Around the NBA Playoffs - Round Two

To tha a(austin) to the b(boston) to the h( houston)to the sea(seattle)

Aint nothin like ptown.


(Edit):....bitches.....

 

It doesn't HAVE to be a big move. The Pelicans signed Rondo for dirt cheap, $3.3 million, and made a somewhat minor trade during the season to bring in Mirotic and they made a huge leap even without Cousins. Their GM Dell Demps has been downright awful before the Cousins trade in building around Anthony Davis and they almost fired Alvin Gentry last summer. That's a team that wasn't even .500 the last two years prior and didn't make the playoffs either year. They also kept just one of their 1st round picks since 2012 (Buddy Hield, who they traded in the Cousins deal anyway) and have had cap issues each season as well. They prove that you can get better without blowing it all up.

 

Doesn't have to be, but I would like it to be.
Also while I know Dame is really good, there isn't a GM in the league who would take Dame over AD. Dame is like a top 4-5 PG, and AD is like top 4-5 players in the NBA. -I'm not trying to take away from Dame, just pointing out that the Pelicans improvement is basically because AD took over for them. They got better because AD (who is younger than Dame and CJ) is still a year or two away from his prime and is continuing to get better. Dame and CJ are getting to the point in their career where they probably won't get a lot better.

 

Wes was the starter

 

Philadelphia with a 22-5 run to go from 10 down to 7 ahead. Go Sixers!

 

couldn't disagree more....both guys are gym rats and believe in healthy living....they get better each year. They're not Jamal Crawford's age

 

Offseason is not really the time for a reality check, but some people seem to be begging for it, so here it is:

Only smart teams WHO ARE INCREDIBLY LUCKY get to challenge for a championship - we're not one of those
teams, and are unlikely to be one soon. GS, Boston, any place LBJ chooses to play for, even Houston and Philly - lucky,
smart too, but very lucky.

Us? Yes, we were lucky once too, but then fate stepped in to finish off Greg Oden and Brandon Roy.

So, you can slam Olshey, Stotts, CJ, or whoever, but the truth is being shrewd is not enough, we need to get lucky again....
which is not likely to happen until Dame is in the twilight of his career or even retired.

 

It doesn’t look great for Sixers right now.

 

I’m sure you can find a few examples but most guys don’t make big jumps at 27-28 years old. Being a gym rat just helps them to maintain that and maybe get marginally better, And smarter basketball players. Usually players getting significantly better year over year are 4-5 years younger than Dame and CJ.

 

Swanigan is actually 21.

 

I am so sick of the word "process" I could scream

 

Did you think Dame had his best season this year? You can diminish Dame all you want but the facts are this year was the 1st time in 6 seasons that Anthony Davis even won ONE playoff game. If he is so much better than Dame why has Dame made the playoffs 5 out of his 6 seasons compared to 2 for AD. After the Cousins trade people penciled them into the 8th seed and they were under .500 the rest of last season.

I'm not saying Dame is better than AD but Dame can absolutely learn from the playoffs this year and hopefully Stotts did too since it looks like he'll be back. Of course they need to get better in the playoffs but unlike AD at least Dame gets his team there almost every year.

 

The last couple mins of that BOS vs PHI game was wild! Going to overtime.

 

What a shot from Belinelli. Could prove to be series changing.

Him and Ilyasova have been amazing acquisitions for Philadelphia.

 

My point was that Dame is bad, or to diminish his accomplishments, but AD is 3 years younger, and like it or not even most Blazer homers would trade Dame for AD one for one. AD’s biggest issue in his career has been staying healthy, not his ability on the court.
Honestly Dames numbers were the best they’ve been this year, but would I call it his best year? I don’t know... Honestly the entire team has done the same thing for 3 years in a row. They start of looking bad (including Dame), they get hot mid-season Dame goes on a scoring tear for a month or so. They make the Playoffs and then get knocked out. This isn’t bashing Dame... It’s just the way things have been. His season seemed eerily similar to the one before it, and the one before that. His stats year over year may have gone up, but not drastically, which is my point I don’t think we will see huge jumps in who he and CJ are as players. We might see it with Nurkic or Collins maybe even Moe though.

 

"That's a bad fucking shot" Hahaha

 

Tatum is gonna be the player Melo SHOULD HAVE been

 

It's like the Sixers are trying to lose. Why did Simmons shoot that...?

 

Celtics are simply amazing. Brad Stevens for COY