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

like I said in a playoff series you never know. Because A guy like Luka could get hot.

 

I’ll tell you one thing. I wouldn’t give any f***ing capital for Herbert Jones.

straight up trade. And maybe a second round draft pick and cash and Champagne.

 

GG Jackson would be the key of that deal.

 

I saw that Had Lavine in the corner for a wide open 3 and decided on a step back 3 you can’t make this s*** up. He’s gotta like Sacramento s*** team. He can get all the shots and pad his stats.

 

lol, in six months we've gone from "maybe we should trade reaves for herb jones" to "herb jones is worth 2 1sts" to "they have to take vando for herb jones".

i've been one of the bigger herb skeptics, but if he were truly available for a lotto-protected first and an expiring, i'd still take a chance on him regaining his form from a couple years ago.

btw, herb's trending up and starting to look more like that herb recently. would NO bite on gabe/knecht/top-10 protected first?

 

I’ll start with his off the ball BBIQ. He is not engaged and pretty basic. No motor, standing around(Like most of the dud NBA players). He doesn’t have a consistent jumper, basic, if he’s hot for a couple shots a game and that’s it. But that’s any player who hits a zone during a few games in an 82 game season.

Doesn’t set screens with any authority, can’t really get any separation when he gets screens for him. Doesn’t elevate enough to get into a rhythm shooting. Can’t really dribble. Because he can’t dribble he can’t isolate or take his man off the dribble and get to the basket if you need a score. When you are a guard who can’t dribble or get separation, that’s like a QB who isn’t good at reading defenses well and can’t throw accurately on a consistent bases(See Kyler Murray).

His length can make him a good defender but he can’t guard anyone with real skills and is relentless. Not something uncommon, it’s hard to guard the elite players but he isn’t going to consistently make things uncomfortable year in and year out and be reliable there. Too inconsistent on defense to be effective just in spurts.

Nice kid, good teammate, unassuming innocent look hypnotizes a lot of people. However, for some of us who don’t fall for that b*******, can see that he doesn’t effect winning in the way a team needs at the position he’s at. Not with the Lakers and not with Dallas. He’s a -3.1 +\- for the year. Not my favorite stat but in a league of perimeter coddling and soft defenses, that’s not a good indicator that he helps the team stay ahead when he’s in there.

Lakers fans tend to overrate its players to the point of exhaustion. I think the general fan also forgets value of a player. Austin Reaves is a damn good player but some think he’s an all star and is amazing because he drops 30-40 point games. However, when primetime hits, he struggles. If you are memorized by stats in an era where stats have become easier to attain, then you aren’t paying attention to real value of players.

Basketball, from my knowledge, doesn’t have a WAR stat. Unless I’ve missed it, Wins Above Replacement has taken over all stats when it comes to value in baseball. Players are getting into the hall of famer in baseball because of it.

I’m positive if the NBA had a WAR equivalent stat, Max Christie would be at the bottom. If it sounds like I don’t like him, that’s on you. I don’t like his game and he brings minimal benefits to winning. And his grandma haircut is a hint that he doesn’t look at the small details in life. That could come off as a joke on gauging people’s decision making. But there is merit behind it.

If you remember in the movie Moneyball, the scout who said they didn’t want a player because he had an ugly girlfriend, ugly girlfriend usually means no confidence. Everyone laughs and thought it was a gag. That s*** is true. In Max Christie’s case, he’s made it to the NBA, he’s won in life, but as a contributor to what matters in the game, he doesn’t really and likely never will be a major cog in winning for whatever team he plays for.

 

Better than he blows. Always has. Always will.

 

fwiw, advanced stats continue to hate max. the nba equivalent to war (probably WS/48, VORP, or BPM) aren't my favorites, but they all say he probably shouldn't see the floor. this doesn't square with the eye test very well, nor with traditional stats. he's shooting 45% from three and is obviously athletic and properly sized for his position.

for whatever reason (perhaps those ox lays out above), it doesn't translate into his team being better with him on the floor.

big caveat with these stats in basketball is always coaching, imo. if you're being misused, it's really going to show up here, and maybe that's what's happening to max. i mean, kidd is making flagg look a lot worse than he is by doing some really weird stuff from a coaching standpoint, imo (it honestly feels like kidd has been trying to tank since day 1 this year).

 

I don’t have time or want to do that again. I don’t have time for this s***. Basketball is the easiest sport to gauge. Just take me for my word next time.

 

Per Siegel's report today: Pelicans still wanting two first for each Herb or Murphy.

 

The two players I would want for this team are Portis and Naji Marshall

 

To the extent you believe any of the leaks/rumors, Gafford keeps coming up as a name for us. I do think it's possible we make a move for Gafford before the deadline and trade Ayton.

 

It's the kind of PR you put out before you're traded to the Wizards to make it look like you wanted to go to the Wizards and they weren't just the only team interested in you.

 

Eh, teams rarely ever trade a buyout player they added.

I think he'd be more of a Jax upgrade because Gafford is also a 20 mpg player. Trading a 30 mpg player who can carry 35 mpg for a 20 mpg player is a bad idea.

Also both DA and Jax are repped by Luka's agent so us doing anything to negatively affect their value...I'm skeptical of.

I'm all for adding to the C pool, but that has to be 4th of the list of priorities and we don't have the assets to even adequately address two needs this deadline cycle.

 

I like the multiple, “Maybe the Lakers would be interested in [Kuzma or Portis].” Could I see it for Portis at least? Maybe, but it sure sounds like name dropping the Lakers for clicks.

I do buy that the Pels are still asking for multiple picks for Herb, but good luck with that.