NBA Thread 2021-22 Season

[OrangeDW]

I think the Lakers at 20/1 are an incredible value bet here. I know I've said this before but I can't remember a time in my adult life where the NBA had better parity than right now. It's almost like college basketball in terms of how wide open it is.

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Barring a trade where we win heavily in the short term….I see very little chance of that.

Even if Davis is healthy all year and has an MVP caliber year, and Russ finds his role here and plays the best he’s capable of….we’d still need all kinds of role players to come through that haven’t done it yet.

I’d love for someone to tell me that I’m pulling the plug too early and for them to be right, but I’m not seeing it. I’m ready to trade everybody, rebuild, and hope we draft an Ingram, Randle, Ball, Russell, Nance, and Hart,

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Magic.

Dr. J.

Good additions.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

For our NBA folks. I see lots of discussion about J. Grant getting traded. What a great fit he would be on the Warriors.
Could that be done, or is his contract too big? What would Warriors have to give up?

 

[OrangeDW]

For our NBA folks. I see lots of discussion about J. Grant getting traded. What a great fit he would be on the Warriors.
Could that be done, or is his contract too big? What would Warriors have to give up?

He’d be ideal on basically any good team, but I would flat out love to see him on the Warriors.

He played a huge role for OKC when they still had a shot, but he was still pretty young. Now he’s a seasoned vet in his prime, and it’s looking like his prime and those of the guys they’ve drafted aren’t going to line up. So get him out of there, but good luck and thank you Troy Weaver.

 

[cuseattle]

Yeah Malone and Dirk I went back and forth. For me with Malone... obviously two finals losses against Jordan, but longevity and durability does it for me. Not just that, but the high level of play all those years. Playing until 40 while still having career averages of 25/10 is ridiculous.

But like I said, I might have to think about the list a bit more. Did not give it too much thought. It is tough. I want to get Steph closer to 10 because I love the player, but not sure who to remove. I find Oscar tough to rank, too. And I'd love to have him over Durant, but reality is he's an all time great player despite some of the silliness over the years.

Oscar is tough to rank. And Westbrook's triple double years made me rethink the importance of that feat.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Oscar is tough to rank. And Westbrook's triple double years made me rethink the importance of that feat.

Nah, don't do that. The nerds had no problem with honoring the triple double's coolness until Westbrook actually pulled it off, and then they took a puff of their inhaler, pushed up their glasses and went all "well akshoooly..." because they're just the worst.

The worst.

 

[cuseattle]

Nah, don't do that. The nerds had no problem with honoring the triple double's coolness until Westbrook actually pulled it off, and then they took a puff of their inhaler, pushed up their glasses and went all "well akshoooly..." because they're just the worst.

The worst

Oh, yes. It comes from an anti Russ perspective. I'll take a little further contemplation.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Oh, yes. It comes from an anti Russ perspective. I'll take a little further contemplation.

You can hate on Westbrook.

Triple doubles are still cool.

 

[OrangeDW]

1. Magic
2. Kareem
3. Kobe
4. Shaq
5. Jordan
6. Wilt
7. West
8. Elgin
9. LeBron
10. Mikan
11. Worthy
12. Van Exel
13. Carmelo
14. DC
15. Byron
16. Curry
17. Coop
18. Sherm Douglas
19. Horry
20. Tim Duncan(respect, big Fundy’s)

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Disclosure: I hate Isiah

But I do think his case is pretty weak. His best finish in the MVP voting was 5th. His second best finish was 8th. Interesting that he did make 3 all NBA first teams, but I can't see him in any kind of list like this. You gotta at least have a bunch of top 3 MVP seasons. Joakim Noah finished 4th in the MVP voting one year!

I actually think Noah should have won the MVP that season. He was incredible and absolutely carried a really limited Bulls team.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

 

[STEVEHOLT]

And not just hockey assists, but what about the baskets the other guys get because Marcus Smart is faceguarding Curry when he's 25-30 feet from the basket?

I've always said Steph's impact is almost impossible to overstate. The guy is defended in a way no one else ever has been in the history of the game. He's unbelievable.

Trevor cooney has entered the chat

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Oscar is tough to rank. And Westbrook's triple double years made me rethink the importance of that feat.

Here’s the stupidity of the triple double stat

10 pts / 10 boards / 10 assists is a triple double

50 pts / 28 rebounds/ 9 assists isn’t

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Here’s the stupidity of the triple double stat

10 pts / 10 boards / 10 assists is a triple double

50 pts / 28 rebounds/ 9 assists isn’t

Perhaps the over importance of the triple double

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Here’s the stupidity of the triple double stat

10 pts / 10 boards / 10 assists is a triple double

50 pts / 28 rebounds/ 9 assists isn’t

That's not stupid. That's a definition.

Nobody is saying whether the triple double is a better game. It's just a thing.

 

[NineOneSeven]

That's not stupid. That's a definition.

Nobody is saying whether the triple double is a better game. It's just a thing.

Let’s see a top 20

 

[NineOneSeven]

I want to see everyone’s top 20!!!

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Let’s see a top 20

Jordan
Kareem
James
Russell
Magic
Bird
Kobe
Curry
Duncan
Wilt
Shaq
Dr. J
Oscar
Dirk
Olajuwon
Karl Malone
Durant
West
Moses Malone
Garnett or Barkley

 

[MikeSU02]

Re-doing my top twenty:

Top ten:
MJ
Kareem
Bron
Magic
Bird
Duncan
Steph
KD

Wilt and Russell somewhere in the 6-10 range. Don’t know where. But that’s my top 10.

11-20 (this gets murkier with guys I never saw play live)

Hakeem
Shaq
Kobe
Giannis

Oscar, West, Moses, Elgin, Havlicek and Dr J would fill it out. I guess. In some order.

I am not putting Barkley, KG, Karl Malone, etc, ahead of Giannis. Giannis has a shot to be very high when this all ends and his accomplishments are nuts already.

I would predict that Giannis ends up too 10. Luka has a real shot if wins titles.

 

[NineOneSeven]

That’s what I’m talking about, folks

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Re-doing my top twenty:

Top ten:
MJ
Kareem
Bron
Magic
Bird
Duncan
Steph
KD

Wilt and Russell somewhere in the 6-10 range. Don’t know where. But that’s my top 10.

11-20 (this gets murkier with guys I never saw play live)

Hakeem
Shaq
Kobe
Giannis

Oscar, West, Moses, Elgin, Havlicek and Dr J would fill it out. I guess. In some order.

I am not putting Barkley, KG, Karl Malone, etc, ahead of Giannis. Giannis has a shot to be very high when this all ends and his accomplishments are nuts already.

I would predict that Giannis ends up too 10. Luka has a real shot if wins titles.

I would caveat mine to say Giannis is not there as of right now, but absolutely has the chance to move up, and Luka has a great chance to end up there too.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Jordan
Kareem
James
Russell
Magic
Bird
Kobe
Curry
Duncan
Wilt
Shaq
Dr. J
Oscar
Dirk
Olajuwon
Karl Malone
Durant
West
Moses Malone
Garnett or Barkley

I think Wilt was by far the most dominant player ever. His size and athletic ability (triple jumper/volleyball) would translate to today.
Led league in scoring, rebounding and assists in various seasons.
Great article here. Saw somewhere that in 29 playoff series, he played against a HOF center in 19 of them.
If not for the Celtics, he would have had multiple championships.
Crazy stories in here about injuring a guy by blocking his shot, and when his dunk hit a guy's foot.

Wilt Chamberlain: Did He Really Play In a Weak Era?

Wilt Chamberlain had more competition back in his day than there is today. The biggest misconception on Wilt is that he dominated because the game had no competition, which is just wrong and senseless...

syndication.bleacherreport.com

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I think Wilt was by far the most dominant player ever. His size and athletic ability (triple jumper/volleyball) would translate to today.
Led league in scoring, rebounding and assists in various seasons.
Great article here. Saw somewhere that in 29 playoff series, he played against a HOF center in 19 of them.
If not for the Celtics, he would have had multiple championships.
Crazy stories in here about injuring a guy by blocking his shot, and when his dunk hit a guy's foot.

Wilt Chamberlain: Did He Really Play In a Weak Era?

Wilt Chamberlain had more competition back in his day than there is today. The biggest misconception on Wilt is that he dominated because the game had no competition, which is just wrong and senseless...

syndication.bleacherreport.com

Two thoughts on Wilt - there are a lot of weird stories about how he'd get distracted by other things and wasn't really focused on winning basketball, and when you watch tape of him a lot of the moves are just awkward and not good fundamental basketball. He'd be coached better now I think, and the ability would translate, but I downgrade him because the dominance didn't correlate to winning.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I think Wilt was by far the most dominant player ever. His size and athletic ability (triple jumper/volleyball) would translate to today.
Led league in scoring, rebounding and assists in various seasons.
Great article here. Saw somewhere that in 29 playoff series, he played against a HOF center in 19 of them.
If not for the Celtics, he would have had multiple championships.
Crazy stories in here about injuring a guy by blocking his shot, and when his dunk hit a guy's foot.

Wilt Chamberlain: Did He Really Play In a Weak Era?

Wilt Chamberlain had more competition back in his day than there is today. The biggest misconception on Wilt is that he dominated because the game had no competition, which is just wrong and senseless...

syndication.bleacherreport.com

The line about how Wilt could have broken a rim if he wanted to was funny.

 

[Knicks411]

Two thoughts on Wilt - there are a lot of weird stories about how he'd get distracted by other things and wasn't really focused on winning basketball, and when you watch tape of him a lot of the moves are just awkward and not good fundamental basketball. He'd be coached better now I think, and the ability would translate, but I downgrade him because the dominance didn't correlate to winning.

Wilt is def a weird one, I think for sure early in his career he was heavily stat focused at the expense of winning. (though maybe thats a little harsh, they weren't bad, and they usually lost to the Celtics, which, no shame in that). And even later in the career you read the stories about how he was fixated on leading the league in assists, which kind of makes you think he got the right answer but for the wrong reason. But from like 67 on his teams were awesome and he was much more of a team player. And then you read the stuff about how he never fouled out of a game and he was kinda focused on protecting that record, and again, it makes you think he wasn't always focused purely on winning. But also, he was so dominant and his teams were usually very good at worst and he did win 2 titles and came close to others. So I dunno.

I may as well do a top 20. This will probably be an awful list, but whatever
1) Lebron
2) Jordan
3) Kareem
4) Duncan
5) Magic
6) Steph
7) Russell
8) Shaq
9) Bird
10) Hakeem
11) Durant
12) Wilt
13) Kobe
14) West
15) Giannis
16) KG
17) Oscar
18) Malone
19) Robinson
20) West

Like I said, I'm sure this list sucks. (making one is harder than criticizing one! Just stuck Giannis in the back half of the second 10, but that might be an insult to him. I feel like the top 3 is a class by itself, I struggled deciding on 4. I also wanted to put Hakeem > Shaq but couldn't pull the trigger.