NBA next- The Lebron-less playoffs?

[Maithanet]

8 minutes ago, Proudfeet said:

Why would Denver trade away a low maintenance player like Gordon to take away touches from Jokic, especially with Murray and MPJ coming back? I think that Towns or Embiid would be better fits next to Jokic than LeBron. I seriously doubt LeBron would accept Gordon's role even if he could perform it well. He's not doing a Chris Bosh.

Because Lebron and Jokic running the pick and roll together would be incredibly unfair? 

[Proudfeet]

21 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

Because Lebron and Jokic running the pick and roll together would be incredibly unfair? 

I gave it some thought, if it's a mismatch regardless, I'd go under. I'll take my chances with them shooting and its not like they need much help to get their shot off anyway.

Speaking of which, have you seen MPJ race from the wing towards Jokic at the top of the key for a handoff, 90 degree turn around three point shot? He was making those at a rather good clip for awhile. That was unfair too.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Rhom said:

What would the asking price even be for a one year rental of LeBron? 

I don’t think LeBron fetches more than two first rounders and with AD, whatever he brings back in return will probably be a fair bit less than what the Lakers traded for him.

[Red Tiger]

I hope LeBron doesn't go into management after his career ends. I mean officially in management.

[Slurktan]

So Thybulle won't be eligible to play in Toronto for the first round.  Scuttlebut rumours imply Jalen Brown will be ineligible as well if the Raps play the C's instead.  Milwaukee and Miami fully vaxxed. Interesting

[Rhom]

How have we not known that?  Have these teams not been playing in Toronto already?

[Calibandar]

17 hours ago, Maithanet said:

So IMO running it back again is pointless.  They have no assets to potentially regroup around Davis+Lebron.  So the question becomes whether they trade Davis or Lebron or both.  If they trade both they could get a ton of assets, but unless they could somehow get their picks back from the Pelicans, they are still going to be giving away a likely top 6 pick in 2023 and 2024. 

Its really hard to see what they do. Because they have LeBron and Davis so they will be very inclined to run it back, but try and form a better ream around them somehow. I dont think there is any chance they trade Davis, which leaves LeBron. But trading Lebron...when he is the best player on that team by a big margin, they will find it hard to do that. I guess they will do whatever they can to get off Westbrook's deal and hope to sign some better role players than they did last year, since almost everyone comes off their books now.

[Maithanet]

3 hours ago, Calibandar said:

Its really hard to see what they do. Because they have LeBron and Davis so they will be very inclined to run it back, but try and form a better ream around them somehow. I dont think there is any chance they trade Davis, which leaves LeBron. But trading Lebron...when he is the best player on that team by a big margin, they will find it hard to do that. I guess they will do whatever they can to get off Westbrook's deal and hope to sign some better role players than they did last year, since almost everyone comes off their books now.

I agree there aren't a lot of appealing options for LAL. 

It would take shipping away a first round pick (likely with some protections) to get Westbrook's contract off the books.  If we assume that they do that, then they have basically Lebron + Davis and some cash to form an entire team.  There's every reason to think that they would be better than this year's team, but that's a low bar.  I don't see any way they could be a real contender to win, because you have to assume that one of Lebron or Davis will be out for a portion of the year, and possibly the playoffs as well.  Trading away a 1st round pick to improve from the 11th best team in the west to the 6th best team is not an appealing prospect. 

So then we're back to trading away Lebron or Davis or both.  The market for Davis is going to be pretty cold given his injury problems and salary.  The past two years have demonstrated that he can't be relied upon to be available when you need him.  Plenty of teams would want Lebron, but he's definitely going to have a say in where he goes, and lots of contenders probably aren't interested in the reshuffle that would be required to optimize for one year of his services.  I expect Toronto would be happy to take another shot at a one year superstar roll of the dice, and probably some other second tier teams as well.  But it is hard to say for sure which teams would be interested and which wouldn't.  There's also some legacy questions, like would Lebron be willing to suit up for his biggest rival in the East (Boston) or West (GSW)? 

[Proudfeet]

I think that the Lakers will want to hold on to LeBron, but assuming he demands a trade, what might be available and will be acceptable to the Lakers if they accept that they are long shots to contend regardless?

Simmons if he doesn't suit up for the Nets the whole postseason even if they make it to conference semifinals and beyond?

The oft injured Hayward + draft picks?

Collins + Bogdan?

OKC's war chest outside of this year's pick if their management are as high on SGA/Dort/Giddey as Calibandar?

Beal just to pair LeBron with Kuzma again for laughs?

Kawhi/George if they, touch wood, suffer injury setbacks?

All of Portland's draft picks and whatever they want / is there outside of Lillard/Nurkic/Simons?

None of these are appealing and might not be available regardless. Although I guess that's the reality of trading a star.

[Slurktan]

20 hours ago, Rhom said:

How have we not known that?  Have these teams not been playing in Toronto already?

Boston did play recently in Toronto and Tatum missed it supposedly due to injury.  Brown and Horford missed it for..... reasons.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

Boston did play recently in Toronto and Tatum missed it supposedly due to injury.  Brown and Horford missed it for..... reasons.

Talk about the greatest homecourt advantage ever. I've seen some MLB talking heads speculate the Jays will win their division in part because of the restrictions as well.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Ant with a new career high 49 point game, the fifth 40 burger of his career and now he's second all time in 40 point games had while under 21. LeBron is the only one ahead of him with 8. KD and Luka each had 4.

Right now his only flaw is consistency, but otherwise he can do everything else at an above average to elite level. He can score at every level, has a mean step back 3 like Luka and can be near unstoppable at the rim. His passing isn't super flashy, but he's effective at driving and kicking out and is a very willing passer. Edwards also has the potential to become one of the best rebounding guards in the league. On defense he still has plenty of room to grow, but he's already a very committed defender and gets a lot of steals and blocks.

The Wolves had three goals entering this season on the court and they appear to have hit on all of them: (i) find out if KAT is a legit top tier player (yes), (ii) find out if Ant is a true building block, possibly a cornerstone (yes) and (iii) at least make the play-in (yes). We're probably locked into the 7th seed and will have a +10 win season. Absent a terrible injury in the next few games, this year was a great success. 

Also, Carlos Santana is courtside. Tickets to his concert tomorrow are fairly cheap. Tempting.... 

[BigFatCoward]

Would LA be allowed to pay Westbrook not to play for them so he could go and sign for someone who his skillset worked with, without giving away picks to get rid of him? 

Say 10m a year over 3 years and he could then sign for a contender for 20m a year (market value?). 

[Proudfeet]

They can be bought out. Don't have the time to read through it, but here's the first link on google.

[Calibandar]

18 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Ant with a new career high 49 point game, the fifth 40 burger of his career and now he's second all time in 40 point games had while under 21. LeBron is the only one ahead of him with 8. KD and Luka each had 4.

Right now his only flaw is consistency, but otherwise he can do everything else at an above average to elite level.

Thats the thing with him, sometime I look at his boxscores and its....meh.

And then the next day he is 6 out of 10 from 3 point land and has 35.

In any case, a great young talent to have in the team.

However...I do worry for you guys playing the Clippers, with or without Kahwi, and falling to the 8th seed to face Phoenix. And also there are the Pelicans to consider who you would then play in the play in and they are pretty tough the last few months.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

49 minutes ago, Calibandar said:

Thats the thing with him, sometime I look at his boxscores and its....meh.

And then the next day he is 6 out of 10 from 3 point land and has 35.

In any case, a great young talent to have in the team.

The Wolves rotation literally has four guys who are there for offense, four guys that are there just to defend and then Beverly organizes it on court. Ant, Kat and Russel are all gunners, they each shoot a lot in the first and once one get's hot the other two fall back. Ant doesn't appear to be the type to keep shooting if he's off. He'll attack the rim still, but otherwise he appears to focus on the other aspects of the game.

But like I said, it's really nice that he's not selfish. He was at 44 points with over four minutes left and he was still passing a ton when others might have just kept calling their own numbers. He only started throwing a ton up once he got to within one shot to hit 50, and that p[roved to be quite the dumb thing to do.

Quote

However...I do worry for you guys playing the Clippers, with or without Kahwi, and falling to the 8th seed to face Phoenix. And also there are the Pelicans to consider who you would then play in the play in and they are pretty tough the last few months.

The Wolves are easily the best team in either playoff, but if they lose both games they don't deserve to move on. That said, they better just beat the Clippers because I'm not sure if they can even take a game off the Suns, who I expect to just roll through the West. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Porter Jr will join Murray as a Denver playoff spectator.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

29 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Porter Jr will join Murray as a Denver playoff spectator.

Quite the shame. Denver could have been the second best team in the West if both were healthy. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

On the tanking front the Pistons have secured the 3rd worst record so I like our odds of getting a coveted top 5 pick. I'm also pleased the team didn't resort to unprofessional behavior to get there. They legit have been developing the youngsters-

Heads held high that we secured that 3rd worst while going 4-6 over the last 10 games. Unlike the disgraceful Pacers going 0-10 to get a 5th worse or the Portland's 0-11 to get a 6th.
Our team was a tough game for more than one playoff bound squad post AllStar, and they've admitted as much in the post game interviews.

Ping Pong ball lottery odds-
Houston
Orlando
Detroit
OKC
the disgraced Pacers
the disgraced Trailblazers

[Calibandar]

Whats weird to me so far is that Jovic isnt ranked in or near the top 5. That strikes me as a huge prospect actually and its quite bizarre to not see him listed in the top 10 mock drafts, really has everything to do with skepticism towards European players I think.