First, here’s what I understand of the new CBA rules for salary cap violators. The NBA has informed teams that the salary cap is projected to be $134 million next season (a leap of over $10 million from last season). The new luxury tax level is expected to be $162 million. What is new in the CBA is a second luxury tax “apron.” If teams exceed the luxury tax level by $17.5 million, they would be penalized beyond the luxury tax payments they would be making. Those penalties are:
1. Loss of the midlevel exception;
2. Restrictions on sending/receiving cash in trades;
3. Restrictions on signing players on the buyout market;
4. Inability to trade 1st round picks that are more than 7 years away.
These penalties will be phased in over the next two seasons. I believe the loss of the midlevel exception will not take effect until next offseason, so teams like the Warriors, Clippers, and Bucks, all well above the second luxury tax apron, can still use it this offseason.
We know that KD and Kyrie are buds, but does KD still want to team up with Kyrie after the debacle in Brooklyn? Suns cannot afford Kyrie under the salary cap, but they could do a sign and trade with the Mavs and send Ayton to Dallas in the deal.
Some early free agency legal tampering reports (deals negotiated, but can’t be finalized until next Friday):
1. Lakers are signing Taurean Prince, formerly of the T-Wolves.
2. Portland is resigning Jerami Grant to a 5-year, $160 million deal.
3. Pacers are signing Bruce Brown to 2-year, $45 million deal.
4. Kings are resigning Trey Lyles to 2-year, $16 million deal.
5. Warriors are resigning Draymond to a 4-year, $100 million deal (first year is for only $22.3 million to help save the Dubs some taxes and last year is a player option).
6. Wizards are resigning Kyle Kuzma to 4-year, $102 million deal.
7. Warriors are rumored to be trying to sign Dario Saric.
8. Spurs are resigning Tre Jones to a 2-year, $20 million deal.
9. Nets are resigning Cam Johnson to a 4-year, $108 million deal.
10. Bucks are resigning Khris Middleton to a 3-year, $102 million deal.
11. Raptors are resigning Jakob Poeltl to a 4-year, $80 million deal.
12. Mavs are resigning Kyrie Irving to a 3-year, $126 million deal.
13. Cavs are signing Georges Niang to a 3-year, $26 million deal.
14. Suns are signing Chimezie Metu (PF/C) to a 1-year deal.
15. Bucks are signing Jevon Carter to a 3-year, $20 million deal.
16. Timberwolves are signing Troy Brown, Jr. to a deal.
17. Suns are resigning Damion Lee to a 2-year deal.
18. Suns are signing Keita Bates-Diop (PF) to a 2-year, $5 million deal.
19. Bulls are resigning Coby White to a 3-year, $40 million deal.
20. Suns are signing Drew Eubanks (PF/C) to a 2-year deal.
21. Cavs are resigning Caris LeVert to a 2-year, $32 million deal.
So Suns have been pretty busy and seem to be focused on signing big men.
The podcast description reads: Draymond gets honest about losing confidence in his jumpshot, his insane draft experience, and how he would defend Victor Wembanyama. Then Draymond discusses the Chris Paul trade, how he can be a better mentor, and why his relationship with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson is so special. And finally, Draymond shares why Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals haunts him so much, why his relationship with LeBron won’t get in the way of his competitive edge, and PG and Dray share their Starting 5 high IQ players.
So, USA didn’t even medal in the fiba World Cup (basketball). Not too surprising because there were very few all stars and no veterans on the US team. And a lot of NBA players and some all stars or soon-to-be nba all stars on other teams. Regardless, even if the us had curry, Lebron, kd, booker, etc it still wasn’t going to be easy to medal. So now we’ll see what happens in next years NBA draft. I’m guessing a lot more European players drafted in the top 20. Teams like Orlando Magic already get it. And popovich and cuban (spurs and mavericks) have always understood how good the game and talent is in Europe. Big, long, fast and great teamwork and never rest like even the best NBA players sometimes do.
Orlando is building something worth watching I think. They have two players from the new champions : Germany. The Wagner brothers. They also just drafted a tall defensive specialist who can also lead in Anthony Black. They have good depth and some above average guard play at both ends now that they drafted Black. But Franz Wagner has to be the most underrated player in the league. He’s not even considered strongly when analysts and experts talk about Orlando’s future. Because they have the Rookie of the Year in Banchero who is definitely good.
Check out Franz though … I don’t know who else to compare him to at this height 6’ 10” – KD is the only guy I can think of that’s quick at that height and who can score in multiple ways. KD is quicker but then Wagner probably has another 15 lbs on him.
Orlando is making Mark Cuban look pretty stupid. He’s had Nowitski in his ear for years and I’m sure he’s had some great chances at signing a lot of the Euro players that kicked ass these past 3-4 weeks. Instead Cuban will probably end up having to trade Doncic before he’ll win another title. The league is just too good and is passing him by.
Would like to see Franz Wagner rebound and defend better. At 6’9″, he’s got to do better than 4 rpg and 0.2 bpg in 30 minutes of action a night. He’s a decent passer and great shooter though. His brother and Carter make a nice center tandem and Markelle Fultz quietly had a good season last year, leading the team in assists and steals. Orlando, as a team, needs to become better passers and defenders, but given their youth, you would expect them to grow in those areas.
Pretty sure Franz was improving toward the end of last season, and the eye test tells me the guy keeps going hard all game. Mostly he’s quicker than guys that size.
I’ll also add that Banchero has shown he’s a complete player. Has no weaknesses. What I like about Orlando is that they have at lest 3 engines pushing at max 48 minutes a game (if they could) at both ends. Banchero, Franz and now Black. I don’t see many teams with guys like this much less 3 of them. Maybe the Bucks and OKC have 3 or more guys like that. Suns don’t and Warriors don’t play Looney enough minutes for his hustle to be as effective as some of these guys that are in most of the game because they’re conditioned to be able to never stop. Maxey, SGA, Klay and Booker are the best examples I come up with. I thought I noticed something similar in Banchero and I understand this is exactly who Anthony Black is.
Sorry for what must seem like my most recent man-crush, but I was really surprised to watch Banchero be such a hustle guy and do just about everything on the court with quickness and length. Much smarter player than I realized as well. I’m not sure why his numbers weren’t more impressive last year, but I’d expect him to dominate this year. Another one of those guys they’ll be saying took a leap forward after being on the USA team. This video is just fun to watch especially if you’re a Magic fan.
After the FIBA debacle, apparently LeBron is recruiting top stars to be on the Olympic team next year. Steph and Dray may be in. Gotta figure AD, Booker, Tatum, Butler, Young, Lillard would be on the team as well. From the FIBA squad, Bridges, Edwards, and JJJ would seem likely. Frankly, given how all the top rebounders in the league now are foreigners, Kerr should lobby to have Looney on the team. They need someone to do the dirty work in the paint on both ends.
right. So if Kerr and Grant Hill are making the final decisions, I assume they’ll assemble the team around Bridges and hold on to the other hustle guys from FIBA: Hart, Reaves and maybe Portis.
I was impressed by Edwards when I saw him playing a sort of Doncic/Harden role. He passes extremely well when he thinks to do that. If he shows that same ability to stay in that role (without jacking up the stupid 3s) then the offense should probably go through him or Fox or Curry.
JJJ will be on the team of course, but not sure he’ll get many minutes at C.
Against the Euro guys LeBron will be much more valuable playing along the baseline or on the block. Defenders are too long and fast and physical for LeBron to be as effective as he’s been from the outside. The pressure from Lithuania and Germany along the perimeter is just better than most NBA teams. Maybe the Bucks are as good.
I’d like to see Jaylen Brown on the team.
I think length and non-stop motion and smart decision making is what the FIBA team lacked. They’d have the title if they fixed any one of those issues. That and I think Kerr has too much respect for Brunson who is simply too short for the role (CP3 like) he was playing. He’s also not crafty enough to get his shot off at the rim when defenders are around. Haliburton seemed better to me, but defenses got the ball out of his hands too easily. That wouldn’t happen to Fox or Curry or Edwards. FWIW I don’t think Tatum, Young or Lillard would work well against the Euro pressure and instead would do what Edwards did too often which is play Hero ball which you just can’t do against guys that don’t ever stop moving and contesting on every play.
I suspect Hill and Kerr didn’t care about the FIBA result, else they would have brought a better, more rounded roster. My guess is that they stocked up with a lot of young talent and spread the playing time around in order to get a good feel for who among them would best fit with the likely veteran-stacked Olympic roster next year.
Another guy that I think should be on the team is Jarrett Allen. He’s a lot quicker around the rim than JJJ, and I think the US would have rebounded better. They definitely needed to rebound better.
In addition to my Banchero-hustle video (just posted in a link here) I’ll also mention that Jabari Smith was equally as impressive in Summer league and should be considered for the team IMO. I’m not sure why he wasn’t on it actually.
I’m guessing Kevin Porter Jr. will miss quite a few games and maybe the entire season after his recent legal issue. I think that makes them scarier than they were because it opens a spot for other guys that I think are better playmakers. Thompson in particular. I assume Van Vleet is going to start most or all of the season now. I thought he would have been better coming off the bench, but now I think that second unit will be Amen Thompson’s to run alongside Whitmore and Eason. I assume they’ll need to start Dillon Brooks just to keep him from complaining.
Frankly, I still don’t understand the Rockets signing VanVleet or Brooks, though maybe they had some inkling that Porter would miss time, so VanVleet offered a back-up option. Still 3 years at $40+ million a year is awfully high for someone who should be coming off the bench while you give your young guys playing time. With Porter out, I would start Green, Thompson, Smith, Senguin, and Landale and let that unit grow together with Tate, Whitmore, Eason, VanVleet and Brooks coming off the bench. However, I assume they didn’t pay VanVleet that much to come off the bench, and you are probably right about Brooks needing to start so that he doesn’t become a locker room problem. It’s a shame that VanVleet and Brooks will be stealing time from some of these great young players.
I have a theory about the Rockets interest in Van Vleet and Brooks. Less about their veteran status and more about their competitive and assertive dispositions. The Rockets are one of just a few franchises known for their best players also being professional hard nosed physical players that play all 48 minutes. Not including Harden of course. With their current squad before the draft they didn’t seem to have any of that. Maybe KPJ is like this, but even after he came back from mid-season injury last year he wasn’t the driving force of the offense that Green had become. But Green isn’t hard nosed and surprisingly Jabari Smith hasn’t shown enough of that either. Maybe this will be a break out year for Smith and hopefully Sengun.
I wonder if the Rockets would have traded for either Van Vleet or Brooks if they knew how the rest of their offseason would have gone. They kind of hit the jackpot: Eason and Smith were each notable stand outs in the summer league. Thompson seems to be a pro and doesn’t mind contact. And of course the Whitmore pick is not only unexpected but he’s clearly a bad ass. Is Whitmore going to become the next Houston bad ass? Like Horry but better and tougher?
In any case, with KPJ imploding it’ll be nice to have Van Vleet as insurance. But he’s not even their 5th best player. That’s scary.
As you probably heard, the NBA approved a new set of tougher rules around the issue of sitting players. The rules are:
1. Teams are not allowed to rest more than one star player in a game (and I think star player is defined as players who have made an all-star team). So you won’t have the Warriors, for instance, sitting Curry and Dray in the same game.
2. Teams cannot rest star players in nationally televised games and in-season tournament games. So much for teams like the Warriors and Suns not caring about these stupid in-season tournament games.
3. Teams cannot shut down players like the Wizards did with Beal last year or the Blazers did with Lillard.
4. Teams cannot rest players more on the road than they do at home and, in fact, the league prefers that if they rest players, they do so at home.
5. Any player who gets a game off for rest must still be present at the game and visible to fans.
6. Star players should not be rested in back-to-back games, though there are some exceptions for older players, although the team will need to seek league approval for such absences from the league at least a week in advance.
None of this changes what happens where there are legitimate injuries of course. Players are also allowed to miss games for personal reasons, such as Wiggins leaving the team to be with his father when he was very ill.
If teams violate these rules or the NBA believes a team has listed a healthy player as injured, the league will initiate an investigation, which may include an independent medical evaluation. If a team is found to be in violation, they will be fined with fines increasing with each violation.
I suppose there is some merit to these rules in terms of keeping fans happy. And the age exceptions will allow players like LBJ, Curry, and KD to skip back-to-back games if worn down. However, I suspect teams will take advantage of any loopholes they can find.
Oubre on the Sixers. Now that’s one team that might actually work for him, or rather might be able to benefit from his score first mindset. Defensively they’ll be worse, but Harris hasn’t been the scoring force they wanted him to be so maybe Oubre will take advantage of match ups. He’s unguardable at times, but putting the ball in the basket consistently has been the issue. He should have tons of room to operate now.
24 thoughts on “2023 Off-Season ”
Guess we should get started here:
First, here’s what I understand of the new CBA rules for salary cap violators. The NBA has informed teams that the salary cap is projected to be $134 million next season (a leap of over $10 million from last season). The new luxury tax level is expected to be $162 million. What is new in the CBA is a second luxury tax “apron.” If teams exceed the luxury tax level by $17.5 million, they would be penalized beyond the luxury tax payments they would be making. Those penalties are:
1. Loss of the midlevel exception;
2. Restrictions on sending/receiving cash in trades;
3. Restrictions on signing players on the buyout market;
4. Inability to trade 1st round picks that are more than 7 years away.
These penalties will be phased in over the next two seasons. I believe the loss of the midlevel exception will not take effect until next offseason, so teams like the Warriors, Clippers, and Bucks, all well above the second luxury tax apron, can still use it this offseason.
Chris Haynes is reporting that the Suns will meet with Kyrie.
https://www.si.com/nba/suns/news/kyrie-irving-plans-meet-with-phoenix-suns#:~:text=NBA%20on%20TNT's%20Chris%20Haynes,sources%20tell%20TNT%2FBleacher%20Report.
We know that KD and Kyrie are buds, but does KD still want to team up with Kyrie after the debacle in Brooklyn? Suns cannot afford Kyrie under the salary cap, but they could do a sign and trade with the Mavs and send Ayton to Dallas in the deal.
Some early free agency legal tampering reports (deals negotiated, but can’t be finalized until next Friday):
1. Lakers are signing Taurean Prince, formerly of the T-Wolves.
2. Portland is resigning Jerami Grant to a 5-year, $160 million deal.
3. Pacers are signing Bruce Brown to 2-year, $45 million deal.
4. Kings are resigning Trey Lyles to 2-year, $16 million deal.
5. Warriors are resigning Draymond to a 4-year, $100 million deal (first year is for only $22.3 million to help save the Dubs some taxes and last year is a player option).
6. Wizards are resigning Kyle Kuzma to 4-year, $102 million deal.
7. Warriors are rumored to be trying to sign Dario Saric.
More:
8. Spurs are resigning Tre Jones to a 2-year, $20 million deal.
9. Nets are resigning Cam Johnson to a 4-year, $108 million deal.
10. Bucks are resigning Khris Middleton to a 3-year, $102 million deal.
11. Raptors are resigning Jakob Poeltl to a 4-year, $80 million deal.
12. Mavs are resigning Kyrie Irving to a 3-year, $126 million deal.
13. Cavs are signing Georges Niang to a 3-year, $26 million deal.
14. Suns are signing Chimezie Metu (PF/C) to a 1-year deal.
15. Bucks are signing Jevon Carter to a 3-year, $20 million deal.
16. Timberwolves are signing Troy Brown, Jr. to a deal.
17. Suns are resigning Damion Lee to a 2-year deal.
18. Suns are signing Keita Bates-Diop (PF) to a 2-year, $5 million deal.
19. Bulls are resigning Coby White to a 3-year, $40 million deal.
20. Suns are signing Drew Eubanks (PF/C) to a 2-year deal.
21. Cavs are resigning Caris LeVert to a 2-year, $32 million deal.
So Suns have been pretty busy and seem to be focused on signing big men.
Draymond appeared on Paul George’s podcast this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bT4KSBZsa8
The podcast description reads: Draymond gets honest about losing confidence in his jumpshot, his insane draft experience, and how he would defend Victor Wembanyama. Then Draymond discusses the Chris Paul trade, how he can be a better mentor, and why his relationship with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson is so special. And finally, Draymond shares why Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals haunts him so much, why his relationship with LeBron won’t get in the way of his competitive edge, and PG and Dray share their Starting 5 high IQ players.
I haven’t listened to it yet, but will.
Repeating what I just texted to Larry and Jeff:
So, USA didn’t even medal in the fiba World Cup (basketball). Not too surprising because there were very few all stars and no veterans on the US team. And a lot of NBA players and some all stars or soon-to-be nba all stars on other teams. Regardless, even if the us had curry, Lebron, kd, booker, etc it still wasn’t going to be easy to medal. So now we’ll see what happens in next years NBA draft. I’m guessing a lot more European players drafted in the top 20. Teams like Orlando Magic already get it. And popovich and cuban (spurs and mavericks) have always understood how good the game and talent is in Europe. Big, long, fast and great teamwork and never rest like even the best NBA players sometimes do.
Orlando is building something worth watching I think. They have two players from the new champions : Germany. The Wagner brothers. They also just drafted a tall defensive specialist who can also lead in Anthony Black. They have good depth and some above average guard play at both ends now that they drafted Black. But Franz Wagner has to be the most underrated player in the league. He’s not even considered strongly when analysts and experts talk about Orlando’s future. Because they have the Rookie of the Year in Banchero who is definitely good.
Check out Franz though … I don’t know who else to compare him to at this height 6’ 10” – KD is the only guy I can think of that’s quick at that height and who can score in multiple ways. KD is quicker but then Wagner probably has another 15 lbs on him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_JYHZZqMjQ
And you can bet they’ll try to find a way to sign Schroeder;-)
Orlando is making Mark Cuban look pretty stupid. He’s had Nowitski in his ear for years and I’m sure he’s had some great chances at signing a lot of the Euro players that kicked ass these past 3-4 weeks. Instead Cuban will probably end up having to trade Doncic before he’ll win another title. The league is just too good and is passing him by.
Would like to see Franz Wagner rebound and defend better. At 6’9″, he’s got to do better than 4 rpg and 0.2 bpg in 30 minutes of action a night. He’s a decent passer and great shooter though. His brother and Carter make a nice center tandem and Markelle Fultz quietly had a good season last year, leading the team in assists and steals. Orlando, as a team, needs to become better passers and defenders, but given their youth, you would expect them to grow in those areas.
Pretty sure Franz was improving toward the end of last season, and the eye test tells me the guy keeps going hard all game. Mostly he’s quicker than guys that size.
I’ll also add that Banchero has shown he’s a complete player. Has no weaknesses. What I like about Orlando is that they have at lest 3 engines pushing at max 48 minutes a game (if they could) at both ends. Banchero, Franz and now Black. I don’t see many teams with guys like this much less 3 of them. Maybe the Bucks and OKC have 3 or more guys like that. Suns don’t and Warriors don’t play Looney enough minutes for his hustle to be as effective as some of these guys that are in most of the game because they’re conditioned to be able to never stop. Maxey, SGA, Klay and Booker are the best examples I come up with. I thought I noticed something similar in Banchero and I understand this is exactly who Anthony Black is.
Sorry for what must seem like my most recent man-crush, but I was really surprised to watch Banchero be such a hustle guy and do just about everything on the court with quickness and length. Much smarter player than I realized as well. I’m not sure why his numbers weren’t more impressive last year, but I’d expect him to dominate this year. Another one of those guys they’ll be saying took a leap forward after being on the USA team. This video is just fun to watch especially if you’re a Magic fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTjKjB_MyUk
After the FIBA debacle, apparently LeBron is recruiting top stars to be on the Olympic team next year. Steph and Dray may be in. Gotta figure AD, Booker, Tatum, Butler, Young, Lillard would be on the team as well. From the FIBA squad, Bridges, Edwards, and JJJ would seem likely. Frankly, given how all the top rebounders in the league now are foreigners, Kerr should lobby to have Looney on the team. They need someone to do the dirty work in the paint on both ends.
Of course, I should have mentioned KD and Fox as likely candidates for the team as well.
right. So if Kerr and Grant Hill are making the final decisions, I assume they’ll assemble the team around Bridges and hold on to the other hustle guys from FIBA: Hart, Reaves and maybe Portis.
I was impressed by Edwards when I saw him playing a sort of Doncic/Harden role. He passes extremely well when he thinks to do that. If he shows that same ability to stay in that role (without jacking up the stupid 3s) then the offense should probably go through him or Fox or Curry.
JJJ will be on the team of course, but not sure he’ll get many minutes at C.
Against the Euro guys LeBron will be much more valuable playing along the baseline or on the block. Defenders are too long and fast and physical for LeBron to be as effective as he’s been from the outside. The pressure from Lithuania and Germany along the perimeter is just better than most NBA teams. Maybe the Bucks are as good.
I’d like to see Jaylen Brown on the team.
I think length and non-stop motion and smart decision making is what the FIBA team lacked. They’d have the title if they fixed any one of those issues. That and I think Kerr has too much respect for Brunson who is simply too short for the role (CP3 like) he was playing. He’s also not crafty enough to get his shot off at the rim when defenders are around. Haliburton seemed better to me, but defenses got the ball out of his hands too easily. That wouldn’t happen to Fox or Curry or Edwards. FWIW I don’t think Tatum, Young or Lillard would work well against the Euro pressure and instead would do what Edwards did too often which is play Hero ball which you just can’t do against guys that don’t ever stop moving and contesting on every play.
I suspect Hill and Kerr didn’t care about the FIBA result, else they would have brought a better, more rounded roster. My guess is that they stocked up with a lot of young talent and spread the playing time around in order to get a good feel for who among them would best fit with the likely veteran-stacked Olympic roster next year.
Another guy that I think should be on the team is Jarrett Allen. He’s a lot quicker around the rim than JJJ, and I think the US would have rebounded better. They definitely needed to rebound better.
In addition to my Banchero-hustle video (just posted in a link here) I’ll also mention that Jabari Smith was equally as impressive in Summer league and should be considered for the team IMO. I’m not sure why he wasn’t on it actually.
I’m guessing Kevin Porter Jr. will miss quite a few games and maybe the entire season after his recent legal issue. I think that makes them scarier than they were because it opens a spot for other guys that I think are better playmakers. Thompson in particular. I assume Van Vleet is going to start most or all of the season now. I thought he would have been better coming off the bench, but now I think that second unit will be Amen Thompson’s to run alongside Whitmore and Eason. I assume they’ll need to start Dillon Brooks just to keep him from complaining.
Frankly, I still don’t understand the Rockets signing VanVleet or Brooks, though maybe they had some inkling that Porter would miss time, so VanVleet offered a back-up option. Still 3 years at $40+ million a year is awfully high for someone who should be coming off the bench while you give your young guys playing time. With Porter out, I would start Green, Thompson, Smith, Senguin, and Landale and let that unit grow together with Tate, Whitmore, Eason, VanVleet and Brooks coming off the bench. However, I assume they didn’t pay VanVleet that much to come off the bench, and you are probably right about Brooks needing to start so that he doesn’t become a locker room problem. It’s a shame that VanVleet and Brooks will be stealing time from some of these great young players.
I have a theory about the Rockets interest in Van Vleet and Brooks. Less about their veteran status and more about their competitive and assertive dispositions. The Rockets are one of just a few franchises known for their best players also being professional hard nosed physical players that play all 48 minutes. Not including Harden of course. With their current squad before the draft they didn’t seem to have any of that. Maybe KPJ is like this, but even after he came back from mid-season injury last year he wasn’t the driving force of the offense that Green had become. But Green isn’t hard nosed and surprisingly Jabari Smith hasn’t shown enough of that either. Maybe this will be a break out year for Smith and hopefully Sengun.
I wonder if the Rockets would have traded for either Van Vleet or Brooks if they knew how the rest of their offseason would have gone. They kind of hit the jackpot: Eason and Smith were each notable stand outs in the summer league. Thompson seems to be a pro and doesn’t mind contact. And of course the Whitmore pick is not only unexpected but he’s clearly a bad ass. Is Whitmore going to become the next Houston bad ass? Like Horry but better and tougher?
In any case, with KPJ imploding it’ll be nice to have Van Vleet as insurance. But he’s not even their 5th best player. That’s scary.
I didn’t mean “traded for” Van Vleet of course. I know and knew there was no trade involved.
As you probably heard, the NBA approved a new set of tougher rules around the issue of sitting players. The rules are:
1. Teams are not allowed to rest more than one star player in a game (and I think star player is defined as players who have made an all-star team). So you won’t have the Warriors, for instance, sitting Curry and Dray in the same game.
2. Teams cannot rest star players in nationally televised games and in-season tournament games. So much for teams like the Warriors and Suns not caring about these stupid in-season tournament games.
3. Teams cannot shut down players like the Wizards did with Beal last year or the Blazers did with Lillard.
4. Teams cannot rest players more on the road than they do at home and, in fact, the league prefers that if they rest players, they do so at home.
5. Any player who gets a game off for rest must still be present at the game and visible to fans.
6. Star players should not be rested in back-to-back games, though there are some exceptions for older players, although the team will need to seek league approval for such absences from the league at least a week in advance.
None of this changes what happens where there are legitimate injuries of course. Players are also allowed to miss games for personal reasons, such as Wiggins leaving the team to be with his father when he was very ill.
If teams violate these rules or the NBA believes a team has listed a healthy player as injured, the league will initiate an investigation, which may include an independent medical evaluation. If a team is found to be in violation, they will be fined with fines increasing with each violation.
I suppose there is some merit to these rules in terms of keeping fans happy. And the age exceptions will allow players like LBJ, Curry, and KD to skip back-to-back games if worn down. However, I suspect teams will take advantage of any loopholes they can find.
Oubre on the Sixers. Now that’s one team that might actually work for him, or rather might be able to benefit from his score first mindset. Defensively they’ll be worse, but Harris hasn’t been the scoring force they wanted him to be so maybe Oubre will take advantage of match ups. He’s unguardable at times, but putting the ball in the basket consistently has been the issue. He should have tons of room to operate now.