NBA Playoffs Thread (non-Magic games discussion)

[zaymon]

Teams with genius decision makers adjust and win in the long run. I dont think we will win it all without one. Paolo while above average decision maker is nowhere near Luka, Jokic, Lebron, Haliburton.
Trae Young is the only genius playmaker who could become available in the foreseeable future. I dont see better team than us outside Celtics to cover for him defensively. If Hawks want to keep with this farce we can wait another year. Then i would be ok signing someone like Tyus Jones while integrating AB and Howard into rotation. If we fall to play in our draft pick will be even more valueable. Win win situation for me.

[three3d]

Teams with genius decision makers adjust and win in the long run. I dont think we will win it all without one. Paolo while above average decision maker is nowhere near Luka, Jokic, Lebron, Haliburton.
Trae Young is the only genius playmaker who could become available in the foreseeable future. I dont see better team than us outside Celtics to cover for him defensively. If Hawks want to keep with this farce we can wait another year. Then i would be ok signing someone like Tyus Jones while integrating AB and Howard into rotation. If we fall to play in our draft pick will be even more valueable. Win win situation for me.

Trae’s shot selection is what bothers me. Can he chill out and play within a teams offense? No doubt he can shoot, but he’s not Steph Curry.

[zaymon]

Teams with genius decision makers adjust and win in the long run. I dont think we will win it all without one. Paolo while above average decision maker is nowhere near Luka, Jokic, Lebron, Haliburton.
Trae Young is the only genius playmaker who could become available in the foreseeable future. I dont see better team than us outside Celtics to cover for him defensively. If Hawks want to keep with this farce we can wait another year. Then i would be ok signing someone like Tyus Jones while integrating AB and Howard into rotation. If we fall to play in our draft pick will be even more valueable. Win win situation for me.

Trae’s shot selection is what bothers me. Can he chill out and play within a teams offense? No doubt he can shoot, but he’s not Steph Curry.

I dont have answer but its very hard to win without such player anyway. Even Celtics struggled so far, Phoenix fell apart after Chris Paul trade, Miami couldnt get over the hump even with Butler/Adebayo combo and GSW had Green who is very underrated playmaker while Curry is elite at pick and roll.
Thats a risk but it seems like it will be near impossible to win 7 game series without having real genius to deal with ever improving defenses. Wolves looked like goats until Jokic had a good look at their defense and adjusted.
Cavs almost lost to us while having premium scorer in Mitchell. We have premium scorer in Banchero we need premium decision maker.

[Optimus_Steel]

Jokic has made 4 time defensive player of the year Gobert look completely helpless. What an amazing player. Joy to watch.

[Skybox]

Teams with genius decision makers adjust and win in the long run. I dont think we will win it all without one. Paolo while above average decision maker is nowhere near Luka, Jokic, Lebron, Haliburton.
Trae Young is the only genius playmaker who could become available in the foreseeable future. I dont see better team than us outside Celtics to cover for him defensively. If Hawks want to keep with this farce we can wait another year. Then i would be ok signing someone like Tyus Jones while integrating AB and Howard into rotation. If we fall to play in our draft pick will be even more valueable. Win win situation for me.

Trae’s shot selection is what bothers me. Can he chill out and play within a teams offense? No doubt he can shoot, but he’s not Steph Curry.

No he cannot. You either build around him like PHI did with Iverson and live with his shortcomings or you look elsewhere. Honestly, he'd be less than half the player if he did defer...he just has very little to offer other than his elite on-ball offensive wizardry. Trae and Paolo is a non-starter for me, but I could see success for either in separate configurations - just not together.

[zaymon]

Teams with genius decision makers adjust and win in the long run. I dont think we will win it all without one. Paolo while above average decision maker is nowhere near Luka, Jokic, Lebron, Haliburton.
Trae Young is the only genius playmaker who could become available in the foreseeable future. I dont see better team than us outside Celtics to cover for him defensively. If Hawks want to keep with this farce we can wait another year. Then i would be ok signing someone like Tyus Jones while integrating AB and Howard into rotation. If we fall to play in our draft pick will be even more valueable. Win win situation for me.

Trae’s shot selection is what bothers me. Can he chill out and play within a teams offense? No doubt he can shoot, but he’s not Steph Curry.

No he cannot. You either build around him like PHI did with Iverson and live with his shortcomings or you look elsewhere. Honestly, he'd be less than half the player if he did defer...he just has very little to offer other than his elite on-ball offensive wizardry. Trae and Paolo is a non-starter for me, but I could see success for either in separate configurations - just not together.

Why they cant play together ? Its not Young/Murray situation. Paolo is huge, they can form one of the best pick and roll duos in the entire league. We would also not sacrifice a lot of size having our best scorer 6'10 and third scorer 6'10.
You have some more concrete worries ?

[Skybox]

Trae’s shot selection is what bothers me. Can he chill out and play within a teams offense? No doubt he can shoot, but he’s not Steph Curry.

No he cannot. You either build around him like PHI did with Iverson and live with his shortcomings or you look elsewhere. Honestly, he'd be less than half the player if he did defer...he just has very little to offer other than his elite on-ball offensive wizardry. Trae and Paolo is a non-starter for me, but I could see success for either in separate configurations - just not together.

Why they cant play together ? Its not Young/Murray situation. Paolo is huge, they can form one of the best pick and roll duos in the entire league. We would also not sacrifice a lot of size having our best scorer 6'10 and third scorer 6'10.
You have some more concrete worries ?

Paolo would not be our #1 scorer, he'd be a distant #2, likely under 20ppg. Paolo and Franz would both be reduced to secondary roles. Paolo and Franz play like PG's now...they dribble drive, pull up, kick out...the fact that Murray's smaller than them doesn't really change my projection. From what I remember reading, Trae just would NOT do a thing off-ball. Stubborn. Spoiled. Entitled? Maybe - but Trae knows what he is and how he has played his whole life. Murray couldn't get a taste of the offense until Trae went down just illustrates it. Unless you're giving our young all-star a total makeover (into John Collins? ), Trae's not really the guy. That's only a knock on Trae (and I'd say the same about Luka)...it's just clashing styles and resulting compromises. I'm actually a fan of Trae and think he gets too much criticism....just not a good fit in ORL. I liken him to Iverson...small, tough, fierce competitor who WILL put up points and dish out assists...but you need to build around him because he's not changing and he's aware that he's nowhere near as effective off-ball. Again, same as Luka - he's All-World, but would not be best for Paolo or Franz.

only my take on Trae...could be wrong but the Dejounte experiment cemented it further that Trae don't share. Same with Luka, but Kyrie has adapted to a lot more effective off-ball play until Luka takes a breather.

[zaymon]

No he cannot. You either build around him like PHI did with Iverson and live with his shortcomings or you look elsewhere. Honestly, he'd be less than half the player if he did defer...he just has very little to offer other than his elite on-ball offensive wizardry. Trae and Paolo is a non-starter for me, but I could see success for either in separate configurations - just not together.

Why they cant play together ? Its not Young/Murray situation. Paolo is huge, they can form one of the best pick and roll duos in the entire league. We would also not sacrifice a lot of size having our best scorer 6'10 and third scorer 6'10.
You have some more concrete worries ?

Paolo would not be our #1 scorer, he'd be a distant #2, likely under 20ppg. Paolo and Franz would both be reduced to secondary roles. Paolo and Franz play like PG's now...they dribble drive, pull up, kick out...the fact that Murray's smaller than them doesn't really change my projection. From what I remember reading, Trae just would NOT do a thing off-ball. Stubborn. Spoiled. Entitled? Maybe - but Trae knows what he is and how he has played his whole life. Murray couldn't get a taste of the offense until Trae went down just illustrates it. Unless you're giving our young all-star a total makeover (into John Collins? ), Trae's not really the guy. That's only a knock on Trae (and I'd say the same about Luka)...it's just clashing styles and resulting compromises. I'm actually a fan of Trae and think he gets too much criticism....just not a good fit in ORL. I liken him to Iverson...small, tough, fierce competitor who WILL put up points and dish out assists...but you need to build around him because he's not changing and he's aware that he's nowhere near as effective off-ball. Again, same as Luka - he's All-World, but would not be best for Paolo or Franz.

only my take on Trae...could be wrong but the Dejounte experiment cemented it further that Trae don't share. Same with Luka, but Kyrie has adapted to a lot more effective off-ball play until Luka takes a breather.

Well Murray has history of being bad teammate, selfish, caring most about his stats while not being great shooter and only good not great passer. I can understand that Trae doesnt want to pass to a guy who hits pro-am players in the head during games and makes instagram drama with rookies. I know that more people have problems with Trae but i think there is a chance he was humbled enough last 2 years and that Mosley will get his buy in.
I have no problem seeing Paolo more as a roller and late shot clock isolation scorer. Thats what suits him best imo.

[Skybox]

Why they cant play together ? Its not Young/Murray situation. Paolo is huge, they can form one of the best pick and roll duos in the entire league. We would also not sacrifice a lot of size having our best scorer 6'10 and third scorer 6'10.
You have some more concrete worries ?

Paolo would not be our #1 scorer, he'd be a distant #2, likely under 20ppg. Paolo and Franz would both be reduced to secondary roles. Paolo and Franz play like PG's now...they dribble drive, pull up, kick out...the fact that Murray's smaller than them doesn't really change my projection. From what I remember reading, Trae just would NOT do a thing off-ball. Stubborn. Spoiled. Entitled? Maybe - but Trae knows what he is and how he has played his whole life. Murray couldn't get a taste of the offense until Trae went down just illustrates it. Unless you're giving our young all-star a total makeover (into John Collins? ), Trae's not really the guy. That's only a knock on Trae (and I'd say the same about Luka)...it's just clashing styles and resulting compromises. I'm actually a fan of Trae and think he gets too much criticism....just not a good fit in ORL. I liken him to Iverson...small, tough, fierce competitor who WILL put up points and dish out assists...but you need to build around him because he's not changing and he's aware that he's nowhere near as effective off-ball. Again, same as Luka - he's All-World, but would not be best for Paolo or Franz.

only my take on Trae...could be wrong but the Dejounte experiment cemented it further that Trae don't share. Same with Luka, but Kyrie has adapted to a lot more effective off-ball play until Luka takes a breather.

Well Murray has history of being bad teammate, selfish, caring most about his stats while not being great shooter and only good not great passer. I can understand that Trae doesnt want to pass to a guy who hits pro-am players in the head during games and makes instagram drama with rookies. I know that more people have problems with Trae but i think there is a chance he was humbled enough last 2 years and that Mosley will get his buy in.
I have no problem seeing Paolo more as a roller and late shot clock isolation scorer. Thats what suits him best imo.

That vision of Paolo breaks my heart.

[zaymon]

Paolo would not be our #1 scorer, he'd be a distant #2, likely under 20ppg. Paolo and Franz would both be reduced to secondary roles. Paolo and Franz play like PG's now...they dribble drive, pull up, kick out...the fact that Murray's smaller than them doesn't really change my projection. From what I remember reading, Trae just would NOT do a thing off-ball. Stubborn. Spoiled. Entitled? Maybe - but Trae knows what he is and how he has played his whole life. Murray couldn't get a taste of the offense until Trae went down just illustrates it. Unless you're giving our young all-star a total makeover (into John Collins? ), Trae's not really the guy. That's only a knock on Trae (and I'd say the same about Luka)...it's just clashing styles and resulting compromises. I'm actually a fan of Trae and think he gets too much criticism....just not a good fit in ORL. I liken him to Iverson...small, tough, fierce competitor who WILL put up points and dish out assists...but you need to build around him because he's not changing and he's aware that he's nowhere near as effective off-ball. Again, same as Luka - he's All-World, but would not be best for Paolo or Franz.

only my take on Trae...could be wrong but the Dejounte experiment cemented it further that Trae don't share. Same with Luka, but Kyrie has adapted to a lot more effective off-ball play until Luka takes a breather.

Well Murray has history of being bad teammate, selfish, caring most about his stats while not being great shooter and only good not great passer. I can understand that Trae doesnt want to pass to a guy who hits pro-am players in the head during games and makes instagram drama with rookies. I know that more people have problems with Trae but i think there is a chance he was humbled enough last 2 years and that Mosley will get his buy in.
I have no problem seeing Paolo more as a roller and late shot clock isolation scorer. Thats what suits him best imo.

That vision of Paolo breaks my heart.

Envision him with a ring on his finger

[Bensational]

Wolves found their mettle again tonight. Up 30 with 9 minutes to go in the 4th. Game 7 should be a cracker if both teams are bringing it.

[drsd]

..

I missed this!

Watch on YouTube

[pepe1991]

Wolves found their mettle again tonight. Up 30 with 9 minutes to go in the 4th. Game 7 should be a cracker if both teams are bringing it.

Game 7 is must watch TV.

[Optimus_Steel]

Wolves found their mettle again tonight. Up 30 with 9 minutes to go in the 4th. Game 7 should be a cracker if both teams are bringing it.

Game 7 is must watch TV.

I hope so but most games have been blowouts.

[Optimus_Steel]

Wolves found their mettle again tonight. Up 30 with 9 minutes to go in the 4th. Game 7 should be a cracker if both teams are bringing it.

70pts makes me feel slightly better about our offense. Yikes!

[RookieStar]

Jokic is pissed. Expect a Wilt-like performance from him in G7

[Bensational]

I struggle to pick a favourite between NYK and IND because I like them both and never considered either a conference finals team before. Knicks are pure grunt and hustle. Pacers are free-wheeling and flow. Whoever wins game 7, I'll be cheering for them over Boston.

[Optimus_Steel]

Jokic is pissed. Expect a Wilt-like performance from him in G7

Apparently he stood on the baseline entire 4th quarter

[RookieStar]

Jokic is pissed. Expect a Wilt-like performance from him in G7

Apparently he stood on the baseline entire 4th quarter

He just wants to do a #2... couldnt wait for the game to be over...

[Optimus_Steel]

Jokic is pissed. Expect a Wilt-like performance from him in G7

Apparently he stood on the baseline entire 4th quarter

He just wants to do a #2... couldnt wait for the game to be over...

Their game 6 was a turd so makes sense