₦airaland Forum

birdman:
How about a coaching change

They need that too. That's their no. 1 priority

etidy:
Today proves the point that the lakers supporting cast is very good, probably the best in the league. Several contenders including the bucks, Sixers, Celtics, timberwolves, Mava and Suns will all happily choose to have this lakers supporting cast.

We saw how well these boys played last season after the all star brake and how well the lakers front office did during the offseason.

Apart from a coaching change I don't think there is anything the front office can do to drastically change things.

The other option maybe to trade Lebron and rebuild.

Old LeBron is part of the issue. He doesn't put enough effort on defense. That's why we need Vanderbilt back in the starting 5 and Gabe Vincent healthy.

Fox, Sabonis and Trae Young would feel aggrieved that they were snubbed from the all-stars. But competition was rife. AD and Steph had to be there. Brunson and Maxey had to be there.

I think I would have chosen Sabonis ahead of PG though. It's not as if PG is having one kind stellar year.

Come on now, it's crickets in here . Don't go silent on me

Hahahahahahahahaha!!!

So the problem has been LeBron and AD all this while. Who would have thought? This is Reaves and DLo's team now.

Skrrrrrrr:
Except now, the whole league talking about it....

Lol. Only Warriors fans and Lakers haters/Warriors apologists are talking about it. But my advise to you is y'all need to get yourselves a few big dudes in your front court. That small ball sh*t ain't gonna work in 2024. You can't be playing midgets against an imposing team as the Lakers and not get FT disparity. And I watched that game...we should have had more free throws

Lmao. Would there ever be a Lakers/Warriors game without Warriors fans crying about the FT disparity?

That was a great game of basketball

Darvin Ham's last timeout in today's game was with 9:48 left in the 4th This is definitely someone who has no coaching ideas to tell his lads.

Embiid took that Wemby matchup personal

The manner in which Darvin Ham keeps getting outcoached is alarming.

That's more like it, Lakers. More like it.

Man, so sad to hear of the passing of Dejan Milojevic. I never expected it to come to this when I first heard of the event at the GS dinner. The NBA should postpone all games today as a sign of respect.

Honlucas:
Sorry to say I played Lakers to win against thunder..
It was 2.12 odd just play the single game

I'm sure you were ready to lose that money

greypencils:
Between Shai and Jimmy Butler, who would you describe as the better baller? I would choose Jimmy despite the fact that he has never been first team All NBA. I would choose Jimmy because he is battle tested and has come out clutch in 3 Eastern Conference finals in 4 years. To me, 1st team All NBA means nothing. The likes of Luka and Shai put up good stats because they are the ones handling the ball mostly in their respective teams. MVPs, All NBAs, All Stars are regular season popularity contests. The playoffs is everything. The playoffs reveal who the real ballers are. Your nerves in game 7s,That's what determines the real ballers. Why do you think Embiid commands no respect irrespective of his high PPGs during regular season? If I was to choose between Embiid and Jimmy Butler, I will still choose Butler.
So your argument for Shai against Reggie Miller still holds no water. Reggie wasn't flashy, no First team All NBAs, no MVPs, no rings but he was a dog during playoffs. This is aside his longevity stats as you call it. Don't also forget, there was serious defence during Miller's time which also affected his PPG.
Give Shai time to prove himself. Until then, he is just another Trae Young without the showboating.

I would take prime Jimmy over Shai. I would take prime Jimmy over Reggie too

greypencils:
Shai is just getting started. Give him some years of consistency before having this discussion. Remember, beyond RM's individual accolades, allstars and all NBAs, he was once number one on the alltime 3pt list. He is also 22nd on the All-time scoring list. Him being top 75 is largely a function of the latter stats. SGA can't crack top 75 until he has won an MVP, and several all NBAs or until he has spent a number of years and reached a significant level on the Alltime scoring list. Rather than shitting on Reggie Miller, why don't we dissect reasons why AD and Damian Lillard is on the 75 list and TMac isnt? They are of this current era, aren't they? What are their accolades? Also, Derrick Rose, at his peak was MVP which is better than being all NBA. Why isn't he on the top 75 list? Consistency! Longevity! Give Shai some years to prove himself. Until then, Reggie Miller is untouchable.

I'm not arguing greatness. Reggie's greatest is sacrosanct. That's why I used the term better basketball player. When people compare LeBron and MJ, they often bring up terms like Longevity stat. Reggie's career has earned him a spot in the HOF and as one of the greatest of all time. But I just gave you Shai numbers. None of Reggie's peak years can be compared to what Shai is doing this year or what he did last year. Heck, throw in two years ago. That's 3 years of Shai that Reggie can't touch. And Shai looks like he can only get better. You and I watch enough of Shai, and we watched Reggie, can you tell me with a square face that this Shai is not a better basketball player than Reggie was?

It's just like comparing Jokic and a David Robinson for instance. When you look at Robinson's Wikipedia page and you see 2x champion, 1x MVP, 10x all-star, 10x all-NBA, DPOY, 8x all-defense, you'd want to think that he was a better player than Jokic currently is. Don't be fooled Jokic is the better player. And I'm sure 85% of the people in this thread would agree with me. I chose both as an example because they've both won at least a title and have both been MVP. Just the same way I chose Shai and Reggie because they have neither of those 2 accolades. So the comparison won't be lopsided.

And talking about the top 75, AD and Dame deserve to be on that list, as well as TMac and Dwight and Klay and a couple of others. But there's only room for 75. We should blame the NBA for not wanting to remove some of the guys who were in the top 50 previously so they could make space for greater players. I can understand why they didn't though, so they don't make "great" players ungreat

As for Derrick Rose, come on man Having one or two good years shouldn't be enough to get you in the top 75. MVP or not. I'd take Dwight Howard before I take D Rose in that top 75

Going into this game, Vegas had the Lakers at a ½ point win over the Thunder 😁 It's obvious these people see things that we mere mortals don't see because who picks the sorry as* Lakers to win against the Thunder?

Don't worry Warriors fans, we're in this together

SGA is shooting 55% from the field. There's no guard in the NBA that scores better and more frequently at the rim than SGA bar maybe Ja. But why not, let's blame 3pt spamming as usual Una no dey learn new excuse? Always bringing up 3pt shooting as an excuse.

Baba is averaging a freaking 31/6/6 while attempting just 3.4 threes per game. Reggie attempted 6.6/game in 1996. So die that 3pt spamming when you're referring to SGA.

SGA is also leading the league in steals at 2.4/game. SGA is a much better defender, better scorer and better playmaker than Reggie ever was. Only a bias person would pick Reggie over SGA in their primes. Sentiments apart. I know we all like to idolize players of the past, but there should be a limit to it.

I know this might sound absurd but Shai Gilgeous is a better player than Reggie Miller ever was. But one of them is a HOFamer and a top 75 player of all time. This is what we talk about when discussing eras. We look though their Wikipedia page and see that one was a Hall of famer and think he might have been better, but the reality is he wasn't. And Reggie Miller didn't win any championships so we can't use championships as an excuse to put him higher than Shai Gilgeous. Reggie Miller was a 5x all-stars and a 3x all NBA (all third teams). Shai Gilgeous has already made 1st team all NBA and is on course to make it this year again.

Why am I saying all this? It just goes to show you that the level of talent in this era is ridiculous. If Shai Gilgeous plays 3-5 more years at this level, it still might not be enough to get him in the top 75 of all time. This is not a discredit to Reggie Miller though. He was a great player in his era. But the truth is that his era was bereft of talent such that it was easy for him to stand out. That's just my take though

Darvin Ham needs to go. I've seen enough.

etidy:
The Thunder over the past few weeks have beaten the Nuggets in Denver twice, warriors twice, blew out the Timberwolves, blew out the Clippers, comfortably beat the Knicks, and tonight they took out the Boston Celtics.

Experience is the only reason I won't label them a little contender yet.

And lost to the Lakers. What does that make the Lakers?

benji93:
Le fans as usual. Do you folks read before you comment? I was very clear that upsets do happen and i mentioned one example. But, most of the time the team the most star-studded team wins. So my bet is on 70% of the time. Meanwhile, a much better example you could have brought up was Mavericks vs Heat. . You deliberately forgot about it. No GOAT on a star-studded team would lose like that.

Cheers.

Yea, a team with 2 HOFs and Shawn Marion who was a multiple all-star, and Jason Terry who was the 6th man of the year the year before was the massive underdog. I totally get you

Khanben:
Both of these dudes are big men who don't initiate offense. One plays with a first team allnba pg and a team which has better players top to bottom and the overall team improves.
The other guy plays for a team where a small forward with a very weak handle and dubious playmaking ability in Sochan spends so much time initiating the offense and somehow we still blame the inability of Wemby numbers translating into wins on him.
Please we are not Skip Bayless and co who trive on outrage, this is a team sport and available talent and context matter.
If we switch both players right now, the Spurs will still be where they are if not worse, while OKC will be legitimate title contenders.
If Wemby was on OKC right now, no one will be talking about them needing to make a trade to get over the hump, but with Chet that is what the discussion is right now.

The Cavs won 17 games the year before LeBron was drafted. The very year he was drafted, he led them to 35 wins and the 9th position, just one game behind the Celtics. The next year, the Cavs finished with a winning record (42-40), the same record with the Nets who just pipped them to the final playoff spot.

Why am I bringing all this up? When it comes to hype and expectation, Wemby is the most hyped rookie since LeBron. I would even argue that most people think he would be greater than LeBron when it's all said and done. You can't be this hyped and then be 5-26. At this rate the Spurs would finish with fewer than 15 games. Having skill is one thing but having the will to win and succeed is another. Look at Duncan and the Spurs. 20 wins the year before he was drafted and 56 wins in his rookie year. In his sophomore year the Spurs were top in the West. That is impact.

A marvelous birthday to the GOAT of all GOATs. The king. The one who defied Father time. The longest peak in the history of sports.

Khanben:
So chet who came into a team with a 1st team all-nba guard is what you are using. Chet is the 3rd option most nights on that team. While Wemby spends half the time playing against his own teammates.

But he still has made them better, no matter how minute it might be. On the other hand it looks like the Spurs have regressed. He got nice individual numbers though, I'll give him that, but we need to see it translate to some wins. Just some.

Blueelf:
Is there anyone here who still wants to argue that wemby is not overrated?

I don't see him lasting more than 13 yrs in the league

Chet has made OKC better. What has Wemby done for the Spurs? Abeg x3

Lol. The internet never forgets

There’s a lot of revisionist history when it comes to LeBron and his rings, especially his first ring against OKC in 2012.

Listen to Bill Simmons & Sal Iacono talk about the matchup before the series.

They changed the narrative to “Baby Thunder” only because Bron won. pic.twitter.com/XubemaSTJv

— LeBron History 🏀 (@bronhistory) December 28, 2023

benji93:
I never knew Le fans could do some digging. So you get 5 points for that. Very surprised. You don't get all 10 points because you fail to realize that Vegas is not a good reference, it's a betting hub. Apart from Lebron fans, everyone else can reasonably guess that star power wins at least 70% of the time. You can have those upsets here and there, like the Pistons-Lakers series for example.

Yea, like when the 2011 Mavericks swept my beloved Lakers in the WCSF. And like when the Heat beat Giannis and the Bucks multiple times. Like When the Heat beat the Celtics multiple times too. Like When the Nuggets beat the title favourites the Clippers in the bubble in 2020. Like When the Raptors with Kawhi as the lone superstar knocked out Embiid, Simmons and Jimmy Butler in 2019. Yea. Stars over team

Some important history for the newer NBA fans here. In 2012, the Thunder were the odds on favourites to win the NBA finals vs the Heat. Contrary to popular belief that the Heat were on another lever to the Thunder because of their "big 3". This is what LeBron haters do. They make you believe that LeBron was favourite to win every Finals series he ever played. What they do is before every series, they talk crap about LeBron's chances of winning, and then when he goes on to win they say he was meant to win it anyway. Just like in 2012, just like in 2016 against the Warriors, just like in 2020 throughout the entire playoffs.

Here's a video of Skip Bayless in high praise of KD and the Thunder just before game 1 of the 2012 Finals. We know how his stance has changed over the years about that Finals. I can swear he was the one that coined the phrase "Baby Thunder"

Not only were the Baby Thunder favored. But SAS & Skip sat up there saying it was KDs league lol

Skip even went all out to say KD was a “better distributor” & a “better leader” 😭 Never forget! https://t.co/NhikQEcWEr pic.twitter.com/dOZMFPB4GJ

— 4 4 4 (@SlimSleepr) December 28, 2023

Skrrrrrrr:
Steady would come here to claim that the warriors won the 2022 championship against a group of Bums but the celtics have been walloping the Lakers since 2021.
One win in 5 games.....
Nonsense...

Why are you so pumped up over a regular season game? Did the Celtics just eliminate me from the playoffs? The Clippers too have been walloping the Lakers for the last decade. Now which team has won a championship most recently?