NBA 2019-20: Fresh Champs, Fresh Faces, Fresh Places!
- Thread starter stringertom
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hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
I think as far as Lonzo is concerned this is a good for him. He plays pretty decent D and know how to use his size. His court vision is already great and NO should be able to run with the best of them.
The concern his 3pt shot and free throws. They can probably survive if he is the only person on the court that shoot threes. But if they don't have the spacing to allow Zion to use his full potential of athleticism the wont be able to run the plays they may need to.
For the record I think LA should have kept Lonzo and let Kuzma go in this trade. Lonzo has tons of room for improvement, and I think he will overcome the shooting woes. He def would have with LeBron and Davis on the floor surrounded by a couple more shooters. I think Kuzma is at his limit and really don't fit in with them guys anyway.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
NOP GM Griffin probably wanted Ball over Kuzma. He’s a smart man with a plan, trading out of #4 for a big man (Jaxson Hayes) at #8 and then getting a solid combo guard Alexander-Walker at #17. The latter may be the best value pick of the 1R because he can shoot and learned to play the point due to the starting PG’s injury halfway through the year at Va Tech. They were a tough team down the stretch due to his play. He will team nicely with Lonzo and Jrue Holiday in the backcourt.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
It looks like Raptors' chances are rising. According to bookkeepers Raptors are front runners followed by Clips. Other teams are given very little chances.Shannon Sharpe SURPRISED with report: Kawhi might meet with Sixers as well as Clippers, Knicks, Nets.
Meaning, scratch them all now, they're just courtesy calls returned. This leaves LAkers and RaptorNation in the driver's seat.
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
I agree but the reports were that LA said off all the guys Kuzma was the one off limits. Didn't make sense to me unless LeBron just really hates Lavar that much (which he has kinda hinted at) and Lonzo by extension.
I am not the biggest Lavar fan but he knows how to navigate and get exposure in todays times. The media kept giving him the platform. Then he says what he said to Molly and Stephen A's reaction and ESPN says he wont be on the TV anymore. Maybe its in the way he said "you can change gears with me anytime". but that's a standard response I give a lot of times when someone will thank me for something. now all of a sudden I have to watch who and what I respond to with anytime. When he told the fox lady to know her role that was 100 times worse than what he said to Molly, and he proceded to sell 60 dollar T-****s that said "know your role". I'm sure the "with me anytime" shirts are soon to follow.
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Which the way Kawhi operates means Denver as already agreed to renounce millsap and trade a few pieces to open up the space.
Kawhi to the Nuggets confirmed *fistpump*
stringertom
Bionic Poster
That would be a juggernaut franchise for many years...Murray, Jokic and Kawhi could rekindle the triangle!
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
Was unaware that Jrue Holiday's two brothers, Aaron and Justin are also in the NBA,
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Was unaware that Jrue Holiday's two brothers, Aaron and Justin are also in the NBA,
That's pretty cool. but I don't know if you are aware that the system is keeping L'Angelo out of the league. Adam Silver is a buffoon for not eliminating the one and done rule so L'Melo could have been drafted #1 and L'Angelo #4 and all three Balls on the same team would allow the Pelicans to go 77-5 and 16-0 in the playoffs to win the title. to start what would easily have been the greatest dynasty in sports history.
Ronaldo
Bionic Poster
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Ball Family.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
Pipe dreams. How are they going to trade Barton and Plumlee to open the cap and who has the time to wait for it to happen? Besides why would he go to a team that lost to the team that was swept by GSW?
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Yea I don't actually think they could clear the space, but the statement was more me having fun with the fact that nobody ever really knows what Kawhi is thinking or what he wants to do. It would not surprise that much with all the speculation about LA and TOR being the only true destination he ends up going somewhere unexpected.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
I figured that lol. Still had to response.
He wants to see if Clips can land another name on July 1st. That's why meeting is scheduled to 2nd. If not he's staying with the Raps. It makes much sense for him to sign 1+1 cause next year he can sign for 35% of cap space after 10 years of NBA service and it will be 240 million for 5 years if I'm not mistaken. His health is well taken care of in Toronto and it won't be a problem. I'm sure Clippers can take care of him as well but as Jalen Rose put it well, he will be a guest at home playing in Lakers arena under LAL hof jerseys. We'll see how much it matters to him to be in California.
Siakam can also get 25% of team cap space after next year according to the book. If both are in Toronto after next season, they will take up 60% of cap. Lowry, Gasol and Ibaka's contracts will expire then and it won't be a problem.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
The Decision, iteration 4.0 or so now:
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
FWIW Ballmer is confident in 2024 Clips will have their own arena, preferably in inglewood next to Rams new stadium. Says staples can keep the Kings they don't want hockey anyway. By not having to accommodate hockey the arena could be designed differently. I trust Ballmer to get done what he wants to get done. He just has too much money not to get his way. He could possibly be worth more the than the other NBA owners combined (probably not though).
Although by 2024 that would be the end of Kawhi's deal if he signed with them now. 1+1 in TOR makes sense in a of regrads especially if he trusts his health
Although by 2024 that would be the end of Kawhi's deal if he signed with them now. 1+1 in TOR makes sense in a of regrads especially if he trusts his health
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Ballmer is tops in wealth for a pro sports franchise owner in North America by a wide margin. He’s just $10billion behind the Mumbai Indians cricket team owner, Mukesh Ambani. The Indian oil/gas/telecommunications mogul is estimated to be worth north of $50billion. Poor Steve has only $41billion in his pocket.
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Yea poor Steve
I know Ballmer is way ahead ahead of everyone else and if you catch him on a good staock day maybe he can covert he rest of them.
But I know Arison (heat), Gilbert (cavs) and Pera (grizz) owner are pretty loaded. And I guess the Prokarov (nets) still has cash unless Putin took it all
I know Ballmer is way ahead ahead of everyone else and if you catch him on a good staock day maybe he can covert he rest of them.
But I know Arison (heat), Gilbert (cavs) and Pera (grizz) owner are pretty loaded. And I guess the Prokarov (nets) still has cash unless Putin took it all
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Denver Nuggets are a Kroenke family enterprise and if you add in the Walton net worth from Stan’s wife then it’s getting closest to Ballmer level.Yea poor Steve
I know Ballmer is way ahead ahead of everyone else and if you catch him on a good staock day maybe he can covert he rest of them.
But I know Arison (heat), Gilbert (cavs) and Pera (grizz) owner are pretty loaded. And I guess the Prokarov (nets) still has cash unless Putin took it all
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Mukeshs also owns the world's most expensive home. Did Sureshs design this montrosity
Spread over an area of 40,000 square feet and has 27 floors in all. It is also equipped with 3 helipads. Antilia is both the most expensive and the most spacious house in the world. It has the distinction of being the world's first billion-dollar home and took nearly four years to complete.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Skip agrees with me. KD will not return to Warriors... I think KD cannot stand Draymond, so why stay?
Unfortunate as Draymond is an awesome player. But he really must be a pain in the ass.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
I’d rather play alongside a PITA than against one. KD’s favorite Clipper teammate will become Beverley, no?
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Mukeshs also owns the world's most expensive home. Did Sureshs design this montrosity
Spread over an area of 40,000 square feet and has 27 floors in all. It is also equipped with 3 helipads. Antilia is both the most expensive and the most spacious house in the world. It has the distinction of being the world's first billion-dollar home and took nearly four years to complete.
Did his 5 year old son build it out of legos and he then had a firm build it to scale? That sucker looks rough.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
KD has to live with Draymond in the locker room every day. Draymond: "We won here without your ass, b*tch!".
At least Beverley acknowledges KD's greatness.
It is a shame those two don't get along because Draymond was one of Warriors MVP in the Finals. A monster on the boards.
I think Durant, Iggy, Looney, Green and Curry are clearly the best team in the NBA. Even without KT.
Patrick Beverley calls Kevin Durant 'best player in the NBA, hands ...
https://www.nbcsports.com/.../patrick-beverley-calls-kevin-durant-best-player-nba-ha.
May 6, 2019 - Kevin Durant and Patrick Beverley got acquainted early and often throughout the NBA playoff first-round series between the Warriors and ...
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hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
Draymond is a good player on that team. Not sure he works anywhere else.
If KD wants to stay in GSW but hates Draymond that much he should simply force them to get rid of him. If Steph, Klay, and KD are healthy they can win without Draymond.
I kinda feel like KD to the Knicks is what's happening. KD doesn't need to go to another team with legit title chances to gain the respect he seems to wants based off his burner twitter accounts. He needs to take a team like the Knicks to the title
If KD wants to stay in GSW but hates Draymond that much he should simply force them to get rid of him. If Steph, Klay, and KD are healthy they can win without Draymond.
I kinda feel like KD to the Knicks is what's happening. KD doesn't need to go to another team with legit title chances to gain the respect he seems to wants based off his burner twitter accounts. He needs to take a team like the Knicks to the title
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
I think Durant, Iggy, Draymond, Looney and Curry could have beaten Raptors in Finals. Even without KT...
Don't know if KD has the clout to get rid of Draymond... Must check with Curry. AFAIK, Curry likes playing with Draymond.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
We don't know if... but Raptors beat a full GSW team twice this year in regular season and GSW showed a lot of weaknesses during the season and playoffs. But yes they would be really hard to beat and it would probably come down to the last minute of game seven. Remember how Toronto dismantled the best team in the NBA in playoffs. They just had the best defenders in the league and that was without OG. Nurse made mistakes but he was not afraid of trying new things and trusted his players and remained calm.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
If one looks at it objectively, KD is just not worth $40 million guaranteed for five years. The odds are against him playing at a high level and injury free for five years.
Kawhi is also injury prone and unlikely to play injury-free for 5 years.
But I get it. These guys are getting paid not so much for what they will do going forward but what they have already accomplished.
Along with the fact that there are desperate teams like the Knicks ready to overpay.
Kawhi is also injury prone and unlikely to play injury-free for 5 years.
But I get it. These guys are getting paid not so much for what they will do going forward but what they have already accomplished.
Along with the fact that there are desperate teams like the Knicks ready to overpay.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Curry was out for a month with a bad groin, missing the first Raptors victory (OT thriller with KD scoring 51) in late November. He returned in time for the second game but played his worst game of the season in the blowout.
I disagree with @Raul_SJ that a healthy KD but minus KT would have won vs Raptors. They needed everyone healthy to compete with the much improved Gasol-injected defense. If it wasn’t bad enough to have KD available 12 minutes total and to have Boogie full of rust from his quad tear, Kerr had to then face losing Looney and KT simultaneously for game 3 when the series was tied 1-1. “Next man up” can only work so far. And yet, it possibly could have been a Game 7 with a made not missed trey.
The two regular season games were played well before the Raptors upgrade and really offered no true preview snapshot of postseason matchups.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
It would have been close but Warriors were already competitive w/o everyone healthy. Durant essentially out the entire series.Finals goes to a game 7 if KT does not go down in third quarter.
If Warriors with KT minus Durant could take them to a Game 7, so could Durant minus KT.
I'd say the Raptors fear Durant more in a Game 7 than KT.
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clout
Hall of Fame
Honestly this is quite true. The raps had a much deeper team this year than any other year in Raptors history.
- Siakam evolved from a 3rd stringer to a borderline all-star and MIP winner in less than a year
- Marc Gasol is a former DPOY and the fact that he was a big who was mobile, and could pass, shoot, and defend at an elite level was something the raps were sorely missing in years prior
- Ibaka's game offensively was as good as it ever was this year and his defense had glimpses of 2013 Ibaka
- Lowry finally showed up in the playoffs and was HUGE in the championship clinching game
- Danny Green's 3 & D, playoff experience and length are all strengths that were also missing for the raps in the past
- Nick Nurse is a much better coach than Casey lets be honest here
- FVV became the third splash bro from the middle of the Bucks series till the chip-clinching game (he even got a FMVP vote from the great Hubie Brown)
- I wanted to refrain from mentioning this one, but it's definitely noteworthy that LeBron going west increased every east team's chances of making a deep run as well
Obviously Kawhi was the main reason they achieved this, his title run this year was as impressive and dominant as any run I've ever seen in my 2+ decades of watching the NBA. He also totally carried the Raptors in that Philly series when no one else was hitting their shots, but in those last two series against Milwaukee and Golden State, they got some great contribution from everyone in their rotation. Every great team needs a top-tier superstar to win, whether it's LeBron on Miami/Cleveland, MJ on the Bulls, Duncan on the Spurs, Magic on the Lakers, or Bird on the Celtics, but it's also just as important (maybe even more important) that management builds around their superstar well or else it'll end up being like LeBron on the cavs from 2003-10
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Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Gasol is still lacking as a rebounder. Warriors dominated on the offensive boards during many stretches. It was embarrassing.
At 7 foot 1, he has got to clear the boards.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
If you're chasing 3 pt shooters all the time, there is no time to turn and box out other players. GSW OR power comes from their long range shooting. Statistically proven that it's easier to get OR that way.
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
Why do some people still mourn and claim GSW is a better team and woulda shoulda coulda won. How are they a better team when. They have the same record even though Raps didn't have Gasol a long time and didnt play Kawhi 22 matches? They also lost both matchups to Toronto. They never dominated Raptors in the finals and it would have ended in game 5 had Nurse been a smarter in the last few minutes. Ok last year's GSW was better but they were not the same team this year. Who cares they had injuries. Kawhi and Lowry were both injured during Philly series. At the end of the day one team are the champions and they very much deserved it.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Anyone who watched the the Raptors during the Bucks series was not surprised by the finals result.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
For the first three games? Much doubt they would even get there. Down 0-2 and Game 3 going to OT was not confidence inspiring.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Ah, but that’s my point. The raptors turned that series around by embracing their indentity as a team scary deep with all-out 2-way players.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Woj is reporting Kemba Walker is heading up to Boston on a 4-year supermax deal to switch teams.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Players other than Kawhi started making shots...FVV in particular.
Anyway, that’s last season and now the intrigue is where these guys wind up starting this week.
travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
You’re like Bill Belicik... on to next season!
stringertom
Bionic Poster
No days off.
Windhorst and Woj are two of the busiest men on the planet this next few days.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
I'm sure Curry really enjoyed playing with Draymond's no shooting butt when raptors played middle school box and 1 defense when KD and Klay were not on the court.
Healthy prime Durant was at worst the 2d best player in the league. He would have plenty of clout. The problem going forward is the injury and history of people who have came back from it. That list basically starts and stops with Dominique.
Raul_SJ
G.O.A.T.
Warriors were ready to offer a healthy KD supermax.
Now there is a huge question of whether KD can return to his high level. Warriors really cannot justify paying him supermax for five years when he's out next season and won't return till he is 32.
Warriors may privately breathe a sigh of relief if KD leaves. Why then did they still offer supermax to an injured player? Maybe they felt guilty about the injury and pushing him to return too soon.
If KD really wants to help his teammates, and assuming he wants out, it would be best if he re-signs, rehabs with the Warriors and then requests trade.
If he leaves now, Warriors get nothing.
The Golden State Warriors hope to re-sign Kevin Durant in free agency, but they are approaching the situation in an amenable way in an attempt to not simply lose him for nothing.
"I think there's a couple of things in play here," said Brian Windhorst on Get Up. "I'm going to just be honest with you: my sense is that the Warriors are in a scramble mode to do anything that they can to either keep Kevin or not lose him for nothing.
"The last thing that the Warriors want is for him to just go sign with the Nets, or sign with the Knicks. So in addition to offering him the five-year contract and hoping he will either stay with them, or be willing to rehab with them and then be traded. The Warriors are wide open to considering sign-and-trade scenarios.
"Let's say Kevin wants to go to the Nets. They would love to do a sign-and-trade with the Nets. You might say what would they get back? They could get back a trade exception where you would get a $35 million, basically gift certificate that they could then use to go get other players, which they're going to need. They have no functional way to improve their team because they won't have salary cap space if he leaves. The Warriors really want to work alongside Kevin Durant.
"Now the Nets wouldn't really be incentivized, or the Knicks or the Clippers, so that might not end up happening."BRIAN WINDHORST/ESPN
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T1000
Legend
Free agency wish list
1. Sign Russell
2. Sign Randle
3. Resign Jordan
4. Sign Carter
Core = Russell, Barrett, Knox, Randle, Robinson
Two vets to help turn team culture around
last 5 spots bring back some of the young guys who played well and fill out the rest with upside young pieces
I’d be happy with that and wouldn’t call these last 6 years a complete failure. But knowing the Knicks they’ll max cousins and Tobias Harris and be like the 11th seed in the east and get the 12th pick
1. Sign Russell
2. Sign Randle
3. Resign Jordan
4. Sign Carter
Core = Russell, Barrett, Knox, Randle, Robinson
Two vets to help turn team culture around
last 5 spots bring back some of the young guys who played well and fill out the rest with upside young pieces
I’d be happy with that and wouldn’t call these last 6 years a complete failure. But knowing the Knicks they’ll max cousins and Tobias Harris and be like the 11th seed in the east and get the 12th pick
stringertom
Bionic Poster
Of the two bona fide superstars to go down with the dreaded injury, Dominique is the better case scenario parallel for recovery for KD. He had the injury when about a year and change older than KD and was CPOY when he returned but changed his style to a more perimeter oriented offensive player. Kobe came back and was a shell of himself until that very last game of his career but he was two years older (almost 34) than Wilkins.
Two younger guys (Gay and Matthews) have returned in the last few years from the Achilles. They’re not busts since returning but in their less key roles are not a good comparison to the load KD will accept starting in ‘20-‘21.
I think he would be wise to stay with GSW so he doesn’t have to be “the man” from Day 1 of his return, That and the extra $50million or so should be enough to overcome any bad Green vibes if GSW decides to try and retain Draymond beyond ‘19-‘20.
Federer and Del Potro
Bionic Poster
I like the idea of Kemba Walker. All star talent without the Kyrie whine
donquijote
G.O.A.T.
That was the key to this championship. Leonard, Gasol, Lowry, Green, Siakam, Ibaka, VV are all two way players.
stringertom
Bionic Poster
I think he’s grounded enough to avoid the maxman flu, thus allowing him to play team ball on both ends of the court.
