« Reply #60 on: May 23, 2017, 08:51:42 AM »
Anthony will be in the HOF. Wade will be in the HOF (Rondo and Butler might get there as well). Guys like George have a great shot at making the HOF though he hasn't done enough yet (someone like DeRozan or Wall has a lot of work to do but could get there). Take George and the Pacers who played the Cavs this year. Teague is a former all star. Ellis and Jefferson near all star players for years. Turner is an up and coming player. Young solid vet. How is Indiana any different than Atlanta with Nique? What because Nique was a 1 man show with a great playoff series that somehow makes Atlanta a great team. That is just nonsense. Westbrook averaged a triple double I guess that means OKC was a title contender. Chris Paul is a top 5 PG in league history and plays on a team with 2 other All NBA level players and they have never made a conference finals.
The 80's had 2 super teams and at various points had a 3rd (Sixers early and Pistons late). The Rockets were a very strong team though not a super team. Those are the only 5 teams to make the Finals in the entire decade. Some of that is because those teams were that good but a large portion of that is the other teams just weren't very good even if they had a star (like Nique). I mean Tree Rollins and Randy Wittman were the other 2 starters for the Hawks. The bench was Spud Webb, Antoine Carr, Cliff Levingston, John Battle, and Scott Hastings. Does that strike you as a great team? Does that strike you as a team that should in anyway challenge a Celtics team with Bird, McHale, Parrish, Johnson, Ainge, Lewis, Acres, Gilmore, Minnifield, Roberts, and Paxson? And frankly the only reason it was even a series was the age of the big 3. 2 years earlier with basically the same starters it was a 5 game series and Nique did nothing. That is much more representative of those respective teams.
that Hawks team is a retro team you can play with in 2k17 (the most popular NBA video game platform. There is not a going to be a Pacers retro team from 2016-2017 in nba2k37. The Hawks was a memorable team with some very good players. This Pacers team will not even be remembered next year by the playoffs. The pacers team with Hibbert, George, Hill, Stephenson was actually a memorable and good team. There are not good teams this year in the east. Not even decent ones. It is a joke. They have been boring playoffs. Mentioning Melo who did not make the playoffs and a washed up Wade who was the 3rd best player on his team as being in the HOF are completely relevant. Again Why are you arguing this? The East is awful this year any way you look at it.
The Hawks are a retro team because of Nique who was one of the most dynamic scorers in league history. At the time of that series he was 28 and just made his 3rd all star team (3 all league teams as well). Doc Rivers made 1 all star team. Kevin Willis made 1 all star team (after the Boston series you mentioned). No one else on that team was even close. Paul George is 26 just had his 4th all star season and like Nique had 3 All league teams (George also has 3 all defense team appearances something Nique never had). Like Rivers, Jeff Teague has made an all star team. Myles Turner sure looks like a multiple time all star in the making (unlike Willis who really had a fluke season his lone all star season). Thad Young is better than Rollins or Wittman and unlike any of those other Hawks both Ellis and Jefferson had multiple seasons of near all star level play. I would expect the Pacers to beat that Hawks team if they played in a series though Nique is the best player in that series so you could never count him out.
More nonsense from you. You mention SUCH irrelevant stuff and distract from the larger point.
As a starting point Ellis and Jefferson are completely washed up and irrelevant. Monta Ellis scored in double figures once in the playoffs and had games of 1 and 0 points. How does his presence or the fact that 6 years ago he was a good player mean anything? Al Jefferson DID NOT EVEN PLAY IN THE POSTSEASON. Do you realize this?
Now that we dealt with hour freshest pile of irrelevant crap, how about you actually answer the question: There are not good teams this year in the east. Not even decent ones. It is a joke. They have been boring playoffs. Mentioning Melo who did not make the playoffs and a washed up Wade who was the 3rd best player on his team as being in the HOF are completely relevant. Again Why are you arguing this?
because of your nonsense about mediocre teams from yore. George averaged 28/9/7 against the Cavs this year in the playoffs. Teague went for 17/3/6. Stephenson 16/5/3. Young 12/9/2.5. Turner 11/7. That "fantastic" Hawks team. Nique 31/5/3. Rivers 18/5/10. Willis 16/10. No one else more than 9 points or 6.5 boards (not the same player).
The Celtics from the 80's were a fantastic team, but aside from the early 80's Sixers or late 80's Pistons the C's competition in the East was terrible. Much worse than today. I mentioned Melo because the Knicks are terrible despite having a HOFer in his prime, a former league MVP, a rising star down low, and some quality role players. Have you seen the 87/88 Nets roster? Or the Clippers? Or the Warriors (accounting for health)? Or the Kings? Or the Suns? Or how about the 31 win Spurs that made the playoffs? Even the Sixers, Knicks, and bullets weren't exactly deep well rounded teams. The Bucks were a bunch 3rd option type players (especially at that point). Pippen and Grant were rookies that year but Jordan was finally starting to get a real team around him.
It is common to glamorize the past but that is all it is in this case when it comes to Boston's eastern competition in the 80's (again aside from the Sixer and Piston teams I mentioned).
Not sure why you think the Bulls team from 87-88 was not a decent team with a young Jordan averaging 35 points, Oakley going for 12 and 13 every night and a young Scottie Pippin and Horace Grant contributing to them winning 50 games. Is it an all-time great team? No, but they finished 4th in the east with 50 wins while we won the east with 51 wins. That team is certainly better than we are with one two time all stars, a declining former all-stars and a bunch of nice role players and starters. It is certainly better than a team like the Hawks from this year...
I also don't understand how you can sit here and try and pretend the east was not awful this year. It is not really debatable (well aside from for you).
now you are putting words in my mouth. The East this year is bad it was just bad in 88 aside from Boston and Detroit (that is the point I have always argued). Chicago was a good but not great team that year, it took then a couple of seasons into Pippen's career to become great and by then the Celtics were basically done and the Pistons werent far behind leaving an even weaker conference for the Bulls to rule (frankly the whole league was weak as the West was terrible). At least the 80's provided some real competition at the top at various points and you had the Lakers and Celtics the whole decade.
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