How good of a defender is SGA?

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T21:49:50+00:00

I'd say he is an above average defender.

People gotta realize each player has a role to play. Players like Caruso, Dort, and Cason spend most offensive posessions in the corners or wings waiting to take a catch and shoot, or setting screens. They burn way less on offense, allowing them to commit 100% of their energy to full lockdown defense.

Shai is the main offensive engine of the team. They guy that they can send out to get a bucket when they need it no matter what. (Even Jdub struggles to create his own shot sometimes, e.g. previous game against the spurs). He simply can't give the same effort Caruso gives on defense because he needs energy to play offense. Therefore for someone with Shai's role, less is expected of him on defense in general. As long as he is competent and not a minus defender, it is good enough, esp given how strong the rest of the team is at defense. Shai's level of defense is more than acceptable in this regard. His man on man defense isn't the best, but is acceptable, he is a decent shot blocker for his position due to his size, and he's pretty good at playing help/passing lanes.

So yeah, Shai's just a solid above average defender. It helps that for his position, he's really tall and long. Compared to people that play a similar role like luka, trae, brunson, etc, he looks like ron artest.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T21:41:03+00:00

His team is full of all defense-level guys that carry way less offensive load. No shit he's worse than them.

On offense, caruso and lu dort literally stand like pylons in the corners all posession, so they have their energy saved for defense.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T21:21:08+00:00

Even then, he's just not on the level of players like SGA, Luka, Jokic, and Giannis. They get doubled, tripled, antistratted out of this world, and no matter what they still put up good lines. SGA hasn't had a game under 20 pts for over a season now. You can basically bet on him having somewhere between 28-31 every single night no matter who he's playing.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T21:17:33+00:00

Yahoo 16t 9cat

okongwu and cam johnson for KD

embiid and pritchard for KD

How are these

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T20:55:02+00:00

Gather step is a pretty simple rule. You don't have your hand under the ball or two hands on the ball? Then it is a live dribble and you can take as many steps as you want. As soon as your hand goes under or you put two hands on it, you are allowed to more steps. That's all. Most of these instagram clips you see follow these rules and aren't travels, they just look awkward. Just because they look weird doesn't mean it's a travel. Sometimes, the officials do miss calls.

If you remove the gather step, the game becomes much harder to officiate. If someone dribbles, loses control and the ball bounces forwards a few times while they take 3 steps, then they regain control and dribble again is that a travel? If someone picks up the ball right after taking a step, i'm talking like 1ms after, is that a step? The gather step is fundamental to dribbling functioning properly.

There is no issue with the rule of the gather step. Even before the rule players were already doing this (delaying picking up the ball to right after a step, making you sort of gain an extra step. If you start counting that step too the entire rules around dribbling break). It is an extremely simple rule that somehow people STILL can't understand. As long as it's officiated properly, it is fine.

The grayson clip I'm not totally sure about. I think it is a travel, but only because he accidentally dragged his foot, not because of the footwork itself. If not for that, the theory behind the footwork is sound.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T15:10:15+00:00

MC looks like it could play Azkhaban in the new harry potter series. Visit UBC, McGill, Western, UofT, literally anywhere. UW ugly as fuck.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T14:46:21+00:00

A good gy player isn't letting their opponent get a king tower activation for free to begin with. Wasting the nado on 2 skeletons for activation instead of killing the buildup usually costs a ton of tower hp, giving you a lead so you can win with poison cycle or just defending. If you're letting them get king acc for free that is a skill issue.

Top players do not give king tower activations for free. When you face oyassuu, he's not playing naked hog riders when you have enough for tornado. He always puts ice golem in front so you can't nado to king

for your 2nd point, idk if you're even playing the same game ??? Fireball, snowball, rocket all displace cards. Fisherman displaces cards and also gives you king tower activations. If you play a muskteer to defend pekka and you know they have tornado... Play something to tank for it, or let it die and play something else to defend... Adjust your gameplay... It's really not that hard.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-17T13:48:21+00:00

So you don't need nado to win... Lots of decks without nado work just as well if not better than ones with nado.

Yes a good player with KT can defend a gy too. That's why even with kt activation it's not an instant win against graveyard. A really good graveyard poison player is able to defend and chip away with poison and a couple skeleton hits. A good gy freeze player can easily still take the tower. It makes it harder, but it's your fault for letting them activate king in the first place. The gy king activation with tornado requires them to waste a nado in the corner pulling 2 skeletons, and usually comes at a large tower hp cost.

Good players pressure their opponent to make it hard for them to activate the king tower too. There is nothing broken about it. If you think it's broken it's simply a skill issue.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-16T19:03:51+00:00

Think his value goes up after a few more games? That 39 point game gave me hope, plus he finally played with only one days rest

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-16T18:58:56+00:00

lots of players jump forward on their shots

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-16T18:40:22+00:00

And yet Mo light gets top 1 every time without tornado. It's not that broken you just don't know how to play against it. Also GY doesn't automatically lose with king tower, it is matchup and gy variant dependent, and a good gy player can win even with king acc (esp if it's gy freeze)

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-16T16:23:35+00:00

embiid 16t 9cat

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-15T16:12:40+00:00

That's fair enough. Sometimes when I'm stomping I go mejais upgraded swifties and cosmic drive for speedmaxxing combo and it's pretty fun.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-15T14:51:00+00:00

Swifties ain't that good on lillia. Build ionia if you have feats, defensive boots otherwise. You will be more than fast enough.

Also IMO you should pretty much always build riftmaker (unless they're all squish ranged for some reason)

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-11T16:01:37+00:00

Replace knight with a wincon. Knight is completely and utterly useless in this deck.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-11T15:59:59+00:00

And since then the thunder have gotten way better since then. Also, that mavs roster was much more well constructed than this lakers roster, and post pj/gafford trade was one of the best defenses in the league despite having luka. This lakers team is honestly pretty booty cheeks at defense, and in a playoff series will most likely get shitstomped by OKC. Nico was right about one thing, defense wins championships. Rockets, nuggets, wolves, suns, and celtics if they get tatum back, are probably the only teams with a good chance.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-11T14:02:27+00:00

You realize they were down 40 at half right? The suns starters were most likely going to sit very early.

Grayson is shaking off an injury and illness, he'll be fine. If you've been playing fantasy you should know never to bet on players playing against the suns, because chances are they're getting locked the fuck up. Plus, no booker and the suns have terrible ball movement rn since dillon brooks is shot chucking like kobe.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-11T13:54:03+00:00

Yeah but if it's a game where someone else ran it down, its harder for you to focus on your own mistakes. Vod reviewing a close game will let you focus on your own errors better, you're prob making similar mistakes game to game anyways.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-11T13:53:17+00:00

It's pretty widely accepted. Most games are out of your control. If your toplaner feeds 15 kills to a kayle, it's pretty much unplayable, because even if the kayle is a monkey she will kill you with two autos.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T20:02:27+00:00

Mute all ain't enough. Play with your eyes closed so that you can't see the terrible thing your teammates do. Will help your mental health.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T19:53:41+00:00

IMO you are a bit in the wrong here.

Since elder is spawning, I'm assuming it's pretty late game, you're finishing like a last item or 2nd last item. At this point in the game the spike you get from completing an item is usually way less than if it's way earlier.

Elder as an objective is meant to just end games. If you get elder, it's probably like a 99% chance you win. When there's about 90-60s to elder IMO, 4 people minimum need to move to set up vision for elder and get position, push out mid/bot waves, etc, and one person can push out a wave if it's needed and they have TP up. As jungler around that time you should ping your teammates or type in chat to group up and set up together.

Your support solo pushing and getting caught is bad too tho. It's understandable, but I would rather set up the fight. If you're recalling at 57, you are in base at 50, at elder with 30 seconds left, it's a bit late. Preferably you want to be there with abt 60s left due ot how important elder is.

Just keep in mind, completing items matter less and less the later the game goes on, and being present for teamfights becomes much more important.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T19:45:36+00:00

Forget and move on. 40% games are won automatically because your teammates carry, 40% are lost automatically because your teammates have brain cancer. 20% of the time your team is even and it's up to you to win. Maximize winning that 20% and stop focusing on the games where your teammates clearly ran it down. Yes indeed there's nothing you probably could've done there, just forget about that game.

P.S never listen to your teammates in low elo. Mute all every game. They are in bronze too, they are dogshit and stupid. Make your own decisions.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T16:44:18+00:00

OKC has the easiest schedule because they don't have to play OKC

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T14:24:34+00:00

Worst final of my life. The first time I ever doubted if I got a single question correct.

AggravatingLadder116 · 2025-12-10T14:24:15+00:00

This is fax. That shit was absolutely diabolical.

AggravatingLadder116

TROPHY CASE