The NBA thread

[lost in melb.]

:lmao:


https://twitter.com/SNYtv/status/1299123632313192448

[Griffin]

I'd fire every one of the virtue signalling pricks.

Clubs are losing money anyway with empty stadiums.

[DemonGeminiX]

Sorry Rondo, but a broken thumb is not a legitimate disability deserving of a handicapped parking permit.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Sorry Rondo, but a broken thumb is not a legitimate disability deserving of a handicapped parking permit.

But he has an owie :(

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Daniel Canova | Fox News


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The Dallas Mavericks have taken a stance against the playing of the national anthem.

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed to The Athletic that it was his decision to no longer play the national anthem prior to home games at American Airlines Center. The Mavericks haven’t played the national anthem prior to home games this season, and the team doesn’t plan on playing it for the foreseeable future.

The Mavericks, who have an 11-14 record, have played 12 games at their home arena this season. They haven’t played the national anthem in any of their 13 preseason games, as well as those 12 regular-season matchups, including Monday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was the first game with a small number of fans in the stands.

Cuban and the Mavericks didn’t publicize the removal of the national anthem prior to games, but The Athletic reached out to the team after realizing that it wasn’t played before Monday’s matchup. A number of team employees only noticed the removal of the anthem on their own, according to The Athletic. They also said that it was not announced or explained internally.

The Athletic reported that Cuban declined a request for further comment or explanation Monday evening. The Mavericks organization also declined comment Tuesday, per the website.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Paulina Dedaj | Fox News


The NBA is requiring that all teams play the national anthem before games "in keeping with longstanding league policy," just one day after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told The Athletic the team decided not to play it at home games.

NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass released a statement on Wednesday, just a day after Cuban said he had no plans to play the national anthem at any future home games.

"With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming back fans into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy," Bass said.

Cuban told The New York Times: "We are good with it."

The Mavericks have not played the national anthem at any home games at American Airlines Center this season, a decision Cuban made back in November.

Sources close to Cuban told The Athletic earlier Wednesday that the decision wasn’t "because they don’t love U.S., but because many feel anthem doesn’t represent them, and they want to continue discussion of how to represent people from all communities when honoring U.S. at game."

The league’s announcement appears to be a reversal from its initial response on Tuesday in which NBA spokesman Tim Frank told the Associated Press, "Under the unique circumstances of this season, teams are permitted to run their pregame operations as they see fit."

Cuban issued another statement Wednesday saying that the team will play the anthem later that night during their home game against the Atlanta Hawks.

"We respect and always have respect the passion people have for the anthem and our country," the statement began. "I have always stood for the anthem with the hand over my heart - no matter where I hear it played."
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He continued: "But we also hear the voices of those who do not feel the anthem represents them. We feel they also need to be respected and heard, because they have not been heard. The hope is that those who feel passionate about the anthem being played will be just as passionate in listening to those who do not feel it represents them."

It was not immediately clear what prompted the league’s reversal.

[DemonGeminiX]

:haha:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

11 time NBA champion and all time Celtics great Bill Russell has passed away at 88 years old. :(

[deebakes]

fuck. that's sad

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The NBA is retiring Russell's #6 across the entire league. He's the first player they have ever done that for.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Tim Bontemps - ESPN


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Willis Reed, the legendary captain and star center for the New York Knicks who led the franchise to its only two championships and was the author of one of the signature moments in NBA history, has died. He was 80.

"The Knicks organization is deeply saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Captain, Willis Reed," the Knicks said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon. "As we mourn, we will always strive to uphold the standards he left behind -- the unmatched leadership, sacrifice and work ethic that personified him as a champion among champions.

"His is a legacy that will live forever. We ask everyone to please respect the family's privacy during this difficult time."

Reed, a burly, physical presence in the post across his 10 years in the NBA -- all with the Knicks -- was the NBA's Rookie of the Year in 1965 and its Most Valuable Player in 1970, as well as a seven-time All-Star and a five-time All-NBA selection. He was also eventually named to the NBA's 50th and 75th anniversary teams.

But his place in history was forever etched on May 8, 1970.

New York was set to face Wilt Chamberlain and the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals that day at Madison Square Garden in the hopes of winning the franchise's first-ever championship. Reed -- who had missed Game 6 with a severe thigh injury -- wasn't expected to play.

But Reed stunned the sellout crowd at the World's Most Famous Arena by walking out of the tunnel to the iconic call of "Here comes Willis" by radio broadcaster Marv Albert.

Reed then scored the first two baskets of the game -- the only two he would score across 27 minutes of action. But the emotional lift he gave the Knicks -- coupled with fellow Hall of Famer Walt "Clyde" Frazier scoring 36 points and dishing out 19 assists in the greatest game of his career -- delivered New York its first NBA title in what became known to history as "The Willis Reed Game."

"Willis Reed was the ultimate team player and consummate leader. My earliest and fondest memories of NBA basketball are of watching Willis, who embodied the winning spirit that defined the New York Knicks' championship teams in the early 1970s," NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "He played the game with remarkable passion and determination, and his inspiring comeback in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals remains one of the most iconic moments in all of sports."

Reed was named Finals MVP for that series, and then, after the Knicks lost to the Lakers in five games in 1972, led New York to a second title. He won a second Finals MVP award as the Knicks got revenge on the Lakers in five games in 1973.

Reed would retire after the 1973-74 season having spent his entire 10-year NBA career in New York, and would forever be known simply as The Captain for his leadership and commitment to teamwork.

Harvey Araton, the author of "When the Garden was Eden," a book on those 1970s Knicks, said those values were summed up to him when, as part of the reporting for the book, he left Reed a copy of a video of Game 5 of the 1970 finals -- one that Reed had told Araton, prior to watching it with him, he'd never seen before.

"A few weeks later, an envelope shows up at my house with a note attached to the video that Willis said, 'Thanks for the video. Our greatest victory.'

"That's a hell of a thing, for a guy who was the MVP of two NBA Finals and was a Hall of Famer player, to say that the team's greatest victory was one achieved without him. That kind of summed up who he was. He was totally about team. That manifested itself in so many ways. Just those three words -- 'our greatest victory' -- left an impression on me."

Reed's No. 19 became the first retired by the Knicks in 1976, and he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 1982. He went on to be the head coach of the Knicks for a little more than a year, and later spent four years as the head coach at the University of Creighton, before working for more than a decade in the then-New Jersey Nets' front office, first as general manager and then as senior vice president of basketball operations.

"What I remember about Willis is he would always carry a blue Sharpie with him wherever he went, and he'd always have a stack of pictures with him from when he played for the Knicks," said ESPN's Bobby Marks, who spent several years working for Reed when he was an executive with the Nets. "And he'd go out of his way, whether it was those pictures or a basketball, he would never turn anyone down. It's a lasting remembrance I always think about, giving back to people who are less fortunate."

Reed also worked as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks from 1985 to '87, when current 76ers coach Doc Rivers played point guard for the team.

"I loved this man... He was my assistant coach when I was a player with the Hawks," Rivers said in a tweet. "He was simply a great person, A man !!! A leader!!! A Winner!!!"

Reed was born on June 25, 1942 in Dubach, Louisiana. After playing high school ball in Lillie, Louisiana, he starred at Grambling State University from 1960 to '64, averaging over 26 points and 21 rebounds as a senior, before New York selected him in the second round of the 1964 NBA draft.

He would go on to finish his career with averages of 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3iLEYHvex4

[deebakes]

:rip:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

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But he says they don't teach flopping in LA :roll:

[DemonGeminiX]

That Denver guy is clearly way stronger than he appears. :nono:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:suspect:

[DemonGeminiX]

Seriously, to throw King James all the way across the court by barely touching him at all? Superman, eat your heart out

[lost in melb.]

1659389415393841152
But he says they don't teach flopping in LA :roll:

This is why I don't play basketball in the US...

[PorkChopSandwiches]

1659389415393841152
But he says they don't teach flopping in LA :roll:

I hope they lose all in a row so I can get business back in house

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Ryan Glasspiegel - New York Post


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Mark Cuban’s time as the majority owner of the Mavericks is coming to a shocking conclusion.

Cuban has agreed to sell a majority stake in the NBA franchise to Miriam Adelson, the wife of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, at a valuation of approximately $3.5 billion, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Cuban will retain a minority stake in the team and also still preside over basketball operations, the report said.

Cuban, who made his fortune selling the website broadcast.com to Yahoo in the late 1990s, bought the team for $285 million in 2000.

The Mavericks won the 2011 NBA championship and have generally been competitive throughout Cuban’s tenure as owner, making the playoffs in all but six of the seasons that he owned the team.

The news is genuinely shocking, as the Mavericks were so inextricably linked to Cuban’s public identity that it is impossible to imagine the team being owned by someone else, even with the unique caveat that he is maintaining basketball control.

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The timing of the sale is interesting, as Cuban also announced this week on the “All the Smoke” podcast that he will be leaving ABC’s “Shark Tank” after his 16th season on the program, on which he has invested millions in entrepreneurial ventures over the years.

Earlier Tuesday, Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced that Miriam Adelson was selling $2 billion in shares of the company — about 10 percent of her family’s stake — with the intent “to use the net proceeds from this offering … to fund the purchase of a majority interest in a professional sports franchise.”

The Dallas Morning News reported that Cuban and Sands plan to partner in a casino and arena venture in Dallas if gambling becomes legalized in Texas.

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Prior to marrying Sheldon Adelson in 1991, Miriam was a practicing physician, first in her native Israel and later in the United States.

The couple opened the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Research Clinic in Las Vegas in 2000.

Sheldon Adelson died in 2021 at the age of 87 from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Both Miriam and her late husband have been staunch donors for and supporters of conservative and Israeli causes.