NBA Playoffs 2024

[KidsSeeGhosts]

I don't necessarily think he "flops" a lot, but he is probably one of the softest bigs to ever play the game. The smallest inconvenience and he is out for 2 weeks...

Idk that I've seen a legit AD soft take since he left the Pelicans. Most of his injuries with LAL have been of the 10+ game variety. Injury luck of guys that play like him is historically pretty rough. Definitely wouldn't build a roster around him post-Lebron though

 

[slattimer]

D-Wade was a first ballot hall of famer drafted in the same season as LeBron. He last scored 22+ PPG in a season 13 years ago. Doing what Lebron did in this series at 39 is absolutely insane and criticism of him in this series is the biggest "I don't know ball" admission I can think of.

LeBron is incredible. His level of play at this stage of his career is something we've never seen before.

That said, I can't stand him. From the over the top, almost tantrum like antics, flopping (which hasn't seemed to be a huge issue as of late, but his montage of flops is pathetic for a 6'9 265 lb super freak being), excuse making, etc. Drives me nuts.

 

[Lionsfan93]

Idk that I've seen a legit AD soft take since he left the Pelicans. Most of his injuries with LAL have been of the 10+ game variety. Injury luck of guys that play like him is historically pretty rough. Definitely wouldn't build a roster around him post-Lebron though

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

LeBron is incredible. His level of play at this stage of his career is something we've never seen before.

That said, I can't stand him. From the over the top, almost tantrum like antics, flopping (which hasn't seemed to be a huge issue as of late, but his montage of flops is pathetic for a 6'9 265 lb super freak being), excuse making, etc. Drives me nuts.

May I introduce you to Embiid?

 

[Baron Winnebago]

LeBron is incredible. His level of play at this stage of his career is something we've never seen before.

That said, I can't stand him. From the over the top, almost tantrum like antics, flopping (which hasn't seemed to be a huge issue as of late, but his montage of flops is pathetic for a 6'9 265 lb super freak being), excuse making, etc. Drives me nuts.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I don't think he's soft so much as injury prone

 

[Seaofred92]

Absolutely UNREAL game between Philly/NYK. Maxey was out of his skull

 

[Seaofred92]

Cavs win… what a block by Mobley

 

[tman87]

Feels like LA will go for some distressed asset like Zach Lavine or Trae Young in the hopes it'll be different for reasons

Levine is pretty much toast, healthwise. Lakers not gonna go there.

Trae Young, unfortunately, is a Klutch client (Lebron is Klutch), and via true NBA insiders I know, the Lakers stupidly are seriously thinking of trading for Trae. Trae is better than Dlo, better than Reaves (Reaves is a keeper though - so keep him), but Trae will get destroyed in the playoffs as he can play no defense. Would be a bad guy to trade away 2 or 3 good assets, plus picks, for.

Donavan Mitchell is the other guard the Lakers are looking hard at trading for. I'd rather have Mitchell than Trae, but really don't think Donovan plays the right kind of ball to put the Lakers over the top. He is super talented though, and not a midget weakling like Trae.

All the Lakers needed, well first and foremost - a better Head Coach and coaching staff. They are firing Darvin Ham, but the pickings are slim for who the next HC will be. But the lack of coaching chops, not only X's and O's, but all of the things a good HC and staff can bring - Ham and staff were gawd awful at. By all accounts, Ham is a very nice and good guy. But an NBA Head Coach, he is not.

Besides that, the Lakers GM (and Ham, as he was part of the decisions on roster makeup), are abysmal. Just terrible decision after terrible decision. Bad cap managment, poor decisions on which players to keep, re-sign, or trade. A bunch of valuable players they have simple let walk. Like Caruso, Monk and Randle to name a few. There are others that are playing right now in the playoffs that they traded for a bag of peanuts. Just poor, poor cap management and roster makeup design.

That being said, they have made some better roster decisions and additions the last two seasons. Westbrook was a disaster, but they rebounded well last (2022) trade deadline adding several key players and upgrades. But they still didn't fill in the missing skillset holes this team had this year - a true vet Big/Center for 10 to 15 mins off the bench. Plus a bonafide wing defender that isn't abysmal on offense.

In any case, Ham will most likely be gone. I would rather the Lakers keep most of their players, but their GM and team owners have proven to not target the right type of bigger name players to trade for.

BTW, one of my NBA guys is literally the cap expert of the NBA, and also helps GM's a ton on making trades happen. The Lakers great trades in the 2022 trade deadline were mostly because my buddy got in the ears of the right people for the Lakers, and showed the Lakers how to maximize what players, and how many of them, they were getting back for Westbrook. Dude should be a GM, but like all corporate worlds, cronyism and favoritism are tough to break through with billionaire owners.

 

[tman87]

Idk that I've seen a legit AD soft take since he left the Pelicans. Most of his injuries with LAL have been of the 10+ game variety. Injury luck of guys that play like him is historically pretty rough. Definitely wouldn't build a roster around him post-Lebron though

AD is a beast. But his history is to be oft-injured. I personally think it his freakish frame and how he is built. The running joke in NBA circles is he hits the floor more than anyone in the league, and it is probably true.

I don't think he is "soft". I am sure he is really hurting when he acts like he did last night. But he's just not as durable as some guys. Think of the crazy amount of game minutes and wear and tear on Lebron - dude is not soft. There was a stat posted somewhere recently, that since he has joined the Lakers, he actually gets about a 3rd of the calls that other stars get, relative to the same contact. In other words, refs now swallow the whistle a lot more because he simply can usually play through the contact. It's akin to how Shaq would get mauled, but not get the same calls as others simply because he could power through most of it all. Lebron is a freak of nature, no NBA player has even been close to this level at 39. He is in his 21st season for shit's sake.

 

[Jim14510]

Pretty good series between Philly and Villanova

 

[tman87]

Pretty good series between Philly and Villanova

Helluva fun series to watch for sure

 

[Seaofred92]

Probably the best 6 game series I’ve seen. NY/Indianus has potential to be phenomenal too.

Been an unreal playoffs so far

 

[tman87]

Probably the best 6 game series I’ve seen. NY/Indianus has potential to be phenomenal too.

Been an unreal playoffs so far

It was a ton of fun. Never a dull moment. Plus two classic east coast cities and teams knocking heads and going back and forth so much in usually crazy ways. Was hoping for a game 7 just for the fun of watching it. Brunson may have made the biggest jump a player has ever made this year. Just crazy what he has become as a player. And the Nova 3 on the Knicks (Hart, DDV and Brunson) kinda just fit that east coast tough thing.

The Denver/Lakers series was also fun, despite only going 5 games. Seriously doubt there has ever been a series only go 5 games, where the team that won the series didn't lead for 70+ percent of the entire series. Not that I didn't expect Denver to come out on top in the series, but I think Denver, then Minny, then the Lakers are the actual top 3 teams in the West, despite the Lakers 7 seed. Some real bad coaching on the Lakers side meant check-mate in crunch time for Denver to out execute them and win. Murray is a stone cold playoff killer, and Jokic is so incredibly skilled - just a freak baller. Plus their role players basically fit perfectly. Porter is such an X factor, and Gordon is that big, athletic PF type who also tips the scales. KCP an elite defender who hits enough open shots where you hate to leave him. Great team.

Just some fun and crazy NBA playoffs so far to watch.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Probably the best 6 game series I’ve seen. NY/Indianus has potential to be phenomenal too.

Been an unreal playoffs so far

Thibs "if he dies, he dies" mantra of playing dudes 45+ a night really going to tested against the pace of the Pacers

Granted with Bogdanovic and Randle out, the Knicks don't have much of a choice

 

[Seaofred92]

It was a ton of fun. Never a dull moment. Plus two classic east coast cities and teams knocking heads and going back and forth so much in usually crazy ways. Was hoping for a game 7 just for the fun of watching it. Brunson may have made the biggest jump a player has ever made this year. Just crazy what he has become as a player. And the Nova 3 on the Knicks (Hart, DDV and Brunson) kinda just fit that east coast tough thing.

The Denver/Lakers series was also fun, despite only going 5 games. Seriously doubt there has ever been a series only go 5 games, where the team that won the series didn't lead for 70+ percent of the entire series. Not that I didn't expect Denver to come out on top in the series, but I think Denver, then Minny, then the Lakers are the actual top 3 teams in the West, despite the Lakers 7 seed. Some real bad coaching on the Lakers side meant check-mate in crunch time for Denver to out execute them and win. Murray is a stone cold playoff killer, and Jokic is so incredibly skilled - just a freak baller. Plus their role players basically fit perfectly. Porter is such an X factor, and Gordon is that big, athletic PF type who also tips the scales. KCP an elite defender who hits enough open shots where you hate to leave him. Great team.

Just some fun and crazy NBA playoffs so far to watch.

Agreed on Nuggets/Lakers… we are seeing why the regular season *does* matter… Lakers playing Nuggets R1, Heat playing Celtics, Sixers playing Knicks… I don’t think anyone actually thinks the Lakers are the seventh best team in the West, Heat are the eighth in the East, etc. But you gotta win the games to give yourself the better matchup and those teams didn’t do that.

 

[Seaofred92]

Thibs "if he dies, he dies" mantra of playing dudes 45+ a night really going to tested against the pace of the Pacers

Granted with Bogdanovic and Randle out, the Knicks don't have much of a choice

Indianus is so deep with their rotations… it’s going to be a fascinating matchup. Indianus actually matches up well against both NYK and Boston - I’m really excited for that one to start Monday night

 

[Frogsker30]

LeBron is the goat






At getting coaches fired

 

[Baron Winnebago]

LeBron is the goat






At getting coaches fired

He missed with Spo so idk if you can call someone the GOAT when they can't even get a former video coordinator shit canned

 

[slattimer]

LeBron is the goat






At getting coaches fired