And the Olympics quite obviously doesn't give a shit about Trae since he wasn't invited to play. Superstars get invites.

And obviously you believe he is a superstar too!

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Keldon Johnson is a superstar?

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

They invite superstars first whether they accept or not is up to them.

The superstars get offered first. If Trae was that dude they would have been kissing his ass to play. They don't even want him. Shocking!

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How about this?...

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If we nominate Trump we will get destroyed & we'll deserve it.- L Graham
I’m going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. No one will be above the law.- DJT 2016
MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!- DJT 12/25/23

Thanks for the assist Zippy, Nas and his predictions.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

what's not so shocking is your digging in on a wrong opinion by making even more ridiculous claims

They don't give a shit about Trae, but they really wanted keldon Johnson and JaVale McGee !!!

I think you can throw Lavine in the group of ‘why the fuck is this guy on the US Olympic team.’

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He is a better player than both. Doesn't mean he is a better fit.

And plain and simple the guys that they want get invited. Superstar players get invited first. That has always been the pecking order. They rarely if ever get passed over. It's why people are talking about Zeke 30 years later.

They didn't want the guy and I can totally understand why. You don't and can't because you think that he is a really really great player. Like Shakes and others that ride the wave.
.That they would rather have Javale McGee and Keldon Johnson rather than the "great" Trae Young says a lot more about Trae Young than it does McGee and Keldon Johnson.Or the Coaching Staff for that matter.

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I can see why they'd rather have Zach Lavine than Ice Cold Trae.

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better +/- ?

And to think that he is a "must have" guy is silly given his obvious limitations as a player. He shoots a low % and couldn't guard the American flag that is draped over the shoulders of the players if he needed to in order to get out of Tokyo.

Guards with his defensive limitations tend to get exposed in the Olympics. Won't be able to hide him on P.J. Tucker or Reggie Bullock over there.

And I also don't think that his iso ball dominant style translates well to the system that Popovich likes to run. And lastly there is no way that Popovich would ever accept a guy launching 30 footers simply because the mood struck.

That's why he wasn't placed on the squad if you ask me.

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.

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Great fucking series. Disappointing for the city of Phoenix, especially being up 2-0. I think it took Giannis those two games to get back into rhythm. The Suns could have used another big man in this series, somebody like Taj Gibson would've been fun.

Ayton played scared last night. In my meatball sports fan voice, he played like a pussy. He honestly played like that most of the series. I'm dumbfounded how he's gone away from shooting jumpers (something he was really great at in college and in his first couple NBA seasons). It was strictly alley-oops and rebounds this season. He lacks confidence. You see it every time he receives the ball in the post. Hopefully he figures it out like Embiid.

Booker played scared last night as well. He was blocked so many times when driving to the hoop this series, he had some PTSD hesitating and pump-faking throughout Game 6.

Chris Paul needs to walk. He was terrific this season but he's never healthy in the playoffs. I don't question his toughness but I do question his assertiveness. The Lakers can have him. No way I'd devote $33 million worth of cap space to him, not even for 1 season.

Draft a point guard, sign a point guard, trade Ayton for Lillard, I don't give a damn.

Ayton was definitely a pussy last night. some of the times he had the ball in the post he looked like he could not wait to get rid of it.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I think you could make an argument for Giannis.

But, I wouldn't argue against Durant or Hakeem.

Just thinking out loud...on a keyboard....documenting for all time.

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https://twitter.com/DrKenCast

That's deserved. If I'm Portland however, I prefer Ayton over Wiseman. I don't want anything to do with a 20 year old who missed 35 games his rookie season and tore his meniscus.

Unless Lillard publicly calls for a trade I’m not even considering one if I’m Portland. And if Dame does ask for a trade I think I’d still ask for Ben Simmons + picks/pieces from Philly over Ayton. If the Suns offered Ayton, Bridges, and a pick or two it’s a different conversation

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You think Lillard and Booker would mesh well together? They seem sorta like the same guy to me.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

The Best Chance that they have of making any noise next year is to keep the team intact and add one or two complimentary pieces to it.

They lost last night because outside of Ayton they
had no one capable of slowing Giannis down. They were simply too small up front.

He relentlessly attacked the rim because he knew that there was no rim protection outside of Ayton. And Ayton didn't do a good job of defending last night either.

You can't break it because you'd never get close to equal value for Paul. Hopefully he has one more elite level year in him. They can find a rim protecting big to back up Ayton and maybe a guy to back up or replace Crowder and they will be all good.

The best thing they can do is run that thing back for one more year.

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The price for Lillard is going to be high and I don't think he is worth what Portland will ask for him.

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Kawhi isn’t guaranteed to be injured. AD isn’t guaranteed to be injured. Donovan Mitchell isn’t guaranteed to be injured. Dallas likely takes another step forward. Who knows what happens in Denver next year…

Everything had to beak the right way for the Suns to lose 4-2 to the 2nd best team in the East.

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I don’t think Dallas has much of a path to improvement this offseason but I agree with the overall point.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Donovan Mitchell played. Just not well. Lakers are old and injured. Dallas hasn't done anything of note for all of the hype. Kawhi is oft injured and indifferent about playing basketball to me.

And besides which moves are doable anyway? The return for Paul wouldn't be much. And they aren't going to trade Ayton or Booker.

Maybe someone really loves Bridges but I doubt that. He would be the only guy that might net something decent in a return that they would think of trading.

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Mitchell played but coming off an injury for a month, he looked like trash. I’d still prefer putting a team together around him/Gobert than Paul/Ayton. As much as I dislike Lebron, I’m not ready to rule him out when paired with a guy like AD on the right side of 30. Luka is 22; I’m not super impressed with them as a team but I have a hard time thinking they’re not going to improve as he gets more experience.

And Kawhi? I agree, but he’s shown he can dominate even when he doesn’t seem to care.

Basketball is so weird I don’t think there is a move out there that’ll help Phoenix. I just think they’re more in line with a team like Denver than the other western powers.

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I would take Booker and Ayton over Gobert and Mitchell. Or Paul and Ayton over Gobert and Mitchell any day. Gobert is a liability come playoff time and Mitchell gets exposed.

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Kawhi just tore his ACL and had surgery. He is literally guaranteed to be injured next year.

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When the Suns were down by 10 in Game 5 going into the 4th quarter, they could have really used another killer. Booker put up 40, including 11 in the 4th. Lillard and Booker could figure it out.

It's a wild idea. Same as trading Ayton for Karl-Anthony Towns (Booker's UK teammate).

Yessir. One backup big man and a backup point guard. If Paul opts out and goes elsewhere, they'll have a little over $30 million.