Let’s break down a busy week in the NBA in this edition of Questions That Need Answers.
Trae Young and LaMelo Ball are the biggest surprise omissions from the All-Star lists. But are they?
Young’s raw numbers stand out: 22.5 points, 11.4 assists—almost identical to Magic Johnson’s points and assists in his last MVP season in 1990. But that shows you how numbers lie. Ha!
Young’s shooting has dipped to 40 percent and his 3-point shooting is at 34 percent. Those numbers are well below his career marks and his field-goal shooting is a career worst. The advanced stats aren’t too kind to him, either, which doesn’t give him much of a case to be among the 24 best who’ll play at All-Star. He has moments that are electrifying, like rolling the dice at Madison Square Garden, but the nightly showings don’t support consistency or efficiency from him.
Knick killer Reggie Miller is a Hall of Famer but only played in five All-Star games in 18 years. The position was crowded during his era and that seems to be the case for Young with the guards in the East, and even Tyrese Maxey might’ve been taken over him among the players who aren’t All-Stars.
For Ball, nobody believes in his numbers having any real impact on winning because Charlotte is dreadful.
Now would they be great if the NBA had a serious All-Star Game? Of course. They’re entertaining, but I wouldn’t say worthy.
Commissioner Adam Silver raised the idea of the NBA going to 10-minute quarters as opposed to 12 minutes. Should that happen?
There’s multiple things at work here. First, Silver was responding to a question from radio host Dan Patrick, who asked about the “wildest” change he would consider. Now, Silver did say he is a “fan” of 10-minute quarters and talked about the international game having it that way, but there’s nothing he said that suggests anything imminent is coming to the competition committee for a vote — which I hope would get struck down by Thor’s hammer because it’s ridiculous.
Silver is not the orator that his predecessor, the late David Stern, was, but he can be conversational. The problem is he’s speaking as…
..
