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6 out of the top 10 were Lakers



Top 10 lists will forever be relentlessly debated and never agreed upon. Fruitless discussion.

 

russell at 4 is hilarious

top 3 is fine. i'd put wilt at 4 and magic at 5. then shaq, bird, kobe, curry, duncan

 

Theoretically that makes sense, however if you want to win a Championship, proven playoffs production trumps depth IMO. Denver only plays 6 guys, they don't have any depth that they trust.

Trae Young made 37 million dollars this season.
His playoffs avg were 29 pts 10 asists 4 rebs and 2 steals

Russell, Beasley, Vanderbilt, and Bamba combined for 61 million dollars this season.
They're combined playoffs avg was 20 pts,
5 assists, 6 rebs and 1.4 steals

I don't have a problem paying guys, but they need to perform in the playoffs. IDK if Trae Young is the answer 4 years from now, but he's still cheaper than Russell/Beasley or Russell/Bamba. More productive in the playoffs too.

You can't blame everything for ever on Russell Westbrook. He played a grand total of 44 games with Lebron and AD over 2 seasons. They went 22-22.

Hell..Westbrook avg 24 pts 8 rebs and 7 assists in the playoffs this season.

I want more bang for my buck. Having depth that you can't play in the playoffs doesn't mean anything to me. A 40 million dollar player seems to be right above the 179.5 million 2nd tax apron, if you want to keep Rui and Austin, with the other guaranteed contracts we have. IDK if Jeannie is willing to go there, but a 30 million dollar player could work..as long as it's not D'Angelo Russell.

Running all the guys back that we have now, is still going to put us over the 2nd apron. Someone has to go anyway, trading them is still bringing the same amount of salary back. Idk..guys might be willing to take some serious paycuts to come back. It doesn't necessarily mean that we will be a better team, next season though. These decisions are why Rob gets paid the big bucks.

 

Denver has been playing 8 guys for the whole postseason ...

 

Shrug..I said what I said..if you all you got out of it was Westbrook whatever..I don't care. Westbrook doesn't play here anymore.

The fact remains that Bron, AD, Max and Jarred represents 100 million in contracts. If we can keep Rui and Austin for 30, we have 49 million left for D'Angelo Malik, Dennis, M0, Lonnie, plus 2 draft picks. Somebody is taking a pay cut or not coming back period.

I'd take the 1st 6 guys named and check all my options with the 49 million left. It wouldn't be used on Russell and Beasley if it was me. There are plenty of other options out there.

 

You know what, I always forget about Green for some reason He gets about 18 min like Vanderbilt.

Braun I don't even consider much he's getting Troy Brown type of minutes.

So I revise to Denver plays 7 guys and a spot minute guy.

 

they got incredibly lucky with respect to injuries and got incredibly hot from three as a team for a series against us.

anyway, as i demonstrated already, their salary structure is different than ours (until the deadline, you know, when we stopped sucking). their 4th best player makes 20 per.

people are using the word depth in ways that i don't, tbh. depth isn't having a great 12th man (it is, i guess--the clippers are super deep). it's having players at the 5/6 spots that are legit 25mpg playoff rotation players. during the westbrook era, we had vet mins and retreads almost all the way down the roster. we didn't need a great 9th man; we needed a decent 5th, 6th, and 7th man. again, almost the entire team from last year was out of the league by the following season. that's absolutely insane and was definitely a consequence of paying three different guys 40+ million each.

i think because 30 million sounds like a lot (is a lot, too), people forget that having two guys making 30 instead of 40 or 50 basically buys you 2 more playoff rotation players! again, already showed this, but it was ignored because we have drums to bang and torches to carry.

 

We can't realistically afford Kyrie or Trae..however we can't afford to resign D'Angelo and Malik at their current salaries either. They would be making more than both.

Maybe binge watching the Denver series twice in the last 4 days, has totally soured my mood entirely, on those two IDK. I don't want to see either one of them back.

On the vet minimums though..it depends on the players involved. The Heat are playing 4 guys in the Finals that make 7 million combined. It's not impossible but it would require some luck,or outstanding hits by the scouting department, or some ring chasers taking a paycut. A combination of all 3 most likely.

 

that heat issue is a fluke, slick. both strus and vincent are FAs this summer in line for much larger paydays.

in general, the heat are a bad comp for many reasons--just a truly anomalous season for that team.

that said, they have one guy making 45 and three guys making 30 per, followed by 20, 9, 7. the only vet min retread playing minutes is kevin love, pretty sparingly.

with respect to our situation, nobody's paying russell 30 million. i see you saying that, but i'm asking how you think that's going to happen. he's not getting it from us, nor anyone else. 25 is his ceiling, i think, and that's if we're generous. so him and beasley will likely make less combined than trae or kyrie. and beasley can be moved or packaged easily (or just cut for no cost at all).

as we've been over many times, moving smaller deals is easier than larger ones, so having a bunch of mid-sized salaries makes more trades possible.

 

I just don't like his vibe, and he flat out folded up his tent, and quit against the Nuggets. Can't take that guy back. This is his 2nd time around here, and he hasn't matured all that much since we drafted him IMO.

Being pragmatic about, yeah we at least need his salary at a decent level in order to get something of value back for him. I think his ego is going to shut him down at 20 million tho. I said 27 ish awhile ago, but after watching him in action again, 25 is too much.

What about D'Angelo for Herro? The Heat culture might toughen up D'Angelo. Tyler gives us that "shooter" that we seem to be perpetually chasing.

 

if you don't want russell, why would miami? though i think they view herro similarly. but riley would want to give us lowry, i'm certain of it.

also, miami can't do s&ts with their payroll right now.

i think you're putting too much stock into the denver series. it was awful. he did some very good things in the previous two series and throughout the regular season. he's a good nba player, 30+mpg, starting quality. and again, a great fit offensively with our two stars.

we need to retain him at reasonable cost. if he's problematic, you have him to move for someone less so. if he walks, we're totally screwed.

 

Smh ..Schroder situation all over again, how ironic. I'd take Morris and Gafford and draft the best PG available at this point.

 

i would definitely do this if washington would. monte morris can do the things we need at the pg spot, and gafford is a good utility big. i just don't see the wiz doing this when they have to pay beal, kuz (in line for a substantial increase) and porzingis. morris is maybe not quite as good as russell, but he's close enough and a lot cheaper.

 

They should quit doing a top ten in order. Just put out the 10 best and don't name them in order.

 

Just shows you that AI still has a long way to go.

 

Barkley at 9?