HookEm

I was talking to my West Texas dad on Saturday planning for Easter lunch. He was like... "do you still have that CV?" I was.. wut? "You know, that CV..." <confused> You mean a resume? "You know. The CV thing.. for meat." ???????? Ohhhhhh! Sous Vide???? "Yeah!!! I was wanting to CV some pork tenderloin!"

I assumed it was at their peak with the team, which is why I included a specific year for the player to remove ambiguity.

Looked to me like he was trying to jump out of Ayton's way (in front of him) and was then surprised when his shoulder caught him in the face.

All of the above is true. At his APEX, Kawhi was every bit as good of a player as Kobe Bryant... when Kawhi was actually playing. The difference is that Kobe's apex lasted for about 12-13 years. He played another 8-9 years beyond where Kawhi is right now at a pretty elite level. He was also MUCH more durable during his peak. From age 23-29, Kobe averaged 75+ games per regular season. Kawhi averaged only 55 games per season. If I was picking teams for a single 7-game series and could have peak Kawhi or peak Kobe... and both were properly motivated, I probably take Kawhi. He was a significantly better on-ball and team defender (even though Kobe was also great). But the big thing is that Kobe has a tendency to go into "hero mode" and try to do everything himself. you can see that in his worse FG% and 3PT%. He also turned the ball over more (+1 TO/game in his prime). Kawhi might be the most underrated player in the last 20 years. Probably because of his bitch-assedness. Kobe had about 100x more charisma.

Larry Bird was waaay more athletic than people give him credit for. You don’t average 2 steals a game or 11 rebounds at 6’9 in the NBA unless you are very athletic.

I would take peak Bird over peak LeBron. No question. But I would take career LeBron over career Bird.

Curry changes the game in a way that CP3, Isaiah and Stockton don't. He is constantly running around and has to be contended with 100% of the time. And he stretches the floor all the way out to the logo. And he doesn't even need the ball to make an impact because his defender HAS to stay on him. The only point guard I would take over him is Magic, and even that is debatable in a game like this. Nobody approaches his skill at opening up the offense.

For exercises like this, I also hate going back before the NBA ABA merger. The game was just too different then and I never saw any of the players with my own eyes. So if I'm just going back to 1976 and trying to put together an actual Lakers starting 5 that would be a good TEAM, I might go with: PG: Magic - 1987 - MVP, Finals MVP SG: M. Cooper - 1987 - Defensive PoY, 39% 3s SF: Kobe - 2008 - MVP, 36% 3s, 5.4 ast, 1st team Defense PF: P. Gasol - 2011 - 2nd team NBA C : Kareem - 1976 - MVP That is a much better shooting and versatile defending team with Cooper in for Worthy. Pau instead of Shaq also gets rid of the chemistry issues, lets the team run and solves the spacing issues. Kobe can also be a gunner with this setup.

BTW I'm not a Spurs fan. That Lakers team just seems like it would have too many mouths to feed. Magic is at his best when out running (same with Worthy). Kobe could also run, but then you have Shaq and Kareem clogging everything up. Those two bigs would NOT play well together. Neither was great outside the lane. And the team wouldn't have the shooting necessary to keep people from clogging the paint.

San Antonio is criminally underrated. Other teams may have better individual players, but San Antonio has elite players who would mesh perfectly. They would be an absolute nightmare with three defensive players of the year plus a top-10 scorer in Gervin. Tim Duncan - The unanimous best power forward of all-time, playing in his natural position. David Robinson - Another top-20 player with an MVP, DPoY and scoring title Kawhi Leonard - 2x Finals MVP, 2x DPoY, #2 in MVP voting. Best win% in NBA regular season history George Gervin - Top-10 all-time scorer, two top-25 individual seasons, #2 in MVP voting and averaged 33+ points per game Tony Parker - Finals MVP, top-5 MVP voting, top-70 overall player Gregg Popovich - Coached by a top-3 all-time coach. Maybe the best. The TEAM would match up well with Lakers. Kawhi vs. Kobe - Prime Kawhi could go toe to toe with Kobe. Kawhi was 7-0 against Kobe in games they played (late stage of Kobe's career, but early part of Kawhi's). In those games, Kawhi held him to 17.7 ppg. Gervin vs. Magic - Magic would also have a hard time with Gervin. In 22 games played, Gervin was 12-10 against Magic and averaged 25 pts on 48% shooting. Magic wasn't a great defender. Parker vs. Worthy - Worthy is the better player, but overall this is also pretty even. #67 vs. #48 Duncan vs. Kareem - Give me the big fundamental playing against an out-of-position Kareem. Shaq vs. Robinson - In their primes (1994-1998), Robinson outplayed Shaq head to head going 5-2. Admiral averaged 29 pts, 12 reb, 4.4 ast, 2.6 blocks and shot 82% FT against Shaq (28 pts, 13 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.9 blk, 60% FT) I realize the above matchups probably wouldn't play out. I just wanted to show that these players actually played head to head a good bit. It would probably be Parker vs. Kobe, Kawhi vs. Magic and Gervin vs. Worthy. In a lot of ways I like these matchups better for the Spurs as Kawhi could slow down Magic. If the two JUST played 5v5, I bet the Spurs would win that matchup close to 50% of the time with these rosters. Maybe more. Pop would employ Hack-a-Shaq if the game was close and that would give at least a few more wins. The Spurs are also a much better shooting team for a modern game.

Hard to dislike McCollum, but not sure he is worthy of a jersey purchase.

Ha. I forgot about this thread and my alternate ending. That was some solid work lost to the internets. Honestly anything would be better than what they did.

I will defer to folks who watch him all the time, but in the games I have seen, either I don't notice KAT because he disappears... or I notice him for the wrong reasons: complaining and bonehead plays. I would take Gobert 10 times out of 10 over KAT. Give me the 3x DPoY, NBA rebounding leader, All-NBA guy with 71% eFG%, vastly lower turnovers and fouls and I will beat your team more often than not.

That's why you trade him IMO. He is just entering his prime and has a ton of value. He is a classic "good stats, bad team" type of guy and is not a winner. His rebounds and blocks are trending down. He is 3rd in the NBA in fouls. He is 10th in the NBA in turnovers (as a CENTER). Last night was a bad night, but not a huge surprise. And will he be willing to be the 2nd or 3rd fiddle? I don't think so. As somebody mentioned above, his body language is terrible. When Minnesota was going on their run, all the camera shots of Towns just had him glowering on the sideline. I bet you could trade KAT for someone like Pascal Siakam and probably picks. Or possibly Rudy Gobert and pieces / picks. Either of those would give you a much better team, especially in the playoffs. And both would let you build around Edwards. I would even look at something like Jonathan Isaac + Mo Bamba + picks.

Really like Edwards game for such a young guy. Getting it done in defense and trying to dunk on people every play. He is going to be great IMO. if I was Minnesota, I would trade KAT. He isn’t a winner. They could get some real assets in return for him and potentially do something in the coming years.

Wonder if there is any way Miami would swallow their pride and bring back LeBron to finish out his career with the Heat. They seem to be getting tired of Jimmy Butler. If they flame out early in the playoffs, maybe they could do something like: Lebron + Anthony Davis for Jimmy Butler + Kyle Lowry + Oladipo + salary matching (PJ Tucker?) + picks. Miami could start: T Herro + D Robinson + LeBron + AD + Adebayo - That gives defense, shooting, scoring and championship pedigree In return, LA gets to turn the page on the LeBron saga and start rebuilding. They get gritty, winning players in Butler and Lowry who have a few more years left. Combine them with Westbrook and Dipo and maybe pick up the pace. Westbrook comes off the books the next year and Lowry the year after. By then maybe the Miami picks start kicking in and they will have a ton of money in free agency. Miami would be stupid to do this BTW, but who knows what they will do if they flame out early and get sick of Jimmy Buckets.

Looking at the Lakers trades over the last few years. It really is incredible. They got rid of all their young, cheap (at the time) depth and replaced it with dinosaurs. Here is who they have lost in the last 5 years and what they did this year (my ranking): Brandon Ingram (24 yrs old) - 22.7 pts, 5.8 reb, 5.6 ast Lonzo Ball (24 yrs old) - 13.0 pts, 5.4 reb, 5.1 ast, 1.8 stl, All Defense Potential Julius Randle (27 yrs old) - 20.1 pts, 9.9 reb, 5.1 ast (in a bad year) Kyle Kuzma (26 yrs old) - 17.1 pts, 8.5 reb, 3.5 ast Josh Hart (26 yrs old) - 19.9 pts, 5.4 reb, 4.3 ast D'Angelo Russell (25 yrs old) - 18.1 pts, 3.3 reb, 7.1 ast Alex Caruso (27 yrs old) - 7.4 pts, 3.6 reb, 4.0 ast, 1.7 stl, All Defense Potential Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (28 yrs old) - 13.2 pts, 3.4 reb, 1.9 ast, 1.1 stl Montrezl Harrell (28 yrs old) - 11.4 pts, 4.9 reb, 2.0 ast De'Andre Hunter (24 yrs old) - 13.3 pts, 3.3 reb, 1.3 ast Isaiah Jackson (20 yrs old) - 8.3 pts, 4.1 reb, 0.3 ast 2022 1st Round Pick - ??? So many of those guys have skills that are special / unique. Lonzo is a big well rounded guard who can defend and distribute. Hart is a plus rebounder from the guard position. Caruso is a game-changing defensive specialist. Kuzma is an elite rebounder from the SF position. Randle is a handful on the offensive end. And you have Ingram who is still just 24 and doing his best Durant impersonation in NO. This isn't even counting the huge number of picks they have given up (which could be extremely valuable now that they suck). It is unbelievable.

Ramey was a great player for us this year. Sad to see him go, but I never fault any player for leaving after four years, regardless of where they go. If he has another year of eligibility, I have no problem with him using it for a change of scenery. Kind of like getting your Masters at a different school than your undergrad.

I love hiking in the Sangre de Cristo wilderness. If you are in Santa Fe, there are some great hikes from Ski Santa Fe. Have gone just about every year since 1984.

How is Boulder?

Appreciate the thought. I think we are just going to go to Colorado instead. I can get a roundtrip to Denver the same weekend for 10K points. On a related note, has anyone been to Vail or Beaver Creek in late April? I'm assuming the slopes will be closed by then, but thinking we could do some spring hiking or snowshoeing. Alternatively we could just stay in Denver or Boulder. This is just a quick getaway for wife and I to burn some Marriott free nights and get away from the kids. Any opinions?

Nope. I'll drive before I spend $1K to fly that far.

Linky? Google search says that offer ended Feb 28.

All I know is that airfare is expensive AF right now. Two tickets round trip from Austin to New Orleans costs like $1K. F that. I picked the wrong time to lose my Companion Pass.

Durant is 33. He has MAYBE 5 productive years left. If he stays relatively injury free, he might average 2,000 points per year. That puts him ahead of Jordan and Kobe and at 4th all time. If he plays another 2 years after that at 1,500 points a year, he could pass Kareem. That is pretty amazing considering he lost 2 years with injury and started a year later than Kobe or LeBron.