Magic is a genius, game 5 was the series decider. Both home teams went down in game 6 due to the overwhelming power of the game 5.
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More of Magicās genius:
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/52149363379671042
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/49565033717440512
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/568591585912467456
https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson/status/552301986608332803
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The great ones have a short memory.
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So I went down the rabbit hole on this a bit. Few more questions:
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When you say āMaccabi is an optionā, do you mean any Israeli team, or is there something specific about them
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Apparently Amare Stoudamire got Israeli citizenship playing for some Israeli team? Did he just convert for the citizenship? If he can do it, it would seem that any fringe NBA player has the Maccabi option.
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How good exactly is Maccabi Tel Aviv? As a USAian, my natural instinct is to LOL all non-American basketball teams. If we put them in the NBA, would they be the worst team for sure?
I had no idea Brandon Knight was in the closet.
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Iām like 80% sure itās a troll account. Either that or Magicās not all there.
Most of the recent tweets are inane crap like āwow the Suns are really giving a great effort!ā
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Oh man those are some loaded questions.
Maccabi are the richest, most dominant team in Israel. For example, from 1967 till 2006 they won 38 out of 39 national championships, losing just once to an 18 year old Doron Sheffer, if anyone is a UCONN fan here.
My poli science thesis was about the corrupted connection between the Government, Maccabi and public funding and how it secured its utter dominance over itās competitors, mostly through publicly funded tv broadcasting rights.
In so many words, at certain times, in certain ways, they were above the law. So if you need to cut some corners and get someone a passport quicker than he should, Maccabi would miraculously provide one.
I grew up as a fan of Hapoel Tel Aviv, the city rival team, so my hatred knows no boundaries.
Their ālegendaryā team manager, who I had the displeasure of interviewing once, hang himself after it got out that he basically ran a madoff style ponzi scheme with playerās money. For years they sold us that foreign players choose Maccabi over other high end European clubs even though the contracts are smaller because of āspecial careā and āatmosphereā. Apparently he was promising and providing them absurd returns on their investments.
Obviously being this is Maccabi, not a single person was charged. The story got hushed and everyone moved along like it wasnāt a gigantic scandal.
As to how good they are, itās hard to say and it changes from year to year obviously. The peak team of my life time was the 2004 team that destroyed the EuroLeague. Won the final by 44 points and had 5 legit NBA caliber players.
But yeah, it will be among the worst teams in the NBA over a full season. Barely coached tanking team like the Thunder or Pistons would probably be worse.
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I think heās just kind of dumb. Simmons has described working with him on TV and says heās just who he is irl.
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Dude could ball. I met him a couple of times as a kid. I think I still have a shirt from the 95/96 team with all their autographs that included him tucked away somewhere.
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This isnāt true - Hayward went to Charlotte because they offered more money than Indiana. Hayward had to agree to any location.
This is how far the Ainge haters have fallen - ripping him for not making imaginary trades.
Iām sure youāre out of the gym now - Iād love to see this list of 6 GMs you say are better than Ainge.
You say he never had the stones to trade for all these guys (including Beal lol - who has never been up for trade) yet are you aware he traded for KG, Allen and Kyrie?
Notice how you glossed over multiple free agents signing the max to go to Boston. Again, Iād be much more impressed if he did it in Memphis / SA / OKC. He got nothing for Hayward, Kyrie and Horford.
Iād snap take Masai, Morey, Presti, Myers, Marks, Buford / Pop, Kleiman, Horst. Could argue for Lawrence Frank, Pelinka, Nelson. Like yea, heās in the top third of the league probably. But heās an overrated white guy thatās gotten bounced from the playoffs for years and years by unremarkable teams (Knicks, Heat, Hawks, etc). The game passed him by, and if you want to wager on the success of his next team Iād be happy to.
I donāt think Ainge will have a next team.
He might take a consulting job somewhere, especially if it means his son Austin can have a shot at a future GM job, but I think he really wants to enjoy his family and not have a third heart attack.
I expected this list and itās hilarious. Letās take a look at them one by one.
Masai - Youāre super concerned about Ainge only drafting a couple all-stars over the last decade. Masaiās only ever drafted one (who is now hugely overpaid). He owes his ring to BOTH KD and Klay getting crippled. Heās ābuiltā a roster that won 37% of itās games and has 70+mm committed to Siakam/Van Vleet/OG, so theyāll be a lottery team for the forseeable future. Only one good playoff run his career.
Morey - Never added a second star that would fit next to Harden. Left an absolute tire fire behind him in Houston. If you want to never ring but impress internet commenters, then sure, Morey is your guy. Never won a conference championship, let alone a ring. Listing him ahead of Ainge is embarrassing for you.
Presti - LOL. It seems like your biggest criticism of Ainge is he never āwent for itā (despite trading for KG, Ray Allen, Kyrie). And you rate Presti over him? The guy that had incredible lottery luck, and then ran it into the ground by trading Harden before he had to. Then, after ditching Harden and having RWB/Durant he never, ever āwent for it.ā All heās shown he knows how to do is Tank and get lottery balls to bounce his way. The inclusion of his name is embarrassing for you.
Myers - This one is close, but he inherited his situation, has drafted one all-star. Got incredibly lucky with the way the cap exploded to be able to bring in Durant (who only went there because of guys that Myers didnāt draft). Horrible DeAngelo Russell contract, got bailed out by an even dumber GM in Minnesota. Heās slightly below Ainge level but itās close.
Buford / Pop - I absolutely agree, what theyāve done is remarkable. Kawhi trade was a terrible mis-read, though.
Kleiman - LOL. Cāmon now. Morant fell in his lap and he got an 8th seed once. Youāre embarrassing yourself. This is like saying you prefer a college prospect to Dame Lillard.
Horst - Good lord. Milwaukee has made one ECF. Iād love to hear what Horst moves were super terrific. Was it the Eric Bledsoe contract? Letting Brogdan go and replacing him with George Hill and Wes Matthews?
So weāve got one name on your list - Buford and one maybe in Myers. Good try though. Seriously though, would love to heard why Horst, Kleiman and Presti are included on this list. Embarrassing.
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I think this is a solid post - but disagree with your point on Morey. CP3 was a perfect fit with Harden and that team likely rings if not for the injury. Not sure you can blame Morey for Harden deciding he no longer was friends with CP3.
Iād also say Howard was a solid fit - in theory he should have been an elite version of Capela who meshed well with Harden. They had one great year together and then Howard seems to have really fallen off a cliff.
Who would be considered the best of all time? Iām dating myself here but do people still consider Krause or West to be good GMs because of their dynasties? Or is it a situation where the role had evolved so much that every GM today is better than the 20th century execs?
I think the injury point with CP3 is fair, but then weāve also got to give Ainge similar credit with the KG/Hayward/Kyrie injuries. Remember they took Lebronās Cavs to 7 games in the ECF and that was with Kyrie sitting the whole series (and Hayward out as well). Of course theyād have gotten waxed by the Warriors (or maybe theyād get lucky like TOR and both KD and Klay would have been hurt). But weāve got to pick a side here, right - either we extend GMs grace for injuries outside of their control, or we donāt.
But, the fact remains that Morey spent a ton to get CP3, then spent even more to get rid of him, and brought in an awful fit in RWB. Houston is a disaster right now, and that is at his feet. Boston still has two All-Star wings that are under 25. Ainge left his team in a better situation (not great, Kemba contract is obviously bad).
I think lots of folks would say Auerbach (some of his trades are just absurd) or West (success a few different places) - of course there are tons of caveats to both.
The Spurs modern run of dominance is wild - but they also got extraordinarily lucky winning the lottery twice when there was one generational talent in both drafts. Of course the Magic won it twice, too, and they had one finals loss to show for it.
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We are being results oriented here. We donāt know the inner workings of these organizations. Itās possible some of these GMās have better systems in place in their organization but a lot of luck is involved in draft picks working out.
You could even argue that even if a trade doesnāt work out for you in the long run it was the best move giving the limited information you have or had.
You can make a plus EV move that doesnāt work out.
I sure seemed to have struck a nerve. Maybe Danny can give me a call to defend himself since heās out of a job and his team is out in the first round again.