{~}Official 2023/2024 NBA Thread - 2024 Summer League, USA Hoops
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The OutKasts lol
Bullshit, I wouldn't bet on him getting 20 points and 6 rebounds in a game.
This is not the kind of talk you want to hear coming out of training camp 
Not a single credible prognosticator considers the Warriors a contender for an NBA crown this season. They missed the 2024 playoffs after a season loitering in the Play-In Tournament. They lost Klay Thompson to free agency. They didn’t replace him with an All-Star-caliber player. Not even Green, if he’s being honest, believes a championship is in the cards at this very moment.
But his point is this: Now begins the building blocks for the Warriors’ next ring. Whenever that is.
“Whether we win another championship or not,” said Green, bearer of four rings, “if (the Warriors) win the championship seven years from now, 10 years from now, that’s our championship. Period.”
...
Part of Green likes being back here. It feels like the good ol’ days. This team has that kind of vibe. It’s rejuvenating.
“I see Draymond and Steph really enjoying this team,” Kerr said. “I think the hard part is, to modern sports fandom, everything is ‘win the championship or nothing else matters.’ But it’s really not true. What matters is do you have a good team? Do you have a team that your fans love what you do? Do you have a team that’s like, ‘Hey, we got a shot. Let’s be scrappy. Let’s be tough as hell. Let’s have a team that brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy, a lot of joy.’ This is not a zero-sum game.”
They’re back to the building phase. With enough novelty to feel refreshed, and enough lacking to be hungry.
Green didn’t demand to be traded to a title contender — as some have done when their original team fell out of true contention — because he’d rather his next championship experience happen at home. Whenever it comes.
“When you’ve built this s— up from the laughingstock of the NBA,” Green said, “… it feels a little different. I said to Joe Lacob two years ago, like, ‘You should understand I think about this organization like it’s mine.’ No disrespect to them that own this but, like, I take a great deal of pride in what we built here. This is home for me. This is like Michigan State for me. Most people don’t have an NBA home. I care what this organization looks like in 10 years. That’s going to matter to me.”
...
“I know I ain’t done. I know he ain’t done,” Green said, pointing to Curry, who’d returned the envelope of cash. “So it ain’t like, ‘All right, I feel like I’m at the end. I’m cashing it in.’ Nah. We can do that s— again. I know we can do it again. I’m not a part of the consortium that don’t think we can get it done. But in doing it again, you’ve got to acknowledge that it’s not going to look like it did before. I’d struggle if we were just cashing it in. That ain’t for me. But I don’t feel like anyone around here is doing that. We’re actively trying to put the pieces together to build.”
...
Green said one thing the Warriors understand well is title teams aren’t built overnight. They know it’s a long haul.
With the defiance of Jordan Belfort, and money to rival the Wolf of Wall Street, Green decided he ain’t leaving. He’d rather build again.
“That’s kind of the tone that everybody wants to set — you don’t want a championship, you’re a failure,” Kerr said. “It’s not real life. So what’s real life for us is we have a chance to have a hell of a year and be a really scrappy, tough, defensive-minded team. We have the pieces to do that. And when you do stuff right, and you do stuff with a plan, and you do stuff with force, it sets you up to take another step.”
Eventually, that could lead to a championship. If and when it does, Green will claim at least partial ownership. And rightfully so.
Not a single credible prognosticator considers the Warriors a contender for an NBA crown this season. They missed the 2024 playoffs after a season loitering in the Play-In Tournament. They lost Klay Thompson to free agency. They didn’t replace him with an All-Star-caliber player. Not even Green, if he’s being honest, believes a championship is in the cards at this very moment.
But his point is this: Now begins the building blocks for the Warriors’ next ring. Whenever that is.
“Whether we win another championship or not,” said Green, bearer of four rings, “if (the Warriors) win the championship seven years from now, 10 years from now, that’s our championship. Period.”
...
Part of Green likes being back here. It feels like the good ol’ days. This team has that kind of vibe. It’s rejuvenating.
“I see Draymond and Steph really enjoying this team,” Kerr said. “I think the hard part is, to modern sports fandom, everything is ‘win the championship or nothing else matters.’ But it’s really not true. What matters is do you have a good team? Do you have a team that your fans love what you do? Do you have a team that’s like, ‘Hey, we got a shot. Let’s be scrappy. Let’s be tough as hell. Let’s have a team that brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy, a lot of joy.’ This is not a zero-sum game.”
They’re back to the building phase. With enough novelty to feel refreshed, and enough lacking to be hungry.
Green didn’t demand to be traded to a title contender — as some have done when their original team fell out of true contention — because he’d rather his next championship experience happen at home. Whenever it comes.
“When you’ve built this s— up from the laughingstock of the NBA,” Green said, “… it feels a little different. I said to Joe Lacob two years ago, like, ‘You should understand I think about this organization like it’s mine.’ No disrespect to them that own this but, like, I take a great deal of pride in what we built here. This is home for me. This is like Michigan State for me. Most people don’t have an NBA home. I care what this organization looks like in 10 years. That’s going to matter to me.”
...
“I know I ain’t done. I know he ain’t done,” Green said, pointing to Curry, who’d returned the envelope of cash. “So it ain’t like, ‘All right, I feel like I’m at the end. I’m cashing it in.’ Nah. We can do that s— again. I know we can do it again. I’m not a part of the consortium that don’t think we can get it done. But in doing it again, you’ve got to acknowledge that it’s not going to look like it did before. I’d struggle if we were just cashing it in. That ain’t for me. But I don’t feel like anyone around here is doing that. We’re actively trying to put the pieces together to build.”
...
Green said one thing the Warriors understand well is title teams aren’t built overnight. They know it’s a long haul.
With the defiance of Jordan Belfort, and money to rival the Wolf of Wall Street, Green decided he ain’t leaving. He’d rather build again.
“That’s kind of the tone that everybody wants to set — you don’t want a championship, you’re a failure,” Kerr said. “It’s not real life. So what’s real life for us is we have a chance to have a hell of a year and be a really scrappy, tough, defensive-minded team. We have the pieces to do that. And when you do stuff right, and you do stuff with a plan, and you do stuff with force, it sets you up to take another step.”
Eventually, that could lead to a championship. If and when it does, Green will claim at least partial ownership. And rightfully so.
A proposal to rethink NBA playoff seeding
What happens if Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes and the rest of the Spurs’ young guys are a .500 or better team this season? Assuming relative health in the Western Conference, we’re looking at 13 teams competing for 10 spots. That’s wild! We have the 10 teams from last season plus a Houston team that is looking to take a massive step forward, Memphis is healthy and a problem for anyone, and maybe this Spurs team.
When you look over at the East, there are eight teams you know will belong. It’s the exact eight teams we saw in the postseason last year. Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Brooklyn and Toronto will still be bad. Chicago is heading toward youth rather than substance at the moment. And we’re still waiting for Atlanta to take things more seriously. But alas, someone will have to fill out last two Play-In spots in the East.
As I watch the WNBA playoffs, which don’t follow conference seedings (the league only has 12 teams currently), it makes me a little wistful for the idea of the NBA following something similar. As the league has revamped things with the NBA Cup and the Play-In Tournament, maybe this is something for Adam Silver and company to explore again.
The East is rarely as good as the West when it comes to depth of great teams, and the imbalance is becoming more pronounced this season. Here is my half-baked idea of how to fix the playoff format:
- If you finish in the top six of your conference, you’re in.
- The eight teams with the best records outside of those top six in each conference would be relegated to Play-In Tournament status to participate in a more robust Play-In format.
- The team with the best record of the eight would face the one with worst record, and so forth, in a single-elimination format.
- First round of (1) New Orleans against (8) Chicago, (2) Philly against (7) Houston, (3) Lakers against (6) Sacramento and (4) Miami against (5) Golden State. Let’s just say the higher seed won each game.
- New Orleans then plays Miami. Philadelphia plays Los Angeles.
- Winners get the No. 7 seed. Better regular-season record gets to stay in their conference with tiebreakers in case of the same record. Losers get the No. 8 seed with better record staying in their conference.
- It could be spun as an overreaction to a strong West year. I’d argue it’s closer to this imbalance more often than not, though.
- You could argue this extends the Play-In Tournament longer than it needs to be. Maybe we just put the dang thing in Vegas or at a neutral site so we can make it quicker?
- You could argue it ruins the East-West format the league loves. Only a little! Maybe not at all? We’ll see.
Players seem to be buying into him and he got the Lebron cosign. My coach so I'm here for it.
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