The Official Emirates NBA Cup 2024 Thread

#2
Group Draw results are as follows:

Western Conference

West Group A

  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • LA Clippers
  • Sacramento Kings
  • Houston Rockets
  • Portland Trail Blazers
West Group B

  • Oklahoma City Thunder
  • Phoenix Suns
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Utah Jazz
  • San Antonio Spurs
West Group C

  • Denver Nuggets
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • New Orleans Pelicans
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Memphis Grizzlies
Eastern Conference

East Group A

  • New York Knicks
  • Orlando Magic
  • Philadelphia 76ers
  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Charlotte Hornets
East Group B

  • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Miami Heat
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Detroit Pistons
East Group C

  • Boston Celtics
  • Cleveland Cavaliers
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Washington Wizards
 
#7
Damn some pretty uneven draws. NBA needs to do a better job of seeding this thing. Golden State is screwed and won’t win a game. Plus some hard road trips to Memphis and New Orleans. OKC with a cake walk.

For some reason I feel like the rockets will be our new “pelicans”next year….the team we inexplicably can’t beat and get to play extra times due to the nba cup.
 
#8
How or why exactly do they need to a better job of seeding? I believe they randomized it a bit, by weighing last years records. Seems like a perfectly fine, objective, & fair way to organize it. Any other way would lead to bias.
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
#9
How or why exactly do they need to a better job of seeding? I believe they randomized it a bit, by weighing last years records. Seems like a perfectly fine, objective, & fair way to organize it. Any other way would lead to bias.
Yeah, there's really no other way to do this objectively. There's always going to be imbalance since some teams get substantially better in the off-season and others get substantially worse. Having a committee go in and tweak things in an attempt to make them more balanced would most likely just introduce unwanted bias into the process. Aside from the cash bonuses for the winning team and the top two teams playing an additional game (which doesn't count in the standings) the NBA cup has no impact on the regular season or playoff seedings anyway so this system is good enough.

It looks like we got a little lucky here drawing the playoff team who is likely to drop the most (Clippers) and a Portland team which is still very much rebuilding. We played Minnesota well this past season -- hopefully that carries over. We'll also get an early look at how much Reed Sheppard improves Houston's playoff potential. They could be a team to watch next season though the Jalen Green situation looms as a turning point for them. He's entering year four and if he doesn't improve his 3pt shot or defense significantly I think he's in danger of losing his starting spot which probably means he gets traded. Either he takes a big leap or he's the odd man out along with whichever forwards end up in Udoka's doghouse this year.
 
#14
The Clippers new logo is.... something. Wow! What a confusing eyesore.
It's actually not too terribly bad, in my honest and humble opinion. I think the issue is the color scheme makes it a bit weird. Like it almost either needs more red in the middle (where some of the white is), or a 4th color in that area. Or, maybe even get rid of some of that blue in the center of the logo and replace it with red or another color.

But, overall, I don't think it's that bad at the end of the day.
 

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
#15
The logo is a miss IMO. It looks like a yacht or a cruise ship instead of a clipper ship and it's overly complex. Just like with flags, the visual elements should be distinguishable even when very small or far away and that's just not the case here. The lines on the bow of the ship that appear to hint at a basketball are only even noticeable if you blow up the logo and look closely.

Which is all a shame because the rest of their rebrand (colors, uniforms, line art/font) is actually really good.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#16
The logo is a miss IMO. It looks like a yacht or a cruise ship instead of a clipper ship and it's overly complex. Just like with flags, the visual elements should be distinguishable even when very small or far away and that's just not the case here. The lines on the bow of the ship that appear to hint at a basketball are only even noticeable if you blow up the logo and look closely.

Which is all a shame because the rest of their rebrand (colors, uniforms, line art/font) is actually really good.
While I agree to an extent, I still like it better than this monstrosity.

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