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Their major up was the MPJ contract. You can get a guy who stands in the corner and shoots 3 balls for less than $40M a year. Imagine if they could have used that on a $20m deal and two $10M deals. Their roster would look a lot better now.
Matas buzelis would of been perfect next to castle and wemby.Hes been looking very good lately.Hopefully we can someone like
him in this draft.
Their major up was the MPJ contract. You can get a guy who stands in the corner and shoots 3 balls for less than $40M a year. Imagine if they could have used that on a $20m deal and two $10M deals. Their roster would look a lot better now.
less than 13% of MPJ's 3pt attempts come from the corner. most of his FGA are 2 pointers. by comparison, something like 54.5% of HB's 3pt attempts are from the corner, and a majority of his FGA are 3's
he stresses the defense from all over the place, part of why jokic gets room to operate.
He really is the offensive GOAT
More enjoyable to watch than Jordan/Kobe archetype
They still could have gotten a guy like Harrison Barnes, who shoots 42% from 3 and overall 50% for half of the cost. The problem with winning the le is that everyone overpays and poaches your guys. You’ve gotta not throw too much in any one non-All Star direction,and I also include Jamal Murray in that discussion.
Does anyone remember what TD said about him in that interview with Raja Bell after he retired? I know TD said the Joker's his favourite player to watch, but I can't remember what else he said about him. Seems that TD was really onto how good he is early on.
I can't believe I haven't watched him much in this 3-4 year stretch (mostly highlights and box scores). Even a good friend of mine who's been a Lakers/Kobe fan for 20 years (and also a Lebron fan on the side before he got to the Lakers) had watched him quite a bit and rated him as the best player as far back as 3-4 years ago (might have been before he won it that he was telling me he thinks Jokic is the best player in the NBA). I didn't pay much attention at the time as all the Kawhi and the Spurs not stripping it down and rebuilding killed it for me with Demar, Bryn and those teams, and I stopped watching NBA for a few years there. I'd just watch the ocassional game and have a look at the scores, and come read here at Spurstalk, but not watch many of the games - I did really like Derrick and Dejounte, though, but Pop never played them together, which I couldn't handle so I didn't watch much of that group. I really liked Derrick and thought he was really good player when he played for the Spurs, but I was always disappointed with what looked like his own confidence in himself and his game (It came off to me in his missed threes). The Denver game 3 in the playoffs was the game that showed me he has got it, but he wasn't able to replicate those games with any consistency until he got to Boston. Might have been in part because of Pop not starting him and continuing to bring him off the bench, and also, he did have some injury/foot issues when he was with the Spurs, plus I don't think he was ever really a number 1 or 2 option, but the potential to be a great number 3. Most here knew that.
I started consistently watching the Spurs again when they traded DeMar and got rid of some of those other guys who I won't mention. I wanted to see the young guys build up and the Spurs potentially get some great players in the draft. In a way, even though I wanted them to do it earlier, it turns out waiting was the best choice as I didn't know anything about Victor until a French Spurs fan or two (or maybe it wasn't a French Spurs fans - I don't remember) started that thread here about a young Victor saying we need to do everything we can to tank for him. Whoever those guys were, they were right.
Growing up in the TD era, I mostly only watched the Spurs. I hardly watched any other teams as I thought they all sucked compared to the Spurs. I thought the Spurs' style of play with TD, Manu, TP and all the other guys (too many to mention - but I will mention some of my favourites - Bruce Bowen early on, Boris, Fabricio, Brent Barry, freaking Kawhietc.), was the best basketball when they were at their best.
Early on, I was also critical of Jokic's defense as I always prefer all-nba level defense as that is what I've grown up with at the big man spot (D-Rob, TD), and it's also one of the main reasons why I love Victor. Joker is a superior offensive player. Victor has a chance to get the gap closer as far as scoring goes compared to D-Rob or TD could get in that area, but overall, offensively, it's going to be very, very tough, for anyone to match what Jokic is doing, as like you've said, he's now pretty much cemented himself as one of the greatest offensive players in NBA history. I won't say he's the best, as the rules a different in this era and you just can't compare and see how he'd do in the era of the great centers (90s/early 2000s). D-Rob would dominate in this era too, and I wonder how TD would fare with his unstoppable post game. Shaq too (Hakeem - forgot to mention him too). I just don't know about their shooting and if they could have improved it enough (apart from Shaq, I think the others could have). I think all these guys could maybe score more than Jokic in this era with these rules, but I don't know if that is enough to put them above Jokic even if they were to average more points per game.
It's pretty ed up having to watch him battle it out with Russell Westbrook's questionable decision making. Years ago I loved how hard Westbrook played, but his decision making put me off him as a player a long time ago (If he could just ever play smarter, he would have been one of the all time greats). For the KD pitch in 2016, if I were ther/part of it, I would have brought a brick into the meeting with me and thrown it on the table and said "Hey, if you want to build a house and play with questionable decision making, stay in Oklahoma, but if you want to play with a smart team and players that will look to make the right basketball play, that will get you the ball when it's the right play or you're hot, come to the Spurs."
As for the Nuggets, I do also think jamal Murray is a really darn good player, so I just hope both he and MPJ are healthy to at least give Jokic a shot in the playoffs, as this would be pretty sad seeing this greatness wasted.
Last edited by Ice009; 04-02-2025 at 12:40 PM.
Not surprising, since Duncan’s idol is Magic Johnson, an unselfish star who was a great passer
Good point, that is probably one of the main reasons Jokic's play drew TD in. I always forget Magic was TD's favourite.
I'll have to try and find the interview (I think it was from 2017?) and see if he said anything else about him as it was pretty early on in Joker's career, so TD must of seen something special back then. Personally, I did not think Jokic would be this good. I thought he was a good player that played a fun brand of basketball, but I never thought he'd be MVP level/all-time level good back then.
I started out as an NBA fan. I became a Spurs fan bc of Robinson the person more so than the player. I guess he lived around me back in the 90s and I met him a few times at outings. Dude was shopping for a Black Power Ranger for his son and asked me what my favorite one was and I just stood there star struck like an idiot lol.
Anyways I grew up just watching basketball. I was a huge nba fan and could name every player in the league at one point in my life (pre- expansion). And my nba fandom never really died down. Even with the epic battles against Shaq and Kobe or Dirk or the TD vs Garnett debates, I just loved hoops. AI and Tmac were my favorite players. And then eventually Ginobili. So I’ve always watched the NBA. But recently I’ve had a hard time watching the nba or really even caring about the league as a whole. At first I thought it was just bc the Spurs suck but nah it’s just this whole 3 point chuck fest of a league that I hate watching it.
And it doesn’t help my local team is the Rockets and that’s all they doAnd the players seem more like whiney es to me than the players of yesteryear (and yes I’m aware of the irony of me ing about it) and that is a turn off. Like I hate when an athlete whines about the media. Chuck does have it right. The majority of the time the media talks the players up but when they say one bad thing then the players just whine and whine about it. And the load management doesn’t help either and then I feel like more and more players just don’t have the same passion for the game. Like with AI, I really felt like he would’ve rather die than not play ball. Same with Kobe or TD or Dirk. But nowadays you just have guys like Zion and Embiid, Simmons, and Kawhi who just don’t really care if they play or not. Tim tore his MCL in 2000. Can you imagine Pop going to TD and saying ok Tim we are going to sit you out every second game of a back to back. Tim would’ve laughed in his face. Or Simmons being afraid to play basketball. Like what bull is that?
Anyways, Joker has brought me back to basketball. Him, Vic, and some other young stars like Luka and Ant. Some teams also like the Knicks and the Thunder. But think Joker as the best player in the world is starting to shift the nba to the right place again. Having “player empowerment” LBJ ruined the league for me and nowadays when you have a no nonsense just have lunch pail guy like Joker winning all the MVPs and a championship, it’s going to force the Americans to focus again on ball instead of all the other bull .
Wish list today:
Wizards beating Kings
Nuggets beating Spurs
Miami beating Boston
Dallas beating Atlanta
Shams:
Interesting, let's hope Wemby's situation is similar.Damian Lillard is doing some light workouts right now. He is hopeful to get cleared in the next week, week and a half to go full go contact and then resume basketball. With blood clots, usually it is an extended absence, months-long absence, but I’m told his treatment started early. They identified kind of what it was, they started him on treatment, then they finally got the diagnosis back. My understanding is doctors are encouraged by where it is at. They see that that blood clot is actually lowering, it is decreasing, it is diminishing.
wizards were up 11 with 2 minutes to go in the first half. closer game now, but thers a chance
I started out as an NBA fan. I became a Spurs fan bc of Robinson the person more so than the player. I guess he lived around me back in the 90s and I met him a few times at outings. Dude was shopping for a Black Power Ranger for his son and asked me what my favorite one was and I just stood there star struck like an idiot lol.
Anyways I grew up just watching basketball. I was a huge nba fan and could name every player in the league at one point in my life (pre- expansion). And my nba fandom never really died down. Even with the epic battles against Shaq and Kobe or Dirk or the TD vs Garnett debates, I just loved hoops. AI and Tmac were my favorite players. And then eventually Ginobili. So I’ve always watched the NBA. But recently I’ve had a hard time watching the nba or really even caring about the league as a whole. At first I thought it was just bc the Spurs suck but nah it’s just this whole 3 point chuck fest of a league that I hate watching it.
And it doesn’t help my local team is the Rockets and that’s all they do
Anyways, Joker has brought me back to basketball. Him, Vic, and some other young stars like Luka and Ant. Some teams also like the Knicks and the Thunder. But think Joker as the best player in the world is starting to shift the nba to the right place again. Having “player empowerment” LBJ ruined the league for me and nowadays when you have a no nonsense just have lunch pail guy like Joker winning all the MVPs and a championship, it’s going to force the Americans to focus again on ball instead of all the other bull .
Somewhat similar to me with Robinson. I first saw a Spurs Vs Magic game when I was a kid and the Spurs won the game. I think both D-Rob and Shaq had over 40 points each. Maybe I would have become a Magic and Shaq fan if they won the game(maybe not as I also liked D-Rob because of his high character). We only had 2 NBA games a week here then so I had to watch a lot more teams (didn't get a choice to watch Spurs games). We had ESPN that only had two games a week and then 3 or 4 during the playoffs. I was never able to watch all Spurs games until around 2007/08 season when NBA League Pass was first available here. I was a fan of players such as D-Rob, Reggie Miller, Glen Rice, Larry Johnson (Dell Curry too since I was a fan of that Hornets team), Allan Houston, Grant Hill, Latrell Sprewell, Shawn Kemp & Gary Payton in those very early days. Probably, some of my favourite players were around this time, but I was too young and don't remember them that clearly. It was mostly highlight videos I watched and video games I got to know them through.
I then actually started hearing about AI and became a huge fan just before he came into the league (It seemed like basketball was everything to him and I loved his attacking at ude on the court and his at ude off the court too as it was a change of pace to what I was used to), and then the following year, the Spurs won the lottery and drafted TD (Can't remember how far prior, but I'd read about TD some time before the draft lottery and I was shocked and super excited when the Spurs won the lottery), and TD won me over not too long after in his rookie season, and he became my favourite player ahead of AI (AI was by far my favourite player the year before). I also liked VC for a few years there too when he was with the Raptors. T-Mac, I was also a fan of on the Raptors and Magic. I was a fan of all these guys up until about 2003, but it was TD & AI from about 1997 to 2003, and then it was TD and Manu from there on out as my favourite players until Kawhi was drafted and worked his ass off to become a great player (still mad at Kawhi). I also did like the young version of D-Wade his first few seasons, but stopped following him after 2006 as I felt they took the Spurs' Championship that year.
I also liked other big men during that era such as Chris Webber (I liked that Kings team and thought they were a fun team in general with Peja, Bobby Jackson, Doug Christie, Mike Bibby, Vlade etc.), KG, Dirk, Jermain O'neal, but I could never truly become a fan of theirs as they were TD's main compe ors/rivals. I really wanted J O'neal the year he was a free agent. I even entertained C-Webb to the Spurs, but I didn't want to kick D-Rob to the curb for it to happen. Kobe, I never became much of a fan of as I just liked AI much, much more. I sort of started liking Kobe after he retired and the compe ion was over. It was very interesting that Pop tried to get him that one off-season as I really loved Manu and was a bit torn that if the Spurs got Kobe, Manu would be gone. In a way, I am kind of glad Kobe turned Pop down (I still don't know if the Spurs would have won more rings with him than with Manu). The ride was super, super fun with Manu, though, and Manu is a legendary person and player. I also liked Gilbert Arenas for a little while there too (I thought he was awesome for a 3-4 year stretch there). I really wanted to the Spurs to try and get him when he left Goldenstate to pair up with TP. Can't remember at the time if they could have afford him, or if it would have cost them someone else, or if they even wanted him?
Looking back, there was quite a few players I liked back then. I agree with you, though. I thought it was because the Spurs sucked that I didn't follow as closely after Kawhi screwed the Spurs over, but the fact that I didn't watch other teams, I think it's the current game that didn't draw me in as I would have still watched other teams for sure if it was late 90s/2000s rules. I always loved defense, so I really don't love this 3 point shooting style of play. I also used to know every player in the league up to a certain point, but if you asked me now, I'd probably only be able to name less than 50% of players in the NBA.
Miami up 14 at the half, Wizards up 8 with 3 minutes to go in the 3rd
Do you have a link for that? How is he even able to entertain coming back so soon? How long would he have been getting treatment for? What do they mean his treatment started early? Was this like a month ago or 6 weeks ago, or what?
I think I read that the NBA won’t clear anyone for return from blood clot issues until 6 months have elapsed. This strikes me as both grossly irresponsible and a playoff ticket sales scam.
wizards melting down and derozan dominating these last few minutes. kings only down 2
wizards had been up 12 with about 4 and a half to go
edit: dagger 3 by JT Thor
right now Kings are projected to land the 13th pick (assuming they dont advance in the play-in). this is important because they owe the Hawks their pick, but it is top 12 protected (huerter trade). if it conveys, it just gives the hawks another cheap avenue to improve, thereby hurting the value of their 2026 and 2027 picks they owe us.
if the Kings wind up in the 12th position, there is a more than 93% chance that they will keep their pick. from the 13th position they currently sit in, there is a more than 95% chance the pick goes the Atlanta. so we really need them to slide up one spot.
the two teams that the kings could potentially leap ahead are Phoenix and Miami. Miami is currently up 15 against boston with 5 minutes to go. assuming Miami holds on, the standings will look like this
9 - Portland: 33-43
10 - Chicago: 34-42
11 - Miami: 35-41
12 - Phoenix: 35-41
13 - Kings: 36-40
unfortunately phoenix is collapsing as poorly as anybody. the kings last game of the season also comes against phoenix. so miami (and chicago) continuing to rack up wins is huge
I thought Boston sat guys tonight, but they just stunk on ice. All of their regulars played regular minutes.
Impressive, but this was still the GOAT timeout compe ion:
Can't beat this one:
That looked fake.
A fan at the Hawk game slipped on the floor playing one of their games and looked to tear his acl. He'll probably sue the Hawks because the floor looked to be wet.
Teams are going to stop these games.
Thanks for the fap material but no way that's funnier than Laker fan talking y and then tearing his achilles.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH8Zqi3JomQ/?igsh=NmNiN3Rjcmgyb2lo
Can someone embed this lol
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