NBA Chatter Thread

[Prodigal_Son]

Boring season, playoffs and finals.

This is a transitional period where legends are aging out (LeBron, Curry) while the next group of potential legendary players are young and still sorting themselves out (Doncic, Edwards, Wemby, others TBD), so it makes sense that a team like the Celtics would win with a very lackluster best player.

The guys in the middle like Giannis and Jokic could be in that group as well, but Giannis needs to stay healthy and Jokic never struck me as someone who had the drive to go back to back. Wouldn't surprise me at all if Denver barnstorms through the playoffs next year.

“Lackluster best player”

lol

Tatum is an amazing player who learned how to dominate games without just scoring this season. He’ll drop a 40 point night on you one night and then almost get a triple double the next.

 

[Simpleton]

“Lackluster best player”

lol

Tatum is an amazing player who learned how to dominate games without just scoring this season. He’ll drop a 40 point night on you one night and then almost get a triple double the next.

In the grand scheme of NBA champions he's lackluster.

He's basically one of the 3-5 worst "best players on a championship team" over the last 30-40 years.

You pretty much have the 2004 Pistons, 2008 Celtics, 2011 Mavs and the 2010's Spurs with old Duncan/young Kawhi as comparable, the rest of the time you're talking Jordan, Hakeem, Kobe, Shaq, prime Duncan, LeBron, Curry, etc.

So while Tatum is a top 5-7ish player in the current league, he's definitely a tier (or multiple tiers) below guys like that.

 

[Texas Ace]

You pretty much have the 2004 Pistons, 2008 Celtics, 2011 Mavs

Wait.... What?!

Arguably the greatest foreign player of all time who had one the best postseason performances in NBA history while facing one of the hardest roads to a championship is one of the worst best players of a championship team?



Bro.... NBA players are STILL talking about Dirk's 2011 playoff run.

You're crazy.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

I almost @ed you and Cotton on that.

 

[Simpleton]

Wait.... What?!

Arguably the greatest foreign player of all time who had one the best postseason performances in NBA history while facing one of the hardest roads to a championship is one of the worst best players of a championship team?



Bro.... NBA players are STILL talking about Dirk's 2011 playoff run.

You're crazy.

2011 Dirk wasn't prime Dirk or one of the top 2-3 players in the league at the time, that's why I think Dirk (at that exact point in time) is comparable, although I agree that Dirk's playoff performance as a whole that year and especially in the Finals was better.

I'd say 2011 Dirk was better overall, but he's one of the one's in a comparable tier, certainly more so than prime Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, LeBron, etc.

And to be clear I think Tatum right now is a bit below 2008 Garnett and 2011 Dirk, they're just much more comparable than 1997 Jordan or 2001 Shaq, 2016 LeBron and so forth.

 

[Cotton]

2011 Dirk wasn't prime Dirk or one of the top 2-3 players in the league at the time, that's why I think Dirk (at that exact point in time) is comparable, although I agree that Dirk's playoff performance as a whole that year and especially in the Finals was better.

I'd say 2011 Dirk was better overall, but he's one of the one's in a comparable tier, certainly more so than prime Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, LeBron, etc.

And to be clear I think Tatum right now is a bit below 2008 Garnett and 2011 Dirk, they're just much more comparable than 1997 Jordan or 2001 Shaq, 2016 LeBron and so forth.

Dude, you are freaking off the rails here.

 

[bbgun]

 

[Simpleton]

Dude, you are freaking off the rails here.

Do you think Dirk was a top 2-3 player in the league at that point? Or on the same level as guys like Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, etc.?

Because the answer is clearly no to both.

 

[Cotton]

Do you think Dirk was a top 2-3 player in the league at that point? Or on the same level as guys like Jordan, Hakeem, Shaq, etc.?

Because the answer is clearly no to both.

No one is comparing him to MJ, but he was easily, and mean easily, the best player on that team. Worst best player, man get outta here.

 

[Simpleton]

No one is comparing him to MJ, but he was easily, and mean easily, the best player on that team. Worst best player, man get outta here.

I don't think you're getting what I'm saying.

I'm saying that those guys were the worst of the "best players on a title team", i.e. the worst "number one options" on a championship winning team.

And to me 2011 Dirk is probably one of the bottom 5-10 of the last 30ish years when taking into account that the majority of the title winners were Jordan, Shaq, LeBron, Kobe, Duncan, Curry, etc.

 

[Cotton]

I don't think you're getting what I'm saying.

I'm saying that those guys were the worst of the "best players on a title team", i.e. the worst "number one options" on a championship winning team.

And to me 2011 Dirk is probably one of the bottom 5-10 of the last 30ish years when taking into account that the majority of the title winners were Jordan, Shaq, LeBron, Kobe, Duncan, Curry, etc.

Oh, I get what you're saying. I just disagree with you. 2011 was Dirk's 3rd highest PPG average of his career. You're just taking a shot at Dirk. Dirk was the very first Big to be able to consistently hit from 3. He basically paved the way for Wemby.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

In the grand scheme of NBA champions he's lackluster.

He's basically one of the 3-5 worst "best players on a championship team" over the last 30-40 years.

You pretty much have the 2004 Pistons, 2008 Celtics, 2011 Mavs and the 2010's Spurs with old Duncan/young Kawhi as comparable, the rest of the time you're talking Jordan, Hakeem, Kobe, Shaq, prime Duncan, LeBron, Curry, etc.

So while Tatum is a top 5-7ish player in the current league, he's definitely a tier (or multiple tiers) below guys like that.

He’s multiple time first team All NBA over other stars who aren’t lackluster and he’s one of only 6 players all time to lead their team in points, rebs and assists en route to a title. The man is legit.

But I guess we’d rather him be more like Embiid who is dominant in his own right and can’t get out of the 2nd round every year.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

But I guess we’d rather him be more like Embiid who is dominant in his own right and can’t get out of the 2nd round every year.

He went there with Geng.

 

[NoDak]

He went there with Geng.

If he thinks that is on Embiid and not on a front office that surrounds him with guys like Harden, Harris, Simmons, Fultz, etc... there's not really much to say.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

If he thinks that is on Embiid and not on a front office that surrounds him with guys like Harden, Harris, Simmons, Fultz, etc... there's not really much to say.

So after all these years, we’ve determined we shouldn’t have trusted the process?

 

[Simpleton]

He’s multiple time first team All NBA over other stars who aren’t lackluster and he’s one of only 6 players all time to lead their team in points, rebs and assists en route to a title. The man is legit.

But I guess we’d rather him be more like Embiid who is dominant in his own right and can’t get out of the 2nd round every year.

I don't think you'd see much difference in results if you swapped Embiid and Tatum, which is why I don't think either is on that legendary/generational level.

If Embiid had a supporting cast like Tatum I'm sure he'd have won a title by now, pending health.

And while Tatum is legit, he's still not on the level of the vast majority of the top options on title teams over the last 30 years, and likely never will be.

 

[Genghis Khan]

So after all these years, we’ve determined we shouldn’t have trusted the process?

The process ended when the league forced the fucking Colangelos on the franchise. It was going very well up to that point.

 

[Bipo]

 

[Bipo]

 

[Cotton]

JJ Redick signed a 4 year deal as HC for the Lakers.