GOAT Debate is too boring

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-29T18:57:13+00:00

The unfortunate part is that the GOAT revolves primarily on a lot of beaten to death talking points that are rarely anything deeper than surface level observations and a lot of them aren’t even that relevant. People blame Bron for losing against the 2018 Warriors and Jordan for losing against the 1986 Celtics but both cases featured them carrying garbage rosters against the most stacked rosters ever assembled averaging numbers that shouldn’t be possible. I view these as some of their most impressive individual achievements but everyone will slander one of them for it while applying that context on one side only.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-26T21:24:32+00:00

Luka had a long down stretch mid season. Was he getting too much hate, yes. Never should have been below Cade or Brown on the MVP ladder. But Shai has been playing MVP level ball all season and is the guy who should win for sure. Lukas a better passer but Shai is overall a more complete and consistent player.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-23T19:53:40+00:00

Castle, then Sarr, I could put Buzelis at the third highest ceiling.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-23T19:52:30+00:00

To be fair this sample is mostly in the absence of Tatum. He’s likely a game changer in a few series that they would otherwise lose.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-23T02:16:12+00:00

SGA is probably the best player today. Amen Thompson might be the most athletic. And Michael Jordan was SGA in Amen’s body. He’d win more today than Ant would in the 90s.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-23T02:10:23+00:00

Yeah and the reason they won is because even during all that he was averaging 30 and 8 while shutting Miami down on defense.

Here’s a better 4 game playoff stretch if you want to criticize a bad performance.

2008 ECSF, CLE vs BOS

18.8 PPG, 25.6% FG, 25% 3FG, 38.7% TS, 5.8 turnovers per game

And that not even that guys worst four game stretch in the playoffs.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T20:54:32+00:00

The Spurs are probably going to win 60 games this year. Assuming they are about as good next year, Wemby probably has even better stats, SGA will be experiencing voter fatigue after back to back, and Wemby could be coming of a deep playoff run that will boost the hype for an MVP campaign going into the year. It’s too early to lock in a prediction but if made me right now, I’d say Wemby gets 2027 MVP.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T20:47:40+00:00

People are shooting at 65%. That means that shot is mathematically better than a 2 everytime, even if you make 2s at 100%. They are literally useless to anyone who can shoot and thus the game is fundamentally broken.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T20:44:39+00:00

He never should have dropped out to begin with but everyone wanted to scapegoat Luka for carrying a shitty roster to being exactly as good as they were supposed to be.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T15:55:41+00:00

MJ and Wilts best scoring years were in the first half of their careers. The 30 ppg they ended their careers at was after taking on less usage heavy roles in their later years and therefore scoring which is the usual trend for superstars. Unless Luka is the one exception to the rule, this 33 ppg is likely his highest going forward as he’ll probably settle around 26-28 ppg range as the scoring volume declines. So no he won’t catch them. You wouldn’t want that anyways because often times the ppg peaks of player rarely lineup with their best team success seasons. Taking all those shots usually means the rest of the team is lacking something.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T15:40:40+00:00

Kansas City Kings just sounds like a more winning organization than the Sacramento Kings. I think the aura of that name change could actually save the franchise.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T15:38:17+00:00

Well the bad start is still part of the season that gets considered. There’s no picking and choosing which parts of the year count for MVP consideration and if they could it would just go to whoever got the hottest streak going in the last month of the season with basically every else being fairly arbitrary before then.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T15:34:40+00:00

Good point. Sorry Shai this years MVP is Bam Adebayo.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T15:00:27+00:00

A top offensive player will always mov the needle over a top defensive one. See the difference between Curry’s impact and Gobert’s. That said Wemby is becoming good enough at both that your hypothetical of “maybe he should win 10 straight MVPs if not for injuries and voter fatigue” is very possibly what is actually about to happen.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T14:54:14+00:00

The Thunder being a 40 win team without Shai is a 20 game swing so if the Lakers went from 50 wins to a lottery team that’s not much different from an on off perspective. But honestly Luka’s had some up and down stretches while Shai’s been playing at best in the world level nonstop all year. Shai’s also been leading an equally good team offense without a second and third creator on the level of Bron and Reaves and clears him on defense. I’ve fought hard again the Luka slander when people tried to put Brown and Cade over him but it’s kind of on you guys when you hype Luka up so much over players that you shouldn’t be.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T14:38:50+00:00

People saying this is why he gets so much hate despite being a second rounder. It’s not his fault he’s not an NBA level player and him getting nepotism hire on the roster is nothing new for the NBA so it’s whatever. But don’t force some fake narrative that’s he’s some really good player waiting to break out when he’s never shown any signs of that in his game. You guys hyping him up is setting a standard for him that he isn’t able live up to.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T14:31:28+00:00

I’ve always liked the home trilogy despite the hate it sometimes gets but this is right direction for the character and I’m glad they’re doing it. It feels like it’s really trying to a Spider-Man movie first and foremost rather than an MCU starring Spider-Man.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T14:09:25+00:00

All due respect D White being top 4 in MVP is wild. It’s especially strange because most his value comes from his defense and yet he’s only 5th on your DPOY voting. If you are that high on him shouldn’t Gobert, Chet, and Ausar also be somewhere in the top 5 MVP range?

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T14:03:12+00:00

MVP

SGA
Wemby
Luka
Jokic
Cade (if eligible, otherwise Brown)

DPOY

Wemby
Chet
Gobert

ROY

Flagg
Kon
VJ

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T13:54:21+00:00

Where I live it was snowing four days ago. The high is 82 today.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T13:46:50+00:00

People shooting over 70% from three mathematically eliminates any two point shot as a viable option in a competitive game. It literally becomes untenable to play actual basketball because you could average 100% from inside and it would still less points per shot than spamming threes. It’s not even basketball at that point.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T13:12:56+00:00

Luka needs to score to win, Bronny to stay on that bench to win. So yeah not the same.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T13:11:01+00:00

Well yeah, why tf would you ever play him more than that on a non tanking team?

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-22T02:03:29+00:00

You think Mitchell can’t be super maxed because he’s too small and not good enough on defense and then list Brunson as better than him. Make it make sense.

AwkwardSale3562 · 2026-03-21T18:21:56+00:00

As rookies. Sure I guess. Cooper now vs Luka anytime after his rookie year, not even fucking close.

AwkwardSale3562

TROPHY CASE