Pft. If we had Alec Baldwin from GGGR pitching for us, Dwight, Melo and LMA would all be playing on 4 year deals at the vet minimum.
I'm not sure the Mavs and Rockets are that high. To me it's Golden State and San Antonio, then the rest of the playoff cats. I have Houston, Memphis, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans as locks in the playoffs if they stay relatively healthy. Clippers, Mavericks, Lakers, and Utah are all in the mix for what's left. Maybe Phoenix and Minnesota make some noise too. The Clippers took a huge step back for the upcoming season. They've got no Center and almost no defense on the team at all. I mean I know Chris Paul gets a ton of credit defensively, but he's also a tiny fellow on the court. They're in for a hard season. Mavericks have a lot depending on Jordan being "Shaq-like" and the recovery of Wes Matthews. They're shaky on depth. I think they'll be a little better than us most of the season and pull away later in the year. Utah will surprise some people, they're a really solid team. Denver and Sacramento will forever find ways to squander their talent. Portland just lost Batum, Aldridge, Matthews, Afflalo, and Lopez... They're going to have a hell of a time getting back to the playoffs losing 6 of their best 7 players.
I think DJ has a man crush on Parsons. Not sure what that dude (Parsons) does, but he might be the best recruiter in the world. He has a promising career as a college coach if he wants it. And never underestimate the power of coming home. If I was playing for, let's say the Hornets, and we were in playoff contention every year and the Lakers came calling with even a couple pieces I like, I'd probably leave. Some people just don't like the LA/Cali lifestyle and LOVE Texas.
That's really not applicable here. You can't compare Russell (a #2 pick) to Anderson (a #21 pick). Anderson is in talks for Lin. Russell was in talks for Cousins. If we were in a position of contending and our only missing piece was the C position, then the Lakers would easily trade Russell for Cousins. But we aren't in a position of contending and our only missing piece isn't the C position. Edit: Not saying that the Mavs should do this move since it completely depends on how much they value Lin and how much they value Anderson. However, this is basically why they would do it if they do it.
Well, I'm not really grouping the Mavs and Rockets with the Top 2 specifically, but they are better than Memphis, Clippers, OKC, New Orleans at this point. I see the Clippers towards the bottom of the playoff cusp and could fall out because of their loss at center and lack of depth. I just kept the Lakers low for expectations. We have a lot of development as a team ahead of us for our young cats. I'd rather be surprised about making the playoffs than be disappointed. We have a good group of guys coming in this season and I think if we really click, we can sneak past the Clippers for that last spot.
You're right. It's not a fair comparison, but my point still being why couldn't they compete and keep Anderson? I guess maybe a closer comparison (while still admittedly not perfect) would be the Klay for Love trade that was, but wasnt, but was, but wasn't last season. Or the Kahwi for George Hill trade. Nobody would've faulted the Dubs (nor did fault Indiana at the time) for sacrificing rookies for established vets. Hell, there were people two years ago saying trade Steph, his ankles are shot, get a sure thing at point. The problem is the new CBA is made so you will pay more often than not for "Laker"ing your franchise. There's always inherent risk, but erring on the future is the way to go. Dallas isn't Lin away from a title. And more to the point, I would be upset if the roles were reversed and every fan on the other teams board wanted an unproven rookie from our squad, would make me nervous as hell.
Yeah. Russell has superstar potential. Anderson is probably Danny Green, at best. Is that a perfect fit for us? Obviously. Man, if we could get Anderson...like I posted somewhere else, in three years we could look back at these two dreadful seasons and see we were able to attain Russell, Clarkson, Anderson, Nance, Randle, Upshaw and Black. I mean, that is potentially a dynasty in the making if Russell and Randle are who we think they are. We already know how good Clarkson and Black are.
Yeah I get that, but if we're offering the same basic things as Dallas (a misshapen roster and a bigger role) then shouldn't we have been in the conversation? I mean it's clear now he was leaving the Clippers because he didn't like Paul and he felt disrespected, we can offer him a way to get out of that and get to be a bigger star than Paul in his own city. Right? I mean we should be able to sell him on that at least a little bit. I don't know. I think just having Magic around more in the room would help immensely in making a better presentation. The personalities we have in that room from a basketball perspective are either way too laid back (Worthy), publicly dismissed (Jim), a wet blanket personality (Mitch), a newbie owner who hasn't put their foot down (Jeanie), and a psychopathic basketball mind that's singularly focused (Kobe). We need our version of Parsons in the room if we want a better shot at these star FAs.
I think it's fair though because they REALLY need a point guard. They've got absolutely not shot creators on that team. They've got a starting lineup of: Devin Harris/Wes Matthews/Chandler Parsons/Dirk Nowitzki/DeAndre Jordan What's the only hole in that lineup? Harris is bench material. Lin gives them a legitimate starting five capable of playoff contention when healthy. Anderson will need a season to marinate and then MIGHT be Jimmy Butler? I'm not sure I stubbornly hold onto that kid instead of trying to build the best team I can for a playoff run. Lin fits their need, their system, and their culture really well.
I agree we need Magic, and I agree we need to rethink our approach a little bit. Right now Kobe, as much as we don't want to admit it, might be a detriment. He did go out and hoist up a zillion shots very inefficiently. Also, the players read the crap about Byron being given analytic reports that he essentially tosses in the garbage without looking at them. So I think I'm in agreement that our pitch needs to change, but the problems with the pitch aren't necessarily what happens in the room, but the decisions we made over the last two years (Kobe's Albatross and hiring Byron). But in the end, it still all boils down to Russell and Randle. If they are cornerstones, we could do a pitch meeting at Chuck E. Cheese and free agents will want to play here. If they don't, we could offer them everything their heart desires and they will look elsewhere.
I think West for Next year is: 1. GS 2. OKC 3. SA 4. Hou 5. Mem 6. LAC 7. NO 8. Mavs 9. UTA 10. LAL 11. SAC 12. PHO 13. Minn 14. DEN 15. POR
There a couple of things that Scott will need to figure out to make our season interesting : - How to maximize the use and development of Russell , Randle and Clarkson with Kobe ball dominant habits ? - Our young players can and need to play at a different pace than Kobe and Hibbert ... Playbook and lineups will have to be sharp
I know it's typical to give Kobe a pass, but watching those games, a big portion of the dudes playing around him weren't willing to create their own shots or move without the ball. He still averaged 5.6 assists a game too. But from what I saw, no one was willing to put up buckets when he was playing. Clarkson's emergence didn't come until later in the season and I think if Kobe was still playing then, Clarkson would have the balls to not give in to Kobe on every play and would go to work on his own like he did without Kobe. In fact, if Kobe was playing still at that point, I feel like Kobe would urge Clarkson to press ever harder. His shoulder was also injured the entire season and he was missing easy looks he's used to making. Even his free throw shooting was down. Lin was so damn timid when Kobe was on the floor that it was almost pathetic. There were some very specific moments where Lin would have an open shot and instead of shooting it, he'd bring it out on the perimeter, pass to Kobe and go stand in a corner. I am remembering a time where it was towards the end of the game and instead of taking an open shot, he passed it back out. Kobe's not dumb, he wants Lin to shoot that shot, but Lin just wasn't willing to go forth and let the balls drop and shoot it. Pretty sure Swaggy started the season injured too so for the first 10 games or so we had no one else willing to take a shot or create a shot.
I'd switch Utah and Dallas. I think Utah makes it as an 8th seed (maybe even a 7th). Dallas is out. Parsons may have had microfracture surgery (he's being very coy about it) and Matthews is coming off a torn achilles. Dirk is another year older. The DeAndre upgrade over Chandler is decent, but Monta is better than Matthews, Parsons may be a shell of himself from last season and Dirk isn't going to magically get better at his age.
OKC lost too much of their depth for them to really be a top 3 team anymore. No Thabo, an injured Ibaka. No bench. Granted, you get two MVP-esque seasons from KD and Westbrook maybe, but even these young fellas are having a hard time staying on the court.
You might be right abut Kobe. But as it pertains to other free agents, they can't watch all our games. They are probably looking at box scores. All they know is he led the team in shots by a wide margin and was shooting in the 30s playing iso ball.
Did you actually see the OKC roster? That is not deep? Westbrook/Augustin/Payne Waiters/Morrow/Roberson Durant/Singler Ibaka/Collison/PJones Kanter/Adam/Mcgary http://www.nba.com/thunder/roster
I see it differently. I think the Clippers will be just fine. I know you love Jordan. I'm on the other side of that. I don't think he's a difference maker like he's being made out to be. If he's so important to a team then why isn't Dallas going to be vastly improved? We will see but my guess is that the Clips don't miss a beat. I think you can trace their playoff defeats to Jordan's impact on their offense late in close games. Regular season he was able to hide. Not so much in the playoffs. What's not put in the mixer when people look at defense is that how you execute your offense has a lot to do with defense. Their execution was horrendous in close games in the 4th because he's a massive liability and they his defense is moot when he's subbed out all the time. We will see. I think OKC will be back near the top with SA. I think for us to even be in contention for a spot just about everything possible would have to go our way while a couple of teams ahead of us would have to have some issues. So many variables to our season. We're better off that we were 2 weeks ago but we need 3 very young guys to play to their potential or exceed it.
