January Games Discussion Thread

[DamnYanks2]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

I went off topic though. I believe all those things correlate. But you're original question pack. It's the reliance on 3 pt shooting. Players have perfected the art of it. And there's not much as a defender with the current rules you can do to stop it. It's also exhausting for the defender to constantly battle thru screens and chase guys off the perimeter.

Just about everyone can do it now. Some obviously better then others. Most bigs stretch the floor now. Which I think would have been a nightmare to guard for previous eras. Can you imagine Shaq having to run out to the 3 pt line to guard Embiid?[emoji38]

But the NBA wanted this, and in alot of ways engineeered this.They wanted it to be more offensive oriented. They want the stars to shine even brighter. They wanted less physicality. A much quicker pace. And they got it.

Curry really sped up the process too. Those Warriors teams. It's such a copycat league. Everybody wanted to be like them. He really helped usher in this new era too. There really are alot of factors that come into play.



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[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Not that I disagree with this take overall but in fairness winning gold isn't USA vs International or even USA vs Europe. Outcome might very well be different if all of Luka, Joker, Giannis, etc were on the same team and not just playing Giannis and Greece or Luka and Slovenia. Any individual country still has a long way to go to compete with all the US talent. But just talking international as a whole vs US that gap isn't all that large anymore.

Nobody said it was.

But the notion that Euros are taking over? That’s not true at all and there’s plenty of evidence to show that they are. They can win the next 10 MVPs and it’ll still be true unless they starting winning more and more rings.

Winning the last 4 MVPs doesn’t they mean they run **** though lol

[ProfessaPackMan]

January Games Discussion Thread

Luka is a tough judge for me because his sole goal is to put up numbers right now. Not saying he also isn't trying to win or criticize him or anything like that. But he is playing this very Harden in Houston like game where basically there is no offense other than he is the offense. We saw what Harden's production looks like when he's with OKC, BKN, now Philly, and it's not the same as the 400 dribbles, massive time of possession, and all that. Is Luka the same, IDK. Would KD and Bron or other random Americans be putting up 35+ a night doing that, probably so.

Fair or unfair I also don't really consider Embiid "international". Technically he is, but he played his HS ball in the states, college ball in the states. He has an American developed basketball ability and skillset.

Harden was doing that in Houston and it was OK for a little bit but then folks eventually turned on him(way before he requested his trade)

2nd part about Embiid doesn’t make much sense but that’s probably more semantics/nitpicking(Didn’t move to the US until 16 when he went all-in on Basketball)

It's not Euros. It's international players in general. Luka is from Slovenia and Joker is from Serbia. Giannis from Greece. I believe those are all correct.

But the best players in the league the last 4 years have been international players. The top 4 scorers are international. That's a pretty big jump. That's not happened before. I'm joking when I say they've taken over. But man their best are head to head with our best.





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Those countries are all in Europe so they’re still Europeans lol. I mean Giannis is from Africa technically but he just has Greek citizenship but other than him and Embiid, majority of them are from Europe.

And of course it hasn’t happened before because there wasn’t this much exposure and teams weren’t investing this much resources into scouting European players back then like they are NOW.

This goes beyond just looking at PPG, MVP awards and saying “The Euros have taken over!”. It’s not that black and white which is why you’re argument that they’ve taken over is weak and not factual. Because I could easily say “Yeah, they have 5 MVPs in between them yet only 1 ring hmmm” but that would be lazy lol

[ProfessaPackMan]

January Games Discussion Thread

Double post

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Triple post

[DamnYanks2]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Double post

Yea I had to brush up on my geography lol. That's why I deleted that post. But I don't think it's a weak argument at all. It's not. We aren't talking about titles. We are talking about dominance from one player.

Titles are team oriented. But I'm talking in general you can't argue that some of the Euro players aren't as good as ours. Overall Americans have more talent in the league.

But Joker Embiid Giannis and Luka are as good as anything we have now imo. And that's ok. Those guys make the nba even greater.

Next 5-10 players you are gonna see more and more euro stars and once Lebron is gone I will bank on one of the international players taking the throne.



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[ProfessaPackMan]

January Games Discussion Thread

Bron out tonight vs. Miami due to a “non-Covid illness” per Shams.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Luka is a tough judge for me because his sole goal is to put up numbers right now. Not saying he also isn't trying to win or criticize him or anything like that. But he is playing this very Harden in Houston like game where basically there is no offense other than he is the offense. We saw what Harden's production looks like when he's with OKC, BKN, now Philly, and it's not the same as the 400 dribbles, massive time of possession, and all that. Is Luka the same, IDK. Would KD and Bron or other random Americans be putting up 35+ a night doing that, probably so.

Fair or unfair I also don't really consider Embiid "international". Technically he is, but he played his HS ball in the states, college ball in the states. He has an American developed basketball ability and skillset.

Regardless it's obvious today's game has more and better international influence than in years past. I don't think that means USA guys were holding it back or whatever Pack said, but there is just more quality now because you have more than 1 star from non-USA locations. Would be like if Hakeem, Dirk, Pau, Petrovic, Yao, etc were all in the league and in their primes at the same time. It's not like international stars is a new thing, there is just more of them now and will likely continue to be.

Man if Luka had something around him you'd see him getting somewhere. Harden got that label because of the serial choking. He couldn't shake that. Especially after the chokejob against GSW. Who they had on the ropes and to be fair. It wasn't just him.

Luka is anything but a choker. If they ever get a team around him which is tough in Dallas to attract free agency. He's gonna go places Harden never could.

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[ojandpizza]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Man if Luka had something around him you'd see him getting somewhere. Harden got that label because of the serial choking. He couldn't shake that. Especially after the chokejob against GSW. Who they had on the ropes and to be fair. It wasn't just him.

Luka is anything but a choker. If they ever get a team around him which is tough in Dallas to attract free agency. He's gonna go places Harden never could.

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All could be true, I'm more so just talking about the numbers he's putting up.

[ojandpizza]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

2nd part about Embiid doesn’t make much sense but that’s probably more semantics/nitpicking(Didn’t move to the US until 16 when he went all-in on Basketball)

Weird wording on my part but your part in parenthesis was my point. Obviously he's an international guy but in the context of this discussion we are basically talking about the international guys catching the US guys or whatever. Embiid didn't start playing ball until 15 and then moved to the US to play high school ball, college ball, then NBA. In the context of this discussion he doesn't have a game that was built overseas it was built here.

Basically if the point is that player development overseas is catching/passing the US then I don't see how Embiid can be used as an example for that if he wasn't developed overseas. He was born there, lived most of his youth there, but developed as a basketball player here.

[jeebs9]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Sixers got a "trap" game tonight vs Pacers

Turner vs Embiid should be fun.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Sixers got a "trap" game tonight vs Pacers

Turner vs Embiid should be fun.

Sorry to disappoint you. But Embiid is out tonight.

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[Majingir]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

https://twitter.com/overtime/status/1610436277069041664?t=9zotik1ZyNIii8p2o3VQFg&s=19

I still can't see it

[illwill10]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

Sorry to disappoint you. But Embiid is out tonight.

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They're going Small Ball tonight. Really interested to see the 3 guard lineup, especially without Embiid there. With how much Turner likes to float on the perimeter, not concerned about Tucker on Turner. Tucker only sits in the corner when he isn't screening. But, he has to be willing to take shots, in order to keep Tucker away from roaming off him

[DamnYanks2]

Re: January Games Discussion Thread

They're going Small Ball tonight. Really interested to see the 3 guard lineup, especially without Embiid there. With how much Turner likes to float on the perimeter, not concerned about Tucker on Turner. Tucker only sits in the corner when he isn't screening. But, he has to be willing to take shots, in order to keep Tucker away from roaming off him

Didn't know Maxey is back. That's good to see.

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