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

it's insane they could've easily had halliburton too

yeah wow

him or vassell or saddiq bey or quickley or maxey or anyone better than jalen smith right now

imo i think injuries aside, the cap rules make it where building an unstoppable playoff juggernaut is just harder to do, and if bron is in the less explosive, managing injuries phase of his career, it opens the door for teams like phoenix with younger, healthier talent

the cap rules were designed to keep the pot well-stirred and give small market teams a better chance of breaking through to the Finals, so I guess they are sort of doing their job. tbh, there's so much turbulence in rosters these days that it has elevated pure dumb luck as the most obvious path to success.

that plus the variability of 3 point shooting

what was the most obvious path to success previously

that all sounds wonderful but the fact of the matter is that 8 of the 9 finals MVP awards were won by lebron, KD, or kawhi and we just went thru a playoffs where 2 of those guys were hurt and the third had the other two best players on his team severely injured or else he would prob be in the finals again. congrats to the suns if they win it but the salary cap didn't injure the best or second best player on basically every team in the field this year

8 of the last 9*

xp sorry Aimless if my question comes off aggressive, not meant that way. I guess my point is that a) you're overstating it - luck plays a bigger role than it did but cmon, the NBA still has way less random variance than other sports, and b) I think that's still an improvement over the best path to success = be the Lakers

I will say that the team-building model of 'invest all our $ in 2-3 superstars and then fill in the rest with whatever fits under the cap' deprives us of the opportunity to watch those truly amazing juggernaut teams that have both the best stars and amazing depth. but how many of those have there really been; the Jordan Bulls were more like the current model I'd say

if the suns win they'll go down as the worst title winner in like 30 40 years but their fans shouldn't care about that

that all sounds wonderful but the fact of the matter is that 8 of the 9 finals MVP awards were won by lebron, KD, or kawhi and we just went thru a playoffs where 2 of those guys were hurt and the third had the other two best players on his team severely injured or else he would prob be in the finals again. congrats to the suns if they win it but the salary cap didn't injure the best or second best player on basically every team in the field this year

― J0rdan S., Friday, July 2, 2021 12:02 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

you're right, but all those guys are getting older and cant push their bodies to perform at that level without raising their injury risks. kawhi is the youngest of that group but also has a degenerative condition. bron is 36 and missed nearly as many games in 2 of his last 3 seasons (54) as he did in his previous 15 seasons combined (70). and his running mate is often hurt. kyrie's whole career has been besotted by injuries and KD has famously had some big deal injuries.

its not to say that phoenix, milwaukee, and atlanta havent benefitted from some timely injuries to their opponents, but all those teams/players you mentioned are built in 2021 with brief contention windows and on shaky legs to begin with.

the nets are gonna wring the last meaningful years out of KD's legs and probably win a title or two, bron+AD might be enough for one more title, and then the nba will be pretty wide open for the taking by a bunch of teams with young talent.

if the suns have a "model" it's to have one of your Big 3 guys still be on their rookie contract.

well giannis is the next man up in that discussion imo and i think the rest of the east is looking at pretty long odds over the next 3-4 years w/ the bucks and nets sitting up there. the "have a good balanced team" method works like once a decade but you still need to have a top 5 player in the league in pretty much every other case

i don't think the suns have a big 3 -- they have 2 great players (booker and paul) and then a bunch of really good guys

If Ayton keeps playing like this, in combination with his much higher profile after this playoff run, he's got some all star berths in his future

he's also 22 btw

There’s belief Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (knee) would be given the green light for a potential Game 7 if Hawks avoid elimination in Game 6 on Saturday, league sources tell @YahooSports.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 2, 2021

As best I understand that, league sources say there is a belief.

Ok I said giannis most likely didn’t tear his ACL and will play game 1 of the finals #yoda #talksoon

well done Matt Armstrong

at the risk of sounding corny, Ayton is one of those things that makes sports great, a young guy becoming himself right before your eyes

that’s way otm, he’s been inspiring to watch throughout

if the suns win they'll go down as the worst title winner in like 30 years

I don't really get this, by what metrics could you prove this claim ?

The 04 pistons have fewer big names, the 11 mavs have comparable levels of star power.

The injuries made the suns' path much easier than it would have been of course, but they're still the only team to ever beat Lebron in the first round (and the first team to beat him before the finals since...2010), they swept this year's MVP's team, they beat a clippers team that was good enough to beat the league's top seed. I'm sure there have been championship teams in the last 30-40 years who had easier paths to the finals

the 2011 mavs beat the young thunder (coming off a 55-win regular season) and a kobe and pau lakers team before beating the heat.

the ‘04 pistons were one of the best defenses ever.

suns are worse than that mavs team but not by that much

kind of want to say the suns have more talent than the mavs champ team except that no one could do anything with dirk that year and the suns dont have anyone balling at nearly that high of a level

the 2011 mavs beat the young thunder (coming off a 55-win regular season) and a kobe and pau lakers team before beating the heat.

― call all destroyer, Saturday, July 3, 2021 9:58 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

as evidenced by the quality of the teams they beat

that pistons team was just dominant on defense in a way they wont let you be anymore and then on offense they were deep with quality guys

the game scores from this series are amazing, has anyone else ever clinched a series scoring 69 points: https://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/2004-nba-eastern-conference-finals-pistons-vs-pacers.html

suns are better than the 06 heat with old shaq lol

DET shooting 37% from the field in that series, ffs

xp

no I just think it's impossible to meaningfully compare team quality or who had the hardest/easiest path across eras

lol yeah that was the game seveniest game of all time

I think I remember Tayshaun blocking Reggie to clinch the series, but it actually happened in game 2. Still saved the series for the Pistons I guess, who were down 1-0

Trae starting tonight

guessing he's gonna score at least 40. might be on 50 attempts but he's gonna heroball the hell out of this game

that's what he wants you to think

i think he might shoot some traes (three pointers)

he will do this

Bucks sure are turning it over a lot

awkward brook is back tonight

Well both teams are playing like shit but I feel like Middleton and Lopez are not having another half like that

Seriously why do the Bucks keep doing that thing where they get up 10 then spend the rest of the game jacking up bad 3s. Hawks are playing like garbage put em away

I remain a basketball noob, but between this game and and the last Clippers-Suns game, the difference in chemistry and technical ability seems to be night and day.

Ok time for Middleton to turn it on

Weeeeeeeeeeeew

both teams suddenly draining threes an unexpected development

Never mind take as many 3s as you like boys

It’s so weird how Middleton just suddenly becomes Michael Jordan for a 5 minute stretch