The NBA Thread.

Aww man, I fell asleep and missed the end of my favorite 8th storyline of the summer

 

Catch up on my 8th membership dues. The warnings via mail have been getting scarier and scarier.

 

Everybody’s talking about Dame trades, but I’m more interested to see what the Suns do with Chris Paul. I definitely think he was the key that led to the run and the MVP on the team, but I also don’t think they’re good enough to have another legitimate shot at a title if they run it back with him. And the cost of giving it one more try is going to be massive.

 

Gannis > Lebron

 

ya, the words can be hurtful but the photos leave a lingering dread.

 

I can see it.

 

Dropping MJ to third, bold.

 

He's definitely got a claim for best player in the NBA right now, without a doubt. And his all time comparison to LeBron at that age looks pretty good as well, even though Bron didn't have anything close to a Holiday or a Middleton at that age.

But this situation does kind of remind me of Kawhi a few years back. He beat a heavily injured GSW squad in the finals, and people said the same thing. Since then - not even a finals appearance.

Giannis probably needs to do it again, or at least go down swinging hard, next season if he wants to maintain that standing for more than a year.

 

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...here-milwaukee-bucks-every-team-stand-2021-22

Suns, Jazz, Hawks too high.

Lakers, Nuggets, Warriors too low.

 

lol, he knows how to generate traffic

 

Say what you want about him. I'll agree with some and probably disagree with others, the man has built a small empire.

 

Yeah? How come he doesn't have an all important blue check mark? HUH?

 

akshually, it is a white checkmark.

 

Lebron, Durant, Curry (yes I know what he did this year), and Harden are all 2 years older and almost certainly past their peaks. With Kawhi 2 years ago it was more of a debate. He was/is in the pantheon but it was premature to call him the best. But this time, I think it's clear cut that Giannis is the best for the next year or two. Jokic, Luka, and Embiid aren't quite at his level. Zion may challenge in a couple seasons.

 

They better enjoy it while they can before Fulky enters the league

 

Reading Uni's comments in this thread, you would have thought the Bucks lost in 3.

But honestly, I'm like that for all my sports teams. Except, of course, they don't actually deliver any trophies.

 

Writing LeBron off two years ago was foolish, and doing so now is foolish as well. He was the front runner for the MVP like, 6 months ago. He's going to slow down at some point, but I don't know that we've seen that point yet.

Durant has an argument for being the best player in the league right now as well. He almost single-handedly pushed the champion Bucks to Game 7 OT. No Kyrie and a hobbled Harden... it's not a reach to say Durant outplayed Giannis in the series, even though Giannis came out on top.

I've never thought Steph was in the conversation for best player in the world. Best shooter of all time, sure. But he's got too many limitations to fit into the conversation with guys like LeBron, Durant, Giannis, etc.

Harden shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence with the other guys.

Giannis is definitely above Jokic, Luka, and Embiid, though in different ways. Luka may end up better "all-time", but he's not there yet, and he will always get dinged for his defense.

I look at it this way. If I needed to pick a single player to lead me to a championship next season, and injuries weren't a consideration, I'm still picking LeBron and Durant before I pick Giannis right now. And without much hesitation, either. There's a reason the Nets and Lakers are both favored over the Bucks to win in 2022.

 

The league really needs to start marketing him better. They've gotta find their new face, and he seems to at least have some personality for it.