Murray is better than many players who’ve been all stars. 2023 Murray was just as good, if not better than 3x All Star Middleton. He’s better than Jeff Teague.

Had he been in the East, he’d be a multi-time all star.

Jokic is great. But we don’t need to manipulate narratives for him.

I think you’re misunderstanding what I mean by “misleading.” I didn’t say the stat was false. (Well I guess it’s technically false since he has played with Russ).

But the stat is meant to imply he’s had a poor supporting cast bc no all stars. That’s just not true.

The point is the stat is misleading. Murray played at an all star level during their championship run and would’ve been an all star that season and the next season if not for his slow starts (due to injury).

It’s not like he hasn’t played with all star talent.

At the time the groups were made, projections meant everything since they were the best guesses available.

Unless the theory is that the league would sabotage any team in the same group as LA.

But glad to know you’re not being serious. Too many people on Reddit were lol.

It’s not like they put them with Utah, Sacramento, and Portland, in addition to New Orleans. These conspiracies get out of hand.

I have the same thought over and over. My best guess is that the judges want to ensure they have an airtight record because they suspect a higher (and biased) court will look for any excuse to reverse their decision.

But this drawn out process only erodes the little remaining credibility.

But I agree entirely with him being the engine. And it’s more than just trying to replace his production when he’s the centerpiece of the system.

Regardless, I hate that we don’t get to see him play this year and just hope he comes back close to his original form next year.

Great thing about hypotheticals is no way to prove wrong 😂

If by +6 you mean a record of 7-6, I don’t think that’s too unreasonable assuming TH, Siakam, Nesmith, and a handful of games of Nembhard, Mathurin, and Toppin. Walkers been impressive at times. But I think I give more weight to injuries.

Tyrese is clearly very valuable, but there’s more to the story. They lost Turner, and other key players like Mathurin, Nembhard, and Nesmith have been dealing with injuries. Isn’t Toppin hurt as well?

The 1-12 start doesn’t tell us much about Haliburtons value under these circumstances.

That’d definitely be the joke. I wouldn’t agree with it but it’s no different than people writing off LeBron’s consecutive finals appearances because of the East quality.

This is the key context. If the nba did two separate MVPs based on conference, both of these players would have more MVPs and certainly some unanimous ones.