NBA Playoffs Thread - Play-in and 1st round edition

[KingSpeed]

Then its a total fail of Cronin to acquire Hart on an expiring contract as the main player in the trade for CJ. Cronin should've gauged then if Hart was never going to resign in Portland. It was totally different than Aldridge playing 9 years in Portland.

Amazing how some posters find a way to defend Cronin when they bitch endlessly about Olshey making moves that might have even been better.

Cronin signs Nurkic and an injured GP2 for huge contracts but trades away Hart who is the perfect far superior two way player. The Blazers have desperately needed two way players around Dame for seemingly a decade, its either CJ/Ant/Melo/Kanter offensive types who have horrible D - or Aminu/Harkless/Turner/Davis defenders with no offense. The one year the Blazers had legit two way role players in Hood/Collins/Curry they make the freaking conference finals.

You are right. We’ve never recovered from Collins and Hood getting hurt and we never replaced Curry.

 

[Strenuus]

I defend good moves and I criticize bad moves. Neil made horrible moves in the Meyers/Turner free agency summer and I said he should be fired for that. I've said Cronin did great in drafting Sharpe from the moment of the draft.

I talked much more highly of Olshey than Cronin as we had a team that had been a 3rd seed twice, reached the conference finals, and seemingly was a Paul George level SF away from contending. I wanted better basketball moves done, but I was extremely concerned if we fired Olshey we'd end up in an even worse position.

Guess where we are now 2 years after Olshey; in a worse position. I was excited of the opportunity this franchise had when firing Olshey, we could hire a great GM, we could add the right pieces or do a proper full roster turnover and build toward something great. I was fine with making a run to win now with Dame or to rebuild long term for youth, either road could be enjoyable if executed well.

I was hoping the team would just have Cronin do minor changes and do an extensive great GM search in the offseason where they could throw a large contract to the best candidate to build a contender. In the meantime Cronin would just take advantage of flipping players for assets, such as what Chad Buchanan did. Chad traded Gerald Wallace on an expiring contract for the pick that became Damian Lillard. I don't expect that, but I expect something if we are trading away players and losing the flexibility of their spot. If Cronin could trade some of those vets for good value then fine; if not then just keep them and let a great GM hire do all the final retooling/contending/rebuilding choices later on. But that's not what we got at all. It started with a horrible decision of Jody to empower and or direct Cronin.

The devastating part of the Clippers trade was it foreshadowed all of Cronin's incompetence's. He couldn't negotiate well, he couldn't plan ahead, how he/Jody/Vulcan had a mandate to cut costs instead of add talent, how he had no patience to wait for a better trade. There was no good reason to agree to an inferior Clippers trade a week ahead of the deadline, it was a rookie GM in over his head and panicking. It foreshadowed how the team would have less flexibility to improve the roster, it foreshadowed how talent (even with flaws) was being dumped with no possibility of good veterans or long term youth returning. Cronin was selling benefits (cap flexibility, expiring contracts, salary cap space, Ben Simmons additions) that any knowledgeable NBA expert would know is not a good path to build with in Portland.

So the Neil haters got their wish of change for the sake of change. I got my fear of the franchise even worse off than when Neil with all his many faults was here.

Just what you wanted! You should be happy.

 

[Portland2014]

Lillard is in the TOP 75 players ever list and Butler isn't, that tells you something about the importance of the narrative

Butler is a far superior playoffs performer than Dame but isn't as marketed as Lillard

 

[Chris Craig]

Huh? But if they don’t make it to next round, they’ll already be out. Warriors/Lakers series would be great for NBA

I'm just saying it means one of their darlings loses the chances to win a championship, be in the WCF, etc. No doubt it would get ratings.

 

[Chris Craig]

MJ didn't have the longevity. He entered the league older, rested a few years for baseball, and was not close to as good in Washington as old LeBron is now. I'd take MJ's peak years over any, although LeBron was pretty freaking awesome his last years in Miami and first few with his second stint in Cleveland.

Really you can build a super team with either player. MJ might be the superior player if he had great defending teammates. LeBron might be superior if he had offensive all-star teammates, he's more like Magic than Mike.

Fair enough. Just saying a prime Jordan is better than a prime Lebron. Jordan also liked to play mind games. He would get in Lebron's head easy.

 

[Chris Craig]

He IS old by NBA standards. One of the oldest players in the NBA. That’s not a put down. It’s a fact.

Yep, a few years from retirement.

 

[Strenuus]

Lillard is in the TOP 75 players ever list and Butler isn't, that tells you something about the importance of the narrative

Butler is a far superior playoffs performer than Dame but isn't as marketed as Lillard

Wut?

 

[wizenheimer]

three elimination games tonight

I'm thinking all three teams down 3-1 will lose

 

[STOMP]

But but but Dillon Brooks says he’s old and I believe a couple on this site believe that also?

By NBA standards, who here doesn't believe he's old? Dude is the 3rd oldest active player in the league and I suspect the two older guys (Haslem, Iguadala) will both retire after this season.

STOMP

 

[Pinwheel1]

It always amazes me how unprepared teams are when there is a jump ball. It looks like no one practices it because they rarely happen.

 

[illmatic99]

Celtics have no business losing this game w/o Murray

 

[Pinwheel1]

Celtics have no business losing this game w/o Murray

yeah that was a pretty bad choke job in the 4th

 

[illmatic99]

Kawhi is such an enigma. Is he even on the bench?

Wonder what the Clips do this summer. Kawhi is unreliable and PG is becoming increasingly injury prone even if he's more available than his teammate.

 

[KingSpeed]

Great finish by Trae. There could be a lot of Game 7s this weekend.

 

[KingSpeed]

Celtics have no business losing this game w/o Murray

Why? Hawks are very deep. I expected them to win.

 

[KingSpeed]

three elimination games tonight

I'm thinking all three teams down 3-1 will lose

Clips prob will but Wolves have a chance.

 

[illmatic99]

Why? Hawks are very deep. I expected them to win.

At home in a closeout game against a vastly inferior team?

 

[Mediocre Man]

Apparently there is some sort of coach exchange program going on where Chauncey got to coach the Celtics tonight. That was ugly

 

[DDolla]

Playoffs basketball is just amazing

 

[AldoTrapani]

Told ya about Porter Jr years ago.. superstar

 

[DDolla]

Twolves going toe to toe with the Nuggets. Edward’s is crazy

 

[AldoTrapani]

Nuggets!! Told ya about this team back when we were falling off

 

[Pinwheel1]

Another good ending. This is a good game for sure

 

[DDolla]

Anthony Edwards at 21 is a Star

 

[Chris Craig]

Watch Lue is going to get fired and Chauncey is going to hire him as his assistant.

 

[DDolla]

Phoenix vs Denver… Super Team vs Jokic, can’t wait

 

[noknobs]

Westbrook should be kicked out, what a little bitch.

 

[Chris Craig]

Phoenix vs Denver… Super Team vs Jokic, can’t wait

Super team lite

 

[Chris Craig]

Westbrook should be kicked out, what a little bitch.

Biyombo keeps grabbing the wrong shoulder.

 

[Chris Craig]

Westbrook fucking his team of the year yet again.