NBA Playoffs - Play In? PLAY-IN It Cool

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

8 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

I'd love, love, love to have Derrick Rose to be a playoff hero

I don't think anyone can root for Rose to be a hero in good conscience. 

[DMC]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

"Serious" in the context of sports shows' A bloc debates in the lead up to the lottery (after which they ended because Cleveland wasn't passing over its hometown hero).

Point is LeBron was (at least) every bit as a favorite as Zion, who you held up as a contrast.

[Argonath Diver]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don't think anyone can root for Rose to be a hero in good conscience. 

I spent an inordinate amount of time reading the details of the case against the most electrifying player of the team I've rooted for for 30 years. The "We men" line was really, really bad. Much of the testimony of the case is public. The woman he gang banged with his buddies was as crappy a person as he was. I am not letting him off the hook for it, but it was a really gross situation for all involved, assuredly. Anyway, I'll leave it at that. Go Bulls.

[Argonath Diver]

Also, Randle managed to come back strong in the 3rd. Nice to see the Knicks make a game of it, after it looked like it might be a blowout.

The TNT feed has the crowd noise nearly muted, in fear of more audible "Fuck Trae Young" chants. You can tell it's deafeningly loud in there, but it sounds like the mic is from outside the arena. Wish I had an MSG feed, ah well.

 

/edit : Wow, the Knicks have come back with a passion. One of my buddies just put up a pic from the nosebleeds at MSG right now; he's gotta be going absolutely bonkers.

[Proudfeet]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Kawhi was clearly hurt during their title run and he never looked the same afterwards, but that decline was from the best wing defender to just one of the elite wing defender. He's fallen off from that point too. I'm sure he can summon that still now and then, but that top gear is gone.

Pretty sure you were arguing that he was just as good as before the Spurs injury and said that his stats didn't fall off. 

7 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Was the Clips offense a little stronger when they still had Lou Williams?

He was a guy that could give them 20 pts in 20 minutes at times.

I don't think so. It didn't work out even when they had Williams and Harrell together last year even though they were a good partnership before Kawhi and PG joined.

[KingintheNorth4]

Lmao at the "Trae Young's balding" chants. MSG crowd is ruthless.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

46 minutes ago, DMC said:

Point is LeBron was (at least) every bit as a favorite as Zion, who you held up as a contrast.

I don't think so because Zion was quickly the consensus top pick while there were two guys people projected ahead of LeBron, even if they were in the minority and wrong both then and now. But this is nitpicking and we don't need to beat a dead horse.

45 minutes ago, Argonath Diver said:

I spent an inordinate amount of time reading the details of the case against the most electrifying player of the team I've rooted for for 30 years. The "We men" line was really, really bad. Much of the testimony of the case is public. The woman he gang banged with his buddies was as crappy a person as he was. I am not letting him off the hook for it, but it was a really gross situation for all involved, assuredly. Anyway, I'll leave it at that. Go Bulls.

She was clearly drunk off her ass at the very least, as witnesses said, and they took advantage of her. There's no rooting for a person who did that even if you're not interested in relitigating what happened.

13 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Pretty sure you were arguing that he was just as good as before the Spurs injury and said that his stats didn't fall off. 

I believe his accounting stats got better, but that doesn't include his defense. 


Atlanta really blew that one. I have no conviction for either side going forward. Go Nets in the East!

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don't think so because Zion was quickly the consensus top pick while there were two guys people projected ahead of LeBron, even if they were in the minority and wrong both then and now. But this is nitpicking and we don't need to beat a dead horse.

This isn't nitpicking, it's just insanely wrong.  There were not "two guys people projected ahead of LeBron."  LeBron was hyped as a generational talent by most everybody, and because it was rather obvious most everybody was right.  From my understanding, the only prospect that's really comparable is Kareem.  I'm sure there were 4 in the afternoon talking head shows where sports writers said "well, in a regular draft Carmelo would be a very worthy #1 pick."  Because that's true!  But your depiction of how that draft played out is flat out wrong.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

17 minutes ago, DMC said:

This isn't nitpicking, it's just insanely wrong.  There were not "two guys people projected ahead of LeBron."  LeBron was hyped as a generational talent by most everybody, and because it was rather obvious most everybody was right.  From my understanding, the only prospect that's really comparable is Kareem.  I'm sure there were 4 in the afternoon talking head shows where sports writers said "well, in a regular draft Carmelo would be a very worthy #1 pick."  Because that's true!  But your depiction of how that draft played out is flat out wrong.

Again, you can simply use Google. LeBron was the clear favorite, but he was not the consensus pick. Zion was, and his case got stronger as his pre-draft year went on while more questions were raised in '03 as Melo won the NCAA Championship. It was not cut and dried until Cleveland landed the top pick. 

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Again, you can simply use Google. LeBron was the clear favorite, but he was not the consensus pick.

I don't need to use google to know you're wrong.

[Proudfeet]

36 minutes ago, DMC said:

This isn't nitpicking, 

It's Tywin's go to line when he doesn't have an argument. Right before "I'll get back to you later." 

__

I thought that it was a pretty clean block by Gobert on Morant. Don't have the audio on so I don't know why it was called a foul. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

22 minutes ago, DMC said:

I don't need to use google to know you're wrong.

Do you want links? Some serious commentators raised the question. None did with Zion. You asked when was there such a surefire pick as LeBron and all I had to do was say two years ago.

11 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

It's Tywin's go to line when he doesn't have an argument. Right before "I'll get back to you later." 

I said I would and when I looked you asked me to answer questions I felt like I already addressed. 

[Proudfeet]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

I said I would and when I looked you asked me to answer questions I felt like I already addressed. 

Its not a one time thing.

It typically goes like this. You pivot to something else, complain about nitpicking, then get back later.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Its not a one time thing.

It typically goes like this. You pivot to something else, complain about nitpicking, then get back later.

Perhaps that's because you ask a question, I answer it, you ask the same question with different phrasing, I point that out, you do it again, we repeat this dance and at that point I'll get back to you later if I still care given I already answered you. 

Just take our conversation about calling the NBA draft a draft as an example. Your resistance to it is futile my friend, no matter how you want it explained.

ETA:
 

Quote

I thought that it was a pretty clean block by Gobert on Morant. Don't have the audio on so I don't know why it was called a foul. 

It was clean.

[Proudfeet]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Perhaps that's because you ask a question, I answer it, you ask the same question with different phrasing, I point that out, you do it again, we repeat this dance and at that point I'll get back to you later if I still care given I already answered you. 

You're the common denominator. 

And I always come back to the same thing because you keep trying to change the topic.

_

It was the lottery. I understand how its used. I don't agree. Not much to discuss or explain.

[DMC]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Do you want links? Serious commentators raised the question. None did with Zion. 

No, I don't need links.  That draft was my senior year in high school.  I remember it vividly and your depiction is preposterous.  Hell, I remember that entire class.  Not just LeBron, but Kendrick Perkins, Chris Paul, Travis Outlaw, Ndudi Ebi, Mustafa Shakur.  I remember frequenting Syracuse - and Syracuse games - to sell weed.  (Thanks for the boost in sales Melo!)  I remember discussing the draft with tons of people online and in person, including many members (and the coach) of McQuaid's team - who tried to recruit him for that last year and were *allegedly* one of the few teams he actually considered (they finished 7th in the national rankings that year).  I'm sure you can dig up links that "debated" LeBron going first, just as I'm sure I can dig up plenty that "debated" the same with Zion. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

26 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

You're the common denominator. 

And I always come back to the same thing because you keep trying to change the topic.

Because I feel like you ask me questions, I answer them, and then you ask me the same questions only rephrased. Tell me how I didn't answer them and we can keep things moving.

32 minutes ago, DMC said:

No, I don't need links.  That draft was my senior year in high school.  I remember it vividly and your depiction is preposterous.  Hell, I remember that entire class.  Not just LeBron, but Kendrick Perkins, Chris Paul, Travis Outlaw, Ndudi Ebi, Mustafa Shakur.  I remember frequenting Syracuse - and Syracuse games - to sell weed.  (Thanks for the boost in sales Melo!)  I remember discussing the draft with tons of people online and in person, including many members (and the coach) of McQuaid's team - who tried to recruit him for that last year and were *allegedly* one of the few teams he actually considered (they finished 7th in the national rankings that year).  

There's a lot of fun and interesting questions to be asked here, but why the hell were you tracking Kendrick Perkins' HS career? 

Quote

I'm sure you can dig up links that "debated" LeBron going first, just as I'm sure I can dig up plenty that "debated" the same with Zion. 

I can't find any from a credible source. They all say take Zion. Maybe there's one lone person wanting Ja just to be different, but it's universally accepted. 

[Proudfeet]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Because I feel like you ask me questions, I answer them, and then you ask me the same questions only rephrased. Tell me how I didn't answer them and we can keep things moving.

I once asked you if you thought Kawhi was the same or worse. It took me three or four posts to get a definite answer, with stuff like his window is still open, he is top three but you never answered until I had to corner you to a yes/no post. I'm not the problem here.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

I once asked you if you thought Kawhi was the same or worse. It took me three or four posts to get a definite answer, with stuff like his window is still open, he is top three but you never answered until I had to corner you to a yes/no post. I'm not the problem here.

Because the answer is we don't know. He's declined athletically, and he wasn't explosive to begin with, but he's still maybe pound for pound the strongest guy in the league and elite athleticism isn't what his game is predicated on. His offensive game has gotten all-around better and he can get really hot at times, but he can't always carry a team because he's not the same player he was before. He was a top three player when he joined the Clippers, but now that's not the case. When healthy, Joker, Embiiid and Harden were probably the three best players this season.

What is contentious there? 

[DMC]

19 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

why the hell were you tracking Kendrick Perkins' HS career? 

 

Why weren't you?

19 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I can't find any from a credible source. They all say take Zion. Maybe there's one lone person wanting Ja just to be different, but it's universally accepted. 

LOL.  It was also "universally accepted" that LeBron was going to be one of the greatest players ever.  More so than Zion.  Again, no one has had that type of hype in my recollection, but old people tell me Kareem was comparable.  I wholly reject your ridiculous premise that LeBron wasn't the consensus favorite based on the reality of what the overwhelming majority were saying in the 2002-03 season and draft lead up.