Official Caris LeVert Thread

[Mosdefinition]

san antonio didnt need picks. they had tim duncan. it doesnt matter who you put around ducan, he is so all time elite he makes everyone look good. with lopez those same guys flaws shine instead of get glossed over

When David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Bruce Bowen, Avery Johnson moved on they had to replace them they did so without lottery picks.
In order to win 5 championships since 97 you need a great front office we're a work in progress.
Tim Duncan is a center he doesn't bring the ball up, he can't get his without someone giving him the ball. The only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

You are severely discounting one of the 10 best players to ever play the game

He makes everyone better and the game easier

The spurs model hinges on luck. Robinson never gets hurt in 97 they never get Duncan no Duncan they never win a ring

Hell if pop doesn't fire bob hill after that season we are talking about bob hill as one of the best coaches ever

[kamaze]

:)

san antonio didnt need picks. they had tim duncan. it doesnt matter who you put around ducan, he is so all time elite he makes everyone look good. with lopez those same guys flaws shine instead of get glossed over

When David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Bruce Bowen, Avery Johnson moved on they had to replace them they did so without lottery picks.
In order to win 5 championships since 97 you need a great front office we're a work in progress.
Tim Duncan is a center he doesn't bring the ball up, he can't get his without someone giving him the ball. The only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

You are severely discounting one of the 10 best players to ever play the game

He makes everyone better and the game easier

The spurs model hinges on luck. Robinson never gets hurt in 97 they never get Duncan no Duncan they never win a ring

Hell if pop doesn't fire bob hill after that season we are talking about bob hill as one of the best coaches ever

Bob Hill got fired he's not a good coach similar to when Orlando fired him.

[Prokorov]

You're giving Duncan too much credit, every year they won it he was just one piece to the championship puzzle regardless how big or small a role he played.
Diaw, SJax, Bellinelli looked mediocre on other teams but on the SPURS; with Pop coaching; everyone had a role and stuck to the team philosophy.
If Tim Duncan got drafted by Minnesota he wouldn't have had the same success, unless you believe he's that good but you're smarter than that.

I think you are DRASTICALLY underselling him and giving him too little credit. he wasnt a piece of a puzzle, he was basically the entire damn thing. the reason those guys looked good on the spurs was because of duncans dominance... some of those guys even had better seasons elsewhere, but without a hall of fame MVP, it goes unoticed or doesnt lead to wins.

if duncan got drafted to the wolves maybe he has 2-3 rings instead of 5. maybe he till gets 5. hard to say. but he certainly wins no less then 2 anywhere.

the spurs on the other hand probably win a big fat ZERO without duncan.

GOATS win. systems help... but GOATS win regrdless

[Prokorov]

san antonio didnt need picks. they had tim duncan. it doesnt matter who you put around ducan, he is so all time elite he makes everyone look good. with lopez those same guys flaws shine instead of get glossed over

When David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Bruce Bowen, Avery Johnson moved on they had to replace them they did so without lottery picks.
In order to win 5 championships since 97 you need a great front office we're a work in progress.
Tim Duncan is a center he doesn't bring the ball up, he can't get his without someone giving him the ball. The only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

when your a GOAT like duncan or shaq or kareem you dont need someone to create for you. anyone can dribble it over half court and throw an entry pass to duncan. its not difficult. duncans impact on his teammates was far greater then kidds. and any role guys you put around duncan are going to eventually be enough to win a title.

Your not winning many titles without elite defense. and duncan is one of the best defensive anchors of all time

[Prokorov]

:)

When David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Bruce Bowen, Avery Johnson moved on they had to replace them they did so without lottery picks.
In order to win 5 championships since 97 you need a great front office we're a work in progress.
Tim Duncan is a center he doesn't bring the ball up, he can't get his without someone giving him the ball. The only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

You are severely discounting one of the 10 best players to ever play the game

He makes everyone better and the game easier

The spurs model hinges on luck. Robinson never gets hurt in 97 they never get Duncan no Duncan they never win a ring

Hell if pop doesn't fire bob hill after that season we are talking about bob hill as one of the best coaches ever

Bob Hill got fired he's not a good coach similar to when Orlando fired him.

Bob hill never coached the magic, and was a good(not great) coach.

I think you are confusing him with brian hill

[kamaze]

You're giving Duncan too much credit, every year they won it he was just one piece to the championship puzzle regardless how big or small a role he played.
Diaw, SJax, Bellinelli looked mediocre on other teams but on the SPURS; with Pop coaching; everyone had a role and stuck to the team philosophy.
If Tim Duncan got drafted by Minnesota he wouldn't have had the same success, unless you believe he's that good but you're smarter than that.

I think you are DRASTICALLY underselling him and giving him too little credit. he wasnt a piece of a puzzle, he was basically the entire damn thing. the reason those guys looked good on the spurs was because of duncans dominance... some of those guys even had better seasons elsewhere, but without a hall of fame MVP, it goes unoticed or doesnt lead to wins.

if duncan got drafted to the wolves maybe he has 2-3 rings instead of 5. maybe he till gets 5. hard to say. but he certainly wins no less then 2 anywhere.

the spurs on the other hand probably win a big fat ZERO without duncan.

GOATS win. systems help... but GOATS win regrdless

So 2 years ago he was basically the entire damn team when they won ? Kawhi Leonard was the finals MVP in 2013 and Tony Parker in 2006
KG was MVP in Minnesota, he'll be a hall of famer too, it didn't matter. 1 player no matter how good is just 1 player it takes a team to win. When Garnett went to Boston he emphasized team and they got a ring. Again the only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

The league is all about stars but Durant didn't win in the WCF because they didn't play team ball like the coach wanted them to.
Cleveland wouldn't have won if Kyrie kept running the clear it out iso's for himself instead of team ball either. He had to tweak his game.

That's why the Spurs won 5 times, that's why Golden State got 1. Miami had better individual talent but Dallas beat them playing together. Miami understood what it took to win it all better after that loss and won 3 rings.

[jbeachboy]

i though this was caris levert thread.

[kamaze]

san antonio didnt need picks. they had tim duncan. it doesnt matter who you put around ducan, he is so all time elite he makes everyone look good. with lopez those same guys flaws shine instead of get glossed over

When David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Bruce Bowen, Avery Johnson moved on they had to replace them they did so without lottery picks.
In order to win 5 championships since 97 you need a great front office we're a work in progress.
Tim Duncan is a center he doesn't bring the ball up, he can't get his without someone giving him the ball. The only player that imo made everyone else better by himself was Jason Kidd.

when your a GOAT like duncan or shaq or kareem you dont need someone to create for you. anyone can dribble it over half court and throw an entry pass to duncan. its not difficult. duncans impact on his teammates was far greater then kidds. and any role guys you put around duncan are going to eventually be enough to win a title.

Your not winning many titles without elite defense. and duncan is one of the best defensive anchors of all time

So easy a caveman could do itI It's not that easy if it was more teams would win instead you can count the championship teams on 2 hands. Duncan had Parker, Shaq had Penny; they didn't win Houston was a better team with Kenny Smith and Sam Casell feeding Hakeem; Kareem had Magic. Duncan won his 1st with Avery Johnson but hopefully you get the point.

[MrDollarBills]

Okay yeah, enough Spurs talk this is getting lame as ****

Lets talk Caris LeVert. I see high upside, but I fear that he is too fragile to play the way that he does. Definitely a combo guard, but he needs to get physically stronger. Thoughts?

[sidestep]

Okay yeah, enough Spurs talk this is getting lame as ****

Lets talk Caris LeVert. I see high upside, but I fear that he is too fragile to play the way that he does. Definitely a combo guard, but he needs to get physically stronger. Thoughts?

He doesn't have an NBA body yet; he's even thinner than Kevin Martin heh. But his length is nice for a 2 guard, and that can compensate for his difficulty with taking hits now.

He's the only secondary playmaker (not counting Vasquez) that the team could develop (well, there's also Whitehead, but I don't think he's going to crack to the rotation), and that's the hardest thing to do for a rookie, to read defenses and anticipate how a play will develop. Atkinson said the offense won't be very PG-centric, and will borrow from spurs and hawks' motion offense, which I think will be helpful for Levert's learning curve since the decisions he will be required to make will be more limited. But ultimately he's going to need to shoot well to get minutes.

[ChokeFasncists]

i wouldnt minimize duncans on court impact the last few years. even with less minutes, his oncourt impact was enourmous.

He was 2nd in DRPM this year, 2nd the year prior, and third the year before

Duncan was 12th in the league in RPM this year, 13th last year, and 9th the year prior.

they guy still made an enormoo
us D impact who was an elite team offensive player to boot.

i think we will see a big drop off this year with him gone. im not saying they suck, but i think 55ish wins is more likely then 60+ let alone 67 or whatever

He was still pretty good. But he definitely wasn't the best offensively player on the team. (or second best) He wasn't playing at a all time great level, just a role player, a very good one of course.

The thing is, his and Pop's impact on the team was far greater than just his production on the court. They were a cultural phenomenon.

offensively, no... but the past 3 years he was a top 5 defensively player in the league and one of the best defensive anchors. and offensively still great at moving the ball and putting pressure on defenses. is impact was still pretty huge, although in less minutes.

i believe last year, minute for minute, he was better then aldridge, and i dont think aldridge can replace even the 2013-2016 version of duncan. that team will take a step back for sure

Sure, but he still wouldn't be winning chips if there weren't a lot of other stuff happening. Such as Pop, Manu, Parker, Kawai, Bowen, Green etc etc.

Another thing is, Duncan wasn't just the player on the court, he was a big part of the creation of the Spurs culture; team oriented, unselfish, coachable, do the little things, no ego, corporate knowledge, longevity, not flashy, no drama, etc etc. And I think many teams that have FOs/coaches from the Spurs family tree, including the Nets, are trying emulate that.

[ChokeFasncists]

it seems that Levert and RHJ are both left handed. kinda neat factoid.

You serious? I think I asked someone in this thread who said he is similar to Jalen Rose if he is left handed, the answer was no?

It's a big advantage.

OTOH, LeVert is probably OK as a 2 guard. 3&D, pass a bit, don't try to do too much at the beginning. Atkinson said the offense won't very PG oriented like MDA, but he also said the PG is like the quarterback, so it still will be somewhat PG oriented I imagine.

[TheNetsFan]

I think LeVert is right handed. Based on highlight videos, he seems to shoot right and bring the ball up with his right, but is very adept at handling the ball, driving and finishing with either hand.

[sidestep]

I think LeVert is right handed. Based on highlight videos, he seems to shoot right and bring the ball up with his right, but is very adept at handling the ball, driving and finishing with either hand.

You're right. I was actually thinking of Tyler Johnson (who is indeed left-handed), and somehow confused him with LeVert. Brain fart.

I guess I was so sure Miami wouldn't match that I penciled in 'left-handed combo guard on the roster' in my mind.

[Mosdefinition]

i though this was caris levert thread.

there are some people trying to discredit the impact duncan had on why the spurs system is a success saying the nets should emulate that

we are pointing out its not possible to emulate without one of the 10 best players ever

its easier to emulate what the heat did then doing what the spurs did

[Mosdefinition]

He was still pretty good. But he definitely wasn't the best offensively player on the team. (or second best) He wasn't playing at a all time great level, just a role player, a very good one of course.

The thing is, his and Pop's impact on the team was far greater than just his production on the court. They were a cultural phenomenon.

offensively, no... but the past 3 years he was a top 5 defensively player in the league and one of the best defensive anchors. and offensively still great at moving the ball and putting pressure on defenses. is impact was still pretty huge, although in less minutes.

i believe last year, minute for minute, he was better then aldridge, and i dont think aldridge can replace even the 2013-2016 version of duncan. that team will take a step back for sure

Sure, but he still wouldn't be winning chips if there weren't a lot of other stuff happening. Such as Pop, Manu, Parker, Kawai, Bowen, Green etc etc.

Another thing is, Duncan wasn't just the player on the court, he was a big part of the creation of the Spurs culture; team oriented, unselfish, coachable, do the little things, no ego, corporate knowledge, longevity, not flashy, no drama, etc etc. And I think many teams that have FOs/coaches from the Spurs family tree, including the Nets, are trying emulate that.

and none of those teams trying to emulate that have had that success

the closest was the presti in oklahoma and he had 2 all time great players

the draft is a crap shoot

[CalamityX12]

i though this was caris levert thread.

there are some people trying to discredit the impact duncan had on why the spurs system is a success saying the nets should emulate that

we are pointing out its not possible to emulate without one of the 10 best players ever

its easier to emulate what the heat did then doing what the spurs did

sounds like a real interesting discussion that should be outside of a Caris LeVert thread...

[CalamityX12]

Okay yeah, enough Spurs talk this is getting lame as ****

Lets talk Caris LeVert. I see high upside, but I fear that he is too fragile to play the way that he does. Definitely a combo guard, but he needs to get physically stronger. Thoughts?

does he play for SA?

lol i just joking......

lets see what kind of impact... the injuries on the kid scares me the most... while he may be cleared now, he carries that "when will he break" shadow at the moment til we see if he can play through pain....

[ChokeFasncists]

offensively, no... but the past 3 years he was a top 5 defensively player in the league and one of the best defensive anchors. and offensively still great at moving the ball and putting pressure on defenses. is impact was still pretty huge, although in less minutes.

i believe last year, minute for minute, he was better then aldridge, and i dont think aldridge can replace even the 2013-2016 version of duncan. that team will take a step back for sure

Sure, but he still wouldn't be winning chips if there weren't a lot of other stuff happening. Such as Pop, Manu, Parker, Kawai, Bowen, Green etc etc.

Another thing is, Duncan wasn't just the player on the court, he was a big part of the creation of the Spurs culture; team oriented, unselfish, coachable, do the little things, no ego, corporate knowledge, longevity, not flashy, no drama, etc etc. And I think many teams that have FOs/coaches from the Spurs family tree, including the Nets, are trying emulate that.

and none of those teams trying to emulate that have had that success

the closest was the presti in oklahoma and he had 2 all time great players

the draft is a crap shoot

Just because they didn't have the same success doesn't mean they weren't relatively more successful than otherwise.

It's not about becoming exactly the same as the Spurs, it's about being relatively more successful without a top 3 player in the league at the moment. The Spurs were able to win chips even when Duncan was no longer a top 3 player.

[Prokorov]

Sure, but he still wouldn't be winning chips if there weren't a lot of other stuff happening. Such as Pop, Manu, Parker, Kawai, Bowen, Green etc etc.

Im going to have to disagree. i dont see any scenario where duncan doesnt win multiple titles. any gm, any team. any city. 20 years, full health, duncans winning multiple title. maybe no 5, but at least 2. he is a top 10 all time player, none of those failed to win multiple titles
[/quote]
Another thing is, Duncan wasn't just the player on the court, he was a big part of the creation of the Spurs culture; team oriented, unselfish, coachable, do the little things, no ego, corporate knowledge, longevity, not flashy, no drama, etc etc. And I think many teams that have FOs/coaches from the Spurs family tree, including the Nets, are trying emulate that.[/quote]

i agree, and that part can be emulated, but you dont get the success with it without a duncan type.