NBA 2025-26 Season Thread: THE NY KNICKS ARE CHAMPIONS! BING BONG!
Lettuce NBA!
and lettuce lol @ James Harden
JJ just sat both lebron/luka
He’s not staggering them. I guess its okay if u keep Reaves on cuz he can run point. Shrug
Luka/LeBron/Reaves
Is the best big 3 in the league.
Somebody prove me wrong.
Spoiler
Because you can’t!
Reaves has really taken his game to the next level.
Silver floated the idea of only awarding 2 FTs for fouled 3PT shooters, at least outside of the final 2:00. The idea being that you'll get more aggressive contests. Zaza rule would presumably still apply though for F1 so not sure it changes it all that much. I think another thing they could look at is getting rid of gather / zero step on these ridiculous jump-backs. I mean look
If players today are so skilled that they are knocking shots like that down, I'll be happy to watch them do it.
If anyone prefers some 7 foot oaf being fed in the post like what most of 90's basketball was, I don't know what to say.
I'm not seeing how you can legislate against step back very practically. Thought they might be limiting the amount you can attempt it a game. Cut and dry. Only so many allowed until the last two minutes maybe??
I think the need for a big time center is very overrated in today's NBA. The Warriors won those titles without one, and dominated without one as well. Hayes is a good lob finisher.
Tuned in at the start of the 2nd half to see Hayes finish back to back lobs. Apparently the gane started this way too. 6-6 for Hayes. As far as lobs go, he's actually really good.
I don't really have any solutions. The real solution for many issues is to reduce the number of games in basically every sport, but this won't happen because of money. I personally don't watch the NBA until the postseason, and even most of the first round is skippable.
I agree entirely about games; this is my point: the actual issue is the perceived lack of effort in the regular season. On a micro level, I still think we get competitive minutes from players and competitive stretches of close games. But fundamentally, teams don't have time to prepare bespoke game plans for opponents like they do in the playoffs, and they desire to extend their rotations beyond what would be optimal in the postseason.
Does nostalgia play a role here? Were teams competing hard for all 82 games in the 90's?
Players sitting out too much is a fundamental issue that the minimum game requirement for All-NBA eligibility has somewhat addressed. It is bad for the product if fans pay huge ticket premiums only to be rug-pulled by a late inactive for a star player.
Ultimately, I do not see the competitiveness issue ever being solved to the satisfaction of the "old-school" fan. They can't reduce games, and then it becomes a math problem: It simply doesn't make sense for teams to push the regular season beyond a certain point. The only rule change that could change this is the one change off the table.
Not to address your larger point, but I think "just less of it" kind of understates the fundamental transformation that's happened in the NBA. 2004-2005Most FG/gm 15-19ft: 21.9Least FG/gm 15-19ft: 11.12014-2015:Most FG/gm 15-19ft: 18.4Least FG/gm 15-19ft: 4.6 (HOU, 2nd place is 8.6)2024-2025:Most FG/gm 15-19ft: 8.0Least FG/gm 15-19ft: 1.7With the exception of the James Harden R
Good data. I admit that I didn't think the difference was that significant.
The playoff analogy applies here, too, IMO. We love the chess match element of the playoffs, as each series will see both teams constantly optimise to try and distil down to their best rotation and plays to win. Players who can't score or defend will eventually get removed from the floor. Casual fans love this; it makes for great narratives and barroom chat.
In a data-driven NBA, less efficient shots have been purged from the game over time. This has had a cascading effect, where the global talent pool has tended to produce more players who can do the things on the court that align with the data. It's all a logical cycle that will only ever go one way.
It would be acceptable to tinker with the rules if our fundamental objective were introducing more middy shots back into the game. But I think the real aim is something more profound that can never be satisfied.
Tuned in at the start of the 2nd half to see Hayes finish back to back lobs. Apparently the gane started this way too. 6-6 for Hayes. As far as lobs go, he's actually really good.
You have to be able to counter different looks throughout the playoffs. You are right: a dominant centre is no longer a requirement to win a championship. But against Denver, Minny, or Dallas, the Lakers will need to be able to introduce credible size and rim protection for stretches in order to be successful. It doesn't have to be AD, and I don't think introducing a 5 to allow AD to play the 4 would be the magic answer that unlocked the Lakers back to another championship.
Alex Len didn't sign with the Pacers in the end. I think that would be okay for now—Hayes rotates with a guy who is still a plus rim protector, and you live with it as a weakness, hoping the new Luka / LeBron / Him playmaking rotation helps you outscore opponents when it matters.
In 20 years, the 'old school fans' will be people who watched Lebron/Curry/Durant/Wemby/Jokic and they'll be whining about how things aren't the way they were in our current era anymore.
In 20 years, the 'old school fans' will be people who watched Lebron/Curry/Durant/Wemby/Jokic and they'll be whining about how things aren't the way they were in our current era anymore.
100%
This is why the real solution will be new star players, rivalries that engage more casual fans, dynastic teams, and the love/hate narrative they engender.
The torch hasn't been fully passed from LeBron / Steph to what's next. But it will. The hunt for Wemby's first championship, the interest in Cooper Flagg's development, potentially a new Boston dynasty. Great players and teams and coaches we don't know about yet. Again, we need solid narratives to engage casual fans and make the noise about the past fade away. We will get them in time.
This will never happen because it would threaten LeBron’s scoring all time record.
But yeah I’ve heard of that idea and it is probably the correct one.
If we want to do less damage to the scoring records, we could just change the 2 to 2.1 and the 3 to 2.8.
If we want to do less damage to the scoring records, we could just change the 2 to 2.1 and the 3 to 2.8.
Just shrink the rim circumference slightly, and 3's will get more difficult to hit.
But I think all this hater talk is silly. That step back 3 clip in this thread looks like a sports center highlight. People want to see hack a Shaq basketball instead?
If they did the only 2 FTs for a 3, we'd see a hyper aggressive challenge against 3s and an explosion of coming under the shooter incidents and injuries. Won't work, imo.
You just limit the amount that can be made or taken. Until last 2 minutes then cap is off.
That step back 3 clip in this thread looks like a sports center highlight. People want to see hack a Shaq basketball instead?
False dichotomy. The alternative to dribble dribble dribble dribble backward hopscotch three isn't Hack-a-Shaq, it's moving the ball to create shots. Casual fans probably hate what they perceive to be traveling more than any other pet grievance including too many threes and the league being soft.
If they did the only 2 FTs for a 3, we'd see a hyper aggressive challenge against 3s and an explosion of coming under the shooter incidents and injuries. Won't work, imo.
Zaza rule already exists.
False dichotomy. The alternative to dribble dribble dribble dribble backward hopscotch three isn't Hack-a-Shaq, it's moving the ball to create shots. Casual fans probably hate what they perceive to be traveling more than any other pet grievance including too many threes and the league being soft.
Yes Instagram and YouTube comments complain about travelling a lot, you’re not wrong there.
Having a hard time with the idea that the casual fan’s concerns are a good way to drive management of the league through. I can’t get past it.
am i so out of touch? no, it's the children who are wrong...
the regular season is just long, boring and pointless, not sure you can do anything about it. maybe fewer games would help, but probably neither the owners or players would go for it. idgaf about mid-range jumpers, but i can admit that watching a random regular season game with half the starters out, played at all-star game intensity, with dudes going up and down the court bricking 3s is not my thing. again, no clue what can be done about it
think the in-season tournament was a good idea to make the season more compelling, but then again, i totally forgot it was a thing and failed to watch a single second of it this season lol
It's happening in every sport with mature analytics. Shocking that games invented before the light bulb are fundamentally broken and exploitable. I mean that's always been true, and sports have always required rule updating to stay ahead of game-breaking exploits. Nothing new there. What's new is the rate at which it's happening now. It's basically mirroring exponential growth in information technology.
Any thoughts on the Ingram to Raps trade then extension for 120 mil years (I think 3rd year is a player option)?
Seems fine in the sense that Masai traded nothing and returned something. I would have preferred less but Raps have always been willing to overpay to keep their guys. He fits with the team as Raps need a pure wing scorer.
Quickly
Rj/Dick
Ingram
Barnes
Jakob
Looks like a solid foundation. Maybe it's just a playoff team 1st round exit but they are all on moveable contracts.
Raps are fine. They're built basically perfectly to make a swing for the fences move if they want, but they have about as much flexibility as a team can have now without having drafted Wemby.
No idea what their next step is tho since like you said, they're a 1st rd team at best
It's happening in every sport with mature analytics. Shocking that games invented before the light bulb are fundamentally broken and exploitable. I mean that's always been true, and sports have always required rule updating to stay ahead of game-breaking exploits. Nothing new there. What's new is the rate at which it's happening now. It's basically mirroring exponential growth
Original basketball didn’t had 3 pts line right ?
https://www.redbull.com/au-en/history-of....
The collegiate level first tested the three-point shot in 1945 in a game between Columbia and Fordham. Then-Columbia doctoral student Howard Hobson had been studying the game of basketball over the course of 13 seasons. He believed that the long-distance shot was more exciting and wanted to invent a way to make long-distance shots more viable while reducing the advantage of taller players closer to the basket. The line was drawn 21 feet away from the hoop, as Columbia won 73-58.
Now it’s seem it’s the other way around because of it .
When you think wilt and Kareem did without 3pts shot …..
I wonder how Jerry west would be perceive today if he had a 3pts line in his era ?
above all else there is just less monoculture now so every sport besides nfl isnt gonna be as universally watched as in the past
nba is just about 10 years behind baseball in terms of becoming more niche
