TrueHoop TV: The Spurs are not a top 5 team in the NBA

[dweaver99027]

That's the 'great' or 'awful' thing about real life in general. One outcome happens.

[maverick1948]

WTF is TrueHoop TV??? Those 2 things on the video should be dropped. Not because they did not pick the Spurs but because neither has the brain power to think and reason.

[GSH]

He considers himself a Top 5 Analyst in the NBA. Reason enough to dismiss the rest of his little story.

[Hoops Czar]

Elhassan is extremely asspained Aldridge left Portland so his opinion of the Spurs is biased. Straus on the other hand has gone 100% re ed.

Not that Spurstalk's opinions are biased or anything like that.

[DenialTwist]

He used to be cool like Zach Lowe, but ever since he got that Warriors beat writer job he's turned to .

Their click bait worked, it got us talking lol.

Nah. Ethan was never as cool as anyone from Grantland especially someone respected like Zach Lowe. Strauss is/has/will always be a Warriors beat writer. He hasn't elevated his writing to the national level. I mean what else will he contribute concerning other NBA teams? he said he doesn't watch any other team unless it's against the warriors. The nerve of this guy to call himself a 'basketball writer' and not a beat writer in his twitter bio. He changed it at the end of last season so he wouldn't look like a homer.

That's why Arash Markazi, who is a clippers beat writer is being promoted to the main nba on espn and espn radio show next season. Strauss is a homer because he's a diehard warriors fan from Oakland and was tired of watching the Spurs win their championships. So, now he tries to on the spurs every chance he gets with his 'hate hard' sidekick Amin. And the spurs being eliminated in the first round gave him alot of ammo.

[TD 21]

Spurs fan always mad at every take that doesn't favor the spurs.

That being said, I have them winning everything this year...But it isn't as bad of a take as people make it out to be IMO.

Agreed.

You guys are missing the point. It's not that the notion of the Warriors, Cavaliers, Thunder, Clippers or Rockets, being better is far fetched, it's the source.

In general, Elhassan knows his stuff, but his blatant bias for anything that has to do with the mid-late aughts Suns and against anything to do with the Spurs, makes him look petty and pathetic and ESPN should be embarrassed at the rampant homers (like the Warriors fan boy Strauss) they have working for them. I don't know why this has become acceptable.

His reasoning for a lot of what he said didn't even make sense. He talked about continuity, but ignored the fact that the Spurs are returning 7 of their top 8 players and significantly upgraded the one new addition to that mix, then turned around and boasted about the Thunder, who's projected rotation hasn't played a single game with their best player. He also acted like the Spurs aren't a proven commodity, but the Warriors, who've been good for five minutes and had the easiest path to a championship in at least recent memory, supposedly deserve some ultimate level of respect.

From acting like Aldridge isn't even among the elite PF's, to acting like he's Boozer/Lee defensively, to acting like Gentry will be a bigger addition than him, there were so many ridiculous statements made.

[Hoops Czar]

You guys are missing the point. It's not that the notion of the Warriors, Cavaliers, Thunder, Clippers or Rockets, being better is far fetched, it's the source.

Elhassan knows his stuff, but his blatant bias for anything that has to do with the mid-late aughts Suns and against anything to do with the Spurs, makes him look petty and pathetic and ESPN should be embarrassed at the rampant homers (like the Warriors fan boy Strauss) they have working for them. I don't know why this has become acceptable.

His reasoning for a lot of what he said didn't even make sense. He talked about continuity, but ignored the fact that the Spurs are returning 7 of their top 8 players and significantly upgraded the one new addition to that mix, then turned around and boasted about the Thunder, who's projected rotation hasn't played a single game with their best player. He also acted like the Spurs aren't a proven commodity, but the Warriors, who've been good for five minutes and had the easiest path to a championship in at least recent memory, supposedly deserve some ultimate level of respect.

Agreed. At least since the 2014 Spurs.

[apalisoc_9]

You guys are missing the point. It's not that the notion of the Warriors, Cavaliers, Thunder, Clippers or Rockets, being better is far fetched, it's the source.

Elhassan knows his stuff, but his blatant bias for anything that has to do with the mid-late aughts Suns and against anything to do with the Spurs, makes him look petty and pathetic and ESPN should be embarrassed at the rampant homers (like the Warriors fan boy Strauss) they have working for them. I don't know why this has become acceptable.

His reasoning for a lot of what he said didn't even make sense. He talked about continuity, but ignored the fact that the Spurs are returning 7 of their top 8 players and significantly upgraded the one new addition to that mix, then turned around and boasted about the Thunder, who's projected rotation hasn't played a single game with their best player. He also acted like the Spurs aren't a proven commodity, but the Warriors, who've been good for five minutes and had the easiest path to a championship in at least recent memory, supposedly deserve some ultimate level of respect.

I changed my mind tbh. I made a post following after that.

I really didn't read that article.

I was simply saying the idea of the spurs not being a top 5 team with all things considered isn't as terrible as some spurs fans make it out to be..

And yes I missed the whole point.

Outside of the Spurs, Elhassan knows his stuff though..

[TD 21]

Agreed. At least since the 2014 Spurs.

What are you talking about? The only relatively easy opponent they had relative to the round they played them in, was the Trail Blazers. They also had to go through the two best players in the league, at or perilously close to the peak of their powers.

[Hoops Czar]

What are you talking about? The only relatively easy opponent they had relative to the round they played them in, was the Trail Blazers. They also had to go through the two best players in the league, at or perilously close to the peak of their powers.

Dallas was an eighth seed and posed the greatest threat to the Spurs. Spurs played down to the level of the compe ion, sort of like the Clippers in 2015. Had it not been for fluky shots and shoddy defense, Spurs in 5. The Blazers literally had no shot going into the series and got blasted. The Thunder were without their best interior defender for the first two games of the series and the Spurs took every opportunity to destroy the Thunder in the paint en route to two lopsided victories. He returned for the remainder of the series but was hardly noticeable outside of game three. The Thunder got zero production from the bench most of the series. I still can't believe this series went 6. However, it would have been a much tougher series had OKC been healthy for that series. Miami was the best of the worst in the East. They were literally a .500 team since March 1st (all of this while trying desperately to catch a collapsing Pacers team for the #1 seed), coasted into the playoffs and were even less impressive once they got there if that were even possible. Chalmers played like D-league garbage, D-Wade and Bosh were both inconsistent, they had zero bench depth and relied too heavily on Lebron and his falling off a cliff defense. That was arguably one of the worst defensive teams I've seen in a finals series in recent memory. I can't remember all of the predictions but, most picked the Spurs to win convincingly in 5 or 6.

[Spurtacular]

Who had the Rockets as the #2 seed this time last year, after missing out on Bosh and losing Parsons? Who can guarantee that Davis' improvent along with Gentry won't catapult NO to elite territory? Who can guarantee health for the Spurs throughout 2016? Not me, on all 3 counts.

Rockets were pretenders that exceeded all expectations. They're still the equivalent of a first round and out team.

[SpursFan86]

You guys are missing the point. It's not that the notion of the Warriors, Cavaliers, Thunder, Clippers or Rockets, being better is far fetched, it's the source.

In general, Elhassan knows his stuff, but his blatant bias for anything that has to do with the mid-late aughts Suns and against anything to do with the Spurs, makes him look petty and pathetic and ESPN should be embarrassed at the rampant homers (like the Warriors fan boy Strauss) they have working for them. I don't know why this has become acceptable.

His reasoning for a lot of what he said didn't even make sense. He talked about continuity, but ignored the fact that the Spurs are returning 7 of their top 8 players and significantly upgraded the one new addition to that mix, then turned around and boasted about the Thunder, who's projected rotation hasn't played a single game with their best player. He also acted like the Spurs aren't a proven commodity, but the Warriors, who've been good for five minutes and had the easiest path to a championship in at least recent memory, supposedly deserve some ultimate level of respect.

From acting like Aldridge isn't even among the elite PF's, to acting like he's Boozer/Lee defensively, to acting like Gentry will be a bigger addition than him, there were so many ridiculous statements made.

Yeah I later said in another post that the reasoning behind it was terrible, but the opinion itself isn't that bad. To be fair though, you know tons of people here would freak out over it regardless of who said it

FWIW, Voulgaris (extremely knowledgeable fan, has made a fortune off betting on the NBA) also said there is a possibility the Spurs won't be top 5:

[Obi Juan Kenobi]

Agreed. At least since the 2014 Spurs.

Even though they didn't win the le, the 2013 Spurs had an easier path to the Finals itself, with Golden State being the trouble series and the Lakers series being essentially a first round bye...

[dweaver99027]

Rockets were pretenders that exceeded all expectations. They're still the equivalent of a first round and out team.

That's what they SHOULD have been. The final outcome was different. That is what matters, and that is my point.

[Spurtacular]

When the Spurs were looking like they'd nail down the two seed last year, the media was calling them the team to beat in the playoffs (despite GS's great regular season). They upgrade their team and they're no longer top five? That makes no sense to me. If there's any team that deserves a benefit of the (alleged) doubt, too, it's the Spurs.

Posters have put forth that this is a hater doing his hating. I concur...

But this is also about getting web hits. That's why the le of their hit job was Spurs not top five rather than Pels are top five.

Posters wondering why ESPN allows this guy to give his crappy take? That's why in large part.

[dweaver99027]

When the Spurs were looking like they'd nail down the two seed last year, the media was calling them the team to beat in the playoffs (despite GS's great regular season). They upgrade their team and they're no longer top five? That makes no sense to me. If there's any team that deserves a benefit of the (alleged) doubt, too, it's the Spurs. Posters have put forth that this is a hater doing his hating. I concur... But this is also about getting web hits. That's why the le of their hit job was Spurs not top five rather than Pels are top five. Posters wondering why ESPN allows this guy to give his crappy take? That's why in large part.

This I agree with. There's no point in all media guys predicting the same things. They have to differentiate ,and maybe hit the jackpot in the end.

[TD 21]

Dallas was an eighth seed and posed the greatest threat to the Spurs. Spurs played down to the level of the compe ion, sort of like the Clippers in 2015. Had it not been for fluky shots and shoddy defense, Spurs in 5. The Blazers literally had no shot going into the series and got blasted. The Thunder were without their best interior defender for the first two games of the series and the Spurs took every opportunity to destroy the Thunder in the paint en route to two lopsided victories. He returned for the remainder of the series but was hardly noticeable outside of game three. The Thunder got zero production from the bench most of the series. I still can't believe this series went 6. However, it would have been a much tougher series had OKC been healthy for that series. Miami was the best of the worst in the East. They were literally a .500 team since March 1st (all of this while trying desperately to catch a collapsing Pacers team for the #1 seed), coasted into the playoffs and were even less impressive once they got there if that were even possible. Chalmers played like D-league garbage, D-Wade and Bosh were both inconsistent, they had zero bench depth and relied too heavily on Lebron and his falling off a cliff defense. That was arguably one of the worst defensive teams I've seen in a finals series in recent memory. I can't remember all of the predictions but, most picked the Spurs to win convincingly in 5 or 6.

The Thunder posed the greatest threat to the Spurs.

I'm not saying the Mavericks were some great team, I'm saying relative to a typical bottom few seed 1st round team, they were solid. Most of those types are young and just happy to be in the playoffs.

I already conceded that the Trail Blazers were a slightly sub par 2nd round team, at least by West standards.

The Thunder were a strong Conference Finals team and even though the Ibaka injury didn't help, he still played 2/3rds of the series and the Spurs had to close them out without what many still thought was their best player at the time.

The Heat were on fumes and weren't what they were in '12 and '13, but they were still led by probably the 2nd best player ever, at the tail end of his prime.

If you want to criticize a Spurs championship path, '07 is the easy target; saying '14 is just stupid.

To be fair though, you know tons of people here would freak out over it regardless of who said it

FWIW, Voulgaris (extremely knowledgeable fan, has made a fortune off betting on the NBA) also said there is a possibility the Spurs won't be top 5:

Maybe so, but I don't blame them, since a lot of the credit is backhanded. Making fun of Spurs fans for pulling the "we don't get enough credit" card has become more predictable and prevalent than Spurs fans pulling that card themselves.

This is the most doubted so called "super team" since that term began to get thrown around, even though it's the most accomplished of the bunch, yet the Warriors and their five minutes of being a great team are supposedly iron clad.

Because there are six top five caliber teams, of course there's a possibility they won't be in it, but the odds of them being top three are greater than them not being top five.

[Spurtacular]

This I agree with. There's no point in all media guys predicting the same things. They have to differentiate ,and maybe hit the jackpot in the end.

Not just differentiation. Media likes shock value....

Also, there has to be a significant amount of Spurs haters out there that like to see this....

[dweaver99027]

Readers like shock value, and the media provides. I doubt 'Spurs hating' is anything the media can milk for hits, considering that the Spurs are the darlings of the average NBA fan ever since 2013.

[TheGreatYacht]

Nah. Ethan was never as cool as anyone from Grantland especially someone respected like Zach Lowe. Strauss is/has/will always be a Warriors beat writer. He hasn't elevated his writing to the national level. I mean what else will he contribute concerning other NBA teams? he said he doesn't watch any other team unless it's against the warriors. The nerve of this guy to call himself a 'basketball writer' and not a beat writer in his twitter bio. He changed it at the end of last season so he wouldn't look like a homer.

That's why Arash Markazi, who is a clippers beat writer is being promoted to the main nba on espn and espn radio show next season. Strauss is a homer because he's a diehard warriors fan from Oakland and was tired of watching the Spurs win their championships. So, now he tries to on the spurs every chance he gets with his 'hate hard' sidekick Amin. And the spurs being eliminated in the first round gave him alot of ammo.

Preach. Didn't know that clown grew up in Oakland dude had a lot of built up frustration seeing the most consistent franchise in history from a far, while his team went through a 40yr drought..

[rjv]

He used to work in the Suns front office before getting his current gig. That's all you need to know. As for his partner in crime, he lost a bet and had to agree with his friend.

no doubt. lot of hatorade in phoenix; see also jerry colangelo and eddie johnson

[ThaBigFundamental21]

I know I'm a minority here, but I really believe Aldridge is going to be a lot better than advertised on Defense. I just feel under Pop in an elite system he will wreak havoc on the opposing PnR game. I know it's a cliche that Defense is more effort than talent, but I believe that and I feel Pop will mold Aldridge into a good defender. Time will tell.

[RD2191]

Spurs turned Tiago and Baynes into LMA and D West. How the can the Spurs be worse than last season?

[Mikeanaro]

THATS BECAUSE WE TRADED PAUL GEORGE! OH WHY! OH WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RayTdropout]

Screw these guys. You are always gonna have haters when you are the best.