Got Braun at 21 and Peyton Watson’s gonna be a player.
They used 5 first round picks in the past three years
1 was playable in the playoffs (Braun is an actual
Starting caliber player)
Mature teams with multiple max contract guys need to hit on some of those to stay on top, it’s simply a fact of the game
The Nuggets jettisoned veterans on the bet these young guys would fill the gap. They didn’t (except Braun)
Murray put up a 21/6 and (again) raised his play in the playoffs on a massive minutes load
I think it’s nuts to say he’s the problem
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Tim Hardaway was mentioned on TPTSNBN as “The most contractually fortunate player in recent memory” - $155 million career for “a guy somewhere between the 5th to 8th guy on your team”
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And people wonder why a beer costs $15 at an NBA game 
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Would Levert fall into this category shortly? 92 mil. Maybe not to the level of 8th best but he never seemed like one of the 4 best players on a team.
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I laid that out pretty well a few weeks ago!
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IIRC wasn’t his first major contract right when the cap increased and the NBA signed a big new TV deal? Aka Tim had some fortunate timing to be a free agent when teams had all this new money come their way.
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It’s just the case that a guy that plays a ton of minutes playing better–and playing at a level he has in fact played at 2 years ago in this situation before when he is now 27–matters a lot. +2 pts per 100 on that minutes load is a huge impact and is enough to flip a series if you’re in range.
But there is no the problem. The Nuggets got 87% of their minutes out of their top 6 and only 3 of them were actually Finals-worthy performances. Adding another Braun level starter wasn’t fixing MPJ and Westbrook.
it kind of would, assuming that’s the guy that solves the “fifth starter” problem
Sort of, but Levert has been both better and cheaper, so Tim wins.
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It wouldn’t bc they had lots of bad players. MPJ and Westbrook were bad. Braun was charitably a 5th starter on a Finals team. And that still leaves 13% of minutes that went to replev players.
Alex Caruso 
Tony Allen
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As a Timberwolves fan I was absolutely disgusted by the SGA whistle last night. Considering my fandom I’m probably exaggerating by at least double, but felt like it made the game unwatchable.
He was definitely quick to fall. I dislike the calls that he and Brunson get where they are driving and the defender is sliding next to them and they just change course to create a bump and fall to the floor.
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I think SGA accentuates contact for sure, and I’m not going to defend every whistle but last night, and overall, tons of his whistles are simply “guy cannot stay in front of him, extends his arm to stop him from getting by, and the second he does, Shai rips the ball through his arm and shoots”
Is he manufacturing the foul? Sure. But he is, for the most part, doing so by beating the pants off his defender who then needs to compromise their guarding position to not get cooked. He’s not getting a guy on his back and then stopping dead and leaping backwards like Brunson
A great thing I saw Randle do a few times was that the second Shai gets into his body, Randle’s arms go straight up. Shockingly, he was never whistled!
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Yeah I like SGA, but he and Brunson can turn these games into a tough watch when they constantly flop and foul bait. Nobody wants to watch a FT contest. It’s really hard to get any game flow with constant whistles blowing.
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I’m not sure I am totally getting the difference you are implying between him and Brunson. If Brunson has a guy on his back hasn’t he also beat a defender in some way?
It’s funny cause a Knicks fan I follow insists that Brunson is the ethical one but Shai is annoying. personally I don’t enjoy either that much but it’s funny to see fandom bias shine through so obviously
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I am not an OKC fan?
I think the difference is that a guy following Brunson over a screen isn’t in a compromised position the way a guy trying to arm-bar Shai from progressing past him
You can’t wrap up a driver, and Shai often puts people in that position. The guy following Brunson is out of the play
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I know, I wasn’t saying that, the Knicks fan note was just a funny add on
Wait until the NYK/OKC NBA Finals. We’ll have a flop off session between Brunson and SGA!