NBA season 2019/20
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I listened to a podcast this morning (The Ringer NBA Show) where they spent a good few minutes discussing the NBA's best chance at completing this season.
These guys seem to think the standings could be as they finished when the regular season was aborted (seems pretty unlikely that anything else can be done), and all play-off teams could be summoned to one or two host cities (possibly New York and Las Vegas), quarantined together, and sent out to play a finals series in July, possibly with fewer games in each series, at least until the NBA Finals. Apparently there is testing coming out which can yield a result in 5-15 minutes, so the players and officials could all be tested prior to taking the court. All seems reasonable, assuming the US gets it's outbreak relatively under control.
Imagine the drama if the Lakers took to the court vs the under .500 Grizzlies minus Lebron and AD who'd just tested positive
The other thing which leaps to mind in the highly litigious US of A, is a team just outside the 8 in either conference (most likely the West where the Blazers, Pelicans, Kings and Spurs might have fancied their chances of qualifying for the play-offs) lawyering up under the pretence that the regular season should have been played out to some further extent, such as 70 games each which would have provided the opportunity for qualification at the Grizzlies' expense.
If they plonked all teams in one locale and were prepared to extend the conclusion to the season out a little further again, getting to 70 games would be possible but would add 10-14 days.
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The Chicago Bulls look to be seriously cleaning house and making a real effort to turn things around finally - good news for them and the NBA - a good Bulls team would be a real lift to the Eastern Conference.
They've hired Denver Nuggets GM Arturas Karnisovas to run their basketball operations and have fired longtime GM Gar Forman and demoted former head of basketball ops (and former GM) John Paxson.
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@KiwiMurph Any rumour on player movement toward the Bulls? I mean aside from a high lottery pick? I like Zach Levine, but he needs two more guys of his standard for them to make a mark again.
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@shark said in NBA season 2019/20:
@KiwiMurph Any rumour on player movement toward the Bulls? I mean aside from a high lottery pick? I like Zach Levine, but he needs two more guys of his standard for them to make a mark again.
Nothing yet though from what I understand Karnisovas' reputation around the league (including players) is very high whereas the previous regime had a toxic reputation by all accounts. In other words the Bulls should become a lot more attractive as a destination.
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Very interesting quotes by Michael Jordan here with the parts 1 and 2 of the documentary released next week.
Michael Jordan says upcoming documentary 'The Last Dance' will make people think he's a 'horrible guy' - CBSSports.com
Jordan's notorious competitive side is highlighted in the 10-part series
"When people see this footage I'm not sure they're going to be able to understand why I was so intense, why I did the things I did, why I acted the way I acted, and why I said the things I said," Jordan said, via director Jason Hehir in an interview with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. "When you see the footage of [me riding with Scott Burrell], you're going to think that I'm a horrible guy. But you have to realize that the reason why I was treating him like that is because I needed him to be tough in the playoffs and we're facing the Indiana's and Miami's and New York's in the Eastern Conference. He needed to be tough and I needed to know that I could count on him. And those are the kind of things where people see me acting the way I acted in practice, they're not going to understand it."  "Look, winning has a price," Jordan said in the documentary. "And leadership has a price. So I pulled people along when they didn't want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn't want to be challenged. And I earned that right because my teammates who came after me didn't endure all the things that I endured. Once you joined the team, you lived at a certain standard that I played the game. And I wasn't going to take any less. Now, if that means I had to go in there and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates. The one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn't f–king do. "When people see this they are going say, 'Well he wasn't really a nice guy. He may have been a tyrant.' Well, that's you. Because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win to be a part of that as well. Look, I don't have to do this. I am only doing it because it is who I am. That's how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don't want to play that way, don't play that way." -
I fucking love MJ.
I also like LeBron, and think he gets a shittier ride than he deserves.
But it shits me when people try to open the GOAT debate. Anyone who watched them both in their prime should be under no illusion.
Just ask yourself one question. You're in a game for your life. Who is the 1st teammate you choose???
There is no option
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@voodoo Agree. Funny, listening to The Ringer podcast the other day and one of the hosts admitted he never saw Jordan live and said it's easy for fans of his ilk and later to defer to leBron as the GOAT simply because he's close, and he's current. But exactly as you say, the shit MJ could do has never been done before, or since, and it's no contest. However, this must be one of the worst quotes in history and reads like a line by John Cena in Train Wreck:
"Now, if that means I had to go in there and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that."
Not your finest bucket there, Mike.
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anyone else watch the "Horse" championship on ESPN? It was a good idea, and surprisingly good TV
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@mariner4life I didn't, I expected it to be junk. It was ok?
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@voodoo said in NBA season 2019/20:
@mariner4life I didn't, I expected it to be junk. It was ok?
yeah, not bad, some pretty good shots. Chauncey Billups made the semi finals. Lavine won.
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@mariner4life I just got this update on my bloody watch!!!
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@voodoo said in NBA season 2019/20:
@mariner4life I just got this update on my bloody watch!!!
That must have been the semi I watched
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@shark said in NBA season 2019/20:
I haven't seen any of it, but apparently the footage quality leaves a lot to be desired, making it hard to watch?
Yeah, relying in mobile internet wasn't the best
Why Michael Jordan Was The Best
