2025-26 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Shaq is bored

 

I guess he got bored playing with ****

 

its gonna be hard asking 38 year old Kevin Durant to be 25 year old Kevin Durant and carry you’re team.

 

Difference with us is our team is being led by Luka Doncic a 26 year old superstar.

and their team is being led by Kevin Durant a 38 year old superstar.

huge difference. Oh yeah btw the way we have a 40 year old hall of famer LeBron James in a supporting role for Doncic to make that 38 year old Durant have to guard him.

who does Luka have to guard Van Fleet?

 

are you still sore over the black olives issue?

 

I don't think the positional stuff will be an issue for the Rockets. They can play really big with FVV/Amen/Durant/Jabari/Sengun, or they can go a little smaller with Eason or DFS in there for Jabari. Playing the 2 vs. the 3 vs. the 4 doesn't really mean anything offensively. KD is still coming off pin downs and doing his iso stuff regardless. Amen is going to do the same stuff offensively whether he's playing the 4 (next to Jalen Green and Brooks like he was last year) or at the 2 (next to KD and Jabari/Eason/DFS like he did this year).

Defensively is where that stuff matters more, but they're versatile enough to deal with it. Amen can guard anyone 1-4. Jabari and KD are going to be in helper/low-man roles. VanVleet will be guarding at the POA or in a chaser role. DFS and Eason can come off the bench and be wing stoppers or helpers as well.

I am in no rush to play that team lol, they're going to be a pain in the a**. They have a ton of size, rebounding, in defense that will help them rack up regular season wins. They're banking on having a Top 3 defense and being able to patch together a competent halfcourt playoff offense. I think they're a bad matchup for us. I like our chances better against Denver tbh.

 

ironically, their weakness is sengun at center defensively. they made up for that last year with athletes 2-4 and a bulldog in fvv. i think this is why they've invested so much in backup center.

i do think the meshing of playing styles that pika mentioned is an issue. if they underperform, imo, it will be because they couldn't find the right pace.

i'll reiterate my ongoing (in this thread and spanning years before) lack of concern about shooting. we won our last ring being a bad shooting team. yeah, we lost to denver twice because we couldn't shoot, but, imo, if we were as good defensively as we were when we won the ring, it wouldn't have mattered. if you have two bona fide offensive stars that require a double team and a top-5 defense, you're going to be a tough out. that's an easier build than these C Bags/okc 5 two-way players, most of whom can shoot rosters.

the clippers are trying it again with harden/kawhi and a bunch of defenders, and i think it's exactly what i would do in their position. i don't think we can do that this year, but going forward, we need to be looking at defense, defense, defense around luka and austin (or the second star austin is traded for).

 

Yeah the play style point was an interesting one that I didn't acknowledge. They remind of that 2016 Thunder team that was absolutely massive with Russ/Roberson/KD/Ibaka/Adams, with Kanter coming to replace or even play with Adams sometimes too. That team was 10th in pace in the regular season, but in the playoffs really wanted to slow it down and lean on their size, offensive rebounding, and the sheer talent of Durant and Westbrook in the halfcourt. The Rockets were actually also 10th in pace this past regular season, but in the playoffs they really slowed it down because they thought their best shot at beating the Warriors was in a rock fight.

I think the idea will be to try and get easy opportunities in transition in the regular season, but in the playoffs really grind things to a halt.

 

Word around the league surrounding Love is that he wants to end up in Los Angeles, sources said. There were some rumors that Love would want to go to New York, although there doesn't seem to be much interest brewing from the Knicks.

Both the Clippers and Lakers still have one open roster spot. But if the Lakers were to pursue Love and reunite him with LeBron, they would need to move off another contract since they are hard-capped at the first apron and just $1.1 million from this mark. When looking at the Clippers, they are basically in the same situation, as they are $1.2 million from their first apron hard cap.

The two other teams with open roster spots that allow Love the opportunity to be a part of a winning organization are the Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors. There has not been any reported interest between Love and these two teams, as these are just potential options for the veteran to possibly explore as he looks to depart the Jazz.

 

Why even add K Love at this point?
We don’t need another water boy.
This team should be done with adding washed players.
Rob went down that route before.
I would much rather have someone young to develop moving forward than a guy who may help win us a handful of regular season games.

 

If we’re gonna waste our last roster spot I’d much rather we do it on Ben Simmons or Bol Bol than K-Love.

 

Assistant Coach maybe if he wants to come and be on the bench

 

No no no no I like you. But don’t like the post. Here’s why I don’t care what anybody says. The Rockets. I repeat The Rockets have no answer for LeBron James.


King James. Nobody on the rockets can guard LeBron James for four games. Don’t get it twisted we had no Center last playoffs.

Who deals with Ayton???? Segun Adams Capella??? Ayton will put seguns a** on the bench with 4 fouls.

you mention Thompson I guess he’ll get Luka.

Lebron kicked torched Finney Smiths a** in practice. I’m not worried about Jabari Smith.


What about Rui???? What about Reaves. Reaves will have a great series. We’re versatile as f***.

we’re the one team that will make Durant tired having to play defense.

and you want Denver???? Nope. With Jokic Brown Murray Johnson and Gordon a bigger defender for LeBron????


Give me Houston I’ll have Luka deal with Van Fleet. I’m not concerned with Houston. I relish it. Bring them on.

We have enough shooters threes to negate Kevin Durant scoring bunches.

I was not impressed with Houston against Golden State. They remind me of the Portland Trail Blazers. 2000 a young team up and coming with Bonzi Wells Rasheed Wallace and Jermaine O Neal with old a** Scottie Pippen.

remember one thing my brotha. They gotta play us to.

 

Good stuff from you and abeer, nice reads.

Completely agree with the 2-4 take, I actually already used that argument in other discussions. It did made me rethink my take on Houston.
But I just can't agree that Amen will do his thing. He needs space in the paint and it will be clogged with the centers, Jabari when he's not stretching and Durant iso game. When Durant is isoing in the elbow, where do you put Amen? While having FVV, Sengun and Jabari out there. I just don't think KD is a great fit to their overall group, although I get them going for him and it does provide them the shot making they really needed.
Amen at the 4 works well because he's faster than big wings and can guard up. Him at the 2 will make him need to develop some form of shooting and use his strength more than his quickness over guards.

It will be a good one to follow but I'll keep my hot take ahah

We don't have cap space to add a player until near the trade deadline (when the pro-rata value gets under our available cap space). Until we do a consolidation trade or dump someone, we won't add anyone else.
I also think the vets signings were more Lebron thing, we are on a different path now. I think we only have two 30y old in Kleber and Smart, all the rest are Bron and 20s.

 

Looong article..good read tho.



https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45900688/how-lakers-build-luka-fits-options-lebron-future#lebron

 

No.

 

wasn't much we haven't discussed in there. i'll reiterate this point:

marks's whole section is about 2027 cap space, but for the reasons he states here, i've never believed that was an actual plan. now, the threat of 2027 space might be...

but i think it really just is about not getting boxed in for the sake of marginal upgrades. space can be really useful when not many teams have it. you can find yourself getting useful players and picks from teams trying to duck taxes/aprons. and those can be added to the war chest for when the next big name comes available.

 

It's a fair point about Amen offensively. I think the plan will be to have him crash the offensive glass from the perimeter...but yeah I think it could be a clunky fit in the half court. But I think they get that and don't expect to have a top offense. I think they want to get into rock fights and hope defense + size + KD is enough to win battles of attrition.

You might be right, I could see them disappointing. I think their worst case scenario is something like what the Sixers tried to do in 2020, when Jimmy left for Miami and they went with a huge Simmons/Richardson/Harris/Horford/Embiid lineup. Just wasn't enough off-the-dribble creation and shooting.

 

oh, and re: team building, i agree with carlisle:

https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...he-nba-game-has-now-become-a-play-hard-league

this is why i keep saying i'm not into star-chasing. right now we have luka and lebron, which is great. going forward, luka and reaves and a bunch of two-way guys that fit can contend, imo.

 

I think Durant is great. You still have to guard him. And I realize he will go back to top dog status.

Thompson is one of the best young players in the league. I just don’t think he’s there as a shooter yet.

and I watch a lot of Van Fleet. A lot of 10 point games. He’s just not that kind of scorer anymore.

what does concern me is Reed Shepard. Who can fill it up. You play him with Kevin Durant you are going to have some floor spacing and shooting. They are going to be good in the half court.

I can see this as a game 7 western conference finals matchup.


But I do give us some edge because I think the way Luka will be playing. He’s a hard cover he’ll get some fouls on Thompson and Lebron will be huge mismatch. I think he’s gonna really open it up for guys like Reaves and Ayton. Ayton will probably average about 12 points this series. But he will have some big scoring out puts inside vs. Sengun.

also I think our bench others Hachimura Vincent Smart LaRavia Hayes will step up huge Knect. And I think Thiero will be a big factor.