NBA Regular Season & Playoffs 2017-18

5star02707

saw it on twitter as well he was in Parnell street last night

rushfan

5star02707 wrote:

saw it on twitter as well he was in Parnell street last night

He's a brave man!!

ButtersSuki

5star02707 wrote: »

saw it on twitter as well he was in Parnell street last night

Seriously?

ButtersSuki

Capella finally agrees terms with Houston. Melo on the way.

They’re definitely weaker than last year though.

Carcharodon

ButtersSuki wrote: »

Capella finally agrees terms with Houston. Melo on the way.

They’re definitely weaker than last year though.

Yea, they might of missed their big chance last year.
Great NBA teams are built on chemistry and superstars, Melo isn’t bringing either of those at this stage of his career

ButtersSuki

Watched a lot of the US practices over the weekend, esp. a lot of the one on one plays. The amount of travelling in general is astonishing; particularly with changing the pivot foot and/or before the first dribble occurs. Durant also carries the ball an awful lot in one on one post up type plays (I know this was highlighted in the Finals of 2017 too). As a purist it saddens me tbh.

bot43

BT dropping NBA it appears. While the coverage was extremely hit or miss, Id prefer have a TV option than not.

https://www.ft.com/content/24bd08ca-91a2-11e8-b639-7680cedcc421

stuchyg

bot43 wrote: »

BT dropping NBA it appears. While the coverage was extremely hit or miss, Id prefer have a TV option than not.

https://www.ft.com/content/24bd08ca-91a2-11e8-b639-7680cedcc421

Balls, it's behind a paywall, does it say when. It's the only reason I have BT really besides the odd ufc event

McLoughlin

Can be read here
https://www.telecompaper.com/news/bt-sport-loses-nba-ufc-broadcast-rights--1254711

BT's sports channels will continue to show NBA Basketball until the end of October according to BBC
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45000791

kmart6

McLoughlin wrote: »

BT's sports channels will continue to show NBA Basketball until the end of October according to BBC

With the season starting late October I can't see them showing any of it. The contract would be for seasons, not dates, i.e. their last game was the last game of the Finals, the official end of the 2017/18 season.

Niles Crane

What a load of ****.

I've really gotten into the NBA because of BT's coverage.

Hopefully it doesn't end up on 11 sports (like Serie A and La Liga have ) as if it isn't on a TV channel I won't be watching it anymore.

Edit: Saw a link that says it Looks like it is going to be on 11 sports (who don't have a TV channel just online channels) which would mean that you cnanot record games which is I imagine is what 90% of people who watch NBA basketball in Uk and Ireland have been doing.

stuchyg

YouTube highlights until the playoffs start and then league pass I think will be the way to go

ButtersSuki

To this day it amazes me that no channel in the UK has ever really embraced the NBA from a TV perspective. The game is growing in almost every market globally and yet has always struggled in the UK (and here by default). The BBC were the first to try it in the mid 80s with the games shown up to a week later and very heavily edited to fit the run time (I was just a boy then....:pac:). Oh and it was JUST the Play Offs, so about 6-8 hour long shows a year. It was all most of us had this side of the pond and the gas thing is looking back you wouldn't actually know the scores or the results - hard to imagine in today's world but it's true! We'd video tape (actual tape!) the games and watch them over and over.


The long defunct Super Channel (that's what it was called) would show games, highlights and Top 10 Plays for a few years around the early 90s but even that was short-lived.


Channel 4 did a season or two of highlights but I don't recall them ever showing live games (open to correction on this). Scoop Jackson was one of the hosts.



Then we had Sky and BT in more recent times, and ESPN Europe.



But no-one's ever really made a success out of it. I really don't get it myself when you see some of the muck these channels show.

qwabercd

ButtersSuki wrote: »

To this day it amazes me that no channel in the UK has ever really embraced the NBA from a TV perspective. The game is growing in almost every market globally and yet has always struggled in the UK (and here by default). The BBC were the first to try it in the mid 80s with the games shown up to a week later and very heavily edited to fit the run time (I was just a boy then....:pac:). Oh and it was JUST the Play Offs, so about 6-8 hour long shows a year. It was all most of us had this side of the pond and the gas thing is looking back you wouldn't actually know the scores or the results - hard to imagine in today's world but it's true! We'd video tape (actual tape!) the games and watch them over and over.


The long defunct Super Channel (that's what it was called) would show games, highlights and Top 10 Plays for a few years around the early 90s but even that was short-lived.


Channel 4 did a season or two of highlights but I don't recall them ever showing live games (open to correction on this). Scoop Jackson was one of the hosts.



Then we had Sky and BT in more recent times, and ESPN Europe.



But no-one's ever really made a success out of it. I really don't get it myself when you see some of the muck these channels show.

I think the the late night starts are such a killer. I've a similar interest in NFL and NBA but watch much more live NFL on TV because it's just such a handy watch on a Sunday evening. If I'm not watching a game live I'll tend to just watch highlights on YouTube so even though I have bt I didn't watch much NBA on it last year. Even the finals this year nearly all of the games were on v.late and on work nights. I actually used to steam some games in bed illegally instead of watching on bt!

Niles Crane

qwabercd wrote: »

I think the the late night starts are such a killer. I've a similar interest in NFL and NBA but watch much more live NFL on TV because it's just such a handy watch on a Sunday evening. If I'm not watching a game live I'll tend to just watch highlights on YouTube so even though I have bt I didn't watch much NBA on it last year. Even the finals this year nearly all of the games were on v.late and on work nights. I actually used to steam some games in bed illegally instead of watching on bt!

Makes it the perfect sport to be on TV (because you can record it overnight), I don't think (although I may be wrong) that an online channel will provide that sort of flexibility.

Hopefully the loss of NBA on BT doesn't result in them losing the college football and basketball and MLB and studio shows like PTI and Around the Horn aswell.

Before it started losing rights the BT package was brilliant value and provided a hell of a lot more variety than Sky.

bot43

Given the time of night I can’t imagine ratings were great. But by the same token the rights shouldn’t be that expensive either.

I’d love if Pass was a touch more affordable. €20 a month is very saucy. Even €15 would be ok. But €20 on top of all the other subs I have is a stretch.

I’m sure there are ways and means.

qwabercd

Niles Crane wrote: »

Makes it the perfect sport to be on TV (because you can record it overnight), I don't think (although I may be wrong) that an online channel will provide that sort of flexibility.

Hopefully the loss of NBA on BT doesn't result in them losing the college football and basketball and MLB and studio shows like PTI and Around the Horn aswell.

Before it started losing rights the BT package was brilliant value and provided a hell of a lot more variety than Sky.

Personally I find it very hard to motivate myself to watch a full game when it's not live, especially during the regular season.

ButtersSuki

qwabercd wrote: »

Personally I find it very hard to motivate myself to watch a full game when it's not live, especially during the regular season.

I can do it, but I understand what you're saying. I can even do it if I know the score, but that's OCD level nerdiness I know.


But as I said in my original post on this, when I was a kid we got 8 hours A YEAR, and there was no YouTube or anything else to look at highlights etc. We're so spoilt now with access to top level basketball that you can pick and choose what to watch and not. Jesus I looked at about 3 hours of USA practices and interviews the other day because there's nothing else to watch!

Niles Crane

qwabercd wrote: »

Personally I find it very hard to motivate myself to watch a full game when it's not live, especially during the regular season.

I'm the complete opposite I found it's the only way to watch.Game is 48 minutes long yet it takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes between all the stoppages for a game to be completed, it made viewing way way easier for me to be able to record and watch the next day.

ButtersSuki

Couple of good pods I caught recently:


The Michael C. Wright on Zach Lowe (Lowe Post) discussing Kawhi; and the 2 KD guesting on CJ McCollum pods which have garnered some controversy since are all worth listening to.

qwabercd

ButtersSuki wrote: »

I can do it, but I understand what you're saying. I can even do it if I know the score, but that's OCD level nerdiness I know.


But as I said in my original post on this, when I was a kid we got 8 hours A YEAR, and there was no YouTube or anything else to look at highlights etc. We're so spoilt now with access to top level basketball that you can pick and choose what to watch and not. Jesus I looked at about 3 hours of USA practices and interviews the other day because there's nothing else to watch!

Yeah that's true. One of the podcasts (open floor I think) touched on it a couple of times recently but less and less people seem to watch full games these days. People's attention spans are shorter and consume shorter clips and snipetts on twitter etc. That's the beauty of the nfl red zone aswell I suppose, constant action albeit it will never compare to watching a full (good) game imo.

qwabercd

Niles Crane wrote: »

I'm the complete opposite I found it's the only way to watch.Game is 48 minutes long yet it takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes between all the stoppages for a game to be completed, it made viewing way way easier for me to be able to record and watch the next day.

Yeah that's fair enough..I do the same with UFC these days bar the big cards which I stay up for.

rushfan

ButtersSuki wrote:

The long defunct Super Channel (that's what it was called) would show games, highlights and Top 10 Plays for a few years around the early 90s but even that was short-lived.

Bloody hell, Super channel? There's nothing wrong with your memory.

ButtersSuki

rushfan wrote: »

Bloody hell, Super channel? There's nothing wrong with your memory.

I'm (genuinely) banned from pub quizzes. I was wondering as I typed it if anyone would have a clue as to what i was referring to.

bot43

I remember The Super Channel. It was around about the same time as Europa.

ButtersSuki

Stat from Chris Herring on The Lowe Post today, was only half-listening as I was in the gym and it was crazy early but something along the lines of KD was the most efficient scorer in the league last year at 1.15 pts per possession (ppp). In the Play Offs, Melo conceded 1.25 ppp so players playing against him scored at a higher rate per possession than the league's best scorer. That's just insane. They only played Utah, it's not like he was up against the league's very best players. I think it was Lowe (but it may have been Herring) who said he's always been over-rated, and that's always been my opinion (I've been on this for years).



Then on Open Floor they had a stat where he (Melo) was in the bottom 5 for efficiency of all players who played at least 150mins in the Play Offs.


I'm saying it now he'll be terrible in Houston. He's gotten so out of shape he doesn't even look like a pro athlete any more and his game is going backwards at a rate of knots.

LuckyLloyd

Melo is washed up. He's 34 and hasn't ever been noted for fastidious physical preparation and maintenance off the court, nor does he have the toolkit to transition to a worthwhile role player on a championship team.

His last good season was 2015 / 16, before they decided to tank out the rest of the season he was playing pretty efficiently and turned in one of his better years defensively.

His last year in New York was poor as part of a poor situation but last season just demonstrated that he's totally gone. Once players get over 31 / 32 the cliff edge can come quick and steep.

ButtersSuki wrote:

I think it was Lowe (but it may have been Herring) who said he's always been over-rated, and that's always been my opinion (I've been on this for years).

He's had two increasingly terrible years, and the avalanche of data underpinning how bad he has been (particularly in the playoff series for Utah) underlines that. However, he was a positive player to varying extents for the entirety of his time in New York (even in his final season he was a net positive just about). People can't have their cake and eat it too: his drop off in performance is drastic and spectacular precisely because he was once a leading no.1 option in the league. I thought he might not fit in Oklahoma but his individual performance was garishly poor.

It would be a comeback of epic proportions if he managed to fulfill a positive role in Houston. It would involve a shift in mentality, burying of ego and significant reclamation of physical capability: all at 34. Not seeing it.

ButtersSuki

Meant to post this yesterday but didn't get a chance. Dunc'd On's offseason grade for Houston was downgraded because they got Melo. :pac: He said that on air, that he was dropping them a grade because of acquiring Melo (when it happens). He said a number of times there was no way a guy like Morey would want Melo for that team, and that makes total sense given his fondness for stats (and 3's). He said it had to be a player move, which is strange...surely they can see he's just not got it anymore? I know him and Paul are buddies, but Harden? The rest of them? What connection would they have to him? And he pretty much cost D'Antoni the NY job, so that relationship despite the soundbites can't be good.



He'll kill them defensively (with or without Harden on the court), and given he'll be playing brutally and likely benched I can see him sulking and that becoming an issue too. No way I'd do it.

ButtersSuki

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45070210


:rolleyes:

ButtersSuki

Listened to all 16 of CJ McCollum's podcasts to date over the last couple of weeks.



The KD ones aside, they're not great and really highlight the difference between an athlete doing a pod and professional journalist. Indeed you could argue the KD ones were only great because of KD and what was discussed there rather than McCollum.


One thing that's really annoying about him however is his constant references to how much he makes, how much he has in the bank, how high his thread count is etc.; it's not a good look and it's certainly not modest. I know when they got swept by NO in the Play Offs and he got criticised by some Portland fans for his performances he replied tweeting pics of his cars. I now some soccer player did this a few years ago and got roasted for it, but McCollum seems to be getting a bit of a pass.



It's not an endearing trait.