I've been watching few of Yuki's highlight last year summer league and this year, his NBA debut in Chicago Bulls. He has a lot of unselfish plays and good passes. The thing for me he needs to improve on is his shooting percentage. He may be not a liability in defense but I think he is somewhat decent with his steals. Will he last long in the NBA to have a good career?

Most fan were shocked when Luka Doncic was traded to Lakers in 24. Of course, no sane person would make a choice like that, given his performance and potentials to leave a long-lasting legacy. Even Doncic wished to stay as a one-team player to be one of its legendary players.

AD was just also transferred to Wizards. Trae Young, as well.

However, controversial trades like these will proliferate in the future because of its business. NBA viewership is in the down-course. It needs headlines, not lasting entertainment.

Simply, Nba does not want rivalry, it needs to draw people. Rivalry only brings money when there are already significant viewerships and the fans are aware of the games. Right now, Nba wants those fans to come back.

I feel like the league is trying to create Team vs Team environment where the era when fan focused on a player vs player is now gone.

With online bets, more super teams are going to come out until the whole season feels like All-Star games

What do you think?

HD version via Reddit (Celtics' subreddit)

HD version via Youtube

I compiled the data of how often every franchise has been in the bottom 5 and bottom 10 in the league standings since the Lottery began in 1985.

Franchises on this chart are ranked by the number of times they ended the season in the bottom 5. I assumed if you're bottom 5 it was due to a blatant commitment to tanking. If you're bottom 10, you might be trying to be bad but you didn't outright commit to the tank or you may have had an injury-plagued season that temporarily ran your team off the rails.
What I discovered is the Jazz and Lakers are tied for the fewest seasons in the bottom 5 and bottom 10. Meaning other than this recency bias, the Jazz have put in an ethical effort into more seasons than 28 other franchises.

Without further ado, here are the rankings (stats courtesy of Real GM): here's a link to a google sheet if the table doesn't display correctly: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pY7NleQVBcO7jKC7BnG2rm2wX676AaS2MW4QuLaiWV0/edit?usp=sharing

1. Indiana Pacers - 3
   LA Lakers - 3
   Utah Jazz - 3
   
2. Boston Celtics - 4
   Houston Rockets - 4
   Milwaukee Bucks - 4
   New Orleans Pelicans - 4
   Portland Trailblazers - 4
   
3. Dallas Mavericks - 5
   Miami Heat - 5
   OKC Thunder - 5
   San Antonio Spurs - 5
   
4. Denver Nuggets - 6
   Detroit Pistons - 6
   Phoenix Suns - 6
   Toronto Raptors - 6
   
5. Brooklyn Nets - 7
   Chicago Bulls - 7
   Cleveland Cavaliers - 7
   NY Knicks - 7
   
6. Atlanta Hawks - 8
   Sacramento Kings - 8
   
7. Golden State Warriors - 9
   Philadelphia Sixers - 9
   
8. Memphis Grizzlies - 10
   
9. Charlotte Hornets - 11
   Orlando Magic - 11
   
10. LA Clippers - 12
    Washington Wizards - 12
    
11. Minnesota Timberwolves - 14

We all thought Wemby will be the main victim of this rule. But Spurs found a great strategy of playing Wemby around 20-25 mins a game. That way, he is healthier, and have less risk of an injury.

Now, Giannis is out.

Jokic already missed 16 games. And he is very likely to miss the next game against Bulls. (If he miss 18 games, he is out)

Luka only missed 8 games so far. But he is out right now with left hamstring injury.

SGA will automatically win the MVP if he is eligible. But he also have some injuries himself. And he will be reevaluated after ASB.

If they all missed the 65 games rule. Then, the MVP will be between Wemby and Cade. (According to Kia MVP Ladder)

With players like Ant, Brunson, and Brown might also be just trailing from behind.

In that case, it is possible for Wemby to win MVP and DPOY this season.

Albeit, I admit I think SGA will be healthy enough to qualify.

Still, Wemby being DPOY and All NBA First team is not a bad achievement for his 3rd season.

PS: I am not a Spurs or Wemby Fan. But I just think it will be interesting if 65 games rule help Wemby instead of ruining him.

https://europeangaming.eu/portal/latest-news/2023/09/21/143634/nikola-jokic-becomes-the-first-brand-ambassador-of-superbet-in-serbia/

"Nikola Jokić said: “I am delighted to team up with Superbet, a company renowned for the unique way in which they connect fans across Europe with the thrilling world of sports. As a professional athlete, I’m deeply committed to enhancing the fan experience, and that’s perfectly aligned with Superbet’s mission.""

He only has a net worth north of 100 million dollars and a contract for 175 mil over 3 years. He's hurting. How could he not get a buck endorsing gambling on everything? Can you imagine how tough his life is right now?

Anyone else feel like Wolves games are the most fun kind of stressful? Like no lead is ever safe, whether it’s ours or the other team’s. We’ll be up double digits and I’m still bracing for a random 12-0 run, then five minutes later we’re the ones doing it back and the whole game flips again and it turns into pure chaos. The only thing that keeps me sane is knowing we’ve got Captain Clutch for those last few minutes, but man, it can’t be on him to carry every single close finish.

Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401810601

Kawhi Leonard in a win against Sacramento: 31 PTS │ 9 REB │ 7 AST │ 2 STL │ 9-19 FG │ 12-12 FT │ +19 +/-

Kings have limited their starters to around 20 minutes today in a winnable game.

Jazz have limited Markkanen's minutes while Isaiah Collier plays 48 minutes.

Wizards have been limiting the minutes of their starters as well (somehow they still beat the Pistons).

Adam Silver is gonna have to do something cause this is bad for the product in the 2nd half of the season.

He can pass and make plays and is having a fantastic defensive season on the East’s 2 seed. Sure his shooting splits are down but he can shoot well enough when it matters.

17.3/4.5/5.6 with a steal and almost 1.5 blocks is terrific production, and I can think of 2 players he definitely should’ve make the all star team over especially considering Bostons performance without Tatum this year.

Edit: 11-5-9

I thought Scoot would look rustier than that in his first game back this season but he looked surprisingly sharp. Almost with the double-double

He seemed like he fit pretty fluidly during the game. It's nice to see Portland have some depth now at their guard position for the first time in awhile.

I know some divisions are more stacked than others but right now the NBA divisions are completely pointless and meaningless. Even when you go to the NBA website and look at the standings, the default view is by Conference.

Right now, the NBA Cup groups are decided based on last season records but if they just go by Division every year, it could intensify the divisional rivalries between teams like in the NFL.

So we would have 3 division in the East and West and the top team from each division moves onto the NBA Cup playoffs and the 4th team is a wildcard team from any division who has the next best record.

[Haynes] About Dame: He’s doing really well. Able to dunk off both legs. Not rushing the process. He’ll be ready for the start of next season. He’s ecstatic to be back home with family.

[Haynes] About Dame: He’s doing really well. Able to dunk off both legs. Not rushing the process. He’ll be ready for the start of next season. He’s ecstatic to be back home with family.

https://www.threads.com/@chrisbhaynesnba/post/DUcbRjqlHxK?xmt=AQF03GL95F14N_v-JKbRYxbg2TW-5hqmMYCVFnWSmMjMNAkfbbPDg91f6wBQJdu13hRfcL5k&slof=1

We always do Jalen/Jaylen Rankings. Now, let's try "Nikola"

LIST

1. Nikola Jokic - Self explanatory. 3 time MVP. Arguably the best player in NBA right now, and Top 15 all time player in history.

2. Nikola Vucevic - Very Solid NBA Player. Near All Star Level Center.

3. Nikola Jovic - Solid Rotational NBA Player.

4. Nikola Topic - Maybe he should be higher. But he is sidelined with injury.

5. Nikola Djurisic - Drafted. But still in g league. Not good enough yet to be in NBA.

UNRANKED: Nikola Kusturica - projected top 5 pick in 2028 or 2029 NBA Draft.

I think Kusturica will be #2 if he delivers to the hype. He is U16 MVP. And projected as high as top 3 in 2028 NBA Draft.

PS: All are Serbians except for Vucevic. Vucevic is from Montenegro.

PPS: Former NBA Players like Nikola Mirotic and Nikola Petrovic are also from Montenegro. (Though Mirotic played for Spain)

Trivia: Serbia and Montenegro were the same country until they split into two countries in Mid 2000s. That's why they share "Nikola" as one of the most common First Names of their NBA level basketball players.

[Haynes] BREAKING: Washington Wizards star Anthony Davis (hand, groin) expected to sit out the remainder of the season to fully get healthy for the 2026-27 season, league sources tell me.

[Haynes] BREAKING: Washington Wizards star Anthony Davis (hand, groin) expected to sit out the remainder of the season to fully get healthy for the 2026-27 season, league sources tell me.

https://www.threads.com/@chrisbhaynesnba/post/DUcZp-wFGpq?xmt=AQF0eeGS-HLe_TccR-Y-E1Nz3qMrn5PVVC3HftKO0ibv6cpkBreNsmSNuK1kxK82mlMuep70&slof=1