Around the League 2020 Playoffs

[NyCeEvO]

Embiid has to take more than 15 shots. He has to command the ball more and stop watching, get your a$$ in the paint and dominate like Shaq did. This is what Shaq and Barkley was saying at the beginning of the year. 23/11 ain't going to cut it. Does he want to be good or great? He has to average 32 plus points this series to win without Ben. He has the skills to do it.

And I’m going to keep saying it, but this is one of the main reasons I feel like he’s a darkhorse trade candidate for us.

Add his questionable fit with Simmons and his long term health concerns, but then consider they’re not going to look to full rebuild because it would be too hard to not win with the rest of their roster...

Something like Dinwiddie, Allen, Rodi, 3 1st round picks could be exactly what they’re looking for.

Sure a later lotto pick and a prospect looks better on paper, but how perfect are Dinwiddie and Allen next to Simmons, Harris and Horford?

Aside from a straight up trade for someone like McCollum and picks, there won’t be many better fit trades out there, plus the value of the picks, Rodi and the young age of the 2 main players coming back in comparison with Simmons and Harris.

I had these exact same thoughts yesterday.

If such a deal went through, we would officially be #TeamLoadManagement.

[NyCeEvO]

Tell you what, there’s only one player in the league I’d take over Doncic for the long term, that’s Giannis.

There’s only 4 others I’d currently take over him:

LeBron
Anthony Davis
Kawhi
Harden

If healthy I’d take KD and Curry too.

That’s it though. I’d take him over even Lillard and Kyrie as well.

My list currently would be LeBron, Giannis, and a healthy Curry. I think Luka, Harden, and Kawhi are on the same tier. KD is a legit question mark given the injury, so I really have to wait and see how he looks when he gets back.

I don't view AD as highly as you do.

Going back to the 2012 draft, I remember a thread where we talked about how we viewed AD. I had the most questions about AD becoming a true superstar, while others (VC4P was probably the adamant) wholeheartedly believed AD would be a superstar and should be a perennial MVP candidate.

I think he’s ended up somewhere in the middle.

The reason why I had doubts about AD was less about his individual ability and more about how ballhandlers have the greatest ability to impact a game on the offensive end.

The fact that AD has to rely upon someone else to give him the ball in order for him to be an offensive threat has always been an issue for me, in terms of evaluating who are the top players in the game. Sure, he may be excellent once he has the ball in his hands, but given the fact that he’s not a primary ball handler or distributor, it means that he cannot truly anchor an offense (or at least, an elite one).

The most elite players in the game anchor their teams on offense and usually are at least pretty good defenders. The only exceptions to that rule are guys like Luka who are so good offensively and play the lead guard role that their defensive ability isn’t as important to the team’s overall success as compared to wings and bigs.

Davis is arguably the best defensive big man in the league, but his offensive impact is most connected to how well LBJ sets him up for lobs and around the key jumpers.

And given that the game now favors individual offensive ability more than individual defense, it’s now even harder for AD to truly be considered on the highest tier of highest impact players.

[therealbig3]

I think with AD is that I always get the impression that he’s invisible offensively or he puts up super empty stats. I think he’s a very good defender, but offensively, that team is so clearly LeBron’s, and without LeBron, AD really doesn’t do much. His overall offensive decision making is just weird too. The TNT crew pointed out how indecisive he was when he catches the ball in the post, waits for the double and then just kicks it out, and basically 10 seconds came off the clock without any offense being created. And he loves taking long contested midrange jumpers that he’s not that good at. I think he’s lethal as a PnR threat, but for whatever reason, he’s not being used in that way all that much. And he really doesn’t try to abuse smaller players that are on him the way he should.

Idk, I’m just not impressed with AD as an offensive player. I don’t think his defense is so great that it makes up for the chasm between him and the elite guards/wings on offense. Obviously an excellent player, and I would still call him a “superstar”, but I probably have him more in the 8-15 range than I do top 5 territory.

[vincecarter4pres]

I think with AD is that I always get the impression that he’s invisible offensively or he puts up super empty stats. I think he’s a very good defender, but offensively, that team is so clearly LeBron’s, and without LeBron, AD really doesn’t do much. His overall offensive decision making is just weird too. The TNT crew pointed out how indecisive he was when he catches the ball in the post, waits for the double and then just kicks it out, and basically 10 seconds came off the clock without any offense being created. And he loves taking long contested midrange jumpers that he’s not that good at. I think he’s lethal as a PnR threat, but for whatever reason, he’s not being used in that way all that much. And he really doesn’t try to abuse smaller players that are on him the way he should.

Idk, I’m just not impressed with AD as an offensive player. I don’t think his defense is so great that it makes up for the chasm between him and the elite guards/wings on offense. Obviously an excellent player, and I would still call him a “superstar”, but I probably have him more in the 8-15 range than I do top 5 territory.

I can get behind this for the most part. He's an outstanding player but I don't think I've ever had him higher then right at that #5 overall spot and this was probably before Kawhi and Giannis were truly considered those dudes so I had him only behind Bron, KD, Curry and Harden.

[vincecarter4pres]

Embiid has to take more than 15 shots. He has to command the ball more and stop watching, get your a$$ in the paint and dominate like Shaq did. This is what Shaq and Barkley was saying at the beginning of the year. 23/11 ain't going to cut it. Does he want to be good or great? He has to average 32 plus points this series to win without Ben. He has the skills to do it.

And I’m going to keep saying it, but this is one of the main reasons I feel like he’s a darkhorse trade candidate for us.

Add his questionable fit with Simmons and his long term health concerns, but then consider they’re not going to look to full rebuild because it would be too hard to not win with the rest of their roster...

Something like Dinwiddie, Allen, Rodi, 3 1st round picks could be exactly what they’re looking for.

Sure a later lotto pick and a prospect looks better on paper, but how perfect are Dinwiddie and Allen next to Simmons, Harris and Horford?

Aside from a straight up trade for someone like McCollum and picks, there won’t be many better fit trades out there, plus the value of the picks, Rodi and the young age of the 2 main players coming back in comparison with Simmons and Harris.

I had these exact same thoughts yesterday.

If such a deal went through, we would officially be #TeamLoadManagement.

Man, full strength in the playoffs we'd be something though, if we were ever full strength in the playoffs lol.

And some might say that's a lot of 1st round picks, but in my proposal I'm imaging something like their '20 pick returned, our '21 with maybe top 5 protection and our '23 with permanent lotto protection.

[therealbig3]

Doncic is an animal.

George is such a fake "superstar" imo. Don't even think about this guy when talking about the elite wings in the game.

Dallas has totally outplayed LAC outside of a weak sauce KP ejection. They should be up 2-0 right now. I think they can pull off the upset for sure, LAC has not looked impressive at all. The Dallas bench killed the vaunted LAC bench today, and Doncic has been the best player in the series so far.

[MrDollarBills]

Doncic is an animal.

George is such a fake "superstar" imo. Don't even think about this guy when talking about the elite wings in the game.

Dallas has totally outplayed LAC outside of a weak sauce KP ejection. They should be up 2-0 right now. I think they can pull off the upset for sure, LAC has not looked impressive at all. The Dallas bench killed the vaunted LAC bench today, and Doncic has been the best player in the series so far.

The Clippers are in serious trouble. It won't shock me if both LA teams get bounced out in round 1.

You can make a case that Doncic is the best player in the playoffs right now, and Lillard is not far behind.

[MrDollarBills]

The Knicks just got **** ed so hard, the ended up with the 8th pick. Oh my god i gotta check out the Knicks board

[Paradise]

[MrDollarBills]

[vincecarter4pres]

Bruh...

[vincecarter4pres]

On a similar note, I wonder if Minnesota is going to make a push for Beal or Booker with the #1 overall?

I don't think they'll win **** beyond a trip to the 2nd round once or twice, but it would be fun to see DLo, KAT and Booker together.

[vincecarter4pres]

Lakers looking every bit the part of the gentleman's sweepers tonight.

[MrDollarBills]

Lakers looking every bit the part of the gentleman's sweepers tonight.

yeah, they turned the switch on. i'll be interested to see how the Blazers respond from this ass beating.

[vincecarter4pres]

Lakers looking every bit the part of the gentleman's sweepers tonight.

yeah, they turned the switch on. i'll be interested to see how the Blazers respond from this ass beating.

Lakes in 5.

[therealbig3]

Glad nobody overreacted to a bad game 1 from the Lakers...

They played horrible, while Portland played well, and barely lost game 1. They didn't even play their best game in game 2, and still blew them out.

[MrDollarBills]

Last night during the Mavs v Clippers game, Montrez Harrell called Luka Doncic a "bitch ass white boy" and it was caught on camera.

https://streamable.com/9kavvj


I won't call for Trez to get suspended, but if the league did I wouldn't feel sorry for him. If the roles were reversed Doncic would be nailed to a cross and called a racist. I don't think the league should let that slide, especially when they're at the forefront in sports calling for equality and social justice.

[gambakupu]

Last night during the Mavs v Clippers game, Montrez Harrell called Luka Doncic a "bitch ass white boy" and it was caught on camera.

https://streamable.com/9kavvj


I won't call for Trez to get suspended, but if the league did I wouldn't feel sorry for him. If the roles were reversed Doncic would be nailed to a cross and called a racist. I don't think the league should let that slide, especially when they're at the forefront in sports calling for equality and social justice.

In a vacuum I think it's as bad as most racial slurs, but context does matter. I think it should be addressed publicly by the NBA (preferably by the Clippers as well) and he needs to be fined (not $100k)

[MrDollarBills]

Last night during the Mavs v Clippers game, Montrez Harrell called Luka Doncic a "bitch ass white boy" and it was caught on camera.

https://streamable.com/9kavvj


I won't call for Trez to get suspended, but if the league did I wouldn't feel sorry for him. If the roles were reversed Doncic would be nailed to a cross and called a racist. I don't think the league should let that slide, especially when they're at the forefront in sports calling for equality and social justice.

In a vacuum I think it's as bad as most racial slurs, but context does matter. I think it should be addressed publicly by the NBA (preferably by the Clippers as well) and he needs to be fined (not $100k)

So far the media is ignoring it, not having the audio of him saying it is probably why, but you can clearly read his lips.

I can't sit here, and be about racial equality and ignore poor behavior like that and the NBA shouldn't either. Trez needs to do better.

[ecuhus1981]

This forum is not the proper vehicle to have a nuanced discussion on race. I will give you 1 nugget of knowledge: you can't make even comparisons on slurs, within a power disparity. Context is everything.

If roles were truly reversed, and Harrell were part of the hegemonic ethnicity, and Luka part of an underprivileged class, then you would have some merit. Still, the words themselves aren't a racial slur at all. That would be like Doncic calling Montrezl a "poor ass black boy". He'd have to do some serious explaining with in his locker room afterward, but I don't think that would be a finable offense, and unlike Harrell he'd actually be punching down as the hegemonic group.

You could say cracker or honky, redneck or hillbilly are slur-adjacent. If Trez had said one of these, you might could maybe kinda make a case. None of those have the sting of a lot of words that white people have used against black people in this country. To claim anything else is a false dichotomy.