FW_Hoosier

You should give Brad Stevens a call and let him know, I’m sure that’s just never occurred to him!

If the fix was really in for Golden State, I think the league just lost itself money. Who cares about a fourth straight matchup between Cleveland and Golden State? It’s honestly got boring to watch Lebron carry his absolutely pathetic teammates and the Warriors play KD-centric iso ball. Everyone will try to act like the Cavs have a chance if the series goes longer than 5 games, but we all already know what the outcome is going to be in the end. Yawn. Warriors-Celtics or Rockets-Cavs would have been much more entertaining series.

I was so pumped beforehand, but... Watching those back-to-back Game 7s actually sucked. 69 missed threes between the Celtics and the Rockets, when both were at home — yuck. Pretty massive choke job by both teams.

Tatum is gonna be a special player.

Oh you don’t have to convince me how much of a freak Lebron is. I bought into the “Lebron isn’t a winner” argument for a while, but that went out the window when he beat that Warriors team after being down 3-1. Honestly though, what he’s been doing over the course of the playoffs this year might be even more impressive. To be this dominant at the age of 33, with the amount of minutes he’s played in his career, is absolutely mind boggling. As for Kobe, I don’t think he comes anywhere close to Lebron.

I’m agnostic on the MJ/Lebron debate because I never really watched MJ play. I think there are good arguments on both sides, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s those two, then everyone else.

I don’t see how he’s any lower than the second best player of all time.

I don’t see any issues for the Celtics keeping all three of Tatum, Brown, and Hayward. If anything, having those three players is exactly what you want in the NBA today. Three guys that can all handle the ball and create their own shot, and can guard 1-4 switching everything on defense. Then you add in a top 5 scorer in the league in Kyrie and a stud defensive center that can guard on the perimeter and does all the little things in Horford, and the Celtics have pretty much the ideal starting 5. I also think they’re going to keep Rozier and let Smart go. Rozier has been playing at a really high level, and will be maybe the best backup guard in the league when Kyrie comes back. Smart is going to be up for a big contract this summer, and I just don’t think it’s worth it for the Celts to pay him. He’s great defensively and makes hustle plays, but I think he can be a real bonehead at times, and hurts on them offense. Rozier is better all around and is on a cheaper/longer contract than Smart.

Warriors were the ones playing iso ball tonight. KD is playing like he did in OKC, and Curry doesn’t look right.

I love that Chuck called sweep 2 days ago and is now saying the Rockets can beat the Warriors. Way to cover all your bases Chuck.

Don’t think it was really a bad move to fire Casey. I still don’t know why he won COTY, 59 wins in the weak East with an established all star backcourt and a lot of other talent really wasn’t that impressive. I think D’Antoni, Stevens, Pop, Brown, Snyder, or even McMillan all deserved it more than him. The Raptors have been a decent regular season team, but underachieved in the playoffs when it really matters for a number of years now. Getting swept by that weak Cavs team when this supposed to be “their year” was unacceptable. On the other hand, I do think a lot of it falls on Lowry and especially DeRozan for being mentally weak and just rolling over for Lebron, but in the end the buck is going to stop with the coach.

Probably just felt bad for DeRozan and wanted to put him out of his misery. Merciful.

You’re right, losing 47 games in his first season was a genius strategy to get Duncan 😂 But in all seriousness, I agree, he does deserve credit for getting those players. He and the front office have put together the right staff to identify and develop players like Manu, Parker, and Kawhi. Stevens will need to do the same thing to achieve the success Pop has had.

On the other hand, Pop has had two all-time greats in Robinson and Duncan his entire career, along with another potential Hall of Famer in the post-Duncan era in Leonard. What Stevens has been able to achieve up to this point with far less talent has been arguably as impressive as what Pop achieved in his first five years in the league. But agree that he needs to get a couple rings first — little doubt those will come eventually though.

And I don’t know why anyone would want Stevens to take a step backwards from the highest level of basketball in the world. Stevens has a chance to become an all-time great at the absolute pinnacle of his profession, he’s not going to pass that opportunity up. Would be like wanting to see Archie coach a high school team.

Raptors never had a chance to beat Lebron in the playoffs. Cavs in 5, 6 tops.

Cavs will smoke the Raptors. Lowry was already pissing his pants at the sight of Lebron and Jose friggin Calderon last week, and the playoffs haven’t even started yet.

I haven’t watched any games, but Bryant has done really well overall in the G League this season. Averaging 20 points and 7 rebounds a game, and dropped 33 points and 5 rebounds to send the South Bay Lakers to the conference finals the other day. https://2ways10days.com/thomas-bryant-named-2-ways-10-days-g-league-rookie-of-the-year-e478ae2090db https://gleague.nba.com/games/20180403/SBLRNO/

I can’t wait to watch him in the playoffs in a couple weeks. Seems like he was slumping a little bit recently and has come out of it at the perfect time. Gonna be a lot of fun.

Troy gets some guaranteed money.

https://apple.news/AHgOVFM0PRLyZHyYYv8uLqA Great article on OG. Sounds like he’s had a big impact on Toronto on the court and off of it.

You mean his parasail?

Not the NBA, but Nick Zeisloft just went 12-15 (!!!) from three in a game in the Lithuanian Basketball League. Judging from the title of this video, that was a team record. Absolutely unbelievable shooter.

LeBron is basically the GM of that team. He’s the one essentially forcing them to leverage their future by signing a bunch of aging vets to ridiculous contracts so they can “win now,” while giving them no assurances about what he’s doing beyond the current season. If he had committed to the franchise beyond this season, they likely would have kept Kyrie. I don’t really think a player is obligated to be loyal to a franchise, but like BGleas said, he’s pretty much held the Cavs hostage. He has no one to blame but himself for how that roster is currently constructed.