2019-20 NBA Regular Degular Season thread

also grudgingly admit LBJ has a vv good case for GOAT over anyone else, even MJ, who was finished after age 34* and played only 12 and 1/4ths of a season. my only caveat being of course MJ once he unlocked his game he won a title every time he got to the 'offs, except for the season where he came back from being a failed White Sock. But LBJ doing what he's doing in his 17th season is absurd. He's also p clearly more of a human being, MJ is a weird-ass dude.

i think some it is that hes a very good regular season coach so the talent is already maxed out, as opposed to teams that shuffle through the reg season then turn it up in the offs

― lag∞n, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 1:50 PM (forty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

his teams also do basically one thing on defense and it works great in the regular season but it's predictable and exploitable in a series against the very best competition

Have you guys ever wondered if MJ being such a jerk has something to do with millions of people blaming him for the murder of his father

I absolutely HATE the way people talk about that hawks team. The NYPD assaulted and injured their 6th man and then in the playoffs Dellavedova completely gooned two starters

one argument in favor of MJ is that he was constantly playing hungover & on no sleep so who knows how good he could've been

people blaming him for the murder of his father

ppl love a juicy conspiracy

like there's to this day still ppl who believe Stern forced him to retire lolol

He seemed p normal when he entered the league but then you hear stories like him putting his finger in every donut at a commercial shoot just to spite the gaffers or whoever and you realize he was fucked in the head from the getgo

I absolutely HATE the way people talk about that hawks team. The NYPD assaulted and injured their 6th man and then in the playoffs Dellavedova completely gooned two starters

― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 2:44 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

agreed, but the wheels started coming off that team in the last month or two of the regular season

Yes after thabo and antic got assaulted

I think the almost pathological need for a group of fans and media members for MJ to be the hands down greatest of all time no debate unless you have 6 rings you can't even be part of the conversation (except Bill Russell who doesn't count cuz he's old) is pretty weird and damaging to the game

I greatly prefer it to people pretending kobe is a top 25 player

Lebron bringing the Cavs back from a 3-1 deficit w/ Kyrie & Love both injured is way more impressive than anything MJ ever did

He seemed p normal when he entered the league but then you hear stories like him putting his finger in every donut at a commercial shoot just to spite the gaffers or whoever and you realize he was fucked in the head from the getgo

there are so many stories of MJ being a total alpha dog asshole which leads me to believe if he played in the age of Twitter he'd be widely disliked

xp kyrie and love were not injured...

lebron does not win those finals without kyrie going supernova (and lots of other stuff)

I grew up in Chicago area and was 6-20 yrs old when MJ was w Bulls so I'm inevitably partial to him but yeah idgi why some w/o that childhood connection are like that xp to ums

oh damn I was thinking of a different Finals, one in which the Cavs got murdered

he'd probably be about as well liked as harden if he played today

MJ being seen as likeable was purely a byproduct of the image he was given by Nike, Hanes, and other advertisers.

and space jam

I think just his skills were so spectacular people gravitated towards him. Also there’s something to admire in how he singlehandedly left a bunch of fellow future HOFers ringless after they failed to knock his teams off just as their own finally ascended to champion caliber.

his entire commercial/Space Jam persona was "famous hooper reacting to things around him with a quick head shake and a quiet laugh"

jordans game was extremely likable i think had a lot to do w it, ppl who didnt otherwise watch basketball wld watch him

watching a guy glide in the air with his tongue out is fun

Before he became an assassin he was mostly known for being this just fun scorer and he had those dunk contests with Nique too. He was on some mediocre squads that he was trying to will into being contenders and soon had some great playoff moments that were legend-building. He just had a really clean narrative to his run of league wide dominance.

sorry I didn't mean to suggest that he's not great, and he probably is the goat! it's just there's a....weird energy...to the way that dudes get so adamant about it, like it it's not the stats then it's the rings and if it's not the rings then it's the "era", I dunno something I can't quite articulate bums me out about it

childhood heroes die hard

MJ being seen as likeable was purely a byproduct of the image he was given by Nike, Hanes, and other advertisers.

Like that dumb Lebron chalk celebration is a bastardization of an actually fun thing Jordan would do with Red Kerr before games

ha that encapsulated the diff between MJ and Bron for me back when I really did not like Bron

80s MJ was way more fun than 90s MJ. I don't think ppl who weren't around back then are familiar with that pre-titles, pre-postup fadeaways, pre-BeLikeMike era.

MJ altered his game in subtle ways incrementally over time that made him a bit more traditional and less jaw dropping moment to moment that the initial impression he made is easy to forget but when you see clips of him from his first several seasons he was so explosive to the hoop, he was making every else look like George Mikan.

Like George Mikan circa 1986

These was a reason Nique was his rival bc he was the only one out there whose game was similarly futuristic seeming, I recognize there was considerable overlap in the timeline between MJ and Nique and Bird and Magic but the latter pair felt much more old school.

Absolutely. Pre MJ nearly everyone looks awkward and stiff in comparison. Even someone like Dr J has an awkward game apart from his modern style athletic finishing abilities. Post MJ you have journeyman randos who can smoothly break guys down off the dribble and finish with a double clutch reverse. Just elevated the vocabulary of basketball.

Prime Bird, MJ or Magic would be the best player in the nba right now.

I feel like ABA Erving was probably a shorter Giannis

Bird and Magic but the latter pair felt much more old school.

― omar little, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 7:02 PM (fifty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc bird was on the jordan bandwagon early saying something like "maybe theyll leave me alone now" when asked about him lol

also a bit in some dream team doc where bird and magic were getting each other amped to go against jordan at their first practice and he came in and just annihilated them and they were both all welp our time is over now

Bird and Magic but the latter pair felt much more old school.

― omar little, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 7:02 PM (fifty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc bird was on the jordan bandwagon early saying something like "maybe theyll leave me alone now" when asked about him lol

props to bird for appreciating the good basketball

63 point game. God in basketball shoes. That was MJs 2nd year and only played like 19 reg season games.

I always thought Magic was over the hill by 91 finals. But he was only 31 when he retired. Wow that was a shame.

My friends and i all thought Magic was going to die in a month iirc

I always thought Magic was over the hill by 91 finals. But he was only 31 when he retired. Wow that was a shame.

Feeling a big Jokic game here

...

Yah wtf is going on w dude

I think I need to take a break from watching him for a while. just really mad at him

You’ve got yer boy doncic at least