I'm not one of those guys who hates Harden or the Rockets because they take a lot of 3's and get a lot fouls (get yours!), but they are a lot more fun to watch with Beverley on the floor. He's a fucking psycho -- he's what Celtics fans think AB is on defense on steroids.
Had to eventually just turn that Blazers game off. Yikes. Not even a fair fight.
It's amazing how well that team is build around James Harden. He makes them all better, too. It's too bad Westbrook is going to average a triple double this year so a lot of these ridiculous seasons players are having will go unnoticed. There was a person or two just last year arguing they wouldn't want Harden on the team if it meant trading the Nets picks. I'd have gladly traded them all. It's kind of insane he's not in some top 5 lists, and that those people aren't even necessarily wrong. This league is so deep in stars atm.
I agree. Hes a tremendous litmus test.
He is. Probably a bit better than that. He's a well above average defender and a good floor spacer. For some reason though there is a strain of internet messageboard poster who believes he's terrible, despite all statistical evidence (or you know how every competent NBA expert: Lowe, Moore, etc. notes how important he is to the Celtics defense).
Or anti-Canadian. I cannot believe people are equating Ainge missing on other players in the Olynyk draft (whom were easy to miss because many other teams did as well) with Olynyk being a bad player. The former is undeniably true, however the latter isn't remotely true. Using hindsight, Antetokounmpo, the Stiffel Tower and maybe Schroder are the guys you can say you wish Ainge took over Olynyk. The rest of the guys in that draft who are still in the Association are pure rotation players at best.
It isn't about Olynyk being a bad player it's about him projecting to be precisely what he has become.....a second unit rotational big who needs to be spotted against certain matchups to maximize his production. These guys don't need to be acquired by using Top-15 picks......those should be reserved for higher upside guys. Whenever you have the opportunity to draft a potential game changer over a low ceiling player you should always take it as these guys don't cross your path often. You can close your eyes and hit the part-time frontcourt matchup-manipulated metric guy all the time in this league. I'd feel this same way had Gobert busted like Robert Swift. It's so worth the risk.
Many people wanting Giannis is such an exaggeration and acting like the Cs failed because they got a legit rotation player for a good team at outside the lottery instead of the two max players that were drafted behind him is ridiculous. Almost nobody could even pronounce Antetokounmpo, yet it fans and analysts were clamoring for him to be drafted?
Malcolm Brogdon played like a man and was dunking on the world. Parker played well until the end when he bricked two FTs.
Yes. There were quite a few on this board and an overwhelming majority on our private Celtics-centric board of about 50 posters at the time who wanted Greek. I assume those here did their work on the player and I know on the other board they did. I'm referring to hard core amateur analysts.....not random fan Joe and Vinny hanging out at Dunkies on Wednesday morning.
Sure it is however I've been consistent with my methods in the draft since this board existed. I'm also defending the Giannis guys more than myself as he wasn't my guy......I thought he was too far from being an NBA player like a Gerald Green was and how I felt a Thon Maker was this past year. I thought he was a complete flier which I'm also not a fan of that high. I've always been of the "you don't draft even certain low-upside guys in the top half of the draft while passing on players who have the physicals with the basketball maturation side ahead of them." I was fine with the Fab Melo pick and the James Young and other failures while grimacing as teams drafted the DeAndre Jordans and Paul Georges wishing we had a shot at these guys. I'll risk a career 2nd unit player for the opportunity to hit on an elite athlete who appears to be teachable skills away from being a true impact player 10 times out of 10 when in rebuilding mode.
I wonder if he is going to the Cavs as Andersen's replacement.
My impression that they really maximized their potential last season but because they are a relatively young team people expected them to take a step forward this year, but they had already hit their ceiling with their current talent level and ET has been a bust instead of pushing them further.
This is true and when you add that all these role players are now under brand new and rich contracts the dynamics of that team have changed considerably. Allen Crabbe and Evan Turner is your 2nd unit backcourt making a combined $35m on new deals totaling over $140m! It's mindboggling how they have structured this team in paying role players top top dollar.
Should have been one but LeBron rules. Breen, of course, disagrees.
