OT: - 2021 NBA Playoffs | Page 33 | The Boneyard

OT: 2021 NBA Playoffs

So, Chris Paul has officially been inducted in to the Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton and Reggie Miller club?
 
auror said:
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I watched the 60 minutes piece on Giannis 2 years ago. I will watch it again, but I am pretty sure that one of the scouts that found him in Greece talked about players smoking cigarettes on the bench in the league he played in. That is where Giannis started.

Also, the Hawks were the only other team even thinking of drafting Giannis in the first round when the Bucks picked him. He could have slid to the second round if the Bucks passed on him.
 
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Chin Diesel said:
So, Chris Paul has officially been inducted in to the Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton and Reggie Miller club?
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I believe James Harden put in his application.

Speaking of which the great thing about these Finals is that it dismissed the issue of Super Teams or Super 3, or creating a Championship Team with All Stars. Just need 2 great players, and fill in the parts with capable players and you have a good team.

Anyway this should make those club members extremely jealous:

1626867056434.png
 
Saw Giannis and his brothers at a hotel in Chicago back in 2019 right after they got booted from the playoffs. Took the time for a bunch of kids that came up to say hi. Seems like a really good dude off the court and clearly, an unstoppable force (and lord help this league if he's figured something out in his FT shooting) on the court.
 
What he said in the postgame about wanting to win in Milwaukee and doing it the hard way, makes me a fan forever. He literally tore apart the super team concept where you leave a small market, join a couple of your buddies (hello LBJ, KD, AD, etc), and grab a quick ring. He signed his supermax contact because “the job wasn’t done, and this city trusts me and believes in me”. Don’t know if it’s a culture thing but some of these foreign dudes work ethic puts our entitlement issues to shame.
 
Kitaman said:
I believe James Harden put in his application.

Speaking of which the great thing about these Finals is that it dismissed the issue of Super Teams or Super 3, or creating a Championship Team with All Stars. Just need 2 great players, and fill in the parts with capable players and you have a good team.
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I don't think it dismissed it as there were no healthy super teams this season. It's not like MIL KO'd a superteam and the Nets would have steamrolled MIL if they were healthy.
 
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Hey Adrien! said:
This was easily the most enjoyable finals for me in a long time. Two very likable teams playing very entertaining basketball. Congrats to the Bucks and wow, what an all-time performance by Giannis.
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It was fantastic. The whole playoffs were great.
 
Lefty2one said:
I don't think it dismissed it as there were no healthy super teams this season. It's not like MIL KO'd a superteam and the Nets would have steamrolled MIL if they were healthy.
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It is clearly becoming a potential weakness of the superteam concept though as most of them are bringing established guys that are a bit older. We've seen a lot of significant superteam injury issues.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
It feels like every series is coming down to injuries. Utah is probably not good enough to beat the Clippers without Conley, but the Clippers are going to lose someone important to injury if they keep going 7 games.

The Suns got a huge gift with the sweep. They may be the freshest and healthiest team left by next week.
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This is my most prescient post of the whole playoffs. The Bucks had to beat a very good Nets team that was playing without Kyrie and with Harden at less than 100%. They didn't have to play the 76ers, or any of the arguably 4 best teams from the west: Lakers, Clippers, Jazz, or Nuggets, because all 4 of those teams had major injuries that effectively ended their seasons. The Hawks and Suns are good young teams but in a normal environment, both would be a year or two away from really challenging for a conference title.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
It is clearly becoming a potential weakness of the superteam concept though as most of them are bringing established guys that are a bit older. We've seen a lot of significant superteam injury issues.
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My post directly above notwithstanding, I have the least sympathy for the Nets among any of the teams that had major injuries derail their season. Harden is a 2 guard that is about to turn 32 who has played a ton of minutes in his career. Kyrie has a history of mysterious injuries keeping him out of playoff games. Either he breaks down at the end of the season, or something else is going on with him. The Nets knew what they were getting with both of them.
 
This is the second time in three years that the NBA Champion did not rely on a former lottery pick. Brook Lopez is an aging center on the back end of his career, and the only Bucks player that was a lottery pick. I don't believe Toronto had a single lottery pick on their championship team.

I think the draft is still relevant, but high picks have a fraction of the value they had 20 years ago because players are so young and inexperienced when they are drafted now. It is really hard to project these players into the future. The top 5 players from the 2013 draft are:

#15) Giannis
#2) Oladipo
#27) Rudy Gobert
#10) CJ McCollum
#17) Dennis Schroeder

Not a lot of correlation to draft pick among that group. It is also worth noting that McCollum and Oladipo, the two lottery picks of the above, were both 21 at the time they were drafted, significantly reducing the risk of both picks.
 
WestHartHusk said:
You gotta question stuffing 65,000 people around an 18,000 seat arena. If it had to be evacuated, what’s the plan?
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I wondered the same thing, but they had barriers up keeping the crowds away from 3 sides of the building and those three sides are where all the stairwells/fire exits are. Only side crowds were fairly close was the main entrance (which isn't the best way to go during an evacuation anyway b/c only way in/out is the slow escalators and is not where fire exits lead you). Plus the west side of the building was completely free of crowds and the roads were closed for a several block radius.

So anyway, point being I think they took that all into account. Good question though, like I said I wondered the same!
 
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Much has been said & written about the last inch of Durant's sneaker that was on the 3pt line. Given that game of inches moment I think it is only safe to say that Milwaukee merely proves it is POSSIBLE to win with a team built internally. And in the long-haul of the NBA or any given playoff series the team with the best player in the series usually wins. This was essentially Sam Hinkie's the process point, increase your odds of having that best player with multiple bites at the very top of the draft. But you HAVE to draft well and build well (no and no under Hinkie).

So I'd say Milwaukee's championship has minor if any implications to the superteam concept, but it does prove that drafting very well and finding a diamond is still possible anywhere in the draft. Yes Giannis is a once a decade ascendant story, but that can happen AND their second best player was a second round pick. Draft well and cultivate your best young players is the lesson.

And this does set up for an epic battle for the east with the Nets next year. Bucks return essentially all of their guys (I think PJ Tucker only one not under contract) who got a LOT of great reps and experience and get their starting 5 back with DiVencizo. The battle of organically grown drafted team vs $uperteam is ON for next season.
 
Dean Wormer said:
What he said in the postgame about wanting to win in Milwaukee and doing it the hard way, makes me a fan forever. He literally tore apart the super team concept where you leave a small market, join a couple of your buddies (hello LBJ, KD, AD, etc), and grab a quick ring. He signed his supermax contact because “the job wasn’t done, and this city trusts me and believes in me”. Don’t know if it’s a culture thing but some of these foreign dudes work ethic puts our entitlement issues to shame.
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Yup.

Watching guys throwing temper tantrums to force out of places compared to this….is a really bad look
 
The Greek Freak now takes his rightful place at the top of the league. For my money he is the best player in the NBA.

And he doesn't have the refs and the entire structure of the league granting him the favoritism that MJ got. GF earned it.
 
Congrats to Milwaukee. Been a fan of their going back to the Moncrief, Jack Sikma, Marques Johnson days as well.
Waquoit said:
That's kinda funny. None of their Big 3 would ever be confused with iron men. The odds of all 3 being healthy at seasons end have to be pretty slim.
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Seems like one of the pillars of "Big 3" team construction is a sort of Marvels, disband and reband as needed. You are always resting one or two of the three and they only play as the "Big 3" about 15-20 games during most of the season and then they come together for last month of regular season and playoffs. Glad it doesn't always work.
 
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MU in MKE said:
I wondered the same thing, but they had barriers up keeping the crowds away from 3 sides of the building and those three sides are where all the stairwells/fire exits are. Only side crowds were fairly close was the main entrance (which isn't the best way to go during an evacuation anyway b/c only way in/out is the slow escalators and is not where fire exits lead you). Plus the west side of the building was completely free of crowds and the roads were closed for a several block radius.

So anyway, point being I think they took that all into account. Good question though, like I said I wondered the same!
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Thanks. And congrats, enjoy the win!
 
Dogdeacon said:
Much has been said & written about the last inch of Durant's sneaker that was on the 3pt line. Given that game of inches moment I think it is only safe to say that Milwaukee merely proves it is POSSIBLE to win with a team built internally. And in the long-haul of the NBA or any given playoff series the team with the best player in the series usually wins. This was essentially Sam Hinkie's the process point, increase your odds of having that best player with multiple bites at the very top of the draft. But you HAVE to draft well and build well (no and no under Hinkie).

So I'd say Milwaukee's championship has minor if any implications to the superteam concept, but it does prove that drafting very well and finding a diamond is still possible anywhere in the draft. Yes Giannis is a once a decade ascendant story, but that can happen AND their second best player was a second round pick. Draft well and cultivate your best young players is the lesson.

And this does set up for an epic battle for the east with the Nets next year. Bucks return essentially all of their guys (I think PJ Tucker only one not under contract) who got a LOT of great reps and experience and get their starting 5 back with DiVencizo. The battle of organically grown drafted team vs $uperteam is ON for next season.
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Durant will be 33 and still have had both a major knee injury and an achilles rupture. Harden will be almost 33 by the time next year's playoffs start, and Kyrie will still be Kyrie. I also don't see Blake Griffin returning to play for cheap again like he did this year.

Lebron will be 37 by the playoffs next season, and his body is already starting to show wear and tear. AD has probably played his last full season in his career.

I am not optimistic that Klay Thompson will ever return to anything close to his former level.

The question is which of the 76ers, Nuggets, Suns, Hawks or maybe even the Mavericks can make a move to join the elite.
 
Dogdeacon said:
Much has been said & written about the last inch of Durant's sneaker that was on the 3pt line. Given that game of inches moment I think it is only safe to say that Milwaukee merely proves it is POSSIBLE to win with a team built internally. And in the long-haul of the NBA or any given playoff series the team with the best player in the series usually wins. This was essentially Sam Hinkie's the process point, increase your odds of having that best player with multiple bites at the very top of the draft. But you HAVE to draft well and build well (no and no under Hinkie).

So I'd say Milwaukee's championship has minor if any implications to the superteam concept, but it does prove that drafting very well and finding a diamond is still possible anywhere in the draft. Yes Giannis is a once a decade ascendant story, but that can happen AND their second best player was a second round pick. Draft well and cultivate your best young players is the lesson.

And this does set up for an epic battle for the east with the Nets next year. Bucks return essentially all of their guys (I think PJ Tucker only one not under contract) who got a LOT of great reps and experience and get their starting 5 back with DiVencizo. The battle of organically grown drafted team vs $uperteam is ON for next season.
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They do have bird rights on tucker and are already over the hard cap so they would only have small mle to replace him.

My guess is he stays and they use mle for a backup pg
 
Dogdeacon said:
Much has been said & written about the last inch of Durant's sneaker that was on the 3pt line. Given that game of inches moment I think it is only safe to say that Milwaukee merely proves it is POSSIBLE to win with a team built internally. And in the long-haul of the NBA or any given playoff series the team with the best player in the series usually wins. This was essentially Sam Hinkie's the process point, increase your odds of having that best player with multiple bites at the very top of the draft. But you HAVE to draft well and build well (no and no under Hinkie).

So I'd say Milwaukee's championship has minor if any implications to the superteam concept, but it does prove that drafting very well and finding a diamond is still possible anywhere in the draft. Yes Giannis is a once a decade ascendant story, but that can happen AND their second best player was a second round pick. Draft well and cultivate your best young players is the lesson.

And this does set up for an epic battle for the east with the Nets next year. Bucks return essentially all of their guys (I think PJ Tucker only one not under contract) who got a LOT of great reps and experience and get their starting 5 back with DiVencizo. The battle of organically grown drafted team vs $uperteam is ON for next season.
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The lakers also only had 2 sueprstars and depth.

The Kobe/Shaq lakers were that too.

The reality is you need somewhere around 8 legit playoff rotation level guys

Depth matters to some extent.

It’s why most super teams don’t win year 1. They need some time to use those exceptions and get ring chasers.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
David Stern is rolling over in his grave.
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He's no less likely to have rolled his eyes at a seance when someone read him this post...unless you've got a link to support your assertion, in which case I'll admit to my error and acknowledge my overreach.
nelsonmuntz said:
This is my most prescient post of the whole playoffs.
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How refreshing it is to read a post that quotes a prior post in a favorable 'told you so' - ish way.
 
Hans Sprungfeld said:
He's no less likely to have rolled his eyes at a seance when someone read him this post...unless you've got a link to support your assertion, in which case I'll admit to my error and acknowledge my overreach.

How refreshing it is to read a post that quotes a prior post in a favorable 'told you so' - ish way.
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Stern very clearly has said his dream NBA finals is lakers vs lakers

So I stand with that posters stance
 
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