Official Detroit Pistons thread

[chemiclord]

What Durant has shown in Golden State is that he CAN dominate the ball, and succeed doing so, he doesn't HAVE to in order to be effective and stay engaged. Westbrook and Harden have to, but Westbrook takes it up a notch further in that he is actively destructive when he doesn't control the ball (for example, fighting his own teammates for rebounds and shunning open shooters because they didn't defer to him in the past).

Harden just turns completely passive, which is still obnoxious but can be worked with.

[froot loops]

Yeah you can have one guy dominate the ball, not three. A guy like Durant needs someone like Curry who can be extremely effective on offense without the ball. Durant doesn't dominate the ball that much in Golden State, but he does do it and their offense isn't as good then.

[Futureshock]

I do agree with you Froot that the Warriors are being smashed, wrongly, for the Association's foibles. There should be a little more control by the teams to hold on to talent though. The players "seem" to have more control.

I also think that there should be more then one way to win a championship. Right now the team that hit's more 3s will win.

I liked the big men like Kareem and Lanier. And even Parrish. I know you disagree, but it (physicality) was a way to neutralize faster, more athletic players.

[froot loops]

You can't manufacture Kareem or Lanier, the rules don't prevent them from appearing. The fact is a lot of basketball strategy of what you and I grew up watching was terribly inefficient. It's not like there is a Jabber out there but can't play because of the rules. Guys like that are rare and nowadays they learn to shoot 3s. The pure post players aren't coming back, but that isn't the fault of the NBA.

It's easy to become very nostalgic for the old days, but the physicality also explains the 90s and the early aughts, that basketball was awful. You can't talk about Showtime and ignore the awful Knicks style of Riley.

The bottom line is no matter how you structure a basketball league, you won't achieve parity like they have in MLB or the NFL as long as you only need 8 players. The parity people want is not all that popular. The biggest era of NBA parity was the 70's and nobody looks back longingly at that era.

[fontes91]

You can bring back post play, just take away the 3, which wasn't there when Lanier played (except in the ABA). You would also see a mid-range game come back. But everyone loves the 3 so it won't go away.

[CGVT]

The three has completely changed the game, at all levels. Attacking the basket is a thing of the past and the pick and roll has turned into the pick and pop.
I guess that's OK...

[chemiclord]

I wouldn't say attacking the basket is a thing of the past. It's more that you have to be in control enough to kick the ball out to the open shooter more than just charging in looking to finish. Lebron and Durant, for example, still use dribble penetration as their bread and butter. Harden and Westbrook can do it too, just to lesser degrees.

[jaadam4]

[chemiclord]

When you consider that Westbrook was playing specifically for himself to get those triple doubles, it's honestly not all that impressive. I can think of a handful of players who could do that if they were willing to go to the lengths of selfish play that Westbrook did. He actively hurt his team and their chances of winning chasing his personal stats.

[froot loops]

Averaging a triple double is great, but it doesn't mean shit for winning a title. Hero ball, Curry is much more impressive that Russ.

[chemiclord]

Wanna know why "superteams" form?

Devin Booker makes as much money as Lebron James now.

[fontes91]

Averaging a triple double is great, but it doesn't mean shit for winning a title. Hero ball, Curry is much more impressive that Russ.

I agree -- Oscar Robertson won nothing while averaging a triple double. He dominated the ball just like Westbrook. It took a young Lew Alcindor to help Big O get a ring.

[froot loops]

The max contract is kind of stupid, it has the tendency to depress salaries of the best players and has the weird magnetic effect of drawing salaries upward on other players that really shouldn't be getting max salaries. Booker is a very good player but right now he's a stat padder on a tanking team. It's hard to tell with these type of players, if they show promise the default answer is to give them the max.

A lot of these contracts don't last long before they become albatrosses.

[jaadam4]

Pretty much

[fontes91]

I've given up all hope for Ellenson.