Around the League - 2019-2020

[stormi]

Jordan played in a league where he vastly outclassed his peers athletically. The only player jumping with him (Dominique) was putting up similar numbers.

The moment Jordan faced someone with a modern crossover (AI) he got his ankles turned to sawdust and bounced from the league.

[76ciology]

Kobble, you got 2 things that are so money right now.
1.) bucks being a fraud
2.) we need a closer

When you simplify the game and just ask "who can they give the ball to in the halfcourt of a playoff game to beat people off the dribble and score" you'd be surprised at how accurate a prediction you can make.

I wrote off the Sixers, Bucks and Lakers last August just because the answer to that question was Eric Bledsoe, nobody and nobody for those three teams.

Didn't allow myself to get clouded by the all-around greatness of Antetokounmpo, Embiid, and James/Davis. Because ultimately, those players are mere ancillary stars. They're not true superstars by my definition.

Do you think the league will trend towards a more small ball approach?

Celts has shown you just need a random second stringer big to beat the Sixers. Sure Embiid can score but it will just empty his tank down the stretch and he can’t win the high octane perimeter offense.

Heat has shown you dont need a big to defend Giannis. They’re using Crowder, Iggy and some time Adebayo. Wall him and he’s done.

I personally think Celts has the best built for how the trend is looking right now. A wing based defense with wings and guards who can score and make plays.

If Rockets beat the Lakers, I think it will really take a hit on the value of bigs in the league.

Sure you may say it depends on how your team is built. But looking at it, I think Jokic will defer to Murray going forward and we, Lakers and the Magic may only be the teams that will rely heavy on bigs and post a lot.

You look at the Heat and Pistons giving up on Whiteside or Drummond easily like Christian Bale in the big short, shorting the “bigs stocks” early before the bubble burst.

I can see guys like Austin Rivers’ or Trey Burke’s value increasing. Teams may shift towards a 2 combo guard 5 man units like how the Mavs and OKC have done it. Both teams may even set a trend for a 3 guards line-up.

I can see teams lightening on their frontcourt and loading on the perimeter. This will make us have an even more uphill climb similar to like Nokia when everyone is trending towards becoming a smart phone

[stormi]

What did Jordan do that Derozan doesn't besides stick his tongue out and be bald

[VDT]

Kobble, you got 2 things that are so money right now.
1.) bucks being a fraud
2.) we need a closer

When you simplify the game and just ask "who can they give the ball to in the halfcourt of a playoff game to beat people off the dribble and score" you'd be surprised at how accurate a prediction you can make.

I wrote off the Sixers, Bucks and Lakers last August just because the answer to that question was Eric Bledsoe, nobody and nobody for those three teams.

Didn't allow myself to get clouded by the all-around greatness of Antetokounmpo, Embiid, and James/Davis. Because ultimately, those players are mere ancillary stars. They're not true superstars by my definition.

It is not so much about beating someone off the dribble per se, The Warriors didnt really have someone that could beat people off the dribble. Wade was not beating anyone off the dribble in 2013. Kawhi is not beating people off the dribble usually. What you need is at least a high level iso scorer, someone to make plays from the perimeter, at least two stars/superstars to take the offensive load and some sensible team building. The Bucks dont have anyone to really make plays and their iso scorer is Middleton. The Sixers dont have any perimeter star to make plays and their iso star's (Embiid) offense may not be as resilient as one would like. They had also terrible perimeter defense and terrible roster construction on a macro level, devoting the entire cap space to the 4/5 positions. Lakers lack an iso scorer.

Having said that no team is perfect. Heat depend on 34 year old Dragic to make plays whom they tried and failed to gift to Dallas last summer. They also lack star power. Toronto doesnt really have a star/iso scorer. The Clippers lack someone to run the offense. The Nets next year will have the same issue, no one to create for others etc.

[DT RAW]

What did Jordan do that Derozan doesn't besides stick his tongue out and be bald

nothing you ever say can be taken seriously ever again

[DT RAW]

I think I am losing my mind reading sixer fans posts

jordan stinks

lebron stinks

kawhi has no athleticism

but simmons is taking us to the promised land, this year it'll be different!!

holy hell

[Kobblehead]

Do you think the league will trend towards a more small ball approach?

Until Adam Silver fixes the glitch, I do think the league will continue to exploit the game deficiency. The dunk simply has to be worth 3 points. That's how you restore balance.

Celts has shown you just need a random second stringer big to beat the Sixers. Sure Embiid can score but it will just empty his tank down the stretch and he can’t win the high octane perimeter offense.

Yeah, but the 2020 Sixers are a bad playoff team to draw any conclusions from, IMO. What if De'Aron Fox or Jimmy Butler are on the roster with Embiid? Or what if we had Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala instead of the sieves we have on the perimeter and Brown and Tatum can't score as much as efficiently? This series might have gone the other way and maybe the Celtics feel the need to properly play against Embiid. Notice that when we had a real playoff player (Butler), the Raptors were so scared that they made a deadline deal for Gasol to try to slow up Embiid.

Heat has shown you dont need a big to defend Giannis. They’re using Crowder, Iggy and some time Adebayo. Wall him and he’s done.

The wall thing is relatively new (back in the day, ancillary stars didn't try to drive from the perimeter), but the concept of throwing help defenders at bigs has always been effective. Especially if they don't have a star scorer to play with.

I personally think Celts has the best built for how the trend is looking right now. A wing based defense with wings and guards who can score and make plays.

Yeah, they're operating at the top of the trend, but I'm still not sure if their stars are good enough to win the whole thing. Tatum still plays like a giant version of Dlo. What happens when his jumper isn't falling and he needs to get all the way to the rim off the dribble? Or when he needs to defend a real star on the other end (Butler, Leonard, George)? All remains to be seen how he does. Budenholzer made him look like a chump last year when they played him tight in the midrange.

If Rockets beat the Lakers, I think it will really take a hit on the value of bigs in the league.

I think the Rockets should be expected to win that series, though. Harden and Westbrook are the best two halfcourt scorers in the series and they both play on the same team.

Sure you may say it depends on how your team is built. But looking at it, I think Jokic will defer to Murray going forward and we, Lakers and the Magic may only be the teams that will rely heavy on bigs and post a lot.

Probably. But all it takes is one of those ancillary stars to get a legit star perimeter player to put the ball handler/big combination back en vogue.

You look at the Heat and Pistons giving up on Whiteside or Drummond easily like Christian Bale in the big short, shorting the “bigs stocks” early before the bubble burst.

I like the analogy, but I don't know if I'm willing to credit those teams for taking a longview approach. I think the Heat moved off of Whiteside because he was a jerk and I think the Pistons moved off Drummond to open things up for Blake. The Heat are probably going to be paying Bam a pretty big contract soon and the Pistons might even be giving Christian Wood an extension this summer. So who knows if those teams are in the midst of following the smallball trend.

I can see guys like Austin Rivers’ or Trey Burke’s value increasing. Teams may shift towards a 2 combo guard 5 man units like how the Mavs and OKC have done it. Both teams may even set a trend for a 3 guards line-up.

I think guys like that should have always been valued off the bench because they can score off the dribble and need no help generating offense. That's one of the two things that matters in the playoffs. If you have enough perimeter defenders to where you can guard the other teams ball handlers, by all means, go get yourself a Jordan Clarkson.

I can see teams lightening on their frontcourt and loading on the perimeter. This will make us have an even more uphill climb similar to like Nokia when everyone is trending towards becoming a smart phone

Lol another great reference. Personally, I think teams should still aim to have two bigs for their playoff rotation. 2 bigs and 6 perimeter players (a mix of defense and shotcreation) seems like the smartest plan IMO.

[Arsenal]

I agree 2 bigs are enough for the playoff rotation. We already have them. Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Now we just need the right perimeter players, one of which needs to be a PPP.

[Kobblehead]

kawhi has no athleticism

Kawhi might not even be able to dunk if it wasn't for his handsize and wingspan.

[DT RAW]

kawhi has no athleticism

Kawhi might not even be able to dunk if it wasn't for his handsize and wingspan.

I'm trying to be nice, but man you have some horrible takes along side that stormi guy recently

like really bad ones

[Kobblehead]

kawhi has no athleticism

Kawhi might not even be able to dunk if it wasn't for his handsize and wingspan.

I'm trying to be nice, but man you have some horrible takes along side that stormi guy recently

like really bad ones

Or maybe you need to be more open minded?

If you're impressed by 32 inch vertical leaps, let me go into my backyard and shoot some footage for you. It might blow your mind.

[VDT]

Kawhi is obviously not as athletic as prime Jordan but he is athletic enough that with his skills and length he can get to his spots and create his offense without problem. How high one can jump is most of the times one of the most useless athletic attributes in basketball. Kawhi has a pretty good combination of physical profile and basketball skills. Someone like Jordan is an outlier.

[Kobblehead]

Kawhi is obviously not as athletic as prime Jordan but he is athletic enough that with his skills and length he can get to his spots and create his offense without problem. How high one can jump is most of the times one of the most useless athletic attributes in basketball. Kawhi has a pretty good combination of physical profile and basketball skills. Someone like Jordan is an outlier.

You used the term "physical profile" pretty appropriately here, because his dimensions account for all of the effectiveness of his physical attributes.

He's a strength and length guy mixed with a tad bit of lateral mobility. He's not an athlete in the traditional sense, in the slightest.

[Kobblehead]

Still the best player in the NBA by a wide margin.

He's ridiculously resilient from the neck-up, he posses fantastic ball handling, and elite defense abilities.

An athlete he is not, though.

[AirP.]

Jordan played in a league where he vastly outclassed his peers athletically. The only player jumping with him (Dominique) was putting up similar numbers.

The moment Jordan faced someone with a modern crossover (AI) he got his ankles turned to sawdust and bounced from the league.

LeBron doesn't get his ankles broke from time to time?

Watch on YouTube

[Mik317]

Kawhii learned from the Andre Miller school of never jump to prolong your career. His injuries ironically may have helped him in the long run as he has taken any risky movement out of his game and just rely on the things that won't go away (his alien ass limbs for one) to perfection. Kawhii is as close to "perfect" as one can get sans maybe his passing and probable durability.

But even then everyone has flaws the best teams are built to invalidate said flaws to the best of their ability. Kawhii doesn't have to guard the best player anymore and has other guys who on short bursts can also get hot and get their own..this allows him to conserve energy over the course of a game and pick his spots to methodically get to his spots and murder. Brons best teams had the same set at up except Bron still wanted to be the system at all times and thus pushed Kyrie out more than likely...whereas Playoff P is beta enough to be okay with the sometimes role.

[Mik317]

Jordan would still be one of the best athletes in the league today. He also kept first ballot HOFs from getting chips.

So using his athleticism and competition against him seems unfounded lol

[DT RAW]

Kawhi might not even be able to dunk if it wasn't for his handsize and wingspan.

I'm trying to be nice, but man you have some horrible takes along side that stormi guy recently

like really bad ones

Or maybe you need to be more open minded?

If you're impressed by 32 inch vertical leaps, let me go into my backyard and shoot some footage for you. It might blow your mind.

Vertical leaps are not the only thing that measures an athlete or their athletic ability LOL.

Not to mention players get stronger and kawhi has gotten way stronger. Also not often are you standing still and jumping up with no momentum.

It sounds like you just say things to be edgy and different

[Kobblehead]

Lowry is such a gamer, man.

I regret poo-pooing bringing him in on a max a few years ago.

[John-S]

Lowry is such a gamer, man.

I regret poo-pooing bringing him in on a max a few years ago.

Championships runs changes players. Celtics could have been down 3-1 minus that Smart Curry moment in game 2.

Looked like Denver would choke on that big lead but they keeping clips at arms length