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Official 2023-24 NBA Season Thread - Conference semifinals; Lakers hire JJ Redick?

PhDeac said:
It’s got to be frustrating for Lebron. He’s the Chosen One. He picked to play with the guy who looked like he would be the best big man of the 2020s (if healthy). And the legacy at the end of his career will be getting dominated by some random Serbian 2nd round pick.
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who’d rather be with his horses than playing basketball
 
Suns getting sonned again. LBJ and KD about to get swept. Curry already home. Harden/Kawhi/PG/Westbrook not looking great. Giannis hurt.

The young guys are taking over.
 
We may be witnessing a true changing of the guard. Basketball Reference has 15 current players listed with 75% or better odds of entering the Hall of Fame. The top 8 are either out of the playoffs (CP, Curry), on the verge of getting swept (Lebron, AD, KD) or it does not look good (Dame, Giannis, Westbrook).

What rawarr said. The oldest superstar to make the 2nd round could be Embiid (30) or Jokic (29). No disrespect to 33 year old Jrue or 31 year old Gobert.
 
Honestly, I forgot he's over 30. I don't think he's on the level of Steph, Lebron, KD, Kawhi, Giannis, Embiid, Jokic, or even Luka and he doesn't have the legacy of Dame, CP, or Westbrook. Kyrie's never been First Team All-NBA. He's only been All-NBA three times.
 
Playoff Jamal Murray vs. Ant with a heaping side of Jokic vs. Gobert/KAT/Reid will be spectacular. I really hadn't considered it because I didn't have much confidence in the T-Wolves (because T-Wolves).

And Shai vs. Luka could be fantastic as well.

Ant tied KG for the most 30+ point games in T-Wolves history with 7. KG had 47 playoff games with the T-Wolves. Ant has 14. Different eras but still very impressive.
 
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PhDeac said:
Playoff Jamal Murray vs. Ant with a heaping side of Jokic vs. Gobert/KAT/Reid will be spectacular. I really hadn't considered it because I didn't have much confidence in the T-Wolves (because T-Wolves).

And Shai vs. Luka could be fantastic as well.

Ant tied KG for the most 30+ point games in T-Wolves history with 7. KG had 47 playoff games with the T-Wolves. Ant has 14. Different eras but still very impressive.
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Yeah the West is potentially set up for some great matchups the next two rounds

Will be interesting to me to see if Clippers keep playing Kawhi. He clearly is still hurt. Most noticeably last night he hung on a rim for an extra 3-4 seconds cause he was worried about his knee. He clearly favors it. Clippers are an obviously different team when he is healthy
 
PhDeac said:


Reading the tea leaves, it looks like the NBA will be on Amazon, ESPN/ABC, TNT, and maybe NBC. I think there will be far more national TV games starting in 2025. The Athletic article suggests Amazon could host Thursday night games after the NFL regular season is over. I'm curious what this means for Amazon Prime taking over the regional Bally Sports broadcasts.
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Today's The Athletic article makes it seem like Amazon will replace TNT, ESPN/ABC will keep their spot, and TNT will be fighting NBC for what's left. So there's speculation Amazon could buy Inside the NBA.

theathletic.com

Could TNT and the NBA really be done? What to make of Amazon's new TV deal

Amazon's looming entry into NBA broadcast rights raises a big question for longtime partner TNT, and more takeaways on the major TV shift.
theathletic.com theathletic.com

Marchand: Amazon has shown its strategy with the NFL. It added credibility at play-by-play with the legendary Al Michaels. I think it will try to go with that approach again, so I could see Ian Eagle at the top of its list. He and Mike Breen are the two best basketball play-by-play announcers, and Breen is locked up with ESPN for five more years after this one. Eagle is already the voice of the Final Four and does TNT, so he would seem like a similar prestige choice as Michaels.

As far as analysts go, Eagle and Grant Hill have been good together, but I also could see them having an interest in someone like JJ Redick, another Duke alum. Richard Jefferson is also out there. One name, if you want to think really big — and aggregators, hold your rewrites for now — is LeBron James, if he were to retire by 2025-26. Amazon, notably, has already established a relationship with James by occasionally having his “The Shop” as an alternate broadcast on “Thursday Night Football.” Amazon also got Fred Gaudelli to kick off Thursday nights, so I think it will add a top producer and then probably look to work with one of the other networks for the production, again similar to football.
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Amazon could go big and just buy Lebron and JJ's new podcast and get both of them in the studio.

But if relationships are involved, TNT Sports will have a choice. In November 2022, WBD CEO David Zaslav said, “We don’t have to have the NBA.” Maybe so, but the NBA didn’t love hearing that, and TNT Sports’ affiliate fees on cable, satellite and even in the skinny bundle with Disney and Fox are based largely on having the NBA. So he might have to pay up big time if he wants to keep the league on his network and streaming services.
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Dumbass David Zaslav strikes again.
 
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