NBA Playoffs Thread (non-Magic games discussion)

[drsd]

Trae will never be in a championship team unless he takes a 6 man role. His defense is not sustainable as a starter…..

Not sure how Nash pulled it off. Guess it was before the super spread open offense

And he never won one

Nash > Trae

The Hawks would be well served to exchange Murray for Caruso. (perhaps with Murray landing in Orlando???)

[pepe1991]

Trae will never be in a championship team unless he takes a 6 man role. His defense is not sustainable as a starter…..

Not sure how Nash pulled it off. Guess it was before the super spread open offense

And he never won one

Nash > Trae

Oddly enough, only the last few seasons have teams really keyed in on targeting bad defenders as a strategic offensive plan. In the past it was just give it to the hot hand without any concern of who was on them.

Steve Nash ( and D'antoni and their Suns) are one of cornerstones of modern, spread offense.

You can hide mediocre individual defender, as long as he is willing to actually participate on a team as team defender. ( Steph Curry, as golden example).

You look Harden now, and compare him to Houston days, with much smaller work loud on offense, guy plays good defense.

I mean, current nba champions , Nuggets, have 2 terrible individual defenders and one pretty mediocre one- in starting 5.

Michael Porter Jr might be one of most clueless wing defenders out there, from terrible decision making, constant inability to stay focused, overusing agility & leaping to cover for inability to read, playing like drunk prom queen on every possession ,to Jamal Murray, who is just limited on defense from phyiscal perspective, to Jokic, who lacks any latheral mobility.

But if you scheme around your inabilities , and your offense is unguardable, you force opponents to change their rotations just to stop you, and in that moment you, as Nuggets team already won.


Being one that others need to adjust to beat is what makes you a dinasty.

Teams didn't want to go small , they had to stop Warriors.
Teams didn't want to go small, they had to stop Heat.
Teams didn't want to go big, they had to to beat Lakers (1999-2003)

And that's a whole point, you want to build team you prefer, but if some team does something that you can't match, talent vise, you will either adjust ( and lose your strenghts by doing so ) or not adjust ( and lose). And at the end of a day, in nba, talent always wins.

Nuggets don't win because of their out of a world defense ,they win because their best player is best player in NBA.
Bucks won in 2021 because Giannis was best player that year.
Davis & Lebron played like two out of 5 top 5 playres in 2020 = they won.
Warriors won in years when either Durant or Curry, or both, were at their peaks.

It's just reality. When you look at playin games, Pelicans are young, upcomming, talented etc, but once you stop beliving buzzwords & hype ,and pay attention, two out of two best players in Lakers vs Pelicans game- are Lakers players.
76ers started winning again when one leg Embiid returned. Coincidence? Not really.

One true star in basketball is way more valuable than 5 good role players. if you have top 5 star, odds are, in 5-6 yeras, you will go to at least one conference finals. If you are lucky, you might win, but it takes more to win whole thing ,but having top 5 player is pretty much all you need to be brute force. Not for regular season,but for playoffs.



As for Trae Young, i was never Young fan, whoever remembers, remembers my opinion about him, it wasn't nice one .
But if you build team around him, that won't expose him, you can get a lot from him. Enough to win whole thing as him as best player? Probably not, but him as 2# or 3# option ? Why not?
Send him and 3 average role players to Spurs and they will win 45-50 games next year without any problems. Why ? Because Victor will be one man defense and Trae will be one man offense. Their individual talent will impact all role players, on both ends. Talent matters. Finding right peaces is important, but only once you established roster around top 10 at least- but in reality- top 5 player.

[drsd]

Trae will never be in a championship team unless he takes a 6 man role. His defense is not sustainable as a starter…..

Not sure how Nash pulled it off. Guess it was before the super spread open offense

And he never won one

Nash > Trae

Oddly enough, only the last few seasons have teams really keyed in on targeting bad defenders as a strategic offensive plan. In the past it was just give it to the hot hand without any concern of who was on them.

Steve Nash ( and D'antoni and their Suns) are one of cornerstones of modern, spread offense.

You can hide mediocre individual defender, as long as he is willing to actually participate on a team as team defender. ( Steph Curry, as golden example).

You look Harden now, and compare him to Houston days, with much smaller work loud on offense, guy plays good defense.

I mean, current nba champions , Nuggets, have 2 terrible individual defenders and one pretty mediocre one- in starting 5.

Michael Porter Jr might be one of most clueless wing defenders out there, from terrible decision making, constant inability to stay focused, overusing agility & leaping to cover for inability to read, playing like drunk prom queen on every possession ,to Jamal Murray, who is just limited on defense from phyiscal perspective, to Jokic, who lacks any latheral mobility.

But if you scheme around your inabilities , and your offense is unguardable, you force opponents to change their rotations just to stop you, and in that moment you, as Nuggets team already won.


Being one that others need to adjust to beat is what makes you a dinasty.

Teams didn't want to go small , they had to stop Warriors.
Teams didn't want to go small, they had to stop Heat.
Teams didn't want to go big, they had to to beat Lakers (1999-2003)

And that's a whole point, you want to build team you prefer, but if some team does something that you can't match, talent vise, you will either adjust ( and lose your strenghts by doing so ) or not adjust ( and lose). And at the end of a day, in nba, talent always wins.

Nuggets don't win because of their out of a world defense ,they win because their best player is best player in NBA.
Bucks won in 2021 because Giannis was best player that year.
Davis & Lebron played like two out of 5 top 5 playres in 2020 = they won.
Warriors won in years when either Durant or Curry, or both, were at their peaks.

It's just reality. When you look at playin games, Pelicans are young, upcomming, talented etc, but once you stop beliving buzzwords & hype ,and pay attention, two out of two best players in Lakers vs Pelicans game- are Lakers players.
76ers started winning again when one leg Embiid returned. Coincidence? Not really.

One true star in basketball is way more valuable than 5 good role players. if you have top 5 star, odds are, in 5-6 yeras, you will go to at least one conference finals. If you are lucky, you might win, but it takes more to win whole thing ,but having top 5 player is pretty much all you need to be brute force. Not for regular season,but for playoffs.

Where is the And-5 button ????

Amen brother.

Look, the Magic is improving these last 2-years on offense and defense. But to be a title contender, offence is more importnat thatn defense in the modern NBA. Orlando needs a scoring guard next to Suggs: full stop!

As for Trae Young, i was never Young fan, whoever remembers, remembers my opinion about him, it wasn't nice one .
But if you build team around him, that won't expose him, you can get a lot from him. Enough to win whole thing as him as best player? Probably not, but him as 2# or 3# option ? Why not?
Send him and 3 average role players to Spurs and they will win 45-50 games next year without any problems. Why ? Because Victor will be one man defense and Trae will be one man offense. Their individual talent will impact all role players, on both ends. Talent matters. Finding right peaces is important, but only once you established roster around top 10 at least- but in reality- top 5 player.

[/quote]


I loved Young out of Uni. But in the NBA, he is the living recreation of Dominique Wilkins (at a different NBA slot). The dude will be a Hall of Famer. And he will never, ever in any NBA scheme lead his team to a title. For Orlando, I am 10,000X for Murray over Young.

[drsd]

Dominique Wilkins is a five-time leader in FGs attempts missed per season. I think Young could break that record if he really, really works at it.

[Skybox]

Klay would be an upgrade for us lets be honest. Just don’t break the bank for him.

Most guards in the NBA would be an upgrade…but let’s not settle. Everything else is really good…let’s not clamp a ceiling on the team. Spend the assets and get much better …that’s the whole point of collecting assets & cap space.

(I agree…Klay would be fun, but money is the only reason to leave a place he loves and is loved by. If he goes with some crazy concept of being “disrespected” because they don’t want to pay a $20m player $30 or$40m (not to mention the absurd tax penalties GSW has absorbed). Great guy, very good player, terrible timing.

*ultimately, he will stay for $27.5 million in GSW

[CZ Eddie]

It sucks that Butler will be out for Miami. But maybe now the Chicago vs Miami game will be a little more entertaining.
Chicago might even win?!?!!
Goooo Vuuuch!

[Skybox]

Trae will never be in a championship team unless he takes a 6 man role. His defense is not sustainable as a starter…..

Not sure how Nash pulled it off. Guess it was before the super spread open offense

And he never won one

Nash > Trae

The Hawks would be well served to exchange Murray for Caruso. (perhaps with Murray landing in Orlando???)

Murray is much much much more valuable than Caruso…not that you said it was a straight swap.

Also, apparently Murray & Lavine are close. CHI could try to change the narrative and double down with Lavine/Murray…Coby would be extraneous and on the block for more win-now frontcourt talent. ORL could maybe trade for Coby - who ATL probably wouldn’t covet either (next to Trae)…I’d rather have Murray, but I’d be very happy with Coby White. ATL might value Caruso or AB next to Trae…ORL would have to add value somewhere…would CHI welcome WCJ back?

This is expanding beyond my present mental capacity…presently outside my RV, slightly impaired, watching the sun set over Asheville, NC.

[Skybox]

It sucks that Butler will be out for Miami. But maybe now the Chicago vs Miami game will be a little more entertaining.
Chicago might even win?!?!!
Goooo Vuuuch!

Love to see a MIA meltdown & restructure…Tyler Herro, 9-27 with only 9 assists in their loss…ship that bum out (to us )

[eyriq]

It sucks that Butler will be out for Miami. But maybe now the Chicago vs Miami game will be a little more entertaining.
Chicago might even win?!?!!
Goooo Vuuuch!

Love to see a MIA meltdown & restructure…Tyler Herro, 9-27 with only 9 assists in their loss…ship that bum out (to us )

Miami starting off strong

[Optimus_Steel]

My goodness Chicago is craphole team. How do you allow a 0-19 run in the first quarter….

[Skybox]

It sucks that Butler will be out for Miami. But maybe now the Chicago vs Miami game will be a little more entertaining.
Chicago might even win?!?!!
Goooo Vuuuch!

Love to see a MIA meltdown & restructure…Tyler Herro, 9-27 with only 9 assists in their loss…ship that bum out (to us )

Miami starting off strong

Wow…Herro out of the gate quick…6/6/5 still in the 1st

[RookieStar]

I thought CHI natches up well with MIA... hmmmm...

[richi_v25]

I was really hoping mia lost especially without Jimmy buckets.

[RookieStar]

Well... BOS can exorcise their demons now..

[RookieStar]

Also... so sad what happened to Jonas. Well i dunno what happened yo him but i always thought he couldve been the answer for our problems at C when Vuc was traded..

[eyriq]

Also... so sad what happened to Jonas. Well i dunno what happened yo him but i always thought he couldve been the answer for our problems at C when Vuc was traded..

Jonas is still good IMO

[RookieStar]

Also... so sad what happened to Jonas. Well i dunno what happened yo him but i always thought he couldve been the answer for our problems at C when Vuc was traded..

Jonas is still good IMO

He is kinda like a huge Vuc right now. Doesnt jump doesnt rim protect... faster Cs just gets around him. But sure you cant move him if you bang downlow but thats it.

Im watching the game and he liked missed 3 point blank shots.

[basketballRob]

Jonas looks done to me.

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[basketballRob]

We need to have the Pelicans win so they don't bump us down one spot in the draft.

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[SOUL]

The guys at the place we may pick (I'm not convinced we are) are so interchangable that I'm not pressed at all.