Ohonsi's NBA Blog

Let me get some basketball 101 out of the way real quick: The most important skill in basketball by far is being able to score in isolation (off the dribble, posting up, or the face up jumper) at an all-star level. (To a bit of a lesser extent, taking advantage of mismatches by scoring in drop coverage in the pick n' roll is also a valuable shot creation tool). There are other important skills but this is the only one that if a player has, can make a team with a relatively weak supporting cast much better than it actually is (a perfect example: '01 Iverson). If a player doesn't have this skill, they simply aren't an all-star caliber hooper (someone like Klay in his prime, an efficient 20 points and great 3 point shooting, is the rare exception). Anyway... For whatever reason that only God can comprehend, I LOVE creating all-star/all-nba teams! There’s multiple things I balance (in this order): offensive production/talent (see above paragraph), responsibility for their t...

A: 26 pts/5 reb/6 ast/2 stl and 44% from the field/39% from 3 (4 makes a game)/89% from the free throw line B: 16/6/4/1 and 52%/40%(2 makes a game)/36% The main reason why the media dismisses Steph in the GOAT point guard convo is because he “doesn’t have a finals MVP”. The media has an obsession with using non-basketball terms like “leadership” and “intangibles” to make certain players way better than they actually are (I talked about this regarding CP3, #2 on my all-time pg list, a few posts ago). That’s why player B won finals MVP in 2015 despite common sense saying otherwise. In fact, the only reason why B’s scoring stats (sans free throw %) looked this good is because the defense was ignoring him so much that he had all day to shoot open jumpers. Also, player A established 2 years prior that he was clearly the best player on the team. But the “intangibles” of player B, Andre Iguodala, were somehow more important than the facts. So keep all of this in mind when you hear the “doesn’...

Steph is the greatest 3-point shooter ever. That’s been obvious for a long time but breaking the record erased any doubt. If he can stay healthy enough, I don’t think that record will EVER be broken. The volume and especially the efficiency are too difficult to match. Now that I’ve said this, it’s time to crown him as the GOAT point guard. And by the way, I think Curry should’ve had this title before passing Ray. But I don’t ever remember ANYONE in the media putting the lead splash bro at the top, which is wild. He won a championship as the best player on his team in 2015. Steph also led the warriors to 73 wins which is another record that I don’t think can ever be touched. In addition, he has 2 scoring titles, 2 regular season MVP’s, 2 more championships as an elite player, a serious argument as the most efficient player in history (including the playoffs), longevity as an all-star level player, and era-proof skill. His off the ball movement, which causes a lot of defensive confusion,...

The MVP narrative for cp3 has been nauseating all season. Even in the playoffs, the media has continued to baby him. They love to use non-basketball terms/phrases like "leadership", "intangibles", "winning player", "impact goes beyond the stats", and "great locker room guy" to make certain players way better than they actually are which greatly screws up the all-star/all-NBA teams. I think he's the 2nd greatest modern era point guard behind Curry but he's been laughably overrated because he's gotten basically all the credit for the Suns huge jump in wins. (Chris got the same unnecessary praise last year in OKC too even though that team was successful due to an obviously balanced attack between FOUR players). The pre 2021 Suns still would've missed the playoffs every year if you replaced Booker with Paul. Naturally, adding an all-star level player is going to greatly improve a team that was already on the rise, 8-0 in the...

Despite beating Brooklyn, coach Bud made that series much harder than it needed to be. From the 2nd quarter of game 4 when Kyrie got hurt and was ruled out for the rest of the postseason, Milwaukee only had to deal with KD and a very limited Harden (starting from game 5). James couldn't explode off the dribble due to his hamstring injury so pretty much all of his shots were contested 3's and he barely had lift. Therefore, the only way the Nets had any chance of winning is if Durant went nuclear...which Budenholzer let him do. Kevin was consistently allowed to go 1v1 and attack slower players in the pick n roll. Not only do I not remember seeing any double teams on KD, but when PJ Tucker spent a lot of time on the bench in the 4th quarter of game 5 with foul trouble, Giannis (the reigning defensive player of the year) wasn't guarding Durant. Regardless of Bud's plans, Giannis HAS to take that challenge especially since he has all the physical tools to guard anyone. The B...