Agreed. Love becomes almost unplayable against SA/GS, but we’ll see if Lue can find a way to get creative with matchups. Kyrie’s been playing pretty solid D in the playoffs, and he hung with Curry very well in Game 1 of last year’s Finals, so I think the Cavs can still have some hope, there.

No, but I can expect Kyrie (currently playing better than he’s ever been) and an engaged Love to be better than a nonexistent Kyrie/Love.

Please, it’s going to either be Harden or Klay starting, with the other coming off the bench. Even Harden’s so-so defense (when he’s trying) won’t jeopardize this.

Came here for this, was not disappointed.

Eh, I’ve seen that foul called more than a few times recently. But really, if the Heat had played defense and made their free throws, this wouldn’t have been that much of an issue. And, at the end of the day, it was a miracle of a shot — even as open as he was, I’m willing to wager Lowry (who is not Steph Curry)…

Thanks — the article didn’t elaborate so I wanted more information like that.

You’d think that, but then you hear stories like the one about Luol Deng and Chicago’s medical staff, so I thought I’d include a bit of a subtle disclaimer.

Bosh seeking a fringe medical opinion to play ...

He’s amazing, for a rookie. But I’d place him in the Top 20 — there are still parts of his game that need polishing, and while he was a marvel throughout the season, he was a tad inconsistent (which is to be expected).

I love Big Spain, but he’s declined a bit over the last year. Top 15ish, for sure.

He’s a top-15ish player when healthy, IMO. Definitely not top 10, though. It doesn’t help that this is all skewed towards recency bias, and after the implosion of the 2013 Knicks, Carmelo’s spent a lot of time moping/injured/not playing his best ball.

Eh. Agree to disagree. The Spurs have drastically re-invented their style of play no less than 4 times in the Duncan era, seamlessly. That’s not just due to roster changes, it’s due to Pop’s ability to coach.

I love Klay, and I absolutely think he’s top 20, probably top 15.

And as for Harden, yeah, this season wasn’t his best work. But if you look at the second half of the season, after he’d gotten himself into shape, there’s no doubt he dragged his team to the playoffs basically singlehandedly.

Lowry was a tough one for me to leave off the top-10 as was Lillard, but I think I’d put PG above both because he’s the best two-way player of the bunch — Lowry had an amazing season this year, but I’m worried that it’ll be an outlier rather than the norm. Boogie when locked in looks like he could be the second coming…

Ugh, sorry — the last bit of my edit didn’t make it into the post. I don’t actually believe that Lillard should be slotted above PG. And I also don’t think PG would be 10th on that list — I think he’d be higher than Westbrook or Davis, on par with Leonard/Harden/Draymond.

Right? At the same time, I’m trying to figure out if you can even name 10 players better than George right now.

True, but at the same time, unless Larry Legend’s going to come out of retirement and coach the team again, he’s got to know that he can’t find a better hire right now. He’s probably trying to negotiate salary with Vogel, wanting to pay him a lower amount than Vogel’s asking price.

Yeah, and though Vogel had his own miscues this series — the decision to give his shitty bench heavy, late minutes during Game 5 almost much singlehandedly lost the Pacers that game — you’d have to be crazy to think you can find a better coach than Vogel on the market, short of Larry Legend deciding to coach yet again.

The Pacers are set up well enough for the future. Paul George is a borderline top ten player..