I frankly thought Leonard was exposed in that OKC series.

While I'm in agreement that Kawhi has quietly had some subpar postseason series (both OKC and the Clippers first round loss come to mind) he's also had much more success than Butler in the postseason. Frankly, his down series against OKC was still better than Butler's performance vs CLE 2 years ago and Kawhi wouldn't shoulder nearly the offensive usage that was thrust upon him. He'd basically just be a monster on and off ball defender, spot up shooter and be a 4th/5th banana type on offense which would cater to his game immensely. Don't think it's particularly close between the two for that team.

Curry
Giannis
LeBron
Durant
Gobert

unstoppable on both ends

My one thing about Gobert is you can play him off a super team lineup by just having your center shoot 3's if he has that ability.

I don't think that's at all true if you have Giannis (or Kawhi)/LeBron/Durant length at 3 other positions. A mildly creative defensive scheme can address those things. And if teams are just content to take a bunch of bad, contested 3s against that length, you're perfectly fine with it.

Hard to disagree with the "appeal to casual fan" argument.

This is a perception mistake

Gobert being GOAT at protecting the rim, doesn't mean he sucks at defending away from the basket. He's probably still best center at defending the midrange (sick BBIQ to move with the offense), and if he needs to defend the 3 all game long no center in the league will outplay him 1v1 so if really the center is a 7" klay thompson shooting 3s, Gobert will still be able to defend on it, even if he doesn't protect the paint anymore

But good coaching, and defensive rotation will probably make him really good. Like good luck to abuse defensive rotations, when you have like 80 foot of combined arm length roaming with Gobert/Durant/Kawhi/Lebron, you need to be some next level Steve Nash to find a passing lane on that battlefield

from lowe's article today about this season's scoring increase and 3pt shooting

interesting to me b/c people certainly talk about the game as currently being finesse oriented as ever

edit: i generally disagree w/opinions that 3s are becoming too prevalent, or moreso that the increase in 3s is "worse"-- w/the exception of the corner 3. i have wanted to see a uniform 3 point line since i started watching nba a lot

Would you make that trade straight up? Be honest, I won't argue either way.

The bolded is the issue I'd have, but I think you're right that a team full of defenders probably makes it harder. I'm still not sure taking away some of Gobert's biggest strengths makes him the best available center in that spot. He's obviously really good though, we are talking about the best of the best.

Watching the MIN-PHI replay on NBATV. Embiid is such showman.

Nobody in their right minds is trading Wiggins for Otto Porter, get a grip D00d

Wiggins for Otto Porter??


Does Brandon Ingram suck or what? I don't Lakers much. The stats look pretty bad.

from the lin thread

Keep drinking the Wiggins kool aid, young rasbro. It's going to get lonely on Wiggins island real soon.

in before Denver trades for him

Who said that?

I have an amazing bet that Jeremy Lin will never be the starting point guard on a team that wins a playoff series. It's probably the stupidest bet I ever made and will also be the most rewarding when it pays off

Big paws on a puppy. Haven't watched a ton, but he's shown some passing and ball handling that I wouldn't have expected. I think the Lakers are taking a longer term view with him more than most would and everyone seems to be saying the right things. I'd expect him to show one of the larger improvements from rookie to sophomore in this rookie class.

Harden should never be on these kind of teams. Lebron can do what he does at a higher level.

I think I would go:

Lebron
Klay
Kawhi
Durant
A. Davis

There's a good argument that GIANNIS is the #1 pick in a "Next 5 years" draft

Being local I watch a lot of Laker games, and I always come away thinking he'll be really good and is just having a bad shooting night. He's shot terribly, but I suspect those will start falling eventually or at least hope. Defensively he really seems to get it but gets overpowered some.

Lots of good stuff to work with here, and I think you're right he could make a major jump in year 2.

Somebody please post that all star vote so far that was released.

Laughed so hard

Fan vote gonna get eliminated

Zaza #2 vote getter in the west frontcourt.