OKC vs Indy is a blessing in disguise for media narratives and fan discussion

[FTBS]

The only way to change anything is to have an extended period without the big polarizing stars. You had Spurs/Nets (which was overshadowed by the Kidd to SA fantasy booking) and Spurs/Pistons and that didnt change shyt.

Mainstream media is literally not equipped to discuss NBA without stars/blue bloods. Finals in 2 days and they talking bout what the Cs and Lakers and Giannis gonna do this summer on TV this morning

Thankfully we dont have to depend on them anymore.

 

[Loose]

OKC tanked for nearly a decade

Now they have a team full of lottery picks on rookie deals

Not sure how that counters the “tanking is the only way to compete” narrative

What? Lol we only missed playoffs twice in like 17 years. Chets the only player in thos roster thats a top pick

Aaron wiggins 55th pick
Dort undrafted
Isiah joe undrafted
Shai 11th
Jdub 12
Cason 12th

Dudes just be talking

 

[Marlow Stanfield]

This series is gonna be dope

 

[pete clemenza]

What do you think the plan should be these next three years? Obviously tanking is not an option as the team doesn't control their picks.

Not controlling our picks is bad, but would be 10x worse if this was the early and mid 2000's. G League, players from overseas, we have a first and second round pick this season. Maybe attach a player to our 30th pick and move up in the draft. Brooklyn has 4 firsts and 1 second round pick in this upcoming draft. Maybe try to get their lowest first round pick. Got Cam Christie and Trenytn Flowers in the fold already. This will be Kobe Brown's do or die year.

In my opinion this will probably be Kawhi and Harden's last productive year as they're both 35 and up. That's why I say the well is drying up. Got to hit on a pick or hope that the magical free agent is coming somewhere down the line. Tired of the reclamation projects of former "names" like Ben Simmons. Trading/waiving youth and then getting even older at the trade deadline. Always in the buyout market. We got by and overachieved on Harden, Zu, Norm balling out and Kawhi getting healthy again. Got to hit on the margins for once.

 

[pete clemenza]

That era will never be done

That’s how the league works man. From Al Horford on The Cs to Jamal Wilkes on The Lakers & Ray Allen on The Heat.

Old stars get repurposed to fit alongside young talent

Agreed, but we're stacking old guys on top of old guys. You can call Kai Jones, KPJ, and even Mann sh*t players, that's fine. But you replace them with unplayable Ben Simmons, Bogdaovich, Patty Mills, and Eubanks. That's what I have a problem with. And they benched Coffey on top of it all.

 

[KFBF]

Not controlling our picks is bad, but would be 10x worse if this was the early and mid 2000's. G League, players from overseas, we have a first and second round pick this season. Maybe attach a player to our 30th pick and move up in the draft. Brooklyn has 4 firsts and 1 second round pick in this upcoming draft. Maybe try to get their lowest first round pick. Got Cam Christie and Trenytn Flowers in the fold already. This will be Kobe Brown's do or die year.

In my opinion this will probably be Kawhi and Harden's last productive year as they're both 35 and up. That's why I say the well is drying up. Got to hit on a pick or hope that the magical free agent is coming somewhere down the line. Tired of the reclamation projects of former "names" like Ben Simmons. Trading/waiving youth and then getting even older at the trade deadline. Always in the buyout market. We got by and overachieved on Harden, Zu, Norm balling out and Kawhi getting healthy again. Got to hit on the margins for once.

Norm and Batum is what hitting on the margins looks like. DJJ and Dunn is what you get on the margins. Flowers, Christie, and Kobe have looked good when I've seen them in the G League but do did Miller. Miller got a shot he was bad and then he was hurt. They are not going to play Kobe in the short term if it makes the team worse as there is no incentive to be bad.

Also, Kawhi is 33.

Coffey and the 30th pick moves you where? Move up for who? If the team rather take a flier on Ben Simmons that kind of reads like an indictment on Kobe Brown to me. What you're saying amounts to, "I want our young players to be good," well yeah.

Think despite the success of Zu and Mann there are criticims to be made about how the team does with development. Or perhaps more significantly wasting that pick on Jerome Robinson when a host of others were still available. The lack of draft capital has them trying to make boom or bust picks, that seem to be more busts.

Until the team can tank, and I'm not convinced that's something Ballmer/Lue are interested in doing, the team will be a perpetual 6-10 seed.

I guess I'm not clear on what they haven't done that you want them to do when there is no incentive for them to lose games right now.

 

[KFBF]

Mann

Mann wasn't a shyt player but he was making too much for what he contributes to the team. The other guys were bums and they were swapped out for more experienced bums.

 

[DoubleClutch]

Wishful thinking.

You’re not gonna be able to just force the fans (or media) to care about markets or players or teams they don’t care about.

Right the nba is entertainment

People today have a short attention span

Casual Fans need a superstar player and exciting team to tune in

OKC and Indiana aren’t it

Although Haliburton has made himself a Star over the past few months (mainly because the Knicks series and his father)

 

[pete clemenza]

Perhaps. But, also perhaps this is an anomaly, meaning a top heavy team wins again. The problem is also that with a new team winning each year, it throws trends out of the windows, so pretty much everyone has to be left to do the legwork on their own. Most execs won't like it. hell, casuals don't like in either.

The league, the team suits and casuals don't like parity. They like the appearance of parity. While good for the game overall, you can't sell or market teams that no one cares about. You can't even increase discussion for casuals if there's no type of narrative outside of actual basketball that they don't care about. They can't sell this as David vs Goliath, Clash of the Titans, Changing of the Guard (old vs young), Flash vs Substance, Cinderella Story, Shootout, Storybook Ending, Hard Nose Defensive Prowess...or any other tropes. This means that the media has to actually research the teams, the players, to cultivate a good discussion. If it's just basketball, interest will wane, unfortunately. This also means that no one will even be talking about either of these teams 1 week (being generous), after they win. The story will once again shift to whatever happens with the former superstars names.

I think they'll have to change the CBA again to how it once was if they want the storylines and preferred teams and markets that align with the type of coverage that the media wants to put out for ratings and eyeballs. Then maybe the top heavy Big 3's and team ups start up again. But at the same time all the "team up guys" Bron, KD, etc. are almost done career wise. Who's down to team up going forward? Stars are locked until max deals now so it takes a massive trade to get guys together. Euro stars rarely ask out to get traded so they stay with the team that drafted them. Wanting out to team up with another star is pretty much an American thing.

Or maybe Silver, the league, and the networks are thinking ten years down the line to maximize dollars and full potential, we need to make the OKC, Indy, Milwaukee, Sacramento's be like - or at least attempt on a smaller scale - to be like the NFL's Green Bay, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc type franchises. Big 3's and all the media, hype, and discourse that comes with it isn't thing if there's no superstar with a huge personality and fanbase driving it. Next in line guys like SGA, Zion, JA, Tatum, Ant Edwards, Luka, etc. either have off court issues or are not moving/inspiring the masses might be the reason the league is pivoting to parity and making every market equal.

 

[pete clemenza]

Mann wasn't a shyt player but he was making too much for what he contributes to the team. The other guys were bums and they were swapped out for more experienced bums.

I was a TMann supporter, but most of the fanbase wanted him traded. The team definitely wanted out of his contract

 

[KFBF]

I was a TMann supporter, but most of the fanbase wanted him traded. The team definitely wanted out of his contract

Mann got the shot you want team to give the young guys to get and underperformed imo. They gave him every shot imaginable to show he was worth the deal and I don't think he did that.

 

[RubioTheCruel]

OKC was only really bad for like 2 years, then they started turning it around fairly swiftly. Acting like they tanked for a decade after KD left is preposterous.

 

[pete clemenza]

Mann got the shot you want team to give the young guys to get and underperformed imo. They gave him every shot imaginable to show he was worth the deal and I don't think he did that.

Mann and Coffey got their shot and did well at times but they were safe low ceiling guys imo. I thought BBJ and Moussa were guys with higher ceilings, you could care less about those guys and that's perfectly fine, but they needed at least one more year with us and I thought they would be good role players for us. In other words, the safer guys got to stay and the higher potential guys, KPJ & Kai included, were let go.. Imo

 

[OaklandCertified]

@Ugo Ogugwa i need you to re-upload that
"On deck" song.

 

[Ugo Ogugwa]

@Ugo Ogugwa i need you to re-upload that
"On deck" song.

Guy. Hold this one for bodi small.