nba playoffs aka the 'offs (which includes the 'ins) 2021

i do like memphis tho, if ja can learn to shoot they are on the correct trajectory for contention

what are the mavs gonna do about tim hardaway

the hawks front office basically reset the entire team when they got trae. they've made a lot of competent moves in free agency, the draft and through trades. i just don't see dallas doing anything other than surrounding luka with a bunch of sub par vets (who do better than usual).

grizz are pretty well positioned for the next era of the west, are also a well run franchise getting production out of low first round, second round and undrafted players giving them a quick turnaround back to relevance after a sustained run of success in a small market which is very difficult. but also they demonstrate how important it is to have a luka level star on your team, memphis prob still needs more tho maybe ja gets there it’s not out of the question.

jjj development is the key to that team imo

and also things like how much will they spend on retaining d brooks

jjj is really good, brooks is looking extremely solid and feisty, i mean theyll def need to make more moves but theyve pretty much nailed it so far

luka is better than ja but i like where memphis is at as a team/org more, but having luka and being a bigger market gives dallas a lot more room for error, memphis pretty much has to make all the right calls and have things go their way too

maybe dallas can get donovan mitchell who knows

the hawks will also mostly be locked into their team very soon once they give all their young guys money so they better be good. i mean they can still make trades and stuff and if their front office really is good it will be fine but the bill on those young guys is going to arrive. the mavs will have a good deal of financial flexibility even after they pay luka, especially post-zinger, will be in a desirable warm weather market and will have a top 2-3 player in the league to attract talent. the idea that they’re at some dead end is ridiculous

i agree that dallas is closer than any team by default of having luka. they really just need to make a good move or two. not sure how much of a fear they should have of luka bolting to a big market.

no one said it was a dead end lol just that the front office might not be likely to make the right moves, i mean clearing cap space then getting the right guys isnt easy, even just clearing cap space is tricky you can lose too much talent then the right guys dont want to go there, then your main guy doesnt want to be there anymore

you guys are severely underrating luka in this discussion about rosters and future. if you were running the mavs and the grizzlies offered you ja, JJJ, dillon brooks, saadiq bey, grayson allen... whatever for luka. you’re saying yes??

what would the hawks have to give up to re-do the luka trade. honestly. yes they have nice young players. would you trade luka for trae young, kevin huerter, deandre hunter and cam reddish? bcuz i wouldn’t.

everyone in this thread has repeatedly said luka is the best player in the conversation called him a perennial mvp candidate and so forth, spottie saying he wasnt that far from trae is the only possible offense lol

i mean if the teams ahead of the mavs hadnt had their heads up their asses the mavs would prob be totally fucked right now, instead of just needing to pull off building around a historically great young player

everyone in this thread has repeatedly said luka is the best player in the conversation called him a perennial mvp candidate and so forth, spottie saying he wasnt that far from trae is the only possible offense lol

do we assume that Luka would have been just as good had he stayed on the Hawks? idk to what degree the sports are similar but one thing you see a lot in baseball is a player just needing the right coach/organization

yeah in a vacuum id take luka over the memphis guys... except i dont like the dallas front office lol xp, might still take luka tho tbh its a stars league as they say

i will say there is def a chance that trae ascends to mvp level, but i mean luka is already there

also ja could get there tooooo

xp the mavs have shown no evidence that they will capitalize on that promise

other than retaining a good coach

i feel like we are all going insane saying the same things over and over but lukas in his third year and i dont think theres anyone on the team that you can say is a foundational piece to run with him, or even a possibility to be that really, zinger was supposed to be...

be 30 games under .500 for three years, get a bunch of picks, trade trae young for luka doncic, make the playoffs one time getting the fifth seed in the east: this good

acquire luka doncic, make the playoffs twice, be one of the 5 best teams in the western conference: actually, this is bad

yessss let's merge the arguments

lmao lets do this

i will say there is def a chance that trae ascends to mvp level, but i mean luka is already there

yeah i wouldnt bet on it but also its not totally impossible is how i break it down

for instance nash and steph two not dissimilar players to trae were no where near the mvp convo at his age

but they also were like 50-40-90 guys from the start. trae doesnt shoot well for a supposed 'shooter'. needs to get way better there. (luka does too)

if he's chis paul level his whole career i will be content

Trae needs to get better at shooting, the league won’t let him do this free throw ballet forever

agreed

with spottie as well

he seems like a hard worker so i have hopes

but they also were like 50-40-90 guys from the start. trae doesnt shoot well for a supposed 'shooter'. needs to get way better there. (luka does too)

― i was too much listening to your accent (Spottie), Wednesday, May 26, 2021 3:53 PM (twenty seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

feel like trae is actually a good shooter he just takes insane shots like if he took nashs shot profile he be putting up the correct slashline, but yeah he does prob need to become an insane high level shooter to realize his potential, i think he could do it tho

luka i feel like weve seen progress in the right direction with his shooting, his stepback is getting tighter/more methodical, tho he is always going to have the two motion shot which isnt ideal

luka doesnt need to become a great shooter as much as trae does, he would be totally unstoppable if he did tho, prob ascend into the goat convo at that point, obvs that requires insane longevity which you cant do much to control

It’s fun to see the new generation making strides

i have like 8 tabs open with half written responses then i have to go to a meeting or whatever so i dont remember which points ive made or not made lol.

you need to take some time off so we can resolve this

the mavs seem a lot closer to contention than the hawks to me if thats what these past 300 posts are about

smh people dont want to do research these days

_be 30 games under .500 for three years, get a bunch of picks, trade trae young for luka doncic, make the playoffs one time getting the fifth seed in the east: this good

acquire luka doncic, make the playoffs twice, be one of the 5 best teams in the western conference: actually, this is bad_


The nuggets made the western conference finals last year, the year before their best player won MVP, and you confidently argued they weren’t close to contending.

more of a sign of luka putting up trip dubs from the second he came into the league lol

jokic was on the bench, the bench!

xp the mavs have shown no evidence that they will capitalize on that promise

and things of that nature

things change people dont stay on top the league is hard and so forth

it’s true and if the mavs hadn’t drafted luka doncic they’d be in the wilderness right now and i’d be right there alongside you saying that their future doesn’t look very bright. alas they did

sorry i don’t want to put words in your mouth. i’d be right there next to you saying the hawks and grizz have brighter futures but they did draft luka and so i’m taking the other side of the argument