As a bruin who watched most of his games, and saw him in person at the pac 12 tourney, I was stunned at how fast he was in transition in person. He has some of the best court awareness I’ve even seen. He has some defensive issues and his shot is funky, but he made everyone on this year’s team so much better that I have no doubt about his ability to do the same with the right system in the nba, and I think the Lakers and Walton would be a perfect fit. Especially since his defensive issues won’t be a huge issue in the regular season as the nba doesn’t play defense to the same level as the playoffs. He’ll be targeted in the playoffs and will have to improve a lot to do well there, but I definitely think he can get a team there pretty quickly.
By the way, I recently discovered Game of Zones and it killed me. This is the most recent one.
Yea, I think Deandre Jorden would be a great get if they could pull it off and just what they need. The rim protector you mention, rebounder and a just a plain legitimate defender. They don’t need more scoring. Maybe this is the year the Clippers management say screw it and bust the team up cause it isn’t working.
Grats to Durant? He became the best player on the already-best team, so that’s a nice accomplishment. He’s an out of this world talent.
Still, we’re exactly where we thought we’d be when he decided to sign w GS. I’m honestly not seeing anything short of injury or complacency that’s gonna stop GS from winning the next 3-6 championships. Obviously, they’ve gotta play the games. No one saw this level of GSW dominance coming 4 years ago, so maybe another team will come together.
I think this off-season is Boston’s shot for a free agent. I’m not certain Hayward wants to share the court w/ ball dominant Isaiah Thomas, and Paul George wants to end up in LA by next summer, so Blake Griffin maybe?
The Cavs have one shot to make another run. They can either keep it intact and find other vets willing to play w/ Lebron for cheap, or trade Love. I don’t know what they’re getting for Love? Carmelo? Paul George on a 1 year rental?
I just hope the Knicks find their way to realize that keeping Porzingis happy, and putting in young talent around him is the way to go. Also, I hope Phil Jackson gets lost in the desert on his next peyote jaunt and never comes back to NYC.
An article I read suggested Kyrie for Chris Paul in a sign-and-trade, but that seems like a lateral move at best. I’d rather have Paul George.
It’s still pretty pointless. The Warriors got this way because they were able to add Durant for free during the cap spike. No current contender has that option anymore. (Boston has $29M if they renounce all their cap holds, but that’s still losing something.)
I can’t wait to see what a league where 28 teams are tanking looks like next year.
Yeah I don’t watch college ball until the tournament. I saw him get shut down by Fox and that is what I am basing my opinion on. That and his weird shot. Not a great sample size.
That is a pretty amusing commercial.
Philadelphia and Boston have agreed to a trade, to be announced on Monday. Philly will get the #1 pick (and will select Markelle Fultz of my alma matter), and Boston will get Philly’s #3 selection this year, and a first-round pick either next year (it’s a protected Lakers pick) or the following year (should 2018’s pick revert to the Lakers).
That would give Philadelphia an incredible young core of Embid, Fultz, and Simmons, placing them in contention once the Warriors/LeBron start to slow down.
Also, Paul George has reportedly told the Pacers that he intends to leave next year, and that he hopes to join the Lakers.
If Embiid can stay healthy.
Recent semi-confirmed rumors have the Cavs and Pacers talking. Not sure how deep those talks got, of course.
I’m cool with the trade. Sixers are going to contend for the playoffs this season.
Curious as to Ainge’s angle in the trade. If he wasn’t all-in on Fultz, and planned to go after Tatum or Josh Jackson, might as well get some assets since Fultz’s stock is so high. Does he want to bundle assets for a Jimmy Butler trade? Is he planning on maxing out 29 year old to be Isaiah next year? I don’t see him going after Paul George, and there’s been some noise that Gordon Hayward doesn’t want to play w/ the ball dominating Thomas.
Cavs could go after PG for a 1 year rental, but at what cost? Would the Pacers even be interested in Love and his contract if they’re heading into rebuild mode?
A lot of potential moves this season seem like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. Barring injury, the Warriors will dominate again.
The running theory is a 3-team trade, because I couldn’t imagine the Pacers would want to take back big contracts attached to veteran players.
Paul George to Cleveland happens if PG and Lebron are headed to LA (Lakers or Clippers) the following year which I think is a viable option for both of them right now. They try to win one in Cleveland with Kyrie in 17-18 and then skip town the following season. If it doesn’t work out with them together, they’ve also lost nothing for trying it out one season and can still move on to wherever the following year.
I think Ainge is just following his motto that you can trade picks easier than you can trade players. He’ll ship the picks for someone like Jimmy Butler.
There’s basically two schools of thought.
You can try to contend now, which is what Ainge appears to be doing. This doesn’t seem so wise; they got beat pretty easily by the Cavs, and even if LeBron bails to the West next year, it’s hard to see any team in the East beating the Warriors in a 7-game series (you know, the team that handled the team that handled your team).
Or you build for the future about 4-5 years out, once The Warriors start to slow down. That appears to be what Philly is doing.
I know it’s a bit of a tangential argument, but I can’t imagine that ownership is going to do anything other than demand they contend in this window. While they were a weak 1 seed, they were a 1 seed and made the conference finals and a strong winning season and deep playoff run is worth so much money to the franchise. Not to discount the value of Championships as the ultimate goal, but they are in good shape to be a top couple seed and go deep into the playoffs with how crap the East is for the next few years at least and if LeBron and George are bailing to the West then the path to the Finals becomes that much easier. Hard to step back from all that potential profit to try and build for an uncertain future.
Is this the current NBA thread? How about them Nets? They trade Brook Lopez and their first-round pick (number 27) to the Lakers for D’Angelo Russell and Mozgov. I read a lot of the Lakers’ motivation was to get out from the last three years of Mozgov’s contract.