sdrawkcab321 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Kyrie wasn't horrible defensively in the playoffs. He may die on every screen but on isolation plays he's passable. I never remembered him being a liability in the finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mox Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 5 minutes ago, sdrawkcab321 said: Kyrie wasn't horrible defensively in the playoffs. He may die on every screen but on isolation plays he's passable. I never remembered him being a liability in the finals. You don't remember them mercilessly running the Durant/Curry pick and roll on him and scoring every possession? I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-ALL-DAY Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Just now, Bullet Club said: You don't remember them mercilessly running the Durant/Curry pick and roll on him and scoring every possession? I do. But what PG in the league would have been able to stop that? Cavs defense as a whole was terrible, but on that particular play, not much you could do. Kyrie's defense is passable when he is locked in but obviously he doesn't provide much resistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
showtime Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 1 minute ago, Bullet Club said: You don't remember them mercilessly running the Durant/Curry pick and roll on him and scoring every possession? I do. I mean, a Kevin Durant/Steph Curry pick and roll combo is going to score a lot on pretty much any defender. Plus, @sdrawkcab321 specially said on isolation plays and I agree with him. Irving was passable on isolation, even though the Warriors have an offense that feature some of the greatest offensive players ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdrawkcab321 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 14 minutes ago, Bullet Club said: You don't remember them mercilessly running the Durant/Curry pick and roll on him and scoring every possession? I do. No one can guard that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buno67 Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 3 hours ago, MookieMonster said: I dont see why. If Harden can become semi average on defense, Kyrie certainly can. semi avg, also means he semi sucks, kinda like @CWood21 said. Irving could be a pretty decent defender if he truly tried and was motivated to prove it. He doesnt really have the motivation to really be that above average to at least average defender. Its like he is happy being below avg cause his offensive will cover the difference. If he wouldnt play all that great of defense outside of some stretched here or there in Cleveland, I dont know whats going to be the difference in Boston. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieMonstah Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Like I've said 100 times, a coach that wasn't legitimately hired to be a pushover. Stevens will certainly get after him more than Blatt and Lue. Stevens will expect effort out of him on both ends, and all he needs is motivation. He has the athleticism/IQ to be a good defender, just needs to put forth effort. A lot of the time all that takes is a good coach, and we have a great one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
childofpudding Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 (edited) On 8/23/2017 at 3:17 PM, sdrawkcab321 said: He's gonna get a hell of a lot more open 3s in cleveland than he ever did in Boston. I think he'll shoot better than last year. Nah. Last season, 76% of Crowder's 3pa were open or wide open, while 73% of Smith's were. If you want to compare Bradley to Smith (both technically SGs), then it was 73% each. Was 80% for Richard Jefferson if you want to compare him to Crowder, but that's still not "a hell of a lot more open 3s" than what Crowder got in Boston. Crowder got a lot of open 3s. http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/203109/shots-dash/?Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&PerMode=Totals http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/2747/shots-dash/?Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&PerMode=Totals http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/202340/shots-dash/?Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&PerMode=Totals http://stats.nba.com/player/#!/2210/shots-dash/?Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&PerMode=Totals Edited September 6, 2017 by childofpudding 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
childofpudding Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 I do think both teams won out on this deal, with Cleveland having the higher short-term ceiling and Boston having the higher long-term ceiling. If IT comes back after a few months and balls out, who knows, Cavs could get a chance at another chip. But I don't think IT will stay beyond this season and think it's unlikely that LeBron does, and the Brooklyn pick is awesome but could end up being outside the top 5 because of other teams like CHI getting worse. If the Celtics aren't making the Finals, then I hope IT and the Cavs are. IT was an absolute baller for the Celtics. Bad defender because of his height, but always gave 100% effort on both ends and was a warrior during the playoffs with injuries and personal tragedy. I'll always wish him success no matter what team he's on. Meanwhile, with Stevens as coach, Irving and Hayward could be the foundation that the team builds on to become very competitive in the next several years. Players like IT, Crowder and Bradley all improved substantially once coached by Stevens, and I expect the same with Hayward and Irving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Brown Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 20 hours ago, buno67 said: Crowder was still pretty good and lost their best defender in Bradley IMO. Smart is good but he won't be out there during crunch time. It will be Irving and Hayward being the back court. I want to see how goodnHayward can be defensively now that he not longer has one of the best defensive bigs in the league behind him. Smart can guard 1-4, he will certainly be on the floor in crunch time just as he was last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Brown Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 19 hours ago, sdrawkcab321 said: You should try watching more games aside from just the ones the cavs play in. Horford is a good defender. Just not against the cavs and specifically against Tristan Thompson. it's weird seeing you not troll but yeah, horford was especially weak on the boards when having to try to clean up after IT. He might not be the do it all glue guy he once was defensively but he's still a plus defender for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MookieMonstah Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 6 hours ago, Troy Brown said: Smart can guard 1-4, he will certainly be on the floor in crunch time just as he was last year. Yeah, that comment boggled my mind. He's one of the better defenders in the league, why wouldn't he be in for crunch time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1ForTheThumb Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 https://www.theplayerstribune.com/isaiah-thomas-trade-celtics-cavaliers/ Going to miss Isaiah, great piece. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon Ducks Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 1 hour ago, 1ForTheThumb said: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/isaiah-thomas-trade-celtics-cavaliers/ Going to miss Isaiah, great piece. Good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buno67 Posted September 6, 2017 Share Posted September 6, 2017 On 9/5/2017 at 6:31 PM, MookieMonster said: Like I've said 100 times, a coach that wasn't legitimately hired to be a pushover. Stevens will certainly get after him more than Blatt and Lue. Stevens will expect effort out of him on both ends, and all he needs is motivation. He has the athleticism/IQ to be a good defender, just needs to put forth effort. A lot of the time all that takes is a good coach, and we have a great one. Blatt wasnt hired to be a pushover. Blatt was hired before James even re-signed. What about Scott and Brown, when there was no James on the team. Scott wasnt a push over, hell he made Irving earn his minutes his rookie year. Irving has never been a good defender. He had his moments when he was an adequate defender. Why couldnt Stevens make IT a below avg defender? IT was an awful defender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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