Top 25 Players - Who's #8?

[vincecarter4pres]

I don't think Love is better then LMA or maybe even Pau at this stage just yet.

His defense is borderline awful and as efficient as he is on a huge volume with no one to really take pressure off him he still just doesn't seem like a true first option to me and when all you really do is score and rebound, you better be a deadly first option to be ranked in the top 10.

LMA is definitely a run set play, or give him the ball in the post and let him go to work type of a first option and his defense has become flat out elite.

Pau is the same. The soft label he gets, which is only a smidgen deserved seems to automatically discredit him as a poor defender when he's actually a very good one.

. Thank you for mentioning his defense, sorry for interrupting your thread, but so many people act like LMA is just a barely average defender and it is very upsetting. I think they just look at BPG.

And to go back to his offense... He was quite efficient this year and that's without any type of real point guard or playmaker setting him up, especially pick and roll lobs which he showed last season he could excel at.

Let's just work in a hypothetical since this is the Nets Board haha

We jump to the 1st overall pick, trade that pick, MarShon Brooks, Petro and Farmar for LMA.

Move Brook in a S&T for a defensive center and a good young off ball shooting guard, maybe something like Brook for Okafor and Jeremy Lamb or Terrence Ross if NOH happened to take either of them with the 10th overall pick.

Say a lineup of:

Deron
Lamb
Wallace
LMA
Okafor

I wouldn't doubt Aldridge would average an insanely efficient 25ppg on a top 3 HCA playoff team in that lineup.

Deron would get him at least an extra easy basket a game and an attempt or 2 at the line as well.

[The Sebastian Express]

Oh he definitely would. That two month run last year with Andre Miller before Roy came back showed with a competent setup man LMA is definitely dangerous, especially as you said on the pick and roll lobs (I don't think Felton learned to properly deliver a lob to him until the end of March).

This year was unfortunate because the rest of the team was just awful, the only two other 'team' players that were competent (Wes and Nic) only showed up offensively like 50% of the time. The defense just sagged in on LMA and no one could really hit an open outside shot.

Though LMA can and I believe he will continue to work on putting the ball on the floor, but the work he's done on his post moves is just unbelievable.

[AVERYbigmistake]

Aldridge isn't the most cerebral defender out there but his length helps him to disrupt shots just by being around the basket.

IDK about that.

I mean I'm not saying he's some defensive brainiac guru, but he's pretty smart.

Good man defender and good helpside, one of the best in the league on pick and roll switches as well.

In terms of fundamentals I wouldn't call Aldrige a good help or man defender. It's just that he has so much length that in one-on-one situations his positioning flaws are marginalized.

At the end of the day the net result is that Aldridge is a good defender and that's all that really matters...

[Shameer1016]

I don't think Love is better then LMA or maybe even Pau at this stage just yet.

His defense is borderline awful and as efficient as he is on a huge volume with no one to really take pressure off him he still just doesn't seem like a true first option to me and when all you really do is score and rebound, you better be a deadly first option to be ranked in the top 10.

LMA is definitely a run set play, or give him the ball in the post and let him go to work type of a first option and his defense has become flat out elite.

Pau is the same. The soft label he gets, which is only a smidgen deserved seems to automatically discredit him as a poor defender when he's actually a very good one.

. Thank you for mentioning his defense, sorry for interrupting your thread, but so many people act like LMA is just a barely average defender and it is very upsetting. I think they just look at BPG.

And to go back to his offense... He was quite efficient this year and that's without any type of real point guard or playmaker setting him up, especially pick and roll lobs which he showed last season he could excel at.

Let's just work in a hypothetical since this is the Nets Board haha

We jump to the 1st overall pick, trade that pick, MarShon Brooks, Petro and Farmar for LMA.

Move Brook in a S&T for a defensive center and a good young off ball shooting guard, maybe something like Brook for Okafor and Jeremy Lamb or Terrence Ross if NOH happened to take either of them with the 10th overall pick.

Say a lineup of:

Deron
Lamb
Wallace
LMA
Okafor

I wouldn't doubt Aldridge would average an insanely efficient 25ppg on a top 3 HCA playoff team in that lineup.

Deron would get him at least an extra easy basket a game and an attempt or 2 at the line as well.

You imagination is well beyond reality lol. Its almost like Inception was scripted by you. Is there anyway to like favorite or save posts? This is one I would like to keep come July lol

[jeff1624]

I nominate Ron Artest's elbow for the #8 spot.

[Shameer1016]

I nominate Ron Artest's elbow for the #8 spot.

In all seriousness, lets not joke about that.

[therealbig3]

You imagination is well beyond reality lol. Its almost like Inception was scripted by you. Is there anyway to like favorite or save posts? This is one I would like to keep come July lol

You don't think playing with an elite PG would get Aldridge more points and increase his efficiency?

You don't think a lineup like that would be a top 3 team in the East?

[AVERYbigmistake]

You imagination is well beyond reality lol. Its almost like Inception was scripted by you. Is there anyway to like favorite or save posts? This is one I would like to keep come July lol

You don't think playing with an elite PG would get Aldridge more points and increase his efficiency?

You don't think a lineup like that would be a top 3 team in the East?

I don't know how much his efficiency would spike to be honest... We're not looking at a Pau Gasol caliber player here.

[Ronito]

Bosh/Gasol/LMA are all incredibly close for me. I think Bosh gets hated on a lot, and he's not really able to show how good he is on the Heat, because he's stuck playing 3rd wheel and he's basically been relegated to being a spot-up shooter. I think he's a good defender, which he doesn't get credit for.

But I'd take KG over all of them. His impact is insane, I was leaning towards him before, but now I'm sure of it...he's DPOY. Offensively, he's looked as good as he ever has since 08. He's actually healthy and playing games too, and he's still playing 31+ mpg. He can't carry a team like he used to, but I don't think Bosh/Gasol/LMA can do it all that successfully either.

Bosh isn't really stuck playing 3rd wheel considering he choose to sign there. He knows what he is and plays within himself and that's a really good 3rd option. We saw what he was as a #1, wasn't good.

[Ronito]

Is Kevin Love's defense really that bad compared to LMA's that he isn't better than him? He's averaging 26/13 with a better TS% than LMA. Not the same post player as LMA, but better in every other aspect of the game on offense. His defense is pretty bad, but it was pretty good for a good part of the year. Then Rubio went down and the dude stopped caring on defense.

[NyCeEvO]

Is Kevin Love's defense really that bad compared to LMA's that he isn't better than him? He's averaging 26/13 with a better TS% than LMA. Not the same post player as LMA, but better in every other aspect of the game on offense. His defense is pretty bad, but it was pretty good for a good part of the year. Then Rubio went down and the dude stopped caring on defense.

It doesn't make sense for a player, especially one who many argue to be nearing superstardom, to start tanking defensively once Rubio goes down. As soon as Rubio went down, the Twolves went bad. I think it shows how important Rubio and his skills are to the success of the team rather than how much Love started not caring.

[Ronito]

I agree 100%. But of course the T'Woles went bad, Rubio was one of their best players and the team isn't exactly loaded. Love still averaged 29/13 and less than 2 turnovers a game while being efficient after Rubio went down.

If we are so hard on Lopez for his rebounding woes, why aren't we doing the same for LMA (and Dirk)? Same with defense (for Dirk).

The difference to me here is that Love's rebounding and scoring makes up for his defensive woes. And he's not just a good scorer; he's 4th in the league in PPG and 2nd in RPG.

And according to Defensive rating, Love is a better defender than LMA.

[NyCeEvO]

I wasn't involved in the Love vs. LMA vs. Dirk discussion lol. I was just giving my opinion on Love specifically.

Personally, I think the top 5 players at this moment are guys that will lead your team to wins and possibly the playoffs even with a pretty terrible cast.

After that, you have guys who are still stars but the dependence on their surrounding cast for the overall success of the team as well as the player increases.

In other words, it kinda works like Aristotelian and Platonic views of the greatest good. The best player/highest good is that which is most self-sufficient.

At this moment, LBJ and D12 can get the most wins with the least amount of talent. Therefore, they are the most self-sufficient.

The farther we go down the list, the less talented players become and the greater the need for other players to contribute to team success is needed.

[AVERYbigmistake]

^ That was the smartest sounding post I have ever seen you write. It looks like I'm rubbing off on you (no homo). ^

[NyCeEvO]

^ That was the smartest sounding post I have ever seen you write. It looks like I'm rubbing off on you (no homo). ^

Thanks. Not trying to pat myself on the back, but RealGM is a space where I can just goof off and be lazy talking about the NBA and other things. If this carried over to real life, things wouldn't be going so well for me lol.

There are a few instances where I believe it's necessary to elevate the quality of my communication skills on here to make a point, but for the most part I go here to have fun and relax, not to try and prove how smart I am, you know?

For instance, I think if you guys saw some of the papers I've had to write as well as some of the other hobbies that I have, I'd probably come off way smarter than I do. But I don't find value in bragging or trying to come off as very intelligent, especially here. I'm just here to have fun and hang out with my fellow Nets fans.

[jeff1624]

^ That was the smartest sounding post I have ever seen you write. It looks like I'm rubbing off on you (no homo). ^

Thanks. Not trying to pat myself on the back, but RealGM is a space where I can just goof off and be lazy talking about the NBA and other things. If this carried over to real life, things wouldn't be going so well for me lol.

There are a few instances where I believe it's necessary to elevate the quality of my communication skills on here to make a point, but for the most part I go here to have fun and relax, not to try and prove how smart I am, you know?

For instance, I think if you guys saw some of the papers I've had to write as well as some of the other hobbies that I have, I'd probably come off way smarter than I do. But I don't find value in bragging or trying to come off as very intelligent, especially here. I'm just here to have fun and hang out with my fellow Nets fans.

I'm sorry, but I just needed to post that picture. It fits so perfectly!

[Dagaustin2000]

Just here to show my support for DWill and to make Meer mad, that is all, a top 3 point guard and the 8th best player overall in the league: YES, YES, YES!!

[Shameer1016]

Just here to show my support for DWill and to make Meer mad, that is all, a top 3 point guard and the 8th best player overall in the league: YES, YES, YES!!

I changed my vote to Harden, since I find this list to be a joke lol

[Shameer1016]

I agree 100%. But of course the T'Woles went bad, Rubio was one of their best players and the team isn't exactly loaded. Love still averaged 29/13 and less than 2 turnovers a game while being efficient after Rubio went down.

If we are so hard on Lopez for his rebounding woes, why aren't we doing the same for LMA (and Dirk)? Same with defense (for Dirk).

The difference to me here is that Love's rebounding and scoring makes up for his defensive woes. And he's not just a good scorer; he's 4th in the league in PPG and 2nd in RPG.

And according to Defensive rating, Love is a better defender than LMA.

And all this time I thought you were loco lol. I agree with everything you said, especially the part about some of us being blinded and overlook the better player to a player we favor. Bravo

[Dagaustin2000]

Meer hates Deron because he himself is a dick douche xD

Seriously though I do think he has a point, the clear best player available here is Derrick Rose. He was the MVP a year ago and could've been up there again if not for injuries this season because the Bulls likely finish as the 1 seed again in a top heavy Eastern Conference. While he might not be everyone's favorite pass 1st PG, there isn't a GUARD in the entire NBA that I would take over D-Rose, i'm actually very, very, surprised he slipped to, at best, the #8 spot in our rankings.