Poll of the Day > Sports Discussion Topic #177: The Playoffs are the REAL Golden Nights

(+) Yeah! (+)

SpeeDLeemon posted...

Did you not read my post about the Sixers?

I actually did not read past the first little bit and now I did. Paul George would not be enough. I'm not sure who else might be available that would be enough

The Cavs do have the eighth overall pick, but I'm not sure if the draft happens before free agency. They suck at drafting anyway, they wasted top five picks on dudes like Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett. What other flexibility do they have? I figure most of the guys they traded for aren't going to stick around long. But Thompson and JR Smith are still stuck in bad contracts I think, so they're probably pretty limited.

I sort of expect LeBron to try to be the good guy and end up sticking around this time. Or maybe he just wants the five-year max deal. Maybe deep down he knows that he's probably not beating Golden State no matter where he spends the next four years

Chewster posted...

The Cavs do have the eighth overall pick, but I'm not sure if the draft happens before free agency. They suck at drafting anyway, they wasted top five picks on dudes like Dion Waiters and Anthony Bennett. What other flexibility do they have? I figure most of the guys they traded for aren't going to stick around long. But Thompson and JR Smith are still stuck in bad contracts I think, so they're probably pretty limited.

I sort of expect LeBron to try to be the good guy and end up sticking around this time. Or maybe he just wants the five-year max deal. Maybe deep down he knows that he's probably not beating Golden State no matter where he spends the next four years

If he went to Houston I am positive he would win

Today is the day when we find out if Ontario is as stupid as the American public.
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I think there will be more scrutiny on LeBron if he switches teams. They'll say he's ring chasing and still can't win a ring if he loses. But if he wins then of course it was a good decision and he'll get his recognition for beating Golden State.

LeBron has haters that will always be haters and there's nothing he can do about it. He can't please everyone so all he can do is make the best decision for himself and that means leaving the Cavs. Also, "ring chasing?" God for is an athlete... Try to win a ring???

Ultima_Dragoon posted...

I think there will be more scrutiny on LeBron if he switches teams. They'll say he's ring chasing and still can't win a ring if he loses. But if he wins then of course it was a good decision and he'll get his recognition for beating Golden State.

This is clearly not correct. Almost everyone loves LeBron now and no reasonable person on Earth expects him to stay in Cleveland or thinks he owes them anything (spoiler alert: he never did). When he leaves and loses to GSW in the final again despite a Herculean effort they'll just say the same things about him that they've always said until he is no longer a dominant force in the sport.

I've been watching a lot of basketball discussion lately and LeBron definitely has haters, even right now against a team he has no chance of beating. I just think when (or if) he evens the odds a bit and still loses, it's going to get rough for him. He won't have the "no help" excuse. Whether he asked for it or not, he's not judged like a normal basketball player. People judge his actions based on whether it helps or hurts his GOAT ranking. Any little slip-up is going to have people foaming at the mouth to say I told you so.

Of course people are going to say whatever they want and those people don't really matter anyway. I'm just looking into the future and predicting what I think the narrative will be.

STLCards1991 posted...

LeBron has haters that will always be haters and there's nothing he can do about it. He can't please everyone so all he can do is make the best decision for himself and that means leaving the Cavs.

I agree with this. Hopefully he can tune out the haters and figure out what's best for him.

500:1 odds if you had bet on the Knights to win. Then you would just need to worry about collecting that cash.
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Another post that would've made more sense if the Knights weren't apparently about to lose the series

Haha yeah at this point if they lose in the final that's actually a million times worse than not having bet on them at all because a) you're seemingly about to lose that money officially (though not officially SpeeD and don't worry because jinxes don't exist) and b) now you spent the whole year thinking you were maybe about to make thousands of dollars and you had probably just convinced yourself it was really going to happen

Oh dont worry, Im fully expecting the Caps to close it out tonight. Theyre just better than the Knights in a few areas and if they play the same game as the past two games, its over.

Some sad news. My personal hero and heretofore paragon of virtue Julian Edelman is facing a four game suspension for PED usage. I don't know if I'll be able to root for the Patriots anymore.

Shocking and devastating. You'd never expect to hear that somebody on the Patriots is a cheater

STLCards1991 posted...

Some sad news. My personal hero and heretofore paragon of virtue Julian Edelman is facing a four game suspension for PED usage. I don't know if I'll be able to root for the Patriots anymore.

People need to get over their PED hatred. He just completely tore his acl last year. Not a partial tear, he completely tore it.

PEDs should absolutely be allowed for people recovering from season ending injuries.

It's funny though because he's a Patriot

Chewster posted...

It's funny though because he's a Patriot

No, for sure, fuck the patriots

And now I may be able to get Edelman in like the fourth round

MICHALECOLE posted...

STLCards1991 posted...

Some sad news. My personal hero and heretofore paragon of virtue Julian Edelman is facing a four game suspension for PED usage. I don't know if I'll be able to root for the Patriots anymore.

People need to get over their PED hatred. He just completely tore his acl last year. Not a partial tear, he completely tore it.

PEDs should absolutely be allowed for people recovering from season ending injuries.

um, they can't get over it. the last time when it was overlooked, there was abuse of it. Sorry edelman that your ligament tore, but thats a occupational hazard. you gotta heal it within the limits of the nfl.
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blackhrt posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

STLCards1991 posted...

Some sad news. My personal hero and heretofore paragon of virtue Julian Edelman is facing a four game suspension for PED usage. I don't know if I'll be able to root for the Patriots anymore.

People need to get over their PED hatred. He just completely tore his acl last year. Not a partial tear, he completely tore it.

PEDs should absolutely be allowed for people recovering from season ending injuries.

um, they can't get over it. the last time when it was overlooked, there was abuse of it. Sorry edelman that your ligament tore, but thats a occupational hazard. you gotta heal it within the limits of the nfl.

If only things like this could be regulated within the rules

But the nfl is in the dark ages anyway. They prescribe opioids like candy but marijuana is still banned

Why was that not goalie interference?

Zeeky_Bomb posted...

Today is the day when we find out if Ontario is as stupid as the American public.

Narrator: Ontario was as stupid as the American public.
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At least you can drown it all in a haze of marijuana smoke

I remember when the results were coming in and it looked good for Trump I tried to watch The Crown on Netflix (still only watched one half of one episode to this day) and had to stop because I got diarrhea from the stress of a braindead Nazi becoming the president

Chewster posted...

At least you can drown it all in a haze of marijuana smoke

I mean, yeah, but that would require me to start smoking weed again.

Actually, edibles would be preferable. I just hate the feeling of smoking anything.

CaptainHammer posted...

I remember when the results were coming in and it looked good for Trump I tried to watch The Crown on Netflix (still only watched one half of one episode to this day) and had to stop because I got diarrhea from the stress of a braindead Nazi becoming the president

Your Nazi is going to love our anti-semitic drug dealer!
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FJKDFJKDSHJFDIOJWDFDOJF

caps
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Lord Stanley has finally forgiven SpeeD for misspelling his name. Congrats to all affected Caps supporters.

I am disappointed in the Knights, but congrats Caps, you played well
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Congratulations SpeeD! Your fandom has paid off.

I don't think I've seen an athlete look as happy as Ovie did as the game ended in a long while.
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Damn you Kuznetsov. I needed Ovechkin to get more points, not you.

I'm in the Sportsnet fantasy league, and was doing so well. I haven't calculated it yet, but I think I'm 4th or 5th overall, out of tens of thousands of people. I'll find out when it updates tomorrow, but you needed to be top 3 to get cash, and I definitely didn't make that.

Oh well, I crushed everyone in my local pool and will never do this well again. I will resume my usual position of 10,000th place next year.
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Congratufuckinglations Caps! Watching Ovi lift the cup made me cry, probably the best cup hoist since Bourque. So happy for you guys!
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Congraturation!

Yup. 3 way tie for first at 360 points. I got 4th with 359.
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You guys suck. Caps won and the city isn't on fire. I have to go to work.
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Way to go Caps. That's very cool and very surprising. Congrats SpeeD on seeing a second team win it all. Bastard.

Condolences to the Golden Knights and their fans. Not fun to be a fan of a tortured franchise

I'm happy for Ovechkin because I always feel bad for those superstars who never get their championship. Who else is out there (in any sport) who still needs one? Trout obviously but he's still only like 26 and will probably win with the Red Sox or Yankees. Kershaw still needs one. Scherzer. I don't know the other sports well enough to say who "deserves" one but hasn't gotten one yet.

Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman.
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I love that they let the team captain hoist the trophy too. It's such garbage to have people cheering for fucking Robert Kraft or Jim Crane right after clinching a championship

I feel like that's weird to say about baseball players. Not that they don't "deserve" a championship but baseball players have so little impact compared to other sports. If somebody like Peyton Manning has a great season, his team is probably going to the playoffs and will have a shot at the Super Bowl. Same thing with a guy like Crosby or Ovie provided they have an okay team around them. Then the NBA obviously sees this happen the most.

In MLB, you can have a guy like Trout put up insane numbers every year, but sometimes the Angels will be bad and sometimes they'll be good. You don't get that feeling like any given year could be their year like you do with other sports, so to me it's not as big of a letdown when they don't win. Unless you're talking about somebody like Kershaw or Scherzer, but that's more because the Dodgers and Nationals have just been good teams for several years, not because any team they go to is guaranteed playoff-bound.

TyVulpine posted...

Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman.

Come on man

I was gonna say at least Harper is #2 to Trout, but looking at his stats... is that even true? He's really not as good as I remembered, outside of his 2015 year. I think that's just some media narrative they push since he was a #1 pick, came up around the same time as Trout and they're similar in age.

Though it raises a good question, who is the real #2 position player over Trout's time? I'm sure Fangraphs has some tool where you can compare WAR leaders over a grouping of seasons, but I couldn't figure it out, maybe one of you who uses the site more can. Maybe that guy is Harper for all I know. There are a lot of guys playing better than him now, but most of them weren't in the majors since 2012.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=&rost=&age=&filter=&players=

No clear #2 but it ain't Bryce. Maybe Votto.

edit: looks like it's either gonna be Donaldson or Votto. That's since 2012 btw

Lol that Multiple Seasons option is right there and I didn't see it. Thanks.

Harper is definitely really good but people will always erroneously put him up there with Trout because a) they won Rookie of the Year the same year and were both super young and super hyped and b) because Harper really was extraordinary in 2015. But Trout has been much better every year before and since.

Trout is so much better than everyone else that this thought experiment feels like a joke.

I guess Kris Bryant is stupid good because he's 21 there but he didn't start until 2015

Oh, or Mookie Betts, he's even higher up and only played part of 2014. Why do these guys gotta be on the stupid Cubs and Red Sox

Yeah that's the other part that's weird, I mean this is duh but there's been year to year different best players besides him. Bryant and Betts are both monsters and then Lindor is on the second page too. Cabrera was the guy when Trout first came up but he hasn't been elite for a while now.

It's funny because Kris Bryant is ridiculously good by any regular standard but when you put him next to Trout he looks very ho hum. There's just zero comparison to be made. Trout has been lapping the field since day one (of his second season technically)