Official 2020-21 NBA Finals - Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA Championship!

[IAppreciateIt]

i do think simmons (and gobert) might be strong regular season players who have weaknesses that can be exploited in the playoffs as teams have more time to scheme and figure out unusual lineups that exploit them.

i mean at this point, i feel like 100% of people would take ayton over gobert

 

[deacon14]

I know I didn't! I told d14 I was worried about the matchup before the playoffs started. Teams with excellent guard play destroy the Sixers. Even limiting Trae in the series, the Sixers really struggled to get easy baskets.

Yes this was all true. At the end of the day there were three teams clearly a cut above the rest in the east, and the media (rightfully so) focused primarily on those teams.

If the Hawks players want to feel slighted by that, that works for me, but I do not think any rational Hawks fan should feel as though the team was massively overlooked simply because they have now overachieved quite a bit on expectations. Hawks won 4 single digit games against the sixers, two of which should not have been wins. I’m thoroughly enjoying the ride but also comfortable in saying we probably shouldn’t be here (yet).

If anything about this Hawks squad was overlooked, it’s the depth. Not sure many teams could lose players of the quality of Reddish and Hunter at the same position and come out still winning in the playoffs.

 

[IAppreciateIt]

i do think simmons (and gobert) might be strong regular season players who have weaknesses that can be exploited in the playoffs as teams have more time to scheme and figure out unusual lineups that exploit them.

i mean at this point, i feel like 100% of people would take ayton over gobert

that said, a week ago i think people were saying the same thing about giannis. “he will never be able to recover from this!”

 

[atldeac23]

Yes this was all true. At the end of the day there were three teams clearly a cut above the rest in the east, and the media (rightfully so) focused primarily on those teams.

If the Hawks players want to feel slighted by that, that works for me, but I do not think any rational Hawks fan should feel as though the team was massively overlooked simply because they have now overachieved quite a bit on expectations. Hawks won 4 single digit games against the sixers, two of which should not have been wins. I’m thoroughly enjoying the ride but also comfortable in saying we probably shouldn’t be here (yet).

If anything about this Hawks squad was overlooked, it’s the depth. Not sure many teams could lose players of the quality of Reddish and Hunter at the same position and come out still winning in the playoffs.

Reddish was very bad this year and I'm not convinced we'd be better with him.

 

[Kory]

that said, a week ago i think people were saying the same thing about giannis. “he will never be able to recover from this!”

giannis' mid range is kinda wet tho

 

[deacon14]

Reddish was very bad this year and I'm not convinced we'd be better with him.

In the playoffs, just have him take way less shots and he’s instantly an upgrade over Solomon Hill and Tony Snell. His defense alone would have been useful, he was bad this year because he had a tendency to force a lot of bad quality shots, that’s not a skill problem so much as a shot selection problem.

 

[deacon14]

Although, even though Reddish is supposedly healthy now I doubt he plays. Mainly because you don’t throw a young player into his first playoffs in the ECF after he’s coming off an extended injury.

 

[IAppreciateIt]

that said, a week ago i think people were saying the same thing about giannis. “he will never be able to recover from this!”

The @FDSportsbook updated #NBA  Championship odds:

Bucks -105
Suns +135
Clippers +850
Hawks +1200


the fatal game 5 collapse was only 6 days ago

 

[Kory]

He comin

 

[IAppreciateIt]

if it comes down to it, i think the suns will have a big advantage over the bucks bc of better lineup depth

 

[2&2 Slider To Leyritz]

you can draw your own conclusions, but this doesn't even include steals or blocks, where ben would also lead or be 2nd of the group

The correct conclusion is that those stats are useless. Who gives a fuck about VORP when a guy is literally afraid to shoot the ball in the 4th quarter of a Game 7? Any coach would take any one of those other guys over him after that.

 

[PhDeac]

Yes this was all true. At the end of the day there were three teams clearly a cut above the rest in the east, and the media (rightfully so) focused primarily on those teams.

If the Hawks players want to feel slighted by that, that works for me, but I do not think any rational Hawks fan should feel as though the team was massively overlooked simply because they have now overachieved quite a bit on expectations. Hawks won 4 single digit games against the sixers, two of which should not have been wins. I’m thoroughly enjoying the ride but also comfortable in saying we probably shouldn’t be here (yet).

If anything about this Hawks squad was overlooked, it’s the depth. Not sure many teams could lose players of the quality of Reddish and Hunter at the same position and come out still winning in the playoffs.

The media imbalance between the Hawks and Knicks was massive and not reflective of the difference between the teams. But that's just the way it is and why it's so satisfying to see Atlanta get theirs vs. NYC and Philly.

 

[TownieDeac]

The correct conclusion is that those stats are useless. Who gives a fuck about VORP when a guy is literally afraid to shoot the ball in the 4th quarter of a Game 7? Any coach would take any one of those other guys over him after that.

this is certainly true

pretty cool that the sixers drafted two point guards in back to back drafts #1 overall and neither one of them can shoot a basketball for reasons that are essentially impossible to explain!

 

[JuiceCrewAllStar]

if Ish Smith can do it, other guys can figure out how to shoot well enough to keep teams honest

 

[Pilchard]

The Hawks are heavy underdogs to the Bucks in the EC Finals:

ATL +350
MIL -480

For those that are convinced that ATL is undervalued, this would be an opportunity to take advantage.

 

[PhDeac]

Props to the BSD crew for cementing this headline for posterity.

[h=1]Wake Defeats LSU in 2 Hour Ben Simmons Documentary on ESPNU[/h]
A two hour Ben Simmons documentary was airing from 7-9 on ESPNU and somehow a basketball game between Wake Forest and LSU broke out.


https://www.bloggersodear.com/2015/...-ben-simmons-documentary-on-espnu-BEN-SIMMONS

Simmons has gotten a lot for being tall and long with defensive and passing ability. I guess that's why he hasn't worked on his game.

 

[plama]

According to our partner, PointsBet, the Bulls are not one of the short list of favorites to land the Sixers' star if he is traded:

Portland Trail Blazers: +250

Washington Wizards: +300

San Antonio Spurs: +450

Utah Jazz/Oklahoma City Thunder: +550

Golden State Warriors: +600

Los Angeles Lakers: +625

Cleveland Cavaliers: +750

Houston Rockets: +1000

 

[Dali Llama]

Is Townie still trying to talk himself into Simmons by parroting out regular season stats against the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls of the world?

30 out of 30 GMs are taking Jaylen Brown over Ben Simmons today. And then when you throw in their contracts it's really not even a conversation.

 

[PhDeac]

In other Sixers roster notes, Thybulle boosted his offensive numbers from 42/30/44 and 3.9 pts in the regular season to 48/32/40 and 5.3 pts in the playoffs. If he becomes even a passable shooter at 48/35/65, he's a 3 and D starter. Problem is you can't play him with Simmons, because everybody around Simmons needs to be a great shooter.

 

[TownieDeac]

I’m not trying to talk anybody, much less myself into anything

Ben Simmons is a colossal baby diva with a broken brain and I hope he’s traded tomorrow. Brilliant defender but has a trying problem, which sucks when you max a guy!

My point going back before was that it wasn’t a bad pick in 2016, and some of the other guys mentioned would have been a reach to get with the 1 pick.

When people say it’s hard to build a roster around Joel and Ben what they mean is Ben. He limits your options. Joel can give you DHO, post play, three point shooting, PnR, etc. Ben slows the offense to a crawl and just jogs to the baseline and stands there in the playoffs.

But you’re being crazy if you say it was a mistake to draft him 1 overall in 16. That’s revisionism based on what we know now about a multiple all star and runner up to the DPOY.