The Official 2015-2016 Regular Season Thread

[CTMagicUK 1,488]

I'd be interested to know how many games Adrian Griffin missed on the bench and how the Magic did in them, I know he was back after surgery for the Bulls game.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

I have Thomas as objectively the 8th best point guard.

 

Depending on what you feel about Bledsoe or Conley he might be 9th or 10th

[HeHateMe 697]

Nope

 

Yep. Let Payton average 22 and 7 someday than let me hear you say he's not an elite PG. Thomas may not be elite if by elite were talking about only Curry, Westbrook, CP3 & Wall, but he's still a top 10 point guard and a really good player.

[jec 427]

I have Thomas as objectively the 8th best point guard.

 

Depending on what you feel about Bledsoe or Conley he might be 9th or 10th

 

That's fair. And I would say "elite" means top 10% of starters, so the top 3.

 

Curry and Westbrook are the obvious 1 and 2.

 

Then you get into a bit of a debate, which Thomas is not involved in.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Yep. Let Payton average 22 and 7 someday than let me hear you say he's not an elite PG. Thomas may not be elite if by elite were talking about only Curry, Westbrook, CP3 & Wall, but he's still a top 10 point guard and a really good player.

 

steve francis averaged 22 and 7

 

Thomas is 5'9 and oladipo shut him down. not elite.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

That's fair. And I would say "elite" means top 10% of starters, so the top 3.

 

Curry and Westbrook are the obvious 1 and 2.

 

Then you get into a bit of a debate, which Thomas is not involved in.

 

I don't think you can put a hard rule on the definition of elite (i.e. 10%). but yeah.

[HeHateMe 697]

steve francis averaged 22 and 7

 

Thomas is 5'9 and oladipo shut him down. not elite.

 

Oladipo has shut down plenty of players for one game here and there, that doesn't define said player as a whole. Again, like I said earlier, if you read, elite elite guards we have Curry, Westbrook, CP3 & Wall. After that, you could make the case for almost any of the 7 other top point guards in the league. Thomas is in that discussion. A discussion that Payton will never be in, and that's what started this whole debate anyways.

 

Side Note: What does Thomas being 5"9 have to do with anything?

[magicblue 315]

Oladipo has shut down plenty of players for one game here and there, that doesn't define said player as a whole. Again, like I said earlier, if you read, elite elite guards we have Curry, Westbrook, CP3 & Wall. After that, you could make the case for almost any of the 7 other top point guards in the league. Thomas is in that discussion. A discussion that Payton will never be in, and that's what started this whole debate anyways.

 

Side Note: What does Thomas being 5"9 have to do with anything?

 

Too early to say Payton will never be in the discussion, although obviously he has work to do and is not at the moment.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Oladipo has shut down plenty of players for one game here and there, that doesn't define said player as a whole. Again, like I said earlier, if you read, elite elite guards we have Curry, Westbrook, CP3 & Wall. After that, you could make the case for almost any of the 7 other top point guards in the league. Thomas is in that discussion. A discussion that Payton will never be in, and that's what started this whole debate anyways.

 

Side Note: What does Thomas being 5"9 have to do with anything?

 

being small gives you a natural limitation on defense.

 

curry westbrook sure.

 

cp3 wall, ok.

 

I don't think you can make a case for Thomas over lillard. so lets set him at 5

 

I don't think there's a good case for Thomas over Lowry so lets set him at 6

 

Then we have Kyrie.

 

so now I think the discussion starts.

[Fultz4thewin 2,464]

Too early to say Payton will never be in the discussion, although obviously he has work to do and is not at the moment.

 

no, its really not.

 

Payton will never be a top tier point guard. we discussed this when he was drafted. we discussed this during his rookie year. we discussed this now.

 

This isn't a debate. it's fact. He always had a mike conley-ish ceiling which is really good but not elite. It's not an insult. it doesn't really effect whether we keep him or not. it just is.

[HeHateMe 697]

being small gives you a natural limitation on defense.

 

curry westbrook sure.

 

cp3 wall, ok.

 

I don't think you can make a case for Thomas over lillard. so lets set him at 5

 

I don't think there's a good case for Thomas over Lowry so lets set him at 6

 

Then we have Kyrie.

 

so now I think the discussion starts.

 

Okay so even if he's the 6th 7th or 8th best PG in the league, he's still one of the better PG's in the league. And again, I don't see Payton ever being ranked that high. Nor do I ever see Payton averaging anything close to 22 a game ever.

[HeHateMe 697]

no, its really not.

 

Payton will never be a top tier point guard. we discussed this when he was drafted. we discussed this during his rookie year. we discussed this now.

 

This isn't a debate. it's fact. He always had a mike conley-ish ceiling which is really good but not elite. It's not an insult. it doesn't really effect whether we keep him or not. it just is.

 

Agree completely to this. I saw some Mike Conley in him before, but even that seems as reach now. Conley's numbers don't always jump out at you, but he's also played his entire career for one of the slowest paced franchise's in the league. I bet if he played for a PHX any type of faster paced team his numbers would have been much better for his career.

 

Again, IMO PG is our second most upgrade-able position.