Ongoing pro/college basketball thread (2023-24)

[Ksyrup]

I've been watching a montage of Clark taking shot after shot and then saw this:

CC accepting ROTY at the end of the season pic.twitter.com/DjJLuk3lIi

— 𝓜𝓪𝓻 (@Cait22fever) May 31, 2024

[cuervo72]

This also explains why “most free throw attempts by a rookie” is essentially a list of players who were expected to be generational talents

It also explains why CAREER free throw attempts is a list of some the fiercest, toughest competitors of all time…

And Dwight Howard pic.twitter.com/JqHB7OeHgl

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) June 2, 2024

[Ksyrup]

I can't believe they shut down the NBA for a week before the finals. Ridiculous.

[miami_fan]

By they, I am guessing you mean the Mavs and the Celtics?

[Ksyrup]

They play when the league tells them to play.

The whole NBA playoffs is weird to me based on timing because I just spent 2 weeks in the UK so I saw zero basketball. I missed the entire conference finals. Now I'm back and the finals start a week later. I feel like a new season should be starting more than the finals should be happening.

[stevew]

The gap in the NBA finals happens every once in awhile. Pretty sure 2015/2017 both had huge gaps. I do think the league should have a contingency plan to at least move it up to Tuesday instead of Thursday but it is what it is.

[Swaggs]

It's somewhat surprising they don't hold the lottery and/or announce the award winners during this time. I don't think either would be enough to take away from the conference finals, if they went the distance.

[Arles]

It hasn't helped that this has been probably the least compelling and competitive NBA playoffs in a long time. 7 of the series have been 4-0 or 4-1. I'll check in for the finals, but this is by far the lowest amount of NBA playoffs I've ever watched. The jack 3s style with blowouts all over the place just isn't interesting.

[Jas_lov]

I don't understand why they can't move the games up in this scenario. They say its for planning but if both conference finals went 7 games they would only have a few days to plan. Then they have this stupid Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday schedule for Games 1-3 of the finals. There's nothing else on in the summer so why not just play every other day.

[JonInMiddleGA]

The last game of any conference finals was Thu May 30, right?
They resume Thu Jun 6, right?

That's a week of downtime.

That's one day different than the schedule for starting the Stanley Cup finals.
Is that one extra day THAT big a deal?

I prefer the "when things can reasonably start, they start" model of old, but this isn't just an NBA thing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Arles

It hasn't helped that this has been probably the least compelling and competitive NBA playoffs in a long time. 7 of the series have been 4-0 or 4-1.

Not really THAT different than recent years tho, is it?

Number of 0 or 1 win losers prior to the Finals in recent years
(starting with last year)

6(2023) ,6, 5, 6, 8, 8.8, 6, 7,4 (2019)

So counting this season, half of the last 10 years have had either 7 or 8 series that weren't close. This is pretty much the norm.

And there's also the typical number of 7 game series this season (3) over the past decade.

This is what the NBA has been in terms of post-season competitiveness for a decade.

[Arles]

Yeah, that's not great. I also think having Giannis, KD, EMbiid, Lebron & Steph all out after the first round (and Jokic out by the next one) really hurt the star power too.

[albionmoonlight]

Anecdotally, it certainly feels like there were more 7-game series back in the 80s and 90s.

Maybe with better coaching/analytics, the better team in a series is just too good now.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

I don't understand why they can't move the games up in this scenario. They say its for planning but if both conference finals went 7 games they would only have a few days to plan. Then they have this stupid Thursday-Sunday-Wednesday schedule for Games 1-3 of the finals. There's nothing else on in the summer so why not just play every other day.

Who is gonna tell the owners of these arenas not to schedule other events during the conference finals to make sure the arenas are available just in case they have to move up the finals?

I am pretty sure there was a concert on the same night and time as Game 6 of the West finals in the same arena. I know they could change times etc. but still. The calendar for some of these venues have very little flexibility in them.

[cartman]

Also there is a lot of overlap with NBA and NHL teams in the same arena.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Anecdotally, it certainly feels like there were more 7-game series back in the 80s and 90s.

Maybe with better coaching/analytics, the better team in a series is just too good now.

Well you just had to know that was gonna punch my curiosity button lol

This will be a little misleading perhaps however, because first round was best of five until 2003. Also, only 6 teams in each conference made the playoffs until 1984

1980s, number of 7 game series by year
1,4,1,0,2, 0,1,2,4,0 = 1.5 avg/yr

1990s, number of 7 game series by year
2,0,2,2,5,3,1,2,1,0 = 1.8 avg/yr

Okay, to try to compensate toward apples/apples, I'm only going to count 7 game series after the first round for the newer decades, since those couldn't exist in the first round in the 80s/90s

2000s, number of 7 game series by year
2,3,1,1,2,2,3,0,2,2 = 1.8 avg/yr

2010s, number of 7 game series by year
1,1,2,2,0, 1,3,1,2,2 = 1.5 avg/yr

2020s, number of 7 game series by year
2,2,3,2, 2 (so far) = 2.2 avg/yr

So actually pretty consistent, with an uptick in the past 5 years.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Arles

Yeah, that's not great. I also think having Giannis, KD, EMbiid, Lebron & Steph all out after the first round (and Jokic out by the next one) really hurt the star power too.

Giannis- 29 years old, 10th year in the league
KD-35, 15th
Embiid- 30, 7th
Lebron- 39, 20th
Steph- 36, 14th
Jokic- 29, 8th

I am not rushing these guys out the door just yet but it will be nice to have casual fans getting to know guys like Tatum, Luka, Ant, etc. this postseason.