2021-22 NBA In-Season News/Transactions

Swedgin

Swedgin

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Euclis20 said:
This probably helps with his grievance with Philly, too. If he had started playing in Brooklyn after sitting out all year in Philly, it would have been easier for them to make the case that he was simply refusing to play. We're now essentially two months removed from the trade and he's barely practicing, let alone seeing game action.
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Based on the reporting I've read, I don't think it materially improves the grievance. His inability to play, as I understand it, is the result of a back injury. That injury occurred/was aggravated while he was ramping up to return to live play.

The timeline is something like this:

Sept: Trade Demand - Refusal to Report to Training Camp
10/1: Philly withholds 8.5M salary installment
Mid October Simmons returns to team, attends practice,

10/19 Simmons gets tossed out of practice by Doc etc; suspended one game.

10/22 Simmons says he is not ready to play due to mental health issues; Philly stops fining him

Late October/Early November: Philly resumes fining Simmons based on his (alleged) failure to comply with CBA requirements regarding absences due to mental health. <<<<< This is what the fight in the arbitration will be about>>>>>>

11/2021-2/2021 Simmons remains away from team.

February 10 - Simmons traded to Nets.
February 14 - Simmons reports to Nets participates in team activities.

February 15 - Simmons says the following about his mental health issues:

“The mental health has nothing to do with just the trade,” Simmons said. “It was a bunch of things that I was dealing with as a person, in my personal life, that I don’t really want to go in depth with.

“It wasn’t about the fans or coaches or comments made by anybody. It was just a personal thing for me that was earlier than that series or even that season that I was dealing with. That organization knew that. It was something that I continue to deal with, and I’m getting there and getting to the right place to get back on the floor.

“It was just piled up. A bunch of things that have gone over the years to where I just knew I wasn’t myself and I needed to get back into that place of being myself and being happy as a person and taking care of my wellbeing. That was the major thing for me. It wasn’t about the money, anything like that. I want to be who I am and get back to playing basketball at that level and be myself.”

March 16 - Woj reports Simmons aggravated his back ramping up his training AFTER he was traded to Nets.

March 18 - previously announced target date for Simmons to start playing with Nets.

March 21 - Shams reports Simmons has a herniated disc and got an epidural the week before.
 
RG33

RG33

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HowBoutDemSox said:
Embiid is preemptively talking about not how unfair the voting is if he doesn’t win the MVP:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33666594/joel-embiid-scoring-44-philadelphia-76ers-win-know-to-do-win-mvp
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Maybe it makes an “old guy” for saying this, but I really can’t fathom what Larry or Magic would have said when asked about where they see themselves in the MVP race a couple of weeks before the playoffs begin for their respective team. I imagine a nasty stare and a smug response to the idiot reporter asking the question, but perhaps I’m wrong ?
 
Swedgin

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It's also such an objectively stupid take.

While I differ, I will listen to arguments that Embiid should win the MVP. However, the claim that he is running away with it is preposterous. Even more ridiculousness is that he gets penalized for playing in Philly. If you want to argue that someone's home market lessens their standing in the MVP race that is Jokic first and Giannis second (I know Milwaukee is a small market than Denver but its time zone and proximity to Chicago garner a larger share of media attention) and Embiid several miles behind.

I don't have any problem with what Doc's doing - that's his job to talk up his guy. After having done the yeoman's work of pumping DeAndre Jordan for DPOY for some many seasons in LA, Embiid for MVP propaganda must feel like a walk in the park.

Finally, trash article by ESPN. If you're going to cite Embiid's stats in support of his case, how about giving those of Jokic and Giannis as well.
 
Euclis20

Euclis20

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Swedgin said:
It's also such an objectively stupid take.

While I differ, I will listen to arguments that Embiid should win the MVP. However, the claim that he is running away with it is preposterous. Even more ridiculousness is that he gets penalized for playing in Philly. If you want to argue that someone's home market lessens their standing in the MVP race that is Jokic first and Giannis second (I know Milwaukee is a small market than Denver but its time zone and proximity to Chicago garner a larger share of media attention) and Embiid several miles behind.
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Yeah I understand that Jokic's strongest argument is that his advanced stats are off the chart, but he has some pretty basic stats that are a mile ahead of Embiid. He's averaging twice as many assists, a few more rebounds, his FG% is 9% better, and he's played 7 more games. Simple On/Off is pretty easy to understand, and he's got a decent edge on Embiid there as well. This doesn't have to be rocket science, Jokic has a really good argument even if you want to keep it really simple.
 
jmcc5400

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Euclis20 said:
Yeah I understand that Jokic's strongest argument is that his advanced stats are off the chart, but he has some pretty basic stats that are a mile ahead of Embiid. He's averaging twice as many assists, a few more rebounds, his FG% is 9% better, and he's played 7 more games. Simple On/Off is pretty easy to understand, and he's got a decent edge on Embiid there as well. This doesn't have to be rocket science, Jokic has a really good argument even if you want to keep it really simple.
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Including that he is 72 points and 14 rebounds away from the NBA's first 2,000-1,000-500 (and he'll actually get 600) season.
 
Cellar-Door

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The problem with any Embiid candidacy despite him having a great season is.... basically any method you use that isn't "I want to vote for Embiid" either Jokic, Giannis or both have a better case.

Advanced stats... yep
Basic stats.... yep
Team record... yep
Difference in team performance w/ and w/o... yep.

Embiid had probably the 3rd best season this year, that's great. There just isn't much of a case that he was better than two other guys.
 
djbayko

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RG33 said:
Maybe it makes an “old guy” for saying this, but I really can’t fathom what Larry or Magic would have said when asked about where they see themselves in the MVP race a couple of weeks before the playoffs begin for their respective team. I imagine a nasty stare and a smug response to the idiot reporter asking the question, but perhaps I’m wrong ?
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No, you're not wrong. And it's not only a generational thing. I'm sure other, less thin-skinned superstar players today would take a similar approach to such questions. As a matter of fact:
Nikola Jokic on a second MVP award: It doesn’t mean anything special, I’m just trying to win games
I'm pretty sure Jokic said the something very similar last season as well.

And the answer to Embiid's question is obvious. What more do you have to do to win MVP? Outperform the other candidates.
 
HomeRunBaker

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djbayko said:
No, you're not wrong. And it's not only a generational thing. I'm sure other, less thin-skinned superstar players today would take a similar approach to such questions. As a matter of fact:
Nikola Jokic on a second MVP award: It doesn’t mean anything special, I’m just trying to win games
I'm pretty sure Jokic said the something very similar last season as well.

And the answer to Embiid's question is obvious. What more do you have to do to win MVP? Outperform the other candidates.
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The problem with comparing eras not only in their ability but in how they responded to these types of things are tricky due to the lack of media back then. When these guys did speak we heard Mourning visibly upset when he lost out on MVP, Jordan visibly pissed off when Karl Malone beat him……..and we have seen many scoring titles go down the stretch with players/teams playing for an individual goal with the most notorious being the Gervin/David Thompson Sunday games on the final day of the season. We only have memory though, we don’t have video presser footage, Tweets, etc etc like they have today. Everything today is magnified.
 
Cesar Crespo

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HomeRunBaker said:
The problem with comparing eras not only in their ability but in how they responded to these types of things are tricky due to the lack of media back then. When these guys did speak we heard Mourning visibly upset when he lost out on MVP, Jordan visibly pissed off when Karl Malone beat him……..and we have seen many scoring titles go down the stretch with players/teams playing for an individual goal with the most notorious being the Gervin/David Thompson Sunday games on the final day of the season. We only have memory though, we don’t have video presser footage, Tweets, etc etc like they have today. Everything today is magnified.
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David Robinson and Shaq's scoring title duel.
 
Sam Ray Not

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ElUno20 said:
You beat me to it! Let's go. Kawhi practice yesterday too
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If I'm Phoenix or Memphis, I'm not too thrilled with the possibility of facing a coalescing Clips squad (Kawhi or no) in the first round. They're now basically the Nets of the West.
 
HomeRunBaker

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Sam Ray Not said:
If I'm Phoenix or Memphis, I'm not too thrilled with the possibility of facing a coalescing Clips squad (Kawhi or no) in the first round. They're now basically the Nets of the West.
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I’d even say that LA is more lethal than the Nets without Simmons. For all the concerns about facing the Nets mine was with Simmons in the lineup and there being a type of chemistry with the group. Without Ben in the equation I’m mildly concerned but not like I’d be with Simmons scoring off the dribble with the space he’d have with Kyrie, Durant and Curry along with him being a defensive nightmare. This team is now one long, multi-faceted two-way player away imo.
 
jmcc5400

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terrynever said:
Philly angle on Thybulle. Not much different than the tweet.


https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/sixers-matisse-thybulle-raptors-covid-restrictions-canada-20220406.html
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According to The Inquirer, "Players who aren’t fully unvaccinated now have to be listed as ineligible when held out of playing games in Toronto." I don't know when "now" began, but none of the Celtics three were listed as "ineligible" when the Celtics traveled to Toronto, they were listed as "out."
 
HomeRunBaker

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jmcc5400 said:
According to The Inquirer, "Players who aren’t fully unvaccinated now have to be listed as ineligible when held out of playing games in Toronto." I don't know when "now" began, but none of the Celtics three were listed as "ineligible" when the Celtics traveled to Toronto, they were listed as "out."
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So who is going to defend the reporters failure to report the protocols that Thybulle allegedly has been following?

This changes my opinion on the Celtics situation as this now seems to be one of those hush-hush deals where the reporter “isn’t allowed” to report team details if he wants to be able to receive future access (essentially if he wants to keep his job). So yes, apparently it is very possible that Jayson, Jaylen and/or Amivaccinated Al would not be eligible to play in Toronto.
 
Senator Donut

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lexrageorge

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HomeRunBaker said:
So who is going to defend the reporters failure to report the protocols that Thybulle allegedly has been following?

This changes my opinion on the Celtics situation as this now seems to be one of those hush-hush deals where the reporter “isn’t allowed” to report team details if he wants to be able to receive future access (essentially if he wants to keep his job). So yes, apparently it is very possible that Jayson, Jaylen and/or Amivaccinated Al would not be eligible to play in Toronto.
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Not sure when the policy went into place, but seems as if the Celtics would be courting league discipline if they failed to report ineligible players properly.
 
HomeRunBaker

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lexrageorge said:
Not sure when the policy went into place, but seems as if the Celtics would be courting league discipline if they failed to report ineligible players properly.
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Correct. We don’t know when this went into place but I’d guess it is recent with the playoffs coming up and the talk about the Celtics and Philly being the two of the four EC teams in the mix to play in Toronto who refused to say every player would be eligible to play there. Not knowing who is vaccinated therefore not being able to identify when the last unvaccinated players didn’t travel to Canada further complicates the sleuth work necessary to narrow down a date.
 
ElUno20

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Sam Ray Not said:
If I'm Phoenix or Memphis, I'm not too thrilled with the possibility of facing a coalescing Clips squad (Kawhi or no) in the first round. They're now basically the Nets of the West.
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No way. The suns will curb stomp this clippers team. Even with Kawhi it might be a short series.

Memphis I'll take any day.
 
128

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HomeRunBaker said:
Multiple reports out there tonight stating that Horford and Jaylen are unvaccinated. For the record, Horford addressed these today and said that he IS vaccinated but no word from Jaylen. I believe Chris Mannix is leading this charge. Here is one of a bunch of pieces out tonight on this….

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/04/08/report-celtics-starters-jaylen-brown-and-al-horford-are-unvaccinated/amp/
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If the C's were worried about missing key players in a first-round matchup with Toronto, would they have rested Tatum and Horford on Thursday nite against Milwaukee? A win in that game would have almost locked up the No. 2 seed for Boston.

My guess is this is all about Jaylen's position with the NBPA and its "privacy policy," however dubious that might be.
 
lexrageorge

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This “source” has already got the status of one player wrong (Horford). So why should we believe Mannix regarding Jaylen?
 
NomarsFool

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lexrageorge said:
Not sure when the policy went into place, but seems as if the Celtics would be courting league discipline if they failed to report ineligible players properly.
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Maybe. But if a player has an injury and ineligible, would they be required to say “ineligible”? I would think not. Then it just becomes a question of whether they can say with a straight face there is an injury issue.
 
NomarsFool

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djbayko said:
No, you're not wrong. And it's not only a generational thing. I'm sure other, less thin-skinned superstar players today would take a similar approach to such questions. As a matter of fact:
Nikola Jokic on a second MVP award: It doesn’t mean anything special, I’m just trying to win games
I'm pretty sure Jokic said the something very similar last season as well.

And the answer to Embiid's question is obvious. What more do you have to do to win MVP? Outperform the other candidates.
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As in other sports, the name of the award causes some of the debate. Is it an award for the best individual player, or an award for who is most valuable to their team? If it’s the latter, on off should be pretty much almost the defining stat for the award, with the caveat that potentially if you build a team around a star’s certain skill set it might be the case that the team really sucks when that particular player isn’t on the floor. Football and baseball don’t have on-off stats the same way, so basketball is a bit special in that regard.
 
HomeRunBaker

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Cesar Crespo said:
And HRB. He wants this to be true. Look at his posts over the last week.
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Huh? I have no idea what this means about “wanting this to be true.” I had been adamant that this was all BS up until the Thybulle ineligibility. My entire regard for this has to do with how reporters are or aren’t reporting the news to the public.

It seems that other outlets are running with the same story that Mannix is leading. VSIN, NBA Radio and other print media are all fully on the “Boston doesn’t want to play Toronto bc Jaylen and Tatum/Horford don’t appear to be vaccinated.”
 
benhogan

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it's a safe bet that nobody around here, esp HRB, wants these rumors to be true

it's more of an interest with how the media is reporting/spinning this and parsing the players' pressers

that's how I pretty much read everyone's interest/postings
 
Jimbodandy

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benhogan said:
it's a safe bet that nobody around here, esp HRB, wants these rumors to be true

it's more of an interest with how the media is reporting/spinning this and parsing the players' pressers

that's how I pretty much read everyone's interest/postings
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This is correct. Nobody is hoping for this to be true.

That said, we seem to have a lot of people who fondly remember the past, when sports reporting and radio weren't so desperate for ratings and clicks that they'd give bus station handies and harvest homeless people's organs for another day on payroll. There's not a reporter or radio person name-dropped in this thread who is smarter than the average poster in this forum. Some of them are more connected, granted, but they're not saying that they have actual sources that player X is unvaccinated. Why is that? They're speculating about one game that Ime gave a bunch of people a night off and creating a doomsday scenario, and people here are internalizing it.
 
benhogan

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Jimbodandy said:
This is correct. Nobody is hoping for this to be true.

That said, we seem to have a lot of people who fondly remember the past, when sports reporting and radio weren't so desperate for ratings and clicks that they'd give bus station handies and harvest homeless people's organs for another day on payroll. There's not a reporter or radio person name-dropped in this thread who is smarter than the average poster in this forum. Some of them are more connected, granted, but they're not saying that they have actual sources that player X is unvaccinated. Why is that? They're speculating about one game that Ime gave a bunch of people a night off and creating a doomsday scenario, and people here are internalizing it.
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with TL healing quickly, everyone is just waiting for the other shoe to drop
 
JM3

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I'd be kinda shocked if JB was unvaccinated considering his scientific curiosity, intelligence & some of the company he keeps at MIT, but I haven't actually reached out to the people I know who know him because that would be weird.
 
wade boggs chicken dinner

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JM3 said:
I'd be kinda shocked if JB was unvaccinated considering his scientific curiosity, intelligence & some of the company he keeps at MIT, but I haven't actually reached out to the people I know who know him because that would be weird.
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Yeah, he gave a talk at the TedxBoston on educational inequity in March of this year and I can't see how he would have been allowed to do this if he were unvaccinated.

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/JuliaCSocial/status/1500923105023250433
 
Euclis20

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In 2011, 49 out of top 50 scorers (by ppg) played 70+ games and 21 played 80+ games. In 2017, 36 of the top 50 played 70+ games and 8 played 80+. This year, it's 22 out of 50 playing 70+ and none of them played 80+ (depending on who plays today, those numbers could go up to 24 playing 70+ and just 1 playing 80+).

It's been nearly a full decade since David Stern fined the Spurs $250k for sitting their big 3 in a nationally televised road game against Miami. Now, it feels like something similar happens every week. What exactly are we heading towards here? A couple of days ago, Adam Silver brought this up:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33686144/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-focused-examining-trend-star-players-not-participating-full-complement-games

Is this year an anomaly, similar to the last two years, as we recover (slowly) from covid? Or the continuation of a trend, with no clear end in sight?

*edit - added a chart. I prorated 2012, 2020 and 2021 to account for the shorter seasons, and for 2022, I'm assuming those on the edge will play:

50751

2020 is obviously a mess, between the bubble and not every team playing the same number of games, I'd write it off completely. This isn't a great look for the league.
 
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HomeRunBaker

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wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Yeah, he gave a talk at the TedxBoston on educational inequity in March of this year and I can't see how he would have been allowed to do this if he were unvaccinated.

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/JuliaCSocial/status/1500923105023250433
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This is what I’ve been talking about in being critical of the reporters. Now why couldn’t whose job it is to report/investigate have done this earlier in the year when all these questions first arose? Good work WBCD! THIS is reporting!
 
wade boggs chicken dinner

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Euclis20 said:
In 2011, 49 out of top 50 scorers (by ppg) played 70+ games and 21 played 80+ games. In 2017, 36 of the top 50 played 70+ games and 8 played 80+. This year, it's 22 out of 50 playing 70+ and none of them played 80+ (depending on who plays today, those numbers could go up to 24 playing 70+ and just 1 playing 80+).

It's been nearly a full decade since David Stern fined the Spurs $250k for sitting their big 3 in a nationally televised road game against Miami. Now, it feels like something similar happens every week. What exactly are we heading towards here? A couple of days ago, Adam Silver brought this up:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33686144/nba-commissioner-adam-silver-focused-examining-trend-star-players-not-participating-full-complement-games

Is this year an anomaly, similar to the last two years, as we recover (slowly) from covid? Or the continuation of a trend, with no clear end in sight?

*edit - added a chart. I prorated 2012, 2020 and 2021 to account for the shorter seasons, and for 2022, I'm assuming those on the edge will play:

View attachment 50751

2020 is obviously a mess, between the bubble and not every team playing the same number of games, I'd write it off completely. This isn't a great look for the league.
Click to expand...
As the stakes get higher and higher (contracts) I suspect that teams are going to be more and more careful about player games. Who would play their stars 80+ games a year anymore?
 
HomeRunBaker

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RIP Wayne Cooper, 65

14-year NBA vet mostly with Portland and Denver. Played with Ainge in Portland and is now one of five players from the ‘91 Blazers who have passed. Duckworth, Kersey, Cliff Robinson and Drazen Petrovic being the others.
 
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