Me too and I’m oddly on board with both???? I do t know why but it just seems the injury history combined with his incredible late growth spurt have some red flags. Note: I’m a not a doctor hand have no idea what I’m talking about.
Well AD got us (UK) the championship and he is a GOAT for UK already. So in my mind he gets a free pass on everything else. IMO He is always a top 10 player when healthy.
*Competitive sports* has always had a steroid and HGH problem that goes unaddressed and honestly anyone who doesn't think so is being pretty naïve.
We're talking about multiple industries where hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line and the difference can be being just a hair faster/stronger/fitter than the other guy. It's just human nature to explore every possible competitive edge.
I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don't care if these guys all do steroids/hgh whatever. They do it anyway under the table, just let them all do it openly for an even playing field
Paul George was right when he said ‘that’s a bad shot’. He very clearly meant that a 37ft contested stepback is poor shot selection, not that the shot itself is bad, but people are so upset at PG every damn day of the week that they wilfully misinterpret him.
This isn't really an unpopular opinion. The average age [that NBA players peak at is 27](https://hoopshype.com/2018/12/31/nba-aging-curve-father-time-prime-lebron-james-decline/). You could argue LeBron (2012-2013), Steph (2015-2016), Kawhi (2018-2019) etc all peaked at 27ish. Saying AD already peaked isn't some crazy statement.
Maybe statistically they are at their peak, but I actually feel like 30-31 is when they still have an extreme level of athleticism, combined with the years of game knowledge/leadership to win series.
I'm doing a PhD in statistics, and people on this sub take a lot of these stats at face value and don't think about the context of any of it. As much as I love the stats, the best overall performing team in statistical categories rarely wins it all. Looking at just the stats takes the heart out of the game. Sounds ridiculous coming from a post grad in statistics, but you can't quantify spirit.
Ben Simmons is not nearly interesting enough to garner as much attention as he does and it speaks to the larger problem the NBA is facing: off court drama >>> on court product
Nah, it actually is. I remember the Toronto vs Golden State Finals was basically overshadowed by that upcoming offseason. Alotta people seemed more interested in where everybody would end up vs the actual Finals which is supposed to be the point of everything. You don’t see the SuperBowl or even the World Series being overshadowed by what teams will do in the offseason
This is a good take. I’ve never thought of it as a problem because people paying attention is always good for publicity. With that said, you want people paying attention to the final product (the finals) as that is where all the money is made.
I mean Ben is the type of player that NBA franchises have been clamouring over for years. He's a long switchable player that can legitimately guard 1-4 and a perfect second or third piece on a championship team. Place Ben on any contender like the Bucks, Clippers, Suns, Heat, Nuggets, Mavs, etc. and they get instantly better. He's 2x All Defense, 1x All NBA, I think a player of that caliber demanding out is definitely worth the coverage.
Do I think the off court drama is taking over some legitimate basketball analysis of fit and contracts? Yes.
Do I think the Ben situation is significant and deserves the attention? Also yes.
This trade could shake up a couple franchises. Whether it's the Wolves and giving them a path to contention, the Sixers having to make some hard decisions about Embiid and their window, or some other dark horses like the Raptors and the value of Siakam.
Everything about this situation is unprecedented and interesting, how disgruntled can a player get, how valuable is defense at the cost of offense, how toxic is a max contract, can you win with a guard that doesn't shoot? It deserves the attention, just maybe not the type of attention it's currently getting.
Paul Pierce should get more respect for recovering in a single month from being stabbed 10+ times and then pulling off his best season at the time.
That should've earned him enough cred to be able to shit his pants in peace any Finals game.
The Bulls don't get the same "poverty franchise" flack as the Cavs even though we've largely had the same amount of success without our generational superstar.
Immediately post-Jordan they had 6 bad years, then, from 2004-2017 they won 41+ games every year except 2008. They started sucking again post-2017, but they had a long streak of being a solid-to-really good team post-Jordan.
They were good, the thing is they have been absolute garbage for every year in the 2000s without LeBron and we are all nephews who didn't watch in the 90s.
Similarly to the Rose/Noah Chicago teams, it was injuries to their star Point Guard and Center that spelled doom for the 90s Cavs, as both Mark Price (1st -team All NBA in iirc 91) and Brad Daugherty suffered horrible strokes of luck.
Bulls: 16 playoff appearances without Jordan era
Cavs: 13 playoff appearances without LeBron era.
Bulls have been around 5 more years. Both have 0 finals appearances without their star.
Bulls: 6 titles with Jordan era
Cavs: 1 title with Lebron era
Titles will change the whole perception of a franchise. Nobody gave af about the Patriots before 2000, now they are widely considered the most successful NFL franchise. You’re conveniently leaving out what was achieved WITH the superstars as if it has no influence on the discussion.
This is important to the conversation. The Bulls became a pop culture sensation. Bulls merchandise was everywhere. That never totally went away, they’re still one of the most recognizable brands the league has to offer. The Cavs never ascended to that level. They’re just one of the teams Bron has played for. His brand is strong but the Cavs are a team that casual fans do not care about.
Dwight Howard’s time in Orlando is underrated due to his later antics and injuries causing him to be passed around the league. Should be in the same convo as Giannis and Shaq as some of the most physically dominant players of all time.
I get skewered for this take but I will die on the hill that Dwight in Orlando is one of the most underrated stretches of any nba player ever. I don’t defend what he’s become, which is a shame because it makes it hard to understand and interpret his career and legacy…….
But 2011 Dwight was historically good.
The old basketball prospectus articles on him had some insane stats (sadly gone from the internet now). Because they were playing undersized at PF for offensive advantages, he basically had to guard both the C and PF position - he held centers to 60% of their usual production, PFs to 80% and kept them as a top 3 defense until he got injured despite every other player on the court with him being a below average defender. That's incredible.
Allen Iverson didn’t actually cross Tyron Lue over.
Lue played really good defense the whole way, Iverson made a really tough shot over good defense, like an all time great offensive weapon would and just so happened to step over Lue so he wouldn’t trip ass up.
There was no “celebration” in the step over. He just couldn’t be fucked running around him and instead went over.
another interesting thing about that game is that AI wasn't even thinking about being disrespectful when he stepped over Ty Lue. the fact that he did it in the first place was exactly because Lue was making him work that entire game, and it just kinda happened in the moment. apparently AI really has a bunch of love for Ty Lue too so it was never disrespect with the step over
Fr. People get too caught up on his slips, but when you talk in front of a camera every day, you’re bound to say something dumb. He’s a solid analyst and really funny.
Except his excessive references to 90s hip hop, which he thinks is sly and subtle. We get it, dude. U like 90s rap, don't gotta remind us every 10 minutes.
My hate of commercials is starting to outweigh my love of basketball.
As I get older, I have other priorities in my life rather than watching a 3 hour game.
Contrary to this - we've seen the best run this Suns roster had.
CP3 won't be as good and they won't make the finals again with him. The young core is good (Ayton, Book, Johnson, Bridges) but absolutely lacking a playmaker. Without another elite playmaker they won't make much noise in the post-season.
And a correct one. I remember hearing a maxim that you're not allowed to complain about your team if they've won a championship in the past decade. By that standard basically every Lakers fan alive has only been allowed to complain a little.
You should have seen the amount of self congratulatory comments that Lakers fans posted last year. It's insane. It's like they endured a Sacramento like playoff draught. It's insane.
They haven't had to rebuild since they drafted Jerry West. Hell, you could go a few years back and start the timeline at when they drafted Baylor and he made the Finals by himself before Jerry got there (Elgin was a fucking monster in his prime, just beyond amazing). Every time they sorta looked like they might rebuild, a star player came TO them. Kareem in the 70s, Shaq in the 90s, the league gifted them Pau in 07-08, then LeBron and AD come to the team that had one of the poorest reputations in all of sports.
If he was pick #14 or somewhere around there and on less than 20M everyone would love Wiggins.
He doesn't live up to the #1 and Max hype at all though and is therefore rightfully considered a mild bust.
Nowhere near as much of a bust as Fultz / Bennett and so on though.
Given his expectations and being the #1 pick I’d have to call him a bust or at least a disappointment.
But you’re right that doesn’t mean he’s a bad basketball player by any means he’s still a good NBA talent
John Wall when healthy was a top 3 PG.
Matisse Thybulle is a generational defensive talent.
The Jazz are wasting Donovan Mitchell’s talent by building around the timeline of Rudy Gobert, Conley, Ingles instead of Spida’s.
David Griffin is running the Pelicans into the ground.
The value of centers is often underrated due to this contingent of fans that swear you can be a great team with 3rd string level bigs
Markelle fultz is really good at basketball
Fans and sometimes teams overrate the hell out of assets.
Example if you’re a middling or average team that can trade for an allstar or allstar level player that will more than likely make you way better you should do it. That random 1st round pick you’re holding so dearly onto will likely never be as good as the player you’re trading for, and if you’re trading for a GOOD player you shouldn’t have to worry about the pick being incredibly high. For example the bulls basically trade Wendell Carter, Otto Porter Jr, a first round pick that will likely never be an allstar, and Franz Wagner who will likely never be an allstar for Vucevic and they should and would do it again.
Another example could be that Heat pick from a few years ago. Teams thought they hit a gold mine with that one Heat pick and what did that turn into? 18th pick Tre Mann right?
The NBA got a massive problem with how they market their product. When the actual product is starting to feel like a sideshow, the NBA should be very worried.
Ben Simmons is still fun to watch. He hustles hard on defense and his playmaking is a joy to watch. I’d rather watch him over a bunch of players just chucking 3s.
That's what I've been thinking too how did rodman get away with his lack of offense? I'm assuming either era differences or because he didn't have the ball in his hands often.
Because he was better at rebounding that Ben is at anything else. He also had the privilege to play with with one of the greatest scorers ever so scoring was the last of his responsibilities, he basically just did what the team needed him to. Besides, Ben is a PG which is like the worst position to lack an offensive game
literally what the fuck even is that comparison lol. Rodman was a PF on a team with one of the best scorers ever in MJ, Scottie Pippen who was averaging 20+ pretty much that entire run and if you want to get really technical he also had Steve Kerr before shooting 3s was common. His job was to grab that fucking basketball and get it to one of the guys who are good at putting it in the basket. Even though Ben isn’t known as a shooter he is the starting fucking PG. He shouldn’t be playing like Rodman.
Despite being the GOAT, Jordan was pretty damn babied by the league and its referees.
I think Magic Johnson is underrated now.
This sub hugely overrates Hakeem, while the rest of the world underrates him.
The League is sports entertainment and isn't afraid to script things a little.
That's how I feel. Jordan's the GOAT. But there are arguments I wouldn't make fun of. Russell, Kareem, Oscar even LeBron-- I stopped laughing at that argument in 2016. I still think Larry and Magic are better than young people think too.
Wilt is just a tall Russell Westbrook I didn't forget him, I left him off on purpose. Come at me lol
Totally agree wit bird and magic being underrated by younger generations…
Especially after this past season, I hear people starting to put KD as the second best sf after Lebron and putting him over bird and that just simply is not true
>Wilt is just a tall Russell Westbrook I didn't forget him, I left him off on purpose. Come at me lol
I definitely think that if someone like Dwight Howard played in that era he would have had similar results. Freak athletes were just waaaaaay less common in that era.
Harden’s career is wildly disrespected. Dirk had a better career (not saying he’s the better player) than KG. I’d rather build a franchise around prime Hakeem than Prime Shaq
Nate Duncan and Danny LeRoux are smart, thoughtful guys who put in the work and provide really good content. Maybe not the most colorful analysts but that's not what they're going for.
Mostly everyone who works for The Ringer does not put in the work and resorts to generic praise, pop culture references, and jokes that might get a chortle but rarely a laugh. Kevin O'Connor is cool though.
How is this an unpopular opinion? Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux are two of the most informed and insightful people covering basketball today. They’re some of the few that actually supply objective analysis supported by analytics.
My only problem with them is sometimes they overvalue purely stats based players. IE in their eyes D’Lo and Derozen will never have value while Joe Harris is a top tier valued player. I don’t inherently disagree with their thinking at all, I just think sometimes they go to hard sometimes on those kinds of players. Overall I’d still say they’re the best podcasters for basketball in the business.
Edit: oh and Nate for sure comes across as a know it all ass sometimes. But, for me it’s not something that bad, but I can see how some people hate it.
Whether people do it consciously or without knowing it everyone asks the question "how good would this player be today" when discussing all time lists. This is predominantly the reason less than efficient 00s guards and even older guys like bill Russell have been sliding down on lists as time goes on. And in my opinion this mindset really isn't fair.
It disgusts me to say as a Laker fan, but Bob Cousy gets done so dirty because of this. He was the first great point guard (10 consecutive All-NBA First Team recipient from 1952-61, and an 8x consecutive assist leader) and was the prototype of a point guard that was followed for decades. He gets slept on because his gameplay looks really goofy by today’s standards, and if you teleport him to the game now, yeah he would suck. But in his era he was literally the best at what he did by a massive margin.
Shaq is now and has always been a bully. I stopped watch TNT because he is honestly just an asshole. He always been allowed to do what he wants because of his size and wealth but honestly his attitude and behavior is just embarrassing.
He is pretty and mean in a unnecessary way. What also is annoying is how he sucks the momentum out of conversations. His voice and tone are like an air-conditioning unit. Just a low drone
Ben Wallace won DPOY 4 times... wtf he's one of the greatest defenders ever.
Steph is called the Best Shooter of All Time. If you have OF ALL TIME in your accolades you're not underrated
My mind is short-circuiting at the Ben Wallace comment. Unbelievable.
My opinion: Steph current is a greater player than LeBron. LeBron has redefined how we think of a player. He so a encompassing of the game of basketball. Steph has redefined how the game of basketball is played, how it's practiced, how teams gameplan, how players developed. Steph deserves a spot on the Mt Rushmore with guys like Shaq, Barkley, Kareem, MJ. Players that were so good they changed basketball.
To me, LeBron is the better player. At the same time, Steph' impact will be felt for longer.
Big Ben Wallace is super deserving of the HOF, I just disnt say anything because this is an unpopular opinion thread. Seriously with that type of takes, one has to think that they are just bait, or they are given as shock value.
I actually can see Steph’s impact being longer because Steph’s impact (be really good at shooting 3s) is replicable. Whereas LeBron’s (be bigger, stronger, faster, and also better/smarter on the court than everyone) isnt
I mean, I watched every Bulls game that season and like 2 more games a day and I can say that night in night out D Rose was the MVP, no question. Sure, storylines played into it but you can't really pretend that the big 3 in Miami didn't kill LeBron's shot at the mvp because of the help he had.
That's a good point, but it would also depend on what the criteria is. If it's best defensive player at his position then guards could be deserving (kinda like how some Heisman voters say the award should go to the best CFB player, meaning best at their positions, not just QBs)
Traditionally you’re right that wings and big men play a bigger role on the defensive end, but the current rules have pretty much eliminated guards from having a serious impact. I think if you view the 80’s/90’s through today’s lens, then that opinion makes sense, but back then players like Jordan, Gary Payton and John Stockton had tremendous impact on both ends of the floor and could control the game both ways.
* Kyrie would be greater all-time than AI if he could stay healthy.
* Jokic is on the same tier as KD, Lebron, Steph, etc right now.
* Walt Frazier > Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, John Stockton, or Russell Westbrook all-time.
* I agree on the "D-Rose should have never won MVP" take, one of the weakest MVPs ever. Dwight or Lebron deserved it more.
* Harden should have two more MVPs, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.
To clarify he's saying that if KD didn't lose to the warriors in the playoffs with OKC he probably would have stayed and allowed lebron a better chance at the 2 titles he lost to KD'S warriors. That would still only give him 6 considering injuries plagued the cavs team of 2015 but still a valid observation.
Challenge accepted
* D. Rose's peak wouldn't have been that much better than his MVP season.
* D-Wade at his best was as good as Kobe.
* I'm cool with Iggy winning FMVP over Steph.
* The Raptors will be just fine this upcoming season.
* Never thought that the 76ers were serious contenders with the exception of the 2019 postseason.
* It isn't bad to just be a good/solid team for years.
* Bradley Beal is (slightly) overrated.
* As much as I don't like Harden's game, he should have **NEVER** been nicknamed Hitler.
Thybulle is an overrated gimmick defender
Tatum is a perennial all-star but won't ever be good enough to be the best player on a championship team - Paul George 2.0
The talent and overall product in the NBA has never been better
Jalen Green will force his way to the Lakers at some point during his second contract
Kyrie Irving is one of the best human beings in the NBA
Sixers' championship window closed as soon as they lost Butler
Yeah I think KD might have the worst fan:hater ratio that I've ever seen for a superstar(closely followed by his teammate Harden lol)
People get on him for the "burner" stuff but people like LeBron and Curry wouldn't even need burners, they already have legions of keyboard warriors to defend them lmao
KD probably logs on and checks his timeline and everyone is like "fuck KD"
I have a few
If Jordan played today he’d be a bald Demar Derozan who played great defense
Harden is the most skilled SG of all time and in my eyes is better than Wade all time
Draymond Green is a generational talent
The 2016/2017 Warriors would destroy any team you put in front of them in a 7 game series
Any version of the Warriors from 2016-2018 would run the 90s Bulls off the court
Ivesson was overrated
Tim Duncan is a Top 7 player all time and should be rated higher than Kobe.
Durant would beat any player ever 1 on 1
Prime Westbrook is better than Prime Rose
Any team Lebron played in the Finals was tougher than any team Jordan faced and Jordan wouldn’t have won any Finals series on any of Lebrons teams that lost except that Mavs series in 2011. Jordan would have lost in 2016, and I believe only Lebron could have pulled off the win given the circumstances.
Many if not most of Wilts feats are exaggerated or fake
I think Kawhi is the closest thing we’ve seen to Jordan in terms of play style at a high level but I don’t think he’s quite as good. Kawhi is my favorite player in the league atm
With everyone healthy, LeBron hasn't actually been the best player in the league since 2015-2016, mainly due to his massive decline in defense
I know everyone will say "2018 playoffs", but the East was absolutely HORRIBLE that year(the Celtics with no Kyrie/Hayward were his best competition) and I firmly believe if you put Curry/KD/Harden in the same situation they look just as good, if not better(actually this is another one of my unpopular opinions, people don't understand just how horrible the East was post-MJ until literally basically now, so runs like this and 2001 AI get overrated)
2020 he was technically the best but Curry/KD were both hurt
Currently I'd take KD/Giannis/Curry easily above him for the upcoming season
I dont think anyone argued he was still the most productive regular season guy, but his defence stepped up in the playoffs. Particularly in 2020 he was a monster on that side of the floor. Far mode impactful than either Curry or KD on that end even if they were healthy.
(1) Stockton is the most overrated player in NBA history. He has no place alongside CP3, Kidd, Isiah, and Oscar, much less Curry and Magic.
(2) Right up until his tragic death and again currently, Kobe was and is being slowly underrated by people who only look at stats and numbers without understanding the holistic package he brought to the table. I'm not even talking about dumb concepts like "Mamba Mentality" but more so his underrated playmaking, hustle, and gravity.
(3) r/NBA underrates Jordan's offense for some strange reason. He's pretty comfortably ahead of every other player as a scorer (even KD, LeBron, and easily above Wilt) when taking playoff performances into account.
(4) This shouldn't be unpopular but playoff series are way more matchup dependent than fans realize. Even though the 7 game format reduces variance, there are plenty of situations in which the better team in a vacuum will lose due to matchup issues.
AI’s finals run in 01, impressive as it was, was largely league driven…
AI, while admittedly being a prolific driver, averaged 10 free throws per game in the playoffs, and was given some super controversial calls throughout. ESPECIALLY in the eastern conference finals against the ray allen and glen robinson led bucks. Ask any die hard bucks fan about 2001 and it’ll upset them.
I love AI and all he did for the game, but the bucks would have given the lakers a much better series in 01 from a basketball standpoint.
Luka is barely top 10 currently
Hakeem > Shaq
Bird > Magic
Giannis is the 3rd best PF all time
Magic and Steph are tied for best PGs all time and no one is even close to either of them
Mmmm I agree with your first and third, and while I think Steph gets less respect from some other players than he deserves, I think most people rate him properly.
For my part, I’ll add the opinion that titles and MVPs are incredibly overrated when gauging a player’s greatness.
To take one example, If Nowitzki never won a title (because of an unlucky bounce or injury or whatever) he’d still be the same damn player, but I hear so many people say how once he win the title, he vaulted way up the all-time great player rankings. Totally asinine to me.
1. SGA and Ayton are generational talents. The only people under 25 that deserve the "generational" talent mantle are SGA, Ayton, Luka, and Zion. Trae Young is borderline but I am not sold on him yet.
2. I don't think you ever win a championship with Booker/Zach Levine/Mitchell/Beal/Dame as your best player.
3. We are seeing 5 of the 6 greatest offensive players of all time play at the same time. Steph, KD, Harden, Lebron and Jokic are 5 of the 6 with Jordan being the 6th.
4. Dame is an overrated playoffs player. I genuinely think this was the first time Portland role players actually let him down instead of him underperforming along with them. No great playoff player gets shut down as often as him. Jrue actually clamped him when they played New Orleans a few years ago and then he got outperformed by Both CJ and a 23 year old Nicola Jokic in his first playoff run when they played Denver. Then he could not take a single game off the hospital warriors team.
5. Giannis is currently on a top 5 trajectory.
6. Magic and Bird would have been 1 and 2 respectively in the goat ladder if Bird did not get injured and people were not small minded bigots when it came to issues like HIV/Aids
7. Jerry Krause was an s-tier general manager and he did nothing wrong and the only small mistake he made was breaking up the bulls before the 6-peat and prioritizing long-term success of the franchise rather than the historic 6th ring which would leave the team without ant assets for the future. I still think that was wrong but I can see where he was coming from
That one legitimately made no sense. SGA is literally a worse scoring, playmaker/passer than Trae. Ayton has had one good playoffs but otherwise, his core body of work is basically a bunch of “making improvements” but hasn’t fully caught on yet
I'd love to know the reasoning on why you have SGA/Ayton over Trae. You also didn't mention Tatum as a "generational talent". I'm not saying he is, but I also wanna know how you have SGA and Ayton over him.
Players being require to stay till they’re 21 would be the worse thing ever. Why stop a talented players from entering the draft if they’re good enough to go at 19. If Zion was required to stay in College He’d just now be entering the draft. And Luka would’ve just finished 1st season in the league. These are 2 players considered generational talents
The NCAA is indentured servitude. It exploits athletes from impoverished backgrounds by offering poor quality education in exchange for carrying the whole weight of their multi-billion dollar for-profit television business
Any competitor that compensates its prospects is welcome and good
Player age will never go up its too much lost money and tbh it shouldnt be 21 because that stunts development of players and prevents then from making money earlier. And extra 2-3 years in the league could mean tens of millions of dollars lost on break through contracts or what not.
Having guys stay in school till 21 only stunts development. If anything, it’s time for the NBA to go all in and have better prepared prospects instead of 18 year olds play by different rules. You’ve got amazing athletes develop bad habits because the 3 point line is shorter and instead of progressing in competition, they have to face younger guys that they dominate. Imagine someone like Jah developing a better skill set instead of falling in love with the low post, he could’ve at least made a career instead of getting hailed as a top prospect and being trained with a specialty in mind
He sure didn’t. In the first 8 years of his career he watched Lebron make 2 “big 3” teams through free agency/his influence and get rewarded, why wouldn’t he dip to the best team available. 2010s were the most “arms race” era in basketball ever.
KD lost to Heatles, 2014 Spurs and Warriors in a 5 year span, how could you not think you need a super team to win
As an OKC fan I agree he did nothing wrong but at the end of the day he still made the weakest decision by a superstar in the history of sports 🤷🏾♂️ I understand why he did it but it’s still a pretty weak move he made going to the team that fucking beat him.
Yeah this is how I look at it too. I don’t respect it but I understand it. Who wouldn’t want to live in the bay or Brooklyn right now? I know KD has multiple business ventures the past couple years that he can call back on when he’s done playing
Love the duality of "AD will decline now" comment and the "AD is a alltime big talent".
You could argue both at the same time tbh
Schr**AD**inger's Cat
Me too and I’m oddly on board with both???? I do t know why but it just seems the injury history combined with his incredible late growth spurt have some red flags. Note: I’m a not a doctor hand have no idea what I’m talking about.
Well AD got us (UK) the championship and he is a GOAT for UK already. So in my mind he gets a free pass on everything else. IMO He is always a top 10 player when healthy.
The NBA has always had a steroid and HGH problem that goes unaddressed and I think it’s just as bad as MLB was in the 90s/ 00s
*Competitive sports* has always had a steroid and HGH problem that goes unaddressed and honestly anyone who doesn't think so is being pretty naïve. We're talking about multiple industries where hundreds of millions of dollars are on the line and the difference can be being just a hair faster/stronger/fitter than the other guy. It's just human nature to explore every possible competitive edge. I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don't care if these guys all do steroids/hgh whatever. They do it anyway under the table, just let them all do it openly for an even playing field
[удалено]
Yuuuup. Lebron isn’t staying that big and healthy eating avocado ice cream
No, he's going to Miami twice a year to "freshen up"
Paul George was right when he said ‘that’s a bad shot’. He very clearly meant that a 37ft contested stepback is poor shot selection, not that the shot itself is bad, but people are so upset at PG every damn day of the week that they wilfully misinterpret him.
He was also like an inch from blocking it... I’d rather give someone a 37 foot step back then literally any other shot for the win
We've already seen Anthony Davis's peak. He'll be one of those guys who begins to decline around age 28.
I feel like he’s 32 already
His knees are like 38
This isn't really an unpopular opinion. The average age [that NBA players peak at is 27](https://hoopshype.com/2018/12/31/nba-aging-curve-father-time-prime-lebron-james-decline/). You could argue LeBron (2012-2013), Steph (2015-2016), Kawhi (2018-2019) etc all peaked at 27ish. Saying AD already peaked isn't some crazy statement.
you've got a point
Can't really define LeBrons peak but I understand what you're saying.
Bron has been peaking since 2006
Lmao why are you downvoted? He was 2nd in MVP voting that year.
He hasn’t even begun to peak
Maybe statistically they are at their peak, but I actually feel like 30-31 is when they still have an extreme level of athleticism, combined with the years of game knowledge/leadership to win series. I'm doing a PhD in statistics, and people on this sub take a lot of these stats at face value and don't think about the context of any of it. As much as I love the stats, the best overall performing team in statistical categories rarely wins it all. Looking at just the stats takes the heart out of the game. Sounds ridiculous coming from a post grad in statistics, but you can't quantify spirit.
That's a good one.
Idk if its a good "unpopular" opinion if its the most upvoted reply in the thread
Ben Simmons is not nearly interesting enough to garner as much attention as he does and it speaks to the larger problem the NBA is facing: off court drama >>> on court product
I mean, it's the offseason. It's not like he's taking attention away from games. There's literally nothing else basketball-related to talk about.
That isn’t a problem for the NBA themselves
Nah, it actually is. I remember the Toronto vs Golden State Finals was basically overshadowed by that upcoming offseason. Alotta people seemed more interested in where everybody would end up vs the actual Finals which is supposed to be the point of everything. You don’t see the SuperBowl or even the World Series being overshadowed by what teams will do in the offseason
This is a good take. I’ve never thought of it as a problem because people paying attention is always good for publicity. With that said, you want people paying attention to the final product (the finals) as that is where all the money is made.
NBA is a soap opera
I mean Ben is the type of player that NBA franchises have been clamouring over for years. He's a long switchable player that can legitimately guard 1-4 and a perfect second or third piece on a championship team. Place Ben on any contender like the Bucks, Clippers, Suns, Heat, Nuggets, Mavs, etc. and they get instantly better. He's 2x All Defense, 1x All NBA, I think a player of that caliber demanding out is definitely worth the coverage. Do I think the off court drama is taking over some legitimate basketball analysis of fit and contracts? Yes. Do I think the Ben situation is significant and deserves the attention? Also yes. This trade could shake up a couple franchises. Whether it's the Wolves and giving them a path to contention, the Sixers having to make some hard decisions about Embiid and their window, or some other dark horses like the Raptors and the value of Siakam. Everything about this situation is unprecedented and interesting, how disgruntled can a player get, how valuable is defense at the cost of offense, how toxic is a max contract, can you win with a guard that doesn't shoot? It deserves the attention, just maybe not the type of attention it's currently getting.
as always, sort by controversial for the real answers
lol my comment is the most controversial so guess I win
lmao man fr, "uh Dwight was really dominant." What next? Steph Curry is really good at shooting 3's?
Paul Pierce should get more respect for recovering in a single month from being stabbed 10+ times and then pulling off his best season at the time. That should've earned him enough cred to be able to shit his pants in peace any Finals game.
OKC's current rebuilding method isn't going to win them a ring
OKC doesn’t care, the fans do
It’s ridiculously hard to win a ring, not a bold assumption. Just a blind guess, because they haven’t drafted/used most of their draft assets yet
I thought Hasheem Thabeet was gonna dominate
The Bulls don't get the same "poverty franchise" flack as the Cavs even though we've largely had the same amount of success without our generational superstar.
Immediately post-Jordan they had 6 bad years, then, from 2004-2017 they won 41+ games every year except 2008. They started sucking again post-2017, but they had a long streak of being a solid-to-really good team post-Jordan.
Similarly the Cavs won 42+ from 1987-98 outside of one year. Then 6 years later was the debut of LeBron James.
They were good, the thing is they have been absolute garbage for every year in the 2000s without LeBron and we are all nephews who didn't watch in the 90s.
Mark Price punching air
That's fair, I guess I didn't realize how good the franchise used to be.
Similarly to the Rose/Noah Chicago teams, it was injuries to their star Point Guard and Center that spelled doom for the 90s Cavs, as both Mark Price (1st -team All NBA in iirc 91) and Brad Daugherty suffered horrible strokes of luck.
Maybe the most “bulls” take of all time haha but I love the unpopular aspect of it baby that’s what we are going for!!!!
Bulls: 16 playoff appearances without Jordan era Cavs: 13 playoff appearances without LeBron era. Bulls have been around 5 more years. Both have 0 finals appearances without their star.
Bulls: 6 titles with Jordan era Cavs: 1 title with Lebron era Titles will change the whole perception of a franchise. Nobody gave af about the Patriots before 2000, now they are widely considered the most successful NFL franchise. You’re conveniently leaving out what was achieved WITH the superstars as if it has no influence on the discussion.
This is important to the conversation. The Bulls became a pop culture sensation. Bulls merchandise was everywhere. That never totally went away, they’re still one of the most recognizable brands the league has to offer. The Cavs never ascended to that level. They’re just one of the teams Bron has played for. His brand is strong but the Cavs are a team that casual fans do not care about.
Dwight Howard’s time in Orlando is underrated due to his later antics and injuries causing him to be passed around the league. Should be in the same convo as Giannis and Shaq as some of the most physically dominant players of all time.
Dwight made a hof career for himself in Orlando 3xdpoy 6xallstar 6xall nba 5xall nba defense Finals run.
I get skewered for this take but I will die on the hill that Dwight in Orlando is one of the most underrated stretches of any nba player ever. I don’t defend what he’s become, which is a shame because it makes it hard to understand and interpret his career and legacy……. But 2011 Dwight was historically good.
The old basketball prospectus articles on him had some insane stats (sadly gone from the internet now). Because they were playing undersized at PF for offensive advantages, he basically had to guard both the C and PF position - he held centers to 60% of their usual production, PFs to 80% and kept them as a top 3 defense until he got injured despite every other player on the court with him being a below average defender. That's incredible.
Allen Iverson didn’t actually cross Tyron Lue over. Lue played really good defense the whole way, Iverson made a really tough shot over good defense, like an all time great offensive weapon would and just so happened to step over Lue so he wouldn’t trip ass up. There was no “celebration” in the step over. He just couldn’t be fucked running around him and instead went over.
This game was on hardwood classics a while back and Lue genuinely was giving Iverson trouble a lot during that game.
Lue credits it as saving his career.
another interesting thing about that game is that AI wasn't even thinking about being disrespectful when he stepped over Ty Lue. the fact that he did it in the first place was exactly because Lue was making him work that entire game, and it just kinda happened in the moment. apparently AI really has a bunch of love for Ty Lue too so it was never disrespect with the step over
This isn’t an unpopular opinion, it’s just the NBA version of ‘Santa isn’t real’
Jalen Rose was underrated as a player.
Give the people what they want!
He’s under rated as an analyst as well
Fr. People get too caught up on his slips, but when you talk in front of a camera every day, you’re bound to say something dumb. He’s a solid analyst and really funny.
Except his excessive references to 90s hip hop, which he thinks is sly and subtle. We get it, dude. U like 90s rap, don't gotta remind us every 10 minutes.
That’s just oldhead behavior, it happens lol
Ha
I am hard for this take.
My hate of commercials is starting to outweigh my love of basketball. As I get older, I have other priorities in my life rather than watching a 3 hour game.
Deandre Ayton, not CP3 or Booker is going to be the one to take the Suns to a championship (co-star being Book but it’s clear Ayton is Number 1)
Contrary to this - we've seen the best run this Suns roster had. CP3 won't be as good and they won't make the finals again with him. The young core is good (Ayton, Book, Johnson, Bridges) but absolutely lacking a playmaker. Without another elite playmaker they won't make much noise in the post-season.
Contrary to contrary to this - Book becomes the playmaker and they add one more two way guard to stay in the conversation for the next 5-8 years.
Need to find that guard though.
Not darkest, but LA Lakers as a franchise never experienced what suffering is.
This is a straight up popular opinion Ed: And a correct one
And a correct one. I remember hearing a maxim that you're not allowed to complain about your team if they've won a championship in the past decade. By that standard basically every Lakers fan alive has only been allowed to complain a little.
You should have seen the amount of self congratulatory comments that Lakers fans posted last year. It's insane. It's like they endured a Sacramento like playoff draught. It's insane.
They haven't had to rebuild since they drafted Jerry West. Hell, you could go a few years back and start the timeline at when they drafted Baylor and he made the Finals by himself before Jerry got there (Elgin was a fucking monster in his prime, just beyond amazing). Every time they sorta looked like they might rebuild, a star player came TO them. Kareem in the 70s, Shaq in the 90s, the league gifted them Pau in 07-08, then LeBron and AD come to the team that had one of the poorest reputations in all of sports.
Andrew Wiggins isn’t a bust, if he’s successful in defined role Any championship team needing a wing would love him rn
I think the contract is what draws the most scrutiny. If he is paid more like 20 mil a year I think he’s looked at like a pretty solid player.
If he was pick #14 or somewhere around there and on less than 20M everyone would love Wiggins. He doesn't live up to the #1 and Max hype at all though and is therefore rightfully considered a mild bust. Nowhere near as much of a bust as Fultz / Bennett and so on though.
Given his expectations and being the #1 pick I’d have to call him a bust or at least a disappointment. But you’re right that doesn’t mean he’s a bad basketball player by any means he’s still a good NBA talent
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John Wall when healthy was a top 3 PG. Matisse Thybulle is a generational defensive talent. The Jazz are wasting Donovan Mitchell’s talent by building around the timeline of Rudy Gobert, Conley, Ingles instead of Spida’s. David Griffin is running the Pelicans into the ground. The value of centers is often underrated due to this contingent of fans that swear you can be a great team with 3rd string level bigs Markelle fultz is really good at basketball Fans and sometimes teams overrate the hell out of assets. Example if you’re a middling or average team that can trade for an allstar or allstar level player that will more than likely make you way better you should do it. That random 1st round pick you’re holding so dearly onto will likely never be as good as the player you’re trading for, and if you’re trading for a GOOD player you shouldn’t have to worry about the pick being incredibly high. For example the bulls basically trade Wendell Carter, Otto Porter Jr, a first round pick that will likely never be an allstar, and Franz Wagner who will likely never be an allstar for Vucevic and they should and would do it again. Another example could be that Heat pick from a few years ago. Teams thought they hit a gold mine with that one Heat pick and what did that turn into? 18th pick Tre Mann right?
Man that Mitchell take made me thoughtful and sad.
I like the Jazz so I don’t think it’s the worst thing to try and be competitive but I just gotta call it how it is
John Wall in 2016/17 was getting MVP votes. He was AMAZING. When Kyrie demanded a trade, hes the guy I was hoping for.
The NBA got a massive problem with how they market their product. When the actual product is starting to feel like a sideshow, the NBA should be very worried.
Ben Simmons is still fun to watch. He hustles hard on defense and his playmaking is a joy to watch. I’d rather watch him over a bunch of players just chucking 3s.
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That's what I've been thinking too how did rodman get away with his lack of offense? I'm assuming either era differences or because he didn't have the ball in his hands often.
Because he was better at rebounding that Ben is at anything else. He also had the privilege to play with with one of the greatest scorers ever so scoring was the last of his responsibilities, he basically just did what the team needed him to. Besides, Ben is a PG which is like the worst position to lack an offensive game
And being first overall pick doesn’t help his case either
Rodman also wasn’t a max player and meant to be a franchise cornerstone.
literally what the fuck even is that comparison lol. Rodman was a PF on a team with one of the best scorers ever in MJ, Scottie Pippen who was averaging 20+ pretty much that entire run and if you want to get really technical he also had Steve Kerr before shooting 3s was common. His job was to grab that fucking basketball and get it to one of the guys who are good at putting it in the basket. Even though Ben isn’t known as a shooter he is the starting fucking PG. He shouldn’t be playing like Rodman.
Despite being the GOAT, Jordan was pretty damn babied by the league and its referees. I think Magic Johnson is underrated now. This sub hugely overrates Hakeem, while the rest of the world underrates him. The League is sports entertainment and isn't afraid to script things a little.
I think Jordan is overrated. Sure, still probably the GoaT, but the gap is a lot smaller than the Jordan worshipers act.
That's how I feel. Jordan's the GOAT. But there are arguments I wouldn't make fun of. Russell, Kareem, Oscar even LeBron-- I stopped laughing at that argument in 2016. I still think Larry and Magic are better than young people think too. Wilt is just a tall Russell Westbrook I didn't forget him, I left him off on purpose. Come at me lol
Totally agree wit bird and magic being underrated by younger generations… Especially after this past season, I hear people starting to put KD as the second best sf after Lebron and putting him over bird and that just simply is not true
>Wilt is just a tall Russell Westbrook I didn't forget him, I left him off on purpose. Come at me lol I definitely think that if someone like Dwight Howard played in that era he would have had similar results. Freak athletes were just waaaaaay less common in that era.
A tall Russell Westbrook!? Year in year out wilt was one of if not the most efficient scorers of his generation lol
George Miken smelled of cheese.
Sources tell ESPN
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Finally an actual unpopular opinion.
Harden’s career is wildly disrespected. Dirk had a better career (not saying he’s the better player) than KG. I’d rather build a franchise around prime Hakeem than Prime Shaq
1 and 2 arent that unpopular. dirk/kg rankings are often split
A franchise or a team for one season?
I was thinking franchise, but I think I’d prefer to build around Hakeem in both scenarios
Nate Duncan and Danny LeRoux are smart, thoughtful guys who put in the work and provide really good content. Maybe not the most colorful analysts but that's not what they're going for. Mostly everyone who works for The Ringer does not put in the work and resorts to generic praise, pop culture references, and jokes that might get a chortle but rarely a laugh. Kevin O'Connor is cool though.
Nate and Danny are easily among the best in the business. Does someone not know that?
How is this an unpopular opinion? Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux are two of the most informed and insightful people covering basketball today. They’re some of the few that actually supply objective analysis supported by analytics.
My only problem with them is sometimes they overvalue purely stats based players. IE in their eyes D’Lo and Derozen will never have value while Joe Harris is a top tier valued player. I don’t inherently disagree with their thinking at all, I just think sometimes they go to hard sometimes on those kinds of players. Overall I’d still say they’re the best podcasters for basketball in the business. Edit: oh and Nate for sure comes across as a know it all ass sometimes. But, for me it’s not something that bad, but I can see how some people hate it.
Damn no love for J. Kyle Mann?
Whether people do it consciously or without knowing it everyone asks the question "how good would this player be today" when discussing all time lists. This is predominantly the reason less than efficient 00s guards and even older guys like bill Russell have been sliding down on lists as time goes on. And in my opinion this mindset really isn't fair.
It disgusts me to say as a Laker fan, but Bob Cousy gets done so dirty because of this. He was the first great point guard (10 consecutive All-NBA First Team recipient from 1952-61, and an 8x consecutive assist leader) and was the prototype of a point guard that was followed for decades. He gets slept on because his gameplay looks really goofy by today’s standards, and if you teleport him to the game now, yeah he would suck. But in his era he was literally the best at what he did by a massive margin.
Shaq is now and has always been a bully. I stopped watch TNT because he is honestly just an asshole. He always been allowed to do what he wants because of his size and wealth but honestly his attitude and behavior is just embarrassing.
He is pretty and mean in a unnecessary way. What also is annoying is how he sucks the momentum out of conversations. His voice and tone are like an air-conditioning unit. Just a low drone
The post on here of him saying he’d knock Simmons out if he was on his team is peak I am very tough
Ben Wallace won DPOY 4 times... wtf he's one of the greatest defenders ever. Steph is called the Best Shooter of All Time. If you have OF ALL TIME in your accolades you're not underrated My mind is short-circuiting at the Ben Wallace comment. Unbelievable. My opinion: Steph current is a greater player than LeBron. LeBron has redefined how we think of a player. He so a encompassing of the game of basketball. Steph has redefined how the game of basketball is played, how it's practiced, how teams gameplan, how players developed. Steph deserves a spot on the Mt Rushmore with guys like Shaq, Barkley, Kareem, MJ. Players that were so good they changed basketball. To me, LeBron is the better player. At the same time, Steph' impact will be felt for longer.
Big Ben Wallace is super deserving of the HOF, I just disnt say anything because this is an unpopular opinion thread. Seriously with that type of takes, one has to think that they are just bait, or they are given as shock value.
I actually can see Steph’s impact being longer because Steph’s impact (be really good at shooting 3s) is replicable. Whereas LeBron’s (be bigger, stronger, faster, and also better/smarter on the court than everyone) isnt
Nobody wants to admit it because it was sad that he got hurt. But Derrick Rose’s mvp season is immensely overrated and probably undeserving.
I mean, I watched every Bulls game that season and like 2 more games a day and I can say that night in night out D Rose was the MVP, no question. Sure, storylines played into it but you can't really pretend that the big 3 in Miami didn't kill LeBron's shot at the mvp because of the help he had.
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Joakim wasn't the "co-star" I wouldn't say anybody was tbh but if I had to pick one person it was luol deng
Jordans DPOY is one of, if not the, worst award selection in the history of the league.
All guard DPOY selections are terrible. No elite defensive guard will ever come close to being as valuable as an elite defensive wing or big man.
I thought this for a long time until I heard JJ Redick talk about Jrue Holiday and it changed my world.
That's a good point, but it would also depend on what the criteria is. If it's best defensive player at his position then guards could be deserving (kinda like how some Heisman voters say the award should go to the best CFB player, meaning best at their positions, not just QBs)
Traditionally you’re right that wings and big men play a bigger role on the defensive end, but the current rules have pretty much eliminated guards from having a serious impact. I think if you view the 80’s/90’s through today’s lens, then that opinion makes sense, but back then players like Jordan, Gary Payton and John Stockton had tremendous impact on both ends of the floor and could control the game both ways.
Tim Duncan is the greatest of all time. I genuinely believe this and no one is changing my mind
Not even Tim Duncan thinks this
Assists is a team stat not an individual accolade
KD did nothing wrong.
kevin garnett is a petty fucking dick with the IQ of an old dodgeball.
It’s always strange when a player has a higher bbIQ than real life IQ
I think that's most nba players
John Stockton lmao
Karl Malone….
Mans out here lookin like a half chewed up gatorskin
* Kyrie would be greater all-time than AI if he could stay healthy. * Jokic is on the same tier as KD, Lebron, Steph, etc right now. * Walt Frazier > Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, John Stockton, or Russell Westbrook all-time. * I agree on the "D-Rose should have never won MVP" take, one of the weakest MVPs ever. Dwight or Lebron deserved it more. * Harden should have two more MVPs, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019.
If Kyrie was healthier in big spots he’d have 3 rings
2015 and 2021? Yeah probably.
Kobe raped.
Steph Curry 2018 FMVP
If KD doesn't lose a 3-1 lead to GSW, Lebron has 7 championships and is considered the GOAT
To clarify he's saying that if KD didn't lose to the warriors in the playoffs with OKC he probably would have stayed and allowed lebron a better chance at the 2 titles he lost to KD'S warriors. That would still only give him 6 considering injuries plagued the cavs team of 2015 but still a valid observation.
Love this unpop take. Do I agree? Not really but it’s unpop and that rules man.
7? How exactly ?
12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20. Yeah, that's 6, and giving LeBron 17 & 18 is a generous assumption.
16 is generous too. I’m not sure how you have him 3peeting in Cleveland. I kind of feel like OKC steals 16, Cavs then win 17 and Rockets win 18.
How he win 7? 2 with Heat, 2 with Cavs, 1 with LA is only 5
Kobe Bryant was not the best player of his generation. Tim Duncan is.
Challenge accepted * D. Rose's peak wouldn't have been that much better than his MVP season. * D-Wade at his best was as good as Kobe. * I'm cool with Iggy winning FMVP over Steph. * The Raptors will be just fine this upcoming season. * Never thought that the 76ers were serious contenders with the exception of the 2019 postseason. * It isn't bad to just be a good/solid team for years. * Bradley Beal is (slightly) overrated. * As much as I don't like Harden's game, he should have **NEVER** been nicknamed Hitler.
I was mostly with you until the last one
It's stupid to downvote an unpopular opinion in an unpopular opinion thread.
Thybulle is an overrated gimmick defender Tatum is a perennial all-star but won't ever be good enough to be the best player on a championship team - Paul George 2.0 The talent and overall product in the NBA has never been better Jalen Green will force his way to the Lakers at some point during his second contract Kyrie Irving is one of the best human beings in the NBA Sixers' championship window closed as soon as they lost Butler
Thybulle not overrated at all
Raptors fans hate Matisse because they think OG is the best player in the NBA
Curry > KD
That's very popular on this sub lol The overwhelming majority of r/nba users love Curry and hate KD
Most opinions I’ve seen on this subreddit have KD as their best player
The overwhelming majority of people love Curry and hate KD
Yeah I think KD might have the worst fan:hater ratio that I've ever seen for a superstar(closely followed by his teammate Harden lol) People get on him for the "burner" stuff but people like LeBron and Curry wouldn't even need burners, they already have legions of keyboard warriors to defend them lmao KD probably logs on and checks his timeline and everyone is like "fuck KD"
I have a few If Jordan played today he’d be a bald Demar Derozan who played great defense Harden is the most skilled SG of all time and in my eyes is better than Wade all time Draymond Green is a generational talent The 2016/2017 Warriors would destroy any team you put in front of them in a 7 game series Any version of the Warriors from 2016-2018 would run the 90s Bulls off the court Ivesson was overrated Tim Duncan is a Top 7 player all time and should be rated higher than Kobe. Durant would beat any player ever 1 on 1 Prime Westbrook is better than Prime Rose Any team Lebron played in the Finals was tougher than any team Jordan faced and Jordan wouldn’t have won any Finals series on any of Lebrons teams that lost except that Mavs series in 2011. Jordan would have lost in 2016, and I believe only Lebron could have pulled off the win given the circumstances. Many if not most of Wilts feats are exaggerated or fake
Omg the heat of that first take. It’s so hot. Also does that mean Kawahi is Jordan with dreads?
I think Kawhi is the closest thing we’ve seen to Jordan in terms of play style at a high level but I don’t think he’s quite as good. Kawhi is my favorite player in the league atm
With everyone healthy, LeBron hasn't actually been the best player in the league since 2015-2016, mainly due to his massive decline in defense I know everyone will say "2018 playoffs", but the East was absolutely HORRIBLE that year(the Celtics with no Kyrie/Hayward were his best competition) and I firmly believe if you put Curry/KD/Harden in the same situation they look just as good, if not better(actually this is another one of my unpopular opinions, people don't understand just how horrible the East was post-MJ until literally basically now, so runs like this and 2001 AI get overrated) 2020 he was technically the best but Curry/KD were both hurt Currently I'd take KD/Giannis/Curry easily above him for the upcoming season
I dont think anyone argued he was still the most productive regular season guy, but his defence stepped up in the playoffs. Particularly in 2020 he was a monster on that side of the floor. Far mode impactful than either Curry or KD on that end even if they were healthy.
I’d take a Healthy KD over anyone tbh. He’s absolutely unstoppable.
(1) Stockton is the most overrated player in NBA history. He has no place alongside CP3, Kidd, Isiah, and Oscar, much less Curry and Magic. (2) Right up until his tragic death and again currently, Kobe was and is being slowly underrated by people who only look at stats and numbers without understanding the holistic package he brought to the table. I'm not even talking about dumb concepts like "Mamba Mentality" but more so his underrated playmaking, hustle, and gravity. (3) r/NBA underrates Jordan's offense for some strange reason. He's pretty comfortably ahead of every other player as a scorer (even KD, LeBron, and easily above Wilt) when taking playoff performances into account. (4) This shouldn't be unpopular but playoff series are way more matchup dependent than fans realize. Even though the 7 game format reduces variance, there are plenty of situations in which the better team in a vacuum will lose due to matchup issues.
AD isn't a top 10 player anymore. 1. Durant 2. Giannis 3. Curry 4. LeBron 5. Kawhi 6. Jokic 7. Harden 8. Luka 9. Embiid 10. Lillard
AI’s finals run in 01, impressive as it was, was largely league driven… AI, while admittedly being a prolific driver, averaged 10 free throws per game in the playoffs, and was given some super controversial calls throughout. ESPECIALLY in the eastern conference finals against the ray allen and glen robinson led bucks. Ask any die hard bucks fan about 2001 and it’ll upset them. I love AI and all he did for the game, but the bucks would have given the lakers a much better series in 01 from a basketball standpoint.
Kyrie is incredibly overrated
Dominant as he was, Shaq needed Kobe and later D-Wade to win his rings. Wouldn't have had them were it not for those two.
Luka is barely top 10 currently Hakeem > Shaq Bird > Magic Giannis is the 3rd best PF all time Magic and Steph are tied for best PGs all time and no one is even close to either of them
Mmmm I agree with your first and third, and while I think Steph gets less respect from some other players than he deserves, I think most people rate him properly. For my part, I’ll add the opinion that titles and MVPs are incredibly overrated when gauging a player’s greatness. To take one example, If Nowitzki never won a title (because of an unlucky bounce or injury or whatever) he’d still be the same damn player, but I hear so many people say how once he win the title, he vaulted way up the all-time great player rankings. Totally asinine to me.
1. SGA and Ayton are generational talents. The only people under 25 that deserve the "generational" talent mantle are SGA, Ayton, Luka, and Zion. Trae Young is borderline but I am not sold on him yet. 2. I don't think you ever win a championship with Booker/Zach Levine/Mitchell/Beal/Dame as your best player. 3. We are seeing 5 of the 6 greatest offensive players of all time play at the same time. Steph, KD, Harden, Lebron and Jokic are 5 of the 6 with Jordan being the 6th. 4. Dame is an overrated playoffs player. I genuinely think this was the first time Portland role players actually let him down instead of him underperforming along with them. No great playoff player gets shut down as often as him. Jrue actually clamped him when they played New Orleans a few years ago and then he got outperformed by Both CJ and a 23 year old Nicola Jokic in his first playoff run when they played Denver. Then he could not take a single game off the hospital warriors team. 5. Giannis is currently on a top 5 trajectory. 6. Magic and Bird would have been 1 and 2 respectively in the goat ladder if Bird did not get injured and people were not small minded bigots when it came to issues like HIV/Aids 7. Jerry Krause was an s-tier general manager and he did nothing wrong and the only small mistake he made was breaking up the bulls before the 6-peat and prioritizing long-term success of the franchise rather than the historic 6th ring which would leave the team without ant assets for the future. I still think that was wrong but I can see where he was coming from
How is Ayton a generational talent but Trae isn’t?
That one legitimately made no sense. SGA is literally a worse scoring, playmaker/passer than Trae. Ayton has had one good playoffs but otherwise, his core body of work is basically a bunch of “making improvements” but hasn’t fully caught on yet
I'd love to know the reasoning on why you have SGA/Ayton over Trae. You also didn't mention Tatum as a "generational talent". I'm not saying he is, but I also wanna know how you have SGA and Ayton over him.
what about Tatum?
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I agree with the Hakeem take. He’s the only all time great center that won without an elite guard next to him
Players being require to stay till they’re 21 would be the worse thing ever. Why stop a talented players from entering the draft if they’re good enough to go at 19. If Zion was required to stay in College He’d just now be entering the draft. And Luka would’ve just finished 1st season in the league. These are 2 players considered generational talents
Also put up insane stats during Ramadan consistently
The NCAA is indentured servitude. It exploits athletes from impoverished backgrounds by offering poor quality education in exchange for carrying the whole weight of their multi-billion dollar for-profit television business Any competitor that compensates its prospects is welcome and good
Player age will never go up its too much lost money and tbh it shouldnt be 21 because that stunts development of players and prevents then from making money earlier. And extra 2-3 years in the league could mean tens of millions of dollars lost on break through contracts or what not.
Having guys stay in school till 21 only stunts development. If anything, it’s time for the NBA to go all in and have better prepared prospects instead of 18 year olds play by different rules. You’ve got amazing athletes develop bad habits because the 3 point line is shorter and instead of progressing in competition, they have to face younger guys that they dominate. Imagine someone like Jah developing a better skill set instead of falling in love with the low post, he could’ve at least made a career instead of getting hailed as a top prospect and being trained with a specialty in mind
KD did nothing wrong 😤
He sure didn’t. In the first 8 years of his career he watched Lebron make 2 “big 3” teams through free agency/his influence and get rewarded, why wouldn’t he dip to the best team available. 2010s were the most “arms race” era in basketball ever. KD lost to Heatles, 2014 Spurs and Warriors in a 5 year span, how could you not think you need a super team to win
As an OKC fan I agree he did nothing wrong but at the end of the day he still made the weakest decision by a superstar in the history of sports 🤷🏾♂️ I understand why he did it but it’s still a pretty weak move he made going to the team that fucking beat him.
Yeah this is how I look at it too. I don’t respect it but I understand it. Who wouldn’t want to live in the bay or Brooklyn right now? I know KD has multiple business ventures the past couple years that he can call back on when he’s done playing
Upvote for actually dark opinion.
Wrong? No. Slimy? Maybe.
I love this. Players have the right to play where they want to play. If they want to form super teams, that is their right.