NBA Offseason

[jterrell]

Just saw OKC got Dennis Schroder in the Melo trade. Schroder is one of those players I really dont know what to make of. There are some starter level skills, but right now he seems like an inefficient scorer and a non defender. But that was on a bad Hawks team last year, and the year before he seemed poised to break out on a decent Hawks team

Seems like a good fit to me.
Back up to Russ and can take on that same scoring role but for the 2nd unit.
Could play some small ball units as the 2.

He has nothing around him in ATL last year which tend to lend to being inefficient.

A good up tempo player who seems to fit the system.

 

[jterrell]

Someone allegedly in Kawhi's inner circle doesnt think Kawhi is going to bolt Toronto after 1 year

if TOR is 2nd or 3rd best team in the NBA, he is the star but has an All-Star running mate in Lowry and young pieces around him why would he forfeit 50M?
At about 50K a pop he can take private first class jets to LA. An extra 50M buys a whole lot of those.

LAL should be in his uncle's ear big time and trying to trade for him this season IMHO.
Then he doesn't have to give up that 50M which LAL fans seems to think doesn't matter but PG13 very much did think mattered.

 

[JoeKing]

Keep in mind Kawhi played out 4 years of a rookie contract then chose to sign the 5 year 95m deal in San Antonio.
He obviously at that point had zero issues with being 9 years out of LA.

The culture there changed when Duncan retired and Kawhi and Parker weren't friends.
He feels like they were pressuring him to play hurt right before a supermax contract as signed and he didn't like it.
Hard to know all the stuff that went on but basically he was leaving SAS 100% and he knew Pop was never going to last until a proposed new supermax contract ran its course.

TOR is now in same position OKC was last year with George. They get a year to sell him on the team, his teammates and to a far lesser degree the city.
NBA players are very aware how easy it is to travel via plane and get anywhere they wanna be for off-seasons.

I'm going to miss Danny Green more than I'll miss Kawhi. Now I'm wondering about this tall white dude Poeltl, the Spurs got in the trade. I know Pop and his staff will work with him to be a contributor. I think he's Australian and the Spurs have had great success with Aussies on the team so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. I have no doubt Derozan will be a good guy to have on the Spurs. Having him on the court will be much better than having Kawhi on the bench so they ought to be much better coming off a 47-35 season. Still playoff contenders, how far does this version of the Spurs get in the playoffs?

 

[jterrell]

I'm going to miss Danny Green more than I'll miss Kawhi. Now I'm wondering about this tall white dude Poeltl, the Spurs got in the trade. I know Pop and his staff will work with him to be a contributor. I think he's Australian and the Spurs have had great success with Aussies on the team so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. I have no doubt Derozan will be a good guy to have on the Spurs. Having him on the court will be much better than having Kawhi on the bench so they ought to be much better coming off a 47-35 season. Still playoff contenders, how far does this version of the Spurs get in the playoffs?

I'm not a Spurs fan so don't "feel" it like you guys.
But to me this may be best for SAS.
Once Pop retires in a year or 3 you guys will be in position for a clean total rebuild from the ground up.
Kawhi would have prevented that by simply being too good and too expensive.
I'm guessing now but I'd suggest you guys are about a 4 seed then maybe a 5 seed in 2 years.
You get at least one playoff series win the next couple seasons then Pop retired and you can rebuild.
You can trade Demar in that last year of his deal to help add another R1 asset or 2.

 

[JoeKing]

I'm not a Spurs fan so don't "feel" it like you guys.
But to me this may be best for SAS.
Once Pop retires in a year or 3 you guys will be in position for a clean total rebuild from the ground up.
Kawhi would have prevented that by simply being too good and too expensive.
I'm guessing now but I'd suggest you guys are about a 4 seed then maybe a 5 seed in 2 years.
You get at least one playoff series win the next couple seasons then Pop retired and you can rebuild.
You can trade Demar in that last year of his deal to help add another R1 asset or 2.

I understand your perspective is not as a Spurs fan but didn't you say you are a Raptors fan? As such I'm looking for insider knowledge about the Aussie the Spurs just got from the Raptors by the name of Poeltl. What is his skill set? What should I expect from him. If Kawhi decides to play you'll like what you get from him and Danny Green. Danny is also a good defender and fairly consistent at the 3 ball from either corner.

 

[jterrell]

I understand your perspective is not as a Spurs fan but didn't you say you are a Raptors fan? As such I'm looking for insider knowledge about the Aussie the Spurs just got from the Raptors by the name of Poeltl. What is his skill set? What should I expect from him. If Kawhi decides to play you'll like what you get from him and Danny Green. Danny is also a good defender and fairly consistent at the 3 ball from either corner.

Naw, I'm a Mavs fan but I just love the game.
I coached it at girls AAU level until my daughter tore her ACL (and a lot of other stuff ( a 2nd time).

I was a Lakers fan in the 80s before the Mavs existed. Really enjoying their resurgence and relevancy but bummed that their fan base is beyond any rational basketball talk.

I can speak to TOR and Kawhi and Green because about anyone could Those are win now two way players that will show up on both ends of the floor.
Green is a protoype 3 and D guy and Kawhi is the best Wing defender in basketball if healthy.

I know nothing of Poeltl unfortunately.
I can tell you the Mavs believe Australia is a great source of NBA talent though.
They had like 3 Aussies brought over for the Summer League squad.

 

[darthseinfeld]

I'm going to miss Danny Green more than I'll miss Kawhi. Now I'm wondering about this tall white dude Poeltl, the Spurs got in the trade. I know Pop and his staff will work with him to be a contributor. I think he's Australian and the Spurs have had great success with Aussies on the team so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. I have no doubt Derozan will be a good guy to have on the Spurs. Having him on the court will be much better than having Kawhi on the bench so they ought to be much better coming off a 47-35 season. Still playoff contenders, how far does this version of the Spurs get in the playoffs?

Green is what makes this a real power move for Toronto IMO. Kawai is an elite defender, but he cant guard all of our wing scorers at the same time. Green is a very big addition for them in terms of competing. Kawhi, Green and the sleepy good Anunoby may be the best collection of defensive wings in the NBA and is a strong counter to our Hayward, Tatum and Brown

As a Celtics fan I was moderately worried when they added Kawhi. When I saw they added Green as well, I saw a 7 game series in the future

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Thank God Melo Anthoney is signing with the Rockets and not with the Lakers.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Really dont know what to make of Cleveland resigning Kevin Love. Just think there has to be another big move somewhere in the next two seasons.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Lakers signed Beasley earlier in the week and just signed Travis Wear. As of now, the Lakers roster is filled. Now, moves could still be made but right now, this is the line up.

G 2 Ball, Lonzo 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 27-10-1997 (20) UCLA
F – Beasley, Michael 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 09-01-1989 (29) Kansas State
G 11 Berry, Joel 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 01-04-1995 (23) North Carolina
G 17 Bonga, Isaac 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 08-11-1999 (18) Germany
G 1 Caldwell-Pope, Kentavious 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 18-02-1993 (25) Georgia
G 30 Carroll, Jeffrey 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 06-11-1994 (23) Oklahoma State
G 4 Caruso, Alex (TW) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 28-02-1994 (24) Texas A&M
F 9 Deng, Luol 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 16-04-1985 (33) Duke
G 5 Hart, Josh 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 06-03-1995 (23) Villanova
G/F 14 Ingram, Brandon 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 02-09-1997 (20) Duke
G/F 23 James, LeBron 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 30-12-1984 (33) St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (OH)
F 0 Kuzma, Kyle 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 24-07-1995 (23) Utah
C 7 McGee, JaVale 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 19-01-1988 (30) Nevada
F 10 Mykhailiuk, Sviatoslav 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 10-06-1997 (21) Kansas
G – Rondo, Rajon 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 22-02-1986 (32) Kentucky
G 6 Stephenson, Lance 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 05-09-1990 (27) Cincinnati
F 15 Wagner, Moritz 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 26-04-1997 (21) Michigan
F 21 Wear, Travis (TW) 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 21-09-1990 (27) UCLA
F – Williams, Johnathan 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 22-05-1995 (23) Gonzaga
C 40 Zubac, Ivica 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) 18-03-1997 (21) Croatia

You never know what the season holds but this, to me, is not a team that is built to make a run for it this year. This is a team that is positioning themselves for Free Agency next year. Magic has said that this may well be the strategy this team takes this season and from what I can see now, he is true to his word.

JMO

 

[jterrell]

Really dont know what to make of Cleveland resigning Kevin Love. Just think there has to be another big move somewhere in the next two seasons.

Think it was just their way of rewarding his loyalty and wanting to be there.
They are in a tough spot with a lot of guys LBJ wanted paid, paid big-time.
So best they can do is add minimally to the roster and make the playoffs anyway.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Think it was just their way of rewarding his loyalty and wanting to be there.
They are in a tough spot with a lot of guys LBJ wanted paid, paid big-time.
So best they can do is add minimally to the roster and make the playoffs anyway.

Ya some of those contracts are bad, although I think they can get out of JR's after the season

 

[darthseinfeld]

Vucevic is being rumored to be a available. If im the Lakers I see if I can swing a trade with Ball and Dengs contract. Gives the Lakers a strong Center as well as an expiring deal for next offseason. Also gets them out of the Deng contract.

For Orlando, it gives them a highly touted PG they have been desperate for

 

[jterrell]

Vucevic is being rumored to be a available. If im the Lakers I see if I can swing a trade with Ball and Dengs contract. Gives the Lakers a strong Center as well as an expiring deal for next offseason. Also gets them out of the Deng contract.

For Orlando, it gives them a highly touted PG they have been desperate for

The obvious issue is matching dollars.
The Lakers would be sending out 25M and getting back only 13M.

A trade that does work but is Lakers pie in the sky is:
Deng and Mo Wagner plus a Lakers R1
Vucevic, Jarell Martin and the right to the Nets 2nd.

But I doubt you can get them to attach that 2nd or their own before say 2020.
And even then I'm not sure Wagner is enough to grab a 16 and 9 C even if he is really bad defensively.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Loul Deng and the Lakers agreed to a 7.5 million buyout agreement. This basically frees up the cap to offer another max deal. Lakers will likely now use the stretch provision to spread the remainder of his contract over the next few seasons. Roughly 4.99 Million will be owed against the cap till Dengs Contract is off the books. Big move for the Lakers because this will allow them to go get another marquee player to go along with LBJ without having to give up any young talent or future draft picks to solve their last remaining bad contract. Good move by Magic and the Lakers here. For Deng, this gives him an opportunity to play rather then just sitting at the end of the Laker Bench for another season.

 

[jterrell]

Loul Deng and the Lakers agreed to a 7.5 million buyout agreement. This basically frees up the cap to offer another max deal. Lakers will likely now use the stretch provision to spread the remainder of his contract over the next few seasons. Roughly 4.99 Million will be owed against the cap till Dengs Contract is off the books. Big move for the Lakers because this will allow them to go get another marquee player to go along with LBJ without having to give up any young talent or future draft picks to solve their last remaining bad contract. Good move by Magic and the Lakers here. For Deng, this gives him an opportunity to play rather then just sitting at the end of the Laker Bench for another season.

naw mate he agreed to take 7.5M off the 36.8 he is owed.
this will create a max cap slot for the lakers.
and potentially ~5M of dead cap space for 4 years.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

naw mate he agreed to take 7.5M off the 36.8 he is owed.
this will create a max cap slot for the lakers.
and potentially ~5M of dead cap space for 4 years.

That's what I said JT. I didn't say he settled for just 7.5 million. He agreed to take a pay cut of 7.5, which creates enough room for a max contract, if the Lakers are able to find a player they like. They used the stretch to lesson the cap hit and spread it over future years, the significant thing is that because of the timing, they were able to count this year as well so instead of three, you get four years.

 

[jterrell]

That's what I said JT. I didn't say he settled for just 7.5 million. He agreed to take a pay cut of 7.5, which creates enough room for a max contract, if the Lakers are able to find a player they like. They used the stretch to lesson the cap hit and spread it over future years, the significant thing is that because of the timing, they were able to count this year as well so instead of three, you get four years.

Bro, I get it now but your literal statement was:

"Loul Deng and the Lakers agreed to a 7.5 million buyout agreement."

Thus my confusion and correction.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Bro, I get it now but your literal statement was:

"Loul Deng and the Lakers agreed to a 7.5 million buyout agreement."

Thus my confusion and correction.

Well, technically, they did agree to that. I can see how it was confusing but now you see where I was going. This is, BTW, what Magic said the Lakers were trying to do months ago. I am glad that they were able to get this done without giving up players or draft picks.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Suns apparently have been trying to trade for a vet PG. This is a team that has some very very nice young pieces but isnt ready for playoff contention yet. If they are calling, they are overpaying, and I don't think they should weaken there core to make an immediate push for the playoffs.

I think they should look to the draft next year and/or make a run at Walker or Rozier in FA instead. Both were targets, both will likely walk, and one could he had without surrendering assets. Rozier probably makes the most sense given the age of Pheonix's core, and the fact that he is a strong defender whereas Booker is not