TYO's NBA Questions And Thoughts For The Day

[The Young One]

Albino kind of inspired me with this. And I know its a lot of basketball heads on si. So I thought it would be fun to do.


My thoughts for the first day.

If you could pick a Duo between a Prime Shaq/ LeBron Now vs Prime Kobe/Prime Duncan which one would you choose?

I'd think I'd choose Kobe/Duncan because their games really have no weaknesses like that. It would be harder to gameplan against them.

What do you guys think?

BTW Mods can move this to off topic if they want to.

 

[Rios15]

This is sports discussion, so it deserves to have your post count increased. IMO anyway.

Shaq and Lebron. Lebron led his team to the Eastern Conference finals, he was basically the team's only scorer. Shaq won it with Kobe, he won it with Wade, so he could win it with Lebron if he is in his prime. We are talking about the most dominant player ever to play in the NBA, and I'd imagine that he would have shutdown Dwight Howard and the Magic if he was in his prime and with the Cavs last year. Lebron will soon be named one of the best when he retires from the game I believe, and I think he's just as good as Kobe, if he can develop a shot like Kobe as well, than damn.

 

[The Young One]

The reason Im leaning towards kobe and duncan at the moment is because they are so well rounded. If you play against lebron/shaq you try to force lebron to shoot jumpers and tire shaq out and get him to go the line. How do you gameplan kobe? Try to get him to get his teammates involved?

 

[playmaker7]

I think Kobe/Duncan is the only pick you can make. I hate Duncan and love Kobe and it was still a no-brainer. Both are natural winners and are leaders no matter where they are. The team will become championship caliber no matter who else you put around them. And like TYO mentioned, both of their games are well rounded so theres no weakness to that combo. I don't see a real way to pick against it.

BTW TYO, you gameplan against Kobe by trying to contain him thats all you can do.

 

[MapleLeaf]

Gotta go with Lebron/Shaq.

Shaq in his prime was the most dominant player in NBA history minus Wilt Chamberlain. And Lebron James is more well rounded then Kobe IMO. Only advantage Duncan-Kobe would have is FT shooting

 

[The Young One]

Random Night thought

Do we as fans value the defensive specialist as much as appreciate the offensive specialists?

Is it because the offensive specialists are more entertaining to watch or is the fact that defensive players arent as good as they used to be because of the handchecking rule or etc.

Just a random night thought opinions are welcomed

 

[Whisper]

I personally have always valued defense over offense. I mean, no team has ever won a game without taking the lead at least once, but how many teams have a hard time preserving those leads? You need those guys that are going to be able to at least somewhat contain the other team's scorer. I've been seeing scoring specialist since my lil' tyke days. Practically everyone in the league can do it, it's nice to see someone that could stop it. Plus, I get more excited when I see a block, a steal, or even when there's a matchup between a premiere scorer and a top defender and the said scorer misses; I like seeing 'em swarm all over them then cheer be all like "YEAH YOU AINT NUTTIN HOMIE!! CAN'T SCORE ON ARTEST!!" (Cuz that's what imma be yellin all season BYAH!! ahaha)

Ultimately I think it comes down to what kind of team you have though to see what you value more. If you're a fan of say the Warriors, as fun as it is to watch, you'd probably want to get more defenders on your squad. If you're a fan of Houston you'd probably want a lot more scoring to happen.

 

[Rios15]

It's because offensive specialist are more entertaining to watch, people normally look at offensive stats to determine if a player is good or not. And I'd rather watch an offensive game than a defensive game, it's just that more entertaining.

 

[The Young One]

I personally have always valued defense over offense. I mean, no team has ever won a game without taking the lead at least once, but how many teams have a hard time preserving those leads? You need those guys that are going to be able to at least somewhat contain the other team's scorer. I've been seeing scoring specialist since my lil' tyke days. Practically everyone in the league can do it, it's nice to see someone that could stop it. Plus, I get more excited when I see a block, a steal, or even when there's a matchup between a premiere scorer and a top defender and the said scorer misses; I like seeing 'em swarm all over them then cheer be all like "YEAH YOU AINT NUTTIN HOMIE!! CAN'T SCORE ON ARTEST!!" (Cuz that's what imma be yellin all season BYAH!! ahaha)

Ultimately I think it comes down to what kind of team you have though to see what you value more. If you're a fan of say the Warriors, as fun as it is to watch, you'd probably want to get more defenders on your squad. If you're a fan of Houston you'd probably want a lot more scoring to happen.

But its rare we as fans give the defensive specialists as much credit as say a Kobe when he scores 50.

That leads to my thought of the moment.

I hear the term franchise player thrown around a lot. Even in the case of some guys who are better off as number 2 players. How many true franchise players are there in the league.

1.Kobe
2.Bron
3.Wade
4.CP3
5.Deron
6.Dwight
7.Melo
8.TD
9.KD
10.Broy
11.Dirk
12.KG
13.Nash
14.Derrick Rose


Are the only true franchise players I can name off the top of my head. Not to say that there aren't any others.I feel other guys we annoint with that term are normally number 2 guys that show a bit of potential.

Are we as fans so excited by the potential of a young player that shows he can play for our respective squads that we have to annoint him a franchise player?

Opinions are welcomed

 

[Rios15]

A franchise player is usually a young player that shows a lot of potential, and he's the player you have to build around. He's your untouchable player basically. That's what I think a franchise player is, Nash of the Suns is old now, I wouldn't say he's a franchise player. This is what I hope Demar DeRozan turns out to be.

 

[The Young One]

Take Nash off the suns and see how good they do. You can put those 14 players on any team and they automatically get better.

 

[Rios15]

Take Nash off the suns and see how good they do. You can put those 15 players on any team and they automatically get better.

But look at where they are now, they are basically trying to rebuild, they need that young player, they have no future.

 

[The Young One]

That has to do with steve kerr/michael porter screwing them up. Not anything nash did. Before nash came they couldnt even make the playoffs. First season they got nash they went 62-20. He may not be as productive but nash is still right amont the top pgs. I guess he could be taken off the list. Because he's gonna go on downward slope soon.

 

[werebarret]

It's Shaq and LeBron and it's no contest.

It's all about matchups. There is no one else in this league that matches up with either of them physically. Shaq's a seven foot 300 lb <Censored>ing monster that no one has ever had any answer to. The only way to gameplan against Shaq is to foul the <Censored> out of him. He'll miss most of the free throws, but you can only Hack-a-Shaq for so long

LeBron's a <Censored>ing six foot eight two hundred fifty pound monster who could probably match up with NFL safeties and linebackers. His athletic ability at that size is unparalleled in the NBA, and the only person that I've seem really contain him is James Posey.

The bottom line is, it's a lot easier to try and defend Duncan/Kobe than it is to defend Shaq/LeBron.

 

[The Young One]

My thought as of this moment

Have there been any sights sadder than seeing T-mac nowadays.

As we all know he had a tough start in Tor and then he left and got out of vince's shadow. And for that time when he was in ORL he may have been the best guard in the nba. I remember growing up and seeing T-mac drop 46 on the pistons in the first round of the 2002-03 playoffs. I remember hearing the tmac is better than kobe talks. It was on some larry bird vs magic type <Censored>. Kobe would drop 37 one night. T-mac would drop 42 the next night and etc. It was entertaining to see. Now t-mac is known as t-pain and is a shell of his former self. Its a shame what happened to him. Hopefully he redeems himself because his talent is special.

 

[Rios15]

I wish T-Mac, and VC could of worked it out.

 

[The Young One]

THought of the moment....this 2000-2010 basically decade has seen a lot of superstars and some future hofers and guys we will be telling our kids we saw play in the future. But I had this thought randomly when playing nba 2k9. Who would you say is the biggest waste of talent in the 2000-2010. At first I was thinking T-mac...but injuries and bad luck derailed his career. I would have to say for this it has to be steve francis. Dude had all the athletic ability in the world and was really solid. But to me he was never more of a stat padding type of guy and had a huge ego. It really is sad to see him now. I mean when memphis released you your career is over.

 

[Whisper]

Whisper's thought of the day:

Why is it that so many teams covet the scorers with zero defensive ability when it's clear that for decades, for as long as the NBA has been around, that it's defense that wins championships? If you're not playing for a championship what're you playing for?

 

[The Young One]

I think its the notion that fans would rather see scorers. And whisper you know a lot of teams dont care about titles....

 

[playmaker7]

I think its the notion that fans would rather see scorers. And whisper you know a lot of teams dont care about titles....

Look at Phoenix a couple years back. They were winning hella games true but look at the tickets they sold. They got alot of income from people coming to see their fast-paced offense only team. It attracts a crowd and the money is good

Why do you think people go to Warriors games?