₦airaland Forum

I'm slowly becoming a believer in this Anthony Edwards guy. Unlike Lamelo who has now become a notorious ball hog and shot chucker despite not being a natural scorer, Ant has improved on his shot selection. He's still gunning every now and then but he is starting to do it within the flow of the game unlike Lamelo who has left his facilitator duties and is doing an inefficiency dance off with Rozier in Charlotte

Khanben:
There is a banner hanging at staples or is it the crypto center now. I deal in reality not narratives, and the reality is for all that has happened the Lakers Lebron and AD experiment has produced a championship.
Let's start with the Clippers in the same time span, AD has played 138 games while PG13 has played 133, so there's is little or no difference there. Both their superstars were fully fit in the bubble and they had nothing to show for it, 3 years and counting the Clippers still don't have even a conference championship to show for winning the offseason in 2019.
As for the Nets they had 2 MVPs and an all nba player on the same team for most of 2 seasons and unless, they can win it all this year which I very much doubt, that is also 3 years of nothing will incredible players.
So why do both of these franchises get a pass, but the Lakers get continuously shit on as if the last time they won a championship was 20 years ago.

Even the Lakers know it's been a failure thus far and you're here doing Johnny Cochrane.

That pandemic banner was made possible by a once in a lifetime health crisis that allowed LeNomad and AD a full offseason of rest and recovery only coming back to play a quarter of a league season

Any surprises they have not been able to be in good shape since? What the Lakers benefited from is what likely teams like the Clippers, Nuggets would benefit had another pandemic hit

AD has played more games than Kawhi and Paul George, not just Paul George. Don't claim there is no difference there

Harden basically played a season with Brooklyn. KD, Harden and Kyrie altogether played 16 games.

Lebron and AD - 108 games
KD and Kyrie - 44 games
Harden, KD and Kyrie - 16 games

Including them in the same argument is borderline irresponsible

birdman:
I usually disagree with you on LeKing. On this matter, I smell no lies. There is no perfume that can cover of the dudu of this season. If westbrook was the issue, the coach or Lebron should have manned up and laid down the rules. Whichever way you look at it, leadership was missing.

My own is in a conference with 12 teams competing for the playoffs a LeNomad led team somehow managed to finish outside the top 10. There are no rational excuses for this type of failure. Not even injuries. A team with 3 all star caliber players?

Just here to pay homage to the Great Ororo of Madeira. Ronaldo has more hattricks in 2022 than Messi has goals. Choose your Goat wisely

mattfeuter:
Na wa oh

In the words of my brother @A40, the next CBA meeting go OVERHOT!!

What kinda sh$t is this

Man can do a 360 dunk but can’t play. . .

There's more to the game than dunk. That Zion I'm seeing is not in basketball shape at all. He needs to look up Charles Barkley, Alex Volkanovski and find out how he can shed some pounds. At least 30-40 pounds will go a long way

A team with AD/ Westbrook for 40 games and Lebron/Westbrook for 56 games should be able to finish top 10 in what was essentially a 12 team conference. You Bronsexuals should have some shame

Khanben:
So you are basically stating injuries as an excuse, if that is the case why is the same leeway not given to the Lakers. lebron lost the later half of his first year and at least 1/3 of his 4th year because of injury, AD has also been injured for both his 2nd and 3rd year season with the Lakers.
So I reiterate, if the injury excuse is valid for both the Clippers and the Nets, why is the same not valid for the Lakers. At least the Lakers duo have a banner a show for all the investments, why is the same level of scrutiny not leveled on the Clippers and Nets franchise players. Remember, in both teams, these top guys also demanded their teams trade for specific players too.

PS: The Lakers have been healthy for 2 seasons since Lebron got there, and In those years they won 1 and lost in the 1st round of the playoffs in the other year

Your argument is not giving what you think it's giving.

AD has played more games than Kawhi and Paul George over this time span
LeNomad has played even more games.

Of those 3 dynamic duo only LeNomad and AD have played more than 2 seasons together. Bear in mind even in those two seasons the other guys played at least 1 player suffered season ending injury

Relatively speaking LeNomad and AD have dealt with fewer injuries than the others

They deserve every criticism in the world because our eyes are open to the Disney bubble championship they won. Every passing year that title is going to look even more fugazi.

How do you question people criticizing a team this loaded failing to finish top 10 in a conference with 3 teams actively tanking? The Rockets, Thunder and Trailblazers were shamelessly tanking and a team with such talent could not do top 10 in a 15 team conference? Are you kidding me?

Two failures can coexist my bro.

This is only KD and Kyrie's second year together.

Kawhi did not play this year. Paul George is not playing tonight and missed 75% of games this season

Kawhi got hurt in the 2nd round of the playoffs this season. Essentially unlike Lebron and AD these guys have had less than 2 seasons to play together

Also AD and Lebron are a better duo than Kyrie and KD and Kawhi and PG. So it goes without saying they would be held to a higher standard. Unless you don't think they are greater

That Spurs team was thrust in the play in spot against their will. They tried to tank but the Lakers made it impossible to do it

felix00:
I think you are underestimating the by Nets A LOT.

Celtics barely won the last they met and JT had to drop 50 for that to happen in a game that was KDs first game back from 2 months lay off and with a bunch of newly traded key players (Drummond and Curry)

Kyrie was near perfect yesterday and KD played well too and yet they won by 7. Celtics for me are the better defensive team and the better coached team and don't forget Ime was on the Nets. I like the Celtics in this series. They have bodies they can throw at Kyrie and even KD if need be, at least enough to hurt their efficiency

Roland17:
Me wen dey here dey hope say him go show up! Baba could not even stay on the court. But boy! A. Edwards wanted ALL the smoke and more. He wasn’t going to get beat tonight.

They calmed down and played well to finish the 4th. The Wolves return to the playoffs. With the celebrations you will think they just won a ring and that supports my earlier comment about their emotional immaturity and inexperience.

They go up against Ja and the Grizzlies.

So skilled, more skilled than Duncan and Malone that he's needed two lottery picks just to get to a 7th seed. Reach finish and couldn't perform fouling and missing bunnies all over the place. I don't get the hype over skills that aren't translating to consistent winning

Credit to the Wolves this is a big leap for them.

Later now we will hear yen yen yen about how today's bigs like KAT are light years ahead of the bigs of yore. Pressure cooker environment like this all the skills will vanish like the fart of a leprous witch

You guys should be able to wax these guys in 6.

Lana1:
Omo. Bayern out.
A40 can blame it on Bruno

You know Bruno's problems are bigger than Bayern

Nagelsmann gotta pack his bags mehn. Take Coman along with you

donlittle25:
Man, I don't think anyone can even allocate one percent of any blame for KD to leave Westbrook. This guy is a Narcissist, and highly delusional.

He said and I quote on Frank Vogel "I'm not sure what his issue was with me."

According to the news flying around, Jeanie, Rambis, and pelinka told Vogel to even go ahead and bench Westbrook and take him out of the starting lineup, and Vogel was the one who fought to keep him still in the Lineup. Man, Dude is a Grade A Narcissist

I don't know why any right thinking team would pick up a Westbrook. Not even for his expiring contract because the rancor he would bring. This is a guy who missed 35% of his dunks. He can't even mentor a young team cause he has no accountability and neither would he make life easy for a young coach.

I wonder how crazy those that dissed KD for failing to win with Westbrook must feel now. I had some sympathy for him in his early OKC years but unlike CP3 this man just refused to adapt his ways

Khanben:
Gary Payton and Kidd in this era will have issue because they were not good shooters. So stop with the they will dominate narrative. KAJ said something that I will always remember, he said the modern nba player is a far better shooter than they ever were,, even Larry Bird, said the game was in a far better place. We are talking of an era where something as basic as switching was not known, teams cannot use zone defenses, or zone hybrids like Miami likes to do sometimes.

What are you on about? How many truly good 3pt shooters do we have in today's league? What we have today are high volume guys that take a ton of 3's. Is James Harden for example a great 3pt shooter?

Is Lebron a great 3pt shooter? Luka Doncic is a career 33% guy from 3 and you're telling me Jason Kidd and Gary freakin Payton will have issues in this era? Era that Trae Young is thriving? Tell another joke please cos you're not making any sense.

I have told you the only significant difference between the Bird, Jordan era and this era is the proliferation and spamming of 3pt shooting

The lines are blurred on who is a good shooter because players nowadays take so many 3s.

Larry Bird at his peak was taking no more than 3 3's a game. Lebron is taking 8

Joel Embiid is taking 4 3's a game. Tim Duncan took no 3's. How do we then judge who is the better shooter when there was genuine disdain for 3pt shooting from that era

Khanben:
Why do no one encroach on magic

They didn't? You think Magic's game was predicated on face up dribbling

Khanben:
None of the guys you just listed are better than Luka or Lebron at playing PG.

You're joking. Luka or Lebron a better PG than Jason Kidd? than Gary Payton? The Glove? You're drinking this modern era Kool Aid too hard mate

Do you know how many assists those guys would have in this 3pt heavy era? Please

Khanben:
Hand checking only worked in that era because a large percentage of half courts sets in those days was initiated by a player with his back to the basket, both from the low to even PGs.
In those days, only short guards were confident enough in their handle to face up a defender, Penny was the first big guy who was confident in his handle enough to face up any player.
These days all star players under 6ft10 can face up anybody man to man anyway anytime

Size will not matter when a defender is able to encroach your space my guy.

Khanben:
Jkidd spent decades in the league and could not shoot, same Roy Strickland.
Hell Russell Westbrook shooting percentage year by year is no different from that of Gary Payton, Grant Hill, Penny etc. Nobody ever shouts from the roof tops that they could not shoot. I can go on and on about stars that were not good shooter who made their living from attacking the rim, which is exactly what Russell is

Naah. Westbrook is a historically bad shooter. Even for that era Payton was a much better shooter than Russ

Anyway I'm not referring to their athleticism. Athleticism is a gift not a skill. You said these players are doing skill improvement and menenemenene so I'm asking you what are the improvements you are seeing from the guys I mentioned on a season by season basis.

The likes of Penny, Kidd, Strickland were true PGs and facilitators not these guys masquerading as PGs now by virtue of height. Their teams did not rely on them for scoring

Roland17:
You must be misconstruing the hand check. During the era you are alluding to, opposing players could use their hands to hold or check the body of the attacking players either in an attempt to steal the ball or disrupt the flow/ bounce of the player. They could close the space between them and the offensive players and still keep their hands on the body of the offensive player. Many also used the hand check to measure the distance between the attacking player and the opposing player with many ending inside the body of the attacking player.

Over time, it evolved into quick intermittent touches to the body of the attacking player, including positions where they face each other with the aim of slowing the player or winning the ball off the player. When an attacking player dribbled the ball, it was legal for me to keep sustained hand check on the opposing player in an attempt to steal, now, it is illegal to have any body contact worth more sustained hand contact.

When a defending players can use their hands to make extended contact on the opposing player, it slows the attacking player and increases the degree of difficulty to drive to the bucket or spot up to take a jumper. With the hand check there was no space between the player bouncing the ball and the defender. It was legal for the defending player to pressure into the body of the player bringing the ball up or bouncing the ball. This is another reason why centers thrived during that era. They could back the opposing player who is making repeated attempts with their hands to either steal the ball or flat out move the player away from the paint. Now, it wasn’t pretty because it was physical and slowed the game but it buttresses the degree of difficulty that era played in.

Today, you can’t even make any contact with an offensive player on any part of the court. Offensive players can stop and jump from anywhere. They can walk the ball up and expect the opposing player to respect their space which means they can get into shooting motions almost immediately. Defending players are now left with just raising their hands and still hope they don’t get called for even staying straight. Remember, it wasn’t until this season that the NBA erased fouls initiated by offensive players. For decades we watched offensive players invade the space created and still get fouls.

It's why I can't help but wonder how guys like Luka, Brick Ross and maybe to a lesser extent Trae Young would have thrived in that era. They would have had to evolve their game for sure.

aliondo:
It's the offensive prowess of the Nets that's scary....

They will have to show it every night cause their defense is worse than last season's

felix00:
Hmm. It's looking like Ben Simmons might return for the play off
Ben Simmons being available should limit Taytum to an extent

You're banking on Ben Simmons to perform under playoff pressure? Someone that has not played competitive basketball in 10 months

Khanben:
His in play adjustments consists of two things,
1) play Kyrie for 40+mins
2)play KD for the whole game and only rest him during timeouts

He is proof that you can be a HOF PG and still be clueless about coaching

Khanben:
I remember Kenny on TNT, saying something about when they played, very few players worked out in the offseason. Nowadays most of the players treat it like a year round job. Including offseason workouts and skill development/improvements. IMHO, the salary for the average player has contributed to this because almost all of them can afford either individually or as a group to hire a team to help them take care of their body and improve the game all year round.

There is a reason injuries and load management is at an all time high. Let me tell you a secret about the body. Sometimes you allow it rest, cos all that offseason working out takes a toll.

Go and ask the average paying NBA fan whose favorite player misses 15-20 games on average how they feel about this so called taking care of their body business.

There is nobody in the top 5 scoring title list that didn't miss at least 15 games

And as for this improve game all year round cap. Is it the same league I'm watching with Brick Ross and Russell Westbrook? Where is the improvement please? Who is improving at what?

birdman:
Yup. Old timers who are bluntly honest say the same thing. Thats why I like Isaiah Thomas, says the truth even if it diminishes his generation a bit. The kinds of things Tim Duncan did, we are seeing 3 or 4, maybe 5 big men in the league do it on a nightly basis. Granted we dont have all the WWF fouls and thugs like Oakley, but this is a very skilled and professional league. The CBA just needs to adjust to weed out the softies.

Yeah Rockets are competing for last place and LeKing don turn to papa smurf, but man, I cant wait to watch these playoffs. Waaaaay too many stars to watch.

There are 3,4 5 big men doing what Tim Duncan did??

Why stop at 5 why not 50. So you're saying there are 5 bigs in today's league as good as Tim Duncan. Smh

I can't believe any coach worth his salt would come to coach this Lakers team. Just look at AD and Lebron. Compare how they batted for Vogel to how Jordan did with Phil Jackson

I don't understand anyone would be scared of that Brooklyn Nets team. They can't guard nobody. Steve Nash's coaching is dodgy.

Whatever you feel about the roster no way 10 teams should be ahead of them. I don't care if they had Magic and Kareem

Bronsexuals are wailing cause nobody rates their Disney ring. It's not a coincidence that since all the unique circumstances and variables that made that Fugazi ring happen disappear your guy failed to win a single playoff series.

The much derided play in game LeNomad was dissing would have been their savior from epic humiliation this year

There is nothing left to be insecure about LeNomad, he is the first man in basketball history to fail to make the playoffs with a championship betting favorite. No amount of future statpaddin and empty calorie buckets can change that fact. This man made the conscious effort to stop playing defense, just spam 3's and not play the type of basketball that would give his team a chance to win games.

There are worse rosters in the league that are in play in spots. In a weaker Western conference where you have OKC, Portland, Rockets openly tanking and yet the Lakers could not finish top 10??

If 2011 was the nadir. 2022 is the coup de grace to any arguments about who the GOAT is.

hkidola00:
Mohammed Ali started the goat acronym....he said..."and I'm the greatest of all time".....isn't he?

Ali is not even the greatest of all time. Only casual fans think he is

Besides boxing na individual sport so wrong comparisons