NBA Twitter Mailbag: Social Media, Stockton or Kidd and Replacement Refs

Let's get right to it. We asked for your Twitter questions and got some. Now for some answers:

jesiree: Since there are so many NBA players who tweet, how do they feel about new social media rules?
There have been virtually no complaints about the new policy regarding social media and Twitter. By and large, players don't have a problem with them and shouldn't. All the league is asking from the players at this point is to refrain from using Twitter and the like during games.

Players can't use cell phones or communication devices from 45 minutes before a game until their responsibilities with the team are completed afterward. Most seem to agree this is an even-handed and fair guideline.

What is likely to be more of an issue is what players actually end up tweeting. For example, Warriors guard C.J. Watson said on Twitter earlier this week that he had banged up his knee at practice and that he was hoping it wasn't anything serious.

It seemed like a relatively harmless communication at the time; however, that's the kind of tweet between a player and his followers that gets dicey. Turns out, Watson will miss one-to-three weeks with the injury.

That's the kind of information teams do not want players passing along to the media or their followers. That's the kind of thing that will fall into a gray area. But clearly NBA players have to be pleased, in general, with the league's forward thinking as it relates to social media.

pcon34: John Stockton or Jason Kidd in their primes? The Stock was the consummate pro and had no ego. Kidd deadly on the break and could board.
That's a great question. Initially, my first thought was Stockton. Then, after considering further I realized I needed to go to Basketball-Reference.com to get a better look at the numbers.

After taking in some stats it became official: still gotta go with Stockton. It's close, though. Keep in mind, my vote for Stockton is not a repudiation of Kidd.

Stockton's numbers are unbelievable. First and foremost, Stockton's durability is virtually unparalleled. He played 19 seasons, and in 17 of those seasons he played every single game. He played the full 82 games in 16 seasons, and the full 50 during the lockout-shortened season of 1988-99. That is remarkable.

Obviously, when it comes to passing both guys are among the all-time greatest. In fact, it's difficult to make a distinction between the two when it comes to ball-handling, playmaking, and decision-making. Stockton may have been a little more fundamentally sound, but that doesn't mean Kidd isn't right there with him when it comes to delivering the ball, finding the open man and getting teammates involved.

Then again, Stockton's career assist and steal numbers, at this point anyway, are better than Kidd's.

If there is one statistic that jumped out at me regarding these two point guards it would be shooting percentage. The bottom line is Stockton shot 51.5% from the field, and Kidd's field-goal percentage currently resides at 40.2%. That is what you call a major disparity.

On the other hand, Kidd is one of the greatest rebounding point guards in basketball history. Kidd has averaged 6.7 rebounds per game over the course of his career, including seven seasons averaging 7.3 rebounds per game or more. Quite frankly, those are forward rebounding numbers.

Neither player has won an NBA title, so there's no advantage there. Again, great question. But I'm taking Stockton. DaveSilva58: How much of an impact will replacement refs have. When will this get resolved?
If you're looking for some kind of dramatic impact by replacement officials, that's not likely to happen. By all accounts, replacement officials were adequate in Thursday night's Jazz/Nuggets' game.

It's not like the game will completely deteriorate because of replacement officials. But the replacement officials won't be as good, and because of that, the quality of play will drop, too.

The bigger issue for the NBA is that, in essence, it is acknowledging that it isn't putting the best product out on the floor, and that's something it supposedly prides itself on.

On a practical level, I think what you'll see are far more whistles. It's only natural for an official -- or player, for that matter -- to try to do much when they're given their first opportunity. It won't be unlike Las Vegas Summer League games where you'll see too much scoring from the foul line.