NBA (whenever)...

[Federberg]

Who are these people who said "ONLY" KD could have done it? This was absolutely never a real talking to any real degree. Again, people were outraged Durant made the Warriors unbeatable. It can't be both that he made them unbeatable and they could have ONLY won with him. It makes zero sense. Are you able to have a debate without forced "lol" and emojis and getting over your emotional self for once? I enjoy talking about basketball. Why would I "move on"? This isn't a competition. My god.

lol! Yes I can have a debate without that. But if you make me laugh I'm going to express myself accordingly. Please don't act put upon now it comes across as insincere. We are both who we are, let's at least have the decency to own it. If you're not aware of the narrative then you've been living in a hole. Stop it. I can agree with people saying that getting KD made the Warriors unfair. I get that. But many go further and say that they wouldn't have won without KD. That I have an issue with

 

[brokenshoelace]

Kobe's main gift in the all time debate is also his greatest curse. He's the closest thing to Michael Jordan, which means that people can get carried away and at times overrate him, since you know, being the closest thing to the GOAT is some serious flattery. The flipside is that he's not Michael Jordan. So there isn't an all time starting 5 Kobe is going to go into because the SG spot is sealed. A double edged sword. Now obviously there isn't Kobe without MJ, but for argument's sake, if Jordan didn't exist, we would have looked at Kobe as someone completely unique at the time. I'm still not sold on him being a top 5 player ever though.

 

[brokenshoelace]

lol! Yes I can have a debate without that. But if you make me laugh I'm going to express myself accordingly. Please don't act put upon now it comes across as insincere. We are both who we are, let's at least have the decency to own it. If you're not aware of the narrative then you've been living in a hole. Stop it. I can agree with people saying that getting KD made the Warriors unfair. I get that. But many go further and say that they wouldn't have won without KD. That I have an issue with

But hold on, "they wouldn't have won without KD" and "they could have ONLY won with KD" are two different things. Obviously, you put Paul George in there and the Warriors are most likely still winning, at least in 2017. 2018 could have been a different story especially since they were a CP3 hamstring injury away from potentially not even making the finals. And if they decided to run it back with the 2016 team, it's silly to say they couldn't have won when that's a 73 win team. But you alluded to the psychological impact of the 2016 loss, which could have carried over to 2017 if they kept the same team. Honestly, there's a decent chance the Cavs could have beaten them again. Adding Durant removed so much of that anxiety because it just made them impossible to deal with.

 

[Federberg]

Kobe's main gift in the all time debate is also his greatest curse. He's the closest thing to Michael Jordan, which means that people can get carried away and at times overrate him, since you know, being the closest thing to the GOAT is some serious flattery. The flipside is that he's not Michael Jordan. So there isn't an all time starting 5 Kobe is going to go into because the SG spot is sealed. A double edged sword. Now obviously there isn't Kobe without MJ, but for argument's sake, if Jordan didn't exist, we would have looked at Kobe as someone completely unique at the time. I'm still not sold on him being a top 5 player ever though.

that's fair, and I agree with you about the problem placing Kobe because he's so MJ adjacent. By the way - not that anyone here seems to be disputing it - this is one of the things that makes the MJ goat case so indisputable.

 

[Federberg]

But hold on, "they wouldn't have won without KD" and "they could have ONLY won with KD" are two different things. Obviously, you put Paul George in there and the Warriors are most likely still winning, at least in 2017. 2018 could have been a different story especially since they were a CP3 hamstring injury away from potentially not even making the finals. And if they decided to run it back with the 2016 team, it's silly to say they couldn't have won when that's a 73 win team. But you alluded to the psychological impact of the 2016 loss, which could have carried over to 2017 if they kept the same team. Honestly, there's a decent chance the Cavs could have beaten them again. Adding Durant removed so much of that anxiety because it just made them impossible to deal with.

now we're getting somewhere. Paul George is right at the top of my list of players who could have done it instead of KD. I think PG would have been enough to get that 73 - 9 team over the top too

There are people out there who make the claim that they could ONLY have won with KD. And frankly saying they wouldn't have won without KD is sort of implying the same thing. I get the nuance, and I appreciate that you get it too, but it's incredible how insidious narratives are.

 

[kskate2]

now we're getting somewhere. Paul George is right at the top of my list of players who could have done it instead of KD. I think PG would have been enough to get that 73 - 9 team over the top too

There are people out there who make the claim that they could ONLY have won with KD. And frankly saying they wouldn't have won without KD is sort of implying the same thing. I get the nuance, and I appreciate that you get it too, but it's incredible how insidious narratives are.

PG? Only if he was vertical. He's been on IR so much, I forgot about his skillset.

 

[kskate2]

I would move Kobe and Curry to 9 and 10 and move Duncan up higher. But overall it’s not a bad list aside from it must have been done by Allen Iverson’s mom. That guy is definitely nowhere near top 20 and possibly not top 40. These lists sometimes just go on influence.

Definitely done by his mom. Ringless AI above the Dream? A joke and a half.

 

[Federberg]

PG? Only if he was vertical. He's been on IR so much, I forgot about his skillset.

this is the PG of 14-15 era that was giving LeBron teams hell in the playoffs. I agree he's not that guy anymore, by a long shot

 

[DarthFed]

I won’t badmouth PG but yeah he has been overrated for a while now, even the rare times he’s healthy for an extended period. But he did have multiple major injuries, so I am more harsh on guys like Street Clothes Davis who will miss a couple weeks with a hangnail.

 

[Federberg]

I won’t badmouth PG but yeah he has been overrated for a while now, even the rare times he’s healthy for an extended period. But he did have multiple major injuries, so I am more harsh on guys like Street Clothes Davis who will miss a couple weeks with a hangnail.

it's a strange thing the tolerance of pain. There are some guys who'll bail out with a scratch and others who'll play with a broken bone. AD is defo the poster child of low pain tolerance!

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

Perhaps the greatest attribute of LeBron James is his durability. LeBron is very reliable, and you can count on him to be there, especially in the most important moments. His teams have played in 296 playoff games, and LeBron has never missed a single one.

 

[DarthFed]

Perhaps the greatest attribute of LeBron James is his durability. LeBron is very reliable, and you can count on him to be there, especially in the most important moments. His teams have played in 296 playoff games, and LeBron has never missed a single one.

This is an insane stat! And if they win this series he will have 300+ playoff games which is close to another 4 regular seasons. The mileage is crazy, even compared to guys like KD and Steph.

 

[Murat B.]

This is an insane stat! And if they win this series he will have 300+ playoff games which is close to another 4 regular seasons. The mileage is crazy, even compared to guys like KD and Steph.

OK fine, fuck, he is #2.

 

[Federberg]

oh wow! One Cooper Flagg stat that's super impressive is the fact that he's the first rookie since MJ to lead his team in total points, rebounds, assists and steals. I think that might just top what Kneuppel did actually.

 

[Federberg]

This is an insane stat! And if they win this series he will have 300+ playoff games which is close to another 4 regular seasons. The mileage is crazy, even compared to guys like KD and Steph.

I've always said that LeBron has had the best career of any NBA player ever. Seriously impressive!

 

[DarthFed]

oh wow! One Cooper Flagg stat that's super impressive is the fact that he's the first rookie since MJ to lead his team in total points, rebounds, assists and steals. I think that might just top what Kneuppel did actually.

That is extremely impressive! It seems Cooper just got better and better as the season went on. We know a sniper like Knueppel can have a long and great career but Flagg could end up being a top 3 player in the next few years. The US needs him and possibly others to become a mega star otherwise the iron grip on Olympics will slip away. But I know that’s a different subject for a different day.

 

[the AntiPusher]

not sure anyone here said that SGA wasn't talented. For me it's a toss up between him and Wemby for MVP. I would have zero objection if either won it. At a push I would say SGA should get it. But all that doesn't mean that the exploitation of the rules isn't annoying. For the record it's just as annoying when it's done by Luka or Brunson. What makes SGA particularly annoying is that at the same time he's flopping his way to the foul line (something his talent level doesn't require) we see Lu Dort on the other side injuring the opposition star player. We see aggressive defence from the OKC wings. Personally I love the defence I see from OKC, I'm happy the refs allow it. What I don't understand is why it's ok for the OKC wings to prosecute that style of defence but if you even cough in SGA's direction off to the line he goes. There's something wrong with this and it needs to be fixed. I would love the NBA to move towards FIBA style refereeing. I'm loving the physicality I'm seeing in the playoffs. We all want fair and balanced oversight, not something that seem stilted towards one team.

PS, as a Warriors fan it's even more annoying that Steph is literally grabbed and held on to, and he barely gets a whistle, yet if you even frown at some of this fkrs they get to the line. So you... and you know who you are can "casually" fuck off