NBA Offseason

[CalPolyTechnique]

Im higher on Barrett then many. I think Knox has a alot of offensive upside as well. If those two as well as Smith can approach their ceiling the Knicks could have a good young core to go off of

It may be an unpopular opinion but I think the Knicks actually unintentionally dodged a bullet with KD. The track record of players coming back from Achilles is pretty telling; they aren’t the same players. Now, given the fact he’s 7-feet tall and can shoot, Durant will always be able to get a shot off and be productive, but I’m not confident he’ll ever be the same because the part of his game that made him unique was his handle and ability to beat defenders off the dribble.

Maybe KD gets you 21-23 points per now, but is that worth 4/$164M? That includes one year of paying him when he’s not playing + he’ll be 32 the first time he plays in a real game again.

 

[CowboysRock1980]

It may be an unpopular opinion but I think the Knicks actually unintentionally dodged a bullet with KD. The track record of players coming back from Achilles is pretty telling; they aren’t the same players. Now, given the fact he’s 7-feet tall and can shoot, Durant will always be able to get a shot off and be productive, but I’m not confident he’ll ever be the same because the part of his game that made him unique was his handle and ability to beat defenders off the dribble.

I agree with this, Dolan made the right decision not wanting to give Durant a max contract over concerns with his long term health

 

[Doomsday]

Kawhi Leonard may have single handily made the NBA season more compelling.

Both conferences are pretty wide open at this point.

 

[ghst187]

It may be an unpopular opinion but I think the Knicks actually unintentionally dodged a bullet with KD. The track record of players coming back from Achilles is pretty telling; they aren’t the same players. Now, given the fact he’s 7-feet tall and can shoot, Durant will always be able to get a shot off and be productive, but I’m not confident he’ll ever be the same because the part of his game that made him unique was his handle and ability to beat defenders off the dribble.

Maybe KD gets you 21-23 points per now, but is that worth 4/$164M? That includes one year of paying him when he’s not playing + he’ll be 32 the first time he plays in a real game again.

Agree, I actually said he’d probably miss a ton of time in GS once he left OKC as he was starting to have a lot of injuries back then. I don’t see him playing, effectively anyway, next season. I also think he’s seriously foolish to think he could win anything with Kyrie in Brooklyn. I suspect the Brooklyn experiment implodes and KD is losing another year of prime and sliding into his downside career wise.
Reading that KD was butt hurt about not being as beloved in GS by fans as Curry was made me lose any shred of respect I had for him. He may have been the MVP and won two rings but we all know GS wins those two with or without him.

 

[jterrell]

Lakers just signed Cousins and Rondo. Their starting lineup will be:

PG Rajon Rondo
SG Danny Green
SF LeBron James
PF Anthony Davis
C Demarcus Cousins

With Kyle Kuzma as their 6th man and to take a load off Cousins. Not a bad team.

Cousins really struggled to move last year and had no market. He won't start. He averaged 16 points on over 12 shots in 25 mins. 27% from 3.
That is a 3-6 seed in the very deep West. I'd guess 4-5 seed is most accurate bet.
You don't build good teams with a bunch of guys below the MLE that no one else wanted.

Main concern for LA is lack of assets to get better.
The West is very, very deep and they will feast on that team's bench.

LAC is going to be just nasty. 3-4 guys that can guard any team's best player.
That's a title favorite.

 

[jterrell]

Right on all accounts....Great take

Yet...I still think KL is making the wrong decision. Toronto had a great thing going..they had chemistry. They had a whole country backing them 100%..They practically had a yellow brick road right back to the finals in the Eastern conference...instead of having to slug it out in the west.

I'll be shocked if the Clips win it...even though on paper...they look good to go. Something always happens when teams throw these super teams together. It takes time to mesh....And now the Clips don't have the draft ammo to replentish.

This is the Herschal Walker trade all over again in the NBA. It didn't take long for the Vikings to implode...Won't shock me to see the same thing happen here.

I thought he might do TOR but only for 2 more years.
That entire TOR roster is essentially FA in 2020 and it's an older group that was built to win now after years of being good but not getting over the hump.
They are an older and expensive group.
He wanted PG13 and TOR had no assets to get him.

 

[jterrell]

Im higher on Barrett then many. I think Knox has a alot of offensive upside as well. If those two as well as Smith can approach their ceiling the Knicks could have a good young core to go off of

I recently (re)watched Duke/Gonzaga replay and Barrett basically lost that game for Duke.
Barrett is REALLY overrated IMHO.
Of all the top guys he is to me the most overrated.

NYK hasn't drafted well yet they've tanked to draft... it's kinda nuts.
They took their shot with Phil but need to go back to the well with a proven basketball man in there.

I thought NOT meeting KL was smart BUT perhaps they could have gotten PG13 AND KL.
The fall back to signing some 2nd tire guys I liked. Those non max type contracts can become assets in trade.

 

[jterrell]

Westbrook is a good player in the wrong era.
29% 3PT% in this era as a primary ball handler and volume shooter is not gonna work.
Those numbers plus 40m per year? YIKES!!

Mark Cuban says wayyyy too much but he called that Westbrook thing.
2 superstars have now bolted after early playoff exits.
Russ needs to re-invent his game as a Klay Thompson type wing.
Defend and work on his 3.

The big PG role hasn't worked.

 

[jterrell]

Celtics summer league action tonight. Carsen Edwards and Grant Williams both looking like the mature impact rookies they were billed as. I can see both players getting 20 minutes a night of the bench. Edwards might even be an improvement from the 2019 Terry Rozier. Robert Williams also looked like he belongs in the rotation this year. That would be a huge plus

Yabusele looked horrible though

Edwards is really good.
Tough and efficient kid from Texas who led deep tourney runs.
Excellent long term rotation player IMHO.

 

[jterrell]

Ya its hard to see. All I can see is Dragic, Adabeyo, Winslow and a 2020 and 2022 first and maybe a pick swap in 2023. The 2022 could be valuable if its unprotected.

None of those players except Dragic's expiring deal are enticing though

They'd need to send Dragic to DAL and use DAL cap space/trade exception IMHO.
Issue is DAL has held out on its' cap space like it is pure gold so likely want to be tipped for taking Dragic.

A trade that works numbers wise....

MIA gets:
Russ
R2 from DAL

OKC gets:
Winslow
Courtney Lee(DAL)
Herro
Bam A

DAL gets:
Dragic
DJJ
R1 from OKC (Lakers in 2020 perhaps protected)

In 2nd deal DAL gets Gallo from OKC for Justin Jackson.
That would put OKC below tax apron and re-make them into a younger/cheaper team.
They could flip assets off for picks and such as expirings and tank.
They'd likely stretch waive at least one player.

I think this would benefit all 3 teams:
MIA ends up with a big 2. Wade might even come back for another season on vet min.

OKC gets below tax threshold and gets younger/cheaper/deeper.

DAL gets a mentor to Luka and a young wing plus offloads guys they don't love to get a proven 3PT shooter in Gallo.
All Euro team is built lol.

 

[Rockport]

Does the NBA even have an offseason? "Summer league"? Most of the regular season games are meaningless when half the league makes the playoffs, hence the "resting" of players, so let's play more meaningless games in the summer.

The NBA is a joke/waste of time league. It could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't care.

Then why are you posting here? If you don’t like it, just don’t watch it and quit whining about it.

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

Agree, I actually said he’d probably miss a ton of time in GS once he left OKC as he was starting to have a lot of injuries back then. I don’t see him playing, effectively anyway, next season. I also think he’s seriously foolish to think he could win anything with Kyrie in Brooklyn. I suspect the Brooklyn experiment implodes and KD is losing another year of prime and sliding into his downside career wise.
Reading that KD was butt hurt about not being as beloved in GS by fans as Curry was made me lose any shred of respect I had for him. He may have been the MVP and won two rings but we all know GS wins those two with or without him.

Yeah, I’m a Dubs fan and I’ll always be glad he played here but the scuttlebutt coming after his departure to the Nets was disappointing (if true) and predictable.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Edwards is really good.
Tough and efficient kid from Texas who led deep tourney runs.
Excellent long term rotation player IMHO.

Reminds me alor of VanVleet

 

[jimmy40]

Agree, I actually said he’d probably miss a ton of time in GS once he left OKC as he was starting to have a lot of injuries back then. I don’t see him playing, effectively anyway, next season. I also think he’s seriously foolish to think he could win anything with Kyrie in Brooklyn. I suspect the Brooklyn experiment implodes and KD is losing another year of prime and sliding into his downside career wise.
Reading that KD was butt hurt about not being as beloved in GS by fans as Curry was made me lose any shred of respect I had for him. He may have been the MVP and won two rings but we all know GS wins those two with or without him.

they needed Houston to miss 1,000 three pointers in a row in game 7 to win with KD, there's no way they beat Houston last year without him

 

[unionjack8]

Raps fan.
Nothing but love for KL
Brought us a title in one year.
Not Vince Carter, Not TMac. Not Chris Bosh not demar could do it.
He will forever be loved in Canada.
He went home. You can't fault that on any level....

 

[Johnny23]

I am hoping that my Bulls can step up and steal a playoff spot. Tanking for Zion didn't work out for us but I am happy with Coby White at the 7th pick. We're a young team though.

Lineup looking like:
C: Wendell Carter,Jr.
PF:Lauri Markenan
SF:Otto Porter,Jr.
SG:Zach Lavine
PG:Coby White

Sixth man: Thad Young

Depending on how healthy the team is could grade one of the lower seeds in the East 6-8. I don't think prime free agents want to come play in Chicago even though it's a big sports market. So we'll have to take the OKC and Golden State route of building through the trade. With some trades sprinkled in like getting Zach for Jimmy. It is hard to get excited knowing you need superstar players to win in the league and although he's showing improvement Lavine isn't MJ.. Who is though?

Possibly could be another Baby Bulls team.

 

[Floatyworm]

Celtics summer league action tonight. Carsen Edwards and Grant Williams both looking like the mature impact rookies they were billed as. I can see both players getting 20 minutes a night of the bench. Edwards might even be an improvement from the 2019 Terry Rozier. Robert Williams also looked like he belongs in the rotation this year. That would be a huge plus

Yabusele looked horrible though

Call me crazy...but that dude should have been a lottery pick 2 years ago...He's a man child. Scary talented...Reason he dropped...attitude..and If I remember right...I think he got into some trouble @ Texas A & M as well. But the guy can ball.

 

[Floatyworm]

Prediction....the next CBA this contract bailing and seismic landscape shifting will be addressed.
Owners can now sign players to max contracts for a decade, build a team around them and then after six months throw down a pacifier and say “I wanna go play elsewhere and I will dirty my diaper if you don’t let me” and they are getting their demands.

GMs need to grow a set of balls...As in the Thunder's case w/ George....he just signed last year for 4 years....What is he gonna do if they didn't trade him? Sit out? Fine...then the Thunder...I imagine would have grounds to fine him. I'm still not sure Presti played this right 3 days later...I mean this trade basically blew this team up...and it wasn't like they didn't have a chance. The 2020 season was gonna be wide open for everyone.

 

[Floatyworm]

It may be an unpopular opinion but I think the Knicks actually unintentionally dodged a bullet with KD. The track record of players coming back from Achilles is pretty telling; they aren’t the same players. Now, given the fact he’s 7-feet tall and can shoot, Durant will always be able to get a shot off and be productive, but I’m not confident he’ll ever be the same because the part of his game that made him unique was his handle and ability to beat defenders off the dribble.

Maybe KD gets you 21-23 points per now, but is that worth 4/$164M? That includes one year of paying him when he’s not playing + he’ll be 32 the first time he plays in a real game again.

I'll be shocked if Durant wins a title in Brooklyn. He's gonna need more help...and paying Kyrie big money as well...is really gonna limit them to what they can do.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Call me crazy...but that dude should have been a lottery pick 2 years ago...He's a man child. Scary talented...Reason he dropped...attitude..and If I remember right...I think he got into some trouble @ Texas A & M as well. But the guy can ball.

The attitude part has worked out. He had a rough start being late to practices because he over slept, but since then has a very hard worker. Just a little raw, but I can see him platooning with Kanter this year. He averaged 1.3 blocks in less than 9 minutes last year