NBA 2014 Thread

[Pidge]

Lonzo has given plenty of indications that he's able to impact NBA games in numerous ways without even being a reliable scorer.  Him going down with injury was the turning point for the season.

 

Basically, right now I feel a bit burned by the deal, but nowhere near as angry as the D'lo trade (as that was a stupid decision necessitated by stupid decisions).  Ultimately need to see the roster they put together.

 

Main point is there's no excuses now.  They have to build a winning side.

[3 Stacks]

26 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Lonzo has given plenty of indications that he's able to impact NBA games in numerous ways without even being a reliable scorer.  Him going down with injury was the turning point for the season.

 

Basically, right now I feel a bit burned by the deal, but nowhere near as angry as the D'lo trade (as that was a stupid decision necessitated by stupid decisions).  Ultimately need to see the roster they put together.

 

Main point is there's no excuses now.  They have to build a winning side.

Lonzo is a good player and as you said, he does plenty of things, but he wont be a star with that jumper unless it drastically improves, and the Pels needed a potential star for Davis. Ingram has more potential, Imo, but he is a question mark right now because of health.

 

As for the Lakers, reports are already saying Kemba is the top target. On paper, he is the perfect foil for Lebron as he is pretty similar to Kyrie and Davis is basically unstoppable. All they need to do now is deal Kuzma or make him the 6th man and sign some veteran guys who can hit threes and they are set. Even for Lakers management it will be hard to screw that up. 

[Pidge]

Walker would be great, have him third in terms of free agents I'd like now (assuming Durant opts in and Klay re-signs).  Leonard first (although I suspect he may well re-sign as well now) and Butler second.  Only have Butler ahead of Kemba because with Lebron we shouldn't need to worry too much about playmaking, instead perimeter defence is a must.

 

Then Russell, as mentioned yesterday, although thinking about it today he might need the ball a bit too much.  Rubio, Payton, Rose, Teague, Beverley... even Rondo, there are so many PGs on the market this year we should be able to set a good back-court without a max option.

[Carradona]

10 hours ago, Pidge said:

Just seen this. 

 

First off, well in Raptors.  Great to see Kawhi stamp his authority on the league, I was hoping for an Eastern champion, just thought it would be Giannis.

 

Think we've given up too much to be honest.  The package was much better than everything else on offer.  Ingram's health issues has him undervalued, same with Lonzo too.  Kuzma on the other hand is overvalued, and in the only position we're now stacked in...  I would have let it ride to the deadline.

 

If this goes wrong it'll be about twice as bad as the Nash trade.  Still, FA is strong this year, we could see a good roster put together.  Ironically the guard we could do with trying to pick up at sub-max level would be D'lo… although I think the Nets will max him (as Durant was probably their priority, but I assume he opts in now).

D'lo Russell will be very available considering the Nets are signing Kyrie.

[Pidge]

2 minutes ago, Carradona said:

D'lo Russell will be very available considering the Nets are signing Kyrie.

Yeah, thought that plan was based on Kyrie/Durant though.

[3 Stacks]

@Pidge gotta give you credit, you were kind of right on the Lakers. They thought they could get Kawhi, they waited on him and now it's clear they never really had a shot. It will be AD, Lebron, Kuzma and a bunch of average role players. Not great.

 

Clippers big favourites now with Kawhi, PG, Lou Will and they're still pretty deep even with the trade. Time to change the ava for me, but Kawhi will always be a legend for this season. 

[Pidge]

Think we'll be okay, people going over the top about the remaining talent.  The two year deals will either give us max trade value or we'll be centre stage for the same nonsense with Giannis (who I don't see moving anywhere TBH).

 

Some rumours of Bradley being made available and there's still a chance to add buyouts (Iggy, korver etc)

[3 Stacks]

Yeah, but this is a fuckup when you look at Lebron's championship window, which in all probability will be over in about 2-3 years. The Lakers were in clear "win now mode" with the Davis trade and the cap space in 2019, and now they are stuck with filling out the roster with role players and there's a team playing in the same building who are better than them. 

 

There's no one to get in 2020 either. This is a fail for the Lakers. 

[Pidge]

Yeah that's why 2020 trade or 2021 FA is the right tactic.  Not too bothered about lbj, it's about getting AD a long term partner.  Green and Cook are good pickups with the spacing we'll have and I liked mcgee last year. A couple of good vets and we're well set really.

 

Who knows, could we free up room for a Westbrook trade?

[Lee909]

DeMarcus Cousins signs with Lakers in one year deal

[Lee909]

And Rondo is back on a 2 year deal

[Red Phoenix]

Bunch of grown men bouncing a ball around.

 

Zion is going to be one of the biggest stars in basketball soon without a doubt, because I've seen him regularly trending on twitter in recent months.

 

After checking he's also mentioned a lot in Grays Sports Almanac, 2000-2050, but I can't share that information publically.

[Pidge]

3 hours ago, Lee909 said:

And Rondo is back on a 2 year deal

 soaking up Caruso's minutes again...

[Chocoholic]

 

[3 Stacks]

Anyone else following this NBA-China-Daryl Morey clusterfuck?

[Pidge]

Only in so far as he tweeted a fairly bland pro-democracy message in respect of Hong Kong as the Rockets are in China, cue major diplomatic issue and the NBA willing to throw him under the bus in an effort to appease the totalitarian overlords.

 

Houston should take a page from the Lyon fans' book and go all "free Tibet" on opening night (or their first home game if not)

[Lee909]

Fuck the Chinese Government 

Fuck there Re-education camps

Fuck there occupation of Tibet

[Jose Jones]

8 hours ago, Pidge said:

Only in so far as he tweeted a fairly bland pro-democracy message in respect of Hong Kong as the Rockets are in China, cue major diplomatic issue and the NBA willing to throw him under the bus in an effort to appease the totalitarian overlords.

 

Houston should take a page from the Lyon fans' book and go all "free Tibet" on opening night (or their first home game if not)

As always, you can’t support freedom in the land of the free if it gets in the way of making money.

[Pidge]

Sky showing the Pelicans/Rockets for free:

 

 

Good close game in the 4th. All star Ingram and Zion up against Westbrook and Harden (who will spend the next ten minutes falling over).

[Carradona]

First two episodes of the MJ ESPN documentary dropped on Sunday night, they're on Netflix. They're excellent, I love how it goes forward and back in time to set the scene for different playmakers. 

[Pidge]

Man, this thread reminds me how bad my sports season has turned out. Lakers top of the conference, just beaten the Clippers and Bucks. Exeter top with Saracens out of contention. The obvious... fuck's sake...

[Lee909]

28 minutes ago, Pidge said:

Man, this thread reminds me how bad my sports season has turned out. Lakers top of the conference, just beaten the Clippers and Bucks. Exeter top with Saracens out of contention. The obvious... fuck's sake...

I'm just waiting for Drew Brees last season to go down the fucking pan some weird way. Probably should be walking off into the sunset with at least 4 Superbowl under his belt(09/11/17/18)