Since the players and owners can't be bothered to have a legitimate negotiation until August, there's really not a whole lot going on in the NBA these days. We might as well waste some time analyzing
the schedule that was released yesterday, even if the odds are against the season playing out that way.
Last season, Doug Collins made a point of talking about how tough the Sixers schedule was a number of times. Well, apparently Collins carries some weight around the league, because this year, the Sixers didn't get jobbed. Here's a quick look at the key points in the schedule for the Sixers, the rest of the Atlantic Division and a couple of the marquee teams:
The 9-game trip is the annual Ice Capades sojourn, so there isn't much the league can do about that, but in the other areas, the Sixers measure up pretty well with the other teams. Their three homestands of 5 or more games is three more than they had all of last season. If there's one thing to be concerned about, it's their three-months stretch from January through March. Check out how many back-to-backs they're playing in that stretch (back-to-backs by month):
- November: 2
- December: 1
- January: 5
- February: 4
- March: 5
- April: 2
Quick note, last season the Sixers had 11 back-to-backs in November and December, they only have three this season.
It's always been my personal feeling that playing the second night of a back-to-back at home is an added burden. It basically takes away the home court advantage, especially when you're playing against a well-rested team. Only 6 of the Sixers 19 back-to-backs fall in that category. Last season, 8 of their 22 back-to-backs featured the ass end at home.
The first stretch of note takes place in November, the week of Thanksgiving. On Sunday, the 20th the Sixers will travel to Miami to face the Heat, then two nights later they'll be in Dallas to face the defending champs.
Looking at this schedule, it's really a shame the Sixers probably won't get a chance to play it. Their early-season schedule allows for much more practice time than years past. That, plus the fact that they'd be in their second year of this system, with the same coach and no tumultuous roster changes (most likely) should help them avoid their typical slow start, or at least mitigate it. I said it on Twitter yesterday, and I haven't changed my mind. With minimal changes to the roster, they could win 50 games with this schedule. Gotta love the lockout.
Jerardi with an excellent article on Turner and Magee today.
Speaking of Turner, do people think this lockout could be a blessing in disguise for him? If he works dilligently on the form Herb gives him (a lot of this can be done without a hoop, too), he would benefit having a longer time to get the muscle memory down, right?
Yeah, if he's going to completely change the shot and stick with it, then an extra couple months of repetition would definitely be helpful. I just hope he's 100% sold on these changes, because it's human nature to revert to the familiar when you don't have success w/ the new.
Yeah to be honest I don't think it's a total change. Don't get me wrong, it's a big difference but his shooting hand is really in the same spot so it's not totally different. I saw him shooting it in the paper today. That was perfect form.
I'm hoping that his somewhat headstrong personality helps him in staying committed. The worst thing that could happen would be doing it halfway.
Counter argument can be that yeah it's great in practice but until he is using it at 'game speed' all the work and muscle memory doesn't mean anything.
The whole thing about working on your shot while no one is guarding you is great, but until you can use it at NBA game speed you don't know the impact, so the longer the lock out goes on, the longer it takes to see if Turner actually has any improvement.
I don't think that's really a negative at all. The more time he has to work in an empty gym, the more time he has to perfect that form and learn the right habits. It's a negative for us not being able to know, but more time to learn undef Magee without pressure to score in the NBA sounds good.
I wasn't really saying it's a negative that he gets more time to work on it - but more that there's no way to know if the work paid off until he's playing games.
yeah... i'm concerned about that also. it's like he will probably go back to tOSU and just shoot by himself. he won't have anyone there to practice shooting over, playing one on one or pick-up games with.
That's not true. Many ex Buckeyes including Mike Conley, Micheal Redd, and others playing proessional ball overseas return back to Columbus in the off season to workout together. They also play with the current Buckeyes (Sullinger, ect.). It's a good way for Turner to work on his game.
Any chance that revisions are made to guaranteed contracts when the new CBA is done? Is that point even being argued? If it is, is it a serious argument?
The owners originally wanted that, then backed off with their second proposal. But everything I've read says that second proposal from the owners is off the table now and they're starting from scratch.
My guess was always that player options might turn into team or mutual options, but they won't mess with pure guaranteed years on contracts, or the value of the contracts themselves. I do believe they're going to change the max number of guaranteed years allowed in a deal going forward.
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