Giannis just made a lot of these nba stars look pathetic

[SeniorWalker]

If I hear another word about fat boy Luka Doncic before this dude even makes it out of the first round....I'm gonna effing puke. I'm sick to death of it. He has the ball all the time, takes all the shots on his team and plays zero defense. The Mavs weren't a very good team and he scored a lot on a clippers team that was intentionally allowing him to take all the shots for the majority of the series.

You do not become an NBA legend by being a shot jacker and failing to make it out the first round. Is he very talented? Yes. Can he get a better team and go further? Perhaps. But until he does, close your traps about him.

The same thing was done with the all the greats, including MJ, LeBron, etc. if you think he's really that good (I certainly do not) then hush and wait.

For now, I don't wanna hear him in the top 5 conversation until he gets outta the 1st round. Giannis just won a chip, Steph is a multiple time champ and MVP, Jokic won MVP and made it to the WCF last year and 2nd Rd this year with little help. Etc etc.

Point is, Luka has to wait.

What an awful awful take. Luka just finished his 3rd year. He's boxed 12 rounds b2b years with arguably the best 2 way playoff performer of our generation. MJ hadn't seen a 2nd round at this point in his career either, but if you had eyes everyone knew the mfer was absolutely on a different level. I don't understand how you can discredit a kid who has the highest playoff point per game average ever. Crazy to me

What the hell did I just say? MJ and Bron, all the greats we're not given the crown of best in the league until they got further in the playoffs. Luka has not done sh*t yet. The superteam era has clouded people judgment of actually earning wins and getting things done.

He has the ball all the time and scores, because that's what the Mavs let him do and others teams allow him to take them one on one, because they know he can't beat them solo. And he doesn't play a lick of defense.

When he learns how to start winning and gets MVPs and the like, then he will be in the conversation with Giannis. As for now, he's a shot jacker who hasn't done anything. Sorry, I'm not on the hype train. He's like James Harden to me, practically the same player although he's a better scorer under pressure than James, while being a worse athlete.

Yes this applied to MJ as well as others, Luka cannot get around it until he does it. Don't care how much you Stan for the guy, he's not more special than others just cause you want him to be. I will happily drink all the tears of Luka fanboys, until this guy starts getting it done on a more meaningful stage. Then he will fully get my respect.

Even Jokic is greater than he, because he elevates his teammates in a greater way as a playmaker and has gotten to the WCF. Until Luka gets deep in the POs, he's not in the conversation. Don't wanna hear it.

[SF_Warriors]

People are forgetting how good Love was in Minny. That Cleveland team was viewed as the prohibitive favorite along with the GSW to win the championship. It was basically a two team league at that point.

People are just inventing trash to defend Lebron whatever I am done with it.

Love was all nba 2nd team twice and a 3x all star by age 25, having just averaged 26ppg before joining the cavs.. Having someone like that as a third option with two other better perennial all star level talents would constitute a super team. Just because him and say chris bosh's stats suffered playing as third options doesnt make them any less talented.

Ray allen averaged 17ppg for the 07/08 celts, I guess they werent a super team? That's the same exact kind of ridiculous mindset people have when trying to convince themselves bron wasnt on superteams.

Bosh was better than Love, Ray Alllen was better than Love, give me a break, Love seem to be still one of the most overrated players ever, how is that still a thing after seeing him not in stuff stat minny system, I dont usually like the term, but the guy should have his own picture in the dictionary next to ''empty stats player'', dude just wasnt that great at all.

Love was still at the time he joined the cavs an all nba player and multiple time all star while entering his prime. He joined two better players and they were easily a title contender with him as the third option. What's not to get? You don't have to be a superstar to be a third option on a superteam.

So let me get this straight, a multiple time all star who just turned 26 yrs old wouldnt be a third option on a superteam?

[UcanUwill]

Love was all nba 2nd team twice and a 3x all star by age 25, having just averaged 26ppg before joining the cavs.. Having someone like that as a third option with two other better perennial all star level talents would constitute a super team. Just because him and say chris bosh's stats suffered playing as third options doesnt make them any less talented.

Ray allen averaged 17ppg for the 07/08 celts, I guess they werent a super team? That's the same exact kind of ridiculous mindset people have when trying to convince themselves bron wasnt on superteams.

Bosh was better than Love, Ray Alllen was better than Love, give me a break, Love seem to be still one of the most overrated players ever, how is that still a thing after seeing him not in stuff stat minny system, I dont usually like the term, but the guy should have his own picture in the dictionary next to ''empty stats player'', dude just wasnt that great at all.

Love was still at the time he joined the cavs an all nba player and multiple time all star while entering his prime. He joined two better players and they were easily a title contender with him as the third option. What's not to get? You don't have to be a superstar to be a third option on a superteam.

So let me get this straight, a multiple time all star who just turned 26 yrs old wouldnt be a third option on a superteam?

To me, Superteam is not the team that would be heading to lottery if you take its best player. Take James out of that CAVS team and its just that, its good superting cast but no its not a superteam at all.

[BeatDaCavs420]

Yes. He did what Lebron & KD couldn't.

Giannis ring > Lebron & KD's rings.

BIG ASS FACTS

[SF_Warriors]

Bosh was better than Love, Ray Alllen was better than Love, give me a break, Love seem to be still one of the most overrated players ever, how is that still a thing after seeing him not in stuff stat minny system, I dont usually like the term, but the guy should have his own picture in the dictionary next to ''empty stats player'', dude just wasnt that great at all.

Love was still at the time he joined the cavs an all nba player and multiple time all star while entering his prime. He joined two better players and they were easily a title contender with him as the third option. What's not to get? You don't have to be a superstar to be a third option on a superteam.

So let me get this straight, a multiple time all star who just turned 26 yrs old wouldnt be a third option on a superteam?

To me, Superteam is not the team that would be heading to lottery if you take its best player. Take James out of that CAVS team and its just that, its good superting cast but no its not a superteam at all.

Love's Twolves won 40 games in 13/14. That's good enough to make the playoffs in the east. Add a young kyrie with him and I don't see why they couldnt compete for a PO spot.

[Infinite Llamas]

Yes, he won without a super team, but he also didn’t beat a super team. So what’s the big deal, really?

You really need to take a break from posting for a while.

Not until I get my posts a day up to 1.10 my man

[The4thHorseman]

Yes. He did what Lebron & KD couldn't.

Giannis ring > Lebron & KD's rings.

Except that 2013, 2016 and 2020 weren't superteams.

[dcstanley]

Lebron's and Lakers 2020 ring needs an asterisk. Not sayin he didnt deserve it, both teams didnt have to travel by car of plane and was living lavishly at the disney resorts. That one def was a stupid ring

So last season deserves an asterisk but the season where 7 teams suffered injuries to their star players doesn't?

[Stannis]

Giannis has only one more year then LeBron's oroignal cavs stint. LeBron had 5 or 6 years as one of the best players in the league, Giannis 3 or 4

Giannis taking 2-3 more years to mature makes his success even better imo. The patience, willingness to learn, and commitment really paid off. It's crazy what he is achieving in such a short amount of time. LeBron was playing 40 minutes a game, always had the ball in his hands and didn't accomplish what Giannis @ 26. Playoff teams were able to make game plans around LeBron's style

Giannis got 2 MVPs faster than LeBron, in a more competitive league and a much stronger Eastern Conference imo. He's already won DPOY and soundly gets into First All-Defensive Teams.

[dcstanley]

Imagine if 2009 Lebron won a championship after injuries to Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony. Then imagine if his team won two straight playoff games in the conference finals without him during that run. Considering the fact that Lebron gets criticized because his teammates make key shots in the finals, I doubt you would ever hear the end of the asterisk talk.

[amcoolio]

People keep saying the Nets will be injured every year. If that's the case then they get removed from the conversation completely. No one runs around talking about Greg Oden and Brandon Roy. But for Giannis' sake I hope he gets a chance to beat them at full strength. The best players want to beat the best. Don't throw shots at players who join together only to hope that they get injured so you don't have to play them. The sad thing about this thread is that everyone basically concedes that the Nets if healthy would beat the Bucks. I don't know that that's the case. I guess Nets haters should cling to the hope that the Nets get injured every year. This is what basketball has become.

Any time two "stars" quit on their teams by whine like spoiled toddlers and show up out of shape, and then team up in a big market, you just have to show the love for them or be called a hater

Stop sucking up to the **** Nets. THEY are what basketball has become. And they deserve all the bad karma going their way. No one besides Nets fans wants to root for them.

[Marvin Martian]

Lol at this thread. Giannis needed a game 7 OT to beat a gassed Kevin Durant and James Harden on one leg. Giannis's rings are nowhere near impressive. He got lucky and it's unlikely he win another one in MIL

[dcstanley]

Giannis has only one more year then LeBron's oroignal cavs stint. LeBron had 5 or 6 years as one of the best players in the league, Giannis 3 or 4

Giannis taking 2-3 more years to mature makes his success even better imo. The patience, willingness to learn, and commitment really paid off. It's crazy what he is achieving in such a short amount of time. LeBron was playing 40 minutes a game, always had the ball in his hands and didn't accomplish what Giannis @ 26. Playoff teams were able to make game plans around LeBron's style

Giannis got 2 MVPs faster than LeBron, in a more competitive league and a much stronger Eastern Conference imo. He's already won DPOY and soundly gets into First All-Defensive Teams.

The same could be said about Giannis, the wall is still an effective way to neutralize him.. The Suns just didn't have the personnel to execute the scheme. He still had struggled against the Heat and the Nets this season until Bud decided to curtail the point Giannis experiment later in the playoffs. Lebron has three or four playoff runs from 18-25 better than Giannis' best. Giannis had a major breakthrough this season but it took a lot of luck and a team that was better than Lebron ever had during his first Cleveland stint.

[Stannis]

Lebron's and Lakers 2020 ring needs an asterisk. Not sayin he didnt deserve it, both teams didnt have to travel by car of plane and was living lavishly at the disney resorts. That one def was a stupid ring

So last season deserves an asterisk but the season where 7 teams suffered injuries to their star players doesn't?

Injuries happen. Maybe more so this season than others. But it's part of the game. And part of the risk teams like the Nets take when trading everything for James Harden. It really wasn't a shocker or in any way unique that the Nets were going into the playoffs with 2 of KD/Irving/Harden. After all, that's how they were playing most of the season.

But... a 3 month break + games reduction middle of the season due to a global pandemic never happened before (correct me if I am wrong). No more traveling required. All games in one location... That was a godsend for a 35 year old NBA player who's played +15 seasons. It's a very unique situation. Lockouts have happened before. But this was a first time thing. So yeah, 3 month break middle of the season = asterisk. Because sports historians should remember that 2019/2020 wasn't your usual NBA season and there was external influencers.

Not to mention... Giannis was playing through injuries and pain himself... His status was unknown for the finals and many thought he wasn't going to play. And he still beat the most healthy team in the West.

No asterisk for Giannis and the Bucks. They battled hard.

[ANTETOKOUNBROS]

Lol at this thread. Giannis needed a game 7 OT to beat a gassed Kevin Durant and James Harden on one leg. Giannis's rings are nowhere near impressive. He got lucky and it's unlikely he win another one in MIL

All KD's rings definitely are behind Giannis' that much is not controversial. KD joining 3 hall of famers in their primes/late primes after a 73 win season. Yeah sorry, that will permanently look like a weak, weak move.

LeBron taking down a 73-10 team after being down 1-3, that still reigns as the best title since Dirk.

[dcstanley]

Lebron's and Lakers 2020 ring needs an asterisk. Not sayin he didnt deserve it, both teams didnt have to travel by car of plane and was living lavishly at the disney resorts. That one def was a stupid ring

So last season deserves an asterisk but the season where 7 teams suffered injuries to their star players doesn't?

Injuries happen. Maybe more so this season than others. But it's part of the game. And part of the risk teams like the Nets take when trading everything for James Harden. It really wasn't a shocker or in any way unique that the Nets were going into the playoffs with 2 of KD/Irving/Harden. After all, that's how they were playing most of the season.

But... a 3 month break + games reduction middle of the season due to a global pandemic never happened before (correct me if I am wrong). No more traveling required. All games in one location... That was a godsend for a 35 year old NBA player who's played +15 seasons. It's a very unique situation. Lockouts have happened before. But this was a first time thing. So yeah, 3 month break middle of the season = asterisk. Because sports historians should remember that 2019/2020 wasn't your usual NBA season and there was external influencers.

Not to mention... Giannis was playing through injuries and pain himself... His status was unknown for the finals and many thought he wasn't going to play. And he still beat the most healthy team in the West.

No asterisk for Giannis and the Bucks. They battled hard.

The injuries this season were a byproduct of a condensed season and shortened offseason. Every conference finalist in the bubble suffered injuries to key players this season.. So if you're going to attribute an asterisk to last season's championship then you better attribute one to this season.

[AmIWrongDude]

Imagine if 2009 Lebron won a championship after injuries to Dwight Howard, Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony. Then imagine if his team won two straight playoff games in the conference finals without him during that run. Considering the fact that Lebron gets criticized because his teammates make key shots in the finals, I doubt you would ever hear the end of the asterisk talk.

EXACTLY. All of the sudden nobody wants to take context into account lol. The Bucks closed the ECF without Giannis - LeBron would have gotten murdered for that.

[TheGOATWill]

If you have to put down X to lift Y it's likely because Y isn't that great. Don't do that to Giannis. He's a champion with a 50 pt closeout game. He doesn't need it.

[nikster]

Injuries in the playoffs happen every year. Whether Kyrie was an all star or not that year is irrelevant. He's an all star caliber player just because he didn't play in enough games during the regular season doesn't change that. In fact he's an all nba caliber player. I have no idea why you're bringing up some dumb point about Kyrie not making the all star game because he was hurt the first half of the season.

So we should look at how the players performed in the post season rather than look at some arbitrary accolades....does that mean you take your statement back about 2013 Wade being all star caliber and better than Middleton?

Post season Wade in 2013 similar Winshares, BPM and VORP as Middleton.

Lmao you really using those stats? So you think those are good indicators of playoff performance even when Wade averages 16 ppg on 49 TS%?

Hate to break it to you but Lebron has 8 playoff runs where he beats Giannis in all 3 stats from this year, including all 4 of his title runs.

[prime1time]

Lol at this thread. Giannis needed a game 7 OT to beat a gassed Kevin Durant and James Harden on one leg. Giannis's rings are nowhere near impressive. He got lucky and it's unlikely he win another one in MIL

All KD's rings definitely are behind Giannis' that much is not controversial. KD joining 3 hall of famers in their primes/late primes after a 73 win season. Yeah sorry, that will permanently look like a weak, weak move.

LeBron taking down a 73-10 team after being down 1-3, that still reigns as the best title since Dirk.

This is controversial. Giannis had a cake walk to the championship. The Suns are one of the worst Finals teams in the history of the NBA. Trae Young got injured in the ECF. The Nets were down 2 stars in the Semi-finals. And the Heat were the Heat. You can say KD's championships are easy, but I don't understand the hypocrisy of taking context into account for KD but not Giannis. Is there any argument you can make against KD other than just being a KD hater? Why not just be objective? KD would have won a championship in OKC if his main competition all had to deal with massive injuries.

This ultimately is the main goal of Giannis stans in this thread. To argue against context being taken into account with Giannis but to demand that context be taken into account with KD and LBJ. Not only is it intellectually dishonest, it's also embarassing. When talking about legacy, take your personal feelings out of it and be objective. What is the justification for using context to discount KD's championship and then ignoring context with regards to Giannis' championship?