People forget "The Decision" made tons of money for charity.
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People forget "The Decision" made tons of money for charity.
I only disliked LeBron because he demolished my Wizards repeatedly in the playoffs and kinda copped out to Miami. I am okay with him now that he has returned to Cleveland and won a championship there. He's gotten a huge boost on my greatest player list too. I didn't have him in top 10 before this year (mostly cause I'm a hater). Now its hard to argue him not deserving a top 5 spot. He will likely finish 2 or 3. If he wins a few more championships he'll be in contention for #1 w/ MJ. If he does the CP3, melo, wade thing I will be pissed though.
Manon rockin' the tin foil.
Also, jfc, what KU site was that posted on?
I mean, should Draymond have been suspended specifically for the crap in game 4? Probably not, but it's hard to say he didn't deserve it.
Huh, didn't know about this one, and I even know about wtw. Lol.
That formatting.
He should have been suspended for the OKC series, I agree. He should not have been suspended for the Cleveland series. I'm not a Warriors fan so I can whine as much as I want I guess. Kyrie Irving is the only Cavs player I like and he's a former Duke player.
1) Okay
2) No he doesn't. And he's not nearly as obnoxious as LeBron when he argues calls.
3) That's interesting if that's actually true. But that's the only thing for Duncan, though. He's pretty likeable in most other ways.
4) Yes I agree, they could have played better and still won the series. They also could have had Draymond Green for Game 5 and won the series. So I would say both things contributed to them not winning the series.
5) See if you still feel like that in a month or so when the euphoria has died down a little. Top 5 is a pretty tough list to crack. He might be there. To pass MJ I think he'd have to win at minimum 3 more championships, though.
6) Ya I will give Cleveland credit for that. They earned it mostly.
No it's not. What?
I'm sure that's why he did it.
I don't blame him for wanting to leave Cleveland for Miami, actually. It was more the way he did it that annoyed me. I don't blame him for coming back to Cleveland either, but let's not act like his decision to return to the Cavs wasn't very self-serving. He wanted to win another ring and he probably thought he would have a better chance of doing that in Cleveland than he would in Miami. He has a long way to go before he's in the conversation with MJ.
Timing is the issue. He deserved it in the OKC series, not in the series against Cleveland. The fact that he wasn't suspended when GS was down 1-3 for an act that was much more egregious than what he was suspended for when GS was up 3-1 is probably the most masturbatory factor for tin-foil warriors like myself.
Format's a little weird. There are some good posters there, though. Some not good ones, too.
Warriors became dicks IMO. Nothing symbolizes this more to me than when GS played OKC. There was a play when Curry launched a shot and before it even going in, he turned to stare at Ibaka. I get being good and even being a little cocky, but they took it a few levels above and became douchebags. Also, Draymond became annoying every time he flexed, and what compounded it is he usually did after a play on somebody smaller the him, like last night against JR. Smith. Then they got Varejao who literally tried to flop every time. Again...everybody flops, I mean Manu is on the Spurs, but cmon now.
Also for a team that got away with moving screens and push offs (ironically LeBron haters always argue this against LeBron, but I've never seen a team like GS do it so much without it being called to get separation) they sure whined a lot. Especially Curry and Iggy. Jesus.
LeBron is a whiner, no denying. So are most stars, from Tim Duncan to Paul Pierce to Dirk Nowitzki. LeBron gets a lot of superstar calls, which is also annoying. His persona screams diva at times and the mind games he plays are annoying too. But God dam is he a special player. He is a top 5 player of all time. That block was one of the most special plays ever, and it will go down as such. His ability to affect the game in all facets is why people like him. He is greatness.
I hate Dirk. Being a Spurs fan it comes with the territory. But at this stage, there is just no denying his greatness and even now, I don't hate him as much. You can hate LeBron too, but the dude can flat out ball.
EDIT: Btw, I'm with Manon in thinking the series is over after 5 games if Draymond plays. I am also a believer that if the Warriors didn't win that game, they stood a good chance they lose the series. That series vs OKC was brutal for them. I truly believe they were tired at the end. They got a lot of good looks but they just couldn't make them. I believe that was due to the physical and mental strain more than anything. Cavs outlasted GS.
1. Home team usually wins.
2. In the history of the city, Cleveland always fails/chokes.
3. After a team bitches about refs in the media, usually next game they get all the calls. Phil Jackson was a master of doing this.
4. Didn't expect it to be close. That shifted it to the Cavs favor. Warriors looked worn out.
As someone who was born in Cleveland I am very happy.
Possible. Still sorting through it.
I did that for about 9 superbowls in a row. Still believe in at least 7 of them.
Toronto is offically the saddest sports city right?
I hate how people say if Draymond played in game 5 it's probably over. He played in 6 games and they went 3-3 in those games. He put up a monster line in game 7 and they lost. Curry/Thompson cost them the championship not Green. Can even argue Barnes cost them as he was flat out awful. Still confused why Kerr had Ezeli in the game with 5 mins to go as well. He was outcoached the last 3 games by Lue.
@manon - go watch replays of the game. there's not one foul call in the last 2 games that Green doesn't complain about(those are only two games I still have DVR'd)
A lot of people wonder why Curry isn't successful in the playoffs. It seems pretty obvious to me that playoff basketball becomes much more physical. Things that used to be a foul in the regular season suddenly aren't, and his game's not built for that. Watch regular season games and watch him zoom around the court without the ball to come off screens and get open. Suddenly in the playoffs his defender has a hand on him the whole time, around his waist, grabbing his jersey to slow him down. And playoff refs aren't going to call small change like that, and defenders know it. Even during his shot attempts there can be a lot of contact that he's used to being called a foul, that suddenly isn't. Playoff basketball isn't much like regular season basketball how the rules are enforced, and that really hurts Curry's game. And you could see it got in his head by the end of the Finals, and he wasn't even making open shots at that point.
People say that if Green played in game 5 it would have been over because if Green played in game 5 it probably would have been over. He was Golden State's best player in the series and not having him for a game was a big deal. I don't know why people argue this point or try to downplay it. Imagine if Cleveland was up 3-1, and LeBron had been suspended for game 5 and Cleveland lost that game, and then ended up losing the series in 7 games. There would be riots in Cleveland and fans shouting about how Golden State's championship has an asterisk next to it. But that would never happen because he's LeBron.
Go watch any Cleveland game. When LeBron gets called for a foul he acts like he's just been falsely accused of murder and then has a 5 minute conference with the official who called the foul on him. When he doesn't draw a foul he throws a tantrum and is only not called for a technical because he's LeBron. And all of this despite the fact that he's allowed to travel and elbow defenders out of his way on offense.
I don't believe I said LeBron doesn't argue calls. Just said Draymond is worst in NBA in that regard. I'm not saying GS couldn't have won game 5 if Green played, I'm just downplaying the effect on the series. As KB mentioned look how many OPEN 3's Curry missed.
Ben Simmons....Here's to hoping Sam Hinike wasn't crazy and Simmons is the real deal! Also praying Colangelo doesn't fuck up 3 years of Sam Hinike's amazing plan.
What do you guys think of the rumored Okafor to Celtics for #3. I hate the idea of Simmons and Kris Dunn together, but everyday it looks more and more like it's going to happen. I didn't watch too much Dunn in college, but I'd prefer more of a shooter than a typical PG when playing along Simmons. That being said he's supposed to be a great defender so I suppose I'd be happy. Even without knowing if Embiid will play or not we saw last year Noel and Okafor can't work together and I think Noel is more suited for today's NBA despite Okafor having more talent.
buffalo is toronto essentially. 2 hour drive for us. go bills!
i say celts draft bender
also if that happens jamal murray is #3. Dude can shoot and is clutch as hell. Could see him fitting extremely well beside simmons as a pg with a defensive minded sg/sf
murray pg, simmons point forward, noel center, sign that nub sg from atlanta to play 3 and D and stick covington at sf. That sounds like a 30 win team to me potentially.
I think his most viable position defensively is pg. He's undersized and not athletic enough to envision him guarding SGs in the NBA.
I personally would have Ben Simmons playing point guard for the 6ers on offense and Murray playing SG on offense as well with some ball handling duties (kinda like steph curry and draymond green or LeBron and Kyrie) but u absolutely can't have murray playing SG on defense.
Id draft him as a combo guard who can play either spot and stick a 3-D athletic shooting guard beside him to cover up his flaws.
I don't understand why you would want to draft Dunn when u basically said yourself that murray (a pure scorer/shooter) would fit better beside Simmons on offense then a pure pg who doesn't have the best jump shot.
Ya I read that which is why I was confused u seemed against playing Murray at PG on the 6ers. He's basically in the same mold as steph, irving and lillard athletically and taller to boot. Just a matter of if he can score efficiently and consistently at the NBA level which is always going to be questionable. The shooting talent is there and he has to vision to be a secondary ballhandler/PG.
My issue with playing him at SG is that u probably would be giving up too much defensively on the wing. Lillard + CJ McCollum is a prime example of 2 combo guards incapable of guarding bigger faster wing players.. the trailblazers defense will rank in the bottom 10 of the league until they trade one of them.
The bulls just traded Rose to the Knicks.
Derrick Rose, Justin Holiday and a 2017 2nd-round pick for Robin Lopez, Jerian Grant and Jose Calderon
Statistically speaking rose probably hurt the bulls more then he helped them last year.
Dumping his incredibly shitty salary for a serviceable PG in Calderon and a pretty solid big has to be viewed as a huge win.
Calderon can have his defensive issues covered up beside Jimmy Butler and can still shoot the three like nobodies business.
Justin Holiday and Jerian Grant are probably nothing and the 2nd round pick is probably nothing as well.
I like this deal a lot for the bulls. Only way the knicks win this deal is if D-rose turns the clock back. Horrible deal for the knicks as usual. I now expect them to be worse next year then they were this year with calderon and lopez.
Interesting. I think it's smart to move on from Rose. He is just never healthy.
Ben Simmons is going to be a punk on and off the court.
I still don't get the hype. I watched him play many times this year and i saw...nothing really. Sure he is a good player, won't argue that. But the level of hype he is getting? Why? Someone please explain. I honestly don't get it.
Not gonna pretend like I watched a ton of Ben Simmons, but the highlights of him I saw are really interesting.
To me he seems like a taller, longer, but skinnier Lebron James. Not many players have that kind of skillset.
Passing: His passing skill from what I can tell is on par with pure point guards. He looks like Magic Johnson sometimes with all the bounce passes he throws around and his turnover rate is definitely palatable.
Shooting: His jumpshot isn't great, but he has a wicked floater and he can get his shot off anytime he wants. Thing I really like about him is he seems super unselfish and gets his points efficiently.
Transition: He's super athletic and finishes above the rim. He'll be able to catch lobs and create lobs and find people in transition. Honestly this is probably the coolest and best part of his game.
Stick this guy in a lineup full of shooters and he's gonna find them, he struggled at LSU because his teammates didn't score a lot of the open shots he created for them. Honestly don't know how you can not be impressed by him. I'm very high on him, the only things I see that might hold him back are his lankyness (he doesn't have a huge frame to play the PF and he might not be fast enough to play SF on defense) and his jumpshot and his confidence could really take a hit if the 6ers continue to suck while he develops. I think he is gonna have a lot of pressure to be the next big thing right away and I think he's still a couple years away from being an elite talent.
haha you and I definitely don't see eye to eye with basketball.
1st off calderon is awful now. Look at Rose in the 2nd half of the year last year. This trade was made to get a big man since they're losing Gasol and Noah and to show Butler this is his team.
Jerian Grant could turn into a serviceable player, I don't understand why they gave him no playing time in NY. This also clears cap space for the knicks in future years for them to make a run and strike out next year on all the big free agents.
The best analysis I saw on the Rose trade was that it made the Knicks the frontrunners to win the 2011 NBA Championship.
I wrote a big post that went in depth to explain my position a bit more, but it got deleted. Essentially what I said was this.
Rose = High Volume, inefficient scorer. Terrible Defensively, no jump shot, score first point guard who's only real skill is driving to the hoop and even with that he's not that great anymore. Terrible on the bulls last year and will be more terrible on a worse team if given the opportunity. I can see rose eventually being a decent bench scorer one day in the mold of what shaun Livingston is doing in golden state, but he's still viewed as a starter in this league and he's horrible. 20+m a year.
Calderon = Low Volume, decent efficiency playmaker. Even worse defensively, great jump shot, pass first point guard who actually has some NBA skills and can run an offence. Was a spot up shooter for the knicks last year in a triangle offense that saw him playing the role of Steve Kerr. Calderon will flourish in the bulls system and Butler will cover up some of his flaws on defence. I can see Calderon putting up similar numbers to what he did 2 years ago, playing 20+ minutes a night for the bulls and I can also see the bulls improving defensively as a team with health.
Lopez = 15 minutes a night, serviceable backup big. The bulls have a very deep big rotation as it is and they're gonna need to see what they have in the young guys. Pau is the primary center at this point, but Lopez will probably start some games and be fine for the bulls. Noah will be sorely missed, but Lopez will be able to stay on the court.
EDIT: Why will calderon flourish in the bulls system? Because they allow terrible point guards to run the offence at times (Kirk Hinrich, Derrik Rose) and they will allow Calderon to create some plays. On the knicks Calderon literally was not allowed to create for his teammates and was forced to play a role he's not bad at but a role that diminishes his potential value.
Jose calderon had a 45% FG% last year. Derrick Rose had a 42%. You're going to call Rose awful shooter and calderon a great jump shot? Come on man. Calderon has an amazing stroke from FT line, maybe one of the best ever, but by no means was he important to that deal he was a throw in to make contracts match. He's awful.
That's a very misleading stat. Rose shot 42% total. Rose shot below 30% from 3 and his true shooting % was 48.
Calderon on the other hand shot 41% from 3 with a 57% true shooting.
Those are significantly different numbers and it means that players respect Jose Calderon's jumpshot whereas they sagoff Roses. What this means is that Rose is dreadful as an offball threat and players defending him are more likely to clog the paint and help protect the rim while rose is off the ball. The only real value he brings to the table is his ability to drive to the rim and either get a FT or finish. Rose is a scorer. Nothing more. His only NBA talent right now is driving to the rim (which granted he is pretty good at). That being said he's not good enough at driving to the rim or scoring in high volume that he'd bring value to a team, he's done.
For the bulls Calderon playing off the ball is a big 3 point threat and creates spacing on the floor in the paint. This is a HUGE deal for the bulls offence because with Kirk Hinrich and Derrik Rose, they had no spacing and defenses cheated preventing Butler from being as effective. The threat of Calderon's 3 point shot is going to create more space for Jimmy and Pau Gasol to score in the paint. I can see Butler and Pau's assist total and 2 point % go up simply by having calderon on the floor over Rose.
Also this: As I stated previously, I'm not completely sold that Calderon can't still be an elite playmaker (9+ assists per game). He was really underutilized in the knicks offense and didn't have the same quality players surrounding him that he will have on the bulls.
I don't think Gasol stays with the Bulls... Their frontcourt will be Lopez, Portis and Mirotic. Also I'm not really comparing rose to calderon just saying calderon is useless at this point in his career. Maybe 10-12 minutes of the bench tops is what he'd be good for. Rose is coming into a season healthy and in a contract year. If he wants another good contract he has to play well. With Melo and Porzingis there and the chance of a big (Gasol, Noah or Howard) he could put up good numbers. Granted they're all old besides porzingis. Bulls definitely got better side of the deal as Lopez is locked into a reasonable contract with cap going up.