₦airaland Forum

etidy:
Wait what's Gobert and KAT doing on the same team . Unless they are trying to trade KAT, this makes zero sense

KAT just signed the Supermax, it makes sense if look at what happened in the league last year. The Cavs played with a twin towers of Modley and Allen and I think a lot of teams were intrigued by how well it worked especially on the defensive end.
On offense we all know KAT stays on the perimeter a lot so Gorbert and he can fit in at least on paper.

Gorbert to the Timberwolves, the Wolve now need to move Russell for a better playmaking PG. Nba arms race is on

felix00:
ESPN story on the Boston Celtics acquiring Indiana Pacers playmaker Malcolm Brogdon in a trade: https:///bT5dsSXBJx

Very good move, by the Celtics

birdman:
I say 5: Lebron, Jokic, Giannis, Embiid, Steph

Its more than just skill. Your skill has to be capable of shining even with a double or triple team. Which means you have a very good basketball mind. You can read defenses and still execute your game plan. Which also means you are by nature a disciplined and driven person. And you can take over games on the offense as well as defense. Interestingly, my list is all mobile bigs, except Steph. Steph sucks on defense, but his offense more than makes up for it.

Also note that being a superstar does not equal ring - you need a complete team and disciplined organization for that. Any of these superstars would have won a ring with the Warriors cast. None of these superstars can win a ring with say for example Orlando

I think your criteria is well rounded. I will include KD and a fully healthy Kwahi to the list, and if Luka can put more effort on defense then he will be on my list.
I was asking because based on Shaqs criteria guys like AI, Chuck, Melo were not superstars which is surprising

Roland17:
Baba, everybody dey run him own race last! last!! Beal has his mindset on his own financial goals, I can’t hate the man for what he desires or terms success. Whether him win title or compete for title is irrelevant to the man, na the bar be him own struggle.

He turned 29 last month, he is now on the other end of his career and financially assured. Who knows and considering his offensive skill set, baba may use his 30’s to chase a ring and if e no work, Beal no be like pesin wen go lose sleep.

To each his own!

That is how I see it too. Nobody knows his history or family story. I remember Brazilian Oscar saying when he got the Chinese deal, that he would rather ensure that his family is set for life (he had a huge extended family), rather than the prestige of playing in Europe.
So for Beal big ups to him, he was offered that contract, he did not force the Wizards into giving it to him, they did so of their own volition, so he has every right to sign the contract and enjoy the financial security.

The Bucks ownership are going cheap again IMHO

felix00:
Wtff.
I don't understand. Kyrie is staying. Why does he want out?

Actually that part I understand, Kyrie has shown he cannot be counted upon to stay on the court for any extended period of time. In Hindsight KD probably knows it was a mistake to team up with him and has decided to the detriment of the Nets to cut bait, rather than continue their partnership.

Some people have issues with this changes that occurs every offseason, because of the player empowerment in the nba.
Personally, I like it, because as someone who supports no particular team, this movement results in a yearly reshuffle. IMHO, if this continues it would make it harder for a long reign by just one team, unless a team lucks out and has a collection of talent like the KD Warriors
This movement all but guarantees a new set of competitors for the championship each year. Non of the participants in the last 3 championship series before this year made it back to the finals, the next year, non even made it back to the conference finals .
It makes the nba, much less predictable based on past performances, i.e you cannot predict based on last season what is going to happen in the next season. Keeps the competition fresh if you ask me

The only thing that is guaranteed this offseason in the nba is that there is going to be an arms race by teams.
The Nets will probably trade both KD and Kyrie and try the hypothetical route of putting a team of shooters around Ben Simmons, at least in the short term.
I see the Suns, Heat being players for KD. As for Kyrie the Lakers and maybe Dallas if they can get him for cheap.
You add that to the Clippers loading up, GSW who will definitely have no choice but to pay Poole now. If the Sixers, Bucks, Nuggets and Celtics also add some pieces we just might have a situation where there is about 5 or 6 loaded teams gunning for the championship this upcoming season.

With Shaq saying there are currently only 4 superstars in the nba, let me just come out and ask, what is the criteria that makes a player a nba superstar? cause it seems to be all-over the place

etidy:
Na ment now, the super max has been a death contract for most teams, I never liked it when it was initiated and I don't right now.

The only players that has successfully lived up to the contract has been steph and Giannis
Paying a single player 35% of your cap space is madness to me when you still need to squeeze in another supermax or one/two more max contracts to compete.

What you get is a consistent miserable team who is not competing neither is it bad enough to get good picks. Moreover if the player declines its become a horrible contract.

John wall, Westbrook, Gobert, Harden have be dud. Meanwhile the same contract has been impeding Lillard from getting any help.

The bar for getting the super max is too low, heck Klay narrowly missed out on it and was disappointed when he missed all nba before contracts negotiations.
Imagine paying steph and Klay 70% of your cap space,e don finish for the warriors be that they would have to cannibalize the team.

The way the Supermax is calculated makes the value different for each player. E.g Jokic Supermax value is higher than what Beal might get and also what Doncic got.
Still I truly believe it should only be for those who really push the needle. Personally, if I was the players instead of the Supermax they should have pushed for Ownership shares with the selling point that it would be harder for a player who has Ownership stake to ask for a trade after getting paid.

The Spurs are finally going full rebuild mode

felix00:
Harden is declining his Max player option and taking a lesser contract to give Philly space to improve the squad

Just hope his hamstring get fully right. If Maxey can become consistently good, the sixers might just have a chance.

PS: Can anyone explain the logic of the Wizards giving Beal a $250+mil deal?
Why give the supermax to a player who is arguably not a top 20. I can understand paying a premium if the team was ready to win now, but they are not even close. Right now with what they have, nobody can guarantee a playoffs series win. So again why not just rebuild and start allover?

The Clippers are fleshing out their roster, especially if Wall can be healthy. He is a quality PG to have especially with the 2nd unit

Kyrie staying . Probably after no team guaranteed him close to max money without performance clauses

Danielnino00:
So the "super team" is about to end just like that...Lol...
pundits swore that they would dominate the league...

Dominance only happens on the court, not in the press

Android22:
I said that Wiggins had one bad game as well but that as soon as Steph had that game 5 the media made it look like him and Wiggins were neck and neck in the Finals MVP - before game 6. I agree that Wiggins was the 2nd best player on the Warriors in the series, but not neck to neck with the number 1. And that some even GSW fans started saying the same thing with the media after game 5 but before game 6.

Okay now I get you. I just don't understand why most people can't appreciate greatness. Maybe it's because I don't support any team and just enjoy basketball, I have never understood the putting down one player, just to elevate the other. That game 5 that people were saying Steph played badly IMHO is an exaggeration, yes he did not score as much, but he had one of his highest assist output in that game and his gravity led to a lot of open looks for Klay and Wiggins.
Hate him or like him Steph now has a legitimate case for top 10 player of all time.

Android22:
Andrew Maple Jordan Wiggins was so instrumental to this ring. But you guys just followed the media to drink the kool-aid again. Wiggins had a sub-par game (game 2 for e.g) as well but Curry needed only 1 before it became like he [Wiggins] was neck and neck with Curry for this FMVP. Come on guys. Even on here some of you started re-echoing this sentiment.

Sorry ohh, but I thought Steph was unanimous FMVP. So I don't understand the kool-aid comment. What Wiggins did was show that he could be the 2nd best player on a championship team. IMHO he was never in the running for the FMVP.

What I just saw from Wiggins this post season just confirms what i have always thought. A lot of franchises waste years in trying to make a player what he is not. Wiggins just put up his best Pippen act, guard the oppositions best wing player, grab as many rebounds as you can, and average 15-18pts.
This guy who was ridiculed for years because he was been given a role that was more than be could handle, just became the 2nd best player on a championship team.

Very good series, the Celtics downfall was the excessive TOs. The 2 Js have to figure out how not to dribble the ball in traffic.
As for the Chef, the Slander will at least end

AD saying publicly he has not shot a basketball since April just reiterates what we have been saying about him. He might have all the talent in the world, but he just doesn't want it enough.

With the playoffs winding down, is there still anyone taking CJ mccollum over Jalen Brown.

Skrrrrrrr:
The story of that Finals was thoroughly rewritten in favour of LeBron completely sidelining Kyrie. LeBron averaged 29PPG in that series while Kyrie averaged 27. They got thoroughly walloped the first 2 games, won game 3, lost game 4. Then Draymond got suspended and the rest is history.
Kyrie averaged more PPG than Steph in that series but the media would have us believe LeBron carried a bunch of bums to the finals.
LeBron's team were arguably better on a player by player basis.

Sidelining Kyrie how? Kyrie has been living off of his performances during that finals series for the past 6 seasons. Since that series, he has done next to nothing in the playoffs, but somehow his name keeps coming up as a playoffs performer or clutch player.

The Danny Ainge rebuild has started. Snyder out

One thing about the Celtics through out this playoffs is that they have more guys who can on a day just go for 20+pts. 2 of the Bucks loss came from AL scoring 30 in one game, and Grant scoring 25 in another. If they continue that trend in this finals series, they can go all the way.

felix00:
JT needs to show up

His guys are pulling him along so far. If White and AL keep this up the Celtics might just steal one without Tatum even shooting well. Tatum played well on defense and as a playmaker though

Steph with 3 fouls

donlittle25:
someone can say this about lebron with those Miami championships. But you saw lebron attitude during those times, I won, deal with it. Why is it so hard for this nigga? like bro, stop arguing with niggas that earn $50 per hour on twitter.

IMHO, I think he enjoys the back and forth on Twitter, just like Embiid likes trolling.

birdman:
Only Tatum, maybe imo. I alluded to warriors being a good team, so obviously they make good adjustments as well. In short, unless Curry can go hot 3 or 4 games out of 7, celtics have a shot to play good team bball and at least win their 2 home games. From there, things happen. But make no mistake, celtics are the underdog. Outside of Lebron and Kawhi led teams, no one has really stopped these warriors.

Both teams IMHO have a good mixture of scoring. For teams that are a 1-2 punch combo like the Celtics and GSW, and who also play good to great defense, winning will boil down to how much scoring they have in the squad.
On offense, both teams need 3 of the others on their team to average double figures 4x in the same game.
For the Celtics, they need 3 out of AL, Smart, Robert, Grant, White and Pritchard to score in the double figures 4x in the series, and it can happenin any combination.
As for GSW, they also need 3 out of Poole, Draymond, Wiggins, Looney, Kuminga, GP2.

On the defensive end, how well the Celtics switch to limit open looks for the snipers in GSW and take advantage of their length in terms of getting rebounds especially offensive boards.
On the other hand, can the GSW zone continue to cause the same issues that it has done since the beginning of the playoffs and whenever they go man, ensure that the limit the switches to Steph and Poole.

PS : Both teams are prone to having huge TOs games, whichever reduces their bad TOs nights to just 1 or 2 will also matter for this series.

The Celtics this season not only got the coach that has made a lot of the correct big decisions, they also got a GM, who decided to stop hoarding picks and went for it.
If they end up winning it all, it would have been because of front office and head coaching changes, making Smart the PG, Robert Williams and Grant Williams playing great at the defensive end and offering a threat on the offensive end. The trades for Horford and White, which both costs 1st round picks, have helped make this team extremely good on the defensive end and at the same time increased their offensive flexibility.

PS: Great job by Butler, the knee contusion bothered him in games 4 & 5, but he came good in 6 and 7. But there has to be one winner.

benji93:
See I will give you one piece of advice. When someone counters your 'coins argument' with facts, first admit that you got it wrong, then introduce another argument. . Very simple. Stay on point.

I don't rate basketball players like you guys. I rate a guy based on his individual performances. I will never look at Bird, Kobe, Duncan and Magic to name a few and use them as the baseline for players. These guys walked into a situation, some with multiple top 50 guys of all time on their team already and people like you use them as a baseline to judge players.
I rate a players performance based on what he has to work with in terms of teammates,and will continue to do so.