Ben Taylor
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Live Q&A Audio (September 12, 2020)
🕑 Added 2020-09-13 00:30:15 +0000 UTCHave you ever wondered what would happen if every basketball player stayed in his prime forever? We went there on this Q&A, along with discussion about the Clippers, the remaining East vs. West divide, some historical volume scorers (Wilkins, Gervin, Erving, Dantley) and more.
Also there was a question about how often I'm right with predictions. I think it's easier for me to remember when I've really been wrong or surprised when also feeling like I had a solid read (2nd round or later):
- 2020 Mil-Mia: I'm not even convinced Miami is clearly a "better" team, but Dragic's emergence, the continued growth from guys like Herro and Robinson, etc. and the Heat clearly had the punch I thought they were lacking to attack the Bucks defense. (Was this a sudden resurgence from Dragic, or my fault for not watching their seeding games more?)
- 2019 Tor-Phi: Minor example because I thought the Raps were better, but Philly made it more of a series than I thought with their defense. That really got me thinking about Toronto's team structure and its PS scoring more.
- 2018 Tor-Cle: I thought would be much closer (still not sure it wasn't "close" at first), but Cavs seemed to really break through psychologically and I think I undervalued the history of "rent free" when pricing the series.
- 2016 GSW-Cle: I think the Warriors are still better at full strength, but the big lesson for me here was the success of LeBron's postseason offenses (that was lurking in the multi-year playoff data) and how I undervalued that.
- 2016 OKC-SAS: Didn't pay super close attention to these teams leading up to this, so maybe it was just a little ignorance, but was surprised by how well OKC played them and their physical success in the series.
- 2015 Hou-LAC: Health of the Clippers aside, always thought this core had more promise. Whether they truly did or not we can debate, but even with all that I still didn't expect them to lose this series. I'm still not sure how they lost it.
- 2014 SAS-Mia: I picked the Spurs, but I do think I was wrong about the relative closeness between the teams heading into the series. Obviously a great example of overall team play+matchup totally outpacing individual talent.
- 2012 OKC-SAS: We're getting far back enough here in time where even having access to study the X's and O's like I do today was harder, but this series really blew me away. Spurs had won like 20 in a row (!) and were beginning their Euro Ball / Beautiful Game thing we'd see next 2 years and then lost 4 straight.
Comments
Yes, I think I overstated it and was thinking of older Mutombo too much. Younger Mutombo was more nimble and actually pretty similar to Gobert. Good catch.
Great as usual. I have one comment - I disagree that Mutombo is slower on his feet than Gobert, the way he moved on his feet was astonishing for his size. Mid-90s Mutombo was very quick and he's very underrated P&R defender in my opinion. He could also stay in front of most quick bigs like Shawn Kemp. If you talk about 2000s Mutombo, then I agree with you.
