Around the NBA 2022 Playoffs: The Thread

Why? They have similar numbers this season. Ant is a better 3pt shooter and playmaker. Also, Poole has the luxury of playing with Steph and Klay. It’s easier when the defenses can’t focus on you. Ant had to face defenses that schemed against him as the #1 option.

 

Ant is a better 3 pt shooter, yes. But he's not a better playmaker. They are about even in that regard, and that's with Poole not being used as the PG like Simons was. Poole is a better rebounder. I'd also credit Poole as being the better defender by quite a bit, although some of that is because of system and playing with good defenders

and while Ant shoots three's better, Poole is a more efficient shooter and scorer. Mainly because he gets to the FT line at a much higher rate and shoots 68% at the rim while Ant shoots under 57%

they look to be pretty similar in talent level. Big difference is that Poole has proved it for a lot more games than Simons has

 

Poole is playing with Steph and Klay. Ant played the majority of his minutes as the #1 option. We haven’t seen Poole do it as the #1 option. We’ve seen what Ant can do with the defensive focus on him.

There’s context as well. We all know Ant isn’t the best defender, but he was playing the majority of his minutes with a roster that was tanking. His defensive numbers are skewed. Poole is playing with one of the best defensive teams in the league.

 

Curry missed 18 games; Klay missed 50 games; Draymond missed 36 games. So it wasn't like Poole spent 82 games hiding behind those guys. And Ant's numbers fell when CJ came back and Ant had to defer some of the offense to him. It's not always the case that players play better when they drop down the option list

I'm fine if you like Simons more, but there's really not much reason to think he's better than Poole, at least not at this stage. Poole is actually 2 weeks younger than Ant...

on the other hand, Ant's numbers in his last 27 games were quite a bit better than his first 30 games

 

The Warriors wouldn’t.

 

Even if Curry, Klay or Draymond missed a lot of games, Poole still played 64 games with Curry, 32 games with Klay and 46 games with Draymond. Meanwhile, the majority of Ant’s minutes he was dishing to CJ Elleby, Trendon Watford, Ben McLemore and Robert Covington.

The one thing that Poole does have over Ant is confidence. He plays like he thinks he’s the best player on the floor. You could see Ant starting to develop that before they shut him down. Once he gets more confidence, I think he’ll take a huge leap.

The basis for my hypothesis is that I’ve seen what Ant can do as the #1 option with FAR inferior talent. I’ve yet to see what Poole can do being the #1 option with the same level of talent Ant played with.

 

We desperately need a 4 who can slide to the 5. Simmons and Siakam are the only ones I see who can fit the bill outside of a top 3 pick.

 

Royce O'Neale is a dirty POS. He tried so hard to injure Brunson-- pissed me off. This guy might be my least favorite player in the league.

I still remember when he hurt Ant a few years back and Dame single handedly carried our injured squad on a b2b to a near win until the refs missed that goaltend by Gobert.

 

Karl-Anthony Towns.

 

I'd rather have the better 3-point shooter.

 

KAT at the 4 is intriguing

 

He sure as hell is.
I think he should be vying for the scoring title every season.
He is one of the most efficient scorers in the league and maybe the most efficient scorer who can shoot 40% from three and also shoot over just about everybody.

 

They’re not gonna trade KAT, lol

 

Do you know how those rumors start? Time to start a rumor.

 

He took four shots in the last game. That is absolutely ridiculous.
Would they not consider a top four pick? Or something similar.?

 

KAT = LMA but more charmin soft

 

Yeah, they’re screwed. This goes back to last season…

He is damn near worthless in the postseason

 

Hell no. Not a good comparison at all. Horrible comparison.
KAT doesn't take those stupid long-range 2-pointers.
Towns shot 41% on threes this season , 58% on two-point shots, and 82% on his free throws for a true shooting percentage of 64%.
Aldridge never came close to that.
Dirk Nowitzki never shot a true shooting percentage as 64%. His best was 60.5 percent.

 

so...you'd rather have RoCo than Giannis...got it....

 

which is why it's tempting to want the Blazers to spend their full-MLE on Bobby Portis or Jalen Smith, and both can be better at C than Siakam

I wonder: can Christian Wood play PF and would Houston trade him for a 6th pick? And would he be worth a 6th pick considering he's often injured?