Point taken and I probably should have said playoff run, but it’s really not delusional considering the amount of young talent the Hawks have and the amount of talent leaving the Eastern Conference. It has nothing to do with Young’s shooting percentage though I applaud the attempt at a straw-man logical fallacy. It has everything to do with his relationship with Collins and the next step the he and Huerter make in year 2 coupled with Collins continued growth and some draft picks. The teams they’re directly competing with in the next few years are the Bucks, Raptors, 76ers, Pacers, and Celtics. Boston is kind of an unknown going forward in terms of star power. A lot depends if Anthony Davis end season up there or in LA. Bucks and 76ers are here to stay but we beat both the last month of the season. The Raptors window is closing and the Pacers will be solid but Atlanta can definitely compete. Are you taking the stance that the Mavs have a better chance of making the Western Conference Finals before the Hawks make the Eastern Conference finals? Because that’s delusional.
lol you accuse me of a strawman and then do this i don't care if you won a couple regular season games down the stretch against teams. that has no relevance to winning two 7 game series in the playoffs against them.
Oh so the fact that they beat a team in a competitive game all of a sudden means that there’s no way they could do that multiple times in a competitive 7 game series? Isn’t that how you win a series? You literally took a stat I made no mention of and used that as a basis for an argument I don’t disagree with. Young has to shoot better and be more consistent for the Hawks to have success.
also if the mavs get a guy like kemba or something, their core is 100% better than the hawks. obviously the west is a different animal and tougher but they're much better positioned than the hawks in that case (even if they do lose their draft pick this year)
lol alright let's bet that the hawks won't be in an eastern conference final in the next three years. back it up
the mavs have two players who are way better than anyone on the Hawks. yes, they play in the West but liking the core of the Hawks more than the core of the Mavs is some super fan-fiction.
I don’t disagree at this moment in time. Kemba, Kristaps, and Luka would be a better core than Young, Collins, +1. Anyone to argue likewise is foolish. I still don’t think that moves the needle in the West though. I think that’s probably in the 7-8 slot for best squad in the West.
ok to account for the "making a run at a eastern conference finals" aspect of your statement, let's say that they won't even get to a seventh game (aka need to win 3 games in the semis). getting within a game of a conference finals would indicate them making a run at it imo. 2020, 2021 or 2022 they take a team to 7 in the conference semis (or win a conference semi series), you win. they don't, i do. we can do a homage shirt bet on it jplaYa
I don’t think either team will be in the conference finals in the next 3 years. I only said the Hawks have a better opportunity of doing it in the East than the Mavs do in the West. Way more is definitely not accurate. Collins has an equivalent impact as Kristaps plus I’m interested to see how he looks when he comes back off the ACL. Luka is definitely ahead of Trae at the moment and that’s largely in part to his competition in Europe, but I think Trae’s impact has more room for growth.
you do realize luka is a lot better than trae right and that kp is an elite talent and kemba walker would make this team a title contender and the mavs have rick carlisle and 2-3 young solid roll players and may still have a top 5 pick? 7-8 in the west
uhhh that's not what you said. you were the one who mentioned the mavs western conference chances after people commented on your statement about the hawks. i never said anything about their chances. the two have nothing to do with each other
The big difference in my mind between the two right now is defensively. Both teams are going to score boatloads of points once they're fully formed, but i don't think any of Atlanta's core pieces project as even average defenders. Dallas has so far built a much more two way team.
I think his objection was that Kemba to Dallas is still pretty questionable. It's not a foregone conclusion
Golden State Houston Denver Portland OKC Lakers San Antonio Utah Dallas In terms of where Dallas sits, I would put them anywhere in that 5-9 slot so i concede 7-8 was a little shortsighted.
ahh. yeah who knows, but there’s been a buzz about that for a while now either way, there’s going to be a kemba-like talent on the mavs next year
and there's no reason to even bring up the mavs. this idea that the Hawks have some elite core is nutso. they have one good player, an undersized guard who isn't an elite shooter and can't play defense (but is admittedly a great playmaker), and some good lottery picks.
it's that and that those pieces don't necessarily mean they will be a title contender. building a title team is fucking hard and nobody knows if KP can stay healthy either.
i think the three year bet on getting to 7 games in a conference semi would be fun to track itt and we should do it for the content
It sounded better in my head. Basically Luka is Luka and has less room for growth than Trae because he’s already more polished. Trae has more room for greater impact due to growth because he’s not a complete player yet.
lakers?? san antonio doesn’t have any pieces like the mavs have. they need to add someone. aldridge is still very good but getting older. derozan is a talent but they need another piece to really make a run okc is maxed out. who they are this year is who they are. not sure how much mobility they have in the off-season to make any significant moves golden state is about to lose kd, and most likely cousins and possibly klay thompson (may end up in dallas) portland and denver are good, but not luka-kp-kemba/thompson good utah? gtfo
you realize luka is younger in age only than trae right they’re both rookies how can you say one has a greater chance of improving over the other?
For an Homage shirt, heck yeah. I’ve got probably close to 30. Stipulations? If Dallas makes “a run” by 2021 quicker than Atlanta, you get your choice of an Homage t-shirt and vice versa. If neither make “a run” by 2021, we should buy each other one for both being wrong. “A run” being defined as reaching Game 7 of the conference semifinals. Good with that?
i don't feel comfortable with the dallas aspect of this. i never said anything about their chances in the west.
how about if neither do it, the bet is void. i don't have any strong feelings on the mavs chances but i do on the hawks
Age doesn’t necessarily imply improvement. Luka already played 4 years in a professional league. That’s a massive advantage. You can already see that Trae’s improvement from game 1 to game 80 is greater than Luka’s over the same period and thats not saying anything bad about Luka. That’s solely because Luka was much better prepared for the NBA from his time at Madrid and played at a higher level over the full course of the season...which is why he should and will be ROY.
i'll give you the extra year for the hawks so until 2022 they have to do this. again, i just don't have a strong take on the mavs. just challenging your hawks statement
dallasdawg you ok with the stipulations? Basically you get a t-shirt of your choice from Homage if the Mavs make G7 of the conference semis before the Hawks do the same by the end of the 2021 season. If neither do, we buy a shirt of our choice for each other that’s affiliated in some way with the sport of basketball.
if by that you mean 2021-2022 you’ve got a deal. that’s 3 seasons for luka and trae after their rookie year
Seems kinda funny Dallas fans can all of a sudden use a hypothetical Max player addition but the Hawks can't do the same when they have a fuck load of money too. Hawks get Durant, then what?