Social WR Lounge v 233, I Did Warn You This Was Coming

[Trotsky]

This is not a serious party example 10393

BTW, @PolishHeadlock2 FWIW I hate Jim Jordan more than any other Republican. Besides having a super human lack of shame, the guy is just a moron.

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

BTW, @PolishHeadlock2 FWIW I hate Jim Jordan more than any other Republican. Besides having a super human lack of shame, the guy is just a moron.

Him being a moron is why I loathe Kennedy more.

 

[Jack V Savage]

@Chillin' Nuts Going okay. Just strumming along on my old Johnson. Just mastered the Free Bird solo, acoustic redux

Party of Personal Responsibility to Call for Congressional Hearing on Why They Shouldn't Be Held Responsible Ever and It's Not Fair If They Are

It's also crazy that they pose as defenders of free speech. I already got into the totally bananas Twitter thing, where Republicans were trying to push the idea that taking over a site because it criticized the president was *pro* free speech (good piece here). But then you got stuff like this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/02/24/tennessee-gop-anthem-protest/

And much more. It's not just hypocritical for rightists to pretend to care about freedom of speech; it's the exact opposite of reality, and it depends on totally redefining the concept in a way that makes it hard to discuss it.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

That Boston team was already all guys at the tail end of their career like I said.

Barkley was traded after spending nearly a decade on one of the worst teams in the league. His prime? He had a back injury and rapidly declined after one year there. Not sure who the third All-Star he joined was, but Majerle and Johnson were like second team/alternate guys, not HOF guys like Wade or AD. Only Barkley made the All-Star team when they went to the Finals iirc.

The prime of an NBA player is considered to be 27-32. Pierce, Allen, and Garnet were 30, 32, and 31.

Charles was 29 when he forced his way out of Philly and went to PHX, and he won the MVP that year. Tom Chambers made all-star teams as well. If you think being traded, rather than arriving as a FA means a super-team wasn't "assembled" by the star player, and HOF matters but all-stars don't, then that undermines the LeBron criticism. At best you can complain about Miami, where he chose to go to Wade's team. But Cleveland had a young Kyrie who hadn't done shit, then traded for a stat-padding Kevin Love. LeBron then joined the Lakers, who had zero established talent. The team later traded for AD.

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

The prime of an NBA player is considered to be 27-32. Pierce, Allen, and Garnet were 30, 32, and 31.

Charles was 29 when he forced his way out of Philly and went to PHX, and he won the MVP that year. Tom Chambers made all-star teams as well. If you think being traded, rather than arriving as a FA means a super-team wasn't "assembled" by the star player, and HOF matters but all-stars don't, then that undermines the LeBron criticism. At best you can complain about Miami, where he chose to go to Wade's team. But Cleveland had a young Kyrie who hadn't done shit, then traded for a stat-padding Kevin Love. LeBron then joined the Lakers, who had zero established talent. The team later traded for AD.

The whole idea that players shouldn't want to play with other great players is absurd imo

The idea that team accomplishments determine individual greatness in any sport is even more fucking absurd imo

 

[LazaRRus]

I'd love RoLo. Not interested in Blake.

Don't know how much Ariza has left, but the good version of him would be perfect. Haven't seen enough of Porter to have an opinion. The criteria is simple though, can you make KL and PG work for their shots.

Don't think Blake has anything left. Injuries took athleticism away.

Ariza is a good glue guy and he knows the system. Porter is good. He can help out anyone as two way player. Porter can definitely do that

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

The whole idea that players shouldn't want to play with other great players is absurd imo

The idea that team accomplishments determine individual greatness in any sport is even more fucking absurd imo

I'd rather make less money, have less impressive stats, and be winner.

That's all because of Jordan and how his rings are used to justify him as GOAT. Stoking that narrative fueled the league's growth in popularity.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Don't think Blake has anything left. Injuries took athleticism away.

Ariza is a good glue guy and he knows the system. Porter is good. He can help out anyone as two way player. Porter can definitely do that

Then give me RoLo and Porter, since Ariza's been sitting at home all year. No real weaknesses after that, provided they're not slumping from 3pt land like this past month. With the depth, Frank has plenty of room to make adjustments. And anyone watching his moves in last year's title run should have confidence in his ability on that front.

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

I'd rather make less money, have less impressive stats, and be winner.

That's all because of Jordan and how his rings are used to justify him as GOAT. Stoking that narrative fueled the league's growth in popularity.

But the argument was originally used to disparage Jordan early in his career. People said he wasn't as good as Magic because he couldn't get past the Pistons.

And it's not like Jordan got much better between his 7th and 8th season. He got Pippin and a better coach

 

[Andy Capp]

It's also crazy that they pose as defenders of free speech. I already got into the totally bananas Twitter thing, where Republicans were trying to push the idea that taking over a site because it criticized the president was *pro* free speech (good piece here). But then you got stuff like this:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/02/24/tennessee-gop-anthem-protest/

And much more. It's not just hypocritical for rightists to pretend to care about freedom of speech; it's the exact opposite of reality, and it depends on totally redefining the concept in a way that makes it hard to discuss it.

Well, it's always going to be hard to discuss reality with a delusional person, to be fair.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

But the argument was originally used to disparage Jordan early in his career. People said he wasn't as good as Magic because he couldn't get past the Pistons.

And it's not like Jordan got much better between his 7th and 8th season. He got Pippin and a better coach

True. Didn't he get knocked out by Boston a time or two also?

Funny how people overlook Kareem and Russel when touting that standard. What's really stupid to me is the 6-0 in the finals argument. 6-1 beats it. There's not really a case to be made that losing in the earlier rounds is somehow better than winning.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Well, it's always going to be hard to discuss reality with a delusional person, to be fair.

It's not that, though. People throw around the term "Orwellian," a lot with little understanding of what it means. But when we talk about Newspeak, and the kinds of things he was really concerned about, this is a real example. When people say, "I'm for freedom of speech so I think the gov't should take over websites that criticize the president," they're not quite lying and not quite delusional. The way terms are being used makes it hard to think about or discuss the reality, which is that they're not comfortable with politicians they support being criticized. Or generally that they have emotional difficulty dealing with criticism and thus feel unfree when they're criticized and that preventing them from being criticized is a pro-freedom-of-speech position. So people who haven't followed as the language has "evolved," can't even talk to them about it. This is why I thought it would be a good debate subject (where we could really carefully examine every claim), but Cubo pussed out.

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

@Rebelfett worth the team point?

 

[PolishHeadlock2]

True. Didn't he get knocked out by Boston a time or two also?

Funny how people overlook Kareem and Russel when touting that standard. What's really stupid to me is the 6-0 in the finals argument. 6-1 beats it. There's not really a case to be made that losing in the earlier rounds is somehow better than winning.

*like

I don't think the NBA has a GOAT. Nobody except maybe Wilt really separated themselves from the field the way Babe Ruth (before Bonds) did back in the day or Gretzky did.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

@PolishHeadlock2

To further that point on winning titles, I don't think at that time the standard of sheer number of them was so entrenched. But yeah, you kinda needed 1-2 to get in the discussion. If Jordan had only three to Magic's five, I doubt that diminishes his support much. I could make the case that Magic's 5-4 finals record is more impressive, since he had to beat great teams and lost to great teams. Jordan thrived in the expansion era, and outside of an aging Laker team with no Kareem, who'd he play? Utah is notable, but in 18 years of Stockton/Malone never got over the hump.

 

[LazaRRus]

Then give me RoLo and Porter, since Ariza's been sitting at home all year. No real weaknesses after that, provided they're not slumping from 3pt land like this past month. With the depth, Frank has plenty of room to make adjustments. And anyone watching his moves in last year's title run should have confidence in his ability on that front.

Completely agree. I think you'd love Porter honestly. He can guard 4 positions

 

[Jesus H. Sherdog]

The prime of an NBA player is considered to be 27-32. Pierce, Allen, and Garnet were 30, 32, and 31.

Charles was 29 when he forced his way out of Philly and went to PHX, and he won the MVP that year. Tom Chambers made all-star teams as well. If you think being traded, rather than arriving as a FA means a super-team wasn't "assembled" by the star player, and HOF matters but all-stars don't, then that undermines the LeBron criticism. At best you can complain about Miami, where he chose to go to Wade's team. But Cleveland had a young Kyrie who hadn't done shit, then traded for a stat-padding Kevin Love. LeBron then joined the Lakers, who had zero established talent. The team later traded for AD.

You make good points.

Prime for every player is different. Garnett had spent over a decade with a broke-dick franchise before leaving. And I do think that makes a difference.

And yes, Miami is what I’m referring to. The main problem is the collusion (which I admit was an issue with the Celtics team also) which is against the rules but not enforced. And the other issue is LeBron is the best player in the league. Usually it’s guys trying to play catch-up who do it.

The whole idea that players shouldn't want to play with other great players is absurd imo

The idea that team accomplishments determine individual greatness in any sport is even more fucking absurd imo

I don’t think they shouldn’t want to play with other great players.

Nor do I think team accomplishments determine individual greatness. It’s that thinking though that Spurs all these guys to want to be on “super teams” for their entire careers now.

I don’t think it’s good overall for the league, nor do I think LeBron has been a good leader for the league.

 

[StoneColdSteveAustin]

Him being a moron is why I loathe Kennedy more.

@Trotsky and for Polish obviously.
Honestly are Kennedy and Jordan worse than Cruz, Graham, Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio.

I get where you’re coming from but these guys are all interchangeable. They’re all awful. Some worse than others I guess. I can’t stomach Ron Johnson.

Then you have Guys like Louie Gohmert. Does it really get much worse than Louie?

 

[LazaRRus]

*like

I don't think the NBA has a GOAT. Nobody except maybe Wilt really separated themselves from the field the way Babe Ruth (before Bonds) did back in the day or Gretzky did.

You mean after Brian Scalabrine of course

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

*like

I don't think the NBA has a GOAT. Nobody except maybe Wilt really separated themselves from the field the way Babe Ruth (before Bonds) did back in the day or Gretzky did.

I agree. Wilt at his peak was so statistically absurd that people just sort of wash it away. Kareem had more success in the NBA and college than MJ and was indisputably a dominant force. Magic won everywhere he went and elevated everyone's play with his own. Russel's team won almost every year. Olajuwon could carry a team on offense and defense in the paint. I think it's easy to say Jordan is the greatest SG ever, followed by Kobe. If you're going to fill out an actual roster that respects positions then those two are on the all-time team. Center would be tough. PG is Magic. Probably have to put LBJ at SF. PF is open for debate. Duncan's team success looks great, but I don't know his skillset necessarily puts him ahead of Malone or KG. With the trend in floor spacing I think AD might be more desirable with his ability to guard 1-5.