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Which current NBA player would have the most value on the open market ?..

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Comments

  • PTDawgPTDawg Posts: 2,169 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Embiid disappears at times to me. He can be dominant but other times you forget he's even on the court. If I'm the GM, pass.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    No, LeBron at 24 does not bully Giannis. Giannis is bigger now at 24 than LeBron was AND more athletic which sounds ludicrous but it's true. Also, and this is sure to send chills down the spine of EVERY TEAM IN THE ASSOCIATION. Giannis can and I believe will get exponentially better over the next several years leading into his prime. His ball handling, 3 point and mid-range shooting (Not that he needs a mid-range game), passing and basketball IQ will all improve greatly and he'll have some serious grown man strength by age 28 so the league has never seen anything like this before. Except LeBron but this kid is gonna b better I think.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    AugDawg69. Emiid is a heck of a talent, but I'm not sure he makes his teammates better. No doubt Giannis does.

  • SquillDawgSquillDawg Posts: 1,438 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Gianni's wasn't even the best player in the series. Never in a million years would a LeBron team of the past 15 years lose a series to a team like Toronto. Basically, I told you so.

  • TMazz2009TMazz2009 Posts: 1,085 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    LeBron has killed a lot of careers along his way. Players performed better with MJ but the guys with Lebron turn to trash. Love went from 20 and 13 to garbage. Heck, Bosh went from what many thought of as a guy who could end up the best PF in the game to a TV announcer with Lebron's help.

    P.s. The Lebron offense carries much of the blame. Also why he was lucky to have even ever beaten the Warriors at all.

    As far as Giannis, this series proved he has some work to do. Now he has some tools to be great....just have to sharpen those tools.

  • donmdonm Posts: 10,241 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Giannis should be a lesson for young Claxton. Develop your game while you are young, especially a dependable shot.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Bosh's efficiency went up in Miami, but there's only one ball to share. You're not going to be the feature player on offense if you're a teammate of Lebron's, that's for sure. Lebron has nothing to do with Bosh retiring, he didn't lose ability just because James was in the vicinity. Kevin Love made a big career mistake going to Cleveland, his game did not mesh with Lebron's at all. Still, every team Lebron has been on has been FAR better with than without him. We see now GS might actually be better without Durant. If you're a fan you'd always be better off with James on your team. If you're a player who wants or needs to be the focus on offense you won't get that playing with LJ.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    If you look at my post in this thread from May 17th my only question was whether Giannis has the Bird, Magic, MJ, Bill Russell drive to be THE champion. In this series he didn't, Leonard seemed to want it more.

  • SquillDawgSquillDawg Posts: 1,438 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    @WCDawg good post. I agree with everything you said and it was well said.

  • judasdurantjudasdurant Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    held my tongue till the end of the series, so i wouldn't have to bite it. Giannis cannot be the answer to this question until he develops a outside shot and learns how to shoot some free throws. I posted his free throw results from the raptors series. God ****. Lebron was never close to this bad at free throw, this is like shaq level bad. He was also, literally, the worst 3pt shooter in the league this year of anyone with as many attempts as him. Giannis shot 25% from three this year.


    Maybe Durant has been shown to not be that valuable to the warriors this postseason. but as much as i hate him, He is still the answer to this question. he's 90% of what Giannis is athletically and the same height. Not as strong physically as Giannis, but he's an all time shooter.

    The one this i know is until he develops something resembling a shot, Giannis isn't the answer to this question. Maybe he will, but till then, it's a shooters league.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited May 2019

    Durant can shoot and hit free throws yet GS might be better without him. Giannis does so many things at an elite level I still think he's the best young player in the game.

    That said. He hasn't passed the one test I mentioned before, does he have the makeup of a Bird, Magic, MJ, Russell or Lebron ? It looked like Leonard out willed him in The Conference Finals.

    Also Giannis hit 73% of his free throws and had a 59.99% effective shooting percentage this season. It's easy to just look at the stat sheets of one series and draw conclusions, but the guy isn't a low percentage shooter. As far as athletes, Giannis is far superior to Durant.

  • mantis_toboggan69mantis_toboggan69 Posts: 264 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    I’ll add on to this by saying that age is a huge factor in all of this. Giannis is 24. KD is 30. MJ and LeBron both didn’t win there first title until they were 27. He will continue to develop, he will continue to adjust to playoff basketball, and his shot percentages will improve.

    Barring injury, Giannis should hit his peak 3 or so years from now and maintain it for 6 or 7 years. In that same time, KD will be nearing the end of his.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Good post mantis. I'll say again though, Giannis has a 59% effective shooting rate, for the 2018/2019 season. Durant has a 57% effective shooting rate. Giannis does drive to the basket more, but is that a negative ? The kid needs shooters on the court with him to keep defenses from collapsing inside, but he's very good at the drive and dish option.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I think this Toronto team is better overall than any of LeBrons Cavalier teams. Those Cavs teams really didn't offer up very much resistance to Golden State defensively as their roster was littered with guys with defensive limitations so Toronto represents far more of a 2 way threat to the Warriors than James Cavs ever did IMO and that includes the Cavs title team in 2015/16 that somewhat miraculously toppled the Warriors.

    .

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