NBA Thread

acesfull86 said:
Pisses me off as a Knick fan to see the Lakers win a title. They rivaled us in drama and incompetency for the better part of a decade, but they have nicer weather then we do and were thus bailed out by LeBron.
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And history. LA was second all time in Titles. Now they're tied for first. LeBron has a shot to make them leaders all time in titles, which isn't something NY couldn't offer.
 
zitothebrave said:
It does nothing because the rings argument is dumb. By that logic no player will ever be better than Bill Russell. and Bob Horry is the best player of the last 30 years.

Rings don't matter.

Personally I find the GOAT discussions to be dumb. Because the game changes over time. The league Jordan played in isn't the same as the league LeBron played in which isn't the same as the league Wilt played in, which isn't the same as the league Bird played in, which isn't the same as the league Russell played in.
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I think the record in Finals appearances argument annoys me even more than the rings argument. Winning a Finals is better than losing a Finals, but losing a Finals is better than not getting there at all. If Jordan's Bulls in 89 or 90 lost in the Finals instead of the ECF, and he was 6-1 rather than 6-0, his career is unquestionably better. If LeBron's 07 Cavs lost in the ECF instead of in the Finals, making his career record 4-5 instead of 4-6, his career is unquestionably worse.

If LeBron were to hypothetically get to 6-6, I don't know how it could be argued that it's less of an accomplishment than Jordan's 6-0. Is there some sort of virtue in Jordan losing before reaching the Finals as he did in 9 of his 15 professional seasons?
 
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acesfull86 said:
I think the record in Finals appearances argument annoys me even more than the rings argument. Winning a Finals is better than losing a Finals, but losing a Finals is better than not getting there at all. If Jordan's Bulls in 89 or 90 lost in the Finals instead of the ECF, and he was 6-1 rather than 6-0, his career is unquestionably better. If LeBron's 07 Cavs lost in the ECF instead of in the Finals, making his career record 4-5 instead of 4-6, his career is unquestionably worse.

If LeBron were to hypothetically get to 6-6, I don't know how it could be argued that it's less of an accomplishment than Jordan's 6-0. Is there some sort of virtue in Jordan losing before reaching the Finals as he did in 9 of his 15 professional seasons?
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Yeah, I honestly don't get that logic. Again, I'm not saying Jordan or James is better. They're different players. If you compare their NBA spans over the same timeline (LeBron 21-34) LeBron has a higher PER, equal WS/48, Damn near equal VORP and WS.

They're both greats. They're both the best players of their generations. I hate comparing eras for that reason. Michael and LeBron would both have struggled in each other's shoes. And both done things well the other didn't. The league is a lot faster than it was when Jordan played. Could he still play 3000+ minutes a season in this league. And LeBron would have been at risk of being typecast in a past era. He isn't the same player if he's not running the offense with the PG or as the PG. Would he have been allowed to do that when MJ played? Probably not. Not to mention the league being dirtier, that would have been harder for LeBron's style having to deal with nasty big men like Oakley, Lambeer, etc.

So to me you have to consider the best players as the men who stood above their peers.

60s - Russell and Wilt
70s - Kareem
80s - Magic and Bird
90s - MJ and Shaq
00s - LeBron and Duncan
10s - Durant and Steph

Of course there's plenty of Bleed. LeBron and MJ's peak started mid decade and rolled in so LeBron was really like 2007-2016. Similar to MJ who's really 87-96, but I'm rolling them around to make **** work for simplicity.
 
So all the talk about Lebron and superteams had me thinking, how does the same critique/label not get thrown at Durant? In OKC he was blessed with being on the same team as Westbrook, and they built the team around them, making moves to have them shine, he leaves that as Westbrook is starting to live up to his ability to join the Warriors who've already been to the last 2 NBA Finals. Then he blows that up to join Brooklyn, with Irving and Harden, but don't forget, Jordan (maybe the most underrated player of his draft class) Blake Griffin even in his old age is still a former quality player.

Personally, I root for anyone but the Nets. Kyrie doesn't deserve an NBA championship. Cry baby flat earther wasn't happy LeBron was getting all the love in Cleveland so he left to join Boston, and found nothing but pain. Now trying to run a new superteam. I hope he finds nothing but pain.
 
Runnin said:
It's good to see teams without big star power doing well this post season.
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I mean are they though? While aging of course, Chris Paul is probably the top PG ever. Ayton is a recent number 1 overall pick. Brooklyn or Milwaukee will have superstars when they advance as Brooklyn is the current league superteam (Durant, Harden, Kyrie) and Giannis is arguably the biggest star in the league. Philly of course has Embiid who's a star (best player in the NBA this season perhaps?) Clippers have Kawhi and George, Gobert is a stud, Hawks would probably be the one team who lacks a star. Though I'll agree the NBA does have great parity right now.
 
zitothebrave said:
I mean are they though? While aging of course, Chris Paul is probably the top PG ever. Ayton is a recent number 1 overall pick. Brooklyn or Milwaukee will have superstars when they advance as Brooklyn is the current league superteam (Durant, Harden, Kyrie) and Giannis is arguably the biggest star in the league. Philly of course has Embiid who's a star (best player in the NBA this season perhaps?) Clippers have Kawhi and George, Gobert is a stud, Hawks would probably be the one team who lacks a star. Though I'll agree the NBA does have great parity right now.
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They're all "stars" in a way, but no Lebron and it could soon be no K.D., which I think would be great. To have league championships and finals with some teams and players people didn't expect to make it would be really exciting. It'd be nice to see a first time winner, even if it is a fluke.
 
Remember a few months ago when Ben Simmons was almost the centerpiece of a James Harden trade? Not sure what you’re getting for him after this s***show of a playoffs.
 
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