Reply With Quote
Of course.
Yes
No
It's been clear to me since somewhere around the end of '14 and beginning of '15, that they were no longer good enough, even without an obvious team to overtake them (the Thunder were in the midst of being derailed by injuries, the Warriors weren't yet proven, the Cavaliers didn't yet have all the requisite pieces and the Clippers were their usual fringe contender selves).
Then, I briefly bought in again in the off season of '15, hoping that the Aldridge addition and the first extended off season in 4 years would be enough for one final run. It didn't take long to realize that too many key players had declined too much from '14 and that they had too many ill-fitting parts to pull it off.
That brings us to now. The parts will probably fit a bit better, but few issues were solved, 3 of the top 6 are ancient and played in the Olympics (plus qualifiers and exhibitions), they lack depth and the Warriors added the 2nd or 3rd best player in the world.
To sum it up: I'd rank them 4th (yes, behind the Clippers) most likely to win it, but I don't think they'll be serious championship contenders in the Leonard-Aldridge era, unless they can find a guard that's good enough to be a lead creator for a championship team.
Of course.
So you have:::
1. GSW
2. OKC
3. LAC
4. SAS
??
Your self-loathing is always so adorable.
No, Cavaliers 2nd. The Thunder are obviously no longer in the mix.
There's a difference between being an elite team and a legit championship contender. The Clippers have always been the former, but never the latter, in the Paul/Griffin era.
The Spurs may well be the 2nd best regular season team in the league again, but come the playoffs, their shortcomings will again be exposed.
Paper tigers again. How we forget. So easy, even Chinook got this.
With all PG/top players getting old/bench-depth issues, the Spurs are still 3rd over Clippers.
Durant or Curry could reaggravate their injuries.
Oh s, I still can't wrap my head around Durant being on GSW instead of OKC. All the long years and playoff series of OKC and Durant torturing the Spurs and OKC being our worst playoff nightmare, can't get it out of my brain.
I'll never forget slamming my bedroom door in at age 18 the summer before my last year in high school (and breaking the door) when the Spurs kept getting crapped on by the refs in games 5 and 6 in 2012.
I was a senior in college and obviously much more mature for the 2016 edition, and I called it all along, but it was nonetheless horrid.
Yes
RJ 24 gonna RJ 24
They would have been a le contender last year with a healthy Duncan. Now they're not, the defense is going to be much worse with Gasol taking his place and the bench is the weakest it has been since the RMJ/Finley/Bogans era.
Yeah. It's going to be a weird season because for the rest of the season we're going to look at GSW and Judge our ability to contend based on their level play.
But if we pause for a second, We're clearly still the third best team in the league and possibly second.
When you're at a level where people expect you to qualify to the western confrence, then yiu are a contender. We really dobt know how far off the warriors are from San Antonio..
Unless you can tell me with absoulte certainty that GSW is winning the west, the second best team in the confrence is going to always be by default a contender.
I said last season that once Tim/Manu retire, we wouldn't contend for a while. I don't see the additions this season changing that outlook.
Hope to be wrong, obviously.
Ask yourself, how many teams in the league are far better than the spurs? 1..you can make an argument for the cavs as the second best team, but they're not far off...
It's one astronomical series against the warriors..thats it. Its not like the spurs have to go through 6 gruelling teams.
I think they'd have a really hard time against the Clippers. Do you see Gasol keeping Jordan off the glass? I wouldn't take this Spurs roster against them in a series. Especially not when we have seen Pop will assign Parker to guard CP3 in the playoffs.
They probably had a higher ceiling last season but I think this year's team can be better than last year's version we saw in the playoffs. Remember the Warriors may look like the favorite but they have to go through their own growing pains too.
JJ Red hasnt been the same player since Feb last season. He's a year older. He's the clippers Version of Klay Thompson. I think they're pretty darn dangerous and I think LA is another team with the same exact mindset as I do.
They Know both San Antonio and Cleveland are beatable and Golden state is the only astronomical team. Any team with that kind of chances/Mindset is a legit contender...
Plus, new formed superteams always take time to GEL. This is why its imperative the team fights for a first seed to avoid an LA-GSW-CLE.
You saw last year how Cleveland fluked out a win. Make no mistake, GSW is a much better team. They needed an injury, a suspension etc to happen..and when you have only one team to worry about regardless of how better they are..you're always going to get your chances.
Imagine a scenario where San Antonio only has to worry about GSW. You get pass that and your're almost equal with the other finalist...
I don't think the Cavs le was a fluke, Cleveland matched up well against them. LeBron by himself made them pretty compe ive in the 2015 Finals.
There is no way Cleveland wins that series if Raymond wasnt an idiot and curry wasnat least at a 90s. Assume it wasnt a fluke, that doesebt take away from that fact that they're not far away.
It doesnt take away the fact that only one team is a sure shot favourite if the spurs played them in May-June..and thats golden state.
one team.
Meh injuries are part of the game. I'm not buying it's a fluke, you don't fluke into three wins in a row with the other team having 2 of the 3 games at home. And the Clippers should be a pretty solid favorite over the Spurs in a series also. The Spurs are going to have to pull of a Drexler / Rasheed / Gasol level steal at the deadline to have a realistic chance at a le this year.
Disgaree.
I dont see how an older Paul and Red clippers can be heavy favourites.
Especially after that team is injury prone too.
Have you not watched Parker and Gasol these last two years? Duncan was the only thing that got the Spurs to a Game 7 vs them in 2015 setting the stage for a 50% CP3 to eviscerate Parker.
Guess you forgot Tiago was a ing injured Bum.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
