NBA Playoffs

[Pharaoh]

Best thing is:

Ant v Luka
Tatum v Hali

None of them have a MVP yet

Kyrie and Jaylen don't have 1 either

Neither does KAT.

We're getting a "new" champion and a "new" Finals MVP

And people will start talking legacy for someone, comparisons will be made to the GOATS

Comparison is the thief of joy though. I'm just enjoying watching real games again

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[Snakebites]

Congrats to Minny.

3 years ago they won 23 games and didn't even have the rights to their 2021 pick that year, having traded it to the Warriors with little to no protections to get D'Angelo Russell.

We had won only 3 games fewer and scored the top pick in the draft.

In hindsight a lot of the pieces they're headed to the conference finals with were already in place, but they didn't look like they were in a great spot at the time.

Still, crazy the diverging paths our two teams have taken, even if in hindsight they had a lot more going on than that 23 win total would have suggested.

Is it possible that Cade, Ausar & Duren are key components in a similar turnaround here?

The move to get Conley and Gobert was obviously a huge thing for them.

We need to stop kicking the cap space can down the road and start adding veterans that will change the loser mindset this organisation seems to have.

That said I imagine most of us are really appreciative that a team like Minnesota has made the WCF and that defense still matters.



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I have a hard time imagining it. Cade could be a real star but he’s not a go to scorer like ANT. Duren and Ausar each look good on one end of the floor but have fundamental issues on the other which may prevent them from even being starters. And we don’t have supporting pieces like McDaniels and Reid waiting in the wings (both were already on the roster by then).

And the difference between a 14 win team and a 23 win team can’t be overstated.

A turnaround will take longer for us. Who’s to say how long or many current guys are still on the team when it happens.

But yeah, I am happy for the Wolves. I like what they’ve built and the basketball fan in me is glad to see it even though the Piston fan in me feels it’s not the best development for my own team.

The rest of this playoffs is super interesting. No matter how you slice it, a core that has never won a ring will be taking one home. Just hope it’s not the Celtics.

[joedumars1]

Damn two upsets, figured there’s be one. So is there like a 25-30 ppg difference beteeen the playoffs and regular season? It seems like there is,
lol. Weird there can be that much of a disparity between reg season and playoffs, what’s the difference?

[Canadafan]

Damn two upsets, figured there’s be one. So is there like a 25-30 ppg difference beteeen the playoffs and regular season? It seems like there is,
lol. Weird there can be that much of a disparity between reg season and playoffs, what’s the difference?

Guys try in the playoffs. Those overpaid divas seem to despise the regular season lol

[MortSahlfan]

Wasn't expecting both home teams to lose Game 7.

Gosh, Vince Carter is beyond annoying. He stutters, has no cadence or rhythm. Interrupts at the worst moments. And like ESPN, he keeps raising his hand like he's in 2nd grade. I'm sure there's no tape of him trying to break down tape during a halftime show weeks ago, but it was horrible.

[theBigLip]

I think Porzingis may not play. Boston is really tough to defend when he’s on the court. Rooting for Indy for sure.

Minnesota looks great. I think they beat the Mavs easily since they can put multiple guys on Luka. Totally shocked that Kyrie has gone a full season without any major events. Nice just to see him ball and be a good teammate.

[LaSheed]

Focused Kyrie and Luka is alot for Twolves I think.

[MortSahlfan]

I don't think Dallas has a chance against Minnesota.

[joedumars1]

I’ve only watched bits and pieces of games. Im picturing refs are letting them play on the D end more by a lot compared to reg season. Thoughts on people who have watched? Luka and kyrie if hitting the threes going to be tough tho. I’m not
Sure Tatum can win it all by himself, jaylen brown seems to be more a mid tier 2 than a could be a one and win if he was the only
Guy

[Cowology]

I don't think Dallas has a chance against Minnesota.

I'm also picking Minny but I've been surprised a few times already. DAL is a lot scrappier than they used to be and Kyrie is an elite closer. He probably won't do it all game long (he plays with a guy named Luka), but Kyrie is capable of matching Ant bucket for bucket in the 4th. He's cold blooded.

[Cowology]

I’ve only watched bits and pieces of games. Im picturing refs are letting them play on the D end more by a lot compared to reg season. Thoughts on people who have watched? Luka and kyrie if hitting the threes going to be tough tho. I’m not
Sure Tatum can win it all by himself, jaylen brown seems to be more a mid tier 2 than a could be a one and win if he was the only
Guy

It's been really inconsistent, even within the same game. They'll let them bang for a while then call some weird ticky tack crap. It's gotta be an incredibly difficult job with a ton of scrutiny, but there have just been a ton of missed and bad calls every single game.

[MortSahlfan]

I don't think Dallas has a chance against Minnesota.

I'm also picking Minny but I've been surprised a few times already. DAL is a lot scrappier than they used to be and Kyrie is an elite closer. He probably won't do it all game long (he plays with a guy named Luka), but Kyrie is capable of matching Ant bucket for bucket in the 4th. He's cold blooded.

Yeah, they complemented the team with guys like Gafford since they have 2 guys who love to dribble and shoot. I still think Kyrie should bring the ball up, at least until half-court

[Cowology]

I don't think Dallas has a chance against Minnesota.

I'm also picking Minny but I've been surprised a few times already. DAL is a lot scrappier than they used to be and Kyrie is an elite closer. He probably won't do it all game long (he plays with a guy named Luka), but Kyrie is capable of matching Ant bucket for bucket in the 4th. He's cold blooded.

Yeah, they complemented the team with guys like Gafford since they have 2 guys who love to dribble and shoot. I still think Kyrie should bring the ball up, at least until half-court

A lot of people would argue that Kyrie has the best handles of all-time. Hard to argue against him bringing the ball up.

Mostly I think it's just about Kyrie and his maturation process. He's comfortable allowing other people to establish themselves and get going because he knows he can do his thing anytime he wants. In some ways it emulates Isiah and his maturation process and (to my mind) is what separated Isiah from Iverson; he learned to pick his spots.

Kyrie is also a little older and not expending energy unnecessarily. It will be interesting to see how Minny decides to defend Luka, because it certainly could put the ball into Kyries hands a bit more. We'll see.

[bstein14]

Dallas 25% Minny 75%
Pacers 10% Boston 90%

I feel like the NBA would hate a Indiana vs Minnesota finals. Two small market midwest teams would be a nightmare for them. Would be exciting to see best offense go against best defense with two young dynamic guards from the 2020 draft class go head to head but I have a feeling we'll get Boston in the Finals

[Cowology]

Ya know what? Time to give KAT his flowers. Dude played great. He defended Jokic better than Gobert and it wasn't even close. Which in fairness Gobert is a great help-side defender, but man to man the Joker straight up abused him. KAT played him tough and Jokic really struggled at times when he was the primary defender.

[DBC10]

Ya know what? Time to give KAT his flowers. Dude played great. He defended Jokic better than Gobert and it wasn't even close. Which in fairness Gobert is a great help-side defender, but man to man the Joker straight up abused him. KAT played him tough and Jokic really struggled at times when he was the primary defender.

Gobert was still the missing piece they needed to topple Denver and slow down Jokic. His plus/minus for the playoffs was like +111

Being able to throw at Jokic: Naz, KAT, and Gobert is an extreme luxury, almost built to take on the Nuggets

[Pharaoh]

It's abundantly clear the Gobert trade has changed the belief and perception about the Wolves and that'll only increase if they win a title and/or have another quality playoff run next season

Question for us is - what's our Rudy trade?

What player or players could we bring in that will propel us forward?

I get the doom and gloom - I checked out cause of it - but reality is we're not completely without talent in this roster.

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[Snakebites]

It's abundantly clear the Gobert trade has changed the belief and perception about the Wolves and that'll only increase if they win a title and/or have another quality playoff run next season

Question for us is - what's our Rudy trade?

What player or players could we bring in that will propel us forward?

I get the doom and gloom - I checked out cause of it - but reality is we're not completely without talent in this roster.

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I like the thought.

But the Wolves had already become a 56 win team before the Gobert trade. There are some steps we need to get through before we're ready to make that sort of all-in move.

[jars]

Wasn’t the rumor that Joe wanted Bosh if not for Darko? He seemed to be stuck on drafting a big. It was the “illegal” workout with Detroit that cemented Darko as the guy because he was apparently hitting a bunch of shots lol

But yeah, if you have HOFers at #1, #3, #4, and #5 and you selected a scrub at #2, that is the all-time worst. Without question, at least for Detroit.

Have you seen the Sheed interview with Arenas where he talks about Darko? He basically says that Darko had all the skills, but he just didn't have that mental side to handle it all https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JJkBsMhIJt4

Most were on darkos nuts that draft. We needed a pf, it made sense, we did got our pf in sheed, who knows how it works if we got bosh melo, if we get melo is tay getting the key block still? Does he **** with chemistry? Same with bosh. Who cares, **** went how it went.

There was a Billups interview recently as well in which he said that if Melo came to Detroit, he would have ended up a better player and had a different legacy. Being on a bad Denver team meant he didn't develop much team dynamic stuff and got some bad habit. It's a huge what if had we gone Melo at 2, but we got a championship with Darko, so I wouldn't change things.

[Pharaoh]

It's abundantly clear the Gobert trade has changed the belief and perception about the Wolves and that'll only increase if they win a title and/or have another quality playoff run next season

Question for us is - what's our Rudy trade?

What player or players could we bring in that will propel us forward?

I get the doom and gloom - I checked out cause of it - but reality is we're not completely without talent in this roster.

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I like the thought.

But the Wolves had already become a 56 win team before the Gobert trade. There are some steps we need to get through before we're ready to make that sort of all-in move.

Obviously they had pieces on the books and wins on the board prior to Rudy (and Conley) arriving.

We tried Bogan & Burks - time to try for more than that.

Duren - Stewart
Simone - ?
Ausar - ?
Grimes, Ivey, 2024 Pick?
Cade - Sasser

We have our pick and enough cap space to move the needle and no Tobias Harris isn't it.

We need to find the Josh Hart types of guys that are actually built different

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