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

Lol..I don't know what any of that means. Lebron war? What's the premise being used? I'll take your word for it I guess. The eye test told me, that Lebron played a lot better on D in the playoffs, and Luka took more shots and had the ball more. They both looked pretty gassed in the 4th quarters. I don't know if that was age, injury, or JJ's dumb a** gameplan though. Perhaps the latter gas lit the former two.

 

I have no idea what is happening in this thread but in terms of the team I guess I'm still not all that worried about Lebron/Luka/AR?
I thought Lebron's defense was very good in the playoffs (kind of shocking), his offense particularly jumper failed him after the groin (or he lost that consistency)
AR choked but it was a tough matchup for him
Luka IMO never looked like Luka - I'm told not to worry that he was fat and out of shape but the only time I felt confident in that step back game was the Denver game where he looked like the best player in the world. He need to be Denver Luka More.

DFS did his job
Rui proved to be a good playoff roleplayer

Those 5 were not THE problem however, the problem was lack of a big but more than that just lack of a big. The big is obscuring that the Lakers had nobodly else who could give you any productive minutes. None after 5 dudes.

Combo of lack of any bench/bigs and the big 3 below par led to a defeat - these are not isolated and I think these problems fed on themselves particularly with awful coaching exacerbating these problems. The coaching and bigs didn't give a break for a guy like AR to break out of his slump, fatigue was a big problem for Lebron and Luka.

This is fixable IMO and this team could really shine with just 2-3 more quality dudes: one big, one POA defender, one scoring guard. They have guys who can eat minutes in the regular season - I count guys like hayes and vando reliable minutes eater for a long season but you can pencil them out of playoff rotations now. I think Godwin has a chance still to develop into a playoff performer but they still 2 more guards (POA defender, quick scoring PG)

 

Jarett Allen may be attainable.
Admittedly Lakers fan may sore on him quickly as they expect performers to show up and that dude is soft as Charmin. He's been punked in two playoff series in a row now by dudes he should be punishing

 

Utah got a top 5 pick after they tanked this season. Kessler is due for an extension. Reaves is due for an extension.

I'll just say it: I would call back Ainge back, and I'd be open talks with throwing Reaves into the conversation with respect to Kessler and what we can get back. I'm open to it. Ainge needs to do something. My Utah friend tells me that the brass is getting killed in the media locally. Kessler fits like a glove and solves a huge need. While I like Reaves, and think his injury contributed to his poor performance, you have to trade quality to get quality, typically.

Again, I have to see what a deal would look like in totality, but I would be open to it if I'm Rob.

 

They feel very 2015 Warriors to me. Dominant regular season, but even though they won the title you saw in the playoffs they weren't as far ahead of the pack as the metrics suggest. I think the Cavs probably beat them in the Finals if not for their injuries, and I think that defending champ Spurs team might have beaten them too. They just had a play style that provided a competitive advantage in and of itself. It wasn't until 2016, when Curry and Draymond each made another leap, that they became truly scary. If JDub makes that from the 35th-ish best guy to a legit Top 15 guy, then they're as scary as the number suggest. Same thing with Chet.

The other one they remind me of is the 2016 Spurs, who won 67 games and actually had a better net rating than the 73-9 Warriors but lost in the second round. They also had an all-time great defense by the numbers and a good but not elite offense. They had more or less mastered regular season basketball, but OKC was able to physically dominate them in the playoffs.

 

I'm a huge fan of Kessler and all for going hard after him, but I still don't quite understand why he is/would be available. If anything, this lottery shows that it doesn't really pay off to full-on tank like the Jazz did. Why not keep your good young player and still have like the 6th best odds at the top pick.

 

Good to know. I would look at Annonouby or Bridges and Robinson in NYK, Allen in CLV, Gafford in DAL. We dont have cap space to absorb, but we could offer a nice package of expiring deals: Rui 18.3, Vincent 11.5, Kleber 11.0, Milton 3.0. And we have sweeteners in AR, Dalton, 31 1st, and swaps.

 

It’s because everyone in the press loves horses too.

 

All those Knick guys are fighters - balls to the wall hustling, rebound, defense. Dont' care about individual stats, move the ball. If they want to dump Robinson that would be a huge add for the Lakers IMO. New York teams are just irritating as a whole but I can totally see why that city has fallen in love with the team.

 

AR,Rui,Vando, and Kleber for Anounoby, Robison, and Kolek Problem is, next season AR and Vando's money would be combined to be OG's money, so it kind of offsets that. There are different variations that could be done that involve saving the Knicks more money. AR could be replaced with Vincent, Knecht, and 2031 1st. I still want to get another center though in another trade.

 

Today I expect something similar to Barea- Bynum fight

 

Zero percent chance the Knicks are giving up Bridges or Anunoby to shed salary coming off a run to the ECF (or further). I could maybe see it with Robinson, but I think they like the look with him and KAT together but just didn't get to use it as much this year with Robinson's injury.

 

tbh, the knicks can afford to just run it back. they'll be right up against that second apron, though. but when you're near contending level, that's when to spend.

phx is the team that really needs to shed salary, imo. same with boston now that tatum is likely out for the full year.

maybe cleveland, too. they have some tough choices to make.

i think most other teams can just stay where they're at for now if they want.

 

Random trade that I don't want to see happen: Couldn't Boston just trade Tatum for Giannis and then dominate? They'd be spending a ton, but another title or 2 would pay for that. Would probably be the best team Giannis has ever been on. And for Milwaukee, Tatum would be the best offer they could get, even if they have to wait a year, since they want good players and don't control their own picks.

 

Damn, what should we do then?

 

Boston becomes a pariah small market team in that case IMO.

Hear me out between dumping Isiah Thomas faster then one of DiCaprios girlfriends when they hit 25 and trading Pierce away, I think that created the opposite impact on stars from what you see the Lakers. They would really need to build only thru the draft and FA's would just never trust to sign with them unless they had no other options.

Every one makes fun of the Lakers because of that last Kobe deal but that no doubt played a large part in lebron and thus AD coming and it will make it very likely Luka will sign on the dotted line as well. NBA is just different in terms of where talent lies than the NFL

 

MOVE #1

Trade Reaves + Vincent to Dallas for Gafford (lob threat big #1) and Hardy (A 22 year old, 6-4 200 combo guard who is a high-volume and accurate three-point shooter who could also attack the rim and defend a little).

MOVE #2

Trade Hachimura, Kleber, 2030 swap, and 2031 1st to Portland for Williams (lob threat big #2) and Thybulle (Point-of-Attack defender #1, who has developed into a competent shooter)

MOVE #3

Sign DFS for 3 years / 39 million

MOVE #4

Sign Hardaway Jr. - taxpayer mle: (Veteran shooter who is not a slouch on defense. We may have a shot, since he played with Luka for years).

MOVE #5

Sign Paul (He is going to mentor Bronny as a favor to Lebron) and Sims (lob threat #3: need insurance in case of injuries/ foul trouble, etc.) : minimum contracts

PG: Doncic - Paul - Bronny
SG: Thybulle - Hardy - Goodwin
SF: Hardaway - Knecht - Vanderbilt
PF: James - DFS - 2nd round pick
C: Gafford - Williams - Sims

 

thanks, i hate it.

just kidding (sort of). 1 and 2 are overpays. hardy isn't nba quality, imo, and hachimura is a useful player who doesn't need two 1sts added to him to get a guy who makes AD look like AC green and thybulle.

imo, thybulle/williams for kleber/vincent/pick swap (or lotto-protected 1st) is fair enough.

i also don't like hardaway, nor do i think he signs for tpmle. i think det will use bird rights to keep him because they have a ton of flexibility this year. duren's bill doesn't come due yet, and thompson is a couple years away, so they can offer hardaway bigger short term money and use him as a trade chip on an expiring after they extend their young guys.

instead of those five moves, i'd probably rather lobby capela hard to take the tpmle, and roll into next year with the same team and a ton of expirings and some picks to use at the deadline if necessary.

my main hope for the summer is that we can get in on a salary dump, where we move our expirings and picks to a tanking team with space and get the overflow from one of the impending mega deals. again, boston got its ring this way with holiday. i might just sit and wait, tbh. of course i know lakers fans will not like that, lol.

 

I agree with this, but Boston is already a pariah mid-market with a racist rep that lots of FA's don't want to sign with. That factor aside, Tatum for Giannis makes a lot of sense for Boston, Milwaukee, and Giannis, doesn't it? Again, I don't want this to happen though.

 

milwaukee doesn't own its pick next year, so just just subtracting giannis is a tough pill to swallow.

i also think boston won't move tatum. ainge isn't there anymore. i'm pretty sure they won't move brown, even if it might be the "smart" play.

i think milwaukee needs to convert giannis into playable guys who keep milwaukee in the playoff/play-in hunt. whichever team offered me a guy with potential to bust out could get him, if i'm milwaukee. i actually like vassell from SA in this scenario. i've never been super bullish on him, but maybe if he's just handed the reins like harden in houston, he does some big stuff. jalen williams in okc is another one. either of those guys is worth more than magic beans (boatloads of 1sts), imo.

would atl trade jalen johnson and risacher for giannis?