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.

 

[Kick-Stand]

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?


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.

Here's Games 1-5 of the 86 Finals with commercials included (click the link and it's a playlist though it embeds the first video here when I post the link). ROFL that fight between Jerry Sichting and Ralph Sampson in Game 5 where Walton comes up from behind and bodyslams Sampson and then Sampson cusses out the interviewer when they follow him to the locker room after being ejected.

Sadly Game 6 got copyright struck, probably because the NBA likes to show that one all the time on NBA TV.

 

[BacktoBasics]

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.

I had to look that one up.

“They asked ‘Larry; you’ve come to the end of the road trip. What do you [have] in store? You’ve achieved all your milestones.’ He said, ‘I’m going to play this game left handed.’ They said, ‘Yeah, right.’ He said, ‘No, I’m going to play left-handed. But, if the game’s in doubt in the fourth quarter, I’ll switch back to the right hand,'” Bill Walton recalled.

Bird kept his promise. In the end, he led the C’s team to a 120-119 win over the Blazers with 47 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists in 49 minutes of action. He shot 21-of-34 from the field and 3-of-3 from three.

Impressive but not entirely left handed.

According to The Athletic, he scored 20 points from the field with his left hand, and another 27 points with his right. Known for his limitless confidence, he also casually sank three left-handed shots in a row in the fourth quarter to help keep the game close. This wasn't a blowout in which one might mess around, but Bird's left hand nonetheless took the Celtics to overtime, in which they won. He walked out of the stadium with a triple-double: 47 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists (via NBA.com).

Read More: https://www.grunge.com/941413/the-true-story-of-when-larry-bird-played-an-nba-game-left-handed/

 

[Ice009]

Here's Games 1-5 of the 86 Finals with commercials included (click the link and it's a playlist though it embeds the first video here when I post the link). ROFL that fight between Jerry Sichting and Ralph Sampson in Game 5 where Walton comes up from behind and bodyslams Sampson and then Sampson cusses out the interviewer when they follow him to the locker room after being ejected.

Sadly Game 6 got copyright struck, probably because the NBA likes to show that one all the time on NBA TV.

Thanks. I started watching, but man, will have to adjust my eyes to get used to watching that. Don't know who's who when I don't know all the players.

Wasn't Dennis Johnson a huge key player on some of those Celtics teams? Was he also great on the defensive end? I also thought he coached the Austin Toros at one point, didn't he?

 

[Kick-Stand]

Thanks. I started watching, but man, will have to adjust my eyes to get used to watching that. Don't know who's who when I don't know all the players.

Wasn't Dennis Johnson a huge key player on some of those Celtics teams? Was he also great on the defensive end? I also thought he coached the Austin Toros at one point, didn't he?

He was considered one of the defensive aces of the league, good driver too, and Bird considered him his favorite teammate ever. Also won Finals MVP for the Sonics in 79 years before joining the Celtics. Celtics stole him from the Suns for a scrub white boy center named Rick Robey, as DJ had a reputation as a hothead as his trade value had cratered. If you wanna see that fight I'm talking about go to the 44:20 mark of the video for Game 5. I remember being so pissed they threw Sampson out as I hated the Celtics at the time and was rooting hard for Houston lol.

Forgot to mention Robert Reid (#33 on the Rockets) from those 86 Finals is a local guy and went to high school at Clemens.

 

[spurraider21]

Here's Games 1-5 of the 86 Finals with commercials included (click the link and it's a playlist though it embeds the first video here when I post the link). ROFL that fight between Jerry Sichting and Ralph Sampson in Game 5 where Walton comes up from behind and bodyslams Sampson and then Sampson cusses out the interviewer when they follow him to the locker room after being ejected.

Sadly Game 6 got copyright struck, probably because the NBA likes to show that one all the time on NBA TV.

man, watching this, at least the celtics run something resembling sets with at least a modicum of off-ball movement, while the rockets offense pretty regularly had all 5 players stationary.

 

[Exstatic]

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

Nah, keep him in the West, keep him frustrated with us and OKC, and then he personally relocates to the East, Minnesota craters, and we cash that 2030 swap.