Official Detroit Pistons thread

[froot loops]

OK, that's good for you, we're not going to get much farther in this discussion.

[kreton]

Why wouldn't it? Who is the challenger that stops them other than Golden State? In this hypothetical where Golden State is the slightly better version of OKC, how do they not win at least two titles?

Cleveland had one year that the stars aligned for them. Every other year, it really wasn't all that close. Who challenges a Golden State without Curry this season? Sure... a "slightly better" OKC isn't the juggernaut that this current GS team is... but I have no problem still calling a Curry-less Warriors the favorite.

That's how much better they are than everyone else this year.

Challenges? Houston, OKC, Toronto, Boston Not saying they'd be favorites but they'd certainly challenge GS especially without Curry.

Going deeper the Jazz, Sixers, Lakers could possibly challenge a weakened GS team if the right guys really step it up and the ball bounces their way a few dozen times.

[Forsh]

Houston was 1 game from beating them and then Chris Paul got hurt. There's no way they'd win if Curry went down for the year

[kreton]

Houston was 1 game from beating them and then Chris Paul got hurt. There's no way they'd win if Curry went down for the year

Houston isn't the same team - neither is GS. Houston definitely could beat them - but saying there is no way GS could win without Curry is going too far.

[chemiclord]

Houston was 1 game from beating them and then Chris Paul got hurt. There's no way they'd win if Curry went down for the year

Houston lost quite a bit of defense, and countered that by adding the ultimate team poison, Carmelo Anthony. If Anthony accepts a bench role without turning full toxic, they might have an outside chance. Boston is probably the best opportunity to upset Golden State right now... but I still just can't see a scenario where they'd be the favorite unless Cousins completely drags the team down (he might), Green starts losing his mind (he might) AND one of their big three is out for the entirety of the Finals.

[froot loops]

Even if you get ultimate team player Olympic Camelot Anthony he doesn't move the needle in a positive direction. He is washed up and doesn't have a skill that you would want coming off the bench.

[Kstat]

[kreton]

Houston lost quite a bit of defense, and countered that by adding the ultimate team poison, Carmelo Anthony. If Anthony accepts a bench role without turning full toxic, they might have an outside chance. Boston is probably the best opportunity to upset Golden State right now... but I still just can't see a scenario where they'd be the favorite unless Cousins completely drags the team down (he might), Green starts losing his mind (he might) AND one of their big three is out for the entirety of the Finals.

I agree and even said in this thread that Houston lost a lot of defense. But if you remove Curry (like the post I replied to said) to say that Houston has no chance is simply too far.

I never said Houston would be the favorites - but look at my post in the context of the scenario that guy brought up.

[chemiclord]

The original argument was that a slightly better OKC team would have won a couple rings. Considering that team would be arguably the favorite every year over the last five, it seems highly unlikely that they wouldn't have.

TL;DR version: Durant/Green/Thompson/Cousins should be good enough to win a couple titles.

[froot loops]

That lineup relies way too much on an old Shaun Livingston. I'm kind of waffling on being a better version of that OKC team. In the scenario where Curry is out for the year with an injury, they have a tough time winning. Its kind of why they lost to the Cavs in 2016, Curry came back and had decent stats but he wasn't himself and they attacked him relentlessly on D.

If you swap out injuries though, they could win without Durant, especially with Cousins now on the roster in the short term. But all those Warrior players are getting old, they have , I think they are going to be in better position this year than they were last year, but this may be the last year we see all these guys together.

[kreton]

The original argument was that a slightly better OKC team would have won a couple rings. Considering that team would be arguably the favorite every year over the last five, it seems highly unlikely that they wouldn't have.

TL;DR version: Durant/Green/Thompson/Cousins should be good enough to win a couple titles.

My reply that you quoted was to

Houston was 1 game from beating them and then Chris Paul got hurt. There's no way they'd win if Curry went down for the year

[jaadam4]

I have no idea why I come to this thread. The Stafford thread is cooler than this thread

[froot loops]

Because you're not cool?

[Futureshock]

Burn!

[jaadam4]

Because you're not cool?