OnTheBlack

I'll admit I'm probably a little too bullish on Moore being a bust. I don't see quite what others see. To me he's a body catcher. Almost all of our best WR'ers the last 15 years have struggled early with drops(the latest being Adams in his 2nd year). As far as Savage, the MAIN selling point with him was his 4.36 speed and his ability to play CF. His ability to cover a ton of ground. Playing him in the slot seems like a waste. That said, his scouting report suggests he can do so effectively, plus he's a very good run defender. But I'd still rather have Tramon Williams in the slot and have him playing FS. As for Jackson, he'll always struggle to cover a Ty Hilton type WR'er. He could be used against bigger, more physical guys like Julio for example. Similar to how we used LaDarius Gunter. Jackson's more athletic than him, but he has ball skills and his only real issue is his speed.

I have always thought Daniels was a little overrated but unless someone offered a 2nd round pick or something I would keep him, at least until you know where you are at the trade deadline. Can't have too many quality DL's, especially the way this team gets injured every year. I don't think there are many players on this team that would yield a 2nd round pick. Almost certainly not Daniels. If I remember correctly, Marcus Peters who was owed just 1.8 million, plus a 5th year offer was traded, along with a 6th round pick for a 2nd and a 4th. That's a 25 year 2X All Pro CB with 22 career picks who has two years of team control at a very affordable price vs a 29 year old DL who's set to make over 10 million. There are character concerns, namely Peters was not a great locker room guy, but still, I think it's unlikely we could get more than a 4th for Daniels coming off a down year. I'm actually excited to see how he could play with Kenny Clark and some really good OLB'ers. Be's been our best interior pass rusher and has faced double teams pretty often, so I think he could have a big bounce back. I also think Wilkerson is worth bringing back and equally likely to be a productive DL and we could make that swap, add a mid round pick and save 4-5 million in the process.

That's definitely not a bad idea. I actually think he could still be a really good player and the only evidence he's in decline is one year where he was banged up, but Kenny Clark is likely gonna be one of the highest paid DT's in the game in a year or two from now. So this would be a good idea. Cons- -He's still a good player, he is supposedly a positive locker room guy who brings a tough guy mentality(I only say supposedly because there was a comment about him in the Packers hit piece about him and his talk about physicality being hypocritical). -He had a down year last year, so the value is likely not very high. -We haven't seen Keke do anything yet, Adams has been up and down, so this would hurt your depth. Pros- -Cap savings of probably 8-9 million. He signed for ~4/42 with 12 SB. Assuming it was constructed normally, that'd put his cap figure at 10.5 million and dead money just 3 million. So one of the higher paid players on the team with very little bonus money left. -Draft pick -As you said, better a year too early than a year too late. -DL is one position we actually have some depth at. I'd rather they hold onto Daniels, but if for example the choice is to dump Daniels in order to free up cap space for a potential acquisition of a player the caliber of Chris Harris Jr or even a player like Kyle Rudolph would be an upgrade. Plus, we have no idea who else will be available in the post-draft free agency period. It's very possible someone else becomes available that fits in with the Packers offense.

Worth noting that Joshua Jackson isn't listed here, and he'll certainly factor into the depth chart at one position or the other (or both). I'd imagine he'd be the favorite at nickel corner at this point. I probably left a few guys off the list. This was an obvious mistake, others like Murphy at tackle for example(I honestly don't even recall if he's still with the team, but I did think about him) is a result of their limited chances to make or impact the team. But thanks for catching that. Jackson is actually a pretty exciting prospect. Only concern there is the 40 time....

So...just out of nowhere then? And stop with Ridley. You're just saying he was mocked here or there. Look at what was being said about him leading up to the draft. He was not a highly regarded prospect. And by the way, DJ Metcalf was projected to us at 12. You'd probably be thrilled with us had we picked him at 12. Yet he was the last pick in the 2nd round. Finally...I'm getting the same sensation of anger I get when I'm gone and I come home and my dog made a mess again. You-did-not-prove-ANYTHING. You made up a system in which you put values on players and then said we got negative value based on what you made up. You claim we lost value on the Savage pick because??? I mean honestly...why? Because Mel Kiper said he was supposed to go 10 spots later? Someone else said it, go back and look at what your opinion was on past drafts(not you, everyone). We never have a clue, and with so many guys being busts, if you think one player is a stud and the other is not, even if ESPNhas them graded closely, their values are not equal. This is getting kinda silly.

I think the biggest reason why Gary won't wash out is that he plays hard. Big men who play hard usually stick. Big men who play hard and run 4.58...well, they just don't exist in nature. Not usually anyway. Not without being bitten by some type of experimental insect. Maybe a radioactive one? By the way, one of the top FA's we signed is a 6'3 260 pound edge from Baylor who had a 1.68 10 yard split in the 40. That's incredible. As for WR'er, some wanted Hunter Renfroe, but I think that's name rec. I don't think he's a guy who makes a real dent in our WR'er room. We likely needed one early, or it was gonna be tough to find one who'd beat out all the other young guys we have.

I'm not really being serious at all. I have absolutely zero reservations about Gary because a stupid team wanted him. Lots of smart teams wanted him as well. I would doubt that the Dolphins would take a QB 1st with the owner being so intent on trying to tank for Tua next year and I think the Rosen pick was designed to try and just acquire assets, almost like an NBA team. Someone could have had Jones, I don't believe him that two teams have said they would have taken him, but again, that's a moot point as I was kidding anyway. Kinda mocking the "find a reason to not like" Gary line of thinking!

Two players rumored to be potentially available are Chris Harris Jr and Janoris Jenkins. The former because he wants an extension...which is problematic and Janoris Jenkins. Both are quick, elite man coverage corners who can play the ball. Both are owed ~10 million for the upcoming year however. Then there are guys who may be cut because they haven't panned out like Ken Crowley from the Saints or Artie Burns, the long, press corner from the Steelers. I think Burns would be very similar to the Eric Rowe signing the Pats made a few years ago. Give the guy a fresh start, try to add a few more cheap pieces and hope you can fill out your secondary. This was the only reason I was not a fan of the Jenkins pick at #44, the need for another press corner. Obviously adding all the pass rushers we added can go a long way, and adding a really smart, versatile safety in Amos is enormous. But you still are a team that plays press man coverage and even before camp starts, you have just 3 guys you know are capable, one of them is 36, one has played in just 15 games thus far in his NFL career. Other than that though, I'm extremely excited about this roster. Patching up the CB position. -Ronald Darby is still available as a FA and was in line for a big payday, but tore his ACL last November. So he'd be an outstanding addition on a one year deal, though I'd imagine he'd still be expensive. -Darqueze Dennard is also still available, though I'm not sure how well he fits our system.

In what has been the most active post-season I can ever recall the Packers having, what moves or positions do you see the Packers addressing? First, here's a link to the UDFA's the Packers have signed; https://packerstalk.com/2019/04/28/2019-packers-undrafted-free-agents/ Some really interesting and talented names on here. A 6'5 260 pounder from Baylor who is extremely athletic as the article talks about. 1.68 10 second split(That's elite acceleration, important for an edge guy). Also a LB'er from Oklahoma who has really good speed, I'd really like to see the RB Devonte Williams make the team..just because it'd be nice to have a Jones and 3 Williams at RB. I don't want to make things too hard on Solomon Wilcots who thinks a "howzerwitz" is a strong throwing arm. Anyway, given who the Packers have brought in to replenish their front office, I'm guessing we'll continue to give UDFA's a legit shot at making the team. Probably not like we did during the TT era...at least not for now given that we actually signed those players....it's been so long, they're guys that are good, but they no longer are contractually obligated to play for another team....oh, Free Agents. Sorry, it's been a long time since that's been a part of a Packer off-season. So we'll likely have a couple of them step up. Offense QB-Rodgers, Kizer, Boyle and two of the top UDFA's. Seems like a starter, your backup and 2 camp arms with one having a chance to earn a practice squad spot. RB-Jones, WilliamsX2, Danny Vitale at FB. Not sure how much LaFleur uses the FB, not sure if they'll look for another RB, but you can usually find "a guy" to fill in somewhere. WR'er-Adams, Allison, MVS, St. Brown, Kumerow, Moore, Trevor Davis I don't like Moore, I'd have liked to see a slot picked up, but it wasn't in the cards. I think this group is good enough, especially if a couple 2nd year guys take that 2nd step. St. Brown was the type of guy who could have gone back to ND and if he had another big year like he'd had with Kizer, probably have been the 1st or 2nd round pick people thought he was after a year at ND. Overall, I don't really see any need to add anyone here. One guy who I'd MAYBE think about on a cheap deal would be Tavon Austin ONLY if LeFleur thinks that he could help the team out and he likes the idea of being able to use him as a return man and on those quick WR'er screens and quick hitters where he can pick up some YAC yards. But that's assuming he's cut and a luxury. Edit-I honestly did not realize Trevor Davis was still on this team. He's basically what you'd hoped Austin would be but taller. A talented return man, a speedster...maybe he'll finally have an impact. TE-Graham, Tonyan, Lewis, Sternberger Gotta think we're set here baring injury..and perhaps even if someone goes down. Sternberger is compared to Kelce, Tonyan was one of my favorite projects in camp last year for the Packers. I think he's got the potential to be a threat down the field. Graham is not what he once was, but he's still a good TE and a big target, Lewis The one caveat I'd throw in here, the Vikings are going to be over the cap and one obvious candidate to cut is Rudolph. If he were cut and could be had for ~4 million, I'd jump on that. I think he's a really underrated TE. Tackles-Bahktari, Bulaga, Spriggs, Turner We have two elite tackles when healthy. We're better prepared in case one goes down. As long as we get through camp healthy, we're not likely going to look to sign any who may be cut. Guard-Taylor, Turner, Jenkins, McCray, Patrick, Madison For the first time since Mike Sherman was running things, we've invested more than mid round draft picks into the middle of our OL. I didn't love taking a C 44th, but if the guy ends up being a stud, we could have an outstanding OL this year. I could easily see Lane Taylor cut. He signed a 3 year, 16.5 million dollar extension with just 5 million guaranteed. We're not tied to him, and if you see enough out of Madison, Turner and Jenkins, that'd be a good place to save money. Center-Linsley Yes, I know there are other options here like Lucas Patrick and obviously the 2nd rounder who played Center in college, but after playing a couple THOUSAND snaps in a row, you get the enormous honor of me listing just your name on a message board you likely care little about. Offensive summary, there's a chance for someone to make the squad at RB, it'd have been nice to add a slot WR'er, but short of a cheap player who fits the scheme we want to run falling into our lap(and Minnesota isn't trading a pro-bowl TE to us) I would say our offense is pretty much set. The improvement from last year will have to come primarily from guys making that jump, and then the obvious big storyline of the off-season, the new regime in charge. Rodgers also needs to be much better at not missing guys, but I don't think he suddenly fell off a cliff last year in that regard, he's been amazing his entire career, I expect to see that Arod next year. Defense DL-Clark, Lowry, Daniels, Lancaster, Adams, Keke This is a deep and talented group. Kenny Clark is going to break out in a big way this year in my opinion and could reach all pro status now that we have added a LOT of big, talented athletes along that front. Mike Daniels has been a tone setter for us, but fell off a bit last year. Lowry is a really solid starter, nothing special, but solid. Adams flashed in the Jets game last year, but that's a 3rd round pick who basically redshirted a year, then finally showed up a little bit in the final game. He has a lot of talent, he needs to translate that onto the field and quick. Lancaster is a nice stout run defender. Keke is a extremely versatile player, and this is always a place where you could see someone else added. Pretty sure Wilkerson is not coming back, though if he remains unsigned and could be had for ~2.5 million and another 1.5 in incentives...maybe. He was an All Pro not long ago. But as of now, I like this group. OLB'er-Za'Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Kyler Fackrell, Reggie Gilbert It's pretty obvious where Gute looked at and wanted to upgrade this team. We added 3 guys who are much bigger than the OLB'ers we've had. Z-Smith is 6'5 272, Preston Smith is 6'5 265, Gary is 6'4 277, and Gary and P-Smith both have 34 inch arms...all three can move inside on passing downs. I am really excited about what they did with this group and I think how well the Packers evaluated THIS position will determine if Aaron Rodgers ends up contending for a couple more Lombardi trophies or if they are stuck in the perpetual cycle of mediocrity they've been in. The past few years. But an uber talented former phenom in Gary(21), and the two Smith signees(26) are younger, they've got better health histories than Clay and ESPECIALLY Perry who was a really good run defender, good pass rusher, but seldom a reliable defender. ILB'er-Martinez, Burks, Crawford, Summers Summers has great speed. He'll get a chance to prove himself on ST's. Martinez has quitely turned into a very good Middle Backer. Oren Burks, currently listed as a starter is a converted safety who is very athletic, but was injured much of last year. One of our priority UDFA's is a LB'er out of Oklahoma in Curtis Bolton who could be play here and or rush the passer. Josh Jones probably needs to full embrace this role or he's very likely on his way out of GB. If not this year, then in the near future. CB-Alexander, King, Tramon Williams, Jamerson, Hollman??????? This is THEE position that's still completely up in the air for me. Do the Packers have a 2nd CB? There are guys like Raven Greene who I didn't even bother listing. But they have Kevin King who we've seen show flashes of brilliance at times....however those times are very-very brief. Jaire Alexander looks like a stud, a guy who could be a lockdown CB in the very near future. Safety-Amos, Savage, Jones This will be a great opportunity for someone to make the team. Amos signing the perfect signing, especially in hindsight after looking at the type of safety we were able to get in the 1st round. So a marquee FA signing, a 1st rounder, and a big, athletic 2nd rounder from 2 years ago who has done very little to establish himself as of yet. Not gonna bother with the ST's. Crosby is back, we drafted a good-young punter in the 5th round last year.

The past two years Shaw's line; .258.347/497.844 OPS Moose- 255/.322/.474 .796 OPS, and that's with his hot start to the year with an OBP about 60 points above normal. Shaw has posted WAR's of 4.1 and 3.9 the last two years, is 2 years younger and cheaper. Moose had one season with a 4 WAR when he was 25, 7 years ago now. If we're trying to compete, I don't think signing Moose for 25 million over 2 years is a better option than riding with Shaw who's only entering arbitration next season. I mean...unless we're getting someone back who can help out immediately, what is the point? If feels like a net loss.

He was +2 on Sunday. Only Buck in the positive. We were -44 with him and Horford on the floor during the Bucks/Celts matchup's this year. He's not a good matchup for them. I think he'd be a better matchup in a potential series with Toronto(I can't see Philly winning that series with Embid looking so out of shape).

Really I didn't even think they were close to their best tonight other than Middleton. Bledsoe played well tonight. Most everyone else was just ok at best. Or great in spurts, bad in other spurts. I thought we played well. I think the only player who stood out as playing poorly(either team) was Kyrie. Some of that was Bledsoe playing more aggressive. But if Kyrie is playing like his normal self the only difference is we'd have probably had to wait a bit to empty the bench. As long as we can keep Tatum in check and Heyward doesn't impact the game like he did in game 1, we should be alright.

Went to the game tonight and it was awesome. The sequence where Bledsoe blew past Kyrie and missed the open layup, but then came right back and hit a 3 felt like a HUUGE turning point. It felt like he was more assertive and that opened things up. That and Middleton hitting 7 of 10 from 3. Other than Lopez, I feel pretty good if Bled is playing like he can. Lopez just shouldn't be on the court probably. In fact, unless Houston were to come back from 2-0 for Golden State, I think he might be a little bit of a liability vs the teams we'd most likely play the rest of the way...but Mirotic, Ersan and Giannis should be just fine. They were still pretty damn tough on Giannis, but it seemed like he forced the contact a little more and made the refs make the call. Game 3's gonna be big now. Both superstars have had bad games. Bucks have a chance to get home court back.

He's lost at the plate, but I don't think it's anything like Thames from last year. His strikeouts are DOWN. It's rare that a guy like him is making more contact and struggling this badly. Without looking, I would just assume his exit velocity is way down, he's popping a lot more balls up or rolling over a lot more balls. His BABIP is .167, so he's probably better than his stats suggest, but I wouldn't expect him to have a high BABIP with how he's been hitting the ball. And this is the most confounding thing to me. He's got such a simple, smooth stroke, he can shorten up and still hit for power...he just doesn't seem like a guy who when he's staying within himself and not trying to hit everything out, would go through these sustained slumps. I'm gonna predict from May-End of the year he hits .280 with a OPS in the upper .800's. I just think he's too talented as a hitter to be this bad. I know I'm in the vast minority here. I just hope he's given time though...

Now THAT I would say is actually pretty close to fact. I DO know it's almost impossible to evaluate a class before they even have a rookie camp! I guess if you take a kicker in the 1st or pick Daniel Jones 6th(and even there, as dumb as I think that ONE particular move really was, god knows how easy it'd be for me to be proven wrong in 3 years just as I have been with Wentz and Geoff).

So...just gotta assume that nobody on here knows what's going on with Kirby? It's always amusing, even irritating to me that will all the tidbits that we provide that somehow folks think we're holding out / keeping information to ourselves. You assume correctly. I really apologize if you took that from my post. I really, really did not mean to infer that you were keeping something from anyone. I'd just asked a couple times and after not getting my answer, I honestly took it to mean that nobody had an update on Kirby. I don't know if there are people who think you're keeping info to yourself, but don't count me among them. The work people put in on the minor league forums is probably the biggest thing that differentiates this board from every other. It's just with so much info and so many people following these things so closely, I'd hoped someone would have an update.

Do they make any movies anymore that are not based on a superheros, animation, or fantasy? Action/superhero movies make sense for the big screen. It's hard to argue the same for other genres. We're in a golden age for TV content right now with all of the competition in the streaming biz. Eventually they will consolidate but for now there are numerous services putting out an incredible number of outstanding shows. I have zero interest in Marvel but I think that's partly because I was never exposed to it as a kid. We really are. It wasn't long ago that big stars wouldn't do TV shows. Now they're doing them for these different streaming services. The ONLY problem is that some of these shows are not well advertised. Julia Roberts was in a TV show where she plays a behavioral psychologist I believe. It's on Amazon Prime and I never really heard about it until I stumbled across it. These movies also are really suited to the Movie Theater atmosphere. Big, loud, exciting, good old action flicks.

I was in HS when Titanic came out. I went to see that damn movie 4 or 5 times in the theaters and then had to watch it several times after going to Blockbuster to rent it(dating myself here) because that's what any and every girl wanted to watch.

I think that was when the Jets were shopping their pick and Gray was a likely option for the team. I haven't seen any mocks where Gray lasts until the 12th pick. All of the above occurred before the big FA signings so there may be a big change in thinking now. I believe without the Smith's, Gute was going to trade up to take an impact D, but now he has the luxury to see what happens before him at #12. Hmmmm Looking back.... Oh, and I forgot in my last post, great call. You nailed it. Gute skipped the pro-day for one of the best DL groups ever because he wanted to know about Gary. But you were dead right...

I think that was when the Jets were shopping their pick and Gray was a likely option for the team. I haven't seen any mocks where Gray lasts until the 12th pick. All of the above occurred before the big FA signings so there may be a big change in thinking now. I believe without the Smith's, Gute was going to trade up to take an impact D, but now he has the luxury to see what happens before him at #12. Hmmmm Looking back.... Man, I can't say definitively, but if the Packers had taken Derwin GRAY, the 7th round pick out of Maryland, then I would say with a pretty high degree of certainty(not as high as others) that he was going to be a bust! Seriously though, this tells me they really did their homework on Gary, they went and got as much info on him as they could and were told privately by the Michigan coaches what they've since said publicly. The guy plays hard(watch video of him making Clay like plays coming off the backside and tackling a RB 10-15 yards downfield...for a 280 LB man....good god that's impressive. And he just seems like a smart, hard working kid who was played over the guard more often than he was played out wide. If the Packers had taken a guy like Montravius Adams(or Jerel Worthy, or any number of guys with ability, but questions about heart), someone who was dominant at times, but disappeared at others due to EFFORT, I'd be worried. But they took a guy with unprecedented athletic ability, position versatility, who very well may have been a top 5 pick in a draft that wasn't SO heavy on the pass rushing talent, and this guy works his arse off, he doesn't take plays off, he's always hustling. The little bit I've seen, maybe he's a bit raw when it comes to hand fighting...but the kid is 21. You don't get perfectly polished 6'4 280 LB OLB'ers with 34+ inch arms who runs a sub 4.6. Kenny Clark, Mike Daniels...from what I've heard Za'Darius Smith and then ultimately Mike Pettine are gonna get the most out of this guy. I'm more confident the more I read about him. Plus...as has been said, as a fan, given our obvious ignorance, no insult to anyone, but we don't really know what the hell we're talking about with these prospects, we're just going by needs and the latest mock drafts. SO, given how ignorant we all really are, why NOT take the optimistic POV when it comes to draft picks? That's not what I'm doing with Gary, I really like him...but that's what I'm doing with Savage. That's what I'm doing with the Miss St kid who they picked at 44...and pretty much every other player. So basically, in lieu of more insight to give you reason to be optimistic like I believe we have with Gary, just be optimistic since the only other option is whining and worrying about something you don't have a clue about.

That's just not gonna happen. Not at this point in Giannis' career. He's not QUITE to the level of a younger LeBron or Durant. I don't know if they need someone to go off for 35, they just need each guy to do their jobs. Bled needs to play more aggressive...Middleton I would say needs to just keep doing what he did yesterday and hopefully in the normal course of a game, if he's playing like he did yesterday, he gets a few more open looks in transition. The one thing I don't want to see is him to start playing more ISO against Tatum or Brown. That's about the only thing that I don't like about his game, he can sometimes stagnate the offense for stretches doing that. I also think the refs allowed Boston to beat Giannis up a bit too much. I doubt he'd ever say anything, but they were knocking him around pretty good, probably intentionally and with little worry about a few more fouls to make it tough on him, but they weren't calling them.

I'm not worried. If they lose Game 2, yeah. I will be. Right now they just lost one of the two games I thought they'd lose initially. The order of the games doesn't matter to me. There was a 20% FG differential and the Bucks were still in it for big portions of the game. I only have one game to judge so that doesn't concern me yet. I wish I were as confident as you and could JUST view it as a team losing one game. I think the reason for concern is how they lost. They really weren't competitive with Boston save for that run they went on in the 2nd quarter..which, beating a dead horse now, but they made some real tough shots. Sure, the shooting pct's will almost certainly normalize, but until I see otherwise, until I see Giannis have an answer for that D, I'll be "worried." Confident...but worried.

Agreed. I'm worried about their ability to slow down Giannis with Horford and Baynes and or Morris. He'll adjust, but what the hell is Bledsoe doing? Smart's not playing, there's ZERO reason why he shouldn't be productive. It's obvious the Celts got in his head last year, but based on how he played this year, the security he now finally has as the PG of a contender with his new extension, and just his pure ability, there's no reason for him to not be attacking more and be more of an impact player. As great as he is, Giannis needs the other guys to rise to the occasion.

I thought you were, but I'll say 7 now. Game 7 in Milwaukee will hopefully be Giannis' playoff coming out party. Carrying a team past a good opponent, the consensus favorite in the pre-season and get us back to the ECF.

No, of course not. But right now, the advantage has swung back to the BucksCeltics. Bucks have to take that back starting with game 2 and then get game 3 or 4 in the Garden and they should be fine. One thing that was a bit concerning was that they came out in the 2nd half and hadn't made any adjustments. I get it was a close game after the big run led by Middleton and Mirotic, but Bud's gotta make some adjustments. I AM "worried," as I think each team they're likely to play the rest of the way is going to be a real tough matchup for us. But I am still confident in Giannis. I'd really like to see Bled get back to being the aggressive, explosive player he's been all year and not the timid player he looked like yesterday. He has to get more physical with Kyrie. He's not gonna stop him....nobody is. But he need to beat him up a bit more and play him a bit tighter. Whatever though, I'm done with game one. It was a bad game, far worse than even those who had a higher opinion of Boston would have expected(save for maybe the guy who called Boston in 5). There just happens to be a particular poster that gets under my skin with his "agree with absolutely everything I say and with how I say it" type posts. First Take asked a question, which player remaining in the playoffs is most indispensable to their team. They literally mentioned just about every star player BUT Giannis. Kyrie, a great player and a guy who can get his own shot just about any time...not even in the same stratosphere when it comes to importance to his team. Kawhi, Durant and Harden along with the aforementioned PG were the 4 names tossed around. If anything, Game 1 proved what Giannis means to the Bucks. If he's not playing or struggling for whatever reason, Boston's D of his own struggles, the Bucks are done. They're a middling team over the long haul. GSW won a title without Durant, Toronto hasn't done anything with Kawhi(who by the way, Max Kellerman claims is the closest to having the mentality that Jordan played with since Jordan...an absolutely laughable statement IMO...Giannis is far more maniacally competitive than the guy who sat out on a contending team last year because he had a sore thigh and wanted out) that they did with DeRozan...though he's obviously a level or two better. The only argument you could make is Harden for the Rockets. I wouldn't agree, but if you're strictly talking about which player is more important to their team...how can you not even mention Giannis? Can't wait for game 2 to start and see Giannis attack a little more, force the issue and make the refs make a call a little more and see what type of changes Bud has in store. I think at the very least it's obvious that some adjustments have to be made as they do in every competitive series.