Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
Re: Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
Who’s gonna be around still in 2083 when we finally win?
Gotta wait for Mexico City to get a couple titles…Bejing and Uganda too. Not to mention the Sonics coming back and winning 5
Re: Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
I now hate ChatGPT.
Synchronicity and all that jazz, man.
"Cool is getting us blown out!"
-Shaheen Holloway
"Cool is getting us blown out!"
-Shaheen Holloway
Re: Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
Lakers winning another 5 first and Spurs another 7 sounds about right…
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
Re: Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
And if you tell that to ChatGPT, it will tell you you’re right.
“Are you crazy?! You think I’m going to go for seven years and try to get there? You enjoy the 2030 draft picks that we have holding? I want to try to see the game today.” — Ish 3/13/25
Re: Around the NBA: Week 21 (3/10 - 3/16)
This is unrelated to anything suns right now but I wanted to see if anyone had thoughts…
We know that basketball has changed with a pretty significant decrease in long 2s and a very significant increase in 3s. There’s other changes as well with more switching defensively…but one change that is related I believe, but not often talked about is the death of the superstar role player.
I’m thinking of a Shawn Marion type. I guess we still see it sometimes in big men(Rudy Gobert probably qualifies), but it feels like the nba tries to turn all of its elite talent into on ball scoring machines. Too often I feel like guys come in with a lot of ancillary skills that get neglected to develop shot creation and shot making.
Do you guys agree? Or am I just wrong? Haha. I was trying to think of someone similar to Marion in today’s game and the best I got was Aaron Gordon. Gordon does a lot of role player stuff now, but he also tried to be a star in Orlando before changing course.
Jerami Grant could’ve been an elite role player, but he chased the on-ball scoring role…he managed to be better at it then most thought, but it came at the cost of the rest of his game and playing for a good team. Can’t blame him though because Detroit and Portland both paid him.
Too many chase that same thing. I think of Kelly Oubre, Tobias Harris, Kyle Kuzma, Pascal Siakam…I think there’s a world where they impact winning at a higher rate if they focused on other things than scoring. Look at Mikal right now, he’s kind of ditched the elite defense thing trying to be a legit 2nd/3rd scoring option. I think he’d be more valuable to NY if he got back to playing elite defense.
I often think Shawn Marion would be great in todays game, but I’m starting to think maybe he wouldn’t…not because his skills wouldn’t translate, but because he would’ve focused on turning into a shot creator. He’d be taking 20 shots a game, averaging 25 points, but probably on a .550 TS% and at the expense of his defense. He’d just be Jerami Grant on the Pistons.
Think of Brandon Ingram..he’s a 6’9 long athlete, who can do some fun stuff on offense…but he’s not really good enough to be a top guy on a contender…what if he focused on being a top tier defender…wouldn’t he be so much more valuable if he played all-nba level defense and played more of a hustle, cutting, crashing the glass, spot up role on offense? Instead of the heavy on ball, mid range pull up game he now does?
Amen Thompson is a treat to watch right now(as is his brother to a lesser extent), I worry they try really hard to turn him into a primary option on offense at the expense of his all-around game. The Spurs need to let Stephon Castle be the next generation Andre Iguodala. Scottie Barnes should try to be Draymond Green, not LeBron James. Cooper Flagg should try to be a more skilled Shawn Marion, not Jayson Tatum.
I think the loss of the superstar role player has hurt the game and think we often do players a disservice by trying to turn them into something else.
I do have some hope teams will start to see the value…look at our last few champions…all of them had guys I’d consider the best role players in the game:
‘21 Bucks - Jrue Holiday
‘22 Warriors - Andrew Wiggins(just that year), Draymond
‘23 Nuggets - Aaron Gordon
‘24 Celtics - Jrue Holiday, Derrick White
Think of Bradley Beal…he’s quick, he’s strong(for his size), he’s athletic…couldn’t he have been Jrue Holiday if that’s what he focused on? Wouldn’t we be much better with a 31 year old Jrue Holiday right now?
Anyways, just some thoughts I’ve been thinking about.
We know that basketball has changed with a pretty significant decrease in long 2s and a very significant increase in 3s. There’s other changes as well with more switching defensively…but one change that is related I believe, but not often talked about is the death of the superstar role player.
I’m thinking of a Shawn Marion type. I guess we still see it sometimes in big men(Rudy Gobert probably qualifies), but it feels like the nba tries to turn all of its elite talent into on ball scoring machines. Too often I feel like guys come in with a lot of ancillary skills that get neglected to develop shot creation and shot making.
Do you guys agree? Or am I just wrong? Haha. I was trying to think of someone similar to Marion in today’s game and the best I got was Aaron Gordon. Gordon does a lot of role player stuff now, but he also tried to be a star in Orlando before changing course.
Jerami Grant could’ve been an elite role player, but he chased the on-ball scoring role…he managed to be better at it then most thought, but it came at the cost of the rest of his game and playing for a good team. Can’t blame him though because Detroit and Portland both paid him.
Too many chase that same thing. I think of Kelly Oubre, Tobias Harris, Kyle Kuzma, Pascal Siakam…I think there’s a world where they impact winning at a higher rate if they focused on other things than scoring. Look at Mikal right now, he’s kind of ditched the elite defense thing trying to be a legit 2nd/3rd scoring option. I think he’d be more valuable to NY if he got back to playing elite defense.
I often think Shawn Marion would be great in todays game, but I’m starting to think maybe he wouldn’t…not because his skills wouldn’t translate, but because he would’ve focused on turning into a shot creator. He’d be taking 20 shots a game, averaging 25 points, but probably on a .550 TS% and at the expense of his defense. He’d just be Jerami Grant on the Pistons.
Think of Brandon Ingram..he’s a 6’9 long athlete, who can do some fun stuff on offense…but he’s not really good enough to be a top guy on a contender…what if he focused on being a top tier defender…wouldn’t he be so much more valuable if he played all-nba level defense and played more of a hustle, cutting, crashing the glass, spot up role on offense? Instead of the heavy on ball, mid range pull up game he now does?
Amen Thompson is a treat to watch right now(as is his brother to a lesser extent), I worry they try really hard to turn him into a primary option on offense at the expense of his all-around game. The Spurs need to let Stephon Castle be the next generation Andre Iguodala. Scottie Barnes should try to be Draymond Green, not LeBron James. Cooper Flagg should try to be a more skilled Shawn Marion, not Jayson Tatum.
I think the loss of the superstar role player has hurt the game and think we often do players a disservice by trying to turn them into something else.
I do have some hope teams will start to see the value…look at our last few champions…all of them had guys I’d consider the best role players in the game:
‘21 Bucks - Jrue Holiday
‘22 Warriors - Andrew Wiggins(just that year), Draymond
‘23 Nuggets - Aaron Gordon
‘24 Celtics - Jrue Holiday, Derrick White
Think of Bradley Beal…he’s quick, he’s strong(for his size), he’s athletic…couldn’t he have been Jrue Holiday if that’s what he focused on? Wouldn’t we be much better with a 31 year old Jrue Holiday right now?
Anyways, just some thoughts I’ve been thinking about.
