A selection of news items from this week’s NBA happenings:
NBA All Star Game
The NBA’s 2018 All Star Game is finalizing its starting line up and coaching staffs and it promises to deliver an exciting evening of sports entertainment. The game will be played at Staples Auditorium in Las Angeles on February 18, 2018 with teams led by LeBron James for the Eastern Division and Stephen Curry for the Western Division.
It was announced that Raptors coach Dwane Casey will lead Team LeBron in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game. Among the 14 conference teams with a head coach eligible for the 2018 All Star Game, the Raptors are enjoying the best record in the Eastern, making their coach, Dwane Casey, the chosen All Stars game coach. Coach Brad Stevens of Boston is ineligible to coach because, although his team – the Celtics) have the East’s best record, he coached the East team last year.After nine seasons with the Raptors this will be Casey’s first time coaching the All Star Game.
LeBron James and Stephen Curry earned the right to pick their teams by being voted the top in their respective conferences. To date, both Curry and James have made their picks for the upcoming All-Star Game which were announced on Thursday.
Team LeBron will include starters Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Paul George (replacing injured DeMarcus Cousins), Anthony Davis and, of course, LeBron. Reserves are Bradley Beal, Victor Oladipo, Kristaps Porzingis, John Wall, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.
On Team Curry the following players will start: DeMar Derozan, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Jarden. On the sidelines, waiting to go in as reserve players, are Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Damian Lillard, Draymond Green, Al Horford, Karl-Anthony Towns and Kyle Lowry.
Knicks Look Forward
The NBA trade deadline is in a little more than one week so the big question revolves around the Knicks’ plans – will they buy, sell or sit pat?
The trade session promises to be active. At the start of the season there were 14 teams – six in the West and eight in the East — with, as one insider described the situation, “20-something wins and 20-something losses within 8½ games of each other.”
Many are questioning what the Knicks should do on the trade front. One veteran scout opinioned that “There are two guys on their team that are available that people would want: Jack and [Kyle] O’Quinn. If they deal O’Quinn, that gives [Willy] Hernangomez an opportunity. If they deal Jack, you’ve still got Frank and Trey, two young guys, to play the point.”Regarding Courtney Lee, the scout said “Courtney Lee has had a helluva year, a terrific year. But is he the future? By the time the Knicks are good, he’s not going to be anything for them”.
Looking at other team strategies, many observers are saying that the Knicks should continue to build and sell at the deadline while, simultaneously, collecting assets. One exec who knows the situation from ground zero said “They exceeded expectations based on a home-heavy schedule to start the season and did a nice job, but I never thought they were a playoff team.” Is the goal to try to create cap space for this summer or are you trying to get a draft pick back also? That’s hard because there’s not many teams willing to trade picks.”
Team officials are not convinced, however, that the time has come to sell. One pundit noted that “depending on the cost, I would try to make the playoffs. Obviously keep the core assets [Kristaps Porzingis, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Frank Ntilikina] together and make a move to get in the playoffs. But I would not under any circumstance trade the first-round pick.”
One thing that everyone seems to agree on is that rookie Ntilikina should be getting more court time. “I thought this year was all about trying to get to see if the rookie [Ntilikina] could be a starting-quality point guard down the road. … They should [play him 30 minutes], at least post-All-Star.If you’re not going to make the playoffs, yeah, that should be the direction.”
NBA Initiative Aims to Improve Player-Referee Relations
Scuffles between players and referees are nothing new but this season the situation seems to have worsened with more on-court arguments and more off-court slurs. The NBA has decided to address the issue with a five-pronged initiative that, officials hope, will help improve the relations between the two sides.
The move comes after multiple on-court and off-court confrontations between players and refs. This is a big frustration for fans, home-viewers and all sports enthusiasts alike. League officials admit that the conflicts have started to affect the outcome on the court and this is unacceptable. As of this week players have been ejected 40 times this season. Kevin Durant, NBA Finals MVP, leads the way with four disqualifications while 36 players have been handed technical fouls this season.
NBA President of League Operations Byron Spruell announced that the initiative would focus on five areas which include:
1. Meetings between league officials will conduct meetings with all teams to discuss on-court conduct, rules interpretations and the expectations of NBA referees.
2. The league will re-emphasize its “Respect for the Game” rules with players, coaches and referees so that enforcement of those violations will be consistent.
3. Coaches, players, and team personnel will receive education on rules to ensure clarity and proper interpretations.
4. Referees will undergo training on conflict resolution. On-court interactions between players, referees and coaches will be more closely monitored to ensure that behavior meets league standards.
5. The league will pursue engagement between key stakeholders to find common ground between parties.
In his statement Spruell said “As a league, we take great pride in standing for the best things about sports: competition, teamwork, respect, sportsmanship, diversity and inclusion. Recently we have seen instances in which we have not lived up to our own collective standards with regard to sportsmanship. It is important for us to place a renewed emphasis on proper communication and respect to make sure we are meeting the standards expected from all members of the NBA family.”
And until they do make sure that happens, we suggest that all NBA fans the world over, from the US to the UK to Australia play Vegas games online for free – as a fun online time filler – waiting for the NBA to clean up its act.
