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Nah. My slice was just worse then usual.

They have been out every day since recruiting started again. I did see J.Hunter run today which warmed my heart. Also saw Race and the kid is getting huge.

I love Brad Stevens and I still think he's one of the top 2-3 coaches in the NBA. What he's done in Boston has been phenomenal. With that said, he did a really bad job this season. I don't know if there is really anything you can do with a personality/figure like Kyrie, but Stevens wasn't able to ever get the team to play properly for any extended stretch. I still think Boston is the more talented team top-to-bottom compared to Philly and Milwaukee (not sure about Toronto when they're healthy, they're really good), but for whatever reason (again, probably even out of his control) Stevens was unable to get this team to play together. I've never seen a team take more horrible shots off of zero or just 1 pass super early in the shot-clock (the Celtics did this constantly), and they basically played 'my turn, your turn' on offense most of the season. The dynamics completely ruined Tatum's development this season and really hurt Jaylen Brown for the first half. I put most of it at the feet of Kyrie, but Stevens is the coach and he gets a ton of accolades so he has to share some when it goes bad like it did this season.

I have zero sympathy for guys making 30 million a year having to play 82 games. If a player played all 48 minutes for 82 games that is around 65 hours of work for 30 million. Pretty over worked for playing a GAME that you love. Many of us work more hours in 1 week than the actual game time they play in a season. I dont want to hear the workouts and travel blah blah blah. It must suck to stay at the Conrad fly private jets etc get to a city and play a game. The NBA season is around 174 days long so using the 30 million dollar amount that is 82,000 a day. Suck it up and play as many as the fans are willing to pay for and your best should be expected. I get tiered of announcers saying he plays so hard. For what he is making would you expect any less. The rest of us if we don't work hard we have to look for a new job.

82 games is long but nothing to baseball. I think most players also would agree with a shorter regular season, but money talks, not happening anyway. 6 teams? Ok, so just looking at the playoff teams in the West alone, all of whom very much deserved to be there and have plenty of talent to go with good coaching, GS, Denver, Rockets, Blazers, Spurs, Thunder, wait, that’s already 6, lol. Clippers played great basketball, btw. If you’re watching the NBA this year you’re seeing multiple — multiple— very good teams playing great team basketball with multiple elite players. And you have the growth of small to mid market teams like the Bucks making real runs, with great team ball surrounding a star or stars. Hell, the Bucks, best record in the League, are capable of winning it all. The Pacers are not necessarily stuck in the middle. They were a 3 seed with a legit shot of coming out of the East with Vic healthy. They need to add at least one star level player to pair with Vic - I think a point guard - but just as they took the Lakers to 6 with Reggie, and were an absolute championship contender the year of Artest’s stupid brawl in the Palace, they can get back there, they’re not trapped by the League. It’s easier for the big market teams for sure, but then look at the Knicks. Would you rather have had the past 25 years of the Pacers, or Knicks?

I think the perfect number is around 50-60 games. The one year after a strike the season was 50 games long at to me that was about the right amount of games. I also think they need to shorten the layoffs as well because I don't think it should take 2.5 months to play the playoffs If I was in charge of the NBA I would contract 6 teams because I think the rosters right now is watered down with talent. We have to many teams where you are lucky to have a couple of really good players and the talent is to dispersed unless you are a team that can get multiple superstars to come to your team. I look at a team like the Pacers who right now are stuck in the middle where they are to good to get high draft picks but not good enough to compete for a championship.

I don’t think Kyrie will be in Boston next year, and that’s better for Boston. He is not a guy who can take a team to a championship.

I seen Hunter on Fee lane,he looks taller then 6'6" imo

Just having some fun here, @Hoosierhoopster, obviously the Celtics-Bucks series is more than just this, but with that said it is still a make/miss league a lot of the time. While the Bucks are outplaying the Celtics, no doubt, in some very key spots the Celtics are missing a lot of really open shots as well, whereas the Bucks are making them. That does go back to what type of shots you're taking as well though.

I do not think Steph gets enough heat. anytime he misses a layup or open 3's the injury excuse is made from every talking head out there.

I don't like Durant, really dislike Green but would love him on my team and so many calls go in their favor. I love their ball movement and screening and their defensive rotations as a coach but as a fan I hope they lose.

Still my favorite player. Knick Killer. Miller Time. Oh but for MJ the Pacers with Regg would have rings

speaking of which 24 years ago Reggie solidified his place in basketball lore forever.

I like the Bucks out of the East. Too much bench depth IMO. GS looks fatigued to me. I did not mind the Celtics winning this series I really like BS, but after Game 1 hearing Paul Pierce say the series was over and Bucks would win 1 maybe I cant help but pull for the Bucks. I hope the Rockets bounce the warriors, they have become so unlikable getting close to Patriots level for me.

I think a realistic possibility is going back to the best of 5 opening round. It's not very often that 1st round series go the full 7 (this year, one went 6 and one went 7). In terms of revenue, there's only 3 total games that could have aired on TV. Cuts down on travel, cuts down on the cushion needed when scheduling the 2nd round, and allows the 2nd round to start that much earlier. Edit: And by "realistic", I mean worth discussing, not that anyone is actively talking about it.

It is but if it can get collectively better, I'm for it. It think killing off a few teams and shrinking the schedule some would improve the overall product.

I think the product is fine.

Silver looking into shortening the length of the season to me is relevant to this conversation you guys are having mostly from a continual effort standpoint that teams will be putting into each game making each game more valuable. http://www.nba.com/article/2019/04/13/adam-silver-2019-board-governors-meeting

You don't think most college games are bad basketball? I only get defensive on it when I find the reasoning to be based more in perception than reality, which I find is usually the case with people that like college basketball and slam the NBA. Not saying that is you, I understand you just don't like the NBA game from a stylistic standpoint.

He’s so about getting his, and while playing poorly, it’s awful. Boston is better than this, addition by subtraction, or addition by replacement, he needs to go

He has been atrocious. After the game he actually said he should have been more selfish and that 22 shots wasn’t enough for a player as talented as his. I really hope he goes to the Knicks.

EJ is putting on a clinic tonight. He looks like the pre-injury EJ. His burst and strength to the rim is impressive

Bucks are making Bahston look less than good. And is it me, or is this team Harry Carey's nightmare? Antetomounmpo. Ilyasova. Mirotic. Connaughton. There aren't that many consonants in a can of alphabet soup.

You’re missing out. The playoffs have been fantastic.

Excellent post. From a time perspective, I don't have time to watch both college and NBA intently. I choose IU basketball as a muscle memory passion that hooked me decades ago. I read about the NBA but only spot watch it during the regular season. In the playoffs, I have more time for it with college and NFL gone. Having said all that, if I were 15 years old now, there's a good chance I would get hooked on pro hoops over college. IMO, the respective pro and college products have gone in different directions. The college game has fallen dramatically behind college football. Unlike football, you don't have many top teams staying together at an elite level and coalescing over time. I don't mean teams like the 1976 Hoosiers. I mean, in any given year, do you have wars between 10 or 12 damn good teams with veteran rosters with future pros clubbing each other? Meanwhile, the NBA game has excellent coaching and teams that play tremendous team ball. I have no problem with the three ball. Look at all the extra passes, plus all the excellent coaching when you look at guys like Pop, Kerr, Budenholzer, Stevens and others. Any of those guys could just kill it in college. We aren't talking about Shaka Smart. The NBA product is incredibly lucrative now with teams worth north of $2 billion. That's not happening because it is a crap product. Quite the opposite.

I'll never understand people that love basketball but don't like the NBA? Honestly, the last 10-12 years or so, the NBA playoffs for the most part have been phenomenal in terms of both story-lines and drama. I know it seems like LeBron (Heat/Cavs) and the Warriors have dominated as forgone conclusions, but both the Pacers and Celtics took LeBron's Heat and Cavs teams to 7-game series in the East and GS was taken 7 by OKC and Houston in recent years. We've had 3 7-game NBA Finals over the last 9 years, plus the drama that was the Mavs and Spurs beating LeBron's Heat, as well as a little mini renewal of the Celtics/Lakers rivalry as they met twice in the Finals. I grew up on the Celtics/Lakers of the 80's and the beauty at which those teams executed offensively, but I still say that if someone asked me to show them an example of how basketball should be played I'm throwing in the tape of the Spurs beating the Heat 4-1 in 2014. It was just an amazing display of team basketball by the Spurs. I don't love all the 3 attempts in the game now, so I understand that criticism, but otherwise the NBA has largely been awesome for the past 12 or so years.

Someone I know that has watched Kaufman a ton compares his game to a young, obviously less skilled version of Tim Duncan. I know for a fact he's the epitome of team player, a great kid, strong pedigree that grew up IU people. The question remains to me is what does HE want. IU's lack of success during his lifetime and UofL' s proximity and flash, I just don't know. I think he'll stay close to home because family is huge to him. If I had any say in the Hoosier coaching circle I'm pushing my chips in on Trey now before it's too late. I promise this kid is going to keep improving for years and years to come. He broke, I think, 2 bones in his right hand and he's working on dribbling, shooting, and passing with his left. I hope IU goes all in on him by end of summer.

Steve was the reason I thought the 75 team was better than the 76 Championship team

Trey is closer to 6'9 than he is 6'7... and plays like it too. We need to offer.