Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:Phoenix EVISCERATED by Dallas. I've never seen anything like that in a Game 7. And Dallas did it on the road! Credit to Luka, Kidd, and the front office for snagging Dinwiddie.

It's interesting.....Phoenix obviously had the best team during the regular season, but do they have anyone on their roster that is among the top 5 NBA players? How about top 10? Top 15?

I know booker and CP3 really struggled but who would you say is 100% better then those 2 in the league.

Giannis, Kd, lebron, curry, luka, Tatum, embiid, jokic. Besides those 8 I think an argument can be made for booker or CP3 (I might be missing someone obvious)

The question is what do they do with Ayton. He's going to get the max from a team and it all be an overpay but they won't have cap space to replace him, their owner is super cheap and CP3 got a year older. Did their window close and is Ayton apart of the long term plans.

Also super interesting that the Suns took Ayton over Luka with their HC being luka international HC. A year later the HC was fired and is not an assistant on the mavs staff. They just took down the suns (I will say the suns not drafting Luka is going to go down as one of the worst picks of all time, Ayton is solid but I would put a lot of money on a 0 time all star with the suns)

I don't see there being any question. Phoenix will resign Ayton. They can match any offer. They were smart to not preemptively sign Ayton to a max deal like Thibs and Glen did with Wiggins, when you can sit back and match any offer. Maybe they'll luck out and get Ayton below the max, but Ayton is a key player and they won't let him go.

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kekgeek1 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:Phoenix EVISCERATED by Dallas. I've never seen anything like that in a Game 7. And Dallas did it on the road! Credit to Luka, Kidd, and the front office for snagging Dinwiddie.

It's interesting.....Phoenix obviously had the best team during the regular season, but do they have anyone on their roster that is among the top 5 NBA players? How about top 10? Top 15?

I know booker and CP3 really struggled but who would you say is 100% better then those 2 in the league.

Giannis, Kd, lebron, curry, luka, Tatum, embiid, jokic. Besides those 8 I think an argument can be made for booker or CP3 (I might be missing someone obvious)

The question is what do they do with Ayton. He's going to get the max from a team and it all be an overpay but they won't have cap space to replace him, their owner is super cheap and CP3 got a year older. Did their window close and is Ayton apart of the long term plans.

Also super interesting that the Suns took Ayton over Luka with their HC being luka international HC. A year later the HC was fired and is not an assistant on the mavs staff. They just took down the suns (I will say the suns not drafting Luka is going to go down as one of the worst picks of all time, Ayton is solid but I would put a lot of money on a 0 time all star with the suns)

Right, those 8 are 100% better. I'd add Butler to that list as well, so to me there are 9. And a healthy Kawhi makes 10. So to me, neither are top 10 players this year.

And while may be not 100% for sure better, I'd give an edge to KAT, Curry, and Trae as well because of the pressure they put on a defense. Then if you have a healthy AD, Paul George, Damian Lillard, and may be even Rudy Gobert in terms of how he impacts a defense....so to me Chris Paul and Devin Booker are probably in that muddle of players between like #12 and 20 depending what lens you view things through. But top 10? Nope.

It's an interesting thought exercise because it matches perfectly with how we view the Wolves. KAT is also in that 10-20 muddle - definitely Top 20, definitely not Top 10, may be top 15. But Ant isn't there yet and DLO certainly isn't a top 20 player.

Bottom line....hope and pray Ant gets into that top 10. We probably never make a Finals if that doesn't happen. But if he can become Top 10 and KAT can stay healthy, then we just need to get the right complimentary players around those two.

KG4Ever wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:Phoenix EVISCERATED by Dallas. I've never seen anything like that in a Game 7. And Dallas did it on the road! Credit to Luka, Kidd, and the front office for snagging Dinwiddie.

It's interesting.....Phoenix obviously had the best team during the regular season, but do they have anyone on their roster that is among the top 5 NBA players? How about top 10? Top 15?

I know booker and CP3 really struggled but who would you say is 100% better then those 2 in the league.

Giannis, Kd, lebron, curry, luka, Tatum, embiid, jokic. Besides those 8 I think an argument can be made for booker or CP3 (I might be missing someone obvious)

The question is what do they do with Ayton. He's going to get the max from a team and it all be an overpay but they won't have cap space to replace him, their owner is super cheap and CP3 got a year older. Did their window close and is Ayton apart of the long term plans.

Also super interesting that the Suns took Ayton over Luka with their HC being luka international HC. A year later the HC was fired and is not an assistant on the mavs staff. They just took down the suns (I will say the suns not drafting Luka is going to go down as one of the worst picks of all time, Ayton is solid but I would put a lot of money on a 0 time all star with the suns)

I don't see there being any question. Phoenix will resign Ayton. They can match any offer. They were smart to not preemptively sign Ayton to a max deal like Thibs and Glen did with Wiggins, when you can sit back and match any offer. Maybe they'll luck out and get Ayton below the max, but Ayton is a key player and they won't let him go.

I don't think it's as clear cut. They might sign him but the history of Sarver is he is cheap. Ayton is not a max player who will get the max. Putting them into massive luxury tax debt. It will be interesting

Aside from the Timberwolves... my affinity for Boston should be known by now. It stems from my dad being a provincial rube when there was no local NBA team (McHale). And I was actually a Chris Mullin fan as an upstart NBA fan... who was easily captivated by the Curry-led Warriors run the past decade. So I'm intrigued with the NBA right now.

That being said, I don't know why Miami is being (seemingly) overlooked. I think this could be another grinder of a series. Although I would say that theoretically, Boston has enough defensive players to push Butler a bit. Think of any of yesterday's starters (Tatum, Brown, Horford, Smart and Williams) on the Timberwolves. Couldn't they all be considered a potential #1 option to guard Butler if they were on the Timberwolves?

Crazy good (versatile) defensive team. And they're built for today's game. Hollinger has an article in The Athletic today about how centers are even less valuable defensively vs. teams who just space out all 5 guys and go 1-on-1. We've seen it with Gobert, Ayton, Lopez and others this postseason. Each is a really good elite defender in their own right, but they can be schemed against with the right personnel.


[Note: Abedayo is such a great defender basically anywhere on the court that it should also worry Celtics fans.]

Q-was-here wrote:.

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q-was-here wrote:Phoenix EVISCERATED by Dallas. I've never seen anything like that in a Game 7. And Dallas did it on the road! Credit to Luka, Kidd, and the front office for snagging Dinwiddie.

It's interesting.....Phoenix obviously had the best team during the regular season, but do they have anyone on their roster that is among the top 5 NBA players? How about top 10? Top 15?

I know booker and CP3 really struggled but who would you say is 100% better then those 2 in the league.

Giannis, Kd, lebron, curry, luka, Tatum, embiid, jokic. Besides those 8 I think an argument can be made for booker or CP3 (I might be missing someone obvious)

The question is what do they do with Ayton. He's going to get the max from a team and it all be an overpay but they won't have cap space to replace him, their owner is super cheap and CP3 got a year older. Did their window close and is Ayton apart of the long term plans.

Also super interesting that the Suns took Ayton over Luka with their HC being luka international HC. A year later the HC was fired and is not an assistant on the mavs staff. They just took down the suns (I will say the suns not drafting Luka is going to go down as one of the worst picks of all time, Ayton is solid but I would put a lot of money on a 0 time all star with the suns)

Right, those 8 are 100% better. I'd add Butler to that list as well, so to me there are 9. And a healthy Kawhi makes 10. So to me, neither are top 10 players this year.

And while may be not 100% for sure better, I'd give an edge to KAT, Curry, and Trae as well because of the pressure they put on a defense. Then if you have a healthy AD, Paul George, Damian Lillard, and may be even Rudy Gobert in terms of how he impacts a defense....so to me Chris Paul and Devin Booker are probably in that muddle of players between like #12 and 20 depending what lens you view things through. But top 10? Nope.

It's an interesting thought exercise because it matches perfectly with how we view the Wolves. KAT is also in that 10-20 muddle - definitely Top 20, definitely not Top 10, may be top 15. But Ant isn't there yet and DLO certainly isn't a top 20 player.

Bottom line....hope and pray Ant gets into that top 10. We probably never make a Finals if that doesn't happen. But if he can become Top 10 and KAT can stay healthy, then we just need to get the right complimentary players around those two.

IMO without watching much of the series it seems to me that the Suns just needed another scorer. Last playoffs they got that from Payne. This year Cameron Johnson scored almost 11ppg of the bench then the next leading bench scorer was McGee. Payne was absolutely horrendous in the playoffs. Sure you can't let your top guys off the hook completely because a bench player shoots a poor batting average but Payne not being able to give them a boast there was likely a pretty big deal. Chris Paula me Ayton are both good players but they aren't always big time scorers and bridges and Cam Johnson have a more complimentary game too as well as Crowder. Maybe the Suns need to add another guy that can get buckets this offseason. I thought Shamet would help them more but after really looking good earlier in his career he has leveled off and just been ok.

Fun stats:

both teams shot about 40% from 3. The Suns made 76 3's and the Mavs made 109.

The Mavs also got to the FT line more and had like 30 fewer TOs.

Would you trade Ayton and Bridges for DLo and KAT?

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Aside from the Timberwolves... my affinity for Boston should be known by now. It stems from my dad being a provincial rube when there was no local NBA team (McHale). And I was actually a Chris Mullin fan as an upstart NBA fan... who was easily captivated by the Curry-led Warriors run the past decade. So I'm intrigued with the NBA right now.

That being said, I don't know why Miami is being (seemingly) overlooked. I think this could be another grinder of a series. Although I would say that theoretically, Boston has enough defensive players to push Butler a bit. Think of any of yesterday's starters (Tatum, Brown, Horford, Smart and Williams) on the Timberwolves. Couldn't they all be considered a potential #1 option to guard Butler if they were on the Timberwolves?

Crazy good (versatile) defensive team. And they're built for today's game. Hollinger has an article in The Athletic today about how centers are even less valuable defensively vs. teams who just space out all 5 guys and go 1-on-1. We've seen it with Gobert, Ayton, Lopez and others this postseason. Each is a really good elite defender in their own right, but they can be schemed against with the right personnel.


[Note: Abedayo is such a great defender basically anywhere on the court that it should also worry Celtics fans.]

Butler will be a cakewalk compared to Giannis! So, when you say crazy versatile defensive team, I'm assuming you mean the Celtics? If so, I agree completely. They have a ton of guys that are neither too small or too slow - a bunch of 'tweener C/PFs, PF/SFs, SFs/SGs, PGs/SGs, etc. I think Butler could have a miserable series.....

As for bigs that don't get played off the floor, one guy on Dallas that impresses the hell out of me is Maxi Kleber. Just a great modern day big. Very quick feet, good outside shot, smart player that stays within his lane. He was super valuable to Dallas against Phoenix.

thedoper wrote:Would you trade Ayton and Bridges for DLo and KAT?

No way. Kat is on another tier above those 3. I get that Kat annoys most people with his antics and behavior but the guy is an elite talent. With ant here, we may be looking at a top 3 duo in the next few years. I'm willing to go with dlo for another season.

I'm impressed by what Miami has done this season. It's a credit to Butler and Bam for sure, but it's absolutely a credit to their head coach. The Heat have been the ultimate overachiever this season. But I think the talent disparity between Miami and Boston will catch up with Miami and the Celtics will win the series in 5 or 6 games.

I'm not sure what to think about the Dallas/Golden State series. I think the Mavs will win the series. If Curry and Klay play their best basketball consistently throughout the series, then they might take it to 7 games. But I see Dallas winning in 5 or 6.

Just circling back to that incredible Dallas win, which may have big reverberations as many of you guys are speculating above.

But what I come back to is what Luka did to the Suns early in that game - being aggressive, hitting step back 3s, laughing it up, and talking trash with the home crowd. He just demoralized the Suns out of the gate and they could never recover. You know who reminds me of Luka a bit? Ant.

First, Ant has a similar capability of going on these mini-surges where he takes your breath away with the shot making and drives to the hoop. It doesn't happen every game, but I've seen it enough now where it doesn't surprise me. Second, like Luka, he LOVES the bright lights and seems to be un-phased by big moments. It's just fun to him. He's almost the anti-KAT in how he doesn't take himself too seriously or get himself wound up.

I'm definitely not saying Ant is as good as Luka and may be he'll never get to that level, but man, the mental makeup and talent is there. He holds the keys to the franchise because he checks a hell of a lot of boxes when it comes to what you want in a playoff-caliber alpha dog.