Series Thread: NBA Finals: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat

[Shanemansj13]

It is about all of those things and more. You're literally just removing factors that matter until your narrative fits.

Rosters determine what a player is asked to do. The competition they face also determines how they are going to perform with those rosters and how they perform in both the regular season and playoffs. Giannis has had better rosters in a weaker conference and hasn't been able to get to the finals including the past 2 years when he was favored to get there.

If his ballhandling is so great, why were the Heat able to make him disappear enough to get a gentlemen's sweep against him. It seems that if he was that good, he'd be able to use them to get at least 1 more win.

Bc he doesn't have a jumpshot...I mentioned that was his weakness and I said AD was a better scorer, which is close. AD was not a leader on New Orleans. Giannis was more of a the leader on MIL. Like I said, it doesn't even mean Giannis is a much better player.

Laker fans think AD wins a championship and all of sudden he can lead a team to the Finals and is a leader...that has all to do with Lebron. Maybe in the future AD will be a leader bc Lebron can show him his ways...but there is nobody leading Giannis and he won 66 games.

If you want to talk about teams and talent I wouldn't even say Giannis had better players around him, or it's at least close.
Remember New Orleans still had Cousins and he was dominate when he played.
They had a younger Rondo who was the floor general and leader of the team.
They had Holiday a very nice two-guard and better than any guard on MIL by far. He put up Middleton type of numbers.

MIL probably had the better role players around the core but there isn't much of a difference talent wise. Cousins, Holiday and Rondo ain't bad. So really I don't care about that discussion...it's more about the players traits as a leader and can he lead a team. AD wasn't a leader in New Orleans, plain and simple. Giannis needs to take steps at becoming a better leader but they didn't win for other reasons. Plus he got his team one win away from the Finals last year vs that stout Raptors team...everyone seems to forget. Like I said, I'm not even saying Giannis is a better player but you have to be a facilitator, leader and main floor general on the team...AD hasn't done that, he's done it for spurts.

How many bigs are facilitators in the league right now? I can name two and one isn't AD...it's Jokic and Giannis.

 

[Wamu]

Now this is some funny shit. The Lakers didn't acknowledge the organization's titles from Minneapolis until 2002. And they haven't retired George Mikan's number.



See I was right all along saying those titles won between '49 and '54 shouldn't count. The team moved to L.A. in 1960 and they ignored everything for 42 years.

 

[Wamu]

AD should have celebrated becoming a champion by trimming his eyebrow.

 

[trojanfan12]

Bc he doesn't have a jumpshot...I mentioned that was his weakness and I said AD was a better scorer, which is close. AD was not a leader on New Orleans. Giannis was more of a the leader on MIL. Like I said, it doesn't even mean Giannis is a much better player.

Laker fans think AD wins a championship and all of sudden he can lead a team to the Finals and is a leader...that has all to do with Lebron. Maybe in the future AD will be a leader bc Lebron can show him his ways...but there is nobody leading Giannis and he won 66 games.

No one is talking about who is the better leader. The discussion has been about ballhandling and overall skills. I have no idea why you're trying to move the goalposts. I haven't seen any Lakers fans claiming AD is a better leader. I know I haven't said anything about his leadership.

If you're going to say "Lakers fans say/think this or that" at least don't make shit up.

 

[trojanfan12]

Then why wasn’t AD asked to facilitate more in NO?

He only played with Rondo for 1 year. Jrue Holliday has publicly stated he is not a point guard.

Who on that roster was stopping AD from taking that role if he is so capable of being that guy?

lol

Are you serious?

Looking at the rosters, there were several players listed as point guards on each roster, including Jrue Holliday. I would imagine that whoever the coach set up as the facilitator, is probably who was doing most of it, including Jrue Holliday.

He didn't exactly have the greatest of coaches in NO. Apparently, unlike the Nets, the Pelicans didn't have a "coaching collective".

 

[trojanfan12]

AD should have celebrated becoming a champion by trimming his eyebrow.

That would be like Samson cutting his hair.

 

[tlance]

lol

Are you serious?

Looking at the rosters, there were several players listed as point guards on each roster, including Jrue Holliday. I would imagine that whoever the coach set up as the facilitator, is probably who was doing most of it, including Jrue Holliday.

He didn't exactly have the greatest of coaches in NO. Apparently, unlike the Nets, the Pelicans didn't have a "coaching collective".

Are you serious?

Malcolm Brogdon and Bledsoe are both as good or better facilitators than anyone the Pelicans had on their roster during the AD years, aside from Rondo.

Holliday is a scorer who prefers to play off the ball. And their other PGs weren’t good.

To go 1 step further, when Cousins played with them (also the year they had Rondo) he averaged 5.4 assists per game. You know why? Because Cousins is a good facilitator.

That same season, AD averaged 2.3 assists a game.

He is not as good a facilitator as Giannis man. I don’t know why you guys are even trying to argue this.

 

[trojanfan12]

Are you serious?

Malcolm Brogdon and Bledsoe are both as good or better facilitators than anyone the Pelicans had on their roster during the AD years, aside from Rondo.

Holliday is a scorer who prefers to play off the ball. And their other PGs weren’t good.

To go 1 step further, when Cousins played with them (also the year they had Rondo) he averaged 5.4 assists per game. You know why? Because Cousins is a good facilitator.

That same season, AD averaged 2.3 assists a game.

He is not as good a facilitator as Giannis man. I don’t know why you guys are even trying to argue this.

lol

Look at you arguing against stuff I didn't say.

Once again, AD didn't dictate the offense, so deciding who was facilitating wasn't his decision.

I'm done with this. I'm not changing my mind and neither are you.

 

[tlance]

lol

Look at you arguing against stuff I didn't say.

Once again, AD didn't dictate the offense, so deciding who was facilitating wasn't his decision.

I'm done with this. I'm not changing my mind and neither are you.

You are done with this because your logic doesn’t make any sense.

 

[trojanfan12]

You are done with this because your logic doesn’t make any sense.

lol

Whatever you say.

 

[tlance]

I played PG in high school, so I guess that means I can be a high level NBA facilitator also.

That is awesome to know!

I was a pretty mediocre facilitator at that level, but still.

 

[trojanfan12]

I played PG in high school, so I guess that means I can be a high level NBA facilitator also.

That is awesome to know!

I was a pretty mediocre facilitator at that level, but still.

lol

You sure don't like people disagreeing with you.

Remember when you used to know how to just agree to disagree.

 

[tlance]

lol

You sure don't like people disagreeing with you.

Remember when you used to know how to just agree to disagree.

Remember when you used to be able analyze players objectively?

 

[trojanfan12]

Remember when you used to be able analyze players objectively?

Just because I don't agree with you, doesn't mean I wasn't objective. My opinion isn't based on the team a player is on.

 

[bksballer89]

Remember when you used to be able analyze players objectively?

The good old days

 

[dtgold88]

round of Kumbaya anyone?

 

[Wamu]

I played PG in high school, so I guess that means I can be a high level NBA facilitator also.

That is awesome to know!

I was a pretty mediocre facilitator at that level, but still.

You played PG in HS? Well did you know Al Bundy played HS football and scored 4 TD's in one game?

 

[PPhan]

You all do this shit every year. It is called recency bias.

3 months ago, Giannis was in the conversation for best player in the entire league.

He has 1 bad playoff series against a team literally built to defeat Milwaukee and then people want to act like he isn’t one of the very best in the league.

On the flip side, AD wins a ring playing alongside a guy who is arguably the damn GOAT and everyone acts like his entire history in NO never happened.

Both AD and Giannis have their flaws as players. But if I am taking 1 of them to build a roster around, it is Giannis every damn time.

If I want to pair somebody with another elite superstar? Then I want AD for that. He was in the ideal situation this year.

Agreed, besides LeBron and a healthy KD, Giannis is the best player in the game.

For the people saying he can never become the best player in the game until he develops a jump shot, I bring you peak Shaq. He was the best player in the game and it was not even close.

 

[tlance]

You played PG in HS? Well did you know Al Bundy played HS football and scored 4 TD's in one game?

View attachment 255888

I heard!

My career highlight was once dishing out 5 waters during a single timeout.

I was pretty proud of that.

Does that count as 5 assists?

 

[DJ]

The parade is on hold....