2022/3 season thread

Corvo

Yeah I am really looking forward to that, should be some great footage of the games.

Addle

Deleted

irishguitarlad

As an Irish man who has lived in Spain for the last 7 years I always cheer for them in basketball so its great to see them in the final after being written off at the beginning of the tournament. Scariolo is a basketball god and there should be a statue of him at every court in Spain.

irishguitarlad

Spain shot 70% from 2 and 100% from ft, mad.

irishguitarlad

¡VAMOS! Spain are champions! 88-76, Juancho was incredible, he caught fire from 3! Alberto Díaz was great again and has to be the story of the tournament as he was only there due to an injury to Sergio Llull, he's an absolute pest on defense. Delighted for Scariolo and Rudy Fernández, nobody expected Spain to win before the tournament.

pjohnson

Willy Hernangomez was immense.

ButtersSuki

Great win for Spain - much easier than expected tbh, France very disappointing in the Final.

One of the better Eurobaskets to be fair.

ButtersSuki

Saw this this morning:

https://twitter.com/CJC9BOSS/status/1571972477042974724?s=20&t=EaPSN1MeMpa2JeTGtXr9iw

Robert Sarver is selling the Suns and Mercury, the controversial owner announced on Wednesday.

Following an investigation into allegations of workplace misconduct against Sarver and his organization, he was suspended for one season and issued a $10 million fine. But amid growing pressure that the punishment was not severe enough — Suns vice chairman Jahm Najafi and PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said they didn’t want him to return — Sarver has decided to step away.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/21/robert-sarver-selling-suns-mercury-after-ban-for-racism-allegations/

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119647904#Comment_119647904

And he’ll make a fortune from it. His net worth is listed variously as $800m - $1bn. This sale will push him well over the $1bn status. He owns 35% of the Suns…..who are valued between $1.8 and $3bn. Considering the Bucks (a much smaller market) went for $2.1km it’s prob closer to the $3bn valuation. 35% of that is pretty much more than his current net worth, so he’s going to do very well out of this.

Zero-Cool

Wow, good he will be gone but hardly the punishment deserved. And the rich get richer.

Corvo

Udoka in trouble today...

ButtersSuki

Schroder (who had a very good Euros) going to the Lakers…..where Pat Beverly is now apparently a wing! 🤣 They’re really sending a message to Russ.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119649142#Comment_119649142

Great start to the pre-season for Boston. Danilo out for the year. Robert Williams out injured for at least 6 weeks. And now this. 🙄

Udoka was engaged to Nia Long, and they have kids together. She's an actress - she was in Boyz N The Hood and Friday amongst others. The female involved is married.

Per Woj:

No final decision has been made on the length of a suspension, but internal discussions have included scenarios that would keep Udoka out for the entirety of the 2022-2023 season, sources told ESPN.

Suspending him a full season seems a bit OTT. I just wonder if the female involved will be suspended?

Carcharodon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119650192#Comment_119650192

Yea, Iam not big on people being the morale police on stuff like this, I honestly couldn’t care less who he bangs but not a smart move on his part in this day and age. You just know it will be blown out of proportion, the woke crowd will chime in with male toxicity or whatever nonsense they are spouting these days.

A full year suspension…might as well fire him at that point. Not a great start to the season for you guys. Imagine the shenanigans back in the Larry Bird years…lol

Zero-Cool

How can an affair cause a season long suspension? Was it with a cheerleader or the owners daughter? A year is a bit harsh.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119653496#Comment_119653496

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119653417#Comment_119653417

It's crazy IMO he's getting any suspension because I haven't heard any mention of any suspension for her - and it takes two to tango and all that. Agree that they might as well fire him as suspend him a full season after this as being away from the team for a full year and then returning is pointless. The sad part is now that this is public is that even if he does stay and coach his authority is completely undermined by this. He was/is a disciplinarian and that air of authority and the ability to call out the players like he did so much last year is gone. He was arguably coach of the year last year (certainly for the second half of the year) and now it's all up in the air. It's a really tough situation for all involved.

There's pictures of the staffer online if you look - and you won't have to look hard. She's an attractive woman, not saying she isn't; but his long time partner is also an attractive woman. Like he had such a good thing going here on every level and now it's all gone to sh*t.

Really puts a cloud over everything Celtics-related.

Zero-Cool

And the 1 year suspension is official, Jaysus.

Corvo

NBA is never without drama is it, my goodness, a year long suspension. I assume he will resign.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119654358#Comment_119654358

It's insane. I don't think there's any way back. It's not "his team" anymore if he's gone for a year.

I still haven't seen anything on the female staffer. Was she suspended too?

ButtersSuki

Celtics sign Frank Vogel.

So it appears the woman made a complaint about "unwanted comments" from Udoka despite the relationship being "consensual". This is HR + Me Too = PR Disaster, and the Celtics are getting WAY out on front of this. Way too far out in front of it.

It's a f*cking sh*tshow, and it is going to mess up Boston's season - of that I'm sure.

ButtersSuki

I've just realized Sarver got a one year suspension for what he did, and Udoka gets a one year too? WTF? There must be an awful lot m ore to this than is in the public domain yet.

ButtersSuki

just watched the full Celtics Press Conference, thought Brad Stevens was going to break down and cry. There’s obviously a lot more going on than we’ve heard. Grousbeck (owner) was very strong and decisive, ominously so. He talked about privacy but clearly there’s legal implications behind what is not being said.

I don’t see a way out of this at this stage except to part ways with Udoka.

Season gone to sh*t already ffs and a game hasn’t been played. You can’t win a championship with this emotional baggage and damage hanging over the team.

Absolutely gutted that something off court has done this. Gutted. And I suspect this could break up the team ultimately.

ButtersSuki

I’m actually gutted. Self-destruct button pressed from within the team leadership. And losing the best assistant to Utah for nothing is a huge void now.

“No other employees sanctioned” is interesting. This clearly points to the fact that there’s for lack of a better word “misbehavior” on Udoka’s part above and beyond whatever the married female did. And “multiple violations” sounds ominous.

Joe Mazzulla’s past brushes with the law being brought up (underage drinking and domestic battery) everywhere now. 🙄

Zero-Cool

Jesus what happened!!

Carcharodon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119657198#Comment_119657198

As good as this is for Warriors, I feel for you, you got a good team that’s improving and solid head coach

not sure where it goes from here, it doesn’t feel like it will end well. There is blood in the water and every click bait reporter with ll be after the celtics

Vogels name been thrown around, not sure about that, your thoughts?

I like him, LeBron kind of messed up his career a bit in my opinion

ButtersSuki

There’s a procedural legal route in some organizations where you have to be suspended before you’re fired. Part of me wonders if this is what’s going on here, esp. as it’s been widely reported there’s way more to this than is in the public domain. The Matt Barnes comments are very worrying, as is the fact that the only person suspended is Udoka. For a variety of reasons I can’t see any way he can come back to the Celtics now. It’s also going to be very difficult for him to find another job in the current climate as very few teams will want the PR nightmare that hiring someone like this will bring with it.

Seems the Vogel news was premature, though I did see it as “official” at one stage yesterday. He’s a good coach, and any time I have seen him on panels etc he comes across very well and knowledgeable. LeBron is a coach killer, wouldn’t pay any heed to what he says about any coach tbh. His behaviour towards almost all coaches over the years has been disrespectful at best.

It’s just years of work and putting together a team (4 starters drafted) and coach and culture all gone to sh*t basically overnight. Celtics were the bookies favourites a few short weeks ago, not a chance they win it all now. The emotional and psychological weight and cost of this is just too much for any team to handle. I honestly think that’s it now for this team. Window is closed. I fear a break up of the team is inevitable because the fall out from this will be huge. It’s going to hang over the team all season and invariably will blow up at some stage amongst the players. The Brown trade rumours this summer is another headache and I predict the team will have a worse than expected season, early play off exit and then the fall out will be huge…..wouldn’t be surprised if that triggers a move or a departure of Tatum or Brown or just a break up of the team in the coming years - the upcoming CBA and incoming TV deal complicate this to a degree but it’s hard to be positive now. Again shows your window at elite championship level is never as long as you think it will be.

What was also disappointing was some pundits playing the race card - like Stephen A. and others saying if it was a white coach then it would be fine. It wouldn’t. Does he honestly think that the Celtics wanted this to happen and the news to break a few days before training camp? Does he really think they wanted this nightmare? It seems Boston did almost everything right and by the book here. The only PR negative you could throw at them was the past of the new head coach, but otherwise it seems they’ve done it perfectly - by modern standards.

I’m just gutted.

ButtersSuki

So it seems the woman Udoka had the affair with was working with Nia Long arranging her relocation to Boston AFTER the Celtics discovered the affair. Wtaf? I take back what I said about them handling this well.

2smiggy

wonder will we get the full version of what is actually going on. it's a shame as was really looking forward to the season

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119665280#Comment_119665280

Doubt we'll ever get the full and complete unabridged version, but a lot of it is in the public domain now if you look.

Listened to a Boston sports pod over the weekend and they were as downbeat as I am - one commentator said "the season is a write off", and I honestly believe it is.