2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

dude really cheated on nia long?

 

NBA Twitter moves quick. Apparently there are only a few women on Boston’s team staff, so they pretty much already narrowed down who it is. They were even sitting next to each other in the team picture. She’s actually pretty attractive and looks quite a bit like Nia Long lol

Crazy part is someone dug up an old article from when Udoka was being interviewed by the C Bags, and she was apparently part of the interview team. That’s probably why they’re considering such a severe punishment, just all sorts of weird power dynamics at play that’d make for an awkward and unprofessional environment in the locker room.

 

Well, Nia is over 50 and most guys are pigs, so...

 

Show me a good looking woman and I'll show you a guy who's tired of her.

 

Because of the high maintenance?

 

Just before Sham’s tweet I was listening to a podcast stating this exact thing they cited Jude Law, Arnold and Affleck sleeping with the help… even the boyfriend of model Emily Ratajkowski cheated on her

 

Another thing about giving picks for Hield/Turner. West is weak right now as it haven't been for years, maybe a couple decades. Warriors are poised, but then you only have the Clippers and Phoenix as strong candidates. Memphis, Denver and Dallas are running from outside. Everyone else will be irrelevant
So with LeBron and AD healthy, which has always to happen if we want any success, we're in that top 4 fighting for a spot in WCF. Anything can happen there.

I don't see any other moves the next 2 years that makes us that close to a title shot as this one.
People also forget we have pretty much all our picks moving forward. Here's our current standpoint:
2023 swap pick with Pels. So either we have a bad season and we end up with Pels pick (that should be around 15) or we have a good year and keep the pick (around 20). So we will always have a mid-tier 1st pick next year
2024 Pels can choose either this pick or 2025, it's the only time we won't have a pick
2025 same as 2024
2026 onwards we have all our picks

So 2 or 3 years from now, which is the year after LeBron leaves, we control all our picks. They only matter if we think we are tanking during prime/post-prime AD. That period also has an old Warriors rebuilding their big 3. Clippers with post-prime Leonard/PG. The biggest contenders, as of now, are Jokic and Morant. Then obviously there's Luka who we will for sure want to make a move and Booker who's in the same situation. That's not the time to tank imo, I think we can be in contention in the West for many years with AD + 1 star. Of course a lot can happen in 3-5 years, but I think those picks will always be dealt to move up our roster. Only way we have a shot at Luka or Booker is by staying competitive, well-run organization that makes these superstars feel "man, if I go there we are immediately top contenders. I want to go to LA and have the keys after Kobe and LeBron" rather than a broken home who would have by 2025, if we don't make any relevant moves, 4 consecutive years of being around the play-in contention.

If it goes wrong with Turner, for example injuries, we are off his contract next year and can either sign him for a lower market value or use those 10M for some other guy. It's not great, but that's the worse scenario. With our current roster, we can save his minutes (and ADs) and manage his health. He played less than 50 games last 2 seasons but Indiana were out of the playoffs. He might have played more if they needed it so I'm good with his average 60 games a year because of the ceiling he gives us.
What can go wrong with Hield? In 6 seasons, he shot 5 straight at 39%, 2 of them over 43% and last year 36% playing for bad teams, having to create his own shot. He's so perfect around LeBron. Just his presence makes everyone better in this roster and solves pretty much all our spacing issues, because him on court with either Pat, Schroder, Reaves or Nunn is a strong backcourt. Opponents aren't selling on LeBron and AD. So if they gamble on Hield, you get one of those guys free and they are all good enough to make you pay. His defense? He would be the only weak link in the lineup and you have Turner, AD, LeBron on the frontcourt and Pat alongside you, you can't come up with a better cover.
Also, it's the guy's best opportunity in the league, he will work his a** off to make it work or he will show to the league that he's unplayable in a contender and pretty much set his career for mediocrity.

Just pause for a second and imagine tomorrow the trade is done for the 2 picks. Our season immediately becomes better, there's no drama in the team, we have a strong 9/10 man rotation, a great lineup and there's a positivity shift in everyone's mindset that Lakers are good this year. That is a great scenario for Ham too as it will allow him to start fresh and in a positive context that will only allow growth.

If you don't do it, you keep on this negative environment, full of doubts, drama. And if you lose 2 straight when the season starts, media will pound on us and say we are doomed. Every game will be scrutinized and Ham will not have enough time to make it work like he wants too.

In isolation it's not a fair deal. But I'm hyped with what it can brings and in my mind it's a trade that solves a lot of our problems without burning our whole future.
I think Rob really wants that deal too. He approached them like 2 months ago and they wanted both picks. Rob didn't cave and let the cards play out. Now he came back again to see if they lower their demands. I think he will try again during the season.

 

yeah, none of these are fully dead. that's what i've been saying. the ask is going to lower as the season goes on, but russ's value can't get lower (and it actually improves from a financial standpoint). the problem is that teams can't sell fans on giving up this early.

again, once teams start falling apart, the expiring contracts start to look tasty.

that's an old chris rock bit, right?

 

That's experience talking. I always laugh when people say, "he cheated in HER?!"

Looks have nothing to do with something like this. For all we know she nagged, complained, and broke his spirit until he went pure YOLO on a female staffer. That, or he's just a dawg.

 

In reality there is no justification for cheating. That's a character flaw, and there really is no excuse. That's why it's called "cheating".

Work on the marriage or exit it. The NBA life of travel doesn't lend itself to great relationships.

The only woman ever worthy of having been an NBA wife was Doug Christie's wife.

 

No matter how good looking you are, there's always a man that sick of your sh*t.

From what I've heard, him and Nia long have been separated a while now.

 

So he’s single and engaged in consensual relations with a staffer? Fire this man

 

separated isn't really single

but inter office relationships are typically banned for a reason. When things end, like most do, it can cause issues in the workplace.

 

I agree that we should put a star next to AD after Lebron retires. To do that, historically you have needed optionality, IE: the ability to secure the star via various means; free agency (cap space), or a trade (trade resources and draft picks). Generally most stars are traded and very few move in free agency.

So your point of us controlling our draft picks is correct to an extent, however after 2024 or 2025 we have only 2 draft picks that can be traded in this decade (potentially we could have 2025 as well). If you trade them now, you can’t trade them later and effectively you’re out of the trade sweep stakes for any star.

So in a sense, trading our two draft picks is a decision the front office has to make: do we want to sacrifice our future for this season. Unless it can create a clear front runner for the title that is above the completion, it’s not a smart move. And that’s why Hield and Turner aren’t lakers today… because they’re not willing to trade the future for those two.

I don’t think the trade makes us as good as you seem to think. Mainly because Turner isn’t as good a shooter as people believe and he is even more injury prone than AD. Hield while being a good shooter, isn’t an all time great shooter and he seems to give up a lot on the opposite end.

So when you compare that trade, don’t compare it to the current makeup of our team, but compare it to the optionality it takes away from us and the opportunity cost we lose for the rest of the decade.

I for one am not interested in being the wilderness for another decade to improve our chance of a championship by a marginal amount this season. And I believe management and ownership so far agrees.

 

Yikes on that Boston situation.

 

Deals like that do make me understand why some cut Rob some slack.

 

lol at that deal. No firsts Danny?

 

Troy Weaver is killing it this summer