BGleas

LeBron could not guard 5's in the 90's. He's not guarding Robinson, Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, Malone (a 4), etc. He wouldn't even be able to guard guys like Bill Cartwright, Rik Smits, Brad Daughtery, etc. It was a different game. I don't care what LeBron's weight is, he's not defending high level post-up 4/5's. It's not his game. These guys were posting up deep, backing you down, and scoring.

But LeBron and Durant don't really post up. 4's in general don't really post-up anymore. That's the entire point, Jordan could defend the 4 in today's small ball pick/pop climate. Neither Jordan or LeBron could guard them in Jordan's era where there would true post-up/physical bigs. Back in those days 4's were 6'9-6'11' and spent their time operating on the block.

It's also a different game. 4's in 2016 are primarily pick and pop/perimeter bigs, and there are also a lot of small ball lineups. In Jordan's day the power forward was more of a post-up/physical/true big. It's a different game. While it wouldn't be his primary match-up, Jordan could defend a lot of 4's in today's game. He could defend Draymond Green for example.

LeBron was a really poor defender early on in his career, the first several years really. It wasn't until later in his first stint in Cleveland and really the Miami years where his defense became elite. Early in his career he didn't give the effort on that end, or understand positioning as well.

It will be very interesting too see what the Cavs do there. On one hand, they could probably replace him with someone better suited for a reduced role, but his value is also at an all-time low. The return the Cavs would get this summer wouldn't be great. They might need to think about keeping him to start next year and hope he comes out of the gate strong, and then swing a deal sometime between December and the trade deadline. The risk there though is obviously messing with team chemistry midseason. It's an interesting situation.

Why would he be messing with you? Gard was a Bo Ryan assistant for 23 years. The system will largely be the same. Different topic, but I would have Wisconsin as the favorite (not by much though) heading into the season.

The turning point of the series was when Bogut got hurt. He's their only rim protector, he's critical to their ball movement on offense, and losing him messed up their rotations. Due to his injury, even when Draymond came back they weren't the same team. Neither put up gaudy numbers, but it was similar to the Celtics losing Perkins in Game 6 in 2010. It just gummed up the works.

I just think that if you're going to go 3-guard, then you need to go OG, Morgan or Davis at the 4 spot. It's just too small for my liking to have Hartman at the 4 when you're also playing 3 guards.

I've been pretty vocal about not liking the 3-guard lineup. But I would keep an open mind if we see it early next season due to the simple fact that we haven't seen it under Crean at IU when he's had the size/talent/length and defensive ability he'll have on the interior this season. It's one thing to do it when you have Troy and Perea/Holt at the 4 and 5, it's a completely other thing when you have Bryant, Davis, OG and Morgan at the 4/5. The latter are much more talented, have more size/length, are much more fundamental, and much better defenders. I still wouldn't love it, but I can see the reasoning behind a Newkirk, RoJo, JBJ, OG, Bryant.

Should they have? Their second best player was Larry Hughes, and Drew Gooden was prominently involved. The accomplishment for that team was just getting to the Finals.

Heard some great commentary from Cedric Ceballos this morning on the radio about LeBron. He was saying that LeBron is of course a phenomenal player and one of the most all-around skilled superstars we've seen, but he has no "go-to" move. Jordan and Kobe both had the fadeaway. Stockon and Malone had the pick and roll, Kareen had the sky hook, Olajuwan had the dream shake, in Ceballos' Suns days they'd give the ball to Barkley in the post and he would go to work, etc., etc. LeBron doesn't have a particular move/shot to go to when his team just desperately needs buckets. He can post up, he can hit the mid-range, he can pick and roll, he can hit a 3, but he doesn't do any one of those things at a level where you can almost 100% rely on it and just have everyone get out of his way. It worked in Miami because Wade was really the guy they went to in those situations, but in Cleveland they don't have that guy.

Kobe had a game 7 against the Suns where he refused to shoot in the 4th quarter. Of course that was in the first round and not the Finals, but he's done it in the playoffs.

Houston will be interesting to watch. I'm never a big fan of a coach that solely focuses on just one end of the court, but get what Wayne is saying in that if you're hitching your wagon to Harden (who I would never want on my team) you might as well focus on his strengths. Im also intrigued by this from Daryl Morey's perspective. He was at the forefront of the analytics movement in basketball. He was putting analytics systems in place for the Celtics back in the early 2000's, and I know he never cared for Jim O'Brien because all O'Brien cared about was defense, and ignored the offensive analytics that we're being produced. I'm just surprised Morey went with a coach in the complete opposite direction.

And that's not going to happen for a long time. Celtics ownership and Ainge are very loyal to their coaches when they believe he's the right guy.

Maryland will be an interesting one. They lose 4 of 5 starters, but do have Nickens and Dodd back, and Wiley missed all last year with a knee injury so he'll be back. They also have 4 4* recruits coming in. They could be a big surprise, or it could be much like our 13-14 season.

I'd much rather see RoJo start and play big minutes, and use JBJ in a scorer/shooter specialist off the bench role.

Celtics have way more than just the #3 pick to trade. Though as a fan, I want nothing to do with Cousins.

Celtics will do everything they can to trade the pick, but if they don't Ainge will not pick for need, he'll take whoever he thinks is the BPA regardless of need.

I hope they get Darko.

Was really hoping the Celtics would get #1 or #2. Oh well, either way we have a ton of picks and leverage to make moves.

Harden is one of the elite scorers in this league, a lock All-Star, etc. With that said, for me he's in the Carmelo Anthony category, great scorer, but I wouldn't want him anywhere near my team. IMO, you can't win with guys that completely disregard defense and are so ball dominant/ISO guys.

In no way was my comment specific to Troy, I never even mentioned him. Clearly it's a difficult situation for all involved, though a lot times these settings favor guards who typically have the ball in their hands and control things.

That's such a difficult setting, playing with a bunch of guys you've never played with before who are all out to make a specific impression in front of GM's and scouts.

I think they need to decide between VO and Elfrid Payton. It's difficult enough to have one poor-shooting guard in today's NBA, but you can't have two.

My guess is he's talking about hiring a real, established coach like Dixon, and in turn I'm guessing Dixon wanted certain investments made in the program for him to come. Edit: By investments i don't mean paying recruits, I mean things like upgrading facilities, paying assistants, etc.