Ya'll are doing the same by comparing 2024 Poole, Wiggins, Klay, and Dray to their 2022 counterparts, ignoring just how effective they were in that playoffs
The Grizzlies struggled against a mediocre Timberwolves team in the first round and had an injury to Ja in the second round. On top of that, they were a young team without any playoff experience led by a 3rd year point guard. They weren't a great team man.
The 2021 Jazz won at a 60 win pace and lost in the second round. Were they great? Everyone knows that team wasn't shyt. Ditto for the 2018 Raptors that won 60 games. There are plenty of teams in NBA history that overachieved in the regular season but have certain qualities to them that lend itself to playoff failure.
22 year old Luka had Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney Smith as two of his most important teammates. If what Steph was doing was a carry job, what would you call that?
The Celtics were a great team. Sure, they got even better over the years but in 2022 they were a legitimate championship level squad. Nobody in real-time saw the Grizzlies, Mavs, and hospital Nuggets as contenders.
I;m not doing that. Poole was losing minutes each round in real time because his defense was that bad. And Klay coming off 2 of the worst injuries you can get in basketball clearly wasn't a number 2 option.
they were effective, but no other player is expected to win a chip with Andrew Wiggins as the number 2, jordan poole, and Klay thompson off an ACL and Achilles injuries.
That's why no1 is tryna trade for them
And what, u want the warriors to play contenders every round? Why even have the playoffs in the west in that case? And again, steph has won chips when the west was stacked regardless. He didnt win in 2016, and still got out the west.
It's not Golden State's fault the Suns choked in 2022. They were set to play each other in the conf finals but THEY blew it. Not the warriors. GSW did their job.
And they could've just easily lost to the Celtics, but they didn't. So they definitely had to work for the chip. They also had steph, GP2, and Otto Porter dealing with injuries throughout the playoffs. They lost GP2 for 2 rounds. Tryna downplay their 2022 makes no sense, especially since it's seen as Steph's crowning achievement
Edit: You got
@Roger king , well-known dumbass nikka on your side. I rest my case