Random NBA Stories

Since the start of the season, there have been several stories in the NBA that have seemed to dominate the news cycles ranging from massive stories to ones I don’t care about.  In this post, I discuss several, including 3 I find interesting, 1 I find funny, 2 I forgot about that came up again, 3 I’m sick of, and 2 I consider non-stories, grouped into 7 categories.

 

A Case of Anti-Player Empowerment

Since the start of the season, Ben Simmons, Kyrie Irving, and Zion Williamson have seemingly been the stories of any given day in the NBA.  Simmons has requested a trade from Philadelphia and has gone about it in probably the wrong way at any given moment, Irving has refused to get vaccinated when there is a mandate for all NYC employees to, and Williamson has seemingly been at odds with the organization since his rookie year and is now injured.  Most claim each of these are player empowerment, but all of them are the opposite in my opinion, as they will likely result in negatively impacting how players can use their voices in the future.

In the case of Simmons, it was no secret that the 76ers were done with him when he struggled mightily in Game 7 of the Conference Semifinals, but there was a catch:  no team wanted to pay a premium for a player who was now at his lowest in trade value (not too surprising).  He initially refused to report to camp, but reported after he realized he wouldn’t be paid for not reporting (typically how that works).  After that, he caused disruptions in practices and was kicked out, left the team due to mental health reasons but refused to provide full details or communicate properly with the organization, and then blamed them for not caring about his mental health after resuming fining him.  In this situation, the reason they are fining him more is because he hasn’t worked with the organization to explain to them who he is working with so they can work with them (it reminds me of if a high school student is late for class and doesn’t understand why they are marked late without having a note or pass despite just being in another room).  Now, his value has dropped more (least surprising of all), and I expect owners will fear this will set a precedent and will try to push back on player empowerment aspects of the next CBA.

After Irving refused to get vaccinated and would miss at the minimum all 41 home games (I’m not sure whether he would be eligible for away games against the Knicks or Raptors as well, which would bring that number up to 45), the Nets decided to not have Irving with the team since it didn’t make sense to have him there at best half the time (and I would put money on it that he wouldn’t be as willing to appear in games in Cleveland or Boston).  I don’t think this is an example of player empowerment because the only players who could get away with doing this are those who make a substantial amount of money and decide that they can afford the hit in their basketball reputation (can you count those on one hand?).  If this were a situation where most players could do this, then it might be possible, but I don’t see it as such considering the elitism needed to pull of such a move.  It is possible this saga could end soon:  mayor elect Eric Adams has said he is looking into revoking the vaccine mandate, which would mean Irving would no longer be ineligible for games in Brooklyn.  Until this happens, I could see this not changing.

As for Williamson, his is so close to being a player empowerment story, trying to have some say in where he plays while playing for a franchise that consistently cannot seem to do much of anything.  There are two issues that relate to each other in this situation that his camp seems to be overlooking.  One is that he has not been known for being in the best shape historically, only to come back heavier than ever this season.  In that case, he does need to accept the guidance of his trainers to remain in NBA shape.  The second issue, which is the bigger one (I swear no pun was intended there), is his injury issues.  His camp was frustrated with how his injury his rookie year was handled, but the team didn’t want a big man who already had injuries to the lower body turn into an incident like Bill Walton or Greg Oden, two players who were so skilled but both of whom had their careers ruined by injuries.  They are likely going to continue to be cautious with his recovery due to prior injuries and his size, but Williamson seems to be frustrated with this, which makes this appear to be a catch-22 until he accepts that what he is viewing as player empowerment is a death sentence to his career.

 

Two Investigations Regarding Toxic Workplaces

There have been two investigations into NBA front offices, as investigations have been open for Phoenix owner Robert Sarver and Portland general manager Neil Olshey.  Both teams have been reported to have overseen and participated in a toxic work culture.

While an ESPN story related to Sarver’s allegations was expansive into dozens of examples of the toxic culture that ensued in manners related to racism, sexism, and misogyny, among others, drawing comparisons to Donald Sterling’s ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, there was one major difference that was prevalent for a while:  there was no video, recordings, email or other marks from a paper trail that could be found for Sarver (with the exception of his wife emailing individuals who publicly spoke out), making it difficult to justify banning him.  This changed with the recent Sports Illustrated report regarding the discovery of a video from a memorial roast in April.  While this video might not be enough to ban most owners (which is the result if comparing to Sterling), Sarver, like Sterling, has been known to be strongly disliked among the owners, so if this is what it takes to get rid of him, the owners might vote in that manner.

As for Olshey, there isn’t as much that has been reported publicly related to the investigation, but it sounds like he had a tendency to “berate, belittle, and intimidate staffers to the point of creating anxiety in some about going to work”.  While this is serious and justifiable to have an investigation as well, I expect there will be nothing more than a fine as the result of this one.  The major precedent comes from the 2018 sexual assault allegations stemming from the Dallas Mavericks, where there was widespread allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence in the front office, resulting in Cuban donating $10M, and some individuals being fired.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the only result of this investigation is a fine, but that also depends on what is uncovered.

 

Two Investigations Regarding Tampering

After an investigation into tampering allegations related to two offseason free agency signings were announced prior to the season, the NBA has announced that they are in later stages of them.  The investigations are related to the Bull’s sign-and-trade for Lonzo Ball and the Heat’s sign-and-trade for Kyle Lowry.  While Ball’s was obviously an example of tampering since it was announced a sign-and-trade would occur 1 minute after free agency opened (those typically take a lot more than 1 minute), Lowry’s wasn’t as obvious considering his signing with the Heat was announced 30 minutes into free agency and other free agents were signed prior to him.  A team is required to inform the NBA of allegations before an investigation occurs, though they likely won’t announce who submitted them (though it is worth noting that New Orleans were hoping to court Lowry and likely wanted a better return for Ball, so connecting the dots makes it pretty clear).

 

Minnesota Timberwolves

Another investigation (wow, the NBA has a lot of notable ones going on) revealed that the Minnesota Timberwolves violated league rules related to hosting practices outside their market prior to the season and have been fined $250k.  The team traveled to Miami for practices, team bonding, and dinners with minority owner Alex Rodriguez.  What I find the funniest part about it was that they were still only 5-9 after their victory over the Kings on 11/17, suggesting that maybe this bonding didn’t give them a clear advantage.

 

Early Season Struggles

I don’t consider this a big story, but many writers and analysts can’t seem to stop talking about this, so here goes nothing:  many star players have been struggling since the start of the season.  Some bigger names of players struggling from the field early include Damian Lillard, James Harden, and Jayson Tatum, though there are others who struggled early, such as De’Aaron Fox.  The obvious reasons to point to are the change in the ball and the change in the foul rules, which I think makes the most sense, especially the latter number for why scoring is down across the league.  Early, most refs are not only not calling fouls initiated by the offense as defensive fouls (the rule change), but also not calling many plays where contact is initiated by the defense due to overcompensating.  While some have already settled down with these, expect the calls to be more consistent as the season goes on.  As for the ball, I expect players will get used to it, especially considering this ball doesn’t seem to be as bad as the last time they changed the balls (Shaquille O’Neil likened it to toy balls, the ball bounced worse, and the league switched back less than halfway through the season).

 

Marvin Bagley III

This is a story that I don’t understand how it has received the attention that it has so far, but since some legitimate sports reporters are treating this like a story, I will treat you to the sarcastic version of this story.

The Kings have an overblown situation that was the most predictable thing in a draft I have ever seen:  Marvin Bagley III (the 2^nd pick in the 2018 Draft despite me saying I would rather have 2018 Jahlil Okafor than any version of Bagley) fell out of the rotation despite some “potential” that was held back by “injuries” (in other words, by injuries, horrible defense, lack of effort at both ends, entitlement, and being a detriment to the team while on the court).  His father previously criticized the organization and now his agent has as well, since apparently his agent seems to think Bagley will have a long career that can provide a high amount of money in agent fees.  He also refused to enter a game when coach Luke Walton asked him to, making me glad he’s starting to get on the same page as me and doesn’t think he deserves garbage time minutes (though he likely thinks he deserves more, while I think he deserves fewer).

There are three reasons he has fallen out of the rotation.  The first is why the executives are fighting for this:  his qualifying offer will drop 50% if he plays fewer than half of the games.  I would expect his qualifying offer to be at least $14M if he played more, so it would decrease to at least $7M, which is big since I expect he would take the first offer.  It makes sense to make him a restricted free agent since they have more control in matching the contract and sign-and-trades.  The second reason is why coach Luke Walton is fighting for this:  his job is publicly on the line.  Since Bagley has had shares of horrible play that is detrimental to the team, it doesn’t make sense to keep playing him if there are better options.  On top of that, he finally discovered something I’ve been saying since the 2017 Draft:  De’Aaron Fox operates best with a lineup that is faster, so they are using a faster small-ball lineup, which Bagley would hurt.  The third is why I am in favor of this decision:  there are 2 centers better than him.  Make no mistake, while they have tried him at the 4, his inconsistent jumper and plodding defense makes him best suited at the 5.  The catch is that now he is the 3^rd best player there behind Richaun Holmes (who is substantially better than him) and Tristian Thompson (who has struggled as well but is a decent amount better than him).  For a team that could find themselves stumbling their way into a Play In game, it doesn’t make sense to make that possibly less likely and play Bagley.

 

Dave Joerger

Lastly, Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach and former Grizzlies and Kings coach Dave Joerger has been diagnosed with cancer and will be stepping away from the team to undergo treatments for cancer.  He is an excellent coach (seemingly mastering Memphis’s grit-and-grind lineup’s potential on offense and making more than anyone else could with the disjointed Kings roster) and, by all accounts, an even greater person.  I wish him the best that he is able to make a full recovery.  The good news is that, based on his statements on an episode of The Woj Pod, they found it early, so hopefully it is able to be removed and hasn’t spread too much.

 

What do you think about any of these stories?  Let me know in the comments!