LSUSaintsHornets

West

1 Nuggets
2 Warriors
3 Clips
4 Wolves
5 Pels
6 Grizz
7 Suns
8 Mavs
9 Kings
10 Lakers
11 Blazers
12 Thunder
13 Rockets
14 Jazz
15 Spurs

East

1 Bucks
2 Celtics
3 76ers
4 Heat
5 Nets
6 Raptors
7 Cavs
8 Hawks
9 Bulls
10 Knicks
11 Wizards
12 Magic
13 Hornets
14 Pistons
15 Pacers

I don't see us being better than GS or Denver without major injuries to Steph or Jokic. It's the same with the Clippers but Kahwi has an extensive injury history. The suns are shaky enough where if you promise me 75 games of Zion it becomes a possibility. Grizz Mavs and Twolves I feel are in the same tier as us.

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Only batting 100 isn't very good. One out of 10

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Yep missed a 0. Thanks

Unsurprisingly most national media pundits want to lay all of this at the feet of the Pelicans organization and the city while excuse making for Zion. At the outset I will say I don't have an issue necessarily with the age argument. Things like missing rehab sessions, falling asleep in film study, and not showing the standard decorum to CJ are bad, but not necessarily unheard of from rooks and young players. Most players don't come in with knowledge of how to take care of their bodies or how to be a professional. However I think it's disingenuous as frick to make that argument and then turn around and say the Pels making mistakes the first few seasons is a rational justification for his behavior. Fact is most teams who get the first pick are trash and very often stay trash for years. Coming together quickly and batting 1000 are the rare exceptions. Griff made multiple mistakes and even with the successes this year should be under scrutiny, but who is Zion to judge Griff? Is it because he cared about his long term health in a meaningless regular season game that he wasn't in shape for? Or because he played him the Piano? Most players who ask out have at least paid their dues. If Zion isn't ready to be the guy who fricking cares if the Pels aren't ready to compete.

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The information void that he is choosing to create is what is allowing all of this negativity to grow like weeds. To me the biggest problem is people are conflating "Not here because of injury" with "Doesn't want to be here." He was here and his rehab clearly wasn't going well because he seemed like he might be gaining weight rather than losing and he got very publicly roasted by HOFers over it. Retreating to a secluded and probably more effective rehab situation after that is not the same thing as he's ready to force his way to New York.

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Part of effective rehab sessions probably entails not missing them.

Very excited. Probably will start off with Cathay or Khorne. After a couple of campaigns though it's probably back to mortal empires until the HWH3 equivalent is out.

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In fairness, if you break that down further, we are the equivalent of a decent to good team when Zion is on the court. It's when he goes off the court that we fail, that includes games he's playing in

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Sorry if my wording was confusing was saying our record hasn't been around 500 because he hasn't been available, not that he's responsible for us not being better when available. I mostly agree with you. Our point differential last year was better than our record for most of the year. As bad as the bench has been over the past few years though I think close games are the biggest reason our record with Zion is where it is.

You can have endless justified criticisms of Griff but I have no idea how she found mismanaging Zion's injuries. Glad local media stopped carrying water for him on his health but I doubt anyone in the national media will. Fact is with Zion playing we are slightly below 500 and due in part because of Zion himself it hasn't happened.

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So who is desperate enough to take on Kevin Love right now

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I legit like the fit just a shame the contract is 2 years.

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Literally the only guy of his stature to do it, ever.

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I mean we are in a brand new era of unprecedented player movement and empowerment, so I'm not as sure as you are that the historical precedent is as relevant. I think him getting the rose rule makes it a 80-20 proposition but I also don't know how likely he is to get it. An injury basically ends his candidacy. I'm probably being pessimistic but saying it's highly unlikely is being too optimistic IMO.

Also we are arguing over whether he stays 3.5 or 4.5 years, not sure it makes a big difference in the scheme of things.