2025-2026 NBA Thread - All-Star Weekend

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farce© said:
Nonsense. The incident didn't start with Moussa's foul of Duren. After the previous Detroit basket, Duren hit Moussa with a hard forearm shiver to the chest. There was a lot of shit talk between the two. It turns out their "relationship" goes back to high school when Duren was at Mont Verde Academy and Moussa was at IMG. Duren deserved the same penalty as Moussa. By no means was Duren a victim in this incident.
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I don't know what happened on the possession before, but on this possession Diabate fouled Duren (hard but fairly normal foul) and then initiated the post-play physical confrontation with a headbutt. Duren pushed him away with a hand to the face, which rightly got him a suspension, and Diabate then went berserk looking for a fight. I think it's completely appropriate for the guy who both initiated the inappropriate post-play altercation and then tried to escalate it into something much uglier to get a longer suspension than the guy who reacted to the initial escalation (albeit with a hand to the face, which he shouldn't have done) and then rightly avoided accepting Diabate's invitation to get both guys suspended for weeks.
 
rodoheel said:
I don't know what happened on the possession before, but on this possession Diabate fouled Duren (hard but fairly normal foul) and then initiated the post-play physical confrontation with a headbutt. Duren pushed him away with a hand to the face, which rightly got him a suspension, and Diabate then went berserk looking for a fight. I think it's completely appropriate for the guy who both initiated the inappropriate post-play altercation and then tried to escalate it into something much uglier to get a longer suspension than the guy who reacted to the initial escalation (albeit with a hand to the face, which he shouldn't have done) and then rightly avoided accepting Diabate's invitation to get both guys suspended for weeks.
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I agree with all of this except since we’re splitting hairs, I’d say the headbutt was a light one by both, more a head-push. And it was hard to tell but it seemed simultaneous, but only because Diabate was following him and yapping after the foul, as Duren had walked away from him after the foul. He turned around and they both lowered their heads at about the same time.
 
My take - After the foul, both guys walked towards each other and put their heads down. I have seen people point to Duren as the instigator, and others feel like Diabate was. Since at this point neither had done anything that would warrant even a technical let alone a suspension, I’ll say nothing at this point was really instigated by anyone.

Duren then “mushed” (as hilariously described by Jalen Brown) Diabete in the face. That was the first incident that would be out of “normal” NBA confrontations where nothing out-of-bounds (so to speak) had yet been done.

Diabate and Bridges then took it to another level by throwing fists and not stopping their aggression for an extended time. At this point, Duren wisely backed off (I say wisely to mean to avoid further punishment, not because I think they could have beaten him up).

So, I think it is fair that Diabate and Bridges got longer suspensions. I do think it should have been one game for Duren and two for Bridges and Diabate, but that is just my own opinion, obviously.

I think LaMelo might have left the bench so if that is accurate I feel fortunate that he didn’t get any suspension.
 
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ChileG said:
My take - After the foul, both guys walked towards each other and put their heads down. I have seen people point to Duren as the instigator, and others feel like Diabate was. Since at this point neither had done anything that would warrant even a technical let alone a suspension, I’ll say nothing at this point was really instigated by anyone.

Duren then “mushed” (as hilariously described by Jalen Brown) Diabete in the face. That was the first incident that would be out of “normal” NBA confrontations where nothing out-of-bounds (so to speak) had yet been done.

Diabate and Bridges then took it to another level by throwing fists and not stopping their aggression for an extended time. At this point, Duren wisely backed off (I say wisely to mean to avoid further punishment, not because I think they could have beaten him up).

So, I think it is fair that Diabate and Bridges got longer suspensions. I do think it should have been one game for Duren and two for Bridges and Diabate, but that is just my own opinion, obviously.

I think LaMelo might have left the bench so if that is accurate I feel fortunate that he didn’t get any suspension.
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To be fair to LaMelo, it looked like he left the bench to help keep the peace.
 
How close are the Hornets to being good? I haven't followed them since they left Charlotte decades ago.

I know Ball is good. How good is he? Is he top five in the league in his position? Top three? Could he carry a team into a deep playoff run if he had a good but not Superstar teammate on the inside or would he need a superstar and he would be Pippin level?

Do the hornets have a good chance to get that player(s) either in free agency or the draft in the next season or two?
 
gtyellowjacket said:
How close are the Hornets to being good? I haven't followed them since they left Charlotte decades ago.

I know Ball is good. How good is he? Is he top five in the league in his position? Top three? Could he carry a team into a deep playoff run if he had a good but not Superstar teammate on the inside or would he need a superstar and he would be Pippin level?

Do the hornets have a good chance to get that player(s) either in free agency or the draft in the next season or two?
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Ball is maturing as a floor leader.
But Brandon Miller is their best player, and Kon Kneuppel is playing great basketball.
They are the team’s “big 3” at this moment.
The GM has been stockpiling draft pick’s presumably to use to attain players. 11 first rounders and 14 second rounders in next seven years.
Charles Lee seems to be a good coach.
Their offense is high-powered and they have been buying into defense this year.
This isn’t THE YEAR.
But they have one of the youngest rosters in the league so we Hornets fans are very hopeful for the future.
 
ChileG said:
Ball is maturing as a floor leader.
But Brandon Miller is their best player, and Kon Kneuppel is playing great basketball.
They are the team’s “big 3” at this moment.
The GM has been stockpiling draft pick’s presumably to use to attain players. 11 first rounders and 14 second rounders in next seven years.
Charles Lee seems to be a good coach.
Their offense is high-powered and they have been buying into defense this year.
This isn’t THE YEAR.
But they have one of the youngest rosters in the league so we Hornets fans are very hopeful for the future.
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Thanks. Are those two or three guys considered elite? The kind of player that could win a championship that's the best guy on the team or are they closer to like a Kevin Love type player where they still need another amazing piece?

Has the team indicated what they're going to do with those picks? Are they planning to trade them for an elite player or are they hoping to get that player through the draft?
 
gtyellowjacket said:
Thanks. Are those two or three guys considered elite? The kind of player that could win a championship that's the best guy on the team or are they closer to like a Kevin Love type player where they still need another amazing piece?

Has the team indicated what they're going to do with those picks? Are they planning to trade them for an elite player or are they hoping to get that player through the draft?
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Too early to tell. I do think Brandon Miller, if he stays healthy (which has been an issue for him in his short career thus far), has serious star potential. I think Kon, who has vastly exceeded my expectations, does too. His outside shooting is elite (no NBA player has made more threes than Kon— where he ranks second with just two made threes behind the leader— while shooting at or higher than his percentage) and he has more to his offensive repertoire than I expected.. Those guys very well could be the kind of guys the Hornets can build the team around to achieve a high level of success. As Hornets fans, we are experiencing an extremely rare moment of optimism.

No idea what the team will do with all the future draft picks.
 
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Icky Mettle said:
Too early to tell. I do think Brandon Miller, if he stays healthy (which has been an issue for him in his short career thus far), has serious star potential. I think Kon, who has vastly exceeded my expectations, does too. His outside shooting is elite and he has more to his offensive repertoire than I expected.. Those guys very well could be the kind of guys the Hornets can build the team around to achieve a high level of success. As Hornets fans, we are experiencing an extremely rare moment of optimism.

No idea what the team will do with all the future draft picks.
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Only issue is that Ball, and Miller to some degree, need to improve their shooting/shot selection. Ball takes a lot of shots but is shooting just 40%. The last 10 games he has yet to make 50% in any of them. Miller is somewhat the same.
 
DiehardHeelFan said:
Only issue is that Ball, and Miller to some degree, need to improve their shooting/shot selection. Ball takes a lot of shots but is shooting just 40%. The last 10 games he has yet to make 50% in any of them. Miller is somewhat the same.
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Melo's shot selection has not been the issue the past 10 games or, really, throughout his career. he takes some crazy-looking shots and it looks like bad basketball when they don't go in... but in the last 10 games, which have been a pretty cold stretch for him, he's still hitting a totally respectable 36% of his 3's. the issue has been that he still hasn't put on enough muscle to consistently finish at the rim through contact and also has the worst whistle in the league so he can't complement the 3-point shooting with even average two-point finishing + FT volume against more physical D's.

Raw FG% is a really outdated way to judge players who take as many three-pointers as Melo and Miller, and most NBA guards/wings for that matter, do.
 
He’s a lifetime 42%/36% shooter and every season has been roughly around those numbers. Averages 3.5 FTA per game and that is roughly what he has averaged each season. He’s in year 6 so hopefully puts on muscle soon and starts getting those whistles.
 
Forgot the All-Star game was this weekend. Shame that these all-star celebrations are largely irrelevant across all sports.
 
duluoz said:
He’s an all-star and his team is #1 in the East. That’s a very bad trade-off. He was getting baited by Diabate and retaliated but caught himself before going too far.

Have you seen Jalen Duren, or watched him at all? If you think he was afraid to fight, that’s funny. He’d have snapped Diabate in half.
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The facts remain that he made first hand to face contact and left the area of the fight. It doesn't mean he was scared... maybe he thought about the repercussions but in that case why did he start the fight?

Because he's a bigger dude, he could've thought that he were just gonna pump the dude... and realize that he did not want to do all that when D was about that action.
 
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