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

Westbrook has abysmal defence, that’s objectively true. Your previous point about no one being scared to back him down is just a subjective fallacy you made up because of your own internal biases.

I’m not a Westbrook lover, I’m happy we didn’t capitulate and sacrifice our future just to appease fans like yourself who can’t handle short term pain. If Kyrie was available, I’d trade for him straight away, and include our picks if we got a shooter back in the trade.

 

Well they play Giannis for 30min because they are blowout winning ahah
Spurs just traded Dejounte for nothing. They are tanking as hard as they can. I agree it doesn't make much sense, but it's what their offseason indicates

 

or maybe they're blowing folks out because giannis is playing with dragon force for 28-30 minutes instead of intermittently coasting for 34-36?

there's tanking and there's not even fielding a legitimate nba roster with at least two guys capable of playing pg. it would be the first time i can remember this ever happening, and this includes the hinkie sixers, who elevated intentionally losing to a grotesque art form. and maybe they just sign a cheap pg, but there's also at least 12 million under the salary floor, if my numbers are right.

 

I’m not sure Lebron is capable of full out effort 28 mins a night for 70 games a year. And I’m not sure we want to ask that of AD with him picking up the injuries he seems to always pick up.

We don’t have the durability in our stars for that. Although I prefer it.

 

Yeah I get you, but Giannis playing full force with their supporting cast is different than LeBron doing so with our roster.
I get the idea and like it for strong teams, we aren't just one. Anyway, I wouldn't be against doing it even if we don't win as many games. I hate LeBron in-game load management. I trust Darvin on this though

Also agree they need someone there. But they may very well give the kid (Tre Jones) 30+ minutes, he seemed legit

 

teams have had better luck with stars playing hard and sitting some games out than they have with the lebron in-game rest strategy, imo. if you want to rest, sit that game out.

 

Lebron has been using the in-game rest strategy ever since he went back to Cleveland.

 

Yeah of course, but we know it's not the reality in this situation.
Lebron's salary has little to do to his current performance on-court, there's no hiding from that

 

right. steph curry is small and old, and i never feel like he's going through the motions in any game i watch. i'd say i don't even feel that way about durant, who has his flaws but seems to be trying hard on the floor every time i see him.

when dirk and tim duncan got older, they started sitting out strategically and playing fewer minutes but with as much intensity as they had. and they also took pay cuts.

hell, even kobe's bloated golden years salary was actually a paycut, and he also did more effort-wise than lebron and russ did last year, imo.

 

Yeah but putting up 30 ppg isn't some kind of easy thing to do in the NBA. Especially at 37 years old. He picked his spots on defense for sure, but it's not like he was out there totally dogging it either.

 

Lebron's effort issues are immensely overblown. Offensively he's elite and defensively he picks his spots but is still a neutral. Last year his RAPTOR DEF rating was +0.1, his DBPM was 0.8, his defensive rating was the worst of his career at 111.4 (it was around 106 the previous two years). His defensive fg% against was 42.2% (league average for F's is 46.9%).

He struggled with closing out to shooters and routinely failed to get back on defensive when the opposition was in transition. He averaged 1.3 steals, and 1.1 blks a game. At his age being a neutral is realistically the best the Lakers can hope for especially since his offensive responsibility is huge. If he has good defenders around him like Beverley and AD they might be able to help elevate him to a slight positive again.

Where Lebron has really dropped the ball has been his influence on roster building. It's like him and the rest of our brain trust his playing 2k.

 

^^^ .... and so it begins/continues downward from cinderella season. First Gallinari and now Williams out for extended periods.

 

Internal biases? Ha! That’s funny. Nope, it’s not personal, it’s science.
I witness bad defense being played ever single night by player A. I concluded the rest of the NBA doesn’t think twice about going at player A. Preference has nothing to do with it.
However, preference does have to do with the fact that you love Westbrick because you defended his poor play and piss poor attitude the entire season through.
It’s okay dude, you can still like him, but don’t try to make up some garbage about fans like myself not liking him for nonsensical, unfounded reasons.
I reserve the right to dislike selfish, arrogant, flailing, under- performing, disrespectful players who refuse to put the success of the team before themselves.

 

You need to up your reading comprehension. I didn’t say any of the bolded things you claim. You’re allowed to dislike anyone for whatever reason you choose - you do you my man.

When you point out that Russ was bad at defence, was turnover prone and shot a bad percentage - I don’t say a peep because that’s objective and true.

But you like to throw out random subjective comments that aren’t true as well - example: the rest of the league isn’t worried about backing down Russell Westbrook - like I said that isn’t objective, that’s just some word vomit you wrote. LOL to that being science.

I’m also not sure why you (or others) think I love Westbrook. I’ve made my stance really clear - trading our best assets (the two picks) to get out of an expiring deal for the packages rumoured was asinine. We don’t need to throw good assets after bad ones, unless you want to be stuck in the wilderness for another decade not making the playoffs.

 

simply not trading for Brick to begin with would've avoided all this hellish scenario

 

Don't make me nervous. It's bed time where I am now