Not going to lie, I thought of this after listening to that sound clip of Kyrie blaming the Nets' struggles on the team not having enough time to play together:
This was my exact reaction at the time lmfao
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This was my exact reaction at the time lmfao
What is the counter argument to the hot take: Tatum is better than KD right now?
Bill Simmons was talking about how KD might be in the next phase of his career now (ie Old Man Durant), but I did not get that impression at all.. until this series. It was only a week or two ago that KD and Giannis were the unanimous top picks if you had to win one game. Dude didn't just get old overnight.
Bill Simmons was talking about how KD might be in the next phase of his career now (ie Old Man Durant), but I did not get that impression at all.. until this series. It was only a week or two ago that KD and Giannis were the unanimous top picks if you had to win one game. Dude didn't just get old overnight.
The counter argument is that basketball has existed for more than the last 2 weeks
KD has been consensus top 2 for several years. Tatum has never broken the top 10 (though he's on the verge for sure).
Yeah, I'd probably wait and see how he plays the rest of the postseason and beyond. The way I see it, part of being considered one of the best active players is how the player is able to respond and overcome gameplans set against them.
The best example I can think of is Giannis coming out of the bubble. He wasn't bad, but the Heat basically neutralized him with their zoning and took that experience to take his next leap.
The best example I can think of is Giannis coming out of the bubble. He wasn't bad, but the Heat basically neutralized him with their zoning and took that experience to take his next leap.
Whether or not Tatum is "better" than KD, I think this series (and the last few seasons) has made it obvious that you'd choose Tatum over KD if you could only have one guy for a season. If we're talking one game, though? It's still Giannis, KD, and (probably) LeBron as the three main guys.
Actually, I might take Kawhi second if I'm guaranteed a healthy version of every player in the NBA...
Actually, I might take Kawhi second if I'm guaranteed a healthy version of every player in the NBA...
Durant has missed 60% of the games he could play in the last three years?
Durant was top 2 for like one series in the last three years and has otherwise clearly produced less value than Giannis and Jokic.
This is like calling Kawhi Leonard top 2.
Are Durant and Kawhi all-time greats? Yes. Are they still all-time great when healthy? Yes. Can they actually stay healthy through a title run? Almost certainly not.
It's not crazy if we're talking healthy versions! Dude was absolutely nuts before he was hurt (against) against the Jazz last year. I'm kind of a Kawhi apologist, though. Probably because he was oh so close to being a Pacer.
I mean, obviously Kawhi when healthy and when playing defense is one of the greatest players in NBA history and is Jordan-like.
But Kawhi doesn't defend in the regular season anymore to avoid injury, doesn't play back to backs anymore to avoid injury, and even with all those restrictions to protect his body, has still had major injuries.
Durant's career is clearly several tiers above Kawhi's.
Tatum is playing awesome right now. But no crown until at least the end of the playoffs, hehe.
I'm excited to see what KD does tonight.
I'm excited to see what KD does tonight.
Only because Durant had more prime years. Kawhi had a three year prime that makes him extremely difficult to evaluate historically. At their peak, they're pretty similar two way monsters who struggle at passing and dribbling but whose length makes them ridiculously great scorers (Durant is better offensively obviously and Kawhi is better defensively obviously)
(This Boston series is somewhat similar to the Nuggets series where the Nuggets exploited Kawhi's bad passing and dribbling by double and tripling him which Jokic does extremely well in the paint due to his massive size)
Lakers would be back in playoff contention if they just replace Westbrook with someone who isn't a washed stat padding point guard. The Nets are fucked for much longer than the Lakers I feel.
Even as a salty spurs fan, I can see that Kawhi has the experiences of stepping up to be a finals MVP player in two different finals, one as a young defensive stud and one as the best two way player that season.
Durant def is similar but the fact that he won his titles with Steph, Klay and Dray to me, in terms of pure difference making for a team, falls under Kawhi's 2019 run with the Raptors. The Raps went from perennial playoffs chokers to champions just with his addition (and Gasol/Ibaka/Lowry stepped up big too)
But yeah if Kawhi is healthy he has a much better comparison to Durant's peak. Damn you Zaza pachulia! Lol
Anyway, Jokic and Giannis are the clear top 2 until they start getting injured.
Embiid, Kawhi, Durant, and LeBron just can't stay healthy enough to imagine them being effective through an entire playoff run at this point.
Embiid, Kawhi, Durant, and LeBron just can't stay healthy enough to imagine them being effective through an entire playoff run at this point.
lol what a dumpster fire. I'm starting to wonder what the odds are that Simmons even plays another NBA game going forward
I don't understand all the ramp up talk with the back, him telling reporters to "watch this" as he dunks in practice, and the outfits he keeps parading around in on the sidelines.
I was one of the few people that thought Philly won the trade, despite Harden being on the decline.
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He isn't. It takes more than just a playoff series to leapfrog a guy like KD, he earned that much.
Next season he gonna be fair game tho
Tatum has never missed the playoffs and been to ECF twice as the Celtics best player..likely all nba 2nd team this year..
3rd best player is actually hard to determine due to how injury-prone most of the contenders other than Tatum are.
Have to put a lot of weird qualifiers.
Have to put a lot of weird qualifiers.
so you agree, we compare him to dame then
i think tatum is already a little better than seth c'mon, but hey i won't fight you
Because the Thunder are in the 4th slot of the draft, they're getting projected to take Ivey and that is such an extremely funny idea.
Could not find a more stereotypical pick for OKC or a worse fit.
Ivey is weird because it's so hard to find a good fit for him.
Orlando? Already going through the Jalen Suggs experience
Houston? He's Jalen Green but a terrible shooter
Pistons? I guess?
Thunder? lmao
Pacers? They already have a franchise guard who struggles to dribble...
Blazers? They're in win-now mode...
Kings? Just the worst fit with Fox.
Pelicans? Just the worst fit imaginable with Zion and Valanciunas
Spurs? He's Murray but worse?
Wizards? I guess
Could not find a more stereotypical pick for OKC or a worse fit.
Ivey is weird because it's so hard to find a good fit for him.
Orlando? Already going through the Jalen Suggs experience
Houston? He's Jalen Green but a terrible shooter
Pistons? I guess?
Thunder? lmao
Pacers? They already have a franchise guard who struggles to dribble...
Blazers? They're in win-now mode...
Kings? Just the worst fit with Fox.
Pelicans? Just the worst fit imaginable with Zion and Valanciunas
Spurs? He's Murray but worse?
Wizards? I guess
I don't buy the whole "KD is no longer that guy/is showing his age" narrative. It's simply put he's being defended well against, and Nash never implemented any strategy aside from playing him for 40+ minutes a night to just even make the playoffs. Dude's still a sniper that I'd want taking that last shot.
They can't get their story straight with this guy. It feels like he isn't even trying to play basketball anymore.
Hopefully tonight the Nets get sweeped. That'd be epic.
Talking myself into the idea that Ivey's super high risk playstyle (he'll just be a bust if he can't shoot) and terrible fit will lead to him dropping below Sharpe.
That just makes him tall Steve Kerr, though.
KD is one of the best players ever because he's at least good at everything a player can do, and is often great. That's not the case this series. It's bizarre because, no matter how good a defense is, it doesn't explain how passive he's been and the horrible turnovers. Is he hurt? Tired? No one wants to write KD off, but you have to admit that it's hard to explain what's been going on this series.
I could see it. Sharpe is unknown but some team will talk themselves into drafting him because of his potential, especially if he has successful workouts.
poor offensive scheme compared to BOS mixed with straight choking
not too hard to explain.
almost Every superstar has had one
Ivey with a good jumpshot is probably most comparable to Donovan Mitchell who is very good but not great, but then there's the weirdness of Mitchell being much worse than he should be.
Hard to evaluate Ivey's upside, lol.
Hard to evaluate Ivey's upside, lol.
I'm still waiting on a timeline of when this back injury happened. Was he good when the Nets gave him a physical for the trade? Did they ever report the injury happening under their supervision?
His back started hurting when he started practicing with the Nets. It's unclear if he was injured beforehand and just wasn't working out enough to feel in pain or if injured it in practice.
Good defense, 34 years old coming off injury immediately playing 40+ minutes a night for over a month. Could Also be in a slump..look at his last 5 games.4 are atrocious to his standard.
His rings are inscripted with 'bus-rider' but Draymond told him to GTFO the bus.
I think KD is tired from the heavy minutes since his injury but the Celtics are also playing especially physical and doubling/trapping him or literally just sticking dudes under his elbows. I've honestly never seen anything like it with such a true superstar.
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Draymond also called him while crying begging him to come drive the bus for them..
So you can say that for the first time in his career he has to play against a team that defends him like a superstar.
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