For NBA fans

[Spencer 555]

Ya thats a pretty agreeable opinion. I think the raps are gonna surprise a lot of people this year though. Lowry wasnt able to carry the raps in his first two playoff runs, but he was a different player altogether last year when he found his 3 point shot. He wasnt terrible in the playoffs last year, but an arm injury made him a 30% shooter from the field and the raps still got two games from the cavs because of our depth as a team. A healthy lowry is gonna turn some heads and I would not be at all surprised if we beat the cavs this year. Channing frye and Love scare me a whole lot more then irving in terms of matchups.

I will say that the raps are gonna sorely miss having biyombo slap people around in the playoffs. No guarantee the raps make it to a conference final without that rim protection and defense. He was huge for us in the playoffs.

[Spencer 555]

Also @deto, is anthony bennett + andrew wiggins + thad young really that valuable? I think I would rather JV + Ross + picks.

I can understand the temptation of wiggins, but he hadn't played a single nba game at that point, Bennett was clearly a bust at the point of that trade, and thad young was maybe a solid NBA starter at that point (he is a good player now). With Ross and JV you are banking your money on two young controllable assets with more upside then a thad young who you can build a core around. On top if that you add whatever combination of rookies and picks from the raptors u want until we come to an agreement or I decide you're asking too much. Would you not value two guaranteed rotational players with good contracts over a lottery ticket, a bust with some upside and a potential role player? By trading Boogie for players like JV and Ross, they commit themselves to tanking and building through the draft while also guaranteeing that they will have solid young rotational players to build around any future star they may draft...

It seems in basketball people claim teams are stupid, but then support trades of superstar players for young potential superstars. Its like a rinse repeat no? Can we not comprehend the value of building a team from within? To me, without having rotational players in place to build around young talent you're just going to have an endless cycle of lottery ticket accumulation. Why else does it seem San Antonio can draft players 25th every year and have them develop into NBA players? Its not luck, and I would argue it's not "veteran leadership". Its something easily quantifiable.. its he fact that san antonio always has a core of solid rotational players in place to build around young talent. Unselfish role players who enable the young talent moving up through the system. Timmy D was not a dominant player in the latter part of his career, but the dude was invaluable to the growth of every single player who came up through that system over the years because he played an unselfish role and stayed in his lane despite his reputation as a hall of famer. I expect Kawhi will do the same when his time comes and along with players like patty mills, danny green and now jon simmons and kyle anderson stepping up into their roles, san antonio is destined to be good for as long as other teams fight over the lottery tickets. In philly, the problem is not a lack of aquiring veteran leadership, we saw how "valuable" kevin garnett was to the twolves, it's the fact that they have a bunch of young players competing with eachother who don't know their roles.

I think philly is finally on the verge of something next year, but it wont surprise anyone to see them be a bottom feeder next year even with a big three (embiid - simmons - one of the legit point guards at the top of the draft ie lonzo ball). Its gonna be players like Dario Saric and Robert Covington and jerryd bayless who enable their teammates as unselfish role players to develop while learning to win.

I think what seperates consistently good NBA teams from also rans like sacramento and portland is the understanding of how valuable role players can be. Ross and JV are never going to be superstars (likely), but if traded, they would be invaluable role players to a rebuilding team. By the time the rebuilding process comes to fruition and you have some real young talent to build around, you're not going to want to watch them age around young talentless depth. And if you think it's as simple as building around "veteren leadership" guess where the good vets go to retire. San antonio, cleveland, gsw and teams in that range. Thats my case for a Cousins and im stickin to it lol.

[|AFO|]

Lowry may do the little things, but I think Irvings skills become more pronounced in the postseason. In the playoffs, you play a team 4-7 times and you learn everything about each other. What's makes Irving special is when he goes off, I haven't seen anybody capable of stopping him. So even if a team knows his tendencies and what plays they want to run, Kyrie can null everything by playing one on one and making ridiculous shots.

Team defense becomes so good that sometimes you just need that player that can't be stopped. Irving can do that any given time.

This was on full display yesterday. GSW still seem like the favorites this year, but Irving seems to have their #.

Also Green is an idiot.

[Spencer 555]

This was on full display yesterday. GSW still seem like the favorites this year, but Irving seems to have their #.

Also Green is an idiot.

Did you watch the Utah game where lowry went off for 36 in 3 quarters on 15 of 20? He sat out the third because he was busy getting stitches for getting elbowed in the mouth.

Noones arguing irving is an awesome player, Im simply pointing out that lowry is better.

And also, Lebron carried that game yesterday much harder then Irving, he's second fiddle on an awesome team. An awesome team that may not be so much better then the lowry led raptors.

People need to stop putting irving on a pedestal because he plays next to the best player of our generation lol.

[The Professor]

Lowry may be better, but Irvings main skills (shooting and dribbling) allow him to breakdown any defense against any defender. Overall Lowry is better I think, but if you swapped Irving for Lowry, I don't believe the Cavs win the title.

[Spencer 555]

I would highly contest that opinion, but it is debateable. As long as you can grant me that if we swapped irving for lowry the raps probably wouldnt be a playoff team (I actually believe they would be a 30-35 win team with irving.)

[The Professor]

I'd say fringe playoff team; it's the east. But I definitely agree they would be worse with Irving vs. Lowry, at least in the regular season. Again, Irvings game is well suited for the playoffs versus the regular season. Irving is a great player who will look better in the playoffs.

[Spencer 555]

I dunno man, its hard to argue that irving isnt more talented offensively then lowry and derozan from a pure skills perspective, but playing beside lebron is a pretty huge benefit for irving to shine in the playoffs, not to mention channing frye, JR smith and Love. As a #1 option on the raptors, I suspect irving would struggle much like dero and lowry have been over the years in the playoffs. Teams can gameplan for irving more then they can for Lebron and irving cant do shit to stop anyone on the other end lol.

if given the opportunity to play alongside lebron, lets not underestimate lowries scoring potential and ability to drive the net and create for teammates.

Also, I remember their was a time lowry was rumored to be going to the heat because Lebron wanted him. So theirs that too lol.

[Spencer 555]

Cavs sit lebron, lose by double digits. 4-18 when lebron sits since his return.

[Spencer 555]

Wonder if the wiz would benefit from a beal trade. Porter and Wall put on a show last night against milwaukee.