Community Shootaround

Community Shootaround: All-Star Selection Format

January 21st, 2019 at 9:25am CST by Luke Adams

Monday is the last day to submit your votes for 2019’s NBA All-Star starters. Once the fan vote has been closed, the league will also take into account the picks made by players and media members in order to determine this year’s starters.

While the All-Star Game itself no longer pits the Western Conference against the Eastern Conference, the selection format still dictates that five starters must come from each conference. Given a somewhat underwhelming crop of star guards in the East this season, that format ensures that Kyrie Irving will likely be joined by one of Ben Simmons, Bradley Beal, or Kemba Walker in the Eastern backcourt.

Those players are having strong seasons, but there will be reserves in the Western Conference more deserving of a starting nod. Due to the conference and position restrictions, two players out of the five-man Western frontcourt group of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Paul George, Nikola Jokic, and Anthony Davis won’t crack the starting lineup.

The two frontcourt stars in that group who miss out on starting spots will still end up on the All-Star roster. However, there may be other deserving players who don’t make the cut — even though the rules on positions are less restrictive for the reserves, coaches are still limited to picking seven players in each conference, rather than simply choosing the next 14 best players, regardless of position or conference.

As Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer details in a column on his All-Star picks, he spoke to a number of people around the league – including executives, coaches, and reporters – about their own All-Star selections, and all of them admitted that if they were just asked to pick the NBA’s 24 best players, they wouldn’t get to 12 in the East. According to O’Connor, everyone he polled chose between eight and 11 Eastern players in that hypothetical scenario — the most common response was nine, with the other 15 coming from the West.

Given how many players around the NBA have All-Star bonuses and incentives in their contracts, the league won’t be able to unilaterally alter the selection format without some pushback from the players. Still, it’s an idea worth considering.

If the actual All-Star Game no longer features Eastern Conference players vs. Western Conference players, does it make sense to still require an even number of representatives from each side? And now that we’re in an era of so-called “positionless” basketball, would it make sense to further loosen the restrictions on positions in the selection process?

What do you think? Should the All-Star selection format be changed and modernized to better identify the NBA’s 24 best players, or is it fine as is?

Community Shootaround: DeMarcus Cousins’ Return

January 17th, 2019 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

DeMarcus Cousins is on track to play his first game as a member of the Warriors on Friday against the Clippers, assuming all goes well during his final evaluation on Thursday, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Within his story on Cousins’ impending return, Haynes notes that the former All-Star will actually make his debut several weeks later than he had hoped.

According to Haynes, Cousins wanted to speed up his timeline, and attempted to get cleared to play a few weeks ago, but the Warriors would have imposed a restriction of 10 minutes per game in that scenario. Rather than settling for such limited playing time, Cousins opted to continue his rehab process, improving his conditioning and preparing for a more significant role.

While Cousins will still likely be on some sort of minutes restriction as the club looks to ease him back into action, head coach Steve Kerr has yet to offer any specifics.

“We’ve got some ideas of how we are going to use him,” Kerr said, “but there is not a substitute for actual game experience. So, we’ll put him out there and see how it goes.”

With Cousins’ Warriors debut imminent, it will be fascinating to see how he fits in with Golden State’s other All-Stars and whether he looks at all like his old self after a long, challenging rehabilitation from a major Achilles injury. NBA players who have suffered Achilles tears often don’t make it all the way back, and for those that do, the process often takes two or three years. Still, speaking to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Cousins sounds very confident in his abilities.

“I won’t be the same player. I’ve gotten better,” he said with a laugh. “So you know, a lot of things have changed in my game. You start to tune up other areas of your game: jump shooting, skill work. I think everything has just increased and gotten better.”

The idea of slotting Cousins into a lineup that also features Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green is tantalizing — on paper, it’s the sort of five-man unit that makes Golden State a lock for a third straight championship. But there’s no guarantee it’ll actually be a success on the court. The Warriors’ stars have typically done a great job of buying into the system and playing their roles, but as we’ve seen in Boston this season, things don’t always run smoothly when a team has “too much” talent.

In advance of Cousins’ first game, we want to hear your thoughts on the situation in Golden State. Will Cousins make a great team even better, ensuring that the Warriors are holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy again this June? Will there be some growing pains before Cousins and the Warriors hit their stride down the stretch? Or do you think Cousins might ultimately be a non-factor for Golden State as he continues to recover from a significant injury?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Community Shootaround: 3-Point Shooting

January 14th, 2019 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Many current NBA fans have never seen a game without 3-pointers. There was a time when every shot counted the same, until the NBA adopted a 3-point line prior to the 1979/80 season.

For a long time, the 3-point shot ranked almost as a gimmick. There were a few long-range specialists sprinkled around the league but it was mainly used as a means to play catchup.

Just 20 seasons ago, the Kings led the league with 18.9 3-point attempts per game. The 76ers attempted the fewest that season at 7.4 per game.

Reliance on the long ball gradually increased over the years. The Knicks attempted the most 10 seasons ago at 27.9 per game, while the Thunder chucked up a league-low 11.6 per contest.

Once analytics became a major component in the way the game was played, teams couldn’t seem to fire up enough 3-pointers. Mid-range shooting has been replaced by a flurry of long balls.

This season, the NBA skies are filled with more 3-pointers than ever. The Rockets are launching them at a rate of 43.2 per game, while the Spurs rank last at 24.4. Yes, the team ranked at the bottom of the league in attempts would have been close to the league lead just 10 years ago.

It may be the right way to play according to the numbers, but it’s fair to question whether this is a good or bad thing. Has it come to a point where this is basketball at its best or has the game strayed too far from its roots?

That brings us to tonight’s topic: Should the league take steps to eliminate or reduce 3-point shooting or do you like the game the way it is?

Please take to the comments to weigh in on this issue. We look forward to your input.

Community Shootaround: Pistons Moves

January 11th, 2019 at 8:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Following a quick start, the Pistons have been one of the league’s biggest disappointments. They were 13-7 after 20 games but have nosedived since early December, dropping 16 of their last 20 games.

Their defense has been atrociously recently, as they got blown out by the LeBron-less Lakers on Wednesday and the Kings on Thursday.

A playoff spot seemed like a safe bet as long as Blake Griffin, Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson stayed healthy. None of them has missed a game due to injury and Griffin has played at an All-Star level on a regular basis. Yet the bottom line screams that something needs to change.

Drummond’s production has dropped lately and Jackson has underperformed throughout the season under new coach Dwane Casey’s system, which has de-emphasized the pick-and-roll.

The Pistons’ brass reportedly met on Friday to discuss moves to improve the team, with a point guard and creative wing player heading the wish list.

The imminent return of sixth man Ish Smith from an adductor tear should alleviate the point guard situation, which had 37-year-old Jose Calderon playing regular minutes in his absence. However, the wing players, with the possible exception of Reggie Bullock, have not provided consistent production.

The Pistons have a tricky cap situation, thanks to some bad contracts. Jackson can be included on that list which also includes Jon Leuer, Langston Galloway and Glenn Robinson III. Recent first-round picks Stanley Johnson and Luke Kennard have not lived up to their draft status, though some rival executives might believe they have untapped potential. A package of Johnson and/or Kennard with a first-round pick or two may deliver a starter-quality wing.

A more radical move would be sending Drummond, the league’s leading rebounder, packing for a top-level wing player and a big man that could at least take his minutes. The Pistons only have Leuer and aging Zaza Pachulia as backup big men.

That leads us to today’s topic: Should the struggling Pistons trade Andre Drummond to shake up their roster? Or should they move other players and draft picks and keep the Griffin-Drummond frontcourt duo intact?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this discussion. We look forward to your input.

Community Shootaround: NBA Midseason Awards

January 10th, 2019 at 2:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Giannis Antetokounmpo came out on top in a matchup between the NBA’s two MVP frontrunners on Wednesday night, as his 27 points and career-best 21 rebounds helped the Bucks pick up a 116-109 road win in Houston. James Harden continued his recent hot streak for the Rockets by racking up 42 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists, but required 30 shots to get those 42 points, and turned the ball over nine times.

As Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com relays, Antetokounmpo dismissed talk after the game about him being the league’s best or most valuable player so far in 2018/19. At the season’s midway point though, Giannis, who has led Milwaukee to an NBA-best 29-11 record, has a strong case to at least be informally named the league’s first-half MVP.

Before last night’s Bucks/Rockets showdown, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News handed out his midseason awards and gave the edge to Harden over Antetokounmpo for MVP, with Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Jokic, Paul George, and others also receiving some consideration. Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports made the same pick today, making his case for Harden as the first-half MVP.

Elsewhere on their midseason awards ballots, Deveney and Haberstroh mixed in some easy calls – they both had Mavericks youngster Luka Doncic for Rookie of the Year – with some tougher ones. For instance, Deveney named Mike Budenholzer (Bucks) his Coach of the Year in a crowded field of contenders, while Haberstroh picked Dave Joerger (Kings).

Deveney’s and Haberstorh’s other selections included Domantas Sabonis (Pacers) for Sixth Man of the Year and Paul George (Thunder) for Defensive Player of the Year. The duo diverged on Most Improved Player, with Deveney choosing Pascal Siakam (Raptors) while Haberstroh opted for De’Aaron Fox (Kings).

With the season essentially halfway done – teams have played between 39 and 43 games – we want to know how you’d fill out your hypothetical awards ballot for the first half. Do you agree with most of Deveney’s and/or Haberstroh’s picks or would you go in a different direction for some of them? Are you making any dark-horse picks for any of this season’s awards so far?

Weigh in below in the comment section with your midseason award selections!

Community Shootaround: All-Star Starters

January 4th, 2019 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

The first returns on fan voting for the 2019 NBA All-Star Game were announced on Thursday, and most of the results weren’t too surprising.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, and Joel Embiid lead the frontcourt voting in the Eastern Conference, while Kyrie Irving is the top vote-getter among Eastern guards. In the West, LeBron James and Stephen Curry – last year’s All-Star captains – have received the most early votes.

However, several of the other names near the top of those lists may have inspired a double-take. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Luka Doncic has the second-most votes among Western frontcourt players, ahead of Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and Paul George, among others. In the backcourt, Derrick Rose ranks No. 2 in fan voting, ahead of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard, and others.

In the East, fans apparently want to see Dwyane Wade in the All-Star Game once more before he retires — he ranks second in votes among guards, ahead of Kemba Walker, Ben Simmons, Victor Oladipo, and others.

All-Star voting will remain open for two and a half more weeks, so the current order can – and almost certainly will – change. Plus, fan votes only make up 50% of the consideration for the All-Star Game’s starting lineup, with players (25%) and media (25%) also receiving a portion of the vote. So the early results don’t mean that we’ll see Doncic, Rose, and Wade starting in Charlotte next month.

Still, given the popularity of Doncic, Rose, and Wade early in the process, there’s a discussion to be had here.

Has Doncic shown enough in his 36 NBA games to earn an All-Star spot? Does it make sense to reward Rose for his bounce-back season or Wade on his farewell tour? Or would you rather just see the best first-half players in the starting lineups? And, if that’s the case, which five Eastern and five Western players do you believe deserve those spots?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on this season’s All-Star lineups.

Community Shootaround: Heat Roster Logjam

January 2nd, 2019 at 9:34pm CST by clarkcrum

As we relayed earlier today, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is “sick” to his stomach about his inability to find minutes for veteran sharpshooter Wayne Ellington. And now that fellow guard and teammate Dion Waiters is set to return from his ankle injury, don’t expect playing time decisions to get any easier for Spoelstra.

Not counting Waiters or up-and-coming youngster Derrick Jones, the Heat already have 11 players on standard NBA contracts who log 20.5 minutes per game or more, the most of anyone in the league. And of those 12 players, seven are swingmen who play primarily on the wing (Josh Richardson, Rodney McGruder, Justise Winslow, Dwyane Wade, Tyler Johnson, Ellington, and Waiters).

In tonight’s blowout win against the Cavs, Wade logged a DNP-Illness, with the remainder of the minutes on the wing going to Richardson (32), Jones (31), Winslow (27), Johnson (26), McGruder (21), and Waiters (11).

With Wade back in the mix soon and Waiters presumably playing his way into more minutes, the question becomes whether the Heat will move on from some of the aforementioned players, such as Waiters or Ellington, or keep the roster logjam as currently constructed as insurance in the event of another injury.

That brings us to our question of the day: Do you think the Heat should try to move on from some of their wings or keep them all around for the rest of the 2018/19 season? If they alter their roster, who is the most likely wing to be moved? Ellington? Waiters? Somebody else?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in. We look forward to your input.

Community Shootaround: Top NBA Stories Of 2018

December 31st, 2018 at 10:07am CST by Luke Adams

We’re on the verge of flipping the calendar to 2019, but before we close the book on 2018, we want to take a look back at The Year That Was in the NBA.

While the outcome of the 2018 NBA Finals in June wasn’t particularly surprising, the implications for the Warriors‘ ongoing dynasty were compelling — the Dubs have now won two consecutive championships and three of the last four, and they may not be done yet. Plus, the Finals provided at least one memorable moment in Game 1, when J.R. Smith apparently forgot that the Cavaliers didn’t have the lead, and dribbled out the clock of a tie game.

That night was a low point for Smith, who was also at the center of an unusual story back in March when he was suspended for throwing soup at an assistant coach. But he’s not the only one who has had a frustrating 2018.

Carmelo Anthony played his way out of Oklahoma City and Houston, and currently remains in limbo. He’s technically a member of the Rockets, but played his last game for the team back on November 8. Meanwhile, 2017’s first overall pick Markelle Fultz continues to struggle to make an impact on the court, and is currently sidelined with a physical ailment, despite speculation that some of his issues may be mental.

The Fultz saga hasn’t been the only major storyline in Philadelphia. The Sixers also lost a general manager in the summer when a bombshell report linked Bryan Colangelo to a series of burner Twitter accounts that criticized current and former 76ers players and revealed sensitive information about the team. Colangelo vehemently denied any knowledge of those tweets – an investigation revealed that his wife was operating the accounts – but it cost him his job.

The Colangelo situation was the sort of NBA story that keeps us glued to Twitter, fascinated by every new detail that emerges. Another situation that fits that bill played out earlier this month, when an apparent three-team trade involving the Wizards, Suns, and Grizzlies fell apart due to confusion over whether Memphis was including Dillon Brooks or MarShon Brooks in the deal. Washington and Phoenix eventually made a trade on their own, but not before plenty of finger-pointing about which team was to blame for the Brooks-related confusion.

Of course, player movement is our focus at Hoops Rumors, so that would-be three-team trade was right up our alley, but it was far from the biggest transaction-related news of 2018. LeBron James signing with the Lakers might earn the crown, though that move wasn’t nearly as shocking as the Clippers trading Blake Griffin to the Pistons, or DeMarcus Cousins signing with the Warriors, a deal that incited outrage among fans of 29 other teams on social media.

Prolonged trade sagas involving stars like Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler dominated NBA headlines during the offseason too, with Butler’s performance in his return to Timberwolves practice standing out as a highlight. Paul George, who was traded a year earlier, surprised many NBA fans by re-signing with the Thunder shortly after free agency opened on July 1 without even giving the Lakers a meeting.

While those were some of the top NBA stories of 2018, there are countless others worth mentioning. How about the Raptors firing Coach of the Year Dwane Casey, or the near–mutiny in Chicago shortly after Jim Boylen took over as the Bulls‘ head coach? Drama has followed the Wizards all season too, from Marcin Gortat and John Wall taking shots at each other in February to Bradley Beal criticizing GM Ernie Grunfeld at a contentious practice in November. And commissioner Adam Silver has had to send separate memos to teams around the league this season to warn them about tanking and tampering.

With the year about to come to a close, we want to hear about your favorite NBA stories of the last 12 months. What will you remember most about the NBA in 2018 when you look back on it years from now?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in!

Community Shootaround: Christmas Day Schedule

December 26th, 2018 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA season never stops here at Hoops Rumors, but a lot of casual fans don’t start following the league until Christmas Day. That means their first taste of the 2018/19 campaign was watching the Knicks get steamrolled by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.

Yikes! Luckily, there were no hockey games for them to switch to.

Things got better for those who stayed around. James Harden took down Russell Westbrook and Paul George in a Western Conference battle, then the Celtics and Sixers followed with an overtime thriller. The Lakers put on an impressive performance in taking down the two-time defending champions, then the Jazz capped off the night by beating the Trail Blazers.

It was an impressive 13-hour Christmas showcase featuring many of the league’s best players, but there were still a few things missing. Like the Raptors, who arrived at Christmas with the league’s best record. And the Nuggets, who boast the best mark in the West. Also nowhere in sight were the Pacers (22-12 and third in the East) or the Clippers (19-14 and fifth in the West).

We understand the league office can’t predict everything when the schedule is being formulated in mid-summer, but Toronto seems like an egregious omission. After the trade that brought Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors, it seemed like the NBA office missed an easy way to score some holiday points with the TV audience north of the border. Instead, many Toronto fans spent the day complaining about the slight on social media.

We want to get your opinion on this year’s Yuletide selections. Were there other teams or players you would have preferred to see? Is it time to end the tradition of scheduling the Knicks on Christmas Day until they get good again? Should the Nets replace them to keep the New York audience? Is five straight games too many for one day? Or maybe too few? Please leave your responses and any other suggestions in the space below.

Community Shootaround: Christmas Games

December 24th, 2018 at 7:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

At least one young superstar is thrilled to be playing on Christmas Day.

For Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, it’s a badge of honor. The Bucks haven’t been part of the NBA’s Christmas showcase since 1977.

“It’s real special. We’re really excited about this game,” he told Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The Bucks haven’t played in a long time in a Christmas game, so we’re happy that we’re back. “Since I came to the NBA, I was always watching the Christmas games, always dreaming about playing in one. … It means a lot to us and hopefully we can put on a show.”

The Bucks are one of the league’s most entertaining and high-scoring teams but their game is merely an appetizer. They face the floundering Knicks, who have won just two of their last 13 games.

There are generally mixed feelings about playing on Christmas around the NBA. Some players love the spotlight and the drama. Others, especially the road teams, believe it’s unfair to be away from their homes and families. However, it’s a tradition that’s not going away.

The games that follow the Bucks–Knicks matchup should provide plenty of holiday entertainment for sports fans beyond the unwrapping of presents and piles of food on the plate.

The Thunder play the Rockets, featuring an entertaining duel between the last two MVPs, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Then comes the Sixers-Celtics showdown, a potential preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Naturally, LeBron James will be playing on Christmas as the Lakers face Kevin Durant and the Warriors. The guards take the spotlight in the final game of the day when the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum square off against the Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio.

That takes us to our question of the day: Which Christmas Day game are you most interested in and why?

Please take to the comments section. We look forward to your input.

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