₦airaland Forum

joshboo:
TBH no hope in any category,or better still slight iota of hope. Our best chance of any medals at all is okagbare, albeit her best chance is either silver or Bronze, the men are an utter disgrace. We no even meet the qualifying time for the 4×100m imagine!!! Omo politics has killed every facet of sports in this country from football which used to be our rallying point to other sporting categories.
Our Bball team has good prospects but for starters most of the naija guys called up playing in tge NBA hardly get game time between, most of the guys are first time invitees they don't have so much time to build up that chemistry amongst them, our group is actually an open one, any of the teams fit qualify. For the women bball NO HOPE, our group na straight up killing, we can't beat the usa and france... japan wey we fit try beat come be host nation, you know most of the calls would be in their favor. We have other categories like table tennis where we used to be pretty decent but we've dropped so bad over the years, inadequate funding and lack of proper preparation is one of our biggest undoings, it's really sad honestly. We have 5 wrestlers going sha, don't know about their prowess but i feel sey na excursion most of them dey go do for there, the skill set is way below par as compared to most countries who have been preparing adequately for the Olympics.

Sadly the state of 9ja sports mirrors that of the nation.

birdman:
Unfortunately for many teenagers this money will end up enriching clubs, drug dealers, car dealerships, scam businesses, predatory relatives etc. Because the money will come before they have the wisdom to self discipline. Im all for letting these guys get paid, but it will be mixed results.

Like all things in life

PAWG:
Do you know what CP3 takes home? He’s 36

I also saw something about CP3 declining his player option of 40+mil next year so as to sign a 100+mil 3yr deal

steady986:
When I say $20m I mean for one year. So it could be $40m for 2 years or $60m for 3, whichever.

Tim got that outrageous contract from the Knicks, and I know it was all out of desperation. He earned $18m this year, which for whatever reason was 2m short of what he earned last year. I believe he can't go higher than that range in his next deal. He's just not that guy. Even the most shitty and desperate teams in the league right now (Detroit, Cavs, Minnesota, etc), do you see them giving him more than 20m? I doubt.

For Tim, if he can settle for something in the 15mil range or even his last contract with the knicks, i say the Mavs should just keep him. If not see if they can get a sign and trade for him

chic2pimp:
It's the muscle twitch that occurs in His brain from time to time that causes it. They'll be utterly dominant in one quarter with fantastic ball movement then revert to type the very next quarter by running a bucket load of ISOs. He needs psychiatric evaluation because that is not normal.

Assin, the man is a case

Why does Bud or whatever his name is not run some of the sets he ran for Lopez today when Giannis is playing and on the bench. The coach has village people syndrome abeg

steady986:
Demar maybe, but Lowry? Who would give 35 year-old Kyle Lowry more than 20m? And Tim, come on man Even Jerami Grant that went to be the best player in Detroit is making 19m. And trust me no team would make Tim their no.1 option. He doesn't have the skill set. He's a third option at best

Lowry is the hardest but he can still command 2yr 40million, as for Tim his last contract was 4yrs 70+mil, do you really think he is getting lower than that at just 29yrs old. With the way he shot most nights in the playoffs i see him getting a 4yr 80-90million contract. Personally i will do not think they are worth it, but that is the market for a 3rd option

steady986:
Quite a number of decent free agent guards the Lakers can go for this off season. And none of these guys should be more than $20m/yr if we're being real.

Demar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry
Spencer Dimwinddie
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Reggie Jackson
Derrick Rose
Mike Conley

I guarantee you that Demar, Tim and even Lowry will get more than 20mil per year

Roland17:
You and coach Bud If dem leave u, u go stone am anywhere where u see am

Put me also on that list, the guy is a disaster in the playoffs.

Android17:
Kawhi, word is, GSW is in need of a SF. We can let you load manage all through the regular season bruh. Hit me up.

, Chairman una wan build another super team so soon after the last one . All seriousness though if he declines his PO and goes to GSW, next season will have each conference with 1 juggernaut team.

The Jazz now has some huge problem with Donovan. As constituted i do not see them winning anything when their supermax center can be played off the court in the playoffs.
Their problem going forward IMHO is that they havehandicapped themselves by giving Gorbert the supermax. If it was my play, i would have traded him to indiana for Turner and used the cap space to pursue an athletic wing.

I recall saying a few days ago that all CP3 needs is to get his legs under him. The Suns will be praying for the Hawks if all players are fully healthy or the Bucks without Giannis.

Roland17:
What are you talking about? KD guarded Giannis throughout the series and guarded Middleton several times.. LeBum historically is renowned for guarding all 5 and that includes the best or hot perimeter scoring player of the opponent so what are talking about here? How about Kawhi? He guards the best player of the opposing team including wing players who catch fire! How about Butler? You guys just need to stop with these excuses.

You are absolutely making my case when I say the NBA is bent on rewarding Giannis for remaining in a small market. More so, you are very wrong when you claim Giannis getting foul calls is primarily associated with his under the rim plays because that is totally false. He gets his whistles when he goes ISO as the ball handler driving to the bucket. His calls comes when opponents try to build a wall to stop his driving lane.. not because he is under the rim, so there goes your answer. Giannis does not play under the rim, everyone knows that and that is one of the issues Shaq has with him.

No one is questioning Giannis’s ability but the difference is, I am not afraid of calling him out.

Please go watch the GOAT very well again for the tin wen you type up there.. The GOAT made NBA ALL DEFENSIVE 1st TEAM 9 times! Not 2nd all NBA defensive, 1st..There is a reason!

Dude KD did not guard Giannis, it was mostly Blake on him so stop with the false narrative.
MJ was an excellent defender i am not disputing that, but the fact still remains every single series he played from after the Bulls drafted Pippen, it was Pippens job to guard the opposing teams best wing player. Barkley said it best when he called MJ the Panter he did not guard 1v1 but was always waiting to block passing lanes and strip players from the weak side.
As for calling Giannis out, call him out for his weakness, dont call someone weak minded who has never backed down from any challenge. A player who was picked as a project and built himself into a 2 time MVP and defensive player of the year, if you say someone like that is weak mentally how then do u define strong mentality.

PS: As per your earlier point about Westbrook, nobody has every questioned his mentality, the people who trash him do so on the basis of him shooting woes( which they also do to Giannis) and his inability to defer when neccesary

steady986:
Did someone in this thread just say that KD guarded Giannis the whole series? Like the KD we all watched? KD that was doing absolutely nothing on defense. KD that was busy standing under the rim on defense waiting to grab rebounds because he could afford to give P.J some space because he was always stationed on the corner. Hian. After dem go talk say people no dey watch the games. The people that guarded Giannis the most in that series were Blake and Green. Even Harden and Brown guarded Giannis more than KD.

Assinn, i think he did not watch the series at all

Roland17:
You and & @birdman have further buttressed my point that Giannis gets cut a lot of slack because of his likability (bird man) and he plays hard (you). How does that excuse the fact that his holes have not been talked about in the same manner holes in other superstars are being exaggerated? Who plays harder than Brodie in this league? Yet Brodie never gets the respect he deserves! The first thing we talk about are his flaws when we discuss Brodie! How about AD? No be here we dey when many of you questioned AD’s mentality? Body language, he is not a leader.. very superficial things that are not associated to his game..How about Simmons? He plays just as hard and should be likable but what do we do when we watch him?
Weak mentality is obvious with Giannis and it is not just with FT. He has a weak mentality about his weaknesses. Shaq was horrible at the FT line but Shaw never traded his barbecue chicken points under the rim for the fear of missing FT.. That is a strong mentality! Shaq was not interested in learning to shoot jump shots or 3 balls because he was afraid of the fans counting down.. Shaq called out his team mates when they did not pass the ball to him after 8 seconds. This is not about shooting the ball but the obvious bias in the way we discuss superstars in this league. No player in the NBA over the last two seasons has enjoyed more whistles than Giannis..
LeBum catches a lot of heat in this league even from haters like me but he has developed tremendously from the man that took his talents to South Beach.. Still we don’t let him have any excuses aged 37 but somehow Giannis should catch a break every time he flops. KD puts a superhuman performance yet it is the airball for the final shot that some choose to remember. Whenever the Slimreaper is mentioned, it’s about his outside life and how he manages his social media life.. not even about his basketball.
Giannis was the defensive player of the year last season but is always afraid to guard the best player of the opposing team! We watched the Bucks/ Nets series where he avoided guarding the “Slimreaper” in all the 4th quarters of that series and I am not supposed to question his mentality. Even Chuck said it and he was not bothered if he was hated!


Enough with all the excuses, it is becoming very boring and making it more obvious!

Name me one player (apart from Kobe) who was the number 1 option on his team and not a big who had to guard the opposing teams best player (when said player is a wing). MJ never did, that was the job of Pippen, Magic, Bird, Carmelo, KD, TMac, etc all of them never takes the defensive duties until crunch time cause you cannot give your all on defense and then be the guy on offense.
The media has buried Giannis for the past 3 years for not being able to get a consistent jumper which is the reason why as back to back MVP nobody mentions him as having a chance to be the best player in the league. I even heard some people saying he does not have a signature moment in his career.

PS: You cannot on one hand claim that he refuses to go to the hole and also say that he has the most calls. Logic says that he gets those calls because he goes to the hole. Should he totally eliminate taking 3s from his game? IMHO Yes.
Also before i forget most of the praise and slander on players and mostly reserved for players in the big markets, there are days even though the Bucks played nobody talks about them and even if they do it is just briefly

Roland17:
Here we go with another clear robbery...Jason Tatum should have absolutely made the All NBA Team. At least the 2nd All NBA. I am tired of the league making very bad decisions that affect players and their efforts. Tatum had a better season this past season than the one he had when he was elected into the 3rd All NBA.

Lets look at the numbers..

Tatum: 26.4PPG/7.4RPG/4.3APG
PG13: 23.3PPG/6.6RPG/5.2APG
Julius Randle: 24.1PPG/10.1RPG/6.0APG
LeBum James: 25.0PPG/7.7RPG/7.8APG
Jimmy Butler: 21.5PPG/6.9RPG/7.1APG

Outside of LeBum, I don't see anyone else on this 2nd and 3rd All NBA that had a better season than Tatum..Maybe Julius Randle? That is quite debatable.

The issue with the all-nba team is how the voting is done and the fact that team records count in the voting criteria

Roland17:
God bless you for this post.

I disagree with the embolden. LeBum is respected even amongst his haters! Many of us accept his greatness and it is well documented.

As for Giannis, the league including analysts have a soft spot for Giannis and this is what I have been trying to show on this thread for 3 seasons now. No superstar has enjoyed as much excuse as Giannis has enjoyed in the history of the NBA. Even on this thread, we read how people make excuses for his failures but are quick to call out and hate on the Slimreaper/ LeBum/AD/ Chef Curry/ CP3/ Harden/Playoff P/ Porz. I don't understand it honestly!

Everyone is afraid of calling out his weak mentality! No one wants to use that word even though it is the obvious. I have said it before and I will continue to reiterate it that there is a real effort by the league to dash the Bucks this Championship and get Giannis his ring!

I disagree on Giannis having a weak mentality, does he have clear holes in his game? Yes. But his mentality is not weak, he is one of the few super stars in the league currently that gives it his all every time he is on the court, he never takes plays off and goes hard each time. Yes, his game is limited, but so was Shaq, Shaq in his prime was never a closer that is why he only won with all time wing players i.e Kobe and Wade.
The issue is most fans are carried away with this eras positionless basketball and the shooting spree that came with it, and think all players should be able to shoot.
The fact is historically that has never been true a lot of bigs have played in the nba who were liabilities at the free throw line and that is not a mentality issue but one of ability

joshboo:
Omo you dey see the John collins wey dey find max deal abi

Some of these guys overvalue themselves.

joshboo:
Middleton na just abnormal player honestly , but I'm happy he picks up at the perfect time this playoffs, between giannis just dey make Double Double look so easy.... Freak of Nature mehn

Assinnn, when he his on he is on. That his midrange game is as good as any in the league on his day.

The Bucks won even with a bad night shooting from Jrue, is a statement win. If Trae's ankle is not 100%, by Tuesday then this series will be a gentleman sweep by the Bucks

steady986:
Lol. For real man, the only thing Kobe and Book have in common is the mid-range game. Apart from that, nothing else.

Booker is a very good player. Is he Kobe? NO. Their style of play is just so different. He cannot yet consistently run an offense and his defense is not at all-nba level and might never be. I will give him this though he might possible be the better shooter, at least he his statistically (it is possible this eras emphasis on 3s has made the level of shooting better overall in comparism to past years though) and since last season has been putting in the effort on D. American media is just all about narrative same way the English is all about hype.

PS: In terms of shooting Kobe's % might just have been as a result of the difficult shots he took with regularity. �

steady986:
Lol. For real man, the only thing Kobe and Book have in common is the mid-range game. Apart from that, nothing else.

Booker

Android17:
George Paul let his team down. Apart from the bad three point shooting of the Clippers. He was just missing key free throws and shooting poorly. Not good enough for a team that wants to win. Happy for Ty lue because he won't lose his job and with Kawhi they can try to run it back. As for the Suns. They are running on fumes now. They look spent. They are a good team and have shown us what they could be like from the bubble last season. They won 2 games relatively comfortably without CP3 and struggled since he came back. So we have enough data to effectively die this fake prisoner-of-the-moment CP3 narrative. At this point in time, I think Giannis will win his first ring and FMVP title.

CP3 just had Covid and sat down for 8plus days in quarantine. Barkley who should know said it would take him a game or 2 before he gets his legs back under him. So in his case i will wait till game 5 to see if he is showing his age or it is just the lag time from little or no training because of following covid protocols.
As for PG13, he and his team mates just played their 17th game in 34 days. That takes a toll on the human body and you can tell from the shooting late in game that they are all out of steam.

Roland17:
Me Against The World from last night and today’s games.
TY Lue is one heck of a coach. He has made some serious adjustments with his line up and has found a way not to put all the offensive burden on PG13. His adjustments with the line up has also stifled the Suns offense, forcing a lot of TOs and bad possessions.

Giannis had a good game.He played to his strength and did what I have always said.. Be great at what you are good at.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg0RA0yWmjg

Reports say the job of turning PG13 into, a more than servicable point guard was done by Chauncey B. Hoping he gets a shot at coaching his own team soon.

Giannis just needs to make a pact with himself to only take 3s, if and only if they are buzzer beaters. He should just focus on driving to the paint every time he gets the ball

birdman:
How is he top 3? Based on what? His offense is stellar, but when he goes cold who does he create for

He is the only creator for a number 1 offense in the whole league and somehow you say he cannot create. Bro his selling point is his playmaking ability his shot might be suspect but his ability to run an offence is undeniable. Even his former coach Rick said their offence picked up when he just left it up to Luka to run the whole thing.
Apart from Lebron and CP3 name another player that runs an offense in the league better than him.

birdman:
Is it official? Kidd was a pure PG, and wasnt a good shooter. But he was tough minded and would knock down open 3s if he had to. He was more of a facilitator and playedgood defense.

If Luka is teachable, this will move him from all star to hall of famer as court vision is not Lukas strong suit.

If Luka is stubborn, things could get rocky. At the very least, I think Porz will benefit. No way Kidd will let him remain useless.

Wait did you just say court vision is not Luka's strong suit. He is top 3 in the league in terms of court vision, his issues are fitness, defense and the fact that he is a streaky shooter.
If Kidd and Nico are appointed i hope it helps the Mavs in terms of recruitment, cause for some reason they have never been a FA destination.
As for on the court if he or any coach they get needs to make KP at the very least just do what Ayton or even Capela has been doing all playoffs especially on offense.

Ty Lue is really showing his chops through out these playoffs, his ability to make adjustments game to game has been absolutely incredible. For those who say he rode Lebron's coat tails to a championship he has rubished that narative big time.

Roland17:
So J. Collins is betting on himself to get the max from somewhere by refusing the extension offered by the Hawks and I would tell you he is putting in the work.. Will someone pay him the max though? Is he a max type of player?

Only a stupid GM will give him the max, he is more of a 4yrs 80mil player. More than that is just wasting money

The process should be revamped. Ben simmons for Dame or even Beal should be explored by the sixers

The Bucks are doing their job... keep it simple and bring it home

Roland17:
You can’t be the 2nd best player on that Sixers roster and with the game/ series on the line you are on the bench not because of foul trouble but because you are a liability on offense.

If there do not go all the way, the Sixers need to consider calling the Blazers if they can get Dame with Simmons as the main part of the package

Roland17:
Kyrie Irving and James Harden have been ruled out of game 5.. I guess they are looking to play 2 game 7s..

Bucks in 6 then, unless they bottle it