2023-24 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Miami LeBron is probably the closest I've seen.

Joker is a great passer but i think his defense manipulation is because he's a center doing it and not because the degree of passing. Same as it was to a lesser extent for Kings Vlade or papa and jr Sabonis (it's a shame Arvydas didn't come over until he was 31, after a slew of injuries... that's a fun what if).

Nash at the peak of the Runtoni offense is in the conversation. Had the flash and tempo during those seasons of inflated MDA numbers.

But playing today, you just don't see it. Shooting is THE emphasis. Don't really see guys who just love making the highlight pass. It doesn't help that most fast breaks die on the 3 point line, that kind of limits how exciting a pass can be.

 

Joker and Lebron share some things: they are both terrific rebounders and are tall which allow them to get boards in contested areas and then initiate the offense. The rebounds also help make them defensive players as they take away chances from the other teams. Guys like Nash just don't have the same ability - Draymond and Lebron and Kevin Love were the comparisons here. But's maybe only prime Lebron who had all of Magic's toolkit: size/rebounding, passing, speed but as good as Lebron's passing skills, Magic was just more creative passer and his processing was probably faster.

I though LaMelo had a shot with his size, passing, and flair but he's regressed since his rookie year

 

Has ANYONE ever thrown overhand 3/4 length of the floor bounce pass bullets off the dribble like Magic? Has my memory embellished any of that description?

 

kidd

 

yeah, kidd had some wild passes in his career. i think there was an allstar game where he threw an underhanded off the dribble lob from like, midcourt, right on the money. i can't find footage of it, so maybe i'm making that one up. but i remember it being amazing!

he also did those long lead bounce passes with backspin so they waited for the guy to catch up to them.

other than magic and kidd, honestly jwill was probably the other passer that blew my mind the most.

 

thought he was waiting on the inevitable dame-to-miami-for-jack-squat trade...

 

Who?

 

Coming from the guy who can show guys what exactly? How to get booted from the league? Or how to pull a gun?

The pace has definitely changed. But Dream had the best footwork and some of the best moves of any big to ever play. Those principles can still translate.

 

Kobe sought him out to work with him.

terrible take IMO

 

just guessing here, but the value hakeem brings isn't in showing you the technique of the dreamshake or whatever (though i'm sure being walked through it by a master is different than watching it on video), but instead giving you a glimpse into the kind of habits and thought processes that give rise to innovative moves like that. also, all of the little tips and tricks regarding timing and counters, etc. only someone who's done it a bunch would have that to impart.

also don't see why he shouldn't value his time. these are very rich people asking to spend a day with him, they can afford it.

 

Plus, it probably covers last minute plane flights and hotels that meet NBA standards.

if it’s too much, nobody would pay. That’s the beautiful thing about capitalism- it’s self regulating. To have a guard with no post game critique his pricing is just silly.

 

Interesting that in interviews both Bernard King and Hakeem had similar principles (I think Bernard said he thought of basketball as a checkerboard and what he wanted to do at each spot and Hakeem took a look at his shot chart long before became popular and looked for the spot where he missed themost shots). Basically they wanted a go to move and a counter move based on when at key spots on the court where they felt the could get the ball or move with the ball to get to.

This is where I do think coaching would be really helpful is to take a look at what you like to do at each spot and see what you need to modify or add on to help.

 

Latest trade winds

 

tl;dr: these guys will go exactly where they want for very little.

although i'd laugh and laugh if another kawhi thing happens with lillard. similar situations, imo, despite the age of the players.

all you have to do is beat miami's offer, which appears to be lowry/herro/middling picks/two smacks to the mouth.

 

what is there to discuss? travel is hard, which is why home court is so important.

best teams, including us, lost that in the bubble, leveling the field.

end of story, anyone else saying otherwise is just butthurt

EDIT: and that is without even talking about the support of local fans, which favors the best teams, which we also lost.