Nikola Mirotic finished only fourth in Spanish League MVP voting this season, but he has been named the Most Valuable Player for the EuroLeague, per an official release.
The former NBA forward had a terrific year for FC Barcelona, averaging 16.6 PPG and 5.1 RPG with a shooting line of .566/.455/.875 in just 24.2 MPG (36 games) in EuroLeague play. Mirotic ranked second in the league in points per game, behind only Thunder draft-and-stash prospect Vasilije Micic, and was among the league leaders in total three-pointers made.
Mirotic, who appeared in 319 NBA games from 2014-19, has been back in Europe for the last three seasons after making the surprising decision to turn down lucrative NBA offers at age 28. His Barcelona squad is set to face Real Madrid at the EuroLeague Final Four on Thursday.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA continues to discuss a possible in-season tournament and could implement it as soon as the 2023/24 season, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The league has been encouraged by the success of the play-in tournament and is ramping up its planning on a mid-season tourney, Charania adds.
- According to Charania (Twitter links), the NBA is strongly considering tweaking the rules on take fouls in transition by awarding the offensive team a free throw and the ball. The proposal, which will be voted on in July at the Board of Governors meeting, had “widespread support” at this week’s GM meeting, per Charania.
- During an appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, commissioner Adam Silver floated the idea of requiring a minimum number of games played for end-of-season award eligibility, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. There’s no indication the NBA is seriously considering implementing such a rule, but the fact that Silver even mentioned it is interesting.
- FIBA continues not to allow the national teams from Russia and Belarus to participate in international competitions, announcing in a press release that the countries have been withdrawn from a series of upcoming events, including the 2023 World Cup qualifiers. FIBA first banned the two countries from international play on March 1 following their invasion of Ukraine, and shows no signs of reversing the decision.
That’s all good and well, Adam, but when are you going to get around to dealing with all of the flopping in the NBA, which is an easily correctable problem?
Here’s one suggestion
-Review game tapes
-Review each foul called during the game
-Award points based on the level of flopping (1-3, or whatever range you would want)
-Similar to the system for techs, after a certain number of points would be accumulated begin suspending players.
It’s simple, it’s non-invasive, and it would be inexpensive. Flopping would die down in a hurry if players knew such a system would be in place. Don’t tell me it isn’t possible.
the rules on take fouls in transition by awarding the offensive team a free throw and the ball.
Yes
Awarding the team a free throw and the ball changes nothing. Teams avg about 1.1 pt a possesion. So giving them possesion gives them 1.1 pts. A free throw is worth .7 pts. So by giving a team a free throw and a possesion u r giving them 1.8-2 pts. If a player has a breakaway he is getting two pts automatically. If I’m a coach I’m still telling them to foul. It is amazing how stupid the nba is. There are so many rule changes needed to be made most notablely going to a Elo format to end games. This idea shows that the nba has a low in which is why the product is not nearly as good as it can b. Disgusting how stupid they r
You are comparing the payoff to an open 2 which are being stopped by a foul. So currently fouling a breakaway results in a normal possession and 1.1 pts. By changing the rule more points are awarded for an intentional foul.
Worth noting that the transition take foul is different than a clear-path foul, which already gives teams free throws and the ball.
The transition take foul doesn’t occur on a breakaway (that’d be a clear-path foul) — it happens when the offensive team has a transition opportunity, but the defense still has at least one player (sometimes more) between the ball and the basket.
That really favors not fouling because fastbreaks yield is lower, on average, than 1.8 pts
The in season tournament is the single dumbest idea any league has come up with. That is the entire point of the season to begin with. The NBA is the most predictable sport. At the onset of every season you can can the 5 teams that will win the Championship. (Baring a significant injury there is never any variation). Adam Silver is successfully destroying the league.
I guess I’m one of the few open to it in the sense that changes like this are always destined to be hated initially, but sometimes they grow on us. So I’m willing to give it time to see if I may dislike it less than I initially expect to.
It’s just hard for me to have a strong opinion on something I’m entirely unfamiliar with, seeing as I am not a fan of soccer (but I do know it works in that realm). I can’t even conjure up the idea in a way my brain can properly assess and analyze without that sort of experience.
Of the 4 teams left in this year’s playoffs I think the only one that anyone predicted could win the championship is Golden State, even then a lot of “experts” had doubts because of Klay’s status as he hadn’t played in 2 years and no one quite expected Poole to be as good as he is.
Vegas had the Nets, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors and Jazz in that order as favorites.
Sports leagues have done more than a few dumb things. (Honestly I’d say MLB has been the most egregious over the last few seasons.) To say that a mid season tournament is the single dumbest idea that any league ever had is pretty short sighted since we don’t even know the parameters of what would be involved.
No what u said is not true. There r more than 5 teams that can win a chip nowadays. Nobody had celts or mavs in top five b4. They might win. The In season tournament could be good but u have to make it very consequential both Monetarily for the players and in regards to playoff seeding for the fans. The regular season is way way way to long. As of now the idea sux but it could have potential if done right. Will the nba do it right. Heeeeellll no. I would make 32 teams. Add a team of the best high schoolers and best retired players. One week single elimination tournament. Winning team gets five wins added to their total at the end of the season.
Players barely make it through the regular season and playoffs. What make you think they would love a in season tournament. This is just another money grab for the nba . We don’t need a tournament don’t ruin what works
The regular season is not working. Obviously no one cares if the best players are rested at least ten percent of the time. Can u imagine the chiefs saying hey we r going to rest a healthy pat mahomes?? Lol. The regular season is broken and has no meaning whether this is the idea to fix it I have my doubts. But to say we have a regular season that is working??? R u for real. The players don’t even bother to play lol
Please dont start messing with the game the way baseball has been the last few years. I have very few things left in my life. Stop trying to take away sports. It’s hard enough listening to commentary and all the other garbage that surrounds the game now…the idea of fewer games, fewer minutes per quarter, tournaments during the season that make no sense, etc are ridiculous. I also dont agree with the take foul issue. There is a reason we have clear path fouls, and if a team wants to use one of their few fouls to give on a transition opportunity, for whatever reason, that’s part of the game. Maybe that helps get the other team into the bonus sooner, and that maybe isnt a great decision for that reason. Just awarding a team possession and a free throw for a regular foul makes no sense, even if you say it takes away excitement…you dont know what would happen for sure in a lot of those transition situations…and again, that’s why we have the clear path foul
Lol we know what would happen in breakaways. Why is the idea of fewer games wrong to u? You like seeing games when the three best players if a team r resting??? Why does a tournament make no sense? It is a joke when the regular season is so meaning less coaches regularly rest their best players. Imagine paying over 1k 2 c Lebrun okay and then showing up and finding out he don’t want to play cause it’s not worth it to him. Lol. Obviously obviously obviously things r broke right now. How I can’t c that is beyond me.
The tournament is the stupidest thing Adam silver has incorporated in a long time. There’s more chances of injuries for a meaningless tournament to decide which 7/8 seed loses in 5-7 games, rather than just play it out with the top 8. All NBA fans know the 5-8 seeds never have a chance to win a title. This is just a money grab for both the league and owners, while placing a virtually nonexistent emphasis on player health. I expect this to be voided by the time the CBA negotiations are in talks. It’s always been 1-4 seeds that usually win a title or compete in their respective conference finals.
Lol the five-8 seeds have no chance?? That was in the past now there r many good teams. And even in the past a 8 seed has gone to the finals. The mavs were the 8 best team this year. The celts finished three games better than the ninth best team. This is a we of parity. Free agency and a salary cap and smart executives will do that. I agree ur point is true in the past not anymore. Parity is here.
I’ll believe a 5 seed has a chance once they make it to the Finals, hell even Conference finals.
5 seeds this year were Toronto, bounced out in 6 and Utah bounced out in 6 as well.
Just because we have parity doesn’t mean that translates to having a chance for a title. You still need to be REALLY good/great to have a chance at being a title favorite. Besides the 1994/95 Houston Rockets and the 98/99 New York Knicks, no team has made the finals with a seed lower than 4.