The Indy Talks To Himself (NBA) Thread.

I'd venture to say, again, you are wrong about that.

 

Jai lai should make a comeback

 

I'd venture to say that if you weren't on a forum with a bunch of your buddies, you'd be laughed out of the room for your last two comments in this thread (Jeremy Lin; MJ on the Cavs).

 

Only by dumb people, and I typically don't care what they think. By this point smart people would be laughing along with me mocking you.

 

Then again, I'm smart enough that if I was made fun of and mocked by every person involved with something over and over and over and over I'd eventually get tired of it and find somewhere else to go.

 

But apparently not smart enough to realize that it doesn't mean a whole lot when your friends agree with you or won't call you out for being wrong. This may come as a surprise to you, but the people on this site are going to agree with you and disagree with me regardless of topic and the sides we choose. Because they're friends with you and not friends with me - not because you're necessarily correct. And trust me, you're as far from correct as humanly possible with that ridiculous Jeremy Lin association.

 

I think we do a pretty good job around here calling everyone out when we think they are wrong, regardless of friendship.

I would actually say your statement is 180 degrees in the opposite of how this site operates.

And dumb ass, I don't believe Jeremy Lin is some all time great, I was mocking/making fun of you. You are just so stupid you can't realize it.

 

I agree or disagree based on stance. If Card was telling me Lebron was a great defender and that not giving effort on the court during games was just a way to save legs, id call him a fool on the topic and suggest his guy sit the [uck fay] down on the bench, especially when taking plays off on defense means leaving teammates cleaning up the mess.
Basketball and leadership are much more than looking at and quoting stat lines. Much more happens on the floor. Dont be mad if others see it.

 

Jesus dude. I know exactly what you were trying to do. Let me spell it out for you. You're mocking my claim of Dwight Howard's greatness by pointing to another player, Jeremy Lin, who you think, similarly to Dwight Howard, was great for a short period of time, and hyperbolically comparing him to all time greats like John Stockton. So in your comparison

Jeremy Lin ---> Dwight Howard
John Stockton ---> Patrick Ewing

And you think it makes you look smart and me look dumb because no one in their right mind would ever compare Jeremy Lin to John Stockton.

But the point fails miserably because the comparison makes no sense, even considering that it's meant to be hyperbole in the first place. No, I don't think you are actually saying Jeremy Lin's success was the same as Dwight Howard's. But you had to pick a player for your comparison, and the fact that you picked Lin suggests you think there's at least some similarities between their careers/success. Which makes your comparison retarded, even when used in a hyperbolic fashion. Because Dwight Howard is a borderline Hall of Famer, who will likely get in as time moves on, and Jeremy Lin is just a guy who played in the NBA for a bit.

 

I don't care about making me look smart.

I'm just pointing out the absurdity of your comment with a comparison of my own while getting a laugh out of it, and probably giving others laughs as well at that as well as you going "full Indy" as a result.

If you knew it was hyperbole, why did you make a big deal about it?

 

LeBron is best raw talent of all time. Not going to argue that. I don't think it's that close.

I also think he's been coddled since he was about 12 or 13 and doesn't have the same killer mentality that the Jordan's and Kobe have. Maybe a flash here or there, but nothing sustained. I think he cares more about his empire than basketball.

I will always, always side with the person who would run over his own grandmother to win a sporting event. Always. And for than MJ>LBJ

 

With all this talk of the GOAT has anyone even considered Aritz Erkiaga?

 

Aritz "Cracker" Erky was a beast.

 

Because in order for hyperbole to work effectively, it has to have some sort of basis in reality. There are degrees. You could have compared your son (instead of Lin) to John Stockton. It would have still been hyperbole, but it's not very effective because your son never played in the NBA. Similarly, your choice of Jeremy Lin isn't effective either. The guy never even made an all star team. Your choice to use Lin in your hyperbole is a pretty obvious tell about your lack of knowledge, with regards to Howard.

A more apt choice would have been Derrick Rose. Some success, but not sustained. Has an MVP (which Stockton doesn't have), but no one in their right mind would put Rose on the same level as Stockton.

But again, you believe it's absurd to compare prime Dwight Howard to prime Patrick Ewing, so it's not surprising at all that you felt your hyperbole could be effective using Jeremy Lin.

 

It's just as effective because the degree of absurdity is the same because, once again, despite thinking you know everything you have no idea how good Ewing was in his prime and can only look at numbers and MVP voting totals to prove your point.

 

If I was saying anything outlandish or irrational, then yeah, they could dismiss my opinion, and my age would be a likely culprit. But I'm not saying anything outlandish or irrational. My views fall pretty closely in line with the norm. I've said MJ is 1 and LBJ is 2 for me. That falls in line with what a lot of people think. I rank Chuck, the Mailman, Dirk, etc. similarly to where nearly everyone else ranks them in the "all-time greats" conversation. I've suggested that I would take prime LeBron's defense over prime Jordan's defense, due to his size and versatility, which is a relatively innocuous position. There are a lot of people who agree with that position. Even the claim about Dwight Howard that has everyone in a tizzy won't seem all that outlandish 10 years after Howard retires. It's comparing two likely hall-of-famers.

And I don't know why you assume everyone in here has experience watching LeBron and other current day players. Uni watches, but I don't think a lot of the people in here commenting watch the NBA with any sort of regularity. I don't think Card watched Dwight Howard play in Orlando. If he did, his memory is failing him miserably. The idea that MJ would have won two in Cleveland is the most outlandish thing that's been said in this thread, but I don't see anyone calling it out as such.

The dime store psychology was mostly jest. But I do think there's a legitimate bias against LeBron that is not based in basketball. I recognize it because I used to have it myself. Card sort of hinted at it in one of his last couple posts:

Doesn't that sound somewhat similar to what I said about people not liking the fact that he was called "The King" and "The Chosen One" before even stepping foot on an NBA court? Again, I used to hate LeBron as well. But then he won a title... and another title... and I started to realize my reasons for disliking him weren't really based in basketball, but I was allowing my dislike for him cloud my judgement of him as a basketball player. I think a lot of people are still in that same boat, including some in this thread.

 

No, it doesn't at all, it explains the difference in their mentalities towards winning.

I don't dislike Lebron, he's probably the most physically gifted athlete of all time. He seems like a genuinely good person too. It doesn't mean he's the best basketball player of all time.

 

This is perfect. Unimane brought up MVP voting totals in defense of Ewing, and now you're attempting to prove my lack of knowledge on the subject by citing the use of MVP voting totals. Pure. [uck fay]ing. Gold.

As a kid growing up in Indiana in the 90's, I probably had more exposure to Ewing than nearly any other player in that era who wasn't on the Pacers or named Michael Jordan. And again, I've gone back and watched some of the games as well because I enjoy watching basketball. Meanwhile, I'd still lean towards you having watched less than 10 games of Dwight Howard playing for the Magic. They built an entire team around him, and he carried that team to the NBA finals. Teams literally had to set up their entire offensive gameplan around him because he was such a presence inside.

 

I've not argued with Uni over it or I'd call it absurd there too. You are the one using it with me.

So anyway - Uni, don't use MVP rankings to determine something. Shame on you.

You don't think teams gameplanned solely around Ewing from the time he set foot on campus at Georgetown to about 3 to 4 years before he retired?