NBA 24/25

Pavoren007

Does anybody else follow the NBA? My lad has for about 4 years - he is a Boston Celtics fan. Saw the Boston Celtics play Orlando Magic at the Kia Centre in Orlando a few weeks ago and since then have been totally hooked. Have signed up to the NBA app and managed to catch highlights of all of the Magic’s and Celtic’s games. 

Will definitely catch another game live in the future. 2.5 hours there felt less than an hour. Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jnr was sat in the crowd at the game we were at. 

Ross

Lakers fan, although I follow less than I did previously at the height of their success in the late 90s/early 00s. This season has been a bit up and down, but there is always going to be high expectations given the franchise's history. I'd love to go to a game.

oohaahmortimer

My two youngest like the Golden State Warriors and once in a blue moon will watch , Steph Curry is a proper player , not that I have a clue 

cafcbrown

Orlando Magic fan here. Decimated by injuries but holding on to 4th place somehow!

I've been to the Kia centre a few times, albeit it was the Amway then!

Pavoren007

Cheers for responses. Btw this is the first ever sport that the entire family, wife and daughter included have enjoyed. So much so my 20 year old daughter left the venue with a giant plush called ‘Stuff’ which has gone back to Uni with her. Imaginations truly captured…

MrOneLung

Viewing figures are tanking in the US.
no one is interested until the playoffs.

also, starting to get a backlash against the number of 3 pointers, negating the hustle and bustle of traditional  basketball

Can't find the more recent shot heat map i saw the other week, but it is even more extreme than this one






For what it's worth I cheer on Utah Jazz who have been useless for best part of 20 years

Macronate

Houston Rockets.

Been rubbish for a while but now have a good, young core and they’re having a decent season so far.

Good coach in Ime Udoka as well.

RedPanda

Pavoren007 said:

Cheers for responses. Btw this is the first ever sport that the entire family, wife and daughter included have enjoyed. So much so my 20 year old daughter left the venue with a giant plush called ‘Stuff’ which has gone back to Uni with her. Imaginations truly captured…

Stuff the Magic Dragon is a menace! Because Orlando seats are cheap I was able to sit right at the front in March v Toronto (most noteworthy for Gradey Dick & Anthony Black swapping jerseys and posing whilst grinning). I also saw Miami v Denver that week. 

I haven't got a favourite team, I have some I like more but I'm mostly interested in close or high scoring games, plus the best players.

I'd pick Boston to win again. OKC feel like they have a soft underbelly, or maybe they've just been learning from those hard losses you get on the way up. Shai will win a title some time for sure. 

ct_addick

Lving in Massachusetts I’m a Celtics fan and have been since I came in 1987. Not sure they can repeat this year as champs. A little inconsistent.

RedPanda

This is one of the coolest baskets I've seen, from Denver at Miami last night: Jokic barely catches it then gives the most no-look of no-look passes - Gordon dunks in style.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/Y0zwLReOY9

Pavoren007

RedPanda said:

This is one of the coolest baskets I've seen, from Denver at Miami last night: Jokic barely catches it then gives the most no-look of no-look passes - Gordon dunks in style.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/Y0zwLReOY9

An amazing move 👍

sam3110

Jokic is mentally good at Basketball.

My Suns are absolutely awful this season, we wasted so much salary on Durant by absolutely decimating the roster depth to get him, and then even more to get Beal to play alongside him and Booker, and Beal is such a bust it's unreal. Now we have a wasted generational talent in Booker, 2 aging stars with one of them nearly always injured, and a bunch of absolute journeymen and backup players in key positions. 

RedPanda

sam3110 said:

Jokic is mentally good at Basketball.

My Suns are absolutely awful this season, we wasted so much salary on Durant by absolutely decimating the roster depth to get him, and then even more to get Beal to play alongside him and Booker, and Beal is such a bust it's unreal. Now we have a wasted generational talent in Booker, 2 aging stars with one of them nearly always injured, and a bunch of absolute journeymen and backup players in key positions. 

Durant I get, he's Kevin Durant. 

It's the Beal contract that gets me, his role is too similar to Booker when you're paying a max and a dumb no-trade clause. 100% the worst contract in the NBA, then as you know you have to compromise with stuff like Nurkic as a starting centre. 

So the Beal deal is the big 'what if?' for me, not just for Phoenix but the whole west. Taking on Jimmy Butler (although I don't see how that works financially) would be almost as self-harming.

sam3110

Apparently we're looking to trade away Durant instead, basically because he's realised we can't win anytime soon and no-one's taking Beal off us.

Having 3 players on max salaries is already absolutely wild, for two of them to be on the wrong side of 30 and both with injury issues, you're just asking for trouble, and all of that to be 11th in the Western Conference as it stands? Yikes 

CHM

I really love NBA since Jhonson and Jordan matches…
I’m a Knicks fan. I had the luck to watch a match at Madison too. It was amazing atmosphere !! 

RedPanda

I've just seen the AD and Doncic trade and had to check it wasn't a wind up. Wow, that has to be up there with the biggest trades ever. 

I think I like that more for Dallas than I do LA, at least short term. Doncic gets targeted a lot in playoffs and they already have Thompson and Irving who aren't the best defending. I guess the Lakers see Doncic as Lebron's heir and they'll look to build around that. 

Edit: actually I think Dallas should have got more picks for someone so young and who's a top 4 player in the league. I see Reaves being mentioned online but the salaries wouldn't match.

And Sam here's the Suns' reaction to it 
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/g9HdUfu26C

Chris_from_Sidcup

RedPanda said:

I've just seen the AD and Doncic trade and had to check it wasn't a wind up. Wow, that has to be up their with the biggest trades ever. 

I think I like that more for Dallas than I do LA, at least short term. Doncic gets targeted a lot in playoffs and they already have Thompson and Irving who aren't the best defending. I guess the Lakers see Doncic as Lebron's heir and they'll look to build around that. 

Yeah i agree, i would say it's probably better for Dallas in the short term, but long term it definitely benefits the Lakers more as Doncic will now be the face of the franchise for years when Lebron finally retires.

Shams Charania reported today that none of the players had any idea about this trade until it was reported and all of them (and many others around the NBA) are stunned by it. Given that we all closely follow football where 'player power' often rules, it does seem wild that players can be traded in the NBA and have no say in it (unless you're Lebron with a no-trade clause). 

RedPanda

Doncic's injuries are being mentioned as a reason for trading out, but then Davis is hardly an 82 game man.

Dallas fans online understandably seem really annoyed. OKC and Denver have struggled against size so I can see Davis's appeal there.

Dallas beat reporter Tim MacMahon has a book out about Doncic next month. He's on an emergency edition of The Hoop Collective podcast if anyone wants more insight. I haven't listened yet but it's one of my favourite podcasts in any genre.