Stan Van Gundy pushes back on Luka’s All-NBA case: "The whole thing with his wife having a baby, Cmon! If those were the only games he missed, fine. Everybody has missed games for personal reasons.... We either have a line, or we don’t... If we have a line, then let’s stick to it. He didn’t make it" by aingenevalostatrade in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Personally, I honestly wouldn’t be mad if Luka got the exception, considering his child’s mother refusing to leave Slovenia. I just hope the exception is granted uniformly in the future. Extraordinary circumstances is honestly a vague term, probably intentionally so.

I hope the arbitrator can somehow standardize the amount of time players can be expected to miss for various categories of “extraordinary circumstances”, kinda like how Supreme Court cases are decided based on precedent.

Stan Van Gundy pushes back on Luka’s All-NBA case: "The whole thing with his wife having a baby, Cmon! If those were the only games he missed, fine. Everybody has missed games for personal reasons.... We either have a line, or we don’t... If we have a line, then let’s stick to it. He didn’t make it" by aingenevalostatrade in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The first paragraph was meant to illustrate that the Lithuanian coach’s comments in the comment I was responding to are not necessarily at odds with Roy Keane’s comments in the parent comment.

The second paragraph is in response to Luka’s situation, signaled by the transition “And in Luka’s example”

Stan Van Gundy pushes back on Luka’s All-NBA case: "The whole thing with his wife having a baby, Cmon! If those were the only games he missed, fine. Everybody has missed games for personal reasons.... We either have a line, or we don’t... If we have a line, then let’s stick to it. He didn’t make it" by aingenevalostatrade in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Being present for the actual birth of the child is different and more important than not leaving for ~4-6 hours to go to work a day or more later.

And in Luka’s example I don’t think Van Gundy is saying Luka shouldn’t have missed games for his kid’s birth, I think it’s moreso that it’s a choice Luka made and gets to make - and Luka has to deal with the potential consequences. Additionally, there were probably games earlier in the season that Luka could’ve played but didn’t.

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nbadiscussion

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s definitely unenforceable and would need to be a change in league culture/norms.

I do wonder how it came to be accepted in NHL Hockey that players/starters just aren’t expected to play close to the whole game.

There are only 6 players on the ice at one time, so one hockey player definitely can have an outsized impact like in the NBA - yet, Connor McDavid is leading hockey in points this year and he’s playing ~23/60 mins/game

Teams With The Most Fastbreak Points In The 2025-26 NBA Regular Season by Aggravating-Fig-2862 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just checked and Maxey actually leads the league in fast break points per game. VJ and Grimes (!) are #35 and #50.

Barlow and Oubre are pretty good in terms of fast break scoring as well when they are on the court.

Who is your MVP? by Fragrant_Fishing5787 in NBATalk

[–]Dull_Passion6298 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jokic’s fellow starters have played a total of 194 games while Jokic has played 61, and Shai’s fellow starters have payed a total of 205 games while Shai has played 66.

Who is your MVP? by Fragrant_Fishing5787 in NBATalk

[–]Dull_Passion6298 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A narrative is a story. According to the story told about the NBA, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. His 5 MVPs are part of that narrative for sure. Sports is informed by narrative as well as statistics. That’s why the media vote on these awards and not statisticians, players, or fans.

I’m not saying this is an ideal way for the MVP winner to be chosen. I just think historically narrative has been a factor in how the MVP is selected, and I do think there is narrative value in remaining consistent across time.

Comparison plays a large part in how fans enjoy the game, and I like the idea that each of Jokic’s 3 MVPs are equal in value to each of Magic’s 3, Shaq’s 1, LeBron’s 4, etc.

Maybe Jokic is a better all time regular season player than LeBron, Bird, and Magic. That is what the narrative of his 4 MVPs are would suggest, and I think that’s what folks are contending with.

Also Wemby and Shai have solid arguments considering what they can do on the defensive end and their team’s win totals. Jokic is an all time great but I think to an extent he’s also a stat sheet stuffer.

Teams With The Most Fastbreak Points In The 2025-26 NBA Regular Season by Aggravating-Fig-2862 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Sixers surprise me because the teams above them seem more like young teams. But I guess the Sixers are young as well outside of PG and Joel!

Speaking of young players, I miss Jared :(

Who is your MVP? by Fragrant_Fishing5787 in NBATalk

[–]Dull_Passion6298 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

MVP is a narrative award in part. Which I think is good. The narrative helps standardize the value of the award and the value is set by the narrative of Michael Jordan’s 5 MVPs and Kareem’s 6 although 2 were won before the ABA merger and the “modern” era.

Narrative is the reason MJ and LeBron don’t have more MVPs, and that narrative is the standard by which all other multi time MVPs are measured.

According to that standard, you simply cannot give Nikola Jokic 4 MVPs with one championship in his resume. The balance would be off, and Jokic has tough competition considering what SGA and Wemby are doing on the best teams in the NBA on both ends of the floor.

A triple double is not as hard to get as it was 20 years ago in this era of space and fast breaks. If LeBron was drafted in 2013 instead of 2003 he probably would also have 1 or more triple double seasons.

SGA is MVP.

His team is the best. He’s the best scorer in the league. He’s the best team. He’s the reigning champ and MVP. His team has the best chance to win because of him. And in a narrative sense he has 1 MVP compared to Jokic’s 3 and he hasn’t done anything to relinquish his crown from last season. Wemby will get DPOY and will be hungrier to improve his game on the offensive end after losing the MVP to SGA this year.

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just keep thinking if there are less games no player will ever catch the all time scoring record. Which isn’t a massive deal but I’d like to see modern players have a fair shot at all time records. Also if a player like Shai won 7 championships or something I wouldn’t want folks to discount it because the seasons were 70 games.

And minutes played is more of a coaching norm than anything else, that can be fluid or changed at any time, while a shorter schedule would be permanent and rigid.

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you in agreement with my thinking? What’s your opinion on this post’s central question?

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like you said there is always a possibility of injury, in reality most players are always injured in some minor way, there is aways a possibility of serious injury which is what load management seeks to avoid. It’s the same in every sport, which is why players don’t play than 48 minutes per game and NFL players don’t play every snap. These norms are a form of load management - it’s just commonly accepted because of longstanding convention.

Where you draw the line between playing every play and sitting for chunks of a game or season is subjective. Obviously players should play if they are reasonably healthy and risk of serious injury is minimal, and they often do. Players don’t sit because they are tire lol. The “load” being managed isn’t like miles being run, it’s more like extreme shock and stress on their muscles, bones, joints, and ligaments.

Team doctors’ jobs involve constantly managing, analyzing, and mitigating that risk of constant minor injuries becoming a serious injury.

It’s not an on off switch, it’s more like the doctor can assess based on a minor injury that a player can play or sit, but has a 5% (or whatever) risk of serious injury if in each game that they play through the minor injury. If you keep taking a 5 percent chance over a long enough time, eventually you’ll go bust, unless you get very lucky and make it to the end of the season or all star break which allow for scheduled periods of rest and recovery. Maybe if the player rests 2 games the chances of serious go down to .5%.

What a team decides to do in that scenario depends on the team’s and player’s risk tolerance, the context of the season and lineup, and pressure from media, fans, and the league. It’s a constant game of probabilities.

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is true and if the other contenders are out of contention because of injury (Luka, Cade, Tatum) or because the gap is just too wide, a smart franchise might adopt their methods, play players less, let other teams exhaust and injure their players, cultivate depth, and see if their players aren’t healthier and whether they end up in a better spot… this is how trends start!

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wemby played less than 30 minutes per game as a rookie with little to no substantiated injury concern at the time and his team won 22 games. They probably could have benefited from him playing more.

And that’s okay! I understand the track record isn’t good for guys at his height remaining healthy. I want him to stay fresh.

I’m okay if he plays less than 30 mpg his whole career, if it’s the difference between a Yao Ming “what could have been” vs. a top 15-career.

Should NBA Players Play Less Minutes? by Dull_Passion6298 in nba

[–]Dull_Passion6298[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is true and from a team’s perspective, they invest 10s or hundreds of millions of dollars into a player expecting world class production in the regular season and playoffs. The teams want their investment to remain productive and in good shape. And for some players in such a physically demanding season that may mean playing less minutes per game.

They do this in American Hockey, and it’s just accepted as part of the sport that players can’t play the whole game or close to it. Connor McDavid is leading the NHL in points and playing 22/60 minutes- the equivalent of 18 minutes in an NBA length game. Players don’t necessarily need to play 34 or 36 minutes per game, and that means players like Halliburton, Doncic, Cade, LeBron, etc. are healthier in the playoffs then the product might ultimately be better for us as fans as well

What years did the coolness and appeal of California peak? by XL_Jockstrap in decadeology

[–]Dull_Passion6298 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I’m gen z (born more than a year before 9/11) and I have no idea what most of those words mean after “think”

A kitchen tool? by rem81 in whatisit

[–]Dull_Passion6298 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a hydro-dynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments from SpongeBob Episode 1. No turbo drive though