All that’s to be said about the refs is when that ref got caught for fixing games he was calling other refs EVERY SINGLE night before the game and it’s all documented in his notebook that’s the susest shit ever and I bet the nba knows it’s happening and chooses to do nothing about it because A. They don’t want the public to know that the nba finals has been heavily swayed for years or B. The nba is in on it and is trying to maximize profit by getting teams like Boston to win kinda like how they rigged Patrick hewing to go to the knicks because the knicks made the most money and was the commissioners favorite team.. yes refs make mistakes but I don’t think it’s a coincidence they make WAY MORE during the playoffs not to mention I’ve seen refs have the replay and still make the wrong call to the point where even the commentators are confused and that happened like 10 times this last playoffs
hot take: the new cba is too harsh. it fulfills its intended purpose of levelling the playing field and preventing teams from just spending as much as possible to get better, but its had seriously detrimental side effects of making it difficult for teams to run it back with the same core year after year, and restricts from making trades too much. it seems like the only champions we will see in the near future are young teams with homegrown players on undervalued contracts. im not necessarily against, but not being able to pay to keep those players long term seems unintended.
Facts. I want Denver to be validated in doing their building essentially all home grown, especially with their star. That doesn’t mean KD should be able to join the Warriors
Agreed. It went too far on the other direction. We want homegrown teams and parody, but we also want teams to be able to keep what they’ve built and maintain the rosters they’ve acquired.
I think it is also hard for players that are mid to high level but not a good all star. Many players that should have gotten a mid level exception are getting veteran minimum contract.
Thinking that DeRozan could have the same offensive production as Kawhi is completely insane. Kawhi was averaging 35 against butler and Simmons guarding him. If you replace Derozan with Kawhi they lose in 5 games against the sixers.
@@aboudiaby253 Derozan went off a lot, and really had it offensively. He just usually wasn’t as good at doing in the Playoffs, and ofc his defense was nothing special
Draymond can be an asshole and at times detrimental to his team but calling him violent is just overreacting. Other players have had far worse incidents and haven't had this label put on them. The reason Draymond gets this much scrutiny is because of all the success he has had.
HOT TAKE: The real problem with the Bucks is that Jimmy Haslam famously the worst owner in the NFL bought the team after their championship and has made insanely incompetent decisions ever since just like he does with The Browns. No one else would fire a coach who just won a championship for losing a playoff series with their best player injured to the eventual conference champs. Jimmy Haslam once drafted Johnny Manziel because a homeless guy told him to. Same energy
@@graysonschutzman4853 And we also have all these videos and articles saying giannis was one of the main reasons he was fired. Obviously we know organization cant tell giannis no, look what happened when he hinted about leaving
Everything the Knicks have done since 1999 (besides drafting Mitchell Robinson and Immanuel Quickley, hiring Thibs, signing Brunson, and trading for OG and Mikal) has been stupid
Melo at the time was just trying to get out of denver as fast as possible and basically said any ny team that got him first he would sign a contact with so the nets were pushing heavy at the time to get him it wasn't a a guarantee that melo would be a knick
@@Austin-l1j woo hoo they traded a moody big man that sucks in the playoffs for another moody big man that sucks in the playoffs. Randle didn’t help build the culture he didn’t lock in defensively and didn’t hustle. Thibs, Brunson, and Hart built the Knicks’ culture
Players get too much hate from fans over an "untradeable contact".. for example, Zach Lavine is an excellent 3 level scorer whos contract is beyond his on the court production.. that's on the front office for being awful at asset management and giving him the max contract.
@@coolbreeze369jcLavine is on a terrible team they played good when they had ball and fell apart I’m sure if he was on the lakers or warriors he would be winning
People also forgot the rule changes. Lavine contract was not too bad until the new second apron restrictions came in, which changed how many max a team can afford to have
@@coolbreeze369jcthis makes some sense imo. Not saying it’s right but fans are generally fans of teams so tend to side with organizations. They want their team to sign good players on good team friendly deals. If a player making a lot of money underperforms then they realize it greatly affects their team more than a player on a vet minimum doing the same.
Hot take: the 04-05 suns and Mike D'Antoni have become underappreciated (I'm beginning to hate the word underrated) in the evolution of the pace and space era.
They really were the first team since the Bad Boy Pistons changed the meta, to revitalize pace and space. Part of that is the league changing the rules after the Pistons beat the Lakers in '04. And that is why Nash won his MVPs, because they were changing the game.
Maybe in this generation, but the Rockets always had to fight The Admiral and Malone in their division, which hurt their record and playoff berth (and Hakeem’s chances). The team had bad spacing from what I remember, even for the era. I still think Kenny Smith was an average guard who hugely benefitted from the Rockets team composition (was basically all forwards, makes sense as Rudy T. played PF).
He had a phenomenal year and definitely was DPOY level not just that year but probably 4-5 years, but that doesn’t just mean he was as impactful as 2012 or 2013 Bron, 92/93 MJ, or even necessarily 2000 Shaq
@@Jonathan-A.C.or Magic, Bird, Jokic, or a bunch of other players. If you’re talking about one or two years of performance, 24ppg isn’t gonna get you in the conversation.
Basketball discourse is really bad and it’s largely due to the fanbase being immature and frankly unintelligent. If you have a differing opinion, fans will hit you with the tired “you don’t know ball” response.
Agreed, its felt for a while now that nba discourse was dominated by loud 14 year olds who get caught up in hype and bias (same people who tried to vote klay into all star games even though he was out with the torn achilles)
Yes but this is just the Internet in general. Plenty of ignorant people and trolls out there. Just have to ignore them and try to get rid of the narratives even though they're fun sometimes
Hot take: Tim Duncan is being put in these hot takes because they are trying to attempt to keep him out of the Top 5 all-time convos when he simply has the resume production and checklist of belonging there 😅
If Duncan is top 5, then he is 5th but unsure how he is 5th when Jordan, Lebron, Magic, Kareem are all better than him. So that's say that Shaq isn't better, Bird, Russell, Wilt.
@@SkodenMOCDuncan over Magic is crazy lol. The only players that can be comfortably rated above Magic are Jordan and Lebron and then it's debatable between Kareem and Magic with the edge going to Kareem imo. Duncan can be rated anywhere between 5-10 and it would be perfectly reasonable. The Top 4 is cemented imo.
Also, I think Luka not only wins the scoring title next year; but the assist title as well. Other than maybe Shai, Luka is kinda in his own league scoring wise, especially if Embiid plans to rest this year like he’s said. I think Hali focuses more on scoring this year and puts up like 25 & 10 instead of 21 & 11. Jokic just doesn’t have the shooters to average more than maybe 9.5 assist. It’s a very tight race, but with the roster Luka has, I wouldn’t really be surprised if he puts up like 31 9 & 11.5 next year, which is insane to say.
Hot take: scouting and drafting is way harder now than let’s say back in the 70s or 80s. A player that was dominant at hs or uni then usually always translate into the league, Jordan, magic and bird, Kareem, and worthy, whereas now, even if you are super dominant in hs or uni there is still a good chance that you might be a bust/low potential role player, examples are Trey burkes, wiseman, Russ smith, Evan turner, Brandon Clark, even Jimmer Ferdette or Frank Kaminsky.
The real problem it's the fact it's not even a debate in the first place. A debate or discussion implies the ability to convince the other to change their opinion, but the reality is that people have either one as their GOAT and then put their heels in the sand. People can spew all their arguments pro their own choice and anti propaganda of the other, the other person will just refuse to be convinced. Hence it's a successful topic on television and social media to rage bait people for clout, interactions, clicks and views.
I think Trae Young will end up occupying a similar place in nba history to Damian Lillard. Undersized pg who is a great scorer and playmaker with insane range and a handful of great playoff moments and series. But I think like the Blazers, the hawks will be unable/unwilling to build a competitive roster around him and he’ll be an icon in Atlanta who never won anything just like Lillard. Both guys even made a fluke conference finals.
@@fortynights1513Well, Iverson reached THE Finals, not the Conference Finals. Not to mention that he was a small yet dominant guard in an era where it was damn near improbable to see such a thing. Also, his cultural impact on the league was apparent as well.
@@urbaindelva7869He did go one more round, and his era did have worse spacing than Lillard or Trae would have seen, but he only made it past the second round once as the best player on his team - correct me if I’m wrong.
Hot take: prime steph curry is comparable to prime shaq in the amount if attention he gets from the defense. They cant guard him but try to limit his touches
Not a hot take. Steph Curry in the 2015-16 set the record for OBPM for a single season at 10.35. Second place is a full 0.5 behind. Tracy McGrady at 9.83 in 2002-03 Third place is Lebron James at 9.54 in 2008-09. The difference between 1st and 3rd (0.81) is the difference between 3rd and 14th. In fact, Shaq's best OBPM is 51st on the list at 7.46
Hot take: The GOAT debate has been and will always be rigged in Michael Jordan's favor. While I personally have him as the GOAT, I think that it's unfair how everyone else (particularly Bron) is measured up exactly against his career. Bron went to 10 straight finals, "Yeah, but MJ is 6-0." Bron rarely makes a poor basketball decision and will make the right play every time in the clutch, "Yeah, but MJ has the killer mentality to take the last shot." MJ was allowed to carve out his own legacy, and that is what made him the GOAT. While he was, of course, compared to other players, no one ever said he wasn’t the GOAT because his career didn’t play out exactly how a Wilt, Russell, or Kareem's did. When making the GOAT debate, we need to examine these players as individuals instead of using Jordan as the measurement.
MJ only played in his prime and retired when his team wasn't good. That's why he seems perfect. Imagine if Lebron only played for 4 years on the Miami Heat where he won 3 MVP and had 2 Finals MVP and then retired after. That's basically Jordan in 6 yrs in Chicago.
@@roslolian11 that’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Jordan came into the league as the best player and remain the best player every season of his career. His team won 50 games when he was playing with utter dog shit. The first time he ever played with an All-Star it was Pippin and that year they won a championship. The Bulls were a playoff team or close every year of his career.
@@SDesWriter what about the wizards, he was pretty shit those years. Truth is jordan only really played his prime. He also retired to not look bad during his championship hangover.
@@kobewoods872 what the fuck are you talking about? His rookie year he had 28/7/6. Was he in his prime as a rookie? his first season with the wizards was 23/6/5. Steph Curry’s career average is 24/5/6 and he’s considered an all-time great player. He retired after three championships because his father was murdered and he couldn’t handle the stress of coming back. He retired the second time because Krauss fired the coach after six championships and was going to break up the team. I mean honestly, what planet are you from where you get this nonsense?
Hot Take: "efficiency" is making teams worse. Teams are relying too much on high percentage looks that when they face tighter defences that force them to get a bucket, they fall short.
How? I don't understand your argument. Facing any good defense will make you take tough shots. The Celtics and Mavs made it to the finals destroying people from 3 and inside. If you're always taking efficient shots wouldn't that make your team better?
@@bilindabutcher8913yeah I feel like that’s caveman talk. “More efficiency = bad” as if the most efficient team in the league this year didn’t just win the title 😂
Nah. Lakers Shaq. Best Orlando Shaq numbers PER 28.6 (94-95) WS/48 0.252 (93-94) WS 16.9 (93-94) BPM 6.8 (93-94) VORP 7.2 (93-94) Best Lakers Shaq numbers PER 30.6 (98-99 and 99-00) WS/48 0.283 (99-00) WS 18.6 (99-00) BPM 9.3 (99-00) VORP 9.0 (99-00) So even though the 1993-94 Orlando Shaq (age 21) was incredible, the 1999-2000 Lakers Shaq was way better.
Coaching and scheme is more important for spacing than the presence of actual high percentage 3pt shooters. Obviously both are important, but a good coaching scheme can make good spacing out of okay shooters
I didn't understand how difficult calling a game would be until I went to an NBA game live. The speed an intensity in-person is just different than on a TV. You get all the camera angles and replays you can want from home, they can't do that during a game. Refs are making split-second decisions in a fast pace from a limited angle. If they stopped to make sure they had every call perfect, the game would take 5 hours.
In re: Wilt & Bill Russell -- 'Thinking Basketball' has an AMAZING video where he very convincingly lays out a statistical case for Bill > Wilt at their respective peaks.
HOT TAKE: Larry Bird is the greatest all-around player of all time. Elite scorer, elite passer, criminally underrated rebounder and defender as he made three all-defensive teams and was even top 3 in DPOY once, best shooter of his time and could score from literally everywhere.
His career scoring numbers were too low. He wasn’t obsessed with individual scoring and the downside is when it comes to these discussions, that’s going to make a difference.
LeBron and Curry are both better all around players. Look at the defense in 80s they didn't have to guard shit like how players do now. Fuck all that DpOY voting, even KD is a better defender than Bird and Bron is as well
Hot take: Being drafted the overall first pick, rookie of the year, and consistently getting 20-10 seasons on a sub .500 team made KAT complacent, and why he never reached his full potential. That's ultimately the reason why Jimmy Butler left their 2017-2018 Minnesota team and why they chose to trade KAT this off season. It all goes full circle with him rejoining a younger and more driven team in the Knicks as a vet who never made the jump to superstar level. I hope this trade lights a fire within him, changes his mentality, and ultimately helps the Knicks succeed.
@@Splackavellie85Wade would've had more accomplishments if Miami had not fallen off in the years following their 2006 title due to injuries and poor rosters.
Bro you straight lied lol 2008 wasnt no "PEAK KG, Pierce and Ray Allen" they were all in their 30s since when is that the PEAK?? Lol I hate how particularly Kobe fans AND LeBron fans try to OVER EXAGGERATE 08 Celtics to justify their losses at the time lol like Kobe DID have good enough teams to make 3 straight Finals! LeBron Cavs were having 60win seasons..etc. 🤦🏿♂️
@kenyabutler5862 Bruh you're talking to actual Celtics FAN here you can't come@me with CASUAL takes lol 1. MOST guys retire 2-3yrs LATE.. Pierce and KG no different their last FEW years was end of bench roles.. Ray Allen the SMART One(lol)retired 2014 was only 4yrs from Celtics last Finals.. stop being disingenuous lol
It wasn't their peak sure but they were all still in their primes and played like it. Mid to late 20s - early 30s is when most players hit their prime.
Kg and Allen were 31 and Pierce was 30 in 2008, kg also finished 3rd in MVP voting and was 1st team all NBA in 2008. Pierce was 3rd team all NBA in 2008. For comparison, gasol didn't make the all star or all NBA team that year. The Celtics were clear favorites even though Kobe was the best player that series
Fans who criticise someone like Giannis for having a boring game would consider Tim Duncan a very boring player and not rank him as highly as they do purely because his game wasn't aesthetically pleasing. The double standard is insane.
Giannis is boring to watch though.. Drive to the basket, dunk basketball. Duncan was boring. He had no flash. Also played for a boring franchise. Spur finals ranks among the lowest in tv viewership.
Hot Take: Wilt and Bill being removed from the greatest of all time because of time itself will always be illogical. It’s not even because of the “weak” era, it’s because the two make discourse boring with them being the prime examples of individual and team excellence at its finest (which honestly maybe this community needs). The thing is the argument would make more sense if y’all just would say they ain’t even top 500-1000. Is that extreme? Yes, but you know what else is extreme? Discounting a guy who avg 40 ppg 26 rpg for his peak, and another guy who won more rings then many North American franchises all because you don’t like the lack of color on the film. And the same guys who say Magic or Bird is better then these two, are the same people who will be overtly upset if you say those two players (Magic and Bird) aren’t greater than Chris Paul and Kevin Durant respectively despite the difference being genuinely the same both in advancement of the game and in overall accomplishments. Do I believe that notion? No, I also don’t believe the reasoning behind Magic and Bird being better Bill and Wilt will come down to essentially twenty years of time with passing. Furthermore to add on No Wilt 67 is not the the best version of himself. People just for some reason credit Wilt’s change of game to beating Boston and not the very obvious fact that this was a franchise that went an entire decade (10 whole years) of making AT LEAST the finals. Winning 9? Yea but let’s credit his utilization and not the fact that Celtics just eventually had to lose. Because the same utilized wilt…lost in both 68 and 69. So never understood why that argument took root (honestly I do because it’s eaiser to shift wilt’s prime away from his crazy numbers because again it makes for really quick and boring conversation, doesn’t help that people also use his same conservation from scoring against him when calling him a “playoff dropper”. Even if you want to say in his prime he playoff dropped dropping from 40 points to 32 points isn’t the gotcha moment some people think it is. He’s still the best scorer in the league regardless) you actually take wilt away from his Boston series you learn really quickly he lost ONCE to the Nationals every other team he beat in the postseason in his warriors days other then the team NOBODY beat.
NBA RUclips channels are overlooking overseas content. Like Euroleague RUclips channels are talking about NBA too, at least once a month, so why not do that here in US too?
Anyone who thinks demar could have won that 2019 chip is insane . Kawhi not only has size on him , but he’s a better 3 point shooter , post player and much better defender than demar was at that point
Hot Take: If you added Lou Williams (22.6 ppg in 18) to the 2018 Cavs, they would have been competitive against the Warriors, with a "puncher's chance" of winning the series.
Hot take: Can everyone stop comparing talent/skill in ranking all time greats. Like obviously as time progresses player become better, but how much did a players talent impact their generations basketball.
for real. Give MJ, Magic, Kareem today's training methods, medicine, and accommodations, and they would be better than they even already were, and that was all time players.
THIS is how you should rank players across different eras. How much did they dominate relative to their eras and how do they stack up to other greats relative to their respective eras.
Hot take: All non shooting fouls should not interrupt the game but should be dealt with at the next game break Every critical game changing call in the last 2 plays should be reviewed
HOT TAKE; Much maligned 1st ballot hall of famer RUDY GOBERT is FAR better than beloved Hall of Famer BEN WALLACE. Ben wallace never averaged 10ppg, fell off the map after the pistons, worst free throw % of all time. Rudy has averaged 15ppg before, much better free throw shooter, offers good vertical spacing, more screen assists
That potential take is why I don't buy on young guys stock on the NBA. Like the Amen and Ausar Thompson. I like for them to prove me wrong. But I'm not that hype about what they could be.
For me they are busts unless they get a 3pt shot. We all learned already. If you are not the ball handler, you gotta space out and shoot. Even if you are the ball handler, if you can't shoot, then they are just gonna sag off, go under screens, and wall off the paint. If you can't shoot, it makes the whole offense stagnate. Anyone can make a cut, but the threat of a shot helps you make that cut. Individual excellence on defense is overrated when they are just gonna pick on the weakest defender on the team. Teams need to be well rounded, they need good fit.
Hot take: Dirk winning the 05 and 06 MVPs would have stained his legacy. There would have been more pressure for him to win a championship, and he most likely would have left the Mavs.
I don't think he would have left the Mavs. I still remember the MVP press meet he did after losing in the first round. That shit was depressing as hell to watch. And then he turned down Kobe's offer to join him with the Lakers. If THAT didn't make him switch teams I don't think anything short of personal reasons could have.
Idk. Considering what ended up happening in 2011, two more MVP awards plus that championship run would have Dirk ranked much higher than he is right now.
Hot Take: There has never been an NBA player as influential for the league as CC is for the WNBA. Of course, Mikan, Wilt and Russell, Magic and Bird, MJ, Kobe, LeBron, and Steph pushed the league forward in their respective decades, but none of them had to deal with a laughing stock of the league as WNBA was before CC's arrival and made it must-see TV right from the get-go.
NBA FINALS were on tape delay before Magic/Bird, Jordan. The fact that Jordan became a billionaire from his brand is incredible. If you told anyone in the 70s that someone from the next decade in their sport would be a global brand and a BILLIONAIRE in just 30(ish) years, they would have laughed in your face.
Hot Take: NBA basketball before the NBA-ABA merger should not count when discussing the greatest players of all time. The era of the 60’s and early/mid 70’s was so much weaker and had rules vastly different than 1977-present, and it makes it hard to treat it as the same game. I have no problem with people having Wilt and Bill in their top 10’s b/c if you treat the eras as equals it makes sense. Personally, I think the eras were just too different and unevolved to compare them to MJ, Lebron, and the othe more modern greats of the game.
Hot Take (maybe): In light of the recent KAT and Randle trade, I think people undervalue how CRITICAL a good bench is needed to be contenders. If you look at most championships a lot of them would have a great bench (2019 raptors, 2020 lakers, to name a few.) I say this because I see people saying that trading KAT made the TWolves automatically non-contenders even though they arguably got better BECAUSE of that bench depth. (also randle + gobert is legit just randle + robinson but better)
@@tiredbasketballfan i mean i think its a fair trade to use because it improved the twolves bench SIGNIFICANTLY. i didn't argue whether the twolves got worse or better, just saying that their bench is way better and that the people who write them off as contenders r underrating how important a bench is
@@firestar9650 Imo the bench is really important, but you need the top end talent too. That's why this trade isn't exactly about 'appreciating the bench' to me, because they sort of traded one for the other. You say you are not arguing whether they got better or worse, but that's exactly what people evaluate in order to decide whether they think they are still contenders. So two things can be true at once, you can see that their bench got better, and still think their ceiling as a team is lower. I think most logical people recognize the importance of the bench, but a great bench is what lifts teams to another level rather than a foundation for greatness. You need your top guys that you know you can put out there to give you a chance against anybody.
KAT unfortunately just didn’t perform well in the WCF especially, although he did defensively pretty well, including the first round. Paired with his and contract, they needed to move off of him. They do need to get another player similar to that role, but KAT specifically also needed to go
@@firestar9650 Their bench was already good. They got to the WCF. We can blame KAT for not playing well in that round, or just call it a bad matchup, but they didn't lose because they didn't have enough depth. You can have too much depth.
Hot Take: The lakers front office/ownership has to stop relying on the appeal of the city/ its history to build teams and attract players. They’ll never reach their previous hype if they don’t get their heads out of their ass.
Hot take: John Stockton has been criticised so much that he now has become very underrated at this point. He is at the very least a top 10 pg of all time.
Stockton is criticized a lot, and a lot of it is fair I’d argue. I don’t know if underrated is the right word, but I will say that the things he brought to the table do get overlooked on occasion. Everyone sees the assist totals and either uses it to glorify him or to argue that he’s overrated because that’s what made him stand out.
@@fortynights1513 Then use his steal totals. I don't get it. People aren't calling him the GOAT PG or anything. No one is going crazy with him. I really don't get it. I think part of it is Klutch just trying to denigrate MJ's opponents or something, in terms of the atmosphere around Stockton. Because aside from this channel, I don't know why anyone is talking about him. Maybe some of it is latent racism against white NBA players excelling in a "black" sport.
@@shorewallIn Rusty’s case, he finds offenses that are set up with one point guard doing essentially all the playmaking to be very flawed because the opponent could just guard everyone else and it’d be harder to pass. In Stockton’s case, he sees him ranked 30th or so all time and top five or so among point guards and sees the assist averages and career totals be the most cited reasons why, and he argues that Stockton stood out for being improperly utilized and he doesn’t think a properly utilized John Stockton would rank first in career assists and by proxy very high all time. Rusty has a tendency to come off as hating players that he simply finds undercriticized or that are of archetypes he thinks are flawed. As for the steals, I don’t know if he would say that being the all time leader in steals but not assists would make Stockton stand out to people much without the assists because it’s on defense, and I’m not sure if he would be as critical of the steals as he would the assists, but he’d still probably say it’s a product of great durability and longevity. Once on the Shootaround I asked him if he thought Stockton was a good role player in too big of a role, and he said he thinks he’s a good player but he implied that the issue comes when he’s higher on all time ranking discourse. As for Klutch Sports, that’s an agency right? Not too familiar with them, but if they think LeBron was better than Michael Jordan, then I could see why they would undersell some of Jordan’s opponents, and why Jordan’s fans would prop them up. Me personally: I think Jordan’s competition in the East was harder than in the finals and it’s probably the inverse for LeBron, and those two things cancel each other out for me. Either way though, I do think that you could logically argue that John Stockton is overrated by citing what Rusty does, and given he thinks Michael Jordan is the best player ever, I don’t think he would have any connection to Klutch, or any ulterior motivations for being lower on Stockton.
Oscar had the same issue as Wilt, where they believed that averaging crazy stats on a nightly basis was the way to keep their teams competitive, when they didn't have a great supporting cast. They became more well-rounded later in their careers, and won rings
Hot take: The Toronto Raptors will be close to a 500 team next season and at the top of the play in. Scottie, RJ and Quickly will have had time to adjust together and should fit along side each other seamlessly.
In your section talking about potential, it reminded me of a passage in Kobe's book where he was talking about the difference between good and great players came down to confidence. I think someone like Ben Simmons who we see all these videos of him training. Off-season and then steps on the real court and can't shoot comes down to no real confidence
Theres absolutely no fucking reason why we should use FG% at this day and age, eFG% is just as understandable and counts 3s and is way better as a way to show how efficient of a scorer (outside FTs) someone was or just use TS% to count for FTs idk but yeah, FG% is very outdated and not an accurate show of efficiency and it pisses me off when people use it to say "x was more efficient" when you look at it and player b simply shoots more 3s so his FG% is down
Hot take: this might be slightly more of an nfl one but applies to the nba just to prefice. We should look at the pre merger rings the same way the NFL looks at the pre Superbowl chips. If we dont count aba trophies, stats and accolades we should keep the same energy for the pre merger nba stats championships and accolades. We dont think of the Packers as having 17 championships we think of them as having 4, so why not think of Boston as having 5?
I definitely fault NBA records during the time the ABA was in operation. So 1967 to 1976. For me, the modern NBA started with Bird and Magic in the 80s. Everything before then is the historical NBA, with too many asterisks to judge it fairly. At least we had TV during the 80s, and tape to watch. And then I consider Pace and Space era to be a new era, with Curry as its prophet.
2009 Derrick Rose. Letdown? 2010 John Wall. Letdown? .. 2011 Kyrie Irving. Let down? 2012 Anthony Davis Let down? WTF get off the crack Like the biggest letdown was Anthony Bennett, Markelle Fultz, then Ben Simmons, Andrew Wiggins..
The GOAT debate is unnecessary. It usually descends into a shouting/swearing match against opposing sides because no one can accept the fact that people will have different opinions. There's no definitive answer. Everyone has their own preferences and that's completely fine. How you express it matters. If it bothers you so much that someone has Player A as the GOAT over Player B to the point where you rant about it, maybe take a break and ask yourself if its really a big deal and worth using so much energy? Is it possible to have a healthy, normal, conversation? No broken furniture, cuts, or bruises required.
Crazy how revisionist history really takes over nba history. Even I thought Boston was the favorite but I guess people really thought the Lakers where the favorite the whole season even with the Celtics winning 66 games and looking dominant
It's probably because the Celtics were pushed to the limit by 2 inferior teams en route to the Finals that year. That probably caused a lot of people to look at them sideways.
Hot Take: Tim Duncan never losing in the first round is more so a testament of the FO ability to put talent around him rather than his own individual abillity
Hot take: Regarding the shooting, i'd much much much rather have a player with terrible form, who shoots 30% from 3, than one with good one who does. In scouting, you so often read about "well, he doesn't hit anything, but his mechanics are good"... mechanics are very very fixable. Think Lonzo Ball. Not hitting shit despite great mechanics and a good work ethic likely has no easy fix.
Hot Take: Derrick Rose does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. He has an MVP that he objectively did not deserve, the narrative in 2010-2011 was heavily skewed in his favor by the media. So yes, he should be the first player to be an NBA MVP and not be in the HOF. However, he may end up there anyway because of how easy it is to get in. As much as I like him as a player, he peaked far too early and had an unsustainable playstyle that ultimately led to his ACL injury. Whether or not it happened in the 2012 Playoffs is irrelevant as the signs of him being plague by injuries was already becoming apparent at that point, he was destined to be injured.
I wonder if the drama surrounding his college performance will come up again now. (Specifically, when he led the Tigers to 38-2 and played Kansas for the NCAA championship. Which was then vacated due to his forged college admissions scores.) Yes, officially none of that _should_ count..
@@fortynights1513 That results in a What if which is cause for a lot of speculation You have to assume he not only never tore his ACL in 2012, but also assume he does not tear it later down the line. Assuming he had the durability of a Russell Westbrook (a player he is frequently compared to due to similar abilities), he probably would be a 1st ballot HOFer Sadly, we live in a world where things often do not go the way we want them to
Lol drose 100% deserved that MVP. 2011 bulls had injuries to their 2 best players after rose yet rose still lead the team to 62 wins in a conference with the heatles, big 4 celtics and dwight lead magic. Only dwight had the argument to beat rose in MVP voting that year. He'll get into the HOF. Less accomplished players than him have already gotten in so he'll get there. Just not first ballot
Hot take: Hakeem should be in and around the top 5 conversation more than Shaq and Kareem whose only true counter argument is more rings and longevity stats. If we accept that rings are circumstantial to a real degree I feel the fact that Hakeem just had a more overall impressive skill set than Kareem and Shaq had is a stronger point of argument especially when Hakeem still has a resume that is nothing to slouch at and the legacy of leading the team that made the most success of Jordan's first retirement.
Yeah, I am a big believer in Hakeem supremacy. Kareem played in the watered down 70s, and then won most of his chips with Magic leading the way. Shaq was his own worst enemy. Hakeem stood out on offense and defense and won two rings as the best player.
@@shorewall it’s not even the era for Kareem more so his most it his success came with Magic, it’d be a bit different if he was clearly and by far the #1 option for 6 championshipss. Shaq also speaks highly of Hakeem probably more so than any other big man.
Hakeem, imo, was definitely a better "basketball player" than Shaq and Kareem but at the end of the day accolades matter too when you're ranking greats. 6 MVPS and 6 rings for Kareem and 4 rings and 3 FMVPs for Shaq are nothing to scoff at.
The idea of a team having a “bright future” is the biggest myth in sports. Especially in the nba, there is massive turnover in roster every year. While there are exceptions like this with teams like the thunder having obscene amounts of picks to the degree that it’d be impressive to mess it up, far more teams become too secure in the idea that they have a “bright future”. As soon as a team gets a great player like a Luka or a LeBron in the draft, they become complacent in their security and oftentimes don’t make the moves they need to make to compete while they have that generational player. Especially in the modern era, teams wildly overestimate how long their championship window truly is.
Hot take: The Heat would not have been able to win in 2012 and 2013 had DRose remained healthy. Coming from a successful 62-20 1st seed campaign in 2011, the Bulls was on the verge of taking over the league with MVP DRose, a defensive-minded roster with Noah, Deng, and up and coming Jimmy Butler and sharpshooters, Kyle Korver and Kirk Hinrich. And DRose was not on his peak yet when he got his 1st MVP. Also, LeBron, Wade and Bosh almost lost to PG-led Pacers and that Indy team was no where near the 2011 Bulls. So, just imagine if Bulls came out in the east in 2012. We could have witnessed an explosive matchup between two freakish athletic pointguards with Rose and Russ in the Finals.
@@jonathansykes4986 Yes. They lost to the Heat in 2011 because of inexperience as it was the first time the Bulls managed to win that many games in years. As I've said, MVP DRose was not even in his peak form yet. We were deprived of seeing his full potential because of injuries. And I'm sure the Bulls management would've improved their roster to match the Heat had DRose remained healthy, and would've even acquired an all-star caliber player to play with Rose. Too bad it didn't happen.
Hot take #1: Mike D'Antoni played a huge role in why Steve Nash became a 2-time MVP. Knowing that D'Antoni usually liked to run his offensive system through the best guard on his rosters (Harden from 2017-19, Kobe in 2013), it should be no surprise that Nash suddenly became an MVP-caliber player when D'Antoni took charge; Nash was not considered to be an MVP-type before then or afterwards. Hell, D'Antoni made Jeremy Lin look like the next great Asian hope for basketball for a while (respectfully speaking. Linsanity was a beautiful thing). Hot take #2: If the CP3 trade to the Lakers had gone through, Kobe and Paul's title window together would've depended on who the Lakers would've gotten to replace Gasol and Odom, who were both important pieces in the Lakers' 09-10 title runs with the size, skill, and versatility they brought to the table.
Hot take: Dame is a better PG than Curry. Circumstance gave Curry the rings and the MVP's but Dame is a better basketball player. Better passer/playmaker (Curry can't PnR), better shooter (don't @ me, he could splash 500 on the Ws), better defender ( big F your team biased "advanced" stats), etc. Dame would have a Curry 3p% if he was in Curry's shoes/ankle braces and at least 1500 more 3pa by now. Show me a Warriors squad where someone like Al-Farouq Aminu (goat roleplayer tho) is your 4th option, no 2020, I'll wait. 2013-2019 Ws are all way more stacked than peak 2019 Blazers. Trade Dame and Curry in 2013 and the Ws resume is the fuckin same if not better because Dame has actual living ankles, could have carried 2019 with Boggie PnRs and wouldn't have choked 2016 cuz he's not Steph Curry. All that said, I still pick Curry top 10 all time because history is what it is and Curry is for sure him, with receipts, changed the game with his squad. But Dame would have been better on the same squad.
More a conspiracy than a hot take: the draft lottery is not to discourage teams from tanking, it's merely a tool for the league to rig the draft anytime they have a generational prospect and need him to be drafted by a specific franchise. Ewing to NYK, Bron staying in Cleveland, Wemby to the Spurs to name a few very conveniently lottery winning teams.
Hot Take in relation to the first take about referee grading: people overrate the negative impact of bad calls on games, no matter when they happen in the game. Teams get 90 FGA's + FTA's a game and miss 40-50 of them. A missed call of a referee is by far less impactful than all those misses by the players themselves, especially with the number of wins with larger margins. Side note: I would say the NFL is the only major sports league where there is a legitimate complaint about potential rigging games, given ratio possessions vs the height of punishments when they occur.
I think the 3pt era overshadows everything. It is a make or miss league, and with the amount of 3 pt attempts per game, blowouts and comebacks are commonplace. There is so much variance, arguably too much variance to control for.
Hot take: The NYE trade was a win win trade. The team ACTUALLY has a starting point guard who is not 100 years old and Mike Conley will transition as a great bench piece ans Naz Reid will do a great job replacing KAT
Refs not facing repercussions for wrong calls, is exactly why there’s so many wrong calls. If there was no repercussions for driving infractions, less people would stop at a red light. It’s that overbearing threat of consequence that is the reason so many people make such a conscious effort not to do it, without that it becomes a lot less serious, and more people start running red lights. “Oh well I ran a red light” becomes the mentality. Which is the mentality a lot of refs have.
hot take: to add onto somebody elses point on the CBA being too harsh and making it impossible for teams to run it back, i think they should add a way that resigning a player doesnt affect cap space the same way signing a new player does, or trading for one does, there should another part of cap that works for players who are staying vs players who haven't played for that team long, maybe it could change depending on how long they've played too (the longer they stick with a franchise the less cap space will he affected no matter the contract) maybe its a percentage boost, maybe its a different ceiling but I'd love to see it somehow implemented
Hot take: Zach Edey will run away with the Rookie of the Year. He is currently tied at +550 for first place in the race, however with the Griz announcing that he will be a starter, he might be the only rookie getting serious enough minutes on a good team to be considered. He comes in with at least a top 10 post bag and the rest of the team is athletic and defensively skilled enough to have him hedge, switch and play on the side or behind shifty ball handlers in PnR and force long 2s or deep moving 3s. I see a ton of cherry picking (swat at the shot and sprint) when behind the line and JJJ is on the court. At best, 1, the slowest, defender on the court has the slightest chance of altering a shot when he gets close to the basket. Add a 30-35% 3 point shot on 1-3 attempts a game and a top 5 finish in the west, it would take a borderline allstar on a bad team to compete.
The they just need to get a jumpshot thing is like saying a guy who shoots well just needs to get more athletic or grow a inch or two to be able to dunk better and defend better maybe not the exact same but a similar thing
Hot take: People are saying that Jalen Brunson will not be able to hold his own on defense for the Knicks is false. He may be the weakest link, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a bad defender. Hes a strong body and has the IQ that keeps him a plus defender.
Hot Take: 2014-2015 LeBron Playoff run and finals effort is one of the most underrated of his career. He lost Love in the ECF and in Game 1 of the finals lost Kyrie and his “Batman” in that series was Matthew .. Delladova.. the fact he took a young 60+ win Warriors team to 6 games with Matthew Delladova needs to be studied and talked about more.
Montreal should get the next NBA Franchise. We’re the Europe of North America and people hate the French which would be prime for rivalries (in Hockey, the Boston and Toronto rivalries are insane). It’s also way more affordable than Toronto so that the USD to CAD conversion wouldn’t matter as much plus we already have a basketball stadium (Bell Center).
The Bucks biggest issue was they made to many moves in one off-season that as they happened real time it made sense but by the end it did not. 1. Coach Bud was fired because they planned at that point to not make any big changes to the roster and "run it back" but with how things ended the last 2 post seasons they needed some change. It happens a lot , it made sense at the time because the roster was going to be the same and they really didn't need Bud anymore since most of the roster would have his playbook to fall back on. 2. They hire first time head coach because Giannis didn't like Nick , Griffin bullied a former head coach now assistant coach Scotts who would have been nice to work with Giannis and Dame. 3. They are winning post season level games vs the "meh" of the east and Giannis is on the sideline with a clipboard. Griffin had to go , The Bucks are on a all or nothing run until Giannis leaves. 3. If they fail hard this year with no real health issues I doubt it will be Doc and just that The Dame trade turned out to be a bad fit. In a way they just need a coach that is well known so they can tell what the issues are.
Look at any athlete that has gone into officiating after retirement. 99 percent of them all admit it's far harder than it looks and give the refs credit. Fans tend to forget they have the benefit of a bird's eye view and hindsight, I don't understand how you could not factor that in but the average sports fan doesn't think logically.
It's gambling. All the freaks want to pressure the refs on any call that doesn't favor them. It's why all the conspiracy theories about rigging games and shit, because that's all those freaks can think about. Gambling is immoral because it makes monsters out of some men.
casuals aren’t going to like this one, but jayson tatum is the most complete player in the nba. he’s an elite shot creator, versatile defender, incredible secondary playmaker and underrated rebounder. he showed his versatility in the finals when the ball wasn’t going in by doing virtually everything else possible on the basketball court. I understand it’s the trend on social media to hate on jayson tatum right now so this might not go over well, but jayson tatum is so well rounded and i think that part of his game gets overlooked
I think Brook Lopez probably is the only case ive ever seen someone develop a jumper to the point where its unrecognisably better in the NBA. At least for 3s.
Ron Artest was not at all trying to calm down when he laid on the scorers table. that is such an obvious "you wont do shit about it" i cant believe people have fallen for him saying he was practicing deep breathing or whatever. he is basically laying down in the center of the city after cheap shotting one of the stars of ur biggest rival
The NBA product as whole has been weakened because there is no dominant dynasty to root against. People remember 2000s and 2010s NBA basketball fondly because there was one team that everyone hated regardless of the team you rooted for.
You’ve mentioned in the past how this decade is similar in a bad way to the 70s for having a different champion every year. Well, only counting the Heats b2b, the 2010s were the same way for a while. Lakers, Mavs, Heat, Spurs, Warriors, Cavs What I think a bigger problem than not having b2b champions is how each defending champion has not made it past the 2nd round the following season.
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All that’s to be said about the refs is when that ref got caught for fixing games he was calling other refs EVERY SINGLE night before the game and it’s all documented in his notebook that’s the susest shit ever and I bet the nba knows it’s happening and chooses to do nothing about it because A. They don’t want the public to know that the nba finals has been heavily swayed for years or B. The nba is in on it and is trying to maximize profit by getting teams like Boston to win kinda like how they rigged Patrick hewing to go to the knicks because the knicks made the most money and was the commissioners favorite team.. yes refs make mistakes but I don’t think it’s a coincidence they make WAY MORE during the playoffs not to mention I’ve seen refs have the replay and still make the wrong call to the point where even the commentators are confused and that happened like 10 times this last playoffs
hot take: the new cba is too harsh. it fulfills its intended purpose of levelling the playing field and preventing teams from just spending as much as possible to get better, but its had seriously detrimental side effects of making it difficult for teams to run it back with the same core year after year, and restricts from making trades too much. it seems like the only champions we will see in the near future are young teams with homegrown players on undervalued contracts. im not necessarily against, but not being able to pay to keep those players long term seems unintended.
Facts. I want Denver to be validated in doing their building essentially all home grown, especially with their star. That doesn’t mean KD should be able to join the Warriors
Agreed. It went too far on the other direction. We want homegrown teams and parody, but we also want teams to be able to keep what they’ve built and maintain the rosters they’ve acquired.
The main flaw of the CBA is that it punishes teams like OKC for building a team the “right” way.
Pretty common take I feel like but agreed
I think it is also hard for players that are mid to high level but not a good all star. Many players that should have gotten a mid level exception are getting veteran minimum contract.
Thinking that DeRozan could have the same offensive production as Kawhi is completely insane. Kawhi was averaging 35 against butler and Simmons guarding him. If you replace Derozan with Kawhi they lose in 5 games against the sixers.
Facts
@@aboudiaby253
Derozan went off a lot, and really had it offensively. He just usually wasn’t as good at doing in the Playoffs, and ofc his defense was nothing special
People hated Rodman's weirdness in his era. It's just that 30 years later, his weirdness is quaint, and Draymond's weirdness is narcissistic violence.
Rodman wasn't assaulting his teammates tho
@@C0BY77 Nah,, just cameramen.
And dressing up in a wedding dress for a magazine cover.
Also Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face.
Draymond can be an asshole and at times detrimental to his team but calling him violent is just overreacting. Other players have had far worse incidents and haven't had this label put on them. The reason Draymond gets this much scrutiny is because of all the success he has had.
Hot take: Technical fouls should be completely banned other than getting physical with another player or straight up yelling in a refs face
I think I agree with that
Techs are for unforeseen situations. If someone does some weird stuff, this refs have to be able to hold them accountable.
HOT TAKE: The real problem with the Bucks is that Jimmy Haslam famously the worst owner in the NFL bought the team after their championship and has made insanely incompetent decisions ever since just like he does with The Browns. No one else would fire a coach who just won a championship for losing a playoff series with their best player injured to the eventual conference champs. Jimmy Haslam once drafted Johnny Manziel because a homeless guy told him to. Same energy
wtf is that story about the homeless guy?
@@FrancescFloritSanz google it
Theres not much you can do if the star player wants the coach out
@@YRG-sb2wf you say no lol also Giannis has very much said he was mad they fired bud
@@graysonschutzman4853 And we also have all these videos and articles saying giannis was one of the main reasons he was fired. Obviously we know organization cant tell giannis no, look what happened when he hinted about leaving
The melo trade to the knicks was so dumb bro was 100% going to sign there next season anyway knicks shoulda just waited
Everything the Knicks have done since 1999 (besides drafting Mitchell Robinson and Immanuel Quickley, hiring Thibs, signing Brunson, and trading for OG and Mikal) has been stupid
@@chrilpysigning Randle was good too it helped the culture and got them KAT.
We know this.
Melo at the time was just trying to get out of denver as fast as possible and basically said any ny team that got him first he would sign a contact with so the nets were pushing heavy at the time to get him it wasn't a a guarantee that melo would be a knick
@@Austin-l1j woo hoo they traded a moody big man that sucks in the playoffs for another moody big man that sucks in the playoffs. Randle didn’t help build the culture he didn’t lock in defensively and didn’t hustle. Thibs, Brunson, and Hart built the Knicks’ culture
Players get too much hate from fans over an "untradeable contact".. for example, Zach Lavine is an excellent 3 level scorer whos contract is beyond his on the court production.. that's on the front office for being awful at asset management and giving him the max contract.
Fans hate when players take advantage of players and players get over on organizations but when the organization does it it’s all good
@@coolbreeze369jcLavine is on a terrible team they played good when they had ball and fell apart I’m sure if he was on the lakers or warriors he would be winning
Facts. I hate the discourse about "overpaid" players such as Tobias Harris. Blame organizations for "overpaying" players
People also forgot the rule changes. Lavine contract was not too bad until the new second apron restrictions came in, which changed how many max a team can afford to have
@@coolbreeze369jcthis makes some sense imo. Not saying it’s right but fans are generally fans of teams so tend to side with organizations. They want their team to sign good players on good team friendly deals. If a player making a lot of money underperforms then they realize it greatly affects their team more than a player on a vet minimum doing the same.
@8:53 A great example of potential being overrated was the Cavs not trading J.J. Hickson for Amare Stoudemire in 2010 based on "potential".
Would Amare have been a good fit with LeBron?
@@fortynights1513 Lebron is a good fit with anyone.
@@jonathansykes4986Except older Westbrook perhaps
Hot take: the 04-05 suns and Mike D'Antoni have become underappreciated (I'm beginning to hate the word underrated) in the evolution of the pace and space era.
They really were the first team since the Bad Boy Pistons changed the meta, to revitalize pace and space. Part of that is the league changing the rules after the Pistons beat the Lakers in '04. And that is why Nash won his MVPs, because they were changing the game.
1990 Hakeem stats wise is the third greatest prime in nba history. 4.6 blocks and 24 ppg is insane and he was robbed of mvp and dpoy.
Ehh. There’s more to it than just stats being higher
Who are 1st and 2nd?
Maybe in this generation, but the Rockets always had to fight The Admiral and Malone in their division, which hurt their record and playoff berth (and Hakeem’s chances).
The team had bad spacing from what I remember, even for the era. I still think Kenny Smith was an average guard who hugely benefitted from the Rockets team composition (was basically all forwards, makes sense as Rudy T. played PF).
He had a phenomenal year and definitely was DPOY level not just that year but probably 4-5 years, but that doesn’t just mean he was as impactful as 2012 or 2013 Bron, 92/93 MJ, or even necessarily 2000 Shaq
@@Jonathan-A.C.or Magic, Bird, Jokic, or a bunch of other players. If you’re talking about one or two years of performance, 24ppg isn’t gonna get you in the conversation.
Basketball discourse is really bad and it’s largely due to the fanbase being immature and frankly unintelligent. If you have a differing opinion, fans will hit you with the tired “you don’t know ball” response.
Agreed, its felt for a while now that nba discourse was dominated by loud 14 year olds who get caught up in hype and bias (same people who tried to vote klay into all star games even though he was out with the torn achilles)
Yes but this is just the Internet in general. Plenty of ignorant people and trolls out there. Just have to ignore them and try to get rid of the narratives even though they're fun sometimes
You don't know ball
Agreed. Reading basketball instagram comments actually hurts my brain idk why I continue to do it
Example: “If Draymond had offense he’d be Lebron James.”😂
Hot take: Tim Duncan is being put in these hot takes because they are trying to attempt to keep him out of the Top 5 all-time convos when he simply has the resume production and checklist of belonging there 😅
If Duncan is top 5, then he is 5th but unsure how he is 5th when Jordan, Lebron, Magic, Kareem are all better than him. So that's say that Shaq isn't better, Bird, Russell, Wilt.
@@jonathansykes4986 I would comfortably have Duncan > Magic imo
@@SkodenMOCDuncan over Magic is crazy lol. The only players that can be comfortably rated above Magic are Jordan and Lebron and then it's debatable between Kareem and Magic with the edge going to Kareem imo. Duncan can be rated anywhere between 5-10 and it would be perfectly reasonable. The Top 4 is cemented imo.
@@SkodenMOCI'm a Duncan fan, but by saying "Duncan > Magic" you lost the debate
Also, I think Luka not only wins the scoring title next year; but the assist title as well. Other than maybe Shai, Luka is kinda in his own league scoring wise, especially if Embiid plans to rest this year like he’s said. I think Hali focuses more on scoring this year and puts up like 25 & 10 instead of 21 & 11. Jokic just doesn’t have the shooters to average more than maybe 9.5 assist. It’s a very tight race, but with the roster Luka has, I wouldn’t really be surprised if he puts up like 31 9 & 11.5 next year, which is insane to say.
Hot take: scouting and drafting is way harder now than let’s say back in the 70s or 80s. A player that was dominant at hs or uni then usually always translate into the league, Jordan, magic and bird, Kareem, and worthy, whereas now, even if you are super dominant in hs or uni there is still a good chance that you might be a bust/low potential role player, examples are Trey burkes, wiseman, Russ smith, Evan turner, Brandon Clark, even Jimmer Ferdette or Frank Kaminsky.
We need to drop the incessant GOAT debate for MJ and Lebron. At this point their various accomplishments have made them IA and IB.
You know people would be like, " So which one's 'A' and which one's 'B'?" haha
@@TheTDA probably
The real problem it's the fact it's not even a debate in the first place. A debate or discussion implies the ability to convince the other to change their opinion, but the reality is that people have either one as their GOAT and then put their heels in the sand. People can spew all their arguments pro their own choice and anti propaganda of the other, the other person will just refuse to be convinced.
Hence it's a successful topic on television and social media to rage bait people for clout, interactions, clicks and views.
5:30 it's like saying Shaq, Haslem and Antoine Walker carried Wade in 2006😂😂
Just rest in peace Mutombo man
Thank you for calling out that trash kobe take at 4:30 😂
I think Trae Young will end up occupying a similar place in nba history to Damian Lillard. Undersized pg who is a great scorer and playmaker with insane range and a handful of great playoff moments and series. But I think like the Blazers, the hawks will be unable/unwilling to build a competitive roster around him and he’ll be an icon in Atlanta who never won anything just like Lillard. Both guys even made a fluke conference finals.
Dame is not the playmaker that Trae is.
@@yura50597 Trae isn't the shooter dame is either both even out each other
Could the same be said of Allen Iverson, only with a finals appearance?
@@fortynights1513Well, Iverson reached THE Finals, not the Conference Finals. Not to mention that he was a small yet dominant guard in an era where it was damn near improbable to see such a thing. Also, his cultural impact on the league was apparent as well.
@@urbaindelva7869He did go one more round, and his era did have worse spacing than Lillard or Trae would have seen, but he only made it past the second round once as the best player on his team - correct me if I’m wrong.
Hot take: prime steph curry is comparable to prime shaq in the amount if attention he gets from the defense. They cant guard him but try to limit his touches
Not a hot take.
Steph Curry in the 2015-16 set the record for OBPM for a single season at 10.35.
Second place is a full 0.5 behind. Tracy McGrady at 9.83 in 2002-03
Third place is Lebron James at 9.54 in 2008-09.
The difference between 1st and 3rd (0.81) is the difference between 3rd and 14th.
In fact, Shaq's best OBPM is 51st on the list at 7.46
This isn't a hot take. Steph gets way more attention than Shaq got tbh. Defenses warp around Steph even when he doesn't have the ball.
Hot take: The GOAT debate has been and will always be rigged in Michael Jordan's favor. While I personally have him as the GOAT, I think that it's unfair how everyone else (particularly Bron) is measured up exactly against his career. Bron went to 10 straight finals, "Yeah, but MJ is 6-0." Bron rarely makes a poor basketball decision and will make the right play every time in the clutch, "Yeah, but MJ has the killer mentality to take the last shot." MJ was allowed to carve out his own legacy, and that is what made him the GOAT. While he was, of course, compared to other players, no one ever said he wasn’t the GOAT because his career didn’t play out exactly how a Wilt, Russell, or Kareem's did. When making the GOAT debate, we need to examine these players as individuals instead of using Jordan as the measurement.
MJ only played in his prime and retired when his team wasn't good. That's why he seems perfect.
Imagine if Lebron only played for 4 years on the Miami Heat where he won 3 MVP and had 2 Finals MVP and then retired after. That's basically Jordan in 6 yrs in Chicago.
@@roslolian11 that’s literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Jordan came into the league as the best player and remain the best player every season of his career. His team won 50 games when he was playing with utter dog shit. The first time he ever played with an All-Star it was Pippin and that year they won a championship. The Bulls were a playoff team or close every year of his career.
@@SDesWriter what about the wizards, he was pretty shit those years. Truth is jordan only really played his prime. He also retired to not look bad during his championship hangover.
@@kobewoods872 what the fuck are you talking about? His rookie year he had 28/7/6. Was he in his prime as a rookie? his first season with the wizards was 23/6/5. Steph Curry’s career average is 24/5/6 and he’s considered an all-time great player. He retired after three championships because his father was murdered and he couldn’t handle the stress of coming back. He retired the second time because Krauss fired the coach after six championships and was going to break up the team.
I mean honestly, what planet are you from where you get this nonsense?
@kobewoods872 yeah le not forget the guy dad getting murder and him want to play baseball instead budy
Hot Take: "efficiency" is making teams worse. Teams are relying too much on high percentage looks that when they face tighter defences that force them to get a bucket, they fall short.
Fr all that ts shooting percentage and fg watching killing the game people really think people like ai not nice cuz of fgs percentage
How? I don't understand your argument. Facing any good defense will make you take tough shots. The Celtics and Mavs made it to the finals destroying people from 3 and inside. If you're always taking efficient shots wouldn't that make your team better?
@@bilindabutcher8913yeah I feel like that’s caveman talk. “More efficiency = bad” as if the most efficient team in the league this year didn’t just win the title 😂
Wonder what the last inefficient team to win a title was
@@snupedummy AI Overrated AF
Orlando Magic Shaq was the best version of Shaq. He was much more mobile and he was like a 90s version of Giannis.
Nah. Lakers Shaq.
Best Orlando Shaq numbers
PER 28.6 (94-95)
WS/48 0.252 (93-94)
WS 16.9 (93-94)
BPM 6.8 (93-94)
VORP 7.2 (93-94)
Best Lakers Shaq numbers
PER 30.6 (98-99 and 99-00)
WS/48 0.283 (99-00)
WS 18.6 (99-00)
BPM 9.3 (99-00)
VORP 9.0 (99-00)
So even though the 1993-94 Orlando Shaq (age 21) was incredible, the 1999-2000 Lakers Shaq was way better.
Coaching and scheme is more important for spacing than the presence of actual high percentage 3pt shooters. Obviously both are important, but a good coaching scheme can make good spacing out of okay shooters
I didn't understand how difficult calling a game would be until I went to an NBA game live. The speed an intensity in-person is just different than on a TV. You get all the camera angles and replays you can want from home, they can't do that during a game. Refs are making split-second decisions in a fast pace from a limited angle. If they stopped to make sure they had every call perfect, the game would take 5 hours.
Hot Take: Spurs Dennis Rodman was peak Dennis Rodman😏
In re: Wilt & Bill Russell -- 'Thinking Basketball' has an AMAZING video where he very convincingly lays out a statistical case for Bill > Wilt at their respective peaks.
HOT TAKE: Larry Bird is the greatest all-around player of all time. Elite scorer, elite passer, criminally underrated rebounder and defender as he made three all-defensive teams and was even top 3 in DPOY once, best shooter of his time and could score from literally everywhere.
Horrible take
In the 80’s and maybe 90’s, I agree
His career scoring numbers were too low. He wasn’t obsessed with individual scoring and the downside is when it comes to these discussions, that’s going to make a difference.
FAX
LeBron and Curry are both better all around players. Look at the defense in 80s they didn't have to guard shit like how players do now. Fuck all that DpOY voting, even KD is a better defender than Bird and Bron is as well
Hot take: Wolves best lineup will be Conley, Donte, Ant, Randle, Naz Reid. Assuming Finch only goes to it when it makes sense for the matchup.
You're either Shaq, dumb or both
Hot take: Being drafted the overall first pick, rookie of the year, and consistently getting 20-10 seasons on a sub .500 team made KAT complacent, and why he never reached his full potential. That's ultimately the reason why Jimmy Butler left their 2017-2018 Minnesota team and why they chose to trade KAT this off season. It all goes full circle with him rejoining a younger and more driven team in the Knicks as a vet who never made the jump to superstar level. I hope this trade lights a fire within him, changes his mentality, and ultimately helps the Knicks succeed.
Wade is closer to Kobe in all time rankings than the latter is to Mj
Do you think Kobe is lower than consensus or Wade is higher than consensus?
@@fortynights1513 both
True. Kobe beats him on longevity and accomplishments, but at their best, they were very close
@@Splackavellie85Wade would've had more accomplishments if Miami had not fallen off in the years following their 2006 title due to injuries and poor rosters.
Agreed. Kobe is like 19th and Wade is like 24th.
Bro you straight lied lol 2008 wasnt no "PEAK KG, Pierce and Ray Allen" they were all in their 30s since when is that the PEAK?? Lol I hate how particularly Kobe fans AND LeBron fans try to OVER EXAGGERATE 08 Celtics to justify their losses at the time lol like Kobe DID have good enough teams to make 3 straight Finals! LeBron Cavs were having 60win seasons..etc. 🤦🏿♂️
Facts, but you're saying it like they were Celtics Shaq, they were still good
The Cavaliers were a 45-win team the first time they faced that Celtics team.
@kenyabutler5862 Bruh you're talking to actual Celtics FAN here you can't come@me with CASUAL takes lol 1. MOST guys retire 2-3yrs LATE.. Pierce and KG no different their last FEW years was end of bench roles.. Ray Allen the SMART One(lol)retired 2014 was only 4yrs from Celtics last Finals.. stop being disingenuous lol
It wasn't their peak sure but they were all still in their primes and played like it. Mid to late 20s - early 30s is when most players hit their prime.
Kg and Allen were 31 and Pierce was 30 in 2008, kg also finished 3rd in MVP voting and was 1st team all NBA in 2008. Pierce was 3rd team all NBA in 2008. For comparison, gasol didn't make the all star or all NBA team that year. The Celtics were clear favorites even though Kobe was the best player that series
Hot take: Zaza wasnt a dirty player when he contested kawhi.
Not dirty, careless
This is not a hot take, it’s flat out delusional
@@VictoriesAtTheMarathon How so? It happens all the time .
@@markusallard2830Zaza is known to be wreckless and a dirty player
@@BestShootermanUbzThat may be, but it looked like Kawhi just landed on his foot by mistake.
Hot Take: The Shootaround has NOTB & The Deep 3 potential
Fans who criticise someone like Giannis for having a boring game would consider Tim Duncan a very boring player and not rank him as highly as they do purely because his game wasn't aesthetically pleasing. The double standard is insane.
Giannis is boring to watch though.. Drive to the basket, dunk basketball.
Duncan was boring. He had no flash. Also played for a boring franchise.
Spur finals ranks among the lowest in tv viewership.
Hot Take: Wilt and Bill being removed from the greatest of all time because of time itself will always be illogical.
It’s not even because of the “weak” era, it’s because the two make discourse boring with them being the prime examples of individual and team excellence at its finest (which honestly maybe this community needs).
The thing is the argument would make more sense if y’all just would say they ain’t even top 500-1000. Is that extreme? Yes, but you know what else is extreme? Discounting a guy who avg 40 ppg 26 rpg for his peak, and another guy who won more rings then many North American franchises all because you don’t like the lack of color on the film. And the same guys who say Magic or Bird is better then these two, are the same people who will be overtly upset if you say those two players (Magic and Bird) aren’t greater than Chris Paul and Kevin Durant respectively despite the difference being genuinely the same both in advancement of the game and in overall accomplishments. Do I believe that notion? No, I also don’t believe the reasoning behind Magic and Bird being better Bill and Wilt will come down to essentially twenty years of time with passing.
Furthermore to add on No Wilt 67 is not the the best version of himself. People just for some reason credit Wilt’s change of game to beating Boston and not the very obvious fact that this was a franchise that went an entire decade (10 whole years) of making AT LEAST the finals. Winning 9? Yea but let’s credit his utilization and not the fact that Celtics just eventually had to lose. Because the same utilized wilt…lost in both 68 and 69. So never understood why that argument took root (honestly I do because it’s eaiser to shift wilt’s prime away from his crazy numbers because again it makes for really quick and boring conversation, doesn’t help that people also use his same conservation from scoring against him when calling him a “playoff dropper”. Even if you want to say in his prime he playoff dropped dropping from 40 points to 32 points isn’t the gotcha moment some people think it is. He’s still the best scorer in the league regardless) you actually take wilt away from his Boston series you learn really quickly he lost ONCE to the Nationals every other team he beat in the postseason in his warriors days other then the team NOBODY beat.
NBA RUclips channels are overlooking overseas content.
Like Euroleague RUclips channels are talking about NBA too, at least once a month, so why not do that here in US too?
Play-in is a great idea!
It really makes mid teams fight for something even if its a little expierence or knowing that team is in the right direction
Anyone who thinks demar could have won that 2019 chip is insane . Kawhi not only has size on him , but he’s a better 3 point shooter , post player and much better defender than demar was at that point
Hot Take: If you added Lou Williams (22.6 ppg in 18) to the 2018 Cavs, they would have been competitive against the Warriors, with a "puncher's chance" of winning the series.
Even then, no.
Hot take: Can everyone stop comparing talent/skill in ranking all time greats. Like obviously as time progresses player become better, but how much did a players talent impact their generations basketball.
for real. Give MJ, Magic, Kareem today's training methods, medicine, and accommodations, and they would be better than they even already were, and that was all time players.
THIS is how you should rank players across different eras. How much did they dominate relative to their eras and how do they stack up to other greats relative to their respective eras.
Hot take:
All non shooting fouls should not interrupt the game but should be dealt with at the next game break
Every critical game changing call in the last 2 plays should be reviewed
HOT TAKE; Much maligned 1st ballot hall of famer RUDY GOBERT is FAR better than beloved Hall of Famer BEN WALLACE.
Ben wallace never averaged 10ppg, fell off the map after the pistons, worst free throw % of all time.
Rudy has averaged 15ppg before, much better free throw shooter, offers good vertical spacing, more screen assists
If Rudy made the same money as Ben Wallace, you’d be right. One-way players shouldn’t get max contracts.
Era rules and styles come into play. Ben didn’t have as much space to work with, and wasn’t ASKED to be a threat offensively.
Ben Wallace never made the super max. Different expectations for players making different salaries.
true rudy gobert in 2000s would be one of the better centers in the league
@@roslolian11 DPOYs didn't qualify for the super max back then
That potential take is why I don't buy on young guys stock on the NBA. Like the Amen and Ausar Thompson. I like for them to prove me wrong. But I'm not that hype about what they could be.
For me they are busts unless they get a 3pt shot. We all learned already. If you are not the ball handler, you gotta space out and shoot. Even if you are the ball handler, if you can't shoot, then they are just gonna sag off, go under screens, and wall off the paint. If you can't shoot, it makes the whole offense stagnate.
Anyone can make a cut, but the threat of a shot helps you make that cut. Individual excellence on defense is overrated when they are just gonna pick on the weakest defender on the team. Teams need to be well rounded, they need good fit.
Hot take: Dirk winning the 05 and 06 MVPs would have stained his legacy. There would have been more pressure for him to win a championship, and he most likely would have left the Mavs.
I don't think he would have left the Mavs. I still remember the MVP press meet he did after losing in the first round. That shit was depressing as hell to watch. And then he turned down Kobe's offer to join him with the Lakers. If THAT didn't make him switch teams I don't think anything short of personal reasons could have.
Idk. Considering what ended up happening in 2011, two more MVP awards plus that championship run would have Dirk ranked much higher than he is right now.
Hot Take: There has never been an NBA player as influential for the league as CC is for the WNBA. Of course, Mikan, Wilt and Russell, Magic and Bird, MJ, Kobe, LeBron, and Steph pushed the league forward in their respective decades, but none of them had to deal with a laughing stock of the league as WNBA was before CC's arrival and made it must-see TV right from the get-go.
NBA FINALS were on tape delay before Magic/Bird, Jordan.
The fact that Jordan became a billionaire from his brand is incredible. If you told anyone in the 70s that someone from the next decade in their sport would be a global brand and a BILLIONAIRE in just 30(ish) years, they would have laughed in your face.
Lol no. Magic and Bird did way more for the NBA than CC is doing for the W.
Hot Take: NBA basketball before the NBA-ABA merger should not count when discussing the greatest players of all time. The era of the 60’s and early/mid 70’s was so much weaker and had rules vastly different than 1977-present, and it makes it hard to treat it as the same game. I have no problem with people having Wilt and Bill in their top 10’s b/c if you treat the eras as equals it makes sense. Personally, I think the eras were just too different and unevolved to compare them to MJ, Lebron, and the othe more modern greats of the game.
20:14 best take I've seen on this channel
Hot Take (maybe): In light of the recent KAT and Randle trade, I think people undervalue how CRITICAL a good bench is needed to be contenders. If you look at most championships a lot of them would have a great bench (2019 raptors, 2020 lakers, to name a few.) I say this because I see people saying that trading KAT made the TWolves automatically non-contenders even though they arguably got better BECAUSE of that bench depth. (also randle + gobert is legit just randle + robinson but better)
I agree with the idea but I don't think this trade is a good example of that
@@tiredbasketballfan i mean i think its a fair trade to use because it improved the twolves bench SIGNIFICANTLY. i didn't argue whether the twolves got worse or better, just saying that their bench is way better and that the people who write them off as contenders r underrating how important a bench is
@@firestar9650 Imo the bench is really important, but you need the top end talent too. That's why this trade isn't exactly about 'appreciating the bench' to me, because they sort of traded one for the other.
You say you are not arguing whether they got better or worse, but that's exactly what people evaluate in order to decide whether they think they are still contenders. So two things can be true at once, you can see that their bench got better, and still think their ceiling as a team is lower.
I think most logical people recognize the importance of the bench, but a great bench is what lifts teams to another level rather than a foundation for greatness. You need your top guys that you know you can put out there to give you a chance against anybody.
KAT unfortunately just didn’t perform well in the WCF especially, although he did defensively pretty well, including the first round. Paired with his and contract, they needed to move off of him. They do need to get another player similar to that role, but KAT specifically also needed to go
@@firestar9650 Their bench was already good. They got to the WCF. We can blame KAT for not playing well in that round, or just call it a bad matchup, but they didn't lose because they didn't have enough depth. You can have too much depth.
Hot Take: The lakers front office/ownership has to stop relying on the appeal of the city/ its history to build teams and attract players. They’ll never reach their previous hype if they don’t get their heads out of their ass.
Hot take: John Stockton has been criticised so much that he now has become very underrated at this point. He is at the very least a top 10 pg of all time.
Stockton is criticized a lot, and a lot of it is fair I’d argue.
I don’t know if underrated is the right word, but I will say that the things he brought to the table do get overlooked on occasion.
Everyone sees the assist totals and either uses it to glorify him or to argue that he’s overrated because that’s what made him stand out.
@@fortynights1513 Then use his steal totals.
I don't get it. People aren't calling him the GOAT PG or anything. No one is going crazy with him. I really don't get it. I think part of it is Klutch just trying to denigrate MJ's opponents or something, in terms of the atmosphere around Stockton. Because aside from this channel, I don't know why anyone is talking about him. Maybe some of it is latent racism against white NBA players excelling in a "black" sport.
@@shorewallIn Rusty’s case, he finds offenses that are set up with one point guard doing essentially all the playmaking to be very flawed because the opponent could just guard everyone else and it’d be harder to pass.
In Stockton’s case, he sees him ranked 30th or so all time and top five or so among point guards and sees the assist averages and career totals be the most cited reasons why, and he argues that Stockton stood out for being improperly utilized and he doesn’t think a properly utilized John Stockton would rank first in career assists and by proxy very high all time.
Rusty has a tendency to come off as hating players that he simply finds undercriticized or that are of archetypes he thinks are flawed.
As for the steals, I don’t know if he would say that being the all time leader in steals but not assists would make Stockton stand out to people much without the assists because it’s on defense, and I’m not sure if he would be as critical of the steals as he would the assists, but he’d still probably say it’s a product of great durability and longevity.
Once on the Shootaround I asked him if he thought Stockton was a good role player in too big of a role, and he said he thinks he’s a good player but he implied that the issue comes when he’s higher on all time ranking discourse.
As for Klutch Sports, that’s an agency right?
Not too familiar with them, but if they think LeBron was better than Michael Jordan, then I could see why they would undersell some of Jordan’s opponents, and why Jordan’s fans would prop them up.
Me personally: I think Jordan’s competition in the East was harder than in the finals and it’s probably the inverse for LeBron, and those two things cancel each other out for me.
Either way though, I do think that you could logically argue that John Stockton is overrated by citing what Rusty does, and given he thinks Michael Jordan is the best player ever, I don’t think he would have any connection to Klutch, or any ulterior motivations for being lower on Stockton.
The 04 pistons are the most 1 of 1 championship team ever
Oscar had the same issue as Wilt, where they believed that averaging crazy stats on a nightly basis was the way to keep their teams competitive, when they didn't have a great supporting cast. They became more well-rounded later in their careers, and won rings
That is the secret of basketball. Teamwork, sharing, sacrifice. Selflessness. It is hard to do.
Hot take: The Toronto Raptors will be close to a 500 team next season and at the top of the play in. Scottie, RJ and Quickly will have had time to adjust together and should fit along side each other seamlessly.
I think they can do it of things break well for them.
In your section talking about potential, it reminded me of a passage in Kobe's book where he was talking about the difference between good and great players came down to confidence. I think someone like Ben Simmons who we see all these videos of him training. Off-season and then steps on the real court and can't shoot comes down to no real confidence
Theres absolutely no fucking reason why we should use FG% at this day and age, eFG% is just as understandable and counts 3s and is way better as a way to show how efficient of a scorer (outside FTs) someone was
or just use TS% to count for FTs idk but yeah, FG% is very outdated and not an accurate show of efficiency and it pisses me off when people use it to say "x was more efficient" when you look at it and player b simply shoots more 3s so his FG% is down
Hot take: this might be slightly more of an nfl one but applies to the nba just to prefice. We should look at the pre merger rings the same way the NFL looks at the pre Superbowl chips. If we dont count aba trophies, stats and accolades we should keep the same energy for the pre merger nba stats championships and accolades. We dont think of the Packers as having 17 championships we think of them as having 4, so why not think of Boston as having 5?
I definitely fault NBA records during the time the ABA was in operation. So 1967 to 1976. For me, the modern NBA started with Bird and Magic in the 80s. Everything before then is the historical NBA, with too many asterisks to judge it fairly. At least we had TV during the 80s, and tape to watch.
And then I consider Pace and Space era to be a new era, with Curry as its prophet.
Every #1 overall pick from the 2010 had a disappointing career.
It's the biggest letdown for #1 picks as decades go
AD, Wemby and Paolo (mght be too soon), Ant , and Kyrie,.
Awful take
Anthony Davis, drafted #1 in 2012, is a top 75 NBA player.
Yes. Totally disappointing career.
2009 Derrick Rose. Letdown?
2010 John Wall. Letdown? ..
2011 Kyrie Irving. Let down?
2012 Anthony Davis Let down?
WTF get off the crack
Like the biggest letdown was Anthony Bennett, Markelle Fultz, then Ben Simmons, Andrew Wiggins..
That draymond w offense would be Lebron take had me crying I haven’t laughed at an nba video maybe ever
The GOAT debate is unnecessary. It usually descends into a shouting/swearing match against opposing sides because no one can accept the fact that people will have different opinions. There's no definitive answer. Everyone has their own preferences and that's completely fine. How you express it matters. If it bothers you so much that someone has Player A as the GOAT over Player B to the point where you rant about it, maybe take a break and ask yourself if its really a big deal and worth using so much energy? Is it possible to have a healthy, normal, conversation? No broken furniture, cuts, or bruises required.
So when my teacher told me I had potential… 😢
Crazy how revisionist history really takes over nba history. Even I thought Boston was the favorite but I guess people really thought the Lakers where the favorite the whole season even with the Celtics winning 66 games and looking dominant
It's probably because the Celtics were pushed to the limit by 2 inferior teams en route to the Finals that year. That probably caused a lot of people to look at them sideways.
Hot Take: Tim Duncan never losing in the first round is more so a testament of the FO ability to put talent around him rather than his own individual abillity
Hot take:
Regarding the shooting, i'd much much much rather have a player with terrible form, who shoots 30% from 3, than one with good one who does. In scouting, you so often read about "well, he doesn't hit anything, but his mechanics are good"... mechanics are very very fixable. Think Lonzo Ball. Not hitting shit despite great mechanics and a good work ethic likely has no easy fix.
Hot Take: Derrick Rose does not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. He has an MVP that he objectively did not deserve, the narrative in 2010-2011 was heavily skewed in his favor by the media.
So yes, he should be the first player to be an NBA MVP and not be in the HOF. However, he may end up there anyway because of how easy it is to get in.
As much as I like him as a player, he peaked far too early and had an unsustainable playstyle that ultimately led to his ACL injury. Whether or not it happened in the 2012 Playoffs is irrelevant as the signs of him being plague by injuries was already becoming apparent at that point, he was destined to be injured.
I wonder if the drama surrounding his college performance will come up again now.
(Specifically, when he led the Tigers to 38-2 and played Kansas for the NCAA championship. Which was then vacated due to his forged college admissions scores.)
Yes, officially none of that _should_ count..
As is, I could see that argument.
That said, could it be fair to argue that Rose could have become a consensus Hall of Famer if he never got hurt?
@fortynights1513 yeah he definitely could've, just as ben simmons could've been one. Potential is unfulfilled, hence why he shouldnt be a HOF
@@fortynights1513 That results in a What if which is cause for a lot of speculation
You have to assume he not only never tore his ACL in 2012, but also assume he does not tear it later down the line.
Assuming he had the durability of a Russell Westbrook (a player he is frequently compared to due to similar abilities), he probably would be a 1st ballot HOFer
Sadly, we live in a world where things often do not go the way we want them to
Lol drose 100% deserved that MVP. 2011 bulls had injuries to their 2 best players after rose yet rose still lead the team to 62 wins in a conference with the heatles, big 4 celtics and dwight lead magic. Only dwight had the argument to beat rose in MVP voting that year.
He'll get into the HOF. Less accomplished players than him have already gotten in so he'll get there. Just not first ballot
Caitlin Clark would beat Steph in a 3pt contest even with NBA rules
Hot take: Hakeem should be in and around the top 5 conversation more than Shaq and Kareem whose only true counter argument is more rings and longevity stats. If we accept that rings are circumstantial to a real degree I feel the fact that Hakeem just had a more overall impressive skill set than Kareem and Shaq had is a stronger point of argument especially when Hakeem still has a resume that is nothing to slouch at and the legacy of leading the team that made the most success of Jordan's first retirement.
Yeah, I am a big believer in Hakeem supremacy. Kareem played in the watered down 70s, and then won most of his chips with Magic leading the way. Shaq was his own worst enemy. Hakeem stood out on offense and defense and won two rings as the best player.
@@shorewall it’s not even the era for Kareem more so his most it his success came with Magic, it’d be a bit different if he was clearly and by far the #1 option for 6 championshipss. Shaq also speaks highly of Hakeem probably more so than any other big man.
Hakeem is nowhere close to top 5. Shouldn't even be talked about top 10, 15 and proably 20th either.
Hakeem, imo, was definitely a better "basketball player" than Shaq and Kareem but at the end of the day accolades matter too when you're ranking greats. 6 MVPS and 6 rings for Kareem and 4 rings and 3 FMVPs for Shaq are nothing to scoff at.
@@jonathansykes4986nah
The idea of a team having a “bright future” is the biggest myth in sports. Especially in the nba, there is massive turnover in roster every year. While there are exceptions like this with teams like the thunder having obscene amounts of picks to the degree that it’d be impressive to mess it up, far more teams become too secure in the idea that they have a “bright future”. As soon as a team gets a great player like a Luka or a LeBron in the draft, they become complacent in their security and oftentimes don’t make the moves they need to make to compete while they have that generational player. Especially in the modern era, teams wildly overestimate how long their championship window truly is.
Hot take: The Heat would not have been able to win in 2012 and 2013 had DRose remained healthy. Coming from a successful 62-20 1st seed campaign in 2011, the Bulls was on the verge of taking over the league with MVP DRose, a defensive-minded roster with Noah, Deng, and up and coming Jimmy Butler and sharpshooters, Kyle Korver and Kirk Hinrich. And DRose was not on his peak yet when he got his 1st MVP. Also, LeBron, Wade and Bosh almost lost to PG-led Pacers and that Indy team was no where near the 2011 Bulls. So, just imagine if Bulls came out in the east in 2012. We could have witnessed an explosive matchup between two freakish athletic pointguards with Rose and Russ in the Finals.
The heat demolished DRose in his MVP year
DRose never should have won MVP that year.
@@jonathansykes4986 Yes. They lost to the Heat in 2011 because of inexperience as it was the first time the Bulls managed to win that many games in years. As I've said, MVP DRose was not even in his peak form yet. We were deprived of seeing his full potential because of injuries. And I'm sure the Bulls management would've improved their roster to match the Heat had DRose remained healthy, and would've even acquired an all-star caliber player to play with Rose. Too bad it didn't happen.
They probably could have.
Hot take #1: Mike D'Antoni played a huge role in why Steve Nash became a 2-time MVP. Knowing that D'Antoni usually liked to run his offensive system through the best guard on his rosters (Harden from 2017-19, Kobe in 2013), it should be no surprise that Nash suddenly became an MVP-caliber player when D'Antoni took charge; Nash was not considered to be an MVP-type before then or afterwards. Hell, D'Antoni made Jeremy Lin look like the next great Asian hope for basketball for a while (respectfully speaking. Linsanity was a beautiful thing).
Hot take #2: If the CP3 trade to the Lakers had gone through, Kobe and Paul's title window together would've depended on who the Lakers would've gotten to replace Gasol and Odom, who were both important pieces in the Lakers' 09-10 title runs with the size, skill, and versatility they brought to the table.
Hot take: Dame is a better PG than Curry. Circumstance gave Curry the rings and the MVP's but Dame is a better basketball player.
Better passer/playmaker (Curry can't PnR), better shooter (don't @ me, he could splash 500 on the Ws), better defender ( big F your team biased "advanced" stats), etc. Dame would have a Curry 3p% if he was in Curry's shoes/ankle braces and at least 1500 more 3pa by now.
Show me a Warriors squad where someone like Al-Farouq Aminu (goat roleplayer tho) is your 4th option, no 2020, I'll wait. 2013-2019 Ws are all way more stacked than peak 2019 Blazers. Trade Dame and Curry in 2013 and the Ws resume is the fuckin same if not better because Dame has actual living ankles, could have carried 2019 with Boggie PnRs and wouldn't have choked 2016 cuz he's not Steph Curry.
All that said, I still pick Curry top 10 all time because history is what it is and Curry is for sure him, with receipts, changed the game with his squad. But Dame would have been better on the same squad.
Wow, nice alternate reality you are living in. I don't want to bring you out of it, because I don't think you would be able to handle the transition.
@@shorewallUh, no. Steph has definitely been in more beneficial situations than Dame, but he is still better.
More a conspiracy than a hot take: the draft lottery is not to discourage teams from tanking, it's merely a tool for the league to rig the draft anytime they have a generational prospect and need him to be drafted by a specific franchise. Ewing to NYK, Bron staying in Cleveland, Wemby to the Spurs to name a few very conveniently lottery winning teams.
Hot Take in relation to the first take about referee grading: people overrate the negative impact of bad calls on games, no matter when they happen in the game. Teams get 90 FGA's + FTA's a game and miss 40-50 of them. A missed call of a referee is by far less impactful than all those misses by the players themselves, especially with the number of wins with larger margins.
Side note: I would say the NFL is the only major sports league where there is a legitimate complaint about potential rigging games, given ratio possessions vs the height of punishments when they occur.
I think the 3pt era overshadows everything. It is a make or miss league, and with the amount of 3 pt attempts per game, blowouts and comebacks are commonplace. There is so much variance, arguably too much variance to control for.
Potential is often unrealized. Just look at how many lottery picks end up never making even a ring impact in the league.
Hot take: The NYE trade was a win win trade. The team ACTUALLY has a starting point guard who is not 100 years old and Mike Conley will transition as a great bench piece ans Naz Reid will do a great job replacing KAT
Is no one gonna talk about the guy beneath the Bucks comment saying Boris Diaw should've won FMVP over Kawhi in 2014?
I feel like if it was demar instead of kawhi Gianni’s would be a 2 time champ atleast Kawhi fucked up things for the bucks that year
That potential take is absolutely ridiculous 😂😂😂
Refs not facing repercussions for wrong calls, is exactly why there’s so many wrong calls. If there was no repercussions for driving infractions, less people would stop at a red light. It’s that overbearing threat of consequence that is the reason so many people make such a conscious effort not to do it, without that it becomes a lot less serious, and more people start running red lights. “Oh well I ran a red light” becomes the mentality. Which is the mentality a lot of refs have.
hot take: to add onto somebody elses point on the CBA being too harsh and making it impossible for teams to run it back, i think they should add a way that resigning a player doesnt affect cap space the same way signing a new player does, or trading for one does, there should another part of cap that works for players who are staying vs players who haven't played for that team long, maybe it could change depending on how long they've played too (the longer they stick with a franchise the less cap space will he affected no matter the contract) maybe its a percentage boost, maybe its a different ceiling but I'd love to see it somehow implemented
Hot take: Zach Edey will run away with the Rookie of the Year.
He is currently tied at +550 for first place in the race, however with the Griz announcing that he will be a starter, he might be the only rookie getting serious enough minutes on a good team to be considered. He comes in with at least a top 10 post bag and the rest of the team is athletic and defensively skilled enough to have him hedge, switch and play on the side or behind shifty ball handlers in PnR and force long 2s or deep moving 3s. I see a ton of cherry picking (swat at the shot and sprint) when behind the line and JJJ is on the court. At best, 1, the slowest, defender on the court has the slightest chance of altering a shot when he gets close to the basket. Add a 30-35% 3 point shot on 1-3 attempts a game and a top 5 finish in the west, it would take a borderline allstar on a bad team to compete.
The they just need to get a jumpshot thing is like saying a guy who shoots well just needs to get more athletic or grow a inch or two to be able to dunk better and defend better maybe not the exact same but a similar thing
Hot take: People are saying that Jalen Brunson will not be able to hold his own on defense for the Knicks is false. He may be the weakest link, but that doesn’t mean he’s not a bad defender. Hes a strong body and has the IQ that keeps him a plus defender.
Yeah, it's the same thing they used to say about Curry.
Hot Take: 2014-2015 LeBron Playoff run and finals effort is one of the most underrated of his career. He lost Love in the ECF and in Game 1 of the finals lost Kyrie and his “Batman” in that series was Matthew .. Delladova.. the fact he took a young 60+ win Warriors team to 6 games with Matthew Delladova needs to be studied and talked about more.
Teams should draft players based on aura instead of potential
Uh, no. How exactly does drafting for aura help?
RESPECT RUSTY for lowkey saying brunson is better than Ja
Now. And that's partially because Ja has not been healthy.
Montreal should get the next NBA Franchise. We’re the Europe of North America and people hate the French which would be prime for rivalries (in Hockey, the Boston and Toronto rivalries are insane). It’s also way more affordable than Toronto so that the USD to CAD conversion wouldn’t matter as much plus we already have a basketball stadium (Bell Center).
The Bucks biggest issue was they made to many moves in one off-season that as they happened real time it made sense but by the end it did not.
1. Coach Bud was fired because they planned at that point to not make any big changes to the roster and "run it back" but with how things ended the last 2 post seasons they needed some change. It happens a lot , it made sense at the time because the roster was going to be the same and they really didn't need Bud anymore since most of the roster would have his playbook to fall back on.
2. They hire first time head coach because Giannis didn't like Nick , Griffin bullied a former head coach now assistant coach Scotts who would have been nice to work with Giannis and Dame.
3. They are winning post season level games vs the "meh" of the east and Giannis is on the sideline with a clipboard. Griffin had to go , The Bucks are on a all or nothing run until Giannis leaves.
3. If they fail hard this year with no real health issues I doubt it will be Doc and just that The Dame trade turned out to be a bad fit. In a way they just need a coach that is well known so they can tell what the issues are.
Look at any athlete that has gone into officiating after retirement. 99 percent of them all admit it's far harder than it looks and give the refs credit. Fans tend to forget they have the benefit of a bird's eye view and hindsight, I don't understand how you could not factor that in but the average sports fan doesn't think logically.
It's gambling. All the freaks want to pressure the refs on any call that doesn't favor them. It's why all the conspiracy theories about rigging games and shit, because that's all those freaks can think about. Gambling is immoral because it makes monsters out of some men.
Draymond green's stats should be docked by 1% for every time he kicked someone in the balls
casuals aren’t going to like this one, but jayson tatum is the most complete player in the nba. he’s an elite shot creator, versatile defender, incredible secondary playmaker and underrated rebounder. he showed his versatility in the finals when the ball wasn’t going in by doing virtually everything else possible on the basketball court. I understand it’s the trend on social media to hate on jayson tatum right now so this might not go over well, but jayson tatum is so well rounded and i think that part of his game gets overlooked
22:20 was really one of the funniest hottakes ive ever seen🤣
If you ever want to gain an appreciation for NBA refs, watch a college game. The difference is insane
I think Brook Lopez probably is the only case ive ever seen someone develop a jumper to the point where its unrecognisably better in the NBA. At least for 3s.
Wemby will be top 3 in MVP this season
Ron Artest was not at all trying to calm down when he laid on the scorers table. that is such an obvious "you wont do shit about it" i cant believe people have fallen for him saying he was practicing deep breathing or whatever. he is basically laying down in the center of the city after cheap shotting one of the stars of ur biggest rival
Hot take: If OKC wins the chip this year, and SGA wins FMVP or the MVP; he is higher all-time than Harden.
The NBA product as whole has been weakened because there is no dominant dynasty to root against. People remember 2000s and 2010s NBA basketball fondly because there was one team that everyone hated regardless of the team you rooted for.
You’ve mentioned in the past how this decade is similar in a bad way to the 70s for having a different champion every year. Well, only counting the Heats b2b, the 2010s were the same way for a while.
Lakers, Mavs, Heat, Spurs, Warriors, Cavs
What I think a bigger problem than not having b2b champions is how each defending champion has not made it past the 2nd round the following season.