Tag: 2023-24 nba season

Explaining the NBA’s new player participation policy

Confused about the NBA’s new player participation policy? You are not alone.

Confused about the NBA’s new player participation policy, what it entails, who will be affected on which teams, and what will be done when clubs run afoul of the new regulatory regime created by the league’s board of governors to curb excessive load management?

You are not alone. Many fans of the Boston Celtics and the game, along with analysts, are working to learn how this new wrinkle to the league season will function.

ESPN cap guru Bobby Marks sat down to give us a primer on what the player participation policy truly entails.

Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what ESPN’s collective bargaining agreement expert had to say about what the player participation policy means on a more granular level.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

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NBA institutes new player participation policy for 2023-24

The push for this policy is to help ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for any high-profile, national television games, and with rest split evenly between home and away contests.

The NBA‘s board of governors approved a new player participation policy that takes effect ahead of the 2023-24 regular season per a release from the league. This policy aims to increase player participation in the NBA’s regular season and will replace the previous player resting policy, which was put in place before the 2017-18 season.

The primary focus of the player participation policy is on star players, who are defined by the league as those who have been selected to an All-NBA team or an NBA All-Star team in any of the prior three seasons. This definition also applies to players named All-Stars during the current season after the All-Star Game.

Under this new policy, teams are required to ensure star players participate in games unless they can provide an approved reason for a player’s absence.

The push for this policy is to ensure that no more than one star player is unavailable for any high-profile, national television games, and rest games are split evenly between home and away contests. It was also created to encourage teams resting a healthy player to ensure the player is present at the games and visible to fans.

Exceptions to these requirements are made for injuries, personal reasons and pre-approved restrictions on back-to-back games based on a player’s age, career workload or serious injury history.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Is Boston’s Jayson Tatum or Dallas’ Luke Doncic the better player?

Tatum’s versatility as a two-way player and his ability to guard the best players on the opposing team matches up well with Doncic’s exceptional ball-handling and offensive abilities.

Who is the better player at this stage of their career — All-NBA Boston Celtics star swingman Jayson Tatum, or Dallas Mavericks star forward Luka Doncic? While ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith may believe that Tatum is the better of the two rising superstars moving forward, not everyone agrees.

Tatum’s versatility as a two-way player and his ability to guard the best players on the opposing team matches up well with Doncic’s exceptional ball-handling and offensive abilities, but the St. Louis native has achieved more with the team around him than Doncic has thus far in their respective careers.

The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast took a moment to talk over the debate about which of Tatum or Luka is the better all-around player on a recent episode.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say about it.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Celtics Lab 215: Assessing the West ahead of the NBA’s 2023-24 season with Jack Simone

With Boston among the most likely ball clubs to come out of the East, there’s a good chance the teams we picked as contenders could face the Celtics in their first return to the NBA Finals since 2022

With the offseason just weeks away from training camp, most of the teams around the NBA have pretty close to the version of their roster that will be taking the floor on opening night under contract, even if they may need to make a few more moves around the margin to get to that point.

That makes league analysts and fans of the Boston Celtics and the rest of the league able to get a pretty good idea about just how likely each team in the Association is to winning it all, tearing it down, or living in the spaces between those two poles. So with that in mind, the hosts of the CLNS Media “Celtics Lab” podcast linked up with Spurs Wire editor Jack Simone to project the order of the NBA’s Western Conference for the looming 2023-24 season.

With sportsbooks like Fan Duel predicting Boston as among the most likely ball clubs to come out of the East, there’s a good chance the teams we picked as contenders could face the Celtics in their first return to the NBA Finals since 2022 — and even if they don’t, it’s good to know a bit about the teams Boston will face in their push to get back there.

The Celtics Lab podcast is brought to you by FanDuel and AG1.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Power ranking the Boston Celtics’ 2023-24 roster

#RankingSeason sees NBA analysts dive deep into assessing players, rosters, teams, and anything else one can think of.

The months of August and September are the media dead zone of the NBA calendar in most years (pandemics and player movement lingering late into the offseason aside), to the point where they are rightfully called the doldrums of summer for good reason.

Into that void of newsworthy NBA action comes the league’s annual #RankingSeason exercise that sees NBA analysts dive deep into assessing the players, rosters, teams, and pretty much anything else one can think of ahead of the season to come. And over at Bleacher Report, league analyst Zach Buckley put together a power ranking of the Boston Celtics’ roster to such an end.

The hosts of the CLNS Media “How Bout Them Celtics!” podcast sat down on a recent episode to try their own version of the exercise.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say about the order of the Celtics’ roster for the 2023-24 season.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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NBA set to implement stricter load management rules

With the Boston Celtics fielding a number of injury-prone players, this should impact the team little if at all next season given all those players do not meet the criteria of a star set by the league.

The NBA is set to implement stricter rules and penalties aimed at reducing load management — the resting of star players during nationally televised and in-season tournament games — as well as preventing multiple All-Stars from sitting out regular season games per recent reporting from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This initiative is in response to recommendations from the league’s competition committee and is expected to be approved by the league’s board of governors.

Under the new rules, the league office will have greater authority to enforce discipline for missed games, and teams can face fines exceeding $1 million for violating the resting rules. The definition of a star player, in this context, includes individuals who have made the All-Star or All-NBA teams in any of the three previous seasons.

The fine system for teams will start at $100,000 for the first offense, increase to $250,000 for the second offense, and further escalate with each subsequent violation. The enforcement of these policies will involve league office investigations, including independent medical reviews.

With the Boston Celtics fielding a number of injury-prone players, this should impact the team little if at all next season given all those players do not meet the criteria of a star set by the league.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Who are the top 10 small forwards in the NBA for the 2023-24 season?

More importantly, where among them do we rank All-NBA Boston Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum?

Who are the top 10 small forwards in the NBA heading into the league’s 2023-24 season? More importantly, where among them do we rank All-NBA Boston Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum? He has some steep competition from his peers who play the 3, with names like the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant, Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler, and New Orleans Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram to name but a few of his elite forward peers in the league.

With the league’s annual festival of projecting the order of the NBA upon us with #RankingSeason here in full effect, the folks behind the “Hoops Reference” YouTube channel did their best to rank the small forward position heading into next season.

To hear for yourself where the St. Louis native stacked up against other elite small forwards in the Association next season, take a look at the clip embedded below.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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What do individual Boston Celtics need to work on this offseason?

Some players will need to help fill the leadership void created by the departure of Marcus Smart. Others will need to find their role on a new ball club, and still others have glaring flaws in their game in need of work.

The Boston Celtics enter the season with high hopes and aspirations, but one concern looms over every player on the roster, aside from health-related issues.

The central issue facing the Celtics this season is their ability to maximize the talents of their All-NBA star duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But every player needs to work on weaknesses to mold the roster into a cohesive, championship-contending team.

Some players will need to help fill the leadership void created by the departure of Marcus Smart. Others will need to find their role on a new ball club, and still others have glaring flaws in their game in need of work.

The hosts of the CLNS Media “First to the Floor” podcast talked about what the Celtics need to work on this season on a granular level on a recent pod.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say about Boston getting better for Banner 18.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Who are the best shooting guards in the NBA (and do we consider Jaylen Brown one of them)?

Though he did make All-NBA as a forward, Brown does play the 2 enough that it’s a worthwhile question.

Who are the best shooting guards in the NBA for the 2023-24 season? More importantly to the majority of you reading this: Are any of them on the Boston Celtics’ roster?

It depends whether you count All-NBA forward Jaylen Brown, given the Georgia native does play the position in a somewhat positionally flexible Celtics system. Even if you do, Devin Booker, Donovan Mitchell, Anthony Edwards, Zach LaVine, Desmond Bane and CJ McCollum — to name only a few — are competing against Brown for such distinction at the shooting guard position.

The folks behind the “Hoops Reference” podcast see the former Cal standout a 2 guard for the purposes of just such a #RankingSeason exercise.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear where Brown landed amongst such wing luminaries.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Is All-NBA Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum a top-five player?

Has All-NBA Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum finally ascended to the elite of the elite in the league?

Has All-NBA Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum finally ascended to a place among the elite of the elite in the league?

The St. Louis native has been rising in the eyes of many NBA analysts who produce the annual slew of player and team rankings we see in August in September, otherwise known as #RankingSeason. But is he truly one of the best five players in the league?

To talk that proposition over, the hosts of the CLNS Media pod “First to the Floor: A Boston Celtics Podcast” convened with guest Alex Hoops.

Taking into account how his role will change in the league’s 2023-24 season that kicks off at the end of next month, the foursome dive deep into the prospect of Tatum having made the leap to such lofty heights.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear where they came down on this question.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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