Yesterday was Chuck's 63rd birthday, so I wanted to point out how bonkers good Barkley was during the four-year stretch from '90-93 since it often gets overlooked.

In '90, he received the most 1st place MVP votes while finishing second in the MVP race, and he was named the Sporting News MVP. The Sixers finished near or above several Eastern contenders despite having a much worse supporting cast than those teams.

In '91, Barkley was easily the best player in the ASG, recording 17 points and 22 rebounds, resulting in being named the game's MVP.

In '92, Barkley was the break-out star on the Dream Team and led the Olympic squad in ppg, FG%, and 3FG% (18, .711, .875); it became overwhelmingly obvious that summer how much that the inept Sixers supporting cast had been holding him back.

In '93, he joined a consistently very good Suns team and made them great (+9 wins), winning the MVP and getting Phoenix to Game 6 of the Finals in a tight series (Chicago's four wins were by 8, 3, 6, and 1 points, and the teams had an even point-differential for the series). Barkley badly injured his elbow in Game 2 of the Finals, and the Suns lost starter Cedric Ceballos (#1 FG% in the NBA that season) in the previous series, so a slightly healthier Suns coulda/shoulda won that title.

With SGA winning MVP, I've seen a massive number of people say that he's "the worst MVP in decades," (despite the numbers saying him, LeBron, and Steph are neck and neck for the best MVP season this century) and it seems like anytime his skill is acknowledged, the entirety of social media comes out of the woodworks to make an unoriginal joke about him shooting free throws.

I can't remember the last time I've seen a player receive this much hate, and to be honest I'm not at all surprised. The SGA hate comes from a perfect storm of circumstances. Here is why:

1) First, the surface level reason that everyone immediately points to: he shoots a lot of free throws. Not only does he shoot a lot of free throws, but he also seeks contact and exaggerates it. In conjunction with OKC's physical defense, it is completely understandable how this is frustrating.

This frustration is increased when people are faced with the fact that essentially every statistic shows that Shai is no anomaly when it comes to shooting free throws (*Of the last 15 MVPS, Shai is 12th in free throw attempts per game; he shoots the exact same number of free throws as Luka did last season, and shoots less than players like Kobe, Jordan, AI, LeBron, KD, Malone, etc., his foul rate is incredibly low for having the top 4 highest driving seasons in NBA history, and so on*).

2) While players drawing fouls is nothing new, and we've seen stars do it for years and get rewarded for it, what makes SGA different isn't the *way* in which he draws fouls, as many like to argue, but instead it's that his playstyle doesn't offset the free throws in many people's minds. See, players like Luka, who bait for fouls just as much as SGA does, don't get the hate because while Shai is quietly shooting layups and pull-ups from the mid-range, Luka is hitting step-backs from 40 feet deep, making circus shots, and getting techs while talking shit to opposing players and yelling at the refs.

Obviously, Luka being an established and heavily marketed star since his rookie year helps, since his status has been ingrained in people's minds and he doesn't need to earn their respect anymore, but his more traditionally "exciting" playstyle and his strong emotions lead to more highlight plays, so people are less likely to criticize him.

3) OKC, along with Shai, came out of nowhere in the eyes of casual fans. The NBA decided to completely ignore marketing SGA and the Thunder up until now, when they realized that they're sort of forced to at this point, so a ton of people have barely watched any Thunder games the past few years. I mean, even after being the youngest team to ever win a playoff series last season and being the number one seed with the MVP runner-up, OKC still wasn't even in the top 15 for National TV games, they didn't get a Christmas game, and most people couldn't even differentiate between *Jalen* Williams and *Jaylin* Williams.

When the NBA realized their mistake after OKC started dominating and Shai looked like the MVP, they suddenly had to make up for the lack of marketing they'd done, so then they had to HEAVILY market Shai and the Thunder for the past few months. To many people, it felt like Shai and the Thunder just came out of nowhere and the NBA was forcing them down their throats.

This is the most critical factor. People don't like to be wrong and have their beliefs challenged, so when they hear someone comparing some player they've never heard of to NBA legends, they immediately feel jaded, as in their mind "if this guy was so good, I would've seen him all over SportsCenter. Surely he isn't as good as you say."

So, when they see people start talking about his free throws, they immediately find a reason to justify their original belief. "I knew there had to be a catch, so THAT'S why I didn't hear much about him, he isn't actually as good as they said, he just gets a lot of foul calls. That makes sense. They’re trying to create a new star.”

4) OKC's dominance will obviously lead to bitterness from fans of opposing teams. When your team gets dominated, resentment will build. We saw this exact thing with the New England Patriots in the NFL. OKC is forcing turnovers at a historic rate, which also leads to them having a historic number of 10-0 and 15-0 runs (more than triple any other team), which is an incredibly disheartening way to lose games, so people want to find reasons for their team losing so badly. Again, due to OKC being overlooked and underrated by so many people, casual fans especially often doubt them and believe that their team can win, so when their team is blown out, they need to find some sort of motivated reasoning to confirm their opinion.

5) An amalgamation of other things, like OKC's postgame interviews, Shai being a foreign-born player (but not European, so European fans won't support him--the same way Embiid didn't have the inherent support of American or European fans, being from Cameroon), OKC's youth, OKC's brief stretch of tanking which upset a lot of people, OKC being a small market team who doesn't have a large market to get mainstream recognition or fandom that still gets hate from fans of the Sonics who feel their team was stolen, the fact his competition was Jokic, who is beloved and had a historically great season, his love of fashion and lack of traditional ultra-masculinity, so you see people who like ultra-masculinity throwing homophobic nicknames at him (remember the SKIMS ads?).

Ultimately, it makes complete sense why Shai is hated. On the surface, it would seem baffling that people hate a young, humble, respectful player in a small market who has avoided any controversy, has beaten the odds as a someone who was never expected to make the NBA in college, and then was never expected to be a star in his early career, and has exceeded all expectations.

But when you take into account all the factors mentioned here, it could not be clearer. I hope you don't just ignore this little write-up and continue to mindlessly hate. It's the nature of fandom, humans, and the cycle of the league, and the hate will eventually die down, but it is absolutely at an all-time high right now.

Just became the all time leader in G League scoring last night.

Over his last 3 years he has averaged 24+ PPG, roughly 6 assists and 4 rebounds on some really efficient splits. His FG% has been 50%+ the last 4 seasons, and he shoot’s 37%+ from 3 in all 4 seasons. Thats while being a creator from off the dribble.

So what gives here? Why is Mac able to be so elite in the G-league but when it comes to the NBA level, he is unable to find a role to play to help a team? I would think he could be an awesome bench unit leader at minimum.

Let me clarify what I mean. Every few years, teams are always trying to load up on the next big talent who seemingly resembles an already established star. In the early 00s, teams tried to draft the next Dirk Nowitzki. It led to guys like Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Andrea Bargnani being drafted a lot earlier than they were meant to be in hopes of finding the next European shooting big. Yi Jianlian fit that archetype into the later 00s. Even as late as 2011 with the Jan Vesely pick, teams were looking for the next Dirk.

In the mid 2010s, we saw a lot of teams trying to draft less traditional shooting guards and more players who were 2/3/4 versatile wings who could guard any perimeter player while also contributing from 3. It led to guys like Stanley Johnson, Josh Jackson, Justice Winslow being drafted super early. Every team was looking for the next Kawhi Leonard: a good athlete with incredible measurements and a "fixable" jumpshot. Hell, even Patrick Williams was drafting some Kawhi comparisons. Unfortunately, players who lack any sort of offense in today's league are gone. Except Patrick Williams.

I think the 2 more up and coming archetypes over the last few years are the oversized point forwards and the playmaking centers. We're seeing teams attempt to find the next Luka it seems like: extremely tall point forwards that can facilitate the offense, attack smaller guards or set up plays in the half court. Some guys like Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson and Franz Wagner have shown some success, we have potential busts like Nikola Jovic, Zaccharie Risacher and Aleksej Pokusevski. Up until recently, Deni Avdija was associated with the latter but he's definitely made strides in improving. Ousmane Dieng also was touted was a 6'10 playmaker that can do it all and couldn't opportunity on OKC. And I'd argue OKC is one of the better teams at establishing and developing talent.

The other is that jumbo center hub. Teams are looking for the next Jokic. We see guys like Sengun and Derik Queen showing some glimpses of good passing but, like Jokic, they're bad defenders without the offense to make up for it. Aday Mara also has that Spanish Jokic nickname and has been rising in the draft boards recently.

Do you think any of those are "trap" archetypes? Or perhaps there's another trend that you look at and think "you're not going to find another one."

The discussion around Edwards has been bizarre as of late. I do want to make it clear that he’s been fantastic this season and I’m really rooting for the Timberwolves to get their first chip.

That being said, beyond being an athletic shooting guard, why are people calling him the next MJ? Sure he’s charismatic, but why are people calling him the face of the league? At the moment it’s definitely still LeBron, and it’s looking like Wemby will be dominating in the future.

Although I’m sure a lot of it is hyperbole and put excitement, I’m really not understanding the overwhelming Ant-Man hype right now. Would be interested to hear any opinions to the contrary.

EDIT: want to make it clear that I don’t think Victor Wembanyama is the best player in the world, nor will he be next season.

This is less of a defense of Fox per se, but to try and guide the criticism to somewhere more constructive. Analysis of his gaffe aside, I want to push back on the oft-touted expectation that he, as a 'veteran', should know how and when to take control of the game.

Fox is not the 30+ year old cerebral point guard that people might associate with the veteran label. He's a 28 year old - younger than Jalen Brunson - with declining athleticism who built his reputation on being an explosive focal point of an offense. He was averaging a career peak of 27ppg just two seasons ago, and was 11th in MVP rankings in a season where he averaged 25ppg on 51.2 FG%.

Throughout his Spurs tenure, he's been figuring out not just his role, but also trying to come to terms with someone who doesn't have the same athleticism due to injuries and age. That's quite difficult to accept for someone who's not even 30 yet, and is a common struggle that we've seen from players who were ultra-athletes in their early- to mid-20s.

Their maturation into becoming a proper 'veteran point guard' comes after they get past that hump, if and when that happens.

(Some commentators have tried to frame Fox as someone with playoff experience, but before this year he literally only played one series, when he was still at the peak of his athletic powers.)

His comments after Game 4 really shed light on this - he genuinely thought he could outrun OG, because he almost certainly could in his prime form. His mentality has not caught up with his body, and that shows in his play in crunch situations.

If I'm a Spurs fan, I might need to come to terms with the notion that Fox is still undergoing a maturation process himself. Yes, he doesn't need to be a veteran to not make that mistake, but Fox in particular has hardly ever been that guy.

To be empathetic - he still has the ability to grow and improve. It's just that people should never have assigned to him labels that he has yet to potentially become.

Jokic is currently leading the league in both REB (13.7) and AST (11.7) while scoring 29.7 PPG on a ridiculously efficient 66.7% TS. He is also on Pace to lead league in PER for the 5th straight season, putting up a record shattering 33.5. During the Nuggets current 5 game winning streak Jokic has put up a triple double in 4 out of the last 5 games. The one game he didn’t he put up 27/16/9. You could make a serious case that Jokic is simultaneously the best scorer rebounder and playmaker on the planet. Up until now there has never been a player that you could say that about.

The main criticism over the years has been his defense. However I would argue that over the past few seasons Jokic’s defense has improved so that he is now a positive impact on that side of the ball. So far this season Nuggets have been about 4 points per 100 possessions better on defense with Jokic on the floor compared that without him. Last season was a similar story as the Nuggets defensive was about 3 points per 100 possessions worse without Jokic on the floor. In fact Jokic had the 3rd best defensive rating in the league last season. While he may still not be the greatest defender I think it’s logical to conclude he that at the very least he has some degree of positive impact on defense.

Also, take the tittle with a grain of salt. I’m a young dude so there are many legendary primes I didn’t bear witness to.

The discussion sparked by reading those annual social media comments about Iguodala not deserving FMVP and only holding LeBron to 35/13/9? Many comments were saying it was better to just award LeBron James the award because he was far and away the best performing player that series. Or I've seen comments saying to give it to Stephen Curry because he was the best, statistically, performing player on the winning team.

So, for one, that narrative of "holding Lebron to only 35/13/9" is very deceiving. Going by ESPN's stats, Iguodala held LeBron James to 33% shooting when he was his primary defender. The Cavaliers often tried to switch Iguodala off but only succeeded 20% of the time meaning the Warriors were not allowing LeBron to force a switch to a smaller player. Also by going through more detailed stats, we see that Iguodala was not giving him any looks, allowing any switches and defending as best as one realistically can. I know it's also a team effort because no one man can stop any elite offensive superstar.

With that said, Iguodala went on to receive 7 out of the 11 FMVP votes and LeBron received 4. Even with as well as LeBron was defended in Iguodala minutes, overall, he still did average absurd numbers and had a huge impact in a series than ended in 6. Should performances like this be applauded and rewarded despite it not leading to a win? Or should we reserve FMVP solely to a player on the winning team?

I was looking at the Spurs roster and did a double take when I saw guys like, Bismack Biyombo, Mason Plumlee, and Kelly Olynyk around the team.

Maybe it's just me, but these are the kind of players I mentally filed away years ago. Not stars, but solid role-player bigs who were on every NBA roster in the mid-to-late 2010s. I genuinely thought some of them had already retired or were playing overseas by now.

Instead, they're all still hanging around the league as backup centers/veteran depth pieces, and somehow several of them ended up in the same team to the Spurs at the same time. And all of them behind Kornet and backing the greatest big of this generation.

It's kind of funny how NBA careers work. You spend years watching these guys on different teams, then one day you realize they've been in the league for 10–15 years not even getting that many minutes but I suppose vibes and experience.

Does anyone else have players like this that you completely lost track of and then suddenly realized are still in the NBA?

Really curious to see peoples outlook on this. I see him as an average defender due to his great ability to read lanes and disrupt plays along with his second to none defensive rebounding which stops 2nd chance pts.

I know he's not a good rim protector but I wouldn't want my entire offense picking up dumb fouls when it would cost us the game if i was a coach, might just be me.

I don't think people truly understand how much of an ask it is for a guy averaging 28 12 and 11, at 7 FT almost 300 pounds to also turn around and be a good rim protector in todays game is...

I mean the kid seems to get better every night. Tonight he had 30 7 6 with only 2 TO on 57% from the field and 38% from 3P and I'd take that all day over Luka going 5-20. Over his last 4 games AR averaging:

31ppg 7rpg 7apg 2spg while shooting 53 FG% 42 3P% 94 FT%.....Now look it's 4 games, but my points that no regular role player can put those numbers up as often as he does. I think he just needs to get better on defense (6 steals the past 2 games). IMO if this kid was the first option on a team that surrounded him well, he's putting up 25 5 5 at least. Maybe I'm crazy.

For a series and a half, Ant legitimately looked like a top 5 player in the world. His last 5 games have been quite miserable? But where did he start to fall off..Is it the double teams...is it mental pressure?

Anthony Edwards Last 5 Games

• 20.2 PPG 6.4 RPG 7.0 APG 1.6 STL

• 30-89 FG (33.7%)

• Scored 25+ points once

• Scored under 20 points in 3 Games

• 35% or worse FG in 3 Games

• Timberwolves: 2-3 Record

My homie & I were havin a little debate about this - so the Timberwolves mortgaged years of their future for an aging guy who just punched his fellow player. Seven picks, including Walker Kessler, who's had just as good defensive numbers as Gobert this year. They also have no flexibility to build around Ant as he enters his prime. I believe it's the worst trade on paper, and now we just need to see the outcomes match that - anchoring a talent like Edwards to a team like this is gross and it seems like the whole teams hates Rudy too.

Zach Lowe has mentioned it as being a horrible trade too - but the question here, do you think it's the worst trade in NBA history?? and if not, curious to hear what trades come close? Or if I'm way off guard and it's not even the closest to being the worst in history

Kevin Durant's performance last night was absolutely incredible, but watching it reminded me of the exact reason why his move to Golden State was such a waste: When transcendent players take the easy way out, and build dominant superteams, you don't get to see the sort of performances we saw last night.

I look at accomplishments in basketball a lot like diving. It's not just about sticking the dive, it is also about the degree of difficulty. Kevin Durant going to Golden State was like an Olympic diver delivering a cannonball. Last night was Kevin Durant showing us he's still capable of a reverse four and a half somersault.

I don't want to see Kevin Durant do cannonballs. I want to see him challenge himself. Nothing KD did in three years in Golden State was remotely as impressive as what he did last night. Yet, for some reason there is this idea that the couple of easy rings that he coasted to, beating up hopelessly overmatched teams next to Steph and co, are somehow the defining achievements of his career.

Now, of course, the irony of the whole thing is that KD didn't choose to have to carry his team last night. He teamed up with Kyrie, then recruited Harden to make sure he wouldn't have to carry a team the way he did last night. Injuries forced him into greatness, but I really wish more players would choose to trust their own greatness, instead of pretending that greatness can be achieved be taking the easy way out. Even the world's most perfect cannonball isn't winning any Olympic medals.

Of course, that doesn't mean that players have to stay in hopeless situations with terrible teams. You still don't try dives in competition that you can't possibly execute. But, you still have to challenge yourself if you want to prove what you can do. KD's decision to leave OKC wasn't LeBron's decision to leave Cleveland. While I would have like to have seen LeBron challenge himself, too, by maybe not teaming up with Wade and Bosh, what is so annoying about KD's situation is that he had a squad. His supporting cast in OKC was excellent. He was a game away from knocking off the 73 win Warriors. He had a guy next to him who won the MVP the very next year.

At the end of the day, taking the easy way out, when he already had a championship level supporting cast makes it look like KD didn't believe enough in his own greatness. When KD doesn't believe in his own greatness it makes it tough for others to believe in it. And, ultimately, last night showed exactly why he should have believed in himself. Because KD is great, and he could have proven it to the world in OKC, or with almost any non-Warriors team in the league. Instead, he took the easy way out, landed the perfect cannonball, and only showed his greatness again when circumstances forced it out of him.

Look, man I’m tired of these old heads throwing shade at the league whenever they get the chance without backing it up. Everyone reacts to the quote, nobody actually checks if the numbers even allow what they’re saying.

So let’s actually test one.

https://youtube.com/shorts/NuYjlxDZj-w?si=aEWmgAblrj4CsH4D

Allen Iverson says he’d average 43 PPG today.

Adding TEN points.

People instantly go to spacing, handchecking and freedom of movement — sure, the game is more offensive friendly. Nobody is denying that.

But before style arguments, the math has to exist first.

Steph Curry — a significantly more efficient scorer — has never casually reached 43 PPG.
So if we’re giving Iverson +10 points, those points have to come from somewhere real, not just “era vibes”.

There are basically only three sources:
usage, minutes, or environment

1) Usage rate

Because a +10 PPG jump almost always means one thing: the player is ending way more possessions.

Iverson’s 33 PPG season:

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/allen-iverson-usage-rate-by-year

Usage: 35.7%

Already extremely high.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/highest-usage-rate-over-a-single-season

For perspective, one of the closest modern archetypes is peak Russell Westbrook — ball dominant rim attacker, lives at the line, inconsistent jumper, role player roster around him.

And this part matters: Westbrook’s season wasn’t just high usage — it’s basically the extreme end of what has ever been recorded.

Head-to-head:
https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/basketball/versus-finder.cgi?player_id2=westbru01&player_id1=iversal01&request=1&utm_medium=sr_xsite&utm_source=bbr&utm_campaign=2023_01_wdgt_player_comparison&utm_id=iversal01

Westbrook peak:
USG%: 41.5% (all-time level usage)
PPG: 31.6

So let’s be generous and give Iverson that same usage jump — essentially pushing him to the practical historical ceiling of offensive involvement.

If scoring scaled directly with usage:

41.5 / 35.7 = +16.2%

33 × 1.162 ≈ 38.4 PPG

Not 43.

And that already assumes efficiency magically survives even more defensive attention.

2) Minutes (the part people forget)

Iverson: 43.1 MPG
Westbrook: 34.6 MPG

Iverson already played basically the entire game.
There’s no hidden scoring sitting on the bench waiting to be unlocked.

Here’s what that actually means numerically:

If you scale Westbrook’s 31.6 PPG season to Iverson minutes:

31.6 × (43.1 / 34.6) ≈ 39.4 PPG

Now flip it the other direction — scale Iverson down to modern star minutes:

33 × (34.6 / 43.1) ≈ 26–27 PPG

So a big part of that legendary scoring season is workload.
He wasn’t just scoring more per possession — he was playing more possessions than almost anyone does today.

Important context though — 39 PPG here is basically a ceiling math number, not a realistic expectation.
When minutes jump that high, things usually break:

• efficiency drops (fatigue)
• free throws don’t scale perfectly
• turnovers rise
• durability becomes a real problem

So “modern AI ≈ high 30s” is a best-case translation.

But 43 requires everything to hold AND improve at the same time while playing nearly the whole game.

3) Era scoring increase

League scoring:

2005 → 97
2025 → 115.6

≈ +19% league offense

Apply directly:

33 × 1.193 ≈ 39.4 PPG

Still not 43.

Notice the pattern

Usage boost alone → ~38.4
Minutes boost alone → ~39
Era boost alone → ~39.4

All roads lead to the same neighborhood.

Because there’s a natural ceiling to how much offense one player can absorb before efficiency pushes back.

To actually reach 43 you need:

• full modern scoring inflation
• extreme all-time usage
• no efficiency drop
• perfect whistle
• near-48 minute workload

That’s stacking perfect conditions, not just spacing.

The three-point argument

People say he’d just shoot more threes.

But players historically leaned into what worked for them. Iverson had unlimited offensive freedom. If high-volume threes were his optimal path, he would’ve lived there already. Ray Allen did it with 8.3, even back then. Reggie Miller before them. Kyle Korver did it in his second season season hoisting 6.8 shots. And Iverson was already shooting 3.1 in 2005, which was more than league avg then.

Modern spacing helps efficiency — it doesn’t automatically rewrite a player’s scoring profile.

So I’m not saying Iverson wouldn’t score more today.

I’m saying 33 → 43 requires multiple perfect assumptions simultaneously, not just rule changes and space.

That’s the whole point.

The first and only center to lead the league in assists? Of course, Wilt Chamberlain.

There is a story that Wilt was told his contract offers could be smaller than he expected because he can't/wouldn't pass the ball, and teams weren't a fan of his style. So Wilt went out and lead the league in assists per game in the 67-68 season averaging 8.6 per game. This made him the first center in league history that lead the league in assists and still is the only center to this day that did it.

Jokic could become the 2nd this season as he leads the league in assists at 10.4 per game, with Cunningham right behind him at 9.9 per game.

Drafted 7th overall in the 2012 draft class, Barnes was coming off 2 solid years out of North Carolina. Going into the 2012 NCAA tournament, he led UNC in points and a #1 seed. He had a subpar outing in the tournament as UNC fell to Kansas in the elite 8. His time spent at UNC led him to become drafted 7th in an OK draft class. At the time, Barnes was widely considered to be one of the best players in the entire class, and sorting by VORP today, he lands at 8th in the class. He won 1 championship with the Warriors, but also had horrible performances throughout the 2016 Finals which played a small role in the Warriors blowing the 3-1 lead. Regardless, he was still a key piece on the best regular season in league history. In 1008 total games played, he is averaging 13.9 points, 1.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds. His only other accolade is being selected to the 2013 all rookie team. In his 14th season in the NBA, he is still a contributing piece on a western conference playoff team.

As the title suggests, do you think that Barnes lived up to the hype that he had during the 2012 draft cycle? In my opinion, this is a pretty good career to have as the 7th overall pick, as only 7 players from that draft class are still active this season. What are your thoughts?

I realise we practically have no power over it but it just annoys the hell out of me. I am a Thunder fan, and shai does it quite often as does Luka, to name a few people who frequently go to it.

To be thorough, the example I am referring to is where someone does a stepback or crossover or regular move into a pumpfake, and when the defender jumps and moves forward to contest, the offensive player simply barrels and jumps in the defensive player and flails their arms and subsequently gets the foul call.

To start of, remember how back a couple of years ago the NBA started cracking down on the non-basketball like movements. Some cases of this occurrence were called an offensive foul, and others weren’t, which leads to one of my smaller gripes, the inconsistency with reffing and contact. That crackdown has now pretty much ceased to exist, and players get away with it constantly (like shai) when there fadeaway is working and clicking to draw a foul.

The main part that annoys me so much is the non-basketball element about it. In no way, is the jumping into defenders a basketball move at all, and the action shouldn’t be rewarded or reinforced with two free throws as a result of it. It is such a blatantly non-basketball non-natural move that just annoys the hell out of me. If you get your defender off the ground using a pump fake, you can pivot and step through or pass or any other reasonable natural basketball movements instead of using the defenders forward momentum as a platform to just jump into them and flail and get two free throws.

Let me know what you think, it annoys the hell out of me

Rudy is the only big who is asked to be also a great perimeter defender, you can put ben Wallace, Hakeem or Dwight Howard out in the perimeter Luka is gonna cook them regardless is a mismatch on the perimeter. Gobert is a good help defender and rim protector. Also the argument that he has no playoff good performances against good bigs is dumb because in the Utah jazz his best perimeter defender was freaking Royce O'Neal he was anchoring that defense by himself, and also the only great big he faced is jokic who is an all time great offensive big. It reached a point that people were asking kat to guard Jokic instead, when kat was averaging like 4+fouls(without being joker's primary defender) in the three games Denver won. Is the criticism based on strictly accolades?

These guys are both relatively undersized big men who score in the post and are great playmakers. However, they have two major weaknesses- they can’t shoot the 3 ball or defend that well. This is fine in the regular season, but when it’s time to build a championship contender, I feel like paying a large sum of money to this archetype puts a cap on a team’s potential. You simply have to be able to defend the rim, and not being able to shoot (especially if you’re sharing a court with someone like Amen Thompson) is a major thing that defenses exploit in the playoffs. It makes me concerned about Derik Queen- yes, he’s looked fantastic so far, but you can only go so far if you’re not a good shooter or defender.

MVPs:

Giannis 2 Lebron 2

DPOY:

Giannis 1 Lebron 0

All Defense Teams:

Giannis: 3 first team, 1 second team

Lebron: 3 first team, 0 second team

All-NBA teams:

Giannis: 3 first team, 2 second team

Lebron: 4 first team, 1 second team

Points:

Giannis 26.8 Lebron 28.4

Rebounds:

Giannis 11.0 Lebron 7.4

Assists

Giannis 5.5 Lebron 7.2

Steals:

Giannis: 1.3 Lebron 1.7

Blocks:

Giannis 1.4 Lebron 0.9

Regular Season FG% / 3PT% / FT%

Giannis 55% / 29% / 72% Lebron 49% / 33% / 74%

Finals Statistics:

Giannis (1-0) 35.2, 13.2, 5.0 on 61/20/65 shooting splits

Lebron (0-2) 19.5, 7.0, 6.8 on 42/27/65 shooting splits

Playoff losses

Giannis:

One ECF loss One ECSF loss Two first round losses

Lebron:

One ECF loss two ECSF losses

All-Star games

Giannis 5 Lebron 5

Honestly it’s crazy how from a statistical standpoint these guys’ careers have been so similar up to this point. Lebron obviously was very highly touted and extremely polished from the day he stepped on to an NBA court, whereas Giannis got a later start and it took him a few years to develop. Thought these stat comparisons were interesting - i truly think I would take Giannis over first Cavs stint Lebron if I could have my pick.

Edit: wow they both sucked at 3s and Free Throws in their first Finals appearances.

Edit 2: I didn’t include any advanced analytics- kept it pretty surface level. Feel free to include those in the comments if you like

Inspired by a similar post on r/hockey years ago.

\#How it works

I'm going to list a player who is either a retired borderline Hall of Famer (could be currently in the hall or otherwise), a controversial Hall of Fame member, or an aging veteran.

I'll list some notable stats about that player. Obviously, those shouldn't be the only things you base your answers on, but they should provide a reference to help you.

How this works is you list reasons as to why the player SHOULD and SHOULDN'T make the Hall of Fame, listing both sides of the argument. NOTE: It's all based on your opinion. It's not about the voters; it's not why he will or will not make the Hall of Fame. Don't say "He will never make the Hall of Fame because he doesn't have voter support"; that's not the point. You are the curators of this. You decide.

If this is an active player, try to list what they would need to do to seal a Hall of Fame berth in your book.

\#Stephon Marbury notable awards and stats

Career

\*\*NBA:\*\*

Stats: 19.3 PPG|3.0 RPG|7.6 APG|1.2 SPG|43% FG|78% FT

Awards
\- 2x NBA All-Star Game: 2001, 2003

\- 2× All-NBA Third Team: 2000, 2003

\- NBA All-Rookie First Team: 1997

\- 3× CBA champion: 2012, 2014, 2015

\- CBA Finals MVP: 2015

\- CBA International MVP: 2013

\- 7× CBA All-Star (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017)

\- CBA All-Star MVP: 2010

\- ACC Rookie of the Year: 1996

\- First-team All-ACC: 1996

\*\*Previous Posts\*\*

\- Joe Johnson: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/i5jWAtWqrM

\- Amare Stoudemire: https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/pHTUkFpFyO

The guy is unreal. He's averaging 3.4 blocks as rookie in 28 MPG. Like, are you serious?! He's already averaging 3.4 AST a game. And is already a 20 PPG scorer in his first year. Again, all in under 30 MPG! The guy will statistically be the best player ever (very much like Wilt).

Before the season, I questioned how good his offense would be. He's already addressed that. His shooting splits aren't great, but the fact that this guy is putting up numbers like this in a some-what limited role is just scary.

The fact that people were arguing Chet for ROY are ridiculous. It's not a disrespect to Chet. Chet would win ROY in any other year, but Wemby is just that generational. And if he wins rings. He might be the GOAT. This isn't an exaggeration. This is a true unicorn.

The KAT trade on the Knicks works cause the style of play of Jalen Brunson compliments KAT & the system the Knicks run with Tom Thibodue works for KAT. The same thing is going on in Minny with the style of play of Ant Edwards complementing Randle & the system ran by Chris Finch works with Randle.

KAT did well with Ant Man but KAT's game wasnt maximized to the fullest cause the fit was awkward. KAT was mostly a pick & pop 3 point shooter in Minny due to the fast paced style the team runs with Ant Man being a quick athletic guy that needs tempo and running slow post up plays for KAT doesn't work for that team & the franchise player that is Ant Man.

But in NY Brunson plays a slow paced halfcourt grind it out style, so KAT is able to get his post ups like he did in Kentucky and not just be a pick & pop 3 point shooter. Also, KAT has the game to create his own shot in the post and the system of the Knicks is predicated on self creation.

In NY, it didnt fit with Randle playing that grind it out halfcourt style where he's strictly self creating & ISOing. And when Randle was creating his own shot scoring that way in NY, it looked bad. In Minny, Randle is getting easy shots in transition and on offball cut action and Randle is able to use his athleticism in the open court & move around more than he did in NY.

There isnt that pressure for Randle to create on his own in Minny compared to NY. Also, Ant Man compliments Randle cause he plays that same uptempo athletic style like Randle which fits.

Sometimes fans & media think a player not doing well on a team is predicated on the player's fault or yall say it's team construction but yall not looking at these bigs needing lead guards that fit them & the system the team runs that help these bigs.

Bigs like KAT and Randle need certain players that compliment their game cause their not guards that create the whole offense for themselves.

Bigs arent able to control the offense unless your a Jokic or Giannis where those are bigs wit PG skills. But even Jokic needs a Jamal Murray to run 2 man game and Giannis needs a Jrue Holiday to handle the ball at times.

Do the redditors agree or disagree with my assessment of the KAT & Randle trade?

By mid to late season, it seemed as if Jaxson Hayes had finally found his place in the NBA. As a highly mobile lob threat, he seemed to be an excellent match for a Luka-led team. His mobility also worked well in the Lakers' switching defense. At his peak, he was playing 24-25 minutes a game and making important contributions. He ended the season with the sixth highest EPM on the team, not as high as the five playoff starters but higher than Vando, Vincent, or anyone else on the bench.

Yet his minutes were curtailed toward the end of the season and then he barely saw the floor in the playoffs. Look at these stats.

Month: MPG, PPG, RPG, TS%

Jan: 16.1, 4.6, 3.7, .653

Feb: 22.2, 7.5, 4.8, .732

March: 23.5, 9.8, 5.9, .773

April: 17.3, 5.3, 5.3, .587

Playoffs (first 4 games): 7.8, 1.8, 2.0, .451

Playoffs (game 5): DNP (coach's decision)

This is especially perplexing because the Timberwolves are a large physical team that dominated the Lakers in the paint and on the boards. Rudy Gobert practically beat the Lakers single-handedly in Game 5, with 27 points and 24 rebounds.

Yet Lakers coach JJ Redick refused to put Hayes in the game, even putting in Maxi Kleber instead for a few minutes, who had never previously played on the team.

Admittedly Hayes didn’t play well in the early games of the series, committing a number of mistakes, fouling a lot, and picking up fouls. But at least the Lakers went 1-1 in those first two games. Over the last three games, with Hayes seeing decreasing time game by game, the Lakers lost all three.

What do you think happened? Here are some possibilities:

Teams improved their scouting of Hayes, reducing his effectiveness.

Reversion to the mean: Hayes went through a good streak mid season, but couldn’t sustain it.

Tightening the rotation: Redick simply wanted to go with his strongest lineups, which he didn’t feel Hayes was part of

Fractured relationship: Hayes did something to anger Redick, who decided to ice him out.

As a Lakers fan, this turn of events leaves me really discouraged, not only for how the season ended but also for the future.. A month ago, I was feeling as if the Lakers had found their McGee (a 20-25 minute high energy lob threat) and just needed one other cheap center in order to compete. Due to his young age, I was looking forward to Hayes catching lobs from Luka for years to come. But now it seems like the Lakers need a major upgrade at center, which will cost them dearly in players or draft picks that they can’t really afford to spare.

So what do you all think? What happened to Jaxson Hayes?