2024 NBA Playoffs

[Goldin Brown]

At least we’re not alone tonight, getting stomped game 1 on the road

 

[I'mWithDan]

The sheer talent difference in the peripheral pieces on young teams like OKC and Minnesota vs. the Cavs is pretty staggering.

Just the youth, length and athleticism is depressing.

 

[bushwick_bill]

 

[KevinLoveFan]

The sheer talent difference in the peripheral pieces on young teams like OKC and Minnesota vs. the Cavs is pretty staggering.

Just the youth, length and athleticism is depressing.

Yeah, I wouldn't lament not having SGA as a Cavs fan. Mitchell is very close and even better than SGA at some things (outside shooting, physicality). It's everything else. JDub is a much better second option than Garland; he's a solid 6-5 who shows up huge at crunch time. Chet is definitely ahead of Mobley offensively. Their bench has shooters and spark plugs like Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace, and Andrew Wiggins. And their coach runs circles around JBB in terms of scheme and rotations.

 

[bushwick_bill]

The sheer talent difference in the peripheral pieces on young teams like OKC and Minnesota vs. the Cavs is pretty staggering.

Just the youth, length and athleticism is depressing.

Crazy hot take here... I do not think Cleveland is that far behind either team in talent. (They don't have all the picks like OKC though, no one does...) Cleveland with a new coach still has a lot of potential in terms of talent and growth...

 

[I'mWithDan]

Crazy hot take here... I do not think Cleveland is that far behind either team in talent. (They don't have all the picks like OKC though, no one does...) Cleveland with a new coach still has a lot of potential in terms of talent and growth...

IF we can actually find a wing with prototypical size. I’d agree with everyone healthy, we aren’t far off but we still lack the wing pieces other contenders have. Hopefully we can get lucky and strike gold with our 1st.

 

[bushwick_bill]

IF we can actually find a wing with prototypical size. I’d agree with everyone healthy, we aren’t far off but we still lack the wing pieces other contenders have. Hopefully we can get lucky and strike gold with our 1st.

I put this up in another thread as 4 of the 5 round 2 games so far have been complete blow outs as well. Defending champs are down 0 - 2. I don’t think we are as bad off as some feel at the moment. And when you look around the NBA Cleveland is in better shape, at least I think so, compared to the Heat, Bucks, Philly, Lakers, Clippers, Suns and Warriors. Pelicans and SacTown will have interesting off-seasons as well.

 

[Jscc]

There's an interesting contrast happening in the NBA right now. Wemby just came to the NBA but guards like Edwards, SGA, and Brunson with mid-range games are destroying wings/bigs so far.

 

[cavsfever]

Durant is a bitch. He's largely despised for it.


But there's a reason LBJ is one of the most hated megastars in league history. Cavs fans are just blind to it. But LeBron isn't loved in nearly the same way Jordan and Kobe were before him.



And it's because he, also, is a bitch.


Couldn't beat the Celtics? They won one title. Not 10. So other teams were doing it.


Cavs were up 2-1. They had homecourt advantage at 2-2 and LeBron QUIT. To then say "well, couldn't beat em. Gotta head out!" Is a little crazy to me.


Finally the Cavs broke themselves up the 2nd time around. The Warriors didn't do that. Kyrie did.

All they had to do was stick it out one more year and they'd have won multiple titles. Durant got hurt. And Durant was ALWAYS gonna leave the Warriors after those titles.

The rook here is right. He was following LeBron, even if not exactly. He got those titles then he wanted his own team.

Both you and @American Hero are wrong. Lebron’s case was nothing like Durant. Building your own team is extremely different than joining an already fully constructed Finals team - as Durant has learned himself in every stop since the Warriors. Lebron’s record is as a very tough player.

And Lebron was always controversial including in his first Cleveland stint before moving to Miami. It’s because he received so much hype on entering the league and was perceived as cocky. In fact that’s one reason he left Cleveland, because he couldn’t stand the abuse he was getting from other teams fans and the media for not winning a chip with the shitty teams we put around him.

I don’t think Kobe was that loved outside of LA anyway. Am I the only one who couldn’t stand him?

 

[cavsfever]

He didn't start the trend for fucks sake. This is a horse shit talking point. Stars have wanted to play with other stars since sports started.

Wilt Chamberlain forced his way off the Sixers to the Lakers to form an superteam all the way back in 1969 (“I’ll trade myself”). Then Kareem demanded a trade to the Lakers from the Bucks in 1975.

 

[Kiddo]

Crazy hot take here... I do not think Cleveland is that far behind either team in talent. (They don't have all the picks like OKC though, no one does...) Cleveland with a new coach still has a lot of potential in terms of talent and growth...

Maybe a new coach can unlock them on offense but until we stop playing 80's ball with 2 bigs that don't shoot, we'll never reach our full potential.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

They don't spend the whole shot clock probing;

That pretty much sums up the Cavs offense whenever it isn't initiated by getting the ball to a big man.

I am sick to death of watching Garland's thunder runs where he does those pointless circular dribble routes - dribbling down from one wing, circling under the basket, then dribbling back out the other side.

 

[PIP]

Crazy stat…

Jason Kidd can’t win Game 1’s
John Blair Bickerstaff can’t lose Game 7’s

Wild stuff…

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

He didn't start the trend for fucks sake. This is a horse shit talking point. Stars have wanted to play with other stars since sports started.

That "trend" really was started by the first 'big three (plus) - Garnett and Allen going to Boston to join Pierce.

I do think the way LBJ did it in 2010 (phantom elbow injury and all), and the fact that he did it again in 2014 and 2018, make him sort of the bitch king of team switching, so I kind of agree that there's no room to talk when it comes to Durant.

 

[Dr. Claw]

That "trend" really was started by the first 'big three (plus) - Garnett and Allen going to Boston to join Pierce.

I do think the way LBJ did it in 2010 (phantom elbow injury and all), and the fact that he did it again in 2014 and 2018, make him sort of the bitch king of team switching, so I kind of agree that there's no room to talk when it comes to Durant.

thank you for mentioning this part.

that was the most aggravating thing about his departure that no one (esp. in corporate media) dares talk about. The elbow "injury".
That and the pre-meditated wearing of the number "6" in practice that season (the number he wore in Miami)....

He and Shaq are the two superstars that never get dragged for their way out of town. Granted, I still think what KD did was worse. I'd have been less mad if he went to Boston, beat the Cavs in the ECF and then won against the Bay Area Bums in the Finals.