Beyond Jimmy Butler’s continued winter of discontent in Miami, it was a busy week around the NBA. Adam Silver floated a change to gameplay that confused a lot of fans and even some NBA coaches, and All-Star voting results did the same. Let’s so a quick debrief on some of what went down.
Jimmy Butler and the NBA trade deadline
It’s the last weekend before the NBA’s February 7th trade deadline, and since his third (had to count quick on my fingers to make sure I was getting them all) and now indefinite suspension from the Miami Heat, my guess is Jimmy Butler will be spending it the way he did his previous suspensions: enjoying himself. It’s up to his agent to get a deal done.
Domino playing and coffee drinking aside, it’s not on Butler to have the basketball equivalent of a long night of the soul over his suspensions or the reality of his impending trade. With what Butler went through to get to where he is today, my guess is he’s had his fair share of those nights already, and besides being antiquated to the player autonomy era we’re firmly in, wanting Butler to perform some kind of penance as he waits is just weird.
By walking out of practice and missing a flight, Butler made the bed he’s lying in — suspended without pay — but my hunch is if a deal does not go down before next Friday, he’ll hoop for the Heat. He said as much and I’m inclined to take him at his word.
10-minute quarters
During an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show”, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver floated the idea of shaving the game’s 12-minute quarters to 10.
Silver noted that the NBA is the only pro basketball league that utilizes 12-minute quarters, saying that as the league gets more involved in “global basketball” it could be something to consider. Surely a detail that won’t alarm already alarmed fans who think the league is losing an American step in things like its lack of “home grown” stars and MVP-candidates.
While it doesn’t address the uptick in threes, it would save fans from sitting through extra minutes of a blowout game.
My guess is the 10-minute quarter idea was already floated in front of team owners, or else Silver’s phone was blowing up after that episode aired. Beyond the bottom line of billionaires, the idea got some pushback from NBA coaches, notably the Nuggets’ Michal Malone who said, “I hope we don’t become Barnum & Bailey, or do whatever we have to do to keep viewership.”
All-Star snubs
Is it controversial to say I don’t think All-Star snubs are real? In the sense that All-Star voting is already a popularity contest, and marginally merit-based.
Was Domantas Sabonis robbed? Was Kyrie Irving fleeced? Was Trae Young intentionally overlooked? If this was solely a merit-based system then Norman Powell, who has a more dramatic on-court impact for the Clippers this season than James Harden (and is shooting 44% from 3 on under eight attempts per game), should’ve been above Harden in voting results.
When you really let your eyes go blurry looking over the pages and pages of voting results what comes to mind, at least for me, isn’t a lack but instead a surplus. An almost impossible field of talent to narrow down. There are so many stellar athletes there that pretty soon picking just 24 feels next to impossible.
