I think Jokic and Hakeem are equal in caliber but for different reasons. Shaq had the better prime but he wasn’t the complete player the other two are/were. Duncan wasn’t a wow player but he was the backbone of a dynasty. They’re all jumbled together.
Golden St made a mistake a few years ago not cashing in on the Wiseman/Kuminga picks even though they won a title. They could’ve had guys Siakam, Markannen, DeJounte when those guys/picks still had value. They earned that championship but got pretty lucky that Wiggins had that outlier clutch...
Lakers were a 39 win team that year so the Suns should’ve wrapped that series up sooner. They played 18 games before the finals whereas the Bulls played 14. Some of its East vs West but Barkley and KJ were both worn down in the finals.
I think the draft has to be technically started too. IIRC we couldn’t trade for Shamet until the draft in 2022 because OKC owned our 2023 pick. Btw bad trade lol.
When KD goes into coach killer mode the rest of the team follows his lead. Vogel wasn’t the right guy for this team but he didn’t have much of a chance to begin with starting with not being able to build his own staff. We know now that you didn’t hitch your wagon to KD unless you have a...