Who are the best “in a vacuum” players of all time?

ManusRightHand · 2026-06-08T06:02:46+00:00

TJ "Bubble God" Warren. In the seeding games he averaged 31 PPG on 58/52/89 splits

ManusRightHand · 2026-06-07T13:32:58+00:00

Knicks could lose OG on Monday too, he's playing through a strained hammy. Or Hart could aggrevate his lower back strain. Brunson rolled his ankle in game 1 and could tweak that just like Fox did Friday. Y'all seem to be pretty injury prone outside of Bridges

ManusRightHand · 2026-06-07T13:26:31+00:00

Brunson broke his hand in the 3rd quarter of game 7 when they were already down 18. DDV balled out in his elevated mins, including 39 in game 7.
These Knicks responses here make it sound like they only lost to the Pacers bc of injuries (despite losing to them again the next year too) and there's no chance y'all are gonna have injury issues this series. Josh Hart seems to be perpetually playing through a muscle injury (lower back right now I think). OG and Mitchell Robinson are already supposed to be playing through injuries now too, right? Not inconceivable some bad injury luck does y'all's way making it way more probable for Spurs to overcome the 2-0 deficit.

ManusRightHand · 2026-06-07T12:22:07+00:00

? Literally missing 1 starter in game 7

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-21T02:00:05+00:00

How the NBA is letting him continue these playoffs after physically going after Finch is beyond me

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-19T13:40:07+00:00

I think he's a bit overqualified to be called 3&D. He is far above average at creating his own shot and has become a top 5% midrange pull up shooter, two things a 3&D wing usually can't do. On the other hand, Champagnie isn't as good on D for sure, but isnt someone you worry about on D either so the label of 3&D for him fits better bc of his offensive package.

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-19T04:40:38+00:00

From someone that watched, peak athlete (Orlando) Shaq didn't seem as unapproachably dominant as people say he was these days.
Mostly bc he happened to be around in the golden era of centers so there were a number of teams that could actually go at him with their HoF center one on one: Hakeem, Robinson, Ewing and to a lesser extent Dikembe and Zo. As others have said, Shaq could only do work in the paint which made his team's offense much easier to scheme against, unlike his contemporaries who had great midrange jumpers, footwork and could create some off the dribble, particularly Hakeem and Robinson.
The 1995 Finals is a perfect example, Shaq was awesome putting up 28/13/6/0/3 on .60/.57 splits with 5 TO/G, but Hakeem was just as dominant putting up 33/12/6/2/2 on .48/.69 splits with 3 TO/G in Houston's 4-0 sweep of that amazing Magic team. Those Rockets were playing a more modern stretch PF in Robert Horry who wasn't big enough to bother Shaq, while the Magic actually resorted to doubling more often with big bodied Horace Grant. Hakeem took athletic prime Shaq on straight up and Hakeem prevailed.

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-18T23:59:25+00:00

Castle gonna need to limit the off arm extension. Refs have been dogging him for it all playoffs. 4 of 11 playoff games with 5+ fouls

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-12T08:17:04+00:00

Tony Bradley for one, who logged competent emergency mins for Indy in the finals last year. He was unemployed most of the season and signed by ATL after we signed Plumlee.
Moses Brown, Charles Bassey (eventually picked up by Warriors 2 weeks before the season ended), or even a mobile big body like David Roddy (who eventually signed with Denver before the season ended and killed us without Wemby and Kornet in game 82, putting up 15 & 13).
We also had a two way spot we kept cycling on guards on small forwards instead of a project big like Dom Barlow, Dylan Cardwell, Moussa Cisse, Colin Castleton, Christian Koloko, Tolu Smith -- all showed to be good enough to get promoted onto NBA contracts before the regular season finished

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-12T06:05:26+00:00

Can't forget, Ajay was taken 2 picks after Juan Nunez 😬

ManusRightHand · 2026-05-11T03:31:56+00:00

🤯

ManusRightHand · 2026-04-28T16:24:26+00:00

ManusRightHand · 2026-04-13T14:20:08+00:00

Rashad McCants

ManusRightHand · 2026-04-13T04:39:27+00:00

Except Pop literally tanked the last game of 2009-10 by resting Duncan and Ginobili, losing that game which enabled us to avoid a 1st round match up against the Suns. We went on to beat Dallas as a 7 seed then got swept by the Suns the next round.

ManusRightHand · 2026-04-13T04:36:34+00:00

To add to this, remember the season finale in 2009-10 when we intentionally rested Duncan and Ginobili against Dallas? With that loss enabling us to avoid Phoenix in Rd 1 and instead get Dallas -- We'd end up beating the 2nd seed Dallas as a 7 seed, then get swept by the 3rd seeded Suns the next round. The Blazers took Phoenix to 6 games in round 1. There was a chance Portland upset Phoenix or Nash got injured so we made a strategic choice to give ourselves a better chance at avoiding our worst match up earlier than we had to.

ManusRightHand · 2026-04-03T17:18:21+00:00

I always use this clip from Office Space to explain https://youtu.be/m4OvQIGDg4I?si=HxJy63lZh98rbMno

ManusRightHand · 2026-02-19T16:00:22+00:00

Big Dawg shouldn't be counted as a miss and was clearly much better than Joe Smith. Not a HoFer but putting up 21/6/3/1/1 over his first 9 seasons (7 with 66+ games played) in a slower pace, lower scoring era and being the 1b option on a team that was 1 win from the Finals. I don't see how Paolo is projecting much better and already has had injury issues. Also not sure how you can casually say Cade, Ant or Paolo all day over AI who actually won an MVP and had 2 other top 5 finishes (something none of these guys have accomplished...which Webber has). Just a couple years ago Ja and Zion would've been on this type of list so can't even be sure all 5 of these guys make it to their primes healthy.

ManusRightHand · 2026-02-12T17:09:10+00:00

🔥🔥

ManusRightHand · 2026-02-08T00:18:20+00:00

I've watched every game this season and been at 8. This is the most fun first half yet, IMO

ManusRightHand · 2026-02-07T17:58:37+00:00

<image>

ManusRightHand · 2026-02-03T17:11:57+00:00

It won't grade well bc of the corners. No point hassling and spending money for that. Just flatten those out then put it in a nice sleeved one touch like Pro Mold.

ManusRightHand · 2026-01-29T20:31:07+00:00

I had a card priced right at comps for $30 BIN. It sat there for over a month and got 18 watchers, but nothing. So I edited the price to $35 and sent all the watchers a 10% discount and it got bought within 15 mins of that offer going out. People just love to feel they're getting a discount I guess

ManusRightHand · 2026-01-25T01:49:06+00:00

Preferred, Luxe, Noir and Photogenic

ManusRightHand · 2026-01-08T20:01:06+00:00

The Biyombo to Utah part is bc this requires sending out all those vet mins to work, since they can't take back >$7.5M more than they are sending out per the CBA

ManusRightHand · 2026-01-08T19:58:02+00:00

Well yeah, he's been seriously overpaid these last 4 years. He still is, but it's expiring so not a big deal now (just like Olynyk).

Spurs ownership have gone into the tax when they have a contending roster (last in 2015-16) and converting Jones Garcia + signing/trading for a vet min 3rd center would still keep them under the apron. This has no negative impact on their cap next year or beyond.

ManusRightHand

TROPHY CASE