2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Same, I think GS is going to have a really tough time scoring on them. And I think Denver has a better shot against OKC than the odds indicate. I see that one being a 2-2 series before Denver runs out of gas.

 

yeah, teams like denver and boston are showing that depth is maybe a bit overrated (perhaps by me at times, too). get 4 or 5 good, nice fitting, two-way players around a couple stars--preferably one who's a super duper star like jokic, but if not, two good ones like tatum and brown. and just hope for health in the playoffs. during the regular season, you count on your coach and system to scratch out enough wins to play at least your first series at home.

i think that's the new cba formula, and i think we can work with that, too.

we have luka as the main star. right now we have lebron at near that level, too.

reaves fits into that group of 3-4 others you need to surround those two.

the question is whether DFS and rui do, imo. they're close enough to be the lower end guys (like braun in denver or current holiday/zinger in boston).

vando and gabe don't, despite the fact that i like what each brings. we'd be better off if their salary slots were consolidated into one person closer to the reaves level.

this summer's goal should be turning vando/gabe/kleber/knecht/picks into two players on the mpj/gordon/derrick white/horford tier.

 

That applies to pretty much everyone every season.

 

if it's so obvious, why do so many (including you) advocate for three-star team-builds?

 

It depends on the player involved, there is nothing wrong with a 3 star model. Boston has 4. We have 3 now.

 

It's nice basically being able to rest Murray - for all the Jokic slobber fest, it's Murray who has arguably looked like the best Denver player for the second half of that Clippers series.
I think the Lakers have to take a look at how Denver put Murray on ice for extended periods for any bump and bruise and now he looks a playoff superstar again.

 

This will be the 6th consecutive season, that a different team wins the Western Conference. Wild Wild West

 

boston has two. white, holiday, zinger, and horford are all good but not stars.

we have two.

i'd argue nobody really has three. the tweaks the league made to the cba and the changes in how the game is played have made it to where you need high quality 4th and 5th players--you need to be able to put a full unit out there with zero weak links. we had to put hayes out there and got roasted. the same would have happened if we had one more star and two hayes types we had to put other there in the playoffs.

i mean, he's operated nicely in the very easy environment that jokic creates. murray wouldn't do this elsewhere.

this is definitely important. limit lebron's and AR's minutes during the regular season like better teams do. we haven't had that luxury because we never start well enough, but that should be the goal.

 

Always seemed crazy to give up 2 first for Myles Turner (and I agree not sure that trade was ever available) but the dude is a legit difference maker. Maybe the difference between having multiple titles vs just one this era not filling that center need once Dwight 's wheels' finally fell off

 

it was turner AND hield, right, lol? bad day to relive that one.

but yes, i'm still not sure that deal was real, anyway. really think pritchard was going to just keep upping the bar.

 

Maybe but watching the games he's hitting all sorts of tough shots. He's basically creating out of the break and on broken plays like Kyrie did for the Cavs during that Lebron era with them. Maybe he's not seeing the full defensive slant due to Jokic that other perimeter players get but it's definitely with some legit high tier defenders on him (jones/leonard)

 

You have this weird interpretation, of what a star is. Holiday, White, and the Unicorn, all make 30M or more and have made an All-Star team.That's "star" money IMO.

Only around 5-7% of the League, is making that kind on money, they are most definitely paid like "stars". I think Austin is a borderline all star caliber player, but he may very well cross the 30M threshold in another year.

 

nowadays, star money is 40m plus. only exceptions are guys still on first extensions, and even most of them have passed this mark. sga, morant, tatum are all only making 35 because they haven't gotten to their biggest deals yet.

boston's heading into difficulties because they've been able to pull off multiple star salaries due to tatum and brown's bills not coming due until now.

so, sure, if you can get three stars on the first extension (who all didn't get supermax) then ok...three star away. because you can still afford your other three required players. if not, don't even bother. morey buried himself trying to do this. twice!

 

If you want to run it up to 40M..GS, Minn and Ind are the only playoff teams with two stars presently. Tatum jumps up to 54M next season. Lebron and Luka are comparatively cheap..but everyone thinks that Lebron needs to take a paycut, he's the 14th highest paid player in the NBA. Luka is 18th.

 

Lakers should look into the availability of Jalen Green

 

So my sense is that the front office just did not fully believe in the LeBron/AD combo longterm for a variety of reasons we don't really need to get into.

With Luka I expect them to be much more willing to give up assets to make deals.

I expect a good summer from the front office. Not necessarily a bunch of flashy names but a noticeable improvement in areas of need.

 

i think luka's basically as valuable as jokic when he's healthy, which i believe he will be going forward.

that means we really just need to conjure one rotation player out of thin air right now (thin air meaning guys we didn't use much last year, like kleber and knecht) and maybe upgrade at one other spot (perhaps using that player and picks?).

i think this kind of change is doable and preserves a lot of continuity. keep the top 3 and a couple of the next 4.

still think they should have moved green+ for fox. i know they're going to be in on all the big names going forward, but i'm actually not sure durant and giannis are better fits there than fox would have been. think they overestimated their immediate chances at the deadline this year.

 

Yeah but if you don't believe in what you are doing, then why are you doing it? We won a chip with those guys, it just doesn't make any sense, not to go all in while you have them. I hope we don't cheap out with Luka, because when Lebron retires, we are going to need more star power. Luka has the most leverage he's probably going to have here, right now IMO

 

Lol..Van Fleet makes " star" money.

f*** the Rockets, Flippers too! I don't feel as bad now. I actually hope OKC gets to the Finals this year.