Austin

@IlliniNation_ @Illinifan05 @NukeAltmeyeIL @AngryILL @BBallSchoILL Need in this as well, trying to stay up to date on #themeeting

ILLINI BURNERVERSE: As many of you may know, IlliniNation_ has been out of the loop for awhile now. Haven’t been in the chat or in the trenches w the boys. Please fill me in ASAP so that I’m up to date with the #latest. CC: @Illinifan05 @NukeAltmeyeIL @AngryILL @BBallSchoILL

@WyattWatkins20 @Illinifan05 @illinihours I think retaining everyone + Blackwell, Vaaks, Coleman, and Morillo is genuinely another final four contender. That’s another fantastic offense

@Austinblevins29 @Illinifan05 @illinihours i think its still between us and duke honestly

Disturbing amount of people think we’re still landing Blackwell

@Illinifan05 @illinihours Curious where the Louisville buzz is coming from. Is Duke out or is this a three horse race?

@illinihours I mean we are still pursuing him lol

@D_Warren25 That’s an extremely, extremely potent offense, almost certainly the best in the country if we actually get/retain all those guys.

Blackwell Vaaks Stojakovic Mirkovic Ivisic starting 5 next season 😳😳😳😳

1st place in $100k Chess Tournament 🥇 Giving away $20,000 to 10 people who like & RT ❤️

@IvanTheAmenable @RaptorsShaq His defense isn’t at all what we thought it would be though, which has been very disappointing. I can still see him providing top 20 value in the future

@RaptorsShaq @Austinblevins29 Exactly. Everyone is always so hung up on the POTENTIAL of Zion when that's all it is, potential. What's he's given us so far (when healthy, anyway) is not Top 20 material.

Really don’t care about the DeMar angle of it all But this dude just ranked Zion over Scottie, Mobley, Siakam, Jalen Johnson, and Derrick White in his top 30 so I just can’t take his opinion on anything seriously 😂

@IvanTheAmenable @RaptorsShaq I personally would disagree, he’s been a little worse than he was in the games last year, but he’s still an incredibly efficient offensive player who can get downhill very easily. Surround him with actual shooters and that is a very good offense.

@GigaAlphaMale @caseybellar @Carsobi The doubling argument is fine, that’s especially why the offense gets so much worse without Lowry, but look at the fucking defensive swing with Lowry on and DeMar off😭

@Austinblevins29 @caseybellar @Carsobi Bismack biyombo, demarre Carrol an Patrick Patterson were starters man. It’s pretty easy to double demar or Lowry and let the offence go through the other 3

I think it's weird that your teams have been better with you off the court for your entire career and you are probably going to end up with more career points than Shaq That's what it means

@GigaAlphaMale @caseybellar @Carsobi Also, ECF during those years is less impressive than making it past the first round in the west lmao

@Austinblevins29 @caseybellar @Carsobi 6x all star, 2 time second all nba and not impactful 😂😂😂. Did you watch those raptors series? When they made it to ecf the starting line up was Lowry derozan Carrol, Val/ biyombo, Patterson/ scola 😂😂

@GigaAlphaMale @caseybellar @Carsobi Empty stats doesn’t mean a guy was actually impactful. He has more negative on off years than positive, is like an average ts% player, and has literally always been a bad defender. Hes also always been a very bad playoff player

@vevosuave See, this is the spreadsheet fc we need to abolish😭 Derrick White getting put into conversations he does not belong in

Someone list out Derrick White’s scalable skills

@GigaAlphaMale @caseybellar @Carsobi Okay? Individually, as a player he was never an impactful guy. Sure, they blocked him from rings, but he was average to below average efficiency, dropped in the playoffs every year, and was a pretty mid to bad defender.

@Austinblevins29 @caseybellar @Carsobi He had to get through lbj (top 5 oat), dwade (top 3 sg oat) , bosh who was a top 5 PF before joining the raps. Then when lbj went back to the cavs had to play again beat lbj, kyrie and love.

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi Here’s 25

@Austinblevins29 @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi Want to claim he’s not even top 30 and using the word disingenuous in the same sentence is crazy mental gymnastics champ.

My thoughts on DeMar DeRozan

@6lackMarvel @Yeeeerrrrobi Consistency to a craft that literally never led to winning, man. Shaq actually led to winning, a higher scoring peak, and for right now, a higher all time scorer

@Austinblevins29 @Yeeeerrrrobi Demar is healthy in shape and just getting buckets no disrespect to the big man but we know if he would have had his body right more often he would have been higher. It's still great he is up here but Demar joining that list shows consistency to your craft which shd be admired

You don’t feel like a fucking loser at all? Not even a bit?

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi It isn’t, he’s had mid efficiency his entire career, he just has insane volume. This shit is so disingenuous, isn’t a top 30 scorer all time by pure ability.

@Austinblevins29 @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi There are several players who’ve played just as long on shit teams and have had the opportunity to chuck. Where are they on the list? Gutter bait argument.

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi Because he played forever. If you gave just about any player of average efficiency as many shots as he wanted and let him play for 15-16 years, he’ll be up there too. Do you think Bron is the greatest scorer ever? Do you think Steph is a worse scorer than DeMar?

@Austinblevins29 @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi He’s gonna be on the top 10 scorers list. Like do you hear how dumb you sound?

@Cashbinoo @iLurkedYou @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi I just don’t think that it’s a “just so happens” thing. Even those guys you’re talking about led to more winning than DeMar. It’s just odd to see that guy up there when I also wouldn’t put him in a top 10 scorers of the 2010s or really any period.

Yea he is an anomaly. The thing is, the list is for top scorers all time but it just so happens some of the other players won rings too except harden, Carmelo or Westbrook Guys like him and Carmelo just were born to score, fans know that. They’re in these lists for a reason. We known the narratives for him. We still don’t know if he cracks top 10c he’s canning my kings currently lol

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi He was never even that good of a scorer, like why are we being dishonest here?

@Austinblevins29 @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi *particularly amazing at anything other than scoring. You sound dumb if you’re confused why the dude who by your accounts “only can shoot” is on the scorers list.

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi He peaked as a top 15ish player for 2-3 years. Besides that he’s been a good player for a while. He never had the merit of any of the top 10 guys on the scoring list, yet he’s going to be right up there. That’s weird for someone who wasn’t ever particularly amazing.

@FourGuardWas @drewvy03 @Nerd_Sesh @Carsobi You’re genuinely the dumbest person alive if when you watch DeMar you think, “that’s a top 10 scorer ever.”