NBA Thread 2022-23 Season | Page 130 | Syracusefan.com

NBA Thread 2022-23 Season

OrangeDW said:
Especially considering that he had major injury issues early in his career with his ankle.

He was certainly not a guard you would’ve thought would be playing at his peak at age 35, back then. He was a guy you worried might have a short career, early on.

Ja Morant would be wise to try to learn how to attack the rim in a more finesse, under control manner like Curry does, rather than just launching himself at the rim at full speed, in order to hold up physically as he gets older.
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Ja needs to improve his shot or he's definitely going to be an early peak guy. Steph's driving game (which dont get me wrong, it's great) is helped tremendously by the fact that the other team is worried he's going to shoot it from essentially the minute he crosses over the half court line
 
CuseFaninVT said:
I don’t even mind the threes anymore. We all know he’s going to do that and he needs no time or space to hit them. Whats absolutely infuriating are his drives to the hoop when he challenges guys much taller than him and just lofts the ball off the top of the backboard. Those bigs need to take a step or two at him to knock that ball into the backcourt.
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His floater game is deadly, I can’t even hate him. I always beg for our SU guards to develop that.

I asked my friends Friday if the Nuggets fans that got beat up by Suns in 4 guy are having flashbacks. Very interested in how Phx plays tonight. I don’t care what the box score said, KD looked almost disinterested in game 1. He got ripped so many times and just got out of the way of guys going to the rack on D. That said, Wonder if I should put some $ on the Suns tonight
 
ssbriefcase said:
His floater game is deadly, I can’t even hate him. I always beg for our SU guards to develop that.

I asked my friends Friday if the Nuggets fans that got beat up by Suns in 4 guy are having flashbacks. Very interested in how Phx plays tonight. I don’t care what the box score said, KD looked almost disinterested in game 1. He got ripped so many times and just got out of the way of guys going to the rack on D. That said, Wonder if I should put some $ on the Suns tonight
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PHX has some of the best mid range scorers of all time but they will have to take more 3s in this series. I don’t expect a denver to shoot that well every game but they will be spreading the floor with guys more willing to catch and shoot than Phoenix.
 
NineOneSeven said:
PHX has some of the best mid range scorers of all time but they will have to take more 3s in this series. I don’t expect a denver to shoot that well every game but they will be spreading the floor with guys more willing to catch and shoot than Phoenix.
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Suns took 5 3's in the first half on Saturday. I know that was an outlier, but 5 3's in a half! It's almost impossible to win that way
 
NineOneSeven said:
PHX has some of the best mid range scorers of all time but they will have to take more 3s in this series. I don’t expect a denver to shoot that well every game but they will be spreading the floor with guys more willing to catch and shoot than Phoenix.
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Can they take more threes tho? they are built with some of the best mid range guys... ever?

The other thing is they have to step up on D, but they look gassed halfway through the 3rd quarter.

I get they are starting each game with a strategy that will put them at a three point deficit that they have to address, but I think the lack of depth might be too much to overcome.

With that said, Denver was under .500 this year on the road. So it also might flip when they are back in PHX.
 
Another takeaway I had from watching the Suns, and this is pretty hot takey so I hesitate to even say it, but man, Ayton just seems so soft.
 
Knicks411 said:
Another takeaway I had from watching the Suns, and this is pretty hot takey so I hesitate to even say it, but man, Ayton just seems so soft.
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The play where he was standing out of bounds while the play was going on... was not great.
 
MikeSU02 said:
Can they take more threes tho? they are built with some of the best mid range guys... ever?

The other thing is they have to step up on D, but they look gassed halfway through the 3rd quarter.

I get they are starting each game with a strategy that will put them at a three point deficit that they have to address, but I think the lack of depth might be too much to overcome.

With that said, Denver was under .500 this year on the road. So it also might flip when they are back in PHX.
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It's cliché but wonder if the altitude had anything to do with it
 
Colin Cowherd says that Steph is now the greatest PG of all-time.

I personally still have Magic #1, but I don't think that's an irrational observation at this point. Steph is in striking distance.
 
Go Celtics tonight. I know Embiid is out apparently, but still a tough team in Philly. Tatum gets his points, but his 3-point shooting has just been off lately and needs to get it back.
 
Cusefan0307 said:
I know Curry is listed as a PG, but he operates more like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant than he does Magic Johnson.
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100%

This is the problem with position titles. What Steph plays is not what Magic played.

On offense, Magic and Steph could have played together (on defense, yikes, even tho I think Steph got way better at D).

Overall, in general, if you could only have Magic and Steph... that's a hard decision.

The way I look at it is this:

Magic made everyone that played with him better with him orchestrating things at 6'9" and having the vision of a demi-god. He would serve the ball to people exactly where they needed it to be great. And if you dropped him in now to play with this spacing, I think he'd dominate even more. I know he wasn't known for his shooting, but he would pick apart defenses with ease. A poor man's version of this is CP3.

Steph makes everyone's life that he plays with easier. You put Steph on the floor, the geometry of the offense changes. Defenses have to fundamentally change. How many 4 on 3s has Steph created for Draymond Green? How many wide open shots has Steph made for Klay Thompson where he barely has to dribble? A poor man's version of this is Dame.

It's so tough, but I think I would probably pick Steph because of how impactful him just being on the floor substantially changes that very game and the fact that you are talking a guy that is the greatest shooter of all time and the game is still about getting buckets.
 
MikeSU02 said:
100%

This is the problem with position titles. What Steph plays is not what Magic played.

On offense, Magic and Steph could have played together (on defense, yikes, even tho I think Steph got way better at D).

Overall, in general, if you could only have Magic and Steph... that's a hard decision.

The way I look at it is this:

Magic made everyone that played with him better with him orchestrating things at 6'9" and having the vision of a demi-god. He would serve the ball to people exactly where they needed it to be great. And if you dropped him in now to play with this spacing, I think he'd dominate even more. I know he wasn't known for his shooting, but he would pick apart defenses with ease. A poor man's version of this is CP3.

Steph makes everyone's life that he plays with easier. You put Steph on the floor, the geometry of the offense changes. Defenses have to fundamentally change. How many 4 on 3s has Steph created for Draymond Green? How many wide open shots has Steph made for Klay Thompson where he barely has to dribble? A poor man's version of this is Dame.

It's so tough, but I think I would probably pick Steph because of how impactful him just being on the floor substantially changes that very game and the fact that you are talking a guy that is the greatest shooter of all time and the game is still about getting buckets.
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Agree with you. He’s shooting 76% at the rim this year too. That’s right in line with Lebron. He’s 6’3”. Labeling him just a shooter like some experts do is weird. He might be the best non dunking finisher of all time. Kyrie is right there too when he plays.
 
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I think the definition of “point guard“ is simple and straight forward: the guy who brings the ball up the most and initiates the offense. On the Lakers it was Magic, on the Warriors I assume it’s Steph. IMO Steph isn’t less of a point guard because he’s the shooting GOAT. He’s just reinventing the position like Magic did.
 
Eric15 said:
I think the definition of “point guard“ is simple and straight forward: the guy who brings the ball up the most and initiates the offense. On the Lakers it was Magic, on the Warriors I assume it’s Steph. IMO Steph isn’t less of a point guard because he’s the shooting GOAT. He’s just reinventing the position like Magic did.
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Then Bron is the greatest PG of all time.
 
MikeSU02 said:
Then Bron is the greatest PG of all time.
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Honestly he may very well be. But he’s always identified as a SF whereas Curry identifies as a PG. And Lebron always had someone else in the starting lineup who was labeled as a PG. (I know I’m waffling a bit on my prior post)
 
MikeSU02 said:
100%

This is the problem with position titles. What Steph plays is not what Magic played.

On offense, Magic and Steph could have played together (on defense, yikes, even tho I think Steph got way better at D).

Overall, in general, if you could only have Magic and Steph... that's a hard decision.

The way I look at it is this:

Magic made everyone that played with him better with him orchestrating things at 6'9" and having the vision of a demi-god. He would serve the ball to people exactly where they needed it to be great. And if you dropped him in now to play with this spacing, I think he'd dominate even more. I know he wasn't known for his shooting, but he would pick apart defenses with ease. A poor man's version of this is CP3.

Steph makes everyone's life that he plays with easier. You put Steph on the floor, the geometry of the offense changes. Defenses have to fundamentally change. How many 4 on 3s has Steph created for Draymond Green? How many wide open shots has Steph made for Klay Thompson where he barely has to dribble? A poor man's version of this is Dame.

It's so tough, but I think I would probably pick Steph because of how impactful him just being on the floor substantially changes that very game and the fact that you are talking a guy that is the greatest shooter of all time and the game is still about getting buckets.
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Magic was awesome, but I'm pretty sure I would take Steph.

It's so hard with the different eras too. If you put Steph in the middle of the 1980s; take 1987 first year Magic won the MVP. The average team attempted 4.7 3 pointers a game. That's like an average quarter for Steph. How does that even work?

By the same token, if Magic is playing today, I don't think he's necessarily considered a PG, for lack of a better term. Like, theres no way he is guarding the other teams PG. He is probably guarding 3's and 4's.

The 3 pointer so completely revolutionized the game (and Steph was the one leading the charge!) that it is really almost impossible to compare people who played pre like 2010 to people after it.
 
Eric15 said:
I think the definition of “point guard“ is simple and straight forward: the guy who brings the ball up the most and initiates the offense. On the Lakers it was Magic, on the Warriors I assume it’s Steph. IMO Steph isn’t less of a point guard because he’s the shooting GOAT. He’s just reinventing the position like Magic did.
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Michael Jordan and Kobe were point guards too then.
 
I want to be James Harden when I grow up
 
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