On October 05 2023 22:20 JimmyJRaynor wrote: the Rockets spent the money intended for James Harden on undrafted, G-Leaguer Fred VanVleet.
NBA champ Fred VanVleet. And now the Rockets are above .500. Man I wish they could win a road game.
But who cares about that. Josh Giddy from down under!
Heyo![2] I was positive that the Giddy case would be enough to resurrect this thread
Not talking about Josh Giddey has been quite a topic. THing is , for ESPN , the bodies are piling up. In the last little while ESPN railroaded 4 innocent men. They have to be careful because each of these 4 have the resources to start their own class action lawsuit. Furthermore, the Players Unions of the various leagues are taking aim.
PAs offer the equivalent of a half credit college course on avoiding false accusations.
That fucking moron, Malika Qerim, or whatever her name is ... said this about the drafted player in the murder investigation ... "he is a co operating witness". What an idiot. Is she trying to get him killed?
Almost all the women covering men's sports on ESPN are on the clock. Other than Chiney Ogwumike , as soon as they are not-hot no one wants to hear a thing they have to say.
Welp that's about all she wrote for the Lakers this season. Not surprised how it turned out honestly. I don't see anyone beating this Nuggets team in a 7 game series especially anyone from the weak Eastern conference. If Murray and Jokic stay healthy I don't see anyone stopping them from repeating.
On April 27 2024 11:29 Jerubaal wrote: Considering the Lakers are getting blasted in the third quarter, seems like a coaching issue.
It's not JUST a coaching issue. AD has stamina issues and Lebron is nearly 40. When those two slow down the entire team collapses because our role players are getting massacred by Denver's.
All through the regular season Lebron likes to coast until late in games, or he doesnt play defense and focuses on scoring. In these playoffs against Denver he needs to be active on both sides of the ball for the Lakers to win and AD needs to be active on both sides as well. They don't have the stamina to keep that up for 4 quarters.
It's crazy. I read some stat that the Lakers have held the lead for something like 140 minutes and the Nuggets only 40. Yet the Nuggets have a 3-1 lead. The fast pace of the current NBA is not kind to old farts. Warriors, Suns, Clippers, Bucks have all had their share of late game struggles.
On April 27 2024 11:29 Jerubaal wrote: Considering the Lakers are getting blasted in the third quarter, seems like a coaching issue.
Lebron, aside from the bubble, has been a good stats bad team guy for years now. In the bubble, he magically gained athleticism for "unknown" reasons. But otherwise since the move to LA he's been mostly unable to contribute defensively, and puts up empty stats on the offensive end that don't cause concern from real contenders.
That aint coaching, so much it is the 3Q is when historically elite teams have leveraged their elite players into building leads. It makes sense. The streaky player has lost his streak, the elite players are fresh. Thus, those with the elite athletes will build a lead.
I think if LBJ accepted a 28 minute per game role he'd be at the same level he was in 2016 during those 28 minutes. He is able to do everything he did at the apex of his career. However, he is losing his cardio and can't do it for as many minutes in a game.
Middle distance runners peak from 25 to 27. They have the similar cardio requirements as playing in an NBA game.
If LBJ accepted a 28 minute per game role he'd be a benefit to every team in the NBA. Obviously, he'll never do that.
He tries to "pace himself" in a way he never did earlier in his career and that kills his effectiveness. I do not think he realizes he is doing this. No one around LBJ can stand up to him and give him the bad news. Most older players accept a reduced role and acknowledge their age related loss of cardio translates into less minutes and more limited playing time.
It is getting harder and harder to paper over LBJ's declining cardio.