NBA 2018-2019

[OttoinGrotto]

NBA 2K20 Top 20 Players:


1. LeBron James
2. Kawhi Leonard
3. Giannis
4. Kevin Durant
5. James Harden
6. Steph Curry
7. Anthony Davis
8. Paul George
9. Damian Lillard
10. Joel Embiid
11. Kyrie Irving
12. Nikola Jokic
13. Russell Westbrook
14. Klay Thompson
15. KAT
16. Jimmy Butler
17. Kemba Walker
18. Donovan Mitchell
19. Rudy Gobert
20. Blake Griffin

Major diss to Kawhi.

Surprised The Joker is that high. Kyrie too, kinda.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Is 2K trolling Butler putting him below KAT?

Kyrie is way to high.

 

[Day2]

Major diss to Kawhi.

Surprised The Joker is that high. Kyrie too, kinda.

Kawhi doesn’t care. He’s too busy playing Double Dribble.

 

[Knicks411]

That's hilarious.

And I don't blatantly #hatehard as aggressively on Davis as I do LeBron and Harden, but I am very quick to remind people that for as highly as people think of the Brow as a player, he's accomplished very little in terms of leading his teams to any actual winning. So I'm skeptical about just how big of an impact acquisition it really was for the Lakers.

It's weird, because you are essentially correct, but his numbers are just so overwhelmingly great, and he really hasn't played with a lot of talent. So I still tend to believe the guy is one of the very best players in the league, but I do get the resistance to that idea.

I also would not have guessed the 2018 Pelicans won 48 games.

 

[Trueblue25]

Kyrie is way to high.

Who’s Kyrie?

Dead to me

 

[Knicks411]

I wonder if KG isn't a good comp for Anthony Davis; both in their style of play and also that KG was stuck on a bad team in Minnesota and didn't win much, but won a lot when he was surrounded with better talent.

 

[Trueblue25]

I wonder if KG isn't a good comp for Anthony Davis; both in their style of play and also that KG was stuck on a bad team in Minnesota and didn't win much, but won a lot when he was surrounded with better talent.

Personally think KG was far more dominant in his prime.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I wonder if KG isn't a good comp for Anthony Davis; both in their style of play and also that KG was stuck on a bad team in Minnesota and didn't win much, but won a lot when he was surrounded with better talent.

Eh, Garnett didn't get them far in the playoffs, but he got them there like 8 straight years or something.

Davis took his team to the playoffs twice.

I'm always the "man, the West sure is a meat grinder" guy, but... that's not great.

 

[Trueblue25]

Eh, Garnett didn't get them far in the playoffs, but he got them there like 8 straight years or something.

Davis took his team to the playoffs twice.

I'm always the "man, the West sure is a meat grinder" guy, but... that's not great.

KG also had the disadvantage of spending his prime against Shaq/Kobe, Duncan’s Spurs and Dirk’s prime with the Mavs.

 

[Cusefan0307]

KG played every game each season and got his teams in the playoffs singlehandly most times in an equally loaded Western Conference. He never sat games because of a hangnail.

 

[Knicks411]

My point is not that Davis=Garnett, but KG didn't win a playoff series until his 9th year in the league. And the talent level wasn't totally barren (though it definitely wasn't great; Terrell Brandon for a few years, Scerbiak, Marbury, etc) I also don't know if it's worth pointing out or not, but the Wolves made the playoffs early on in that KG run with a 40-42 season, and a 25-25 season. In fact, they were the 6th seed with a 40-42 record! Wow. Clippers made it at 36-46.

I guess the 2 years that really stand out for the Pelicans are 2016 and 2017; they make the playoffs in 2015 (third year in the league for Davis, I don't think that's a ridiculous pace) but then they win 30 and 34 games.

I don't know, I'm sure they could've done better, but in 2016 this was the top 6 in minutes played after Davis

1) Ryan Anderson
2) Dante Cunningham
3) Jrue Holiday
4) Alonzo Gee
5) Eric Gordon
6) Toney Douglas.

I wanted to list the top 6 instead of 5 just to get the Toney Douglas shoutout.

Here's 2017
1) Solomon Hill
2) Jrue Holiday
3) E'twaun Morre
4) Dante Cunningham
5) Tim Frazier
6) Terrence Jones

I dunno. I think Davis is really really good. It's probably harder now for a big man like Davis to carry his team than in the past, the game is so dominated by guards handling the ball. So maybe that's a fair knock on him.

 

[chugg21]

My point is not that Davis=Garnett, but KG didn't win a playoff series until his 9th year in the league. And the talent level wasn't totally barren (though it definitely wasn't great; Terrell Brandon for a few years, Scerbiak, Marbury, etc) I also don't know if it's worth pointing out or not, but the Wolves made the playoffs early on in that KG run with a 40-42 season, and a 25-25 season. In fact, they were the 6th seed with a 40-42 record! Wow. Clippers made it at 36-46.

I guess the 2 years that really stand out for the Pelicans are 2016 and 2017; they make the playoffs in 2015 (third year in the league for Davis, I don't think that's a ridiculous pace) but then they win 30 and 34 games.

I don't know, I'm sure they could've done better, but in 2016 this was the top 6 in minutes played after Davis

1) Ryan Anderson
2) Dante Cunningham
3) Jrue Holiday
4) Alonzo Gee
5) Eric Gordon
6) Toney Douglas.

I wanted to list the top 6 instead of 5 just to get the Toney Douglas shoutout.

Here's 2017
1) Solomon Hill
2) Jrue Holiday
3) E'twaun Morre
4) Dante Cunningham
5) Tim Frazier
6) Terrence Jones

I dunno. I think Davis is really really good. It's probably harder now for a big man like Davis to carry his team than in the past, the game is so dominated by guards handling the ball. So maybe that's a fair knock on him.

No one in the West carries their team to anything on their own. Just doesn't happen. LeBron made the Finals in the East every single year and misses the playoffs in year 1 in the West. Was his supporting cast really worse than what Davis had around him every year? Nope.

 

[Knicks411]

No one in the West carries their team to anything on their own. Just doesn't happen. LeBron made the Finals in the East every single year and misses the playoffs in year 1 in the West. Was his supporting cast really worse than what Davis had around him every year? Nope.

Yeah, it is kind of ridiculous.

You know what's a little weird; I was looking at this when I was looking at Davis and the Pelicans, here is the # of wins from the 8 seed for the west and then the east the last number of years (this is a short hand proxy I guess for how good the conf is, obviously don't mean everything, or maybe even anything

2019: 48-41 (west conf team comes first for every year)
2018: 47-43
2017: 41-41
2016: 41-44
2015: 45-38
2014: 49-38
2013: 45-37
2012: 45-43 (this was a lockout year, I'm using the win % here)
2011: 46-37
2010: 50-41

That's the last ten years, the last playoff team in the East has been 500 or worse 7 out of ten years! Something else that stood out to me, the slight blip in the west in 17 and 18, every other season you needed at least 45 wins to make the playoffs, and those 2 years it was just 41. I am not totally sure what to make of it; a guess would be that 2016 you had Golden State won 73 games and the Spurs won 67; normally the top 2 teams in a conf would average around 60 wins as opposed to 70, so thats an additional 20 fewer wins scattered around the rest of the league, mostly in the west, but I dunno.

 

[Alsacs]

Has any player before Kawhi ever destroyed 3 dynasties in their career?
He ended the Miami Heat dynasty in 2014 Finals which led to LeBron going back to Cleveland.
He ended the Spurs dynasty when he forced a trade from San Antonio last offseason.
He ended the Warriors dynasty when he beat them in this year’s Finals.

Kawhi ended 3 dynasties.

 

[Knicks411]

Has any player before Kawhi ever destroyed 3 dynasties in their career?
He ended the Miami Heat dynasty in 2014 Finals which led to LeBron going back to Cleveland.
He ended the Spurs dynasty when he forced a trade from San Antonio last offseason.
He ended the Warriors dynasty when he beat them in this year’s Finals.

Kawhi ended 3 dynasties.

I guess you could argue the Spurs at that point weren't really a dynasty?

I guess how about Jordan? Knocked out the bad boys Pistons who had gone back to back, I guess you could argue he ended the Laker dynasty in 91, and obviously the Bulls when he retired

I do admit, the first two are kind of a stretch. Lakers run really had ended in 88 maybe? And Magic was gonna have HIV either way.

 

[jncuse]

Has any player before Kawhi ever destroyed 3 dynasties in their career?
He ended the Miami Heat dynasty in 2014 Finals which led to LeBron going back to Cleveland.
He ended the Spurs dynasty when he forced a trade from San Antonio last offseason.
He ended the Warriors dynasty when he beat them in this year’s Finals.

Kawhi ended 3 dynasties.

And while not a dynasty, he essentially made an NBA champion incapable of defending their title. With Kawhi the Raptors were certainly in the group of favourites for the NBA title next year (Not meant to be a salty comment, he was a free agent and was entitled to what he felt was best for him)

 

[Alsacs]

The last 3 seconds always get me to laugh.

 

[orangenauburn]

The last 3 seconds always get me to laugh.

Thats amazing

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I have adopted Utah and Denver as my teams in the West this year. Deeper teams that have been built the right way not through free agency and have some depth. It will be interesting to see how they match up with other star laden teams with less depth.

You can't root for both of them. They are big rivals. It would be like you saying you are a fan of the Canadians and the Maple Leafs or the Yanks and the Red Sox. Or Cuse and Georgetown.

 

[moqui]

I'm of the opinion the Lakers are going to be a train wreck drama fest this year especially when Lebron or AD sits. Pretty sure Lebron has won his last title.

At the end of the year I think the best teams in the West in no specific order will be Utah, the Clips, Houston, and Golden State.

the lakers have made better signings than they did last season, but i'm nonetheless skeptical about their roster outside the big 2. they can put together a very good starting lineup, but their 2nd unit is not going to be good, especially on the defensive end.

 

[Cusefan0307]

the lakers have made better signings than they did last season, but i'm nonetheless skeptical about their roster outside the big 2. they can put together a very good starting lineup, but their 2nd unit is not going to be good, especially on the defensive end.

Yep and AD and LeBron are both going to miss 10-20 games. If they go say 6-11 in those games that’s going to put them behind the pack in the West.

 

[jordville]

 

[Knicks411]

 

[Alsacs]

Kanter is all offense and Robert “Timelord” Williams is all defense.
Between the two of them I just hope they have a competent crunch time big.

 

[Knicks411]

Kanter is all offense and Robert “Timelord” Williams is all defense.
Between the two of them I just hope they have a competent crunch time big.

You can't play Kanter in important minutes. You just cant.