I hate that this is accurate but it is, they locked down Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant Also, enjoy some Caruso
if he stays upright, nobody beats the suns this year. i still have doubts he makes it through the playoffs, but that six week break probably helped a ton.
i can see boston making it to the ECF but can't see them getting by the bucks. they'll for sure beat the nets though
i think if miami stays healthy they're a legit threat to come out of the east, which shouldn't be surprising as the 1 seed, but i feel like nobody's picking them. when they want to lock down, they can. and butler and lowry are big-game players, imo, and each can create his own shot when defenses tighten up. i think they can beat boston at their own game.
Just glad they found a reason not to reward Gobert (again) for his average defense. I think the real candidates missed too many games with injuries.
seems like gs has figured out how to punish jokic defensively without giving up automatic buckets on the other end. that's ballgame. and it might not have mattered if murray and porter were playing if that's the case. speaking of: utah continues to have to give up wide open threes to at least one designated player whenever gobert's on the floor. in game 1, kleber missed what would have been the go-ahead for dallas with like a minute left, iirc (he had just hit one the possession before from the same spot). he made 8 3s in game 2, and that wasn't an accident by either team. utah got terrance mann-ed again, and they basically have to risk this every night because of their perennial dpoy candidate. utah will probably still win the series (the mavs are short one of the 3-4 very best players in the league, after all), but the way they have to play is untenable, imo. this is why i think guys like AD and adebayo are much better/more useful defenders than gobert and jokic (despite metrics). finally, some guys are about to get PAID this summer based on what's happening. jalen brunson is going to get 25 per, and so is jordan poole. brunson was a second round pick. poole late first.
right. it may still work, but it won't work forever. i would have moved gobert after houston first exposed him years ago, before literally everyone knew that you can't win in the playoffs with him.
how many times have we passed on dwyane dedmon? dude just making little big plays and breaking backs.
can he shoot yet? that was the big issue. if he even got a standing three a la late career jason kidd, he could get back in the league. without it? dunk on euros.
I agree that teams have abused them with the perimeter shooting for many years now, but I feel Snyder hasn't adjusted the team despite the same style of play being played on them. Their perimeter defense has never improved and Mitchell can be a traffic cone when he plays defense. Bogdanovic and Conley also are terrible at defense. As a result, I think their defense would be even more garbage without Gobert as he at least locks down interior scoring. If we had Gobert with Vogel, I don't think our team would struggle like the Jazz do because we had good perimeter defenders in KCP, Caruso. I know many would love to have Snyder here as coach, but it's concerning that he hasn't able to make that improvement in regards to perimeter defense.
