, wouldn't there be 2-3 other teams that are closer to the East than the Spurs? Wouldn't they all be options to move before the Spurs would, or were you sort of mentioning it more as a wishful thinking kind of thing?

Conference strength was the big reason the title count in the 80s went Lakers 5, Celtics 3. If the Lakers were having to through the Sixers, Bucks, and Pistons every year and getting beat to shit in those dogfights while the Celtics got a free pass to the Finals I think the count would have been reversed. 1987 was the clearest example of this where the Celtics had to run an injured McHale into the ground fighting Chicago, Milwaukee, and then an amazing Pistons team while the Lakers got a 37 win Nuggets team in the first, a 42 win Warriors team in the second, and a 39 win Sonics team in the WCF that had a worse record than Boston's first round opponent: the 40-42 Bulls. You give the Celtics that cakewalk to the Finals and they probably just rest McHale for 2 series and he's fresh for the Finals.

Darn, good to hear this from people that actually knew the records of the teams back in the day. I should have know LA got an easier road to the finals. I always thought Boston were better than the 3 championships they won in that era. From the little footage I saw and what I read over the years, they seemed like a really great team.

 

[Kick-Stand]

Darn, good to hear this from people that actually knew the records of the teams back in the day. I should have know LA got an easier road to the finals. I always thought Boston were better than the 3 championships they won in that era. From the little footage I saw and what I read over the years, they seemed like a really great team.

Bird broke down really prematurely, mostly because he wrecked his back putting in a driveway at his house in 1983. What's wild is he won three straight MVP and two more titles after destroying his back. The 1986 Celtics were one of the most fun teams I have ever watched, just selfless and always moving the ball to get better shots. They were so much like the legendary 2014 Spurs team just loaded with talent and somehow Walton managed to stay healthy for one magical year for them after giving up a bunch of money Sterling owed Bill as a condition for trading him to Boston. Everyone knows Bird, McHale, Parish, and Walton, but Dennis Johnson was like a 1980s version of Steph Castle. Their title clinching Game 6 of the 86 Finals shows up on NBA TV a lot, especially in the offseason, when they show the NBA's greatest games, and I wouldn't be surprised if you can find it on youtube or torrents either. Of all the things Bird did well I think it was his passing that stood out most. Dude was a wizard at finding open shots for teammates in the halfcourt and was pretty deadly in transition too. Also the biggest shit talker I have ever seen. I remember him telling Xavier McDaniel (think 1980s Dylan Brooks) hey I'm gonna take two dribbles and shoot the game winner here and then pointing to the spot, Celtics inbound the ball, Bird takes two dribbles and shoots the game winner in McDaniels' face at the buzzer and the Celtics go home with the win. He had one game he dropped 50 shooting only left handed and his career high game he was so on fire that the Atlanta Hawks bench was going nuts and cheering the crazy shit he was hitting. I was so jealous of my friend from school who was at that game in New Orleans. That's another one you'll see on the NBA Greatest Games series they play a lot on NBA TV.