2023 Playoffs: Around the League Round 1 News Thread

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I just don't buy the Lakers. Their best player is 38 and in his 20th season, playing on a bad foot. Their 2nd-best player is made of glass and gets injured practically every time he falls down. It's just a matter of time. Even if they're healthy, I don't think they could beat us or the Nuggets in a series. They might be able to beat the Warriors or Kings, but even that seems very uncertain to me. Either the Ws or Kings could bomb 3s on them all day. And the Kings would run them off the court.

They also lost Steven Adams just before this series, he was the quiet anchor that allowed them to do a lot on both sides of the floor.

[Uncle_Gene]

Don't forget Brandon Clarke got hurt too. Grizz were missing two starters.

[Mori Chu]

Curry went nuts today. 50 points in a Warriors win to eliminate the Kings.

[Superbone]

Happy for you, Marty.

[Mori Chu]

Happy for you, Marty.

Vegas now gives the Warriors better odds to win the title than the Suns, which seems a bit crazy to me. I guess they didn't lose Game 1 of their series (yet?).

I will be rooting for the Warriors to beat the hated Lakers, but hopefully we'll be waiting for them to kick their asses in the WCF.

[Mori Chu]

Put this on a loop in Ayton's locker for the next 48 hours.

[TOO]

Sometimes effort trumps talent.

[Mori Chu]

Sometimes effort trumps talent.

I agree. But honestly in this case I think Looney has MORE talent (at rebounding) than Ayton has. Ayton often does a bad job positioning himself and boxing out. Looney knows just where to be, how to use his size and length to get a hand on the ball even if an opponent is nearby. I watch that highlight of Looney's game and I think to myself, there's no way Ayton would have gotten half of these rebounds. No way in the world.

[Superbone]

Happy for you, Marty.

Vegas now gives the Warriors better odds to win the title than the Suns, which seems a bit crazy to me. I guess they didn't lose Game 1 of their series (yet?).

I will be rooting for the Warriors to beat the hated Lakers, but hopefully we'll be waiting for them to kick their asses in the WCF.

Not me. I'd much rather play the Lakers if we were to get through this round.

[Superbone]

Put this on a loop in Ayton's locker for the next 48 hours.

Just to show him what real effort looks like.

[JeremyG]

Sometimes effort trumps talent.

I agree. But honestly in this case I think Looney has MORE talent (at rebounding) than Ayton has. Ayton often does a bad job positioning himself and boxing out. Looney knows just where to be, how to use his size and length to get a hand on the ball even if an opponent is nearby. I watch that highlight of Looney's game and I think to myself, there's no way Ayton would have gotten half of these rebounds. No way in the world.

So if we had traded him for Sabonis like everyone wanted…now we would need to trade Sabonis for Looney?

[TOO]

Sometimes effort trumps talent.

I agree. But honestly in this case I think Looney has MORE talent (at rebounding) than Ayton has. Ayton often does a bad job positioning himself and boxing out. Looney knows just where to be, how to use his size and length to get a hand on the ball even if an opponent is nearby. I watch that highlight of Looney's game and I think to myself, there's no way Ayton would have gotten half of these rebounds. No way in the world.

So if we had traded him for Sabonis like everyone wanted…now we would need to trade Sabonis for Looney?

No because Sabonis fits better here than Ayton. But also, all we need is a guy like Looney at 1/4 the price of Ayton.

[Split T]

Sabonis definitely showed some limitations in that series

[JeremyG]

Sometimes effort trumps talent.

I agree. But honestly in this case I think Looney has MORE talent (at rebounding) than Ayton has. Ayton often does a bad job positioning himself and boxing out. Looney knows just where to be, how to use his size and length to get a hand on the ball even if an opponent is nearby. I watch that highlight of Looney's game and I think to myself, there's no way Ayton would have gotten half of these rebounds. No way in the world.

So if we had traded him for Sabonis like everyone wanted…now we would need to trade Sabonis for Looney?

No because Sabonis fits better here than Ayton. But also, all we need is a guy like Looney at 1/4 the price of Ayton.

Lol, I meant if we lost to the Warriors with Sabonis getting dominated by Looney…like what happened to the Kings.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Sabonis wouldn't have needed to be the second best player on this Suns team.