₦airaland Forum

Maynman:
Real football lol

Football narratives most of the time are a bit more nuanced, it has a culture of separating the individual players performance from the results.
The last world cup finals is a good example, nobody I heard blamed Mbappe for that loss, even though France did not win.
The only time I hear people making losses a one man issue in Football is when it come to Messi and Ronaldo.

Maynman:
I think that’s just how the thing goes even in football.

NFL or real Football?

steady986:
If Vegas says the Lakers are the underdogs, who are you that is in Oshogbo to say they aren't?

Some people just don't like to enjoy a game without adding their personal beef.
Although Vegas will readjust those odds a bit after today

Maynman:
If the team loses I’m sure they won’t blame reeves, the same energy should be matched when they win.

It's why I just don't like the one guy won/loss thing.
You are absolutely right, if the Lakers had lost the narrative would be that its all Lebron fault even if the game tells a different story. Also in today's scenario where the other guys came up big, he would still be given more credit that he deserves.
Media narrative is just annoying.

A40:
Sabonis butt clenching. Can't even hit free throws. This is a guy that would triple doubles for fun

Regular season basketball really is a joke

Playoffs basketball is for all the marbles, it's not in the same stratosphere as the regular season at all. It just like the knockout stage of the uefa champions league, no be Mai Mai.

PS: That is why it's always good for a player to taste it early in their career and get over the butt clenching and stomach butterflies, when they ate not necessarily expected to win

A40:
What type of hamstring takes 4 months to heal?

The truth is players are starting to use mental health and feelings as a crutch to just flat out not play.

I heard there's a weight clause in his contract and perhaps that is what is causing him all of this. How hard can it be to just eat lean and eat clean so you can maximize your talents?

No be person be Charles Barkley? Who was even heavier than Zion. What name didn't they call him? Round mound of rebound, Leaning Tower of Pizza, Boy Gorge, Wide load from Leeds

That's why I said previously that teams have to start evaluating beyond talent otherwise they will get burned like the Pelicans are being burned now.

Even Charles said he was never as heavy as Zion or as explosive. Zion excuse isn't mental health, he is just too big for his level of explosiveness and his body just breaks down. Sadly some people's body are just like that. There is more than one reason why Shaq was a freak of nature, but the main one was how he could carry that much weight, be explosive and still not get his body breakdown on him.
The issue now is I don't know if he's able to shed weight and keep it off easily. Sometimes it looks like most of his weight is muscle which means he can't cut the weight at all.
It just like with Chet and Victor, with their body type, foot injuries will always be a concern

Roland17:
Nobody is touching Zion even with a 10ft pole, especially on that contract. This isn't about wanting to be in a particular city or not, this is about Zion not having the discipline to be a professional.

When he went out in January, we were told it was a hamstring and he would be out a few weeks. As Zion confirmed, the hamstring is healed but Zion is claiming it is more mental but the Pelicans and other sources are saying his conditioning is bad, which is a kind way of saying, he is overweight again and can not be on the floor, else, he will reinjure the hamstring.

I remember saying it here that I would not give him the max and even if pushed will add injury protections. This dude has just made generational wealth and has done nothing to earn it.
Zion is another example of narratives just like Kyrie, these guys because of hype are handed all-star spots and sometimes all-nba slots which then means they qualify to be paid a huge amounts of money.
How Zion is a 2x all-star baffles me, he played 29 games in his 2nd all-star year.

A40:
That Heat team has just been weird. Only so much coaching can do

They lack high end talent

Roland17:
Nothing wrong with exploring a trade for Young and that’s the truth. He has value right now and the Hawks look like they are trying to rebuild. However, the timing of the report was poor considering they are in the play-in tournament. Trey knows it is a possibility when you look at the Hawks roster but the timing was horrible. Ownership could have waited until the season was over.

Absolutely, I could not have said it better

Capella is killing the heat on the board 19rbs and counting

There is a reason I will continue to insist that winning is just not on the court but also from top down.
A team is having a one game stand-off, and somehow, it's on that day that there is a leak that they want to trade their franchise player. How unprofessional can some front office be

Roland17:
I remember watching this kid Bey when he was with the Pistons and saying he is going to make it in the league.

Like what I am seeing from him, okongwu and the Johnson kid, length, quick feet and the willingness to play D

A40:
Denver have a shot. Just something about that team I don't trust. I don't think they match up well with the Lakers.

Then there's players like Aaron Gordon that I don't trust will not be completely useless in the playoffs

The X factor is Jamal Murray. If he can regain that bubble form then all bets are off

You nailed the Murray thing, if he is even 90% of his bubble form and MPJ is making shots they will be a though side to beat

steady986:
But this one he said he's not joining the draft this year. I hope he was joking.

Wait, are serious or is this late time April fool joke.
The guy should play with men dem ohh

As a less than serious aside, did Poole actually drop 500k on a date or is that another click bait head line

steady986:

Victor is not in the league and he is already driving views. I am one of those hoping the dude, lives up to the hype because it will add more spice to a good product

birdman:
Lets take this one by one:

- He won 2 rings without KD, KD hasnt won any without him, even on a stacked team, so we see who is the head honcho here.

- Was Klay a great shooter or all time great last year? No. But they still won ring with younger core that was inexperienced. Again, Curry was in the mix

- When Curry was injured and only Draymond was playing, the team sucked, as did Draymond's defense. So Curry is the all time great here, not Draymond who is good, but regardless of how you want to exaggerate him, Draymond could not move the needle one iota by himself. I dont see greatness there. Unless you want to redefine it. In which case find us a GM that will give him max type contract.

So, we see its the Curry effect right? What do you think Curry would have done with McCollum, and even Nurkic. Way more than Lillard ever did. Or you want to argue that too?

I will just address the Draymond thing, you can read what I just posted on the Blazers team building to address CJ, and Nurkic. IMHO Draymond is not a hall of fame, but he is a guy who all his skillset fits perfectly with the number 1 option on his team. If Draymond was drafted by any other team other than GSW or the Blazers, he would never have signed any contract that pays him an average of 8 figures IMHO.
As for will Steph win with Nurkic and CJ, we have seen it all ready, steph missed the playoffs with Poole and Draymond, no iggy, klay and the other savy vets and he had his highest scoring average but missed the playoffs.

PS: Another addition to the Draymond thing, I remember coming across a YouTube short, where guys were saying Draymond was better than Blake and my jaw dropped. The thing is, Draymond will probably have a better career than Blake, but for me how I judge who is the better player is not based to team success, it is based on, if I build a team of equal components theoretically where Draymond and Blake are the 1st options who will be better. The fact is Blake can sub as a weak 1st option, and that team will make the playoffs, but any team where Draymond is the 1st option is picking in the top 3.

Skrrrrrrr:
Again, you are shifting the burden of responsibility completely away from the player.
Style of play is one skillet that is not captured in the box score.
Hero ball won't save you even if you are surrounded by good players.
This is the point.....
The difference between steph and Dame et Al isn't just their supporting cast, steph possesses a lot o qualities that those guys do not have or even have the capacity to...

Please this write up is in good faith, try and read it for what says.
Dame is a small combo guard, who is bad defensively, who is a great shooter. You know who that sounds like, Steph.
So please let's go through this one after the other,
GSW covered up Steph lack of defense by surrounding with elite to very good defender, remember the death line up, every player on that 5, in a great to very good defender,
What did the Blazers do for Dame, the best team he has ever had, had only one plus defender in faroq aminu, every other player on that squad was a negative on defense, CJ is a sieve on defense, both bigs cannot only guard elite bigs on the inside, and at the same time they are bang average at best defensively on the perimeter as well.
Playmaking, GSW knowing that Stephs strength is his shooting, they surrounded him with a big who is a phenomenal playmaker on offense, you know what that does for Steph, it allows him to go offball and the team creates set-up shots which are the most efficient 3pt shots for the greatest shooter of all time.
Dame has never had this luxury, he himself came out and said it on the Jj Reddick podcast, that he has never being able to take set shots in Portland because the team was not built that way, so you have a great shooter and a large majority of the shots he takes are off the dribble shots, Dame is the only guy who has a claim to being a top 5 shooter of all time who has the least percentage of set shots. If you think about Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr, Ray Allen, Klay, Steph, Korver, you can always pick a substantial amount of the 3pts they take where all they do is run around a screen and just take the shot, they get this luxury year in year out. Dame has had a decade plus in Portland and not once can you say that there was a season where the team was built in such a way that a substantial amount of his shots are set-up, even though that is the most efficient shot for his skillset.
Finally, try this test if you have time, go through the teams that Steph has had since getting into the nba and do the same for Dame. Ask yourself, if you remove both guys from their team and let what remains play themselves in a 7 games series, I will bet you, you might not find one year where you pick the Blazers.
Yes, great players have to be great, but you don't give a guy, a knife in a gun fight then complain that he did not win

Skrrrrrrr:
Nobody ever said wigs was a bust.
I said he was not a star.
And curry won with him as the second best player.
Which nullifies the argument that Curry wins because he is surrounded by stars...

I am not saying you said Wiggins was a bust. But the general media talk, after like his 3rd year in the league is that he his not what he was projected to be, which was a true number 1 option.
People called him a bust, they said all sorts of things about him, like he cannot play winning basketball, he is just a numbers on a bad team guy, he his a cheap calories player.
That what his reputation before GSW traded for him.
My point has always been a great player will elevate good players especially if they fit together, but at the same time I don't care how great a player is, in a team sport if the other team is blowing you away on the talent and fit metric, then you are more or less going to be on the losing side. Sport is in its very nature a talent acquisition track meet, with one caviet, the talent must fit together.
Name whatever player in any team sport, MJ, Messi, CR7, gresky, TD, Kobe, Shaq, Bird, Magic, if they are only the vastly less talented team, or in a team that the talent does not fit, they are more often than not going to be on the losing side

Skrrrrrrr:
You are intentionally missing the point bro.
I am saying your theory falls flat when you consider that klay was not all that in 2015 and wasn't influential last season.
And the warriors won the chip.
The warriors of 2015 and 2022 were not an assembly of superstars.
You can be dishonest all you want but facts are facts..

My theory is sound, Klay last year was no longer the player, be used to be, but you know what GSW had a new star in his role named Wiggins, who if you can search my posts on his finals run, I said IMHO was the 2nd best player on that team.
What that did was allow for a limited to Klay to be the 3rd or 4th best player depending on how the night goes, which based on where he is now in his career is a great team to have.
If present Klay is the 3rd or 4th best player on your team, especially on a team where the players fit, that is one hell of a roster

Skrrrrrrr:
You guys would rather die than give curry the credit he deserved.
Instead of admitting curry's ability to elevate the guys around him, you are giving the management the credit.
You see life.....

Look at all my posts about Steph never have I belitted him, I give him credit where credit his due, but also acknowledge just like every great player that winning championships never starts on the court, but in the boardrooms where management put together the players that fit.
One of Steph's best ever season ended up in him missing the playoffs, why? because the talent around him was not good enough.
People like you never want to admit that team sports is not golf or tennis.

Skrrrrrrr:
My argument is.
Winning goes beyond just assembling a group of stars.
We have seen lots of teams crumble with stars.
People have had better Teams and won nothing.
The clippers and the nets are a perfect example.
The 2015 warriors were not better than the Blazers with Prime Lillard and CJ.
Ever wonder why everyone seems to play better around steph?
Do you think Wiggins would be an all star if he was traded back to the wolves today?

You know that GSW had another player whose carrer was just like Wiggins, namely Iggy.
Wiggins, Iggy, Blake Griffin, Joe Johnson, these are all very good players who were being asked to do, what was beyond their capacity and because of those expectations people think of them as failures.
People were expecting Wiggins to live up to his hype as a prospect and sadly few players ever do. That does not make them busts, or scrubs, the trick is finding where they are excellent at and letting them trive in that role. Wiggins is a player who at his best is a guy you want to average 15pts a game and play elite defense. He has, both the length, athleticism and iq to be the primary perimeter defender against the opponents best wing, while giving you good offense most nights. That is all GSW is asking him to do and you know what he is thriving in that role.

Skrrrrrrr:
My argument is.
Winning goes beyond just assembling a group of stars.
We have seen lots of teams crumble with stars.
People have had better Teams and won nothing.
The clippers and the nets are a perfect example.
The 2015 warriors were not better than the Blazers with Prime Lillard and CJ.
Ever wonder why everyone seems to play better around steph?
Do you think Wiggins would be an all star if he was traded back to the wolves today?

People play better around Steph because the GSW brain trust actually put together players with the skillset that fits their best player. If you want us to break it down together, I have a bit of time and we can go back and forth as long as you are willing to have a honest conversation.
Honest question describe Steph's playstyle?

Skrrrrrrr:
Lol
Was Klay an all defensive caliber player last season
I know the all defensive Team of last season and save for draymond who was in the second team, mention the other warrior players in the team.

Did I mention last season, I said for the first 3 chips. You know your arguments are weak but you are just grasping at straws bro.

Skrrrrrrr:
Oga, the James Harden the sixers got is a James Harden that has decided to shape his game inorder to win a Title. Harden knows Hero ball won't win him a chip and he has done that for years. Its little wonder his assist numbers are rising.
Lillard is not half the player Harden is. Lillard that does not even have a scoring title.
I only mentioned all those guys because unsteady your friend up there, keeps mentioning a Klay thompson that has not been exceptional since 2018.
Use your tongue to count your teeth.

You are someone who knows he is wrong but just thinks admitting it somehow belittles him. Dude learning is a continuous process and we all continueto learntill the day we die.
there is nobody who knows basketball who will tell you that the Harden in Philly is the same as the one in Houston, his first year with the Nets, he was playing the same style that he has been doing with the sixers, but you know what, he was in the MVP conversation before he got hurt. In case you don't know, players grow old and their level of performance tends to drop-off with age.
If you want to bash, players for failing, give concrete examples and I will happily join you in adding fuel to the fire.
If you don't know examples of players failing I can help you out, Lebron losing to the Mavs, Kawhi achieving nothing with the Clippers, CP3 failing the Clippers,Shaq and Kobe authoring the worst finals loss is recent history,etc. I can go on and on, listing examples of where management built a good enough team and the best players choked. But this hill you are trying to die on is laughable.

Skrrrrrrr:
Lol.
Klay Thompson averaged 21PPG in 2015.
And 17PPG in 2022.
CJ mccollum averaged 21PPG in 2018, 22PPG in 2019, and 23PPG in 2020.
Removing Durants 2 seasons, we had 2 seasons where the warriors won the chip with Klay thompson doing numbers that were bested by CJ Mccollum.
So using your maths sense (assuming you have one).
Why didn't Lillard win the chip with CJ mccollum.
Since you clowns think Basketball is Indian film?

It's you that thinks basketball is a movie because you are looking at stats, that GSW team without KD had 3 all-defensive team caliber players with klay counting amongst them. Name one that the Blazers had, and CJ can average the same as Klay all he wants but he is a sieve on the defensive end, basketball in case you have forgotten is played both on the offensive side and defensive side. That is why the likes of klay, just like Pippen, are great 2nd options because they play elite defense alongside being the 2nd best scorer on the team.

Skrrrrrrr:
Considering that Klay Thompson missed two straight seasons and was one legged last season, I wonder why his name is coming up here. He was a non factor last season bro.
And the Blazers had CJ mccollum all the while.

He was in his prime when they won, 3 and even if you want to argue he was the 3rd or 4th best player in the 4th ring, that only goes to buttress the point that Steph had a lot of help too for that championship. In the last finals out of the 6 games, playoff klay came out just once, but he put up 2 other games where he was the 3rd best player for the GSW on the night, so he still chipped in enough to be the 3rd best player.
Don't get me wrong Steph is an all-time great, if he and Dame were theoretically put in a similar situation with equal level talent, I'll bet on Steph team doing better in the long run, but the reality is Dame has never been given the caliber of tools to work with through out his career that Steph has had consistently for a large portion of his career.
Dame had never had even one all-defensive team caliber teammate, he's never had a team mate who was an all-star while playing in his team, his is him not winning with such mediocre talent somehow his fault.

Skrrrrrrr:
Dude. I don't know which of the reasoning you find to be an uphill task(inductive or deductive).
Klay was not even the 3rd option, he was the 4th, at that point he was terrible and even your corny ass didn't even give them any chance of progressing beyond the second round. I still remember your posts. It matters not that he is a first ballot hall of famer(this ain't even true). Dwight Howard is a HOFer but can't do any team any good right now. Do I need to break this Basic thing for your comprehension?
Klay has been a nonfactor for 3 straight seasons and he is just beginning to find his swing. And they won the chip.
I wonder why I am even conversing with you.
Your very own LeBron James is a testimony to the fact that just assembling big names is not enough.
He has only won rings with mega stars at their prime, and didn't even make the playoffs with Russ and Davies last season.
For someone that stans LeBron, you sure have a lot to say...

Out of the 4 chips Steph won, he got Prime Klay for 3 of them.
Russ will not a contract next worth 10mil, that's where Russ is now, the fact you can acknowledge that the current Klay is no longer the one who won the first 3 chips, but bury your head in the sand when it come to acknowledging the same for Westbrook is just panelbeating an argument to fit your narrative.

steady986:
Lol. He really mentioned CJ Mccollum . At one point in Klay's career, he was the third option on Steph's team. And this is a first ballot HOFamer. CJ Mccollum on the other hand is the best teammate that Dame has had. And he's only good enough to be the 3rd option at the Pelicans.

I remember when I was telling people here that Jalen brown clears CJ and it's not even a question and they were hounding me. CJ is with the Pelicans now and he cannot do shit.
Is Lillard better than Steph,NO, but the dude did a lot with what he was given. The fact he can point to making a conference finals, with no single all-star teammate is a testament to his greatness. This dude has played a decade plus with a franchise that consistently built a team around him where in a game, he cannot consistently get the easiest and most efficient shot for someone with his skillset.

Skrrrrrrr:
Simmons is a 3 time all star, Drummond is a two time all star, Jordan is a one time all star.
And the James Harden you are trying to ignore is a one time MVP, 10x all star.
He even has a bugger portfolio than Embiid...

This is when I know someone doesn't want to have a truth based conversation. Even the greatest Harden fan will tell you that the Harden the sixers got Philly is not the MVP caliber Harden, you can even make a great argument he is no longer a guarantee all-nba caliber player.
Mentioning Drummond is like also saying Lebron played with Shaq, or Bird played with Bill Walton, or Kobe played with Nash. The same Simmons at the time was supposed to be the 2nd option and would not even shoot, the guy who in a vital playoff game passed up a lay-up because he was afraid of getting foul.

birdman:
No, it wont. Its a game, not a movie. The other team is not in awe asking for autographs.

What do you do when you get double teamed? Can you find the open man? Can play off the ball? Can you read the defensive changes your opponents made at half time to slow you down. Can you give Embiid the ball at the right time so he doesnt get stripped or fronted. Do you even know where he likes the ball? Lillard has played with skilled bigs, and skilled guards, and generally, he tries to win games more on heroics than anything else. Like the run first QB that relies his own speed versus learning to read the play.

Curry is the deadliest shooter, but d guy man works at getting into the paint and finding the open man like his life depends on it. There is a mindset to this thing. Not just pairing big names and thinking the other team will just fold and siddon dey look.

Name me one player that Dame has played with who is better than Klay Thompson, just one.

steady986:
They told me people don't watch the NBA any longer

People who say that are ostriches who are in their feelings. There is a reason the owners have no issues with how things are going because they are seeing their investments grow in real time. Furthermore, the NBA by all projections will continue to grow because not only are the players getting better (which makes a big percentage of the league sellable to fans), the nationalities of superstars are spreading out as well. Trust me if Victor hits, every game he plays on the road will have a strong French contingent of fans who will come watch him, just like the Greeks follow Giannis, the Serbs follow Jokic, and the Slovenians follow Luka. David Stern's dream of the global development of the game, adding fuel to the engine of the nba is coming through.

PS: and all the metrics you mentioned has not even touched on the global consumption.