Random NBA Observations 2019 - 2020
VegetasHairline
Veteran
I typically take national news about the Kings with a grain of salt. The reports are usually wrong and they just report the shyt for clicks and views and to stir up drama.
Why are the Warriors facing the Lakers four times in the preseason? It’s all about brand leverage
Steve Kerr’s first season on the Bulls was Michael Jordan’s lone season chasing his baseball dream. Without Jordan, Chicago wasn’t quite the draw they had been or would be again. But they were still an appealing brand.
So the Lakers scheduled the Bulls for a preseason game. The location: Chapel Hill. On North Carolina’s campus. Jordan, the Tar Heel legend, wasn’t present. But the Lakers still had James Worthy, UNC royalty, and George Lynch, a rookie who’d just led the school to a 1993 national title.
“The Dean Dome,” Kerr said. “What I remember most about preseason back then was going to college campuses. One team or the other had a star from the university and the game would draw well because of that star player.”
Preseason scheduling has changed. Teams used to play around eight games. Now, they’re limited to five or six. That’s led to fewer unique environment exhibitions. The Thunder no longer go to Wichita. The Warriors are having a tougher time fitting in a San Jose game.
Proximity has also gained increased importance. Coaching staffs, particularly ones with more organizational sway, will nudge the preseason schedule makers to keep them as close to home as long as possible. And they’ll listen. Because it’s the franchises who put together the preseason schedule, not the league.
“Teams have gotten smarter,” Kerr said. “We used to go all over the place for years. … We don’t want to travel. We have plenty of travel ahead.”
With that as the directive from the hoops side and the business side motivated to open their sparkling new San Francisco arena with a splash, Brandon Schneider, the organization’s senior VP, made a call down to Los Angeles about a year ago.
Would the Lakers be willing to come up in early October, to make a pitstop before their league-mandated China trip?
“Working with the Lakers, we had the ability to do these trades,” Schneider said. “Hey, we’ll play at Staples if you’ll play at Chase.”
The Warriors and Lakers clash on the court, compete for the same free agents, gobble up the hearts of the same fair-weather fans and hire away each other’s employees, as the Lakers did with Luke Walton a few years back. It’s a cutthroat business.
But both franchises have sharp people ensuring they maximize their money making. So, at the proper times, their mega-brands can and should be leveraged for the greater good of both. Preseason is the perfect time.
This isn’t Alabama football paying New Mexico State a couple million to stagger into Tuscaloosa and get whacked by 52. It’s not even Memphis and Minnesota agreeing to a preseason home-and-home because both need to fill out the schedule.
It’s one NBA cash cow making money for another and, in return, getting money made for them. It’s the Warriors, a dormant brand revved to life in Silicon Valley just before opening a modern-day palace, calling the Lakers, no longer in a slumber after fusing their business with the business of LeBron James, and asking them to play the role of villain on Chase Center’s debut night.
It’s the Lakers agreeing, but only if Steph Curry and the Warriors come down to Los Angeles later in October for a Monday night (Oct. 14) and Wednesday night (Oct. 16) preseason game. It’s the Warriors countering with a fourth game, this one back at Chase Center on that Friday (Oct 18).
“I imagine we each sell well in the other team’s building,” Kerr said.
The cheapest ticket on the secondary market for Saturday’s debut game in Chase Center is currently $131. To get in the lower bowl, you’d have to shell out $300-plus.
It doesn’t get lighter the second time around. When the Lakers return to Chase Center later in the month, the cheapest current ticket on the secondary market is $143. It’ll again cost $300 or (much) more to sit in the lower bowl.
“It’s good for the fans,” Schneider said. “Nice California rivalry vibe. And we were happy to get that first game on a weekend.”
Staples Center doesn’t have the new car smell. It opened in 1999. So it won’t cost as much if you go to the two preseason games down there. But it still remains a hot ticket, costing at least $70 to get in the door and the mid-$100s for the lower bowl.
“The business model has improved,” Kerr said. “You don’t travel as far and try to get games that are attractive to fans.”
This isn’t a 2019 revelation for the Warriors and Lakers. They’ve leveraged each other well the past few years. Just last October, the Lakers brought the Warriors to Las Vegas (a nearby hotbed of Lakers fans) and, in return, the Warriors brought the Lakers to San Jose. Both arenas were packed.
“People just want to see LeBron James, people in L.A. want to see Steph Curry,” Kerr said. “So you want to create matchups that’ll draw crowds.”
How about four of them in a month?
“We’ll get sick of seeing them,” Curry said. “I do like the travel schedule, though. Beautiful. Phenomenal. Staying in California, L.A. to the Bay, it’s nice. Real nice.”
So the Lakers scheduled the Bulls for a preseason game. The location: Chapel Hill. On North Carolina’s campus. Jordan, the Tar Heel legend, wasn’t present. But the Lakers still had James Worthy, UNC royalty, and George Lynch, a rookie who’d just led the school to a 1993 national title.
“The Dean Dome,” Kerr said. “What I remember most about preseason back then was going to college campuses. One team or the other had a star from the university and the game would draw well because of that star player.”
Preseason scheduling has changed. Teams used to play around eight games. Now, they’re limited to five or six. That’s led to fewer unique environment exhibitions. The Thunder no longer go to Wichita. The Warriors are having a tougher time fitting in a San Jose game.
Proximity has also gained increased importance. Coaching staffs, particularly ones with more organizational sway, will nudge the preseason schedule makers to keep them as close to home as long as possible. And they’ll listen. Because it’s the franchises who put together the preseason schedule, not the league.
“Teams have gotten smarter,” Kerr said. “We used to go all over the place for years. … We don’t want to travel. We have plenty of travel ahead.”
With that as the directive from the hoops side and the business side motivated to open their sparkling new San Francisco arena with a splash, Brandon Schneider, the organization’s senior VP, made a call down to Los Angeles about a year ago.
Would the Lakers be willing to come up in early October, to make a pitstop before their league-mandated China trip?
“Working with the Lakers, we had the ability to do these trades,” Schneider said. “Hey, we’ll play at Staples if you’ll play at Chase.”
The Warriors and Lakers clash on the court, compete for the same free agents, gobble up the hearts of the same fair-weather fans and hire away each other’s employees, as the Lakers did with Luke Walton a few years back. It’s a cutthroat business.
But both franchises have sharp people ensuring they maximize their money making. So, at the proper times, their mega-brands can and should be leveraged for the greater good of both. Preseason is the perfect time.
This isn’t Alabama football paying New Mexico State a couple million to stagger into Tuscaloosa and get whacked by 52. It’s not even Memphis and Minnesota agreeing to a preseason home-and-home because both need to fill out the schedule.
It’s one NBA cash cow making money for another and, in return, getting money made for them. It’s the Warriors, a dormant brand revved to life in Silicon Valley just before opening a modern-day palace, calling the Lakers, no longer in a slumber after fusing their business with the business of LeBron James, and asking them to play the role of villain on Chase Center’s debut night.
It’s the Lakers agreeing, but only if Steph Curry and the Warriors come down to Los Angeles later in October for a Monday night (Oct. 14) and Wednesday night (Oct. 16) preseason game. It’s the Warriors countering with a fourth game, this one back at Chase Center on that Friday (Oct 18).
“I imagine we each sell well in the other team’s building,” Kerr said.
The cheapest ticket on the secondary market for Saturday’s debut game in Chase Center is currently $131. To get in the lower bowl, you’d have to shell out $300-plus.
It doesn’t get lighter the second time around. When the Lakers return to Chase Center later in the month, the cheapest current ticket on the secondary market is $143. It’ll again cost $300 or (much) more to sit in the lower bowl.
“It’s good for the fans,” Schneider said. “Nice California rivalry vibe. And we were happy to get that first game on a weekend.”
Staples Center doesn’t have the new car smell. It opened in 1999. So it won’t cost as much if you go to the two preseason games down there. But it still remains a hot ticket, costing at least $70 to get in the door and the mid-$100s for the lower bowl.
“The business model has improved,” Kerr said. “You don’t travel as far and try to get games that are attractive to fans.”
This isn’t a 2019 revelation for the Warriors and Lakers. They’ve leveraged each other well the past few years. Just last October, the Lakers brought the Warriors to Las Vegas (a nearby hotbed of Lakers fans) and, in return, the Warriors brought the Lakers to San Jose. Both arenas were packed.
“People just want to see LeBron James, people in L.A. want to see Steph Curry,” Kerr said. “So you want to create matchups that’ll draw crowds.”
How about four of them in a month?
“We’ll get sick of seeing them,” Curry said. “I do like the travel schedule, though. Beautiful. Phenomenal. Staying in California, L.A. to the Bay, it’s nice. Real nice.”
Few of my own notes from pre season:
- I absolutely love the balance right now. Having multiple teams with two stars makes the league unpredictable. GM’s voted for Clippers to win but im not sold on them completely. Though Leonard, George & Lou can create their own shot they lack a true playmaker. Their front court is severely lacking especially in height, rebounding and defensive ability.
- Denver will have the best overall regular season record. I see Murray making an all star level jump & im sold on Michael Porter Jr. Murray’s inconsistency cost them in the playoffs so if he cuts that out they could win the west. Their bench is the deepest in the league & Grant might be the most underrated pick up this off season.
- I doubt the Mavericks make the playoffs as they have a weak supporting cast but the MAGA powers
(Luka & Pozingis) will be a dominate duo in probably 2-3 years.
- Sixers look good defensively on paper but they’re a horrible fit offensively. I just can’t see Simmons & Embiid working as Simmon’s lack of shooting forces Embiid to play like a stretch big which he clearly isn’t happy with. I highly doubt Simmons goes from not taking threes at all to being competent in one off season.
- Bucks are weaker without Brogdon but they’re probably the safest bet to win it all.
- Giannis or Steph will win the MVP. I hope Klay comes back at close to full form cause Steph & Dlo have built good chemistry. Adding Klay could make them a sleeper team to win the west.
- Lebron & AD’s pick & roll looks unstoppable. Only thing that stops the Lakers winning the West is one of them getting injured (which is likely).
- If Mitchell makes an all star level leap they’re are probably the best all round team in the West other than Denver.
- I was saying before that Harden & Westbrook will surprise people but damn the last few pre season games Harden was playing EXACTLY how he did last year. The Rockets won’t do shyt unless Harden plays more off ball as Westbrook can’t shoot for shyt.
Overall, I can’t wait, this could be the best season ever
- I absolutely love the balance right now. Having multiple teams with two stars makes the league unpredictable. GM’s voted for Clippers to win but im not sold on them completely. Though Leonard, George & Lou can create their own shot they lack a true playmaker. Their front court is severely lacking especially in height, rebounding and defensive ability.
- Denver will have the best overall regular season record. I see Murray making an all star level jump & im sold on Michael Porter Jr. Murray’s inconsistency cost them in the playoffs so if he cuts that out they could win the west. Their bench is the deepest in the league & Grant might be the most underrated pick up this off season.
- I doubt the Mavericks make the playoffs as they have a weak supporting cast but the MAGA powers
(Luka & Pozingis) will be a dominate duo in probably 2-3 years.- Sixers look good defensively on paper but they’re a horrible fit offensively. I just can’t see Simmons & Embiid working as Simmon’s lack of shooting forces Embiid to play like a stretch big which he clearly isn’t happy with. I highly doubt Simmons goes from not taking threes at all to being competent in one off season.
- Bucks are weaker without Brogdon but they’re probably the safest bet to win it all.
- Giannis or Steph will win the MVP. I hope Klay comes back at close to full form cause Steph & Dlo have built good chemistry. Adding Klay could make them a sleeper team to win the west.
- Lebron & AD’s pick & roll looks unstoppable. Only thing that stops the Lakers winning the West is one of them getting injured (which is likely).
- If Mitchell makes an all star level leap they’re are probably the best all round team in the West other than Denver.
- I was saying before that Harden & Westbrook will surprise people but damn the last few pre season games Harden was playing EXACTLY how he did last year. The Rockets won’t do shyt unless Harden plays more off ball as Westbrook can’t shoot for shyt.
Overall, I can’t wait, this could be the best season ever
Last edited:
ALonelyDad
Veteran
Few of my own notes from pre season:
- I absolutely love the balance right now. Having multiple teams with two stars makes the league unpredictable. GM’s voted for Clippers to win but im not sold on them completely. Though Leonard, George & Lou can create their own shot they lack a true playmaker. Their front court is severely lacking especially in height, rebounding and defensive ability.
- Denver will have the best overall regular season record. I see Murray making an all star level jump & im sold on Michael Porter Jr. Murray’s inconsistency cost them in the playoffs so if he cuts that out they could win the west. Their bench is the deepest in the league & Grant might be the most underrated pick up this off season.
- I doubt the Mavericks make the playoffs as they have a weak supporting cast but the MAGA powers
- Sixers look good defensively on paper but they’re a horrible fit offensively. I just can’t see Simmons & Embiid working as Simmon’s lack of shooting forces Embiid to play like a stretch big which he clearly isn’t happy with. I highly doubt Simmons goes from not taking threes at all to being competent in one off season.
- Bucks are weaker without Brogdon but they’re probably the safest bet to win it all.
- Giannis or Steph will win the MVP. I hope Klay comes back at close to full form cause Steph & Dlo have built good chemistry. Adding Klay could make them a sleeper team to win the west.
- Lebron & AD’s pick & roll looks unstoppable. Only thing that stops the Lakers winning the West is one of them getting injured (which is likely).
- If Mitchell makes an all star level leap they’re are probably the best all round team in the West other than Denver.
- I was saying before that Harden & Westbrook will surprise people but damn the last few pre season games Harden was playing EXACTLY how he did last year. The Rockets won’t do shyt unless Harden plays more off ball as Westbrook can’t shoot for shyt.
Overall, I can’t wait, this could be the best season ever
Good list...
Flex Grossman
Funky
Siakam’s shot chart is wild
G-Zeus
G-Zeus Chrystler...the brehsident
Kobe has the better stance .
