₦airaland Forum

A40:
Exactly. Imagine they had a Daniel Gafford. Just 15 minutes off the bench to give Jokic breathers. And energize the rest of the team. Not having a playable backup big while they extended Nnaji who clearly can't play and DeAndre who's too old to play consistently is definitely malpractice

Mind you they extended Reggie Jackson who was a non factor in last season's title run. He was just there for vibes

They clearly paid too early for MPJ but he's definitely been crucial to them this year. He hasn't expanded his game though but we can't downplay his improved availability and consistency

2025 will be the judgement year for the Nuggets. Murray, Aaron Gordon someone will need to take a paycut. KCP will have a player option, I think they can let him walk

MPJ is very important for them, but of their 4 mainstays he is the one IMHO that can be replaced at a cheaper price. As for Aaron Gordon he his already underpaid, so there is no way in hell he his taking a paycut.

larride:
For all of Piston tanking, they still didn't get the top spot in the lottery pick.

Make them manage number 5.

If I'm Cade, I'm will be contemplating a trade right now.

I love the nba draft lottery. This idea of rewarding mediocrity really pisses me off

A40:
Going hard? Joker?

I swear I'm not even trying to be condescending. You don't know what you're talking about.

Jokic's game is more cerebral than exertion. Let's start there. Also because he's really a pass first guy he don't get beat up like most other bigs. Last season Jokic took just 14 shots a game.

Let me address the second bit of lamba you posted

2022/2023
65 games. 20-4-6

2023/2024
59 games. 21-4-6

That is someone you're calling inconsistent in the regular season. Are you hearing yourself at all?

He has played more games over the last two seasons than Devin Booker.

Tell the Nuggets GM to get a decent backup for Jokic and stop this nonsense anti Murray agenda that is founded in Illogic.

Nuggets can rely on Murray. He has proven himself times without number for the Nuggets winning two games at the death for his team this season. Even SGA can't boast of this.
The switch is not on or off, it's the playoffs!! Matchups matter, the other team is trying to win as well

Jimmy Butler is 35 almost 8 years older than Murray. Your examples are horrific

The Nuggets pathway for improvement is a better bench and a competent backup at center for Jokic. Mitchell was there last season when the Knicks gentleman swept them with homecourt.

I agree with you that the Nuggets need a playable backup for Jokic and a Bruce brown type wing. The thing is because of their salary cap issue, the GM clearly stated that they are using this season to see if their draft picks can step up to these roles. I personally think the guy they should move is MPJ, he is way overpaid for a shooter/rebounder, with him off their books that can easily afford his replacement, plus a backup for Jokic, and someone else who can create shots for themselves like Bruce brown could, especially in that system they run.

kendrick9:
Mitchell's contract is expiring 2025 and there are rumors he will be demanding for a trade.
Of course I have no idea if Lakers have any picks /worthwhile assets but if they do they should explore imo

It's not that he his demanding a trade. From what I read it's more that the front office believe he will not extend with them. So they either get something back for him this offseason or they risk letting him walk for free the upper season

kendrick9:
Let's see how this series goes.
You're talking bench, I'm thinking much bigger.
I'm thinking ways the Nuggets could dominate and utilize the peak years of the Joker.
They can still get backups and still upgrade on Jamal.
I'm talking Jamal cause he has a nice trade value than someone like KCP.
He's also injury prone.

The Warriors stood still when they could have traded Klay and Draymond and now look where they are.

Jamal is going nowhere, the person that they should move is MPJ, he earns too much for his skillset and what he does is more easily replaced in today's NBA. Jamal for all his issues, is still a lead guard who can create shots for himself and others especially when you pair him with Jokic.

steady986:
LeBron's skillset and style of play especially at this age is suited for the playoffs. Things slow down in the playoffs. LeBron didn't have problems deferring in the regular season. Everybody ate. But when it comes to the playoffs where the lights are brighter, that's when DLo can score 0 points. Is it that type of inconsistent player you want LeBron to defer to?

All this deferment talk is BS. We can clearly see an example of when it is supposed to happen, the last 2 Mavs games PJ got it going and they deferred to him. Same thing happened in the only game the Lakers won Dlo was hitting shots and Lebron let him run huge portions of the 3rd and 4th quarter. The idea that you are supposed to continue deferring to someone who is 1/11 from the field or 2/17 from the field is total madness.
Anyone who expects any great player to keep passing to a player who is shooting less than 10% from the field in a game is just saying 'arant nonsense'.
As for the LeBron, he passes to teammates who are making shots, people will complain he doesn't want the smoke. He refuses to pass to someone who is shooting less than 10% from double digits attempts, they say he his a ball hog.
This same people talk up guys that take 50 shots just to score 60pts or take 41 shots with 21FTs just to score 63 pts. Luka scored 73pts from 33 FGA with only 15FTs attempted in a winning effort and the media rage for damn near weeks that he does not pass the ball

birdman:
Warriors are still very good, they just need to make some tough decisions. I think its time Klay went elsewhere to be an alpha player. Green has tuned himself out as well. Unfortunately these guys were given sweetheart contracts, so good luck with that divorce lol

Lakers I think are complete as it is, except chemistry wise I dont thin AD and Lebron should be on the same team. AD is too low energy too often, and Lebron is too nice to ginger him. Maybe move AD and buff up the bench. There are young guys on that team that can give like 70% of what AD contributes, they just need play time to build confidence. Which is why they need a coach like Mark Jackson

Clippers, ol boy I no see salvation inside this matter . Westbirikilla, Harden onirugbon, and kawhi that likes to ghost half the season. I wonder if this is karma for PG3's player player days, its as if bball gods have decided no matter how he balls, there shall be no ring for the wicked .

Suns, man this is the biggest dumpster fire imo. 2 of the 3 superstars Beal and Durant are thoroughly deluded. Im not sure Beal is even a superstar anymore, more like star. I wonder if he will ask for trade once this realization sets in. Im hoping they can provide some entertainment this offseason tho

If the Timberwolves end up sweeping the Nuggets or winning in 5. A serious question is how bad really are the Suns? Yes they lost in 4 to the wolves but that team is on the verge of sweeping the defending champions who were the overwhelming favorite.
I seriously believe they need to just get better depth especially getting a serviceable nba point guard

The coaching and the play from the Pacers is beyond atrocious

A40:
Change in stance? No chance in hell

He played only 8 minutes of the first half. What are you on about

I didn't even give excuses for Jamal. Why would I for Brunson

If you're past those white lines I don't wanna hear it. That has never changed

So if they lose its because Brunson is now a choker right?

One of the reasons I agree with those who say that the older coaches are out of touch is what is going on in this second half. Any coach with a brain should know that if you're the Pacers, as long as it's not a transition opportunity, Brunson should be targeted on every half-court set.

A40:
If Celtics don't win this year's title just close the entire franchise

Jalen Brunson injured. The Knicks are playing with no Point guard basically.

Trust Thibodeau to run these guys into the ground. This Josh Hart with him Horn of Africa cardio I hope he's not the next to breakdown

Why the change in stance with the Brunson injury? According to you injuries should not matter as long as the player is on the court.

kendrick9:
Not Embid fault If Harris went for 0 points.
There's been criticisms about Embid toughness in the past but year Embid proved that wrong.
Walking on one leg, and bells pallsy he still balled out.

It will never cease to amaze me how people just want to create stupid narratives. One guy who is paid 30+mil and is supposed to be the 3rd best player on the team sores 0pts, but somehow it's the fault of the number 1 option for losing, who was playing on one leg and was still holding his own. I don't blame them, the whole ESPN hot take narrative have taken over people actually judging a game on its merits.
This stupid thing has started entering football too, some idiots who claimed Mbappe choked in the world cup final after scoring a harttrick because his team lost via penalty shoot out, when he himself did not miss.

birdman:
1. Do you think Kobe with this year's Lakers would have been swept by the Nuggets? 2. Do you believe Lakers with Kobe would be up 20 pts in 4 games and lose them to the same team in one playoffs series? Na simple questions o, dont do too much shalaye

Dude, kobe got swept or got a gentleman sweep , multiple times with teams as strong as this or better. Kobe, that was part of the worst finals lost in my lifetime.
The same kobe that lost 1-4 with his team having the best 2 players in the series. At least in this loss, we can say that Denver had not only the best player but also 3 out of the top 5 players were on the Nuggets. Kobe got swept by the Mavs in 2011
This attitude of elevating past players to mythic levels is just baffling. People act as if there is no video evidence of these players playing.

birdman:
You have thrown multiple names here, everybody has some blame, except Lebron . Of course you know this means guy man is not goat material right? Excuses up and dan

Look, I watched rockets when steve franchise and cuttino mobley used to costus games while looking like they were playing hard. I am familiar with pretenders. And I know what I saw in that Laker-Nuggets series. Your guys were trying to get big leads, then coast to the end. In other words, play with the minimal effort to win. That laziness cost them what could have been another ring this year.

Good luck to Lebron with the podcasts and movies. Zero leadership shown this year. Just whining up and dan. And good luck to AD, he goes back to being a max contrac t guy with zero responsibilities, just like he likes it . Na LA fans I pity pass. After being blessed by Kobe's work ethic for so many years, you have to put up with this refuse dump of a team.

Another of this nostalgic rubbish. Where was Kobe's vaunted leadership when the Lakers missed the playoffs 4 years in a row, While he was been paid the max.

joshboo:
If you check my previous comments you'll see I tipped Minnesota to win before the match up self but... Murray has been injured since the Lakers series that's wasup, he's been playing through it but now Timberwolves defense makes things worse for him, no be D'lo and then soft Lakers boys come dey Mark am, it's all encompassing but the injury has been on before the series even started with Denver.

Someone here said that playing while injured should not count when discussing a player's performance.

Antman has ascended

In terms of protection the rim Gorbert is just next level. He can play both the floater and the alley hop at the same time with ease

A40:
What's your point? He's still injured Why did he conveniently leave that out like Jamal was a 100%?

Pretending Jamal is not more of a dog than Embiid is just laughable.

Also which of the injured or injury prone label doesn't apply in this example? Both parties are injured and injury prone. No?

Embiid is currently injured, AD up until the last half of game 5 was not. Acting as if there is no difference is hilarious. When AD actually became injured, we all saw how far his performance plummeted, be scored zero points from the field in a whole half, and was basically non-existent on offense in an elimination game.
So yes, there is a big difference between playing while injured and being injury prone.

A40:
I get it now. You love your free throw merchants. From SGA to Embiid

Embiid is a 7'2 280 pounder shooting 43% from the field. Imagine that. For context AD also a center and injury prone shot 62%

And FYI Jamal Murray also playing with an injury only difference is he's on the court and not making a whole song and dance about it. You would never know if you saw him play.

Not some people that have their yearly alibi already prepped for when they lose

So type of injuries don't matter?
Jamal Murray had a calf issue same as Giannis, one guy can play the other cannot even suit up for the game.
I also see how you categorized as being injured and being injury prone as the same thing.

A40:
You watched Jalen Brunson lead the Knicks to the #2 seed with Josh Hart and Donte Divincenzo and swear Jamal Murray with a 19-4-4 guy in Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren would be a play in team.

This Igbeaux una dey smoke abeg pass am to the left hand side

Denver would be as good or better? Based on what evidence. What is SGA's playoff resume to make such false claim? That's not even considering the fit and how well he's game will mesh with Joker never mind performances in the clutch and how busy can you get without the refs being involved

This nigga turning 26 just entering his first playoff series as a factor and we no go hear word. Mind you Luka is younger than him oh. In his 4th playoffs

SGA making his first playoffs at 26, Murray champion at 26 doing 32 and 10 in the WCF. They are not the same

SGA went to a team that gutted the whole roster for a complete rebuild. The idea that he was supposed to take that team to the playoffs is laughable.
I can't wait for the Olympics, I hope both of then go so we can see that there are levels to this.

kendrick9:
You can play down SGA cool but facts on ground now is SGA is an MVP caliber player, top 3-5 in this league.
Jamal would lucky to make top 15-20

I still don't understand why when people compare players they don't take into account the specific situations. I love Jamal murray, but he is not the in the same ballpark as SGA. One is a bona-fide 1st option on a one seed while the other is the 2nd option to the very best player in the league. If we swapped both guys, Denver would be just as good if not better, while the Thunder with Murray as the number 1 will probably be a playin team

Embiid with a 50 piece. Hell of a game from him

larride:
That's their alone chance since Butler is not available.

22 3s today so far. Franchise record in the playoff.

23 made 3s actually. The 3 ball is the greatest equalizer

Lh19:
Stephen A. don go smoke again, LeBron and Steph are under no pressure to win any title.

These dudes don't even watch the games. They are just hot take Merchants

typicalgamer:
Golden state just dump huge bag for wizards head

Assinnn, sometimes I even think that contract was a trap to convince others that they valued him which made it extremely easy to move. The dude is a problematic headcase.

Hot take recap, who were does saying Poole was a bona-fide 2nd option?

steady986:
Shey na this guy dem say Reggie Miller better pass?

Who uttered this type of blasphemy, Reggie in today's league at best is Prime Klay without the defense. Reggie and SGA is not in the same hemisphere.

A40:
Duhhh. Smaller sample size. When did teams start taking 45 3s a game

Final score doesn't always determine the closeness or competitiveness of a contest either

Dillon Brooks on a bad night which is most nights is an offensive black hole regardless.

The Nets as a whole lacked equal talent to compete with the Lakers took the Spurs to 6 though and were massively outgunned. Reducing their low scoring output to long midrange shots is lazy.

I keep telling you the physicality allowed from the mid late 90s to 00s the players today will not be able to cope.

How games are whistled and what and what isn't allowed factor hugely and can transform what you're watching to a completely different sport. A Flagrant 2 today is a clean hard foul from Ben Wallace in 2004


Exactly. They didn't fall for the 3 ball spam ball okey doke. They understood the need for a balance scoring style

The team that took the least 3s lost to who though? The team that took the 2nd least 3s. And who took them the furthest? Who dragged their series to at least 6 games

Last part of your post is patently false. Higher volume means more wiggle room and margin for error. A notorious 3pt spammer like James Harden can miss his first 6 3pt attempts make his next 4 and they say he shot 40% from 3. If he stopped at 7 they will say he only shot 15% from the field

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lopezbr01.html

If Brook Lopez had retired in 15/16 the verdict would have been he couldn't shoot. Meanwhile there's really nothing to it besides attempting them

Brook couldn't shoot when he came into the league, he learnt and improved.
The most ridiculous thing I have just heard is that volume of shots improves a players efficiency. All the metrics show that an inefficient player's percentages reduce with more volume of shots taken. That is why nobody just uses PPG to measure a player, we also use efficiency.
We have seen many a average player on bad teams average above 20pts per game by jacking up as many shots as they can

A40:
I will still say it anywhere sha. Spamming 3s is the only thing that stands this era out from previous eras. Guys are merely jacking up more 3pters

What of the previous eras spamming of long 2s were those good.
Nba.com stats show that on average drives to the basket now is like 6-8 % points higher than 2013-14 which is the farthest they have the data for.
So we know for a fact that players get to the basket more these days, we also know that they take more 3pts shots, so it is the midrange that got short changed.
My opinion is that if you take all those inefficient longs 2s that used to be the norm and compress them into 3pts shots, that you will find that there is negligible difference in shots taken. The main difference is that players have been advised to jettison the very inefficient long 2, for the more efficient 3.
If players are going to make long 2s at 37%, they are better off taking the 3s at even 30%.

A40:
Because they take more 3s. It's purely down to sheer volume of attempts.

Again I used the Marc Gasol and Brook Lopez example. We will never know if this era has better shooters cos the previous era did not take 3s. Dillon Brooks spamming 6 3s a game today does not mean he's a better shooter than the generation before him. It just means he spams more 3s

There's a downside to taking huge volume of 3s. What you have is guys good at shooting a bunch of 3s and not much else. Just go and ask Roland what his eye has been seeing with his team. Any night their 3 is not falling the game is lost already. They have no counter move

Bigs cannot post, wings have no midrange game. No counter when the 3pt spam machine is not working.

It's not coincidence that the team that took the 2nd fewest 3pters in the playoffs went all the way.


What do all these names have in common? Besides Steph and Luka there are no 3pt spammers there, the rest are more of a throwback to the players of yore. You didn't add Jimmy Butler

Further proof that come playoff time the players who go back to the previous era are the ones getting the most success

Embiid not playing like a big is why he's not been able to dominate come postseason


And? That era was never marketed as the golden age of offense. Lool I can bring up more similar low scoreline from the 90s to the late 00s.

Spurs and Pistons played 84-69
81-74
Lakers vs Celtics in 2010 89-67
Lakers vs Pistons 88-68 in 04

That is what this era would also look like on bad shooting nights or nights teams actually played some defense and tried to stop their opponents. Bottomline just because you take 45 3s a night as against the guys that only took 10 doesn't make you better.

You keep seeing more 3s, I see less long 2s.
Why has the bad 3s shooting night not happened in a finals game that led to a 20+ point blowout.
As for Dillon Brooks, in the 90s/2000s/2010s a player like him instead of taking 6 3s in a game he would have taken 6 very long midrange shots ranging from 17ft-22ft, you would have no problems with those midrange shots but every metric would say it is better to take the 3s than take those idiotic long 2s. Try watching the atrocity that was the two Nets finals runs and see the level of long midrange spamming that was just atrocious.


PS: You say Denver took the least 3s without acknowledging that they have the best big man in the league and that the team that took the least 3s lost in the 2nd round.
Finally, in the nba the more volume of shots taken the worse the efficiency, so players who are statistical bad at taking 3s in small volumes don't become more efficient at huge volume. That is why guys like Steph are considered freaks of nature, because he can take them at such volume and still remain very efficient

steady986:
What is this food you're cooking like this?

No lies were written baba

chic2pimp:
Social media calls them "Nostalgia Merchants" and I tend to agree. For some reason they think we did not watch those game ourselves. Heck even if you did not, you can easily re watch the whole game in it's entirety.

This is something I also had to deal with before I read studies on how bad eyewitness testimony and memory recall actually are in reality.
So what I do now is actually go watch these old games and you are right, it's all nostalgia. I remember during the pandemic, I watched the Bulls vs. Suns finals games, and the whole series was tailor made for the Bulls to win. The Suns had a team which had no way of slowing down the best scorer that they were facing
They had no interior defense because they played small, every wing defender big enough to guard MJ was too slow, and the ones quick enough was too little. Personally I came away with more respect for Sir Charles after that series, he was constantly being doubled by Pippen and Grant or one of them with MJ showing help and he still took them 6 games with his 2nd option being an inconsistent mess all through the series.

PS: I recently watched a scoring cut of the Heats Tim Hardaway Sr game 7 against the Knicks. What he did that day was hailed as one of the best game 7s ever. But after watching it 3x, his performance that day is what Steph does every other day, for those who keep saying Steph couldn't play in the 90s that game is a window to how dominant he would have been. Those rugged hard nosed Knicks had no answer for someone who was pulling up from 23ft