Board 8 > NBA Discussion Topic 6: The Quietest Trade Deadline

(+) Yeah! (+)

Clearly Blake and Stan have hatched a plan to guarantee they win the lottery regardless of their chances
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TheRock1525 posted...

Man, it sucks that the Pistons are gonna miss the playoffs again.

If you knew anything about the Pistons you'd know that this is what they do. ;)
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jesus christ davis

I was thinking the other day.. who are the superstars in the NBA right now? here's my list

Lebron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Westbrook
Giannis

and one guy that I'm on the fence about: Kyrie. these aren't the best 7 players in the NBA but they're undoubtedly the ones who are household names and that are must see TV, guys we'll remember in 20 years.

guys who are almost there:

Davis
Chris Paul
Embiid
Cousins
Kawhi

AD is probably a top 5 guy in the league but it's so hard to group him in the top group when he can't seem to lead a team to even a playoff win. I have such a hard time deciding if his 60 point 25 rebound 8 block monster performances truly matter.
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as for Detroit - look on the bright side, you won't be paying Blake in 2023
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ExThaNemesis posted...

TheRock1525 posted...

Man, it sucks that the Pistons are gonna miss the playoffs again.

If you knew anything about the Pistons you'd know that this is what they do. ;)

Hey, at least I'll get to see my team win a title in my lifetime.

How many OKC got?
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transience posted...

as for Detroit - look on the bright side, you won't be paying Blake in 2023

It's so weird when your team's entire ability to be good depends on Reggie fucking Jackson.
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kareem spent years missing the playoffs, davis is as good as his numbers say

kyrie is undoubtedly a superstar. he has his own shoe line which i don't think westbrook or harden does
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Kyrie needs one playoff run of his own to show me but you're probably right.

Kareem's on a whole other level from Davis man. Lebron still hasn't passed him if you ask me despite all the #2 hype going around right now
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i'm just saying, davis isn't empty number. even kareem needed GOAT guards to help him win

kyrie's stardom isn't determined by his skill (though averaging like 29 in the finals ain't bad) but he's arguably more of a hoisehold name than harden, and almost certainly more well known/loved than giannis
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I think I would personally place Davis above Giannis but its close and they are probably 6 and 7 right now. Like I think dragging a team into playoff contention in the West is more impressive than being a 6 in the East.

I also would forgive not winning a playoff game when your competition is the Warriors.
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yeah, but it's been 5 years. it's not like he only had one chance. the west is tough but not so tough that an all-time big guy can't make the playoffs. Giannis is still in that zone where anything seems possible. Davis? I dunno. I was there with Davis 2 years ago and he just seems like he can't stay on the court or can't get enough help or I don't know. he needed a big performance tonight for a comeback at home against the team with the worst record in the league that is actively tanking. Cousins is a great excuse but I feel like he's always got excuses.

I'm fine with however you want to do it of course. just saying I can't lump Davis in just yet. make the playoffs this year without Cousins and I'll bite.
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The best player hes been with other than Boogie is Jrue Holiday and hes been injured a lot, which makes it a bit tougher for Davis. Though that seems to be different this year!

The other thing that makes me a bit more lenient is that I think this has definitely gone away from being a big man dominating league and more towards building a strong backcourt that can shoot from the perimeter. I mean if you want a really good example of a team with little backcourt presence right now, you can simply look at Detroit!
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yeah, agreed, but I think that actually hurts Davis's case. maybe he would have been an uber star if the league still valued super talented bigs. he might be the best big in the league but the league is looking more for a KD than an AD.
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I think I'd put Giannis in the "almost there" category. He and Davis are a small step below the rest of those guys in my book. My bias wants to put Kawhi in that top tier. I think Kyrie's in that tier. Both of them have either won Finals MVPs or been a big reason his team has won a title.
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Kawhi I think you can make the argument that hes third or fourth in the league prior to the injury. Kyrie on the other hand needs a good push from the Celtics to get there I think, otherwise hes just in the shadow of LeBron. I would probably consider putting him and Klay in that Tier 2 though.
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The Hawks can't do much on the court but they should be giving their social media team max deals

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/968294499498815488
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Kawhi's major selling point has been how under the radar he is. I don't think the average fan knows who he is like they do Harden or Westbrook. heck, he's missed the whole year for no real known reason and it's completely under the radar. that should be the story of the year.

I think the shoe thing is probably about right - does Kawhi have his own shoe? maybe he does. I could see pretenders like Dame Lillard having his own shoe.
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Kawhi doesnt.

Lillard has four! Paul George is the most recent player signed to Nike too.

Although I dont know how much room there is in the shoe market given MJ and Kobe make up a large chunk of it even though theyre retired
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IT4 doesn't deal with complications well and he's not healthy and he never will be. He has this weird toxicity to him. What a fall. He went from KING IN THE FOURTH to a guy that killed a locker room and a lost bench player in LA, and that's not necessarily touching on his hip or his sister.

what kind of contract does Thomas get this offseason? what team would even want to sign him?
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if teams were flush with cap space this summer he might be able to get a 10mm-ish flyer, similar to rondo these last few years

as is, i have a hard time seeing him get more than a MLE, tops
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Lebron

Durant
Curry

Westbrook
Harden

Chris Paul
Kyrie

Giannis
Embiid

Davis
Cousins
Kawhi

I think that's how I'd structure the list.
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is this in terms of how good the players are, or how recognized they are? for recognizability i'd rank kyrie above westbrook and harden; for skill i'd have davis way higher

(edit)
anthony davis's career playoff stats (4 games):
31.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.3 steals, 3.0 blocks

he was 21 that season
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LeBron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Leonard
Westbrook
Giannis
Davis
Paul
Boogie

That would be my top 10 I think, with Kyrie, Jimmy Butler, Embiid, Lillard, and Draymond Green just outside of it.
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it was just for recognizability. Kawhi is top 5 skill wise imo
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SeabassDebeste posted...

for recognizability i'd rank kyrie above westbrook and harden

no way
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LeonhartFour posted...

SeabassDebeste posted...

for recognizability i'd rank kyrie above westbrook and harden

no way

I honestly could see it

That whole flat earther thing was actually a clever PR stunt by Kyrie!
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LiquidOshawott posted...

That whole flat earther thing was actually a clever PR stunt by Kyrie!

did anyone who didn't already know who Kyrie Irving was care about that
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I like Demar Derozan.
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transience posted...

Embiid

Call me when Embiid makes his way into triple digits games played
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I will be sure to let you know

I guess the Cavs came back down to earth. shouldn't take heroics to beat the Nets at home, especially when it's your pick you're playing for.
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LeBron probably gonna be hella mad that he only shot 3 free throws lol
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oh and my list was just who I think is a superstar, a guy who's absolutely a cut above everyone else. Kawhi is out and was supposedly their one and only great player but the Spurs are still going to win 50 games without him.

if you want just a ranking

Lebron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Giannis
Westbrook (he's tough. I might put him out of the top 10 on a day where I'm feeling particularly bitter about how he plays the game.)
Davis
(gap)
Paul
Irving
...Jokic?
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michael jordan was supposedly a cut above everyone else but when he was out the bulls won 55 games
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good call, but the nba really sucked in 1994
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transience posted...

oh and my list was just who I think is a superstar, a guy who's absolutely a cut above everyone else. Kawhi is out and was supposedly their one and only great player but the Spurs are still going to win 50 games without him.

might as well throw Tim Duncan under the bus while you're at it
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also I think the point was that the Spurs were said to have nobody that was even moderately good - everyone hated LMA - while the Bulls had a consensus top 50 guy
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oh man Duncan was a shell of himself by the end there
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the kawhi disrespect makes me want to puke
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transience posted...

also I think the point was that the Spurs were said to have nobody that was even moderately good - everyone hated LMA - while the Bulls had a consensus top 50 guy

I think it's more that people feel like the Spurs run a system that allows them to win no matter who's in the system. They won an NBA title with Steven Jackson and old Steve Kerr, for crying out loud.
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totally. that's why I question Kawhi

keep throwing up guys
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But I think you can still recognize when a player is great even as he plays within that system. I don't think it has to be mutually exclusive.
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agreed. it's not like Kawhi is just average or anything. he's great. I'd put him top 10 if I knew what the heck was wrong with him and if he was ever going to be OK.
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the spurs were 1-3 in the playoffs in the 3 seasons before they got kawhi

they're 12-4 in playoff series with kawhi

that said, LMA was leading portland to 50-win seasons so even though he's not incredible, it's no knock against kawhi that he's not doing that much better

there's no question kyrie is better than anyone on the celtics last year but they're gonna be similarly good in the regular season this year
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I dunno, I think the Isaiah of the 2016-17 regular season is better than 2017-18 Kyrie
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he performed better, yeah, but you'd never call him a better player - just like LMA is drastically outperforming this year, too, but you're not gonna call him better than (for example) anthony davis
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I'd love a Spurs fan, or someone who's watched a lot of Spurs, say if the reason LMA is playing well is because Kawhi is out

I have to assume yes just based on results
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transience posted...

I'd love a Spurs fan, or someone who's watched a lot of Spurs, say if the reason LMA is playing well is because Kawhi is out

I have to assume yes just based on results

I mean it seems clear that the two don't know how to play together

I haven't compared LMA's numbers this year compared to what they were during the, what, 9-10 games Kawhi has played this year though.
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it's a conspiracy! pop is keeping kawhi out so he can trade LMA for something worthwhile
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Dejounte Murray is pretty legit I think

Its big shoes to replace Tony Parker and while being the starting PG has growing pains they seem to be righting the ship now
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transience posted...

I'd love a Spurs fan, or someone who's watched a lot of Spurs, say if the reason LMA is playing well is because Kawhi is out

I have to assume yes just based on results

The honest answer is that we really don't know. That's likely part of it but LMA has also very obviously changed his playstyle up to be more like it was before he came to SA.
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