Even with the conference finals going on
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A future that, perhaps, will have less tanking.
The draft lottery – the last before changes come next year to dissuade tanking – is Tuesday night, and then about 70 players will partake in the draft combine that starts on Wednesday. Those events are both happening in Chicago, as are some various league meetings such as a gathering of NBA general managers and other front-office executives.
But the biggest news will be made by 14 pingpong balls that will decide who drafts No. 1 next month.
”We’ve got to see what happens in the lottery first and see where our position is,” Memphis executive vice president of basketball operations John Hollinger said. ”That’s going to dictate a lot of the decisions that come after that and how we use our time after that.”
Phoenix has a 25 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, followed by Memphis (19.9 percent), Dallas (13.8 percent) and Atlanta (13.7 percent). The rest of the candidates for No. 1 are Orlando (8.8 percent), Chicago (5.3), Sacramento (5.3), Cleveland (2.8), New York (1.7), Philadelphia (1.1), Charlotte (0.8), Detroit (0.7)
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Many of those teams were at the center of tanking questions this season. Now they’ll see if it pays off.
”We did this year what we felt was in the long-term best interest of the Bulls,” Chicago vice president of basketball operations John Paxson said. ”It’s not a situation that any of us want to ever be in again. And it goes against everything as a competitive person that you believe in. But it’s the way the system’s set up.”
For now. The NBA is changing the system.
Starting in 2019, with the NBA hoping that teams have less incentive to strive for the worst record and therefore the best chance of winning the lottery, the odds will be changing. The three teams with the worst regular-season record will each have a 14 percent chance of winning the No. 1 pick, the fourth-worst team will have a 12.5 percent chance and the fifth-worst 10.5 percent.
”My sense is we’re still going to have some work to do,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said.
Tanking got plenty of attention this season, and a few minutes on Jan. 29 might have decided the race.
Phoenix and Memphis played that night. The Grizzlies scored 42 points in the second quarter – their only 40-point period all season – and forced the Suns into 10 consecutive misses in one stretch, on the way to a 120-109 win.
The Suns finished one game worse than the Grizzlies. Flip that Jan. 29 outcome, and it would been the Grizzlies with the best chance at the No. 1 pick.
”The league has been beating us up right now,” said Phoenix guard Devin Booker, who hasn’t come even close to making the playoffs and is already on the fourth head coach of his three-year career now that the Suns have hired Igor Kokoskov. ”But I think it’s going to be motivational for us. I know for myself, working out, I think about that all the time. I never want to be in these situations again.”
The new lottery format isn’t the only looming change related to drafts. It seems likely that by 2020, the one-and-done rule – in place since 2006 – will be gone and players will be allowed to jump from high school directly to the NBA again.
If that was the case this season, the rights to draft phenoms like R.J. Barrett
Cheap Customized Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys , Zion Williamson and Cameron Reddish would probably be decided by those pingpong balls in Chicago on Tuesday. Instead, they’re all going to Duke this fall.
So they won’t be at the combine, nor will the likely top two picks in the June 21 draft – Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic. Ayton declined the invitation to participate in Chicago, and Doncic’s season in Europe isn’t over yet.
”We sort of expected this, that we might not see the top couple guys there,” Hollinger said. ”So we just have to adjust from that and get our information in other ways.”
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All the chatter is that underdog Cleveland could be completely deflated from the way it flopped in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Determined and as motivated as ever might be more appropriate and fitting whenever LeBron James is in the mix.
”It’s one of the toughest losses I’ve had in my career,” James acknowledged Saturday, ”because of everything that kind of went on with the game and the way we played. Obviously, we all know what happened in the game.”
There were miscues aplenty, most notably J.R. Smith’s offensive rebound in the final seconds of regulation that he dribbled back toward half-court in a tie game rather than shooting for a chance to win it – later insisting he knew the score, though that remains a huge mystery. The decision baffled a frustrated and stunned LeBron, who signaled at his teammate with arms pointed toward the basket.
”The game’s over. There’s nothing we can do about it,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. ”We’ve got to move on, move forward.”
James has done so all postseason with an edge
Authentic Dallas Goedert Jersey , intensity and ability to all-out carry the Cavs – will them to win after win, if you wish.
Yes, with King James on the other side in this familiar June rivalry, Golden State knows much better than to fall into such a trap that the Cavs might be down and out, even if the defending champions have some momentum going into Game 2 on Sunday night back home at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors learned that lasting lesson two years ago, when James led the Cavaliers back from the brink – a daunting 3-1 series deficit – to capture a title in Game 7 on the Warriors’ home floor.
”I know it’s not the exact same team, but we had them down 3-1 a couple years ago. They might have been deflated, and they came back and won, so we’re expecting another great effort from them,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”We’ve been through this too many times. We beat Houston on the road in Game 1 and the narrative was, you know, series is over. It seems to always be that way. There is just overreaction after a game.”
Draymond Green didn’t sugarcoat it: Golden State got a little lucky to win Game 1 on a night James scored 51 points and the defending champions caught some big breaks.
The Warriors hope to be far better with a chance to take a 2-0 series lead before the series shifts to Northwest Ohio.
”Sometimes you need a little luck. It’s good to be lucky sometimes,” Green said. ”I’ll take it.”
Kevin Durant wants the Warriors to remove the luck factor going forward. He even nit-picked that offensive board that Smith secured as something he should have done.
”As you try to lock in on the details as much as possible, that luck factor – good luck, bad luck – you don’t have it creep in if you figure out the detail parts
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Golden State gave up 19 offensive boards in all while getting only four.
The Warriors know James is going to score his share of points. They just want to make it harder for him to get good looks, something that is a top priority going into Sunday. James, in his eighth straight NBA Finals and ninth overall, shot 19 for 32 to go with eight assists and eight rebounds in the opener.
”We’ve got to make them work harder in general,” Kerr said. ”I thought our defense was subpar the other night.”
James said he is taking antibiotics and using eye drops after getting poked in the eye by Green in the first half. The outer area of James’ eye was still red Saturday.
Klay Thompson expects to play though is listed as questionable with what he called a sprained left ankle while Andre Iguodala remained doubtful as he works back from a bone bruise in his left knee suffered in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against Houston and has cost him the last five games.
Cleveland’s J.R. Smith slid into Thompson’s left leg in the first quarter of the series opener Thursday night. Thompson was dealing with stiffness, swelling and more pain Saturday.
”It is a Finals game, and I’m going to do everything I possibly can to play,” Thompson said. ”It’s something you definitely don’t want to have in the NBA championship.”
Nor does James want blood in his eye to affect his vision or alter his view of the basket.
So, did he go off for 51 with only one good eye?
”No, I had some points before that already,” a good-natured James said, chuckling.
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