but basketball isn’t tennis and all is not equal.

ha, too funny, my mind did immediately go to djokovic, nadal and also federer and serena whom are sports dinosaurs…

one thing that has changed over time in the nba is the talent pool which the sport draws upon…maybe there are just a lot better younger guys these days pushing out the “old-timers” – those aged folks creeping up on their mid thirties…

https://www.nbaanalysis.net/2020/10/11/this-knicks-warriors-trade-features-the-no-2-pick-in-2020-nba-draft/

Golden State gets Mitch and the #8 pick
The Knicks get the #2 pick, Kevon Looney, and Golden State’s 2021 first round pick (assuming GS bounces back that’d be a very late pick…but I guess they’d at least want some lottery protection on it)

The article also suggests that the Knicks pick…..no, not LaMelo….but James Wiseman, who they tout as similar to Mitch but with more team control going forward. Hmmm.

Deeefense: The 76ers were on the doorstep and blew it.

Agreed.

Deeefense: Ainge is too conservative with deals but he has several very good young players with upside and flexibility to get better. He should develop the young players and try to upgrade where he can with players ready to compete now. He’s one player away.

He did that with Kemba but that’s a lot of cap space to tie up in an untradable contract for a 1-way player. Once Tatum gets maxed, they might have to trade Smart to get the guy they need, and Smart is a big part of their team. They are still in good position, but nowhere near the dynasty C’s fans predicted 5 years ago.

Deeefense: The Nuggets, Mavs and Heat should do exactly the same thing. They should develop their young players and try to add or
and upgrade where they can with guys that are ready to compete for bigger and better things now. The Mavs are a little further behind and may need 2 more key players.

Agreed.

Deeefense: The Knicks suck and should be open to getting better any way they can other than trading for guys like CP3. Things like that make no sense to me because we’d be getting the last two puffs on a cigarette long before we are ready to compete. But I’d have no problem signing a 29 year old version of CP3, getting better, making us more attractive to free agents and in trades and going from there. We don’t need old men and we don’t have to rebuild for another 5 years via draft.

Agreed.

See? When you say reasonable stuff my attitude isn’t all that bad!

Z-man:
I agree that was the high water mark for this version of the Sixers. Somewhere between their impatience to contend and Ainge’s over-cautiousness and need to win every transaction is a happy medium. The Suns, Hawks, Grizzlies, and maybe the Pelicans are all in similar positions. The Nuggets, Mavs and Heat are further along….they can go for broke or keep the faith.

And then there’s the Knicks. No true foundational players. No stud free agents. No GM with a track record of success. But we have Thibs, Mitch, RJ, cap space and surplus picks for a couple of years, so there’s that!

The 76ers were on the doorstep and blew it.

Ainge is too conservative with deals but he has several very good young players with upside and flexibility to get better. He should develop the young players and try to upgrade where he can with players ready to compete now. He’s one player away.

The Nuggets, Mavs and Heat should do exactly the same thing. They should develop their young players and try to add or
and upgrade where they can with guys that are ready to compete for bigger and better things now. The Mavs are a little further behind and may need 2 more key players.

The Knicks suck and should be open to getting better any way they can other than trading for guys like CP3. Things like that make no sense to me because we’d be getting the last two puffs on a cigarette long before we are ready to compete. But I’d have no problem signing a 29 year old version of CP3, getting better, making us more attractive to free agents and in trades and going from there. We don’t need old men and we don’t have to rebuild for another 5 years via draft.

Deeefense: Then you are wasting both of our time and doing it with a bad attitude to boot.When asked, I am willing to say I don’t know and speculate, which is exactly what I did.

This is disingenuous on a number of levels. First, your attitude is quite often smug and condescending even when you have no idea what you are talking about. Second, you are speculating to support a presupposed conclusion, not looking at the situation with an open mind at all. Third, you immediately blamed the advanced metric as you always do when it doesn’t support your predetermined and totally unsubstantiated conclusion.

If my attitude seems bad, it is out of annoyance with the total bullshit you continue to spew at every turn.

same answer applies if you switch to win shares or all-nba team average age or median age or #of all nba players over 30. it ain’t the metric.

Most likely it’s some combination of random noise, a group of formerly great old players at that specific time hanging around longer for money or a ring, a greater pool of younger talent now to replace guys like that sooner, the 30ish guys today being so rich they can throw in the towel sooner, still be mega rich, find a 2nd career in broadcasting, coaching etc… and reduce wear and tear on their bodies long term.

you might find it plausible but it isn’t in fact happening. still good but old nba players like drexler actually retired while very productive at a significantly higher rate than guys like wade do today. most of the guys drafted around the same time as lebron have very typical aging curves. guys like howard, deron williams, aldridge, bogut, rondo, millsap, iguodala, iggy, melo. you have a hunch that better training, nutrition and technology should allow a better aging curve into your mid or late 30. we can agree that it surely would have some benefit were all else equal. but basketball isn’t tennis and all is not equal. and there is no evidence that this has in fact happened in the nba, the evidence cuts the other way, and is metric agnostic. it could be noise, but then, couldn’t we all.

Deeefense: I can only speculate as to why some players stayed on longer in that period and tell you they were all a shadow of their former peaks where athletes like James and in other sports can be great well into their 30s now if they are determined to keep competing at the highest level.

And I can only tell you that Jordan (his day’s LBJ) was not a shadow of his former peak at all at age 35. So it’s not about either MJ or LBJ. It’s about all the other players in the league, and how the actual evidence demonstrates that more stars played better for longer back then than now.

Golf is a good example. Tiger Woods (and before him Gary Player) were fitness fanatics. They stood out. Now nearly everyone on tour is a fitness fanatic.

You have to do all the fitness stuff as an aging player just to keep up. It’s feasible that the demands of defending a modern NBA offense weeds out aging players that can’t defend away from the rim. Igoudala is still effective because he can move well. Dwyane Wade could not.

Most of the guys on PT’s list would have been effective in today’s nba at age 34-35 because they were gym rats and intelligent two-way players in addition to being supremely talented in one way or another. I doubt that today’s training and fitness regimens would have made all that much difference for most of them…maybe Barkley but not for the rest.

Z-man: I’m not arguing for anything….I’m arguing against making shit up.

Then you are wasting both of our time and doing it with a bad attitude to boot. When asked, I am willing to say I don’t know and speculate, which is exactly what I did.