Fun pod to end the work week. Just a different perspective listening to a really rich dude talk about owning a team. Must listen if you're an NBA junkie. This dude has so much energy
Just checked nugs schedule again. Even their next opponent (HOU) is on 2nd of b2b. Is this a joke? Three straight home games against tired teams. Wtf is this
Pelicans don't have Cousins so the Rockets should be able to make easy work of them without too much effort. Obviously that can't beat a day of rest, but I'm not too worried about it. It sucks that they are on the road though. I remember hearing the Czar talk about how Portland and Denver were two of the toughest places to get wins on the road. Said they felt like whenever they were in Portland you were on the 2nd night of a b2b after a long road trip and you were pretty fatigued at that point, plus it wasn't like your opponent was easy either. Credited the altitude in Denver.
Nuggets always get a decent amount of games at home on the 2nd night of a back to back for their opponent. Just like the fact we are always top 5 in miles traveled where you play has a huge part of your schedule and the Nuggets get this nice little advantage every year.
All of these questions have been answered by Premiership and Championship teams in England. It's glorious to see a team like Bournemouth make the top flight. "Class action lawsuit"? Puh-lease. I know this is a litigious society but that's pathetic. Differences: it's practically unheard-of for a really BIG club to go down. I don't think Man U, Arsenal or Chelsea have ever left the Premiership (since it became so named in the 90s with the big influx of TV money). That's largely because you can essentially buy all the talent you want and there's no draft. That's the real difference. Who would get to draft players? Would D-League teams be allowed draft picks? Nike would not be very happy to have LeBron James assigned to Fort Wayne and be playing shitty teams in shitty arenas in shitty towns. HOWEVER: on the other hand... wouldn't that be kind of awesome?
Re: Draft picks: here's an idea. First it would require scrapping the D-League-as-NBA-minor-league scheme that has just really kicked in (which is why it's not going to happen, but bear with me). This wouldn't prevent NBA teams sending players "on loan" to D-League teams - because that happens in the Euro leagues. Second, enlarge the NBA by 4 teams to begin with. They can be new franchises in places like Seattle if need be. Include them in the draft just as they did in the first years of expansion franchises like Vancouver, Toronto et al. Third, as with Euro football: have the bottom team of the NBA automatically demoted and the top team of the D-League automatically promoted. This means that the promoted team gets treated as an "expansion" team in that year's draft, while the Demoted team doesn't get a pick (except in the D-league draft) (Maybe allow the D-League to draft players too young for the NBA - those like Mudiay who now go abroad instead of going to college. The NCAA would fight this, of course, but fuck 'em.) Fourth (the best bit) the next three lowest enter a tournament with the next 3 highest D-League teams in a playoffs. That tournament could precede the NBA playoffs, which would also give NBA teams time to rest up after the season and prepare for the playoffs. Come on Silver, have some balls! (Another side effect is that sometimes demoted teams unload expensive players, so there'd be more player movement.)
We were down here in Atlanta playing the Hawks when the whole Rolo vs Mascots thing took off. He came in on his off day to shoot a video with the Hawk mascot for their in house big screen show. Had a bunch of local mascots there booing him as he got off the bus. Very cool of him to do.
Can we one up in and just get rid of the NFL? MLB kind of needs the draft - they have 30+ rounds and all the minor leagues - short season a, long season A, double A, etc. So they have a lot of spots to fill.
Actually, since DeMarcus Cancer didn't play, the Pelicans made quick work of the Rockets. Even the Kings destroyed the Celtics when Cousins sat out. AD/Cousins is never going to work. It's stupid. They play the same position. If Pels traded for Crabbe instead of Cousins, they'd be a better team.
Rockets overlook the Pels on the first night of a b2b just like we did. They should probably start tanking.
