I actually think top 10 asset Nurkic > Jokic

He has sucked most of the year, Malone said the move to PF hurt him the most because instead of cutting lanes he's got this hulk of a ball-stopper who won't leave the paint. Ok I made up the last part.

Don't think he sucks as much as he just isn't playing well. They've moved away from playing those two together so I suspect we'll see the Jokic of old soon. I also don't think it helps that wings are dropping like flies per usual.

Nurkic gets numbers but the team suffers when he does. Jokic can have a major positive effect on lineups without getting numbers because of his IQ. At this point I really want them to start Jokic and banish Nurk to the bench permanently or trade him, but apparently Nurk is sensitive about starting.

He really does have Boogie-like thin skin.

The bottom line is that pretty much everyone is sucking, but they had the toughest schedule to start the season and could easily be 5-5 if the NBA hadn't blown a call that they admitted to and they hadn't choked away an 8 POINT LEAD WITH THE BALL AND 48 SECONDS TO GO... yeah I'm still bitter about that.

LeBron just short of a triple double again last night. He's so good at basketball.

Do the cavs have a legit backup pg for kyrie since Delly left?

Bulls 67 rebounds against Portland last night tied with 3 other teams for 2nd most in a regulation game since the 99-00 season. Robez is putting in work

Yeah and he's the best point guard in the game.

This core group has always been a great regular season team. They simply lack the leadership and mental toughness to ever seriously contend in the playoffs.

Defensively this is by far the best I've ever seen them play and its not close. Even Blake and JJ have been doing a fantastic job.

Yeah, and they are doing it more off scheme than on some wild-man locking people down. That's why I talked about continuity because I can't explain it any other way other than Mbah a Moute, who's pretty good but can't be wholly responsible for their improvement.

I really think this is finally what Roc Divers had in mind when he came there--a doppleganger of his historical defense that he had with KG. Watching them has been a complete joy, they help and recover so seamlessly despite having a few players who aren't the fleetest of foot.

Still boycotting the NBA but couldn't help but overhear about this pathetic Posse controversy. Lol LeBron. Lol Maverick Carter.

It was definitely a little disrespectful by Phil and was intended to be. Clearly pathetic to think it's racism though. Probably struck a nerve because deep down Maverick knows he'd be working at a T-Mobile store with his associates degree in business if it weren't for attaching himself to Bron.

lol

They're two super fluky end of games (game 5 @ OKC being rigged against them, blowing a 20 pt lead at home in game 6 vs Hou) from b2b WCF. I know you have some weird vendetta against CP3 bc you can't accept he's way better than Isiah Thomas ever was, but it's time to move on.

The warriors offense looked unbeatable last regular season too then teams game plan for series and they didn't look so awesome.

Same thing with clips, except they don't have the benefit of the doubt of wearing the ring from the season prior.

If I have a vendetta at all it is against people who sort by stats between two markedly different eras and then confidently reach conclusions. This is what all "CP3 > Isiah" people and "LeBron > Jordan" people do. And let's not forget the other common ground: The vast majority of both CP3 and LeBron camps never actually saw Isiah or Jordan play.

Leaving that commonality aside, only the extremely disingenuous would deny that Isiah's stats would be dramatically inflated if he played in CP3's charmin ultra soft era. And it is questionable at best whether CP3 would last two weeks in Isiah's era.

I've seen both play, and there is no way Isaiah would sniff CP3's jock in either era. Of all the PGs CP3 is the most impervious to the rules in the 80s/90s because he doesn't venture into the paint nearly that much, and when he does he's not leaving his feet.

IT is basically Eli Manning/Big Ben compared to CP3's Dan Marino.

Do you realize how much you have to inflate his stats for him to be close to as good as Chris Paul?

Waste of time though, this always results in the same nonsense. "Players today couldn't handle the toughness back then", "we don't know because different eras therefore the older player is better", "you nerds don't even watch the games." Lebron v MJ is debatable, I have 0 qualms with MJ>LBJ. Isiah>CP3 isn't. He falls short to CP3 in every single way- worse shooter, worse passer, worse defender. If CP3 played on that Pistons team you would think he's the best player of all time.

those two arguments have nothing in common, plenty (probably the majority) of reasonable people think Jordan > Lebron, none believe Isiah > CP3

Also the watch the games argument is especially tasty. The more highlights/replays/clips you watch from that era the more obvious it becomes how much laughably worse the NBA was as a whole back then. It's almost unwatchable. Seriously watch this:

Why you gotta go there Geoff?

but seriously I think that was during the Westhead/Moe days which were like Antoni on meth

BTW my fav part is that TWOG told us what made Isiah better was he wasn't a BALL BOUNCER. Literally every possession was Isiah dribbling and either shooting or finding a guy running off a single ball screen and getting an open jumper. How could Pop ever scheme against such an intricate offense?

It's really hard to understate how pathetic those defenses are. No one shoots 3's, and yet a guy can get wide open consistently off of a single ball screen. Compare that to how much action it takes today to get a shooter even a slightly open shot. JFC I can't believe I'm even wasting my time.

I'm pretty sure if we take every player, even Jordan, and put him into today's NBA they'd be somewhere between slightly above average to D league levels of ability.

Watching NBA Classics really makes you realize how much lower the quality of play was back then (and those are usually super high leverage games, with the best teams of the era. I can only imagine how pathetic the level of play was vs below avg teams). The defense was truly awful, and the play was not even more physical (unless you count more full blown brawls as physical). My guess is Steph Curry faced just as much if not more physical defense in last year's playoffs as anyone in the late 80s/early 90s.

So Denver has been pretty bad overall on offense, but their rookies Jamal Murray and Juancho Hernangomez have looked pretty grate over the last few games (after Jamal finally hit a shot).

Juancho is kind of hard to peg because there simply aren't many comparisons out there to him. He can shoot 3's, rebound, put the ball on the floor and pass. I think he could be the prototypical stretch 4 after all is said and done.

Murray has been awesome as of late and I truly think he's the closest thing we've seen to Steph or Dame. He gets the ball off nearly as quick as the former but does the other things well enough to be more than just a spot-up shooter... and when he does come off screens he's about as dangerous as they come at his age. Mudiay has been warm ass this year, but it's nice to know that they have someone who could overtake him as early as this year.

D'Angelo Russell 31:00 11 20 .550 7 13 .538 3 4 .750 1 7 8 4 3 0 3 1 32 +13

tho

If CP3 played on the Pistons they would have no rings in that era. Dude and the team he supposedly leads have the mental toughness of a fruit fly.

Wait a second, did you really just point to the biggest outlier in NBA history to demonstrate your case, i.e. the infamous Pistons-Nuggets 186-184 game, where virtually no defense was played. This might be the most weak soy sauce poured on any argument cuttlefish I have ever seen. My god, literally only someone who hates their argument and hates their life would sink this low. Even James Cameron cannot reach the depth for which this bar has now forever been lowered.