Of course not they are all 21-22 years old. This league destroys youth. They are 5 years away but have two truly elite players in KAT and Wiggins. Which roster would you prefer moving forward Boston or Minnesota? It can't even be close right?
Curry made a couple of passes for assists that were Larry Bird worthy, not to mention making about six threes. KD seems to be integrated into the team perfectly well. Warriors team is ridiculous.
Yeah the passing was brilliant. And you are right about Durant. His efficiency is fantastic right now and he appears to be enjoying playing in Golden State's system immensely. As brilliant as Westbrook is, it really seems as if Durant wasn't digging playing with a guy who is so ball dominant.
And shot ~ 60% from the field.
The regular season matters less for him than probably any other player in the league, he should be saving it all for May and June.
Asking seriously, in 5 years won't all their rookie contracts be expiring? Who knows who will even be there any more.
How many teams in the NBA over the last dozen years have lost a restricted free agent they wanted to keep?
I know you're too young to have followed Robert Horry's career while it was happening, but towards the end of it, his regular season performance was terrible. He turned into a different guy in the postseason, older players only have so many games in them each season and in a situation like his, the more he can hold back until the playoffs, the better.
Greg Monroe with the Pistons is probably the closest example but even then they could have kept him with a max offer.
I don't think Detroit wanted to keep him, it was pretty clear he couldn't play alongside Drummond and Drummond wasn't going anywhere.
I understand the idea of veterans coasting during he regular season and that would hurt counting stats; but why would effect shooting percentages, particularly with Iggy just shooting mostly open threes? Even at the end Horry was still shooting around league average from three in the regular season. FWIW I don't really care; it was just a tongue in cheek comment.
I agree with you on that aspect. However if Iggy can't shoot in the playoffs that makes them much easier to guard and they don't have a reliable corner shooter in Barnes anymore to take those minutes.
Don't forget that Durant is the one in Barnes' place, Iguodala just has to do whatever he did before, which is primarily D against Kawhi and LeBron.
Lolz. That's kinda like saying the 2003-2016 Red Sox didn't have a reliable left-handed DH to take Jeremy Giambi's ABs.
I think not having a reliable shooter in the death ball lineup that defenses don't have to guard could end up being an issue in a tight playoff game.
I think SRN was partly alluding to the idea that Barnes was a reliable corner shooter. He was at best good during the regular season but played poorly during the playoffs.
So, you think going from a good shooter to one of the best offensive players in the game is going to hurt them offensively?
Nobody can toss up bricks quite like Harrison Barnes. I can totally see where GSW will struggle switching him for Durant.
I was more alluding to KFD. Barnes was pretty average at hitting open threes (and pretty average at most things for a 3-4, though a bit below average at passing and ballhandling).
LaVine is a beast and still a puppy. Great point about a "defensive orientation" as LaVine may be the primary beneficiary of this teaching as well as playing with lethal perimeter defenders such as Wiggins, Dunn, and (for the time being) Rubio.
Wouldn't the tail end of a back-to-back be a completely logical time to rest your starting point guard? Rubio came out of the game down 11 with 2 minutes to play in the 3rd. The 3rd quarter ended with Minnesota down 17 on the road. It never got closer than 13 again. I'm not sure I'd consider being down 15ish points against the best team in the league on the road crunch time.
Rubio's advanced numbers are down across the board this year......shooting, rebounding, assists, steals. The only one higher is TO% (oooops). He knows this isn't his team anymore and is likely of the mindset that he's playing out the string one season after the team spent a Top-5 draft pick on a player at his position. I'm guessing Thibs stuck with Jones because the team was executing well at the time and had cut into the Warriors lead heading down the stretch.
I'm not saying that Rubio's the longterm answer for the Wolves. But short term, there's no question he's their best option, and the assumption a ton of people seem to have that Rubio will be dealt this year seems at odds with the rumors floating around that Thibs wants more experienced vets that he can rely on. I just don't really see what the rush is. Rubio is on a good contract with 3 years remaining, he's clearly their best point guard, and Thibs seems to want experienced vets to compete now.
Dunn has been far from bad. He's doing everything Thibs wants out of him which is to distribute and defend. He's got a 9-assist game, a 5-steal game, a RebRate better than frontcourt players on his team. They love him and were told the job will be his at some point this season. He's a rookie.....rookie PG's almost always take time. It took Stockton and Nash a couple years too.
You may be right but Thibs used Jones down the stretch the night before as well and Jones outplayed Rubio on both nights from a +/- perspective. Rubio is still getting the lion's share of the minutes at the point but its just surprising to see him off the floor for most/all of the fourth quarter in both games. Maybe he is hurt or maybe Thibs wants him to get extra rest (remember who we are talking about here). I don't claim to know the answer. I just think its interesting that Rubio isn't getting run at crunch time both when the Wolves were up against the Suns and within a manageable margin against the Warriors.
This is a great question and I am struggling with recency bias. I mean, LaVine looked unstoppable at times on Saturday night while Wiggins looked pedestrian. They are both explosive but both lack consistency as is to be expected at their relatively young ages. I lean Wiggins right now given that as he develops further, he will not only be able go create his shot from anywhere but also physically dominate most guys who guard him on any given night.
That rookie point guards take time is exactly my point. What's the rush? 9 assist and 5 steal games aside, Dunn hasn't shown a ton and seems to have fallen behind Jones in the PG rotation.
Also in the top 15 in TO/G are LeBron, Giannis, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Kyle Lowry, and Steph Curry. Not surprising that high-usage primary ball handlers tend to rank highly. Assist/TO ratio or TO% are probably better indicators of whether a player turns the ball over too much, since they'll be less influenced by usage.
He and Westbrook are lapping the field (5.7 and 5.5 tpg, respectively). Interestingly, those are also probably the two leading MVP candidates now, if they can get their teams in the top four seeds or so. I am kinda curious if MVP voters care even a little about turnovers. My gut sense is no. I'd imagine a team record of under 50 wins would be a more disqualifying factor than 5.5+ tpg.
