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

Putting up 30 while completely ignoring defense, sure.

And by my standards, I'd rather him score 25 a game while being a top 5 defender for 82 plus the playoffs.

I think the best version of him was during the title run into that following year (has a Laker) until he got hurt.

But we shall see.

 

Lol..He doesn't believe in preseason games , but your point has merit. It's a stamina thing with Lebron now, the talent level is still top 5, he can't put on the cape for as long as he used to though. We need a more rested Lebron for the 2nd half of games. This is why AD needs to be dominant, he's in his prime, we all saw Anthony out there smoking the Suns, hobbling around on one leg. He's the key, but I also have more faith in Russ than everyone else too. He's still a damn good 3rd option IMO, and he's durable, and at 33, he's still athletic. Lebron is our closer, the other two guys will need to carry a little more of the weight this season.

Darvin has preached these same things too, he won over the FO with his vision, I'm going to give him a fair shot at seeing what he can do.

 

?

bucks lost in the second round because middleton went down.

gs missed the playoffs without their guys. and every time steph has been nicked up in the playoffs, they've lost.

i generally argue with slick because his "role players are interchangeable" argument is just wrong, but he's not wrong that health of stars is paramount. and all teams need their stars to play great to win. we're not an exception. ours have just been injured the past two years (and lebron three of four, really).

 

Idk of the talent level is top 5 anymore. Maybe from time to time; but yeah, agree about AD.

Russ? Meh. Not sold. Maybe if one of these bigs surprises with their shooting, he can more space to operate with than he does right now.

Even then, the team still doesn't have enough artillery/talent to me, but we will see soon!

 

those 2 teams still have better "role players" than what we have and as you noted, our 2 stars have been injured for majority of their time here, banking on them to stay healthy has been futile

 

Durant, Kawhi, and if I start naming others it will cause a debate. Not in the mood for that.

And if he a legitimate top 5 piece currently, we'd probably be a top 4 team in the west.

As it stands, a past his prime Bron is still really good, but if this is the team as constructed, we're maybe top 6.

On topic, we need another impact piece. I'm not sure if Hield and Turner are that for me with 2 FRP's. I would do one, though.

 

They were all lost on defense last season. Everyone quit on Frank , except for the 3 young kids.

I can't blame him for conserving some energy last season, knowing that he had to carry the load on offense. Lebron picked his spots on D in 19 too honestly. We can't except him to be a lockdown defender at 38, that's unrealistic IMO.

It's a make or break season for all three in varying degrees. I still have confidence in the pairing, we just gotta be healthy, and a couple of kids have to step up. I think James has two good years left. Two great playoffs years left. Cap got a Finals MVP at 38. How ironic is that, considering James is chasing the scoring title, and saying that he has no relationship with Kareem.

 

Yeah, we shall see.

I don't have much confidence on that end from him consistently.

And hopefully we're in games by the time he decides to turn it up and not down by double digits.

 

Golden State was in the lottery last season. If Steph got hurt today they wouldn't make the playoffs. If Giannis and Middleton played in 21 games together, Milwaukee won't make the playoffs either. Or Kawhi and George, Luka and pick one, CP3 and Booker, KAT and Edwards, any team you could name. Stars are important

 

Yeah. This could get ugly real quick

 

We are just going to have to disagree on Russ. I don't think Frank had a clue in the previous season either, with how to coach without James and Davis both playing. 21 games is simply not enough to judge anything IMO. It would be one thing if we brought Russ in as a 1 or 2 and the roster and scheme was designed for that. Just plugging him into Vogel's system, hell no, and that's part of why Vogel got fired, he had no plan. I guess he thought that they were just going to " work it out" as they went along. Might have if they played more than 21 games..who knows.

 

svtzr would be mad at me (and i get why--it's splitting a difference that maybe shouldn't be split), but i'd do one pick, too. the earlier one, preferably.

my real preference was a conley/bogdanovic swap with zero picks going out from us. still want to know if it was our insistence on not taking on salary that drove that non-deal, btw.

only thing i'll say is that the west has no clear-cut dominant squad. gs and the clips have amazing rosters, but if you doubt our health, you have to doubt theirs. nobody else is actually all that terrifying on paper, imo. this has been true for the past few years, and it's part of how we got a ring despite nobody thinking it was possible then. there are a lot of good teams that are pretty close together, and the teams that are a clear cut above talent-wise (lac, gs, bkn, maybe philly) have serious, persistent health concerns of their own.

i'm not sure how i've become pollyanna around here, but maybe i have no choice. we have to see what ham and a humbled russ means. maybe it's 10th place. but it wouldn't shock me if it was 4th or 5th, either.

 

I think optimism is fine. If a team like the Wolves, Mavs, or Grizzlies comes back to earth a bit and the current team plays really well then maybe we can be in the 4th or 5th spot. Maybe. We are due for some good fortune.

however, the questions and concerns about the roster right now are fair IMO. I need to see it on the floor before I can really buy into it.

 

I will become Optimistic if Rob improves the glaring issue with this team that has been proven by real world data throughout our players’ collective careers.
Until he can do this, I am ready for them to prove me wrong by inexplicably becoming dependable long ball shooters.

 

0-7



good thing he’s been practicing all summer

 

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LBJ is the GOAT.

 

if you like winning, Brick ain't it regardless who coach is