NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 5

FAH1223 · Post #281 » by **FAH1223** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:23 pm

closg00 wrote:
Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Ayton has seriously stepped up in the playoffs.

Who says big men aren’t as important as wings in today’s NBA?

In the playoffs, big men are absolutely critical when defenses slow things down and pack the paint.

Or as Ty Lue has done, gone really small

Ayton is feasting on pick and roll and putbacks

Even had a couple nice jump hooks in the post

Post #282 » by **Ruzious** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:31 pm

I mentioned Cameron Payne as a player I'd go after in free agency. Well, he's playing himself out of the MLE range - getting 29 points and 9 assists last night.

Post #283 » by **nate33** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 1:36 pm

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Ayton has seriously stepped up in the playoffs.

Who says big men aren’t as important as wings in today’s NBA?

Good big men are important. Average big men get played off the floor.

If you have a guy like Davis, Ayton or Adebayo, with have the agility to stay on the floor against small ball lineups and the footwork to post up a mismatch, then you can punish the opposition for going small. But if your good big man is a plodder like Gobert, Drummond, or even Jokic, he can get played off the floor whenever you run into a good smallball team who can spread you out and switch on D.

There aren't a lot of teams that can play a big man like Gobert off the floor, but the few teams that can are generally the ones you encounter late in the playoffs. This is how Miami beat Milwaukee and Toronto last year. It's how Golden State beat everyone for years and years. It's how the Clippers are still alive without Kawhi. It's why Utah always gets eliminated early. It's why Denver hasn't gotten over the hump.

gambitx777 · Post #284 » by **gambitx777** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:16 pm

Ruzious wrote:I mentioned Cameron Payne as a player I'd go after in free agency. Well, he's playing himself out of the MLE range - getting 29 points and 9 assists last night.

Cameron payne is a decent young man and a decent player but he is bound to be someone's 12-18 mill $ mistake this year.

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Post #285 » by **Rafael122** » Wed Jun 23, 2021 3:39 pm

I had the Clippers in this one with the assumption that Paul was going to be out awhile, but they're up 2-0 and potentially getting Paul back for Game 3. It might go 5 at best. Hopefully Paul is healthy, he got almost 2 weeks of additional rest on his shoulder.

Post #286 » by **Ruzious** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:55 am

Ime Udoka goes to Boston. That's one from the Pop tree. Pop loves him, and he does exude confidence. Has a great defensive rep - going back to his playing days. My hunch is the Celtics got a winner.

payitforward · Post #287 » by **payitforward** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:06 am

Trae Young is a heck of a player. Has the ability to step up. Special.

FAH1223 · Post #288 » by **FAH1223** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 8:46 am

Read on Twitter

Post #289 » by **LyricalRico** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 1:59 pm

payitforward wrote:Trae Young is a heck of a player. Has the ability to step up. Special.

I spent the last couple years thinking the Mavs got the best of that draft day trade, but Atlanta's definitely farther along and Young is making the most of this moment.

Post #290 » by **LyricalRico** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:00 pm

FAH1223 wrote:
closg00 wrote:
Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Ayton has seriously stepped up in the playoffs.

Who says big men aren’t as important as wings in today’s NBA?

In the playoffs, big men are absolutely critical when defenses slow things down and pack the paint.

Or as Ty Lue has done, gone really small

Ayton is feasting on pick and roll and putbacks

Even had a couple nice jump hooks in the post

I wasn't wearing my glasses one game and thought it was a recording from the EFJ days lol. I was like "Is that Michael Ruffin guarding Ayton"?

Silvie Lysandra · Post #291 » by **Silvie Lysandra** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:31 pm

LyricalRico wrote:
payitforward wrote:Trae Young is a heck of a player. Has the ability to step up. Special.

I spent the last couple years thinking the Mavs got the best of that draft day trade, but Atlanta's definitely farther along and Young is making the most of this moment.

Luka > Trae but it was always very close which is why they took the deal. Hawks had Luka and Trae as superstar level prospects and they took the trade because if you think both of them are going to be superstars, why not get an extra lottery pick for it?

gambitx777 · Post #292 » by **gambitx777** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:44 pm

LyricalRico wrote:
payitforward wrote:Trae Young is a heck of a player. Has the ability to step up. Special.

I spent the last couple years thinking the Mavs got the best of that draft day trade, but Atlanta's definitely farther along and Young is making the most of this moment.

Atlanta is further along, mostly because Atlanta has done a much better job building that team out. They made smart trades and a good job bringing in vets and young players other teams didn't want.

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keynote · Post #293 » by **keynote** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:31 pm

Chaos Revenant wrote:
LyricalRico wrote:
payitforward wrote:Trae Young is a heck of a player. Has the ability to step up. Special.

I spent the last couple years thinking the Mavs got the best of that draft day trade, but Atlanta's definitely farther along and Young is making the most of this moment.

Luka > Trae but it was always very close which is why they took the deal. Hawks had Luka and Trae as superstar level prospects and they took the trade because if you think both of them are going to be superstars, why not get an extra lottery pick for it?

A rare win-win deal. Of course, I suspect Luka would also thrive in ATL, surrounded by shooters, secondary playmakers, and an elite rim runner.

It remains to be seen whether Reddish turns into a solid rotation player. If he blossoms into a legit starter, one could certainly argue that Atlanta won the trade(!).

gambitx777 · Post #294 » by **gambitx777** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:59 pm

keynote wrote:
Chaos Revenant wrote:
LyricalRico wrote:
I spent the last couple years thinking the Mavs got the best of that draft day trade, but Atlanta's definitely farther along and Young is making the most of this moment.

Luka > Trae but it was always very close which is why they took the deal. Hawks had Luka and Trae as superstar level prospects and they took the trade because if you think both of them are going to be superstars, why not get an extra lottery pick for it?
A rare win-win deal. Of course, I suspect Luka would also thrive in ATL, surrounded by shooters, secondary playmakers, and an elite rim runner.

It remains to be seen whether Reddish turns into a solid rotation player. If he blossoms into a legit starter, one could certainly argue that Atlanta won the trade(!).

If you swapped Luka or tre right now teams as is Luka would look better and win more it's a better team. Young would still be a beast biut it would be a booker situation no one would notice him till they started running .young doesn't do any better with that team than Luka did or vice versa.

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I_Like_Dirt · Post #295 » by **I_Like_Dirt** » Thu Jun 24, 2021 7:48 pm

This whole better team argument confuses me. Which team won more regular season games the last two seasons?

Luka's got a couple problems right now. One is that the Mavs have built with the idea of him being THE guy all the time. And the other issue ties into that: conditioning. Trae just keeps pushing all game long. Luka absolutely tanked in the 2nd half of his playoff games. He lost his legs incredibly consistently. I think he's got room to dominate the discussion if he ever gets his conditioning to a similar level as Trae's but he'll have to lose some significant weight to do that.

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dobrojim · Post #296 » by **dobrojim** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:23 pm

Wizards fans remember how good PG13 was from 2014 playoffs but watching
Clips last night, I was noticing some Russ in his game. Maybe not to WTF levels
but it seemed like every time he hit a shot, he gave himself permission to jack 3-4
more. Great shot at end of 3rdQ but the Clips did better when he spread the
ball around. Yes PG can get hot and be unreal but a little more discretion might
be a better move. NBA superstars don’t do discretion very well though.
Clips still really need to win game 4. We’ll see how well they continue to
make D Booker ordinary as opposed to great. Ayton has been beasting but
Zubac had a nice game himself last night.

Post #297 » by **Ruzious** » Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:34 pm

People were talking about Booker like he was the next Kobe. He never had that kind of potential. He's basically the same player as Beal - with the same positives and negatives.

Chocolate City Jordanaire · Post #298 » by **Chocolate City Jordanaire** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:36 am

It is funny seeing Bobby Portis have success with the Milwaukee Bucks.

9 and 20 · Post #299 » by **9 and 20** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 3:57 am

Feels like Portis has been in the league forever. Watching that game was just weird overall. It was over in the second quarter.

Booker is ahead of where Beal was at the same age. He might not have Kobe potential, but he came into the league and was almost right off the bat really, really good. The Suns and Booker are an interesting team. They overcame a couple of big-time draft busts with some smart trades and scoring big with Booker. They had back-to-back #4 overall picks a few years ago and came away with Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson. That is Grunfeld-level bad.

gambitx777 · Post #300 » by **gambitx777** » Sat Jun 26, 2021 4:45 am

9 and 20 wrote:Feels like Portis has been in the league forever. Watching that game was just weird overall. It was over in the second quarter.

Booker is ahead of where Beal was at the same age. He might not have Kobe potential, but he came into the league and was almost right off the bat really, really good. The Suns and Booker are an interesting team. They overcame a couple of big-time draft busts with some smart trades and scoring big with Booker. They had back-to-back #4 overall picks a few years ago and came away with Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson. That is Grunfeld-level bad.

Josh Jackson is having a resurgence of sorts in det but that bender pick was a head scratcher. Busy will always happen.

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