₦airaland Forum

Jodera:

E shock me too.

All these fake pundits and their "Lebron is leading the MVP race" fake narrative. Lebron is not in any MVP race. Playing better than you played previously does not constitute to being in an MVP race. KD is not in an MVP race. The MVP race is between Embiid, Jokic, D Mitchell and Brad Beal.

Leyqute:
olE doEs nOt hAve taKTIkSS

This does not mean that United has scored 79 goals this season. It only means that the games Man United played in have recorded 79 goals (49 for 30 against). For e.g the 3-3 draw against Everton had 6 goals.

nitrogen:
Lol, I know what I am saying. Chelsea indirectly owes 1.1 billion, just that Abra is fronting for the club.

Chelsea owes who?

KNIGHTBlaed:
Calm down, even when I dey play NBA2k19, whenever Curry holds the ball, the commentators go say "it's no doubt that he has changed the way the game is played, he's so efficient" something like that. When Harden handles the ball or shoots 3s, them go say "he is such an efficient shooter, it's amazing how he keeps doing this". So you sef see say game sef sabi say na Curry

You have time to educate him. Imagine someone trying to make an argument about 3s and he is pulling stats for which team attempts more 3s that did not win and were less efficient while at it. There is a name for such people and when I find it i might type it here.

steady986:
Lol. Nothing like grown man here. I made my points, and somehow the dude tried to make it about LeBron, calling him all sorts of names like Ben Simmons with a receding hairline. That's how you know he's getting emotional about it.

I've shown you how LeBron influenced the game on the court in my previous posts and I don't need to repeat myself.

The truth is that we like to dwell on narratives too much. We say them enough times until it begins to sound true. We can argue that MJ was whi changed the game from a big-dominant league to a guard-dominant league, but that's trying to diminish the exploits of guys like Gervin, Oscar, West, Drexler and co. MJ had eight 30ppg season, Oscar had six, West had 4. I'm not even mentioning guys like Isiah, Magic and Stockton that dominated in a different way. The truth is that in every era, there have been dominant guards and bigs almost in equal proportion. MJs case was just different because he won a lot of titles in a short span.

All these players you mentioned that influenced the game on the court, can you tell me how each of them did it? I'm curious.

As for Curry and shooting threes, the Houston Rockets showed us that that is not the best attribute to rely upon if you want to win a championship. Curry and Klay were only able to win in 2015 because Kyrie and Love got injured. After they lost in 2016 they knew they needed something different, that was why they begged KD to come over. Curry with his three point prowess was never the best player on GS while KD was there, even though he was the reigning 2-time MVP at the time of KD's arrival. When KD got injured in 2019 Klay and Step couldn't get the job done. Last year LeBron and KD showed that the three is just a luxury, an afterthought. Going into the playoffs the Lakers were one of the worst 3 shooting teams in the league. In the last 5 years there has been little to prove that the 3 ball is what wins you championships.

The facts are there, this is not conjecture or inuendo. The two ball will always be more valuable and important than the three ball.

You brought your own argument and then changed it after you got served. This reply to you should serve as a deterrent to other uninformed trolls who want to venture into what they have not properly studied. Receded hairline Ben Simmons is what an emotional person will zero in on. Even after I said he is surely greater than Curry, has been the face of the NBA and is this generation's GOAT. That you ignored those compliments to get butthurt about hairline shows who was crying behind the scenes. As for all those names you mentioned in your second paragraph, lol, your original post made mention of in the last 3 decades (in the NBA)or else the badboi Pistons, and the fab 5 would have gotten notable mentions. So stop changing the narrative.
Curry and Klay were only able to win in 2015 because Kyrie and Love were injured? Ok. How did those same players get 3-1 down in 2016? Why did the NBA need to suspend Draymond? Why did the Cavs only start winning after Andrew Bogut got injured? Why did the NBA allow Curry to get held and pulled with no calls but then call 5 flimsy calls against him and then eject him? You don't need to take my opinion - Google Channing Frye and watch him admit that the NBA allowed them hold and pull Curry on their way to coming back. Hehe. Everytime you want to act like a troll, it comes back to bite you. And by the way, Klay Thompson was injured in 2019. It is no surprise, GSW won the only 2 games he played in and were on course to winning the game 6 when he got injured again. The Lakers were a bad 3 pt shooting team? Ok. But did they not shoot well in 4 of the 6 games that they beat the Heats and lost in the only 2 games they shot poorly from the 3? Stop arguing wass here, you will be served.

benji93:
@steady986. Brother you no dey hear word. Stop watching the back of your TV and the box score. Watch the games and do some learning. You don't need to have been one born in the 90s. Most of the relevant information from that time is available. You don't have to comment on the 90s if you are not quite familiar. . That's by the way my brother. Let me educate you small. You don't seem to understand what changing a league means even relatively one's peers. How many players do Harden's step back, even among the guards. Now travel back in time and check the number of 3s players take and the schemes with respect to shot selection before and after 2015+- 3. Very simple assignment. I understand though, those final losses still dey pain you. Its understandable.

I don't see anywhere even today where coaches expect their small forward to have assists or they will be bursts. The league does not put that pressure on small forwards. It is not a knock on Lebron's greatness - if anything it amplifies it. However, nobody can deny that there has been a greater pressure from ALL positions in recent times to develop a 3 pt shot. We extol Embids and Jokics of this world for their 3pt shooting as centres. People can see it but blind jealousy will make some others say it is Houston Rockets and James Harden that inspired people. Lol.

steady986:
I've said all I need to say, Curry didn't influence sh*t. You can cry if you want.

Nobody is crying. You got served.

steady986:
Wait, Highschool and College kids shooting long range threes? Are we watching different sports here. The same NCAA that players would rather shoot a two than a three? The same NCAA that players can't shoot to save their lives? Lol

And Lonzo Ball was hyped because of his three point shooting?

Lol. It looks like I've been arguing for nothing all this time

You do not watch the NCAA nor high school basketball.

steady986:
I've already addressed some of your points here but let me tackle a few. Where do you get your assumption that LeBron was shooting with "eye-paining" efficiency? LeBron has always been a mid 30% shooter all his career, including in 2010. And that alone is enough for him to be respected from beyond the arch. He wasn't as bad as MJ.

And in 1984, weren't MJ and Hakeem both rookies? In fact if it was the Olympics, then they hadn't played a game in the NBA. At the end, MJ was selected and not Olajuwon so what's your point exactly? Even though Olajuwon was drafted in the NBA before the MJ himself

I don't know how bad you are at maths but if a player shoots high volume 3s and is at 35% he is significantly better than another who is relatively mid volume and 33%. Lebron is on record saying that the Mavericks exploited a weakness to his game in 2010-11 when he was a badly receded hairlined Ben Simmons. If you take away his improved 3 point shooting and leave him with all the assists in the world, he will be 2 less short of his 4 rings. That should tell you what an improved 3pt shot (as well as all star calibre players) can do for your king. I don't know what tangent you went off on MJ and Hakeem but my point was that every one agreed in 1984 that Hakeem should go first in drafts and not MJ only because it was uncanny to build around a shooting guard. MJ debunked that narrative forever and ever. Amen.

steady986:
Lol, you wrote something in the lines of "I want to dribble like Harden, says nobody" and I gave you an appropriate answer. Now you want to switch goalposts. Harden step-back is a thing. Know that now. Harden's got the whole league doing step-back threes, including your darling Steph. Harden may not have changed the way we "perceive" the game but he certainly changed the way the game is played.

Players influence the game in different ways, both by their exploits on the court and off it. Tell me, you have Kobe as one of the people who most influenced the game. How did Kobe influence the game when he was basically a replica of MJ?

And you say LeBron didn't alter the game on the court? Google the term "point forward" and see whose picture first appears. LeBron basically created a positionless league and altered the status quo. Gone are the days of Stockton, Isiah and Magic where the burden of playmaking rested on the PGs. Now you have guys like Draymond Green averaging more assists than Steph, Kawhi averaging more assists than Beverley, Jokic averaging more assists than Murray. You gat DG bringing the ball up the court more times than Curry. You have Jokic doing same. Back then these duties rested more on the guards.

How many finals MVPs has Curry amassed shooting those threes? Instead he begged a mid-range shooting guy to come over because he knew his threes couldn't win sh*t for him except he plays against a injury-ravaged team .

Manu Ginobili had a signature eurostep move which other players in the NBA copied but here we are not talking about his influence. Dirk Nowitzki had his self-styled fade away as well. I don't know if this parochial style of argument is a fixture to bronsexuals but signature move is not tantamount to changing the way the game is perceived. I can answer your queries on Kobe on another day but I will not give you Kobe to draw false parallels with Lebron. Sure, Lebron is a great player and this generation's GOAT but no coach designs his set-up hoping that his small forward runs point for him. That Lebron can do so is testament to his greatness and that is about it. Ben Simmons, Draymond, run the point from time to time but their lack of shooting (especially the 3 ball has made them virtual stars). That should tell you that reinventing a position by a player is not changing our perception of the game to the degree you think. It is that Lebron who had survived for years without a consistent 3 ball has decided to arm himself with it to remain competitive. It is the same thing Giannis has tried to add to his game. Heck, it is the same thing that Doncic (a potential future GOAT) has been told he needs to WIN even though he averages 30 pt triple doubles without it. That is how true influence is defined. Hehe

Roland17:
Popovic has got these young Spurs playing some exciting basketball. I have watch a couple of their games recently including wins agains both LA teams, my Celtics and last night against the Nuggets. They are very quick in transition and because of their wing span they can be quite disruptive on the defensive end.
We are also seeing the resurgence of P. Mills who has has been a catalyst off the bench for them. Would they make the playoffs?

They will, maybe even ahead of the warriors. I believe Derozan has accepted his fate and some of the younger players are understanding the style of the coach. It also helps that there is less pressure to win a ring like it was for the spurs in the past years. I personally think they will get more consistent than the warriors and should CJ McCollum falter after his injury break then the spurs will also seed higher than them.

SmooshCHN:
Players literally starts guarding Steph Curry from mid court. You had Centers in the league working on their 3pt shots because the game was leaving the big men and even guards stopped taking midrange shots just because of how deadly they could be or how much of an advantage teams got by making 3s. Now you have guys like Dame, LeBron trying to be like Steph and pulling up from the logo. No one is arguing LeBron was the player of last decade. But talk about influence, Stephen Wardell Curry changed the game whether you like it or yes.

High school and NCAA games have players shooting long range 3s from all across the court. 6'1"-6'3" guards with small builds like Trey Young are becoming franchise players because of their 3 point shooting. Buddy Hield and Lonzo Ball were lottery picks because of the hype around their 3 pt shooting. Prior, they would have been like JJ Reddick and Korver. That is an e.g of how people's perception changed towards the game because of SC.

steady986:
Lol. Is it Steph that made big men to begin to develop ball handling skills too? Is it Steph that made big men to develop good passing skills too? The game was always destined to move towards the direction it is now, Steph or no Steph. Before Steph ever entered the league, big men like Troy Murphy, Channing Frye and Dirk were already attempting 5 threes a game.

And don't even get me started about volume three point shooting. Guys like Ray Allen attempted 8 three pointers a game back in 2006. The first time Steph reached that mark was in 2014. And since then he has been operating seemingly in his own bubble, jacking up to 10 three a game. There are just a handful of players in the league who do that: Harden, Dame. The first time Same even attempted 10 threes per game was last year, and Steph has been doing it since 2015. Nobody, apart from these few people I mentioned attempts as much threes as Steph does, so how has he influenced sh*t?

LeBron attempted 5 threes in 2010, and he has been shooting more or less the same amount since then, only reaching 6 this year. That is someone who is developing his game at his own pace. People shoot threes because they can shoot threes and because the coach permits them to. Steve Kerr and Mark Jackson before him love the three ball, that's why GS became a three shooting team. In this league there are people who still don't shoot threes, and I'm not talking Centers alone, even guards. Rondo won't shoot a three unless there's no one guarding him. It's all preference man, preference.

I understand how you feel. You started an argument that has turned around to bite you in the behind. Your unskilled use of strawman arguments are also painful to read. Read exactly what is being said. In 2010, because Lebron was a far less handsome Ben Simmons, teams slagged off him daring him to shoot the 3 ball. That he attempted 5 of them per game with eye-paining inefficiency does not mean that he was generally fond of taking that many 3 balls. Understand what is being said here. If you saw the last dance or any documentary on MJ you would have noticed that it was a consensus in 1984 that Olajuwon should go before MJ. That is because it was a centre's league at the time and nobody believed a franchise would survive being built around a shooting guard. You know what became of that. That is an e.g of how MJ changed the way we viewed basketball. A 6'9" SF, strong as the hulk, quick, athletic with an eye for the game is a given. He came and did exactly what he was hyped about. But did Lebron change anyone's perception about basketball? Did NBA teams learn how to play differently because of him? Are more players from high school to NCAA playing the game the way he plays it? The answer is no.

steady986:
Wait, the step-back three that the whole league now does, who made it popular? Or am I missing something here? To the extent that the league had to bring about the gather rule just to accommodate it. Man gerrarahere

And you had to throw in the ol' LeBron shade . Saying Curry is more influential than LeBron. The words didn't taste bitter in your mouth? And his minions had to like the post

Without LeBron in this league for the past decade or so, the sports would be as popular as the NHL. LeBron influenced the game on and off the court more than Curry would ever dream of. I'm not even arguing this with you, it's ridiculous.

Try to re-read your argument to see if you are addressing the issue before us. Again, I hate to point out the glaring holes in your position but a player's signature move does not mean he has changed the way we perceive basketball. The step-back 3 for e.g is not an efficient shot even for Harden. He travels virtually everytime he does it and he and his Rocketeers won nothing with it. Why would anyone want it in their repertoire? Nobody is throwing shade at your darling Lebron. He has been a great ambassador for the NBA in this past decade but did Lebron alter the way the game is played? No. Instead Lebron adjusted to the way Curry made the game. You know that prior to 2014/15 players like Lebron only jacked up a 3 when the shot clock was running down, the paint was clogged or defenders slagged off him daring him to shoot. But these days Lebron takes such shots at times as his first means of offense and no coach frowns upon such anymore because they saw an unassuming 6'3" player, do so enroute to winning rings, MVPs and selling more jerseys than your darling. It is what it is.

steady986:
If we're being truthful, Harden has influenced the game more than Steph has. But hey, I'm not allowed to say that.

You are not shaking any tables: a team shooting more 3 points than others is not equal to coaches now accepting long range and off the dribble 3s as good play. To be influential to a culture or sport, you have to change the way people THINK about that culture or sport. You have to INFLUENCE the sport's mentality. "we like to play like the Houston Rockets" said no one ever. "We like to dribble like Harden" said no one ever. Now, let me humor you a little further. Influential players of the last 3 decades? MJ, Shaq, AI, Kobe and Curry. Lebron is surely greater than Shaq, AI and Curry, but he did not change people's way of playing basketball.

Tinneh:
Game??

GSW vs OKC. Curry's 46 pt game with that game winning 3.

steady986:
But isn't that why they traded for Harden?

We knew GS would be good because the pieces fit. They still had DG who is a defensive Juggernaut. What the Nets are doing currently is trying to outscore their opponent and it's insha Allah on the other end. I know they'll get better, but would they get better enough to win it all?

The KD Harden duo can work with defensive pieces if Kyrie is traded. The KD Kyrie and other pieces can work but less so in my opinion. I know it looks obvious but they cannot beat those 2 teams I mentioned with how bad they are defensively. LAL will even sweep them.

steady986:
Man this is getting out of hand with the Nets. The Cavs are not even a good offensive team and they've virtually scored 100 points in three quarters. Something needs to be done and fast.

They will not always be this bad. New teams will look disjointed initially. GSW lost their first game with KD by 30 to SAS. The issue with this Nets team is, they have zero depth and the starters are handicapped defensively. I know they will be this offensive juggernaut but dang, so far, I am not convinced they can unseat LAL & LAC in a 7 game series.

steady986:
Ah, what does that say about DG's value on the team? Nuff said.

The result would have been the same had SC been ejected as well and DG playing. They are both all stars for a reason.

steady986:
The Knicks doing the Lord's work

Draymond Green was ejected in the 2nd Q for rebuking Wiseman (his own teammate). The Lord's work indeed.

steady986:
Did you write this before or after the game ended?

Even if it was after, the somewhat sparkless Celtics should not be this close to the improved Sixers. One would have felt like if this game was worth anything, the Celtics would have won. Simmons has regressed this year (I know partly due to the trade rumours) but how can a modern day NBA player not have developed the confidence to take shots? Even Kelly Oubre was shooting despite his suboptimal FG%.

etidy:
The 76ers were afraid to risk it all to get Harden but I thought it was a mistake.

They left it late to the point when the Nets became desperate.
They are not winning the NBA title with Simmons unless he develops some shooting. Embiid and Harris has clearly stepped up. But Simmons is holding this team back

Simmons is a mentally weak player. And yes, they will not win a ring with him in his current state. As for the NETS, they have serious defensive issues and sadly, I think they should trade Kyrie for a defensive pairing that will support KD and Harden.

birdman:
Will have to watch this. I was joking when I said he needed psych help, but after the fact I realized he had all the tell tale signs of mental breakdown. I really hope he gets some help. Black males are the least likely to be diagnosed properly and people tend to think you should be tough and absorb it.

Mental health that allows him text his teammates but not his coach? Kyrie should go to Jesus for his demons or he will end up like Delonte West.

steady986:
Damn, the Lakers dropped all the way down to first place with that loss. I'm so gutted.

Can never be your team.

Hardetayour:
Looool. See this nigga. Losing a 17 point lead o.

19 point lead.

Melvyn11:
Player/coach of the month is a dumb award to brag about. Mourinho once won the league without winning a single manager of the month award. Ronaldo recording breaking 31league goal season he only won the award twice.

I mean over a player that was voted UEFAs best midfielder of 2020.

Godx:
Sorry last one . You seem like a very confused human being . This was same you?

A ha. Busted. Now I can go back to my basketball.