₦airaland Forum

SmooshCHN:
I was just praising him weeks ago talking about how he has stopped caring about triple doubles and he has been so selfless with the ball. I keep making this mistake every year thinking the dude will change. See ehn, put Westbrook, KD and Harden on that team like before, I'll take 2015 Warriors in 5 as long as Westbrook is on that team. I don't know if he's that bad or I'm just angry. He just doesn't want to change. Same with John Wall. Makes me wonder what they did all summer. I know Westbrook had Daddy duties.. But Wall is even useless. Dude partied throughout. Has bad knees and can't shoot for shit. Wizards better trade him ASAP.

No GM is taking on that overbloated john wall's contract. He has failed to develop his shooting, he has injury issues and the one positive that made him an elite guard was his elite defense but these days it seems he is not even interested in playing defense at all

Decale:
Understand my stance...

I'm not against Harden exploiting or NBA allowing it to happen. It's very clear most of his calls aren't phantom.

My issue is with Harden himself being called the most offensive player in the league or clutch . How will I grade you that when 30-40% of your points are from the charity stripe. People battle to make 13, 15, 17 field goals just to get 40 points. He's not a big that should be bodied and gets intentionally fouled when he can't make it. He's not top 3 this season and that's a fact!!!


Can just picture a striker scoring 30 goals a season with 10 being penalties. Then, he gets penalty calls from the slightest of touch from a defender. You now call him the best striker in the world. I go shook your eye...

As long as my striker gets fouled in the box ,he scores the resulting penalty and my team wins i don't give a hoot how he does it.
True, Harden's style is not for everybody but that's what makes him unique, the other day he scored 40+ points from just 8 field goals made, that is just incredible. Is he the greatest offensive player of all time HELL NO, but he is one heck of an offensive weapon in that Iso system houston plays.

SmooshCHN:
Sweet me die.

Men i don't understand ohh.

Eyedea:
When the playoffs start the refs will probably swallow their whistle and harden will shrink again.

True, but more than that his string of poor playoffs performances also stems from the incredible work load he carries in that system in Houston. Look at the last 11 games this season he has literally carried the team on his back.
I still think Houston will only get the best Harden in the playoff is he only plays 65-70 games with a significant drop in usage rate.

Who wrote that BS? They need to answer questions as to why guys like Kemba, LeBron and Steph has to literally die before they get calls. Na only Harden get body size for the NBA


If you did not understand what i was saying then ask. For lebron just like shaq before him his size makes refs wary about giving him calls cause in real time you cannot tell sometimes who initiated contact cause they are just too big and strong. As for kemba and curry their deceleration is just too way slow so most of the time opposition players are already adjusting the stance before contact so refs calls those as negligible.
These are more logical reasons for harden getting so many calls than conspiracy theories about ALL the refs in the nba favouring him

PS: if you watched basketball in the late 90's and early 2000's then do not expect calls the way it was those days. The league removed the physical element and now it is more about specific contact spots. Harden has figured this out plus he has an advantage that cannot be learned which is his quick and sharp deceleration
If you need further explanation read this and then watch the next rockets game and you will observe it if you are ready to be objective.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/james-hardens-secret-talent-is-slowing-down-1486667420

For Harden i saw a stat recently that he is in the 99th percentile in deceleration off the dribble or in motion, this plus his body size makes it extremely easy for opposition players to hit him cause he decelerates so quickly and his body type makes it easy for referees to see said contact and make the foul calls.
Its simple he has figured out the new set of rules plus he has the status that ensures these call get called.

This is a welcome development, but for those waiting for this to affect existing prices SORRY. Nigeria imports about 2.6 million tonnes of rice yearly for the last three years. This company is just producing 150000 tonnes in a year (again thumbs up to them). But for nigerians to feel the effect on price then we need at least 20 rice mills with 500+ tonnes daily capacity.
So for the big picture we still have a long long way to go till domestic rice autonomy.

PS: All this is assuming the data presented is actually correct.

Happy new year.
Harden is just on fire

SmooshCHN:
Westbrook 4/22 FG. Wetin I do this boy?

Na him style be that ohh. The guy can vex person for africa

After the mavs vs OKC game, i am find myself seriously doubting the ability of some of these so called scouts. Boy did you see some of the moves luka put on PG13 who is arguably one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.
Trust westbrook to brick shots and keep taking them.

Nostradamus:
Abeg I have one question,between Paul George and Victor oladipo,who has the best playing period with the pacers?

It is still PG13 at least for now. Injury has derailed Oladipo's second season so far. IMO Oladipo will only make the allstar game this season only if he has a jaw dropping january and early Feb so his body of work is quite smaller than PG13

Still wandering why luka didn't get the ball, he was shooting 70% from 3 with a lot of time on the clock. Carlise needs to get with the program

Watching AD go for 48, i just kept thinking this guy deserves better than new orleans. Luka Doncic is the truth and he's only going to get better

A40:
I don't know who has the sicker step back between Doncic and Harden

That step back from both guys is simply unguardable. But the patent is in harden's name

It seems steven a smith projection that kuzma can be the third option that the lakers need on a championship team is looking clearer day by day cause the dude has been balling out( within his limits) since he's been inserted into the starting line ul

The Lakers needed lebron or a rondo to close that kings game. Loading after leading by double digits with just 2 players committing 11 turnovers sheesh.!

Eruditor:
For the NBA, period.

I actually think he is Jordanesque as a scorer.

Only that he folds in the playoffs.

Offensively in this era i think Harden is as good as it gets but what gets him in the playoffs is his inability to defend anybody even a scrub.

A40:
No chance in hell I'm giving both Klay and Dray max. They are both good but keeping KD is an absolute must. Maybe letting one of Klay or Dray go would at least allow them get a competent bench. Not sure any one in the league right now would care that Golden State does not have a bench anyway

True word. But klay's skill set tend to translate well even with age so it is still understandable giving him the max. For Draymond the only scenario where he is worth a max contract is for a lottery team. If its my decision, i will resign KD and Klay let go of green and Andre and go get a better bench with the money saved from both deals. with three Allstars GSW will still be the team to beat.

Manutd19:
Trade Draymond. Dude not fit to be called an all-star.

Thank you, IMO on any other team Draymond will definitely not have gotten all of these allstar selections

The warriors are a playoff team...wil only worry if this continues by may

Eruditor:
NBA players fraternise alot. It will be out of place for the league to prevent them from doing so when other players not in contention for new contracts do so without much ado. The Lebron recruiting AD could have as well started during the off season. What would the front office do then? I can only say it is pure tampering if the CEOs and GMs are the ones seen with players. For now, Lebron and the Lakers have found a way to circumvent the extant rules on tampering and until a new rule is written, he is not wrong.

Thank you, in the current NBA most of the top guys are good friends

Decale:
I want to talk about Buddy Hield

The battle for most improved player will definitely be hot this season

Roland17:
Bron meeting Melo and Bron meeting AD are two different contractual scenarios. Melo is a free-agent consequently the tampering rules do not affect him. He can sit with anyone and talk about contracts and any team can speak openly about Melo. AD is a totally different situation because he still contracted to the Pelicans and that is a typical situation why the tampering rule was established. Magic.J was fined 50K earlier in the year because of his open discussions about Giannis. Lebron meeting with AD a day after speaking openly about wanting AD in LA is absolute tampering.

My stance has nothing to do with individual on-court skills, this is more so the blatant abuse of superstar status and the abuse of rules.

Is it because it is lebron, cause i remember harden recruiting CP3, the duo in Oakland recruiting KD. No one made a meal out of both these instances. If the league wants to stamp out tampering then they should apply the rules everytime anybody renegades. For God's sake all he did was answer a question, that a journalist asked him. I will reiterate my point if the front office at new Orleans had been doing their jobs for the last 4-5years AD will not be thinking of leaving cause from what he has been saying legacy matters to him more than the money.

Roland17:
Lebron continues to blatantly break the NBA tampering rules and Adam Silver is turning a blind eye as he ridicules the entire league. After the game against the Pelicans on Friday, Bron had dinner with Davies. Come on man!!! This is becoming shameful, I mean even if the Celtics lose the sweepstakes but to allow one player to get away with so much is disrespectful.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/sources-lebron-james-anthony-davis-meet-postgame-dinner-lakers-appear-drivers-seat-pair-stars-151124669.html

First off this was just dinner cause they are both friends outside of the court, the other day after the game against the Knicks lebron had dinner with melo so that's not a big deal. For the bigger picture in terms of the pelicans keeping AD, the truth is if you have a generational talent in today's NBA IMO you have 7-8 years to convince that star that he should stick with your franchise for the long haul (i.e 4 yes rookie deal then 4 yes max deal). If the pelicans front office has done their job since drafting AD they won't be any panic now. Look at the bucks situation their front office is calm because consistently they've made deals to bring out the best in giannis so there is little or no panic that he might walk away in free agency. Their latest trade was even done to free up cap space for next year so that they can get him another star to help push for a championship. Pelicans did the same with CP3 now they are still crying over AD after failing to do their jobs (still wondering why they let rondo go)

KNIGHTBlaed:
I'll go with Dame.

http://navdunk.com/... Just important games are streamed there and its data friendly

Thanks

aliondo:
Something tells me the East will be tougher than i thought

As long as the Celtics sort out their issues, 76ers get a couple of shooters and injuries do not happen to any of the top players in the east then i foresee that come playoffs the east might be more interesting than the west.

Roland17:
I am with you about the Raptors. They are not doing anything different from what they did last year or the season before. I will wait until the postseason to actually evaluate their success.

IMO the raptors with kwahi are a dangerous opposition for anybody especially in the east. Add that to the improvement from Siakam and ibaka looking like his vintage self. i really do feel that they have what it takes to win it all in the east. Let's not forget the big sleeper in the derozan deal which is a 3 n d defender, elite shooter, with a champions mentality in Danny green. All things said the playoffs will be awesome next year

In Dame and Westbrook who is having a better season?

aliondo:
Couldn't agree more with you on this...All i want for him is to improve his shooting and reduce the turnovers per game....

If WB starts taking care of the ball better, I'm putting OKC into the WCF ahead of Denver

Decale:
So nobody is gon talk about PG13??


He's having the season of his life...

He has been unplayable these past 6 weeks. Thumbs to him, Russ and the coach. Westbrook has really reined in his excessiveness and pigheadedness and the coach has seriously done his job in fitting both his stars into his system. If PG13 continues to play like this especially on the defensive end (i have him currently as the DPOY) and OKC finishes in the top 2 in the west then he will definitely be in the MVP discussion top 5 at least

After 30+ games it seems that of all the sophomores D Fox has taken the biggest stride to taking his game to the next level. Though in the long run i still think that Tatum will end up being the best player from that class (baring any injuries)

Eruditor:
Beast of a scorer but damn this man is a fraud.

My opinion is that he uses the new rules to his advantage. Add that to his size which allows for refs to easily see that he was bumped (unlike say Lbj or Shaq).