NBA next- The Lebron-less playoffs?

[Maithanet]

17 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Porter Jr will join Murray as a Denver playoff spectator.

Yeah that sucks.  I really want to see the full Denver roster in the playoffs, and I'm getting worried we never will. 

What do people think about the play-in games?  I'm increasingly not happy with them.  None of the teams in the 9 or 10 spots IMO are particularly deserving of being in the playoffs, and single elimination games for the right to get smashed in the first round are kind of dumb.  Until a 9 or 10 seed actually advances into the playoffs AND beats the #1 seed, this is all kind of a waste of time, and do we really want that?  I don't think I do. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Lol, what a stat. Since 2017, Dirk has played more NBA games than John Wall. Dirk retired in 2019, the same year Wall signed a super max contract. Yeesh.

[Proudfeet]

56 minutes ago, Maithanet said:

What do people think about the play-in games?  I'm increasingly not happy with them.  None of the teams in the 9 or 10 spots IMO are particularly deserving of being in the playoffs, and single elimination games for the right to get smashed in the first round are kind of dumb.  Until a 9 or 10 seed actually advances into the playoffs AND beats the #1 seed, this is all kind of a waste of time, and do we really want that?  I don't think I do. 

I think its good. Currently it feels like there is increased parity in the league and also injury related slides in seeding, but its not like 8 seeds don't get smashed regularly in the years before.  And the 8 seed has beaten the 1 seed how many times? 5 times in 40 years? And how many times have they been swept? Should we just make it a bye? At least the single elimination games adds some excitement prior to the chore.

Besides, maybe the playoff experience will help the team in the next year or give you a preview of an up and coming team like Memphis. 

Also, might not have been the best year to make that comment as Charlotte has a positive record as the 10 seed, and is just one off the 7 and 8 seeds.

__

Outside of that, the threat of slipping to the 7 and 8 seeds or for the middling teams ascending in seed helps to maintain interest in the end of the regular season. Its not just about the 1v8 series. I'd be happy to see a minimum games won for the 9 and 10 seeds though.

[DireWolfSpirit]

4 hours ago, Calibandar said:

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.

He's probably pretty great and NBA size/ready, but at that age wiki is saying (31), thats gotta be the issue if it's the same Serbian player your talking about?

Or is there another Jovic your thinking of?

I gotta admit the Pistons haven't mentioned him afaik.

[DMC]

46 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

He's probably pretty great and NBA size/ready, but at that age wiki is saying (31), thats gotta be the issue if it's the same Serbian player your talking about?

Or is there another Jovic your thinking of?

I gotta admit the Pistons haven't mentioned him afaik.

I assume the reference is to this NIkola Jovic, who is 18.  Gotta admit I know nothing about him.  As a Magic fan I've solely been focused on the top 3.

[baxus]

2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

He's probably pretty great and NBA size/ready, but at that age wiki is saying (31), thats gotta be the issue if it's the same Serbian player your talking about?

You have probably found Stefan Jovic, who played for Serbian national team and won silver in Rio Olympics. That's a different Jovic from the one in this year's draft (Nikola).

[briantw]

On 4/4/2022 at 4:34 AM, BigFatCoward said:

While he is still a top 5 player, playing on this team does nothing for LBJs legacy. Is there any route to a championship contender for him over his next few years? 

Sure.  Get traded back to Cleveland.  

I'll also add that I'm not convinced that LeBron is cooked just yet.  He was very obviously phoning it in for much of this season, getting his stats but not even pretending to try on defense once he realized that team wasn't it.  He did the same thing in Cleveland a few different times.  That's his method of protest when he doesn't feel the front office has surrounded his majesty with adequate talent.  He goes out and half-asses it and makes everyone he's playing with look even worse.

Put him on a roster with guys around him that actually fit and a team that's actually capable of winning a title and I think you see a very different LeBron.  

[Calibandar]

12 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

He's probably pretty great and NBA size/ready, but at that age wiki is saying (31), thats gotta be the issue if it's the same Serbian player your talking about?

Or is there another Jovic your thinking of?

I gotta admit the Pistons haven't mentioned him afaik.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Jović

18 years old. To me he looks excellent. I would draft him higher based on name alone haha, considering how misjudged Jokic was

But from what I have seen, I would consider him top 5.

6 hours ago, briantw said:

Sure.  Get traded back to Cleveland.  

I'll also add that I'm not convinced that LeBron is cooked just yet.  He was very obviously phoning it in for much of this season, getting his stats but not even pretending to try on defense once he realized that team wasn't it.  He did the same thing in Cleveland a few different times.  That's his method of protest when he doesn't feel the front office has surrounded his majesty with adequate talent.  He goes out and half-asses it and makes everyone he's playing with look even worse.

Put him on a roster with guys around him that actually fit and a team that's actually capable of winning a title and I think you see a very different LeBron.  

I agree, I think he still has a lot of juice left in him. Would he be better off by going back to the Cavs rather than staying with the Lakers? I think most would say yes he would be. Start him next to Garland, Okoro, Mobley and Allen and he would love it. It presents a better chance at another title than sticking with the Lakers I suspect.

[DireWolfSpirit]

LeBron seems to be in the "been there done it all" zone.

He can still bring it heavy but I think he needs to be interested and feel like it's for a reason.

I think Lebrons greatest remaining goal is to play with his son.

It's something that's never been done, so from Lebrons perspective, he will feel compelled to pull it off and honestly it's more interesting than repeating something we've seen him do over and over like titles, MVP's and championships.

James and LeBron James Jr. could accomplish the improbable feat of becoming the NBA's first father-son duo. Playing together in real games in real time. In 1987, Ken Griffey Jr.

https://andscape.com › features › wil...

Will LeBron James and his son Bronny play in the NBA ...

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Bronny is viewed as a fringe NBA player at best. Probably not going to happen unless a team drafts him just to lure LeBron to play there for a season.

[Slurktan]

36 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Bronny is viewed as a fringe NBA player at best. Probably not going to happen unless a team drafts him just to lure LeBron to play there for a season.

That is definitely going to happen, particularly if he can still play at this level. Second round picks come easy and why wouldn't a team like say Dallas do it.

[briantw]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Bronny is viewed as a fringe NBA player at best. Probably not going to happen unless a team drafts him just to lure LeBron to play there for a season.

There have been more than a few whispers that Bronny will be transferring to St. Vincent St. Mary in Akron for his final high school season.  
 

Further rumors that he may skip college and opt for the G-League, where there’s a team conveniently placed in Canton.  
 

No idea if any of this will come to fruition, but the whispers I’ve seen are coming from some of the same people who were plugged in last time LeBron came back to Cleveland.  
 

The real question is if he’d allow himself to be traded.  I know he technically was traded to Miami the first time, but that was a very different situation where he was a free agent and it was a sign and trade that Cleveland only did to get an asset.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

51 minutes ago, Slurktan said:

That is definitely going to happen, particularly if he can still play at this level. Second round picks come easy and why wouldn't a team like say Dallas do it.

Maybe. But what smart team would sign up for that? It's still a few years away and I wouldn't want to hand my franchise over to a 40 year old athlete. Maybe it would make sense businesswise for a shitty team, but you're not going to win that way.

10 minutes ago, briantw said:

The real question is if he’d allow himself to be traded.  I know he technically was traded to Miami the first time, but that was a very different situation where he was a free agent and it was a sign and trade that Cleveland only did to get an asset.

I expect LeBron to be traded this offseason, at least if he's still trying to win another chip. This Lakers team is going nowhere with a useless Westbrook and an always injured AD. 

[briantw]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

I expect LeBron to be traded this offseason, at least if he's still trying to win another chip. This Lakers team is going nowhere with a useless Westbrook and an always injured AD. 

From what I’ve read, LeBron is likely to put a ton of pressure on the Lakers this off-season to mortgage their future by trading the few picks they still can (which are late 2020s pick I believe) to put a real team around him.  
 

It’s likely to be similar to the stand-off he had with the Cavs around four years ago where he was pressuring them to trade that valuable Nets pick but refusing to offer to sign a contract extension.  Ultimately, the Cavs refused to do it without any sort of guarantee from LeBron that he would stay.  
 

This situation will probably play out similarly, although the Lakers may cave to LeBron because they are in for some truly dark years if he leaves. 

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Maybe. But what smart team would sign up for that? It's still a few years away and I wouldn't want to hand my franchise over to a 40 year old athlete. Maybe it would make sense businesswise for a shitty team, but you're not going to win that way.

I don't know why you find this so unlikely.  Who gives a shit about the 15th guy on an NBA roster anyway?  Actually, now they also can carry two two-way players, so 17th guy.  Hell, the fact Bronny is likely to be a fringe-NBAer only makes it more likely - it will be much easier for any team that already has LeBron to acquire him.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

39 minutes ago, briantw said:

From what I’ve read, LeBron is likely to put a ton of pressure on the Lakers this off-season to mortgage their future by trading the few picks they still can (which are late 2020s pick I believe) to put a real team around him.  
 

It’s likely to be similar to the stand-off he had with the Cavs around four years ago where he was pressuring them to trade that valuable Nets pick but refusing to offer to sign a contract extension.  Ultimately, the Cavs refused to do it without any sort of guarantee from LeBron that he would stay.  
 

This situation will probably play out similarly, although the Lakers may cave to LeBron because they are in for some truly dark years if he leaves. 

LeBron reportedly also tried to pressure the Lakers to attach a pick to Westbrook in a trade and they wouldn’t do it. Not sure anything has changed on that front. Regardless though they’re in for some dark years no matter what. Their best option is to trade LeBron and AD now and then trade Westbrook at the deadline to a team looking to offload some bad smaller contracts. These three trades probably could net them 5-7 first round picks, but they’re still screwed because they’re going to be bad without any of their own picks.

13 minutes ago, DMC said:

I don't know why you find this so unlikely.  Who gives a shit about the 15th guy on an NBA roster anyway?  Actually, now they also can carry two two-way players, so 17th guy.  Hell, the fact Bronny is likely to be a fringe-NBAer only makes it more likely - it will be much easier for any team that already has LeBron to acquire him.

I don’t think good teams would want an expensive 40 year old LeBron who is also going to want to be your shadow GM. So LeBron to the Knicks?

[DMC]

6 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I don’t think good teams would want an expensive 40 year old LeBron who is also going to want to be your shadow GM. So LeBron to the Knicks?

Reserving the 15th/17th roster spot for his son is far, FAR less meddlesome as a "shadow GM" than LeBron has at least perceived to be for whatever team he's played for since..well, the aughts I guess.  We're talking about 10-day contract level guys here.  I do agree that the biggest hiccup to such a development is his age as he'll turn 40 around New Year's of the 2024-2025 season.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Reserving the 15th/17th roster spot for his son is far, FAR less meddlesome as a "shadow GM" than LeBron has at least perceived to be for whatever team he's played for since..well, the aughts I guess.  We're talking about 10-day contract level guys here.  I do agree that the biggest hiccup to such a development is his age as he'll turn 40 around New Year's of the 2024-2025 season.

LeBron's son on the roster isn't the issue because as you said you can stash him deep on the bench. But I think if LeBron does want to flex that kind of power then he'll want to have his hands all over the organization and that combined with his age, injury history and likely salary demands makes it an unattractive prospect for a good team. It would make sense for say the Pacers, but he's not going to a team that isn't built to win now if he does move on from the Lakers. 

[DMC]

5 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

LeBron's son on the roster isn't the issue because as you said you can stash him deep on the bench. But I think if LeBron does want to flex that kind of power then he'll want to have his hands all over the organization and that combined with his age, injury history and likely salary demands makes it an unattractive prospect for a good team.

Ok, sure, I agree that at age 40 LeBron probably won't be worth ceding as much influence to him as he's grown accustomed to.  But as you suggested, that doesn't really have anything to do with signing his son, so at this point I'm pretty confused what you're still arguing. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

9 minutes ago, DMC said:

Ok, sure, I agree that at age 40 LeBron probably won't be worth ceding as much influence to him as he's grown accustomed to.  But as you suggested, that doesn't really have anything to do with signing his son, so at this point I'm pretty confused what you're still arguing. 

I'm just saying it's probably not that appealing unless you're a bad team that needs to get asses in the seats.