2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

What's his deal?? What a dumb a** take. Actually it's pretty clear what his deal is .... he got the BIG head.

 

Obviously disagree with what Ant said. I think prior generations of players were plenty skilled, but the physicality and rigid style of play made it more difficult for skill to shine through. There's always a guy in pickup with great handles and dribble combinations, but if you get in his chest now he can't do anything. The more wide-open game of today makes it easier to showcase that skill.

 

lol only michael jordan. tell me you never watched basketball from any prior era without telling me.

 

He’s down low defending his dad

 

Looks like the Clippers are going to have a long season next yr so Ballmer is trying to let the beer flow

 

I don’t think they’ll get it passed. But we’ll see.

 

i like ant, but he's said/done some pretty dumb s*** since he came into the league. he's got some growing up to do

the fact that its VIP suite holders only makes me think its some sort of private club at the arena where they'd be open that late. guess ballmer wants his own version of the forum club

 

plenty of toilets to puke in if needed

 

ESPN predicted the result of the regular season in the West.

According to experts, the leaders in the regular championship will be Oklahoma and Minnesota ahead of the WC champions-Dallas Mavs and the NBA champions 2022/23- Denver Nuggets

Top 6:

1. Oklahoma (57-25);

2. Minnesota (54-28);

3-4. Dallas (52-30);

3-4. Denver (52-30);

5. Phoenix(49-33);

6. Sacramento (47-35).

Play-in:

7. New Orleans (46-36);

8. Golden State (45-37);

9. Memphis (44-38);

10. Houston (44-38).

The rest:

11 .Lakers (44-38);

12. Clippers (43-39);

13. San Antonio (35-47)

14. Utah (26-56);

15 Portland (22-60).
Look how tight is 8 to 12
Lakers are getting worse than Memphis or GSW predicted based on what ?
Last season pimple as a coach
Screaming Steven A Smith or Perkins daily breakfast

 

I think we find our way to playoffs again, but have no real predictions beyond that. Need to see how we come out of the gate and get a feel for JJ before really making a call one way or another.

I do expect the west to be highly competitive again though

 

Memphis is going to have a better regular season record than us. I think they're complete frauds as playoff contenders, but they have a very good regular season formula. I'd have them in the Top 6 for sure, and maybe in the Top 4. The Nuggets aren't going to care about this next regular season at all.

I'm not sure why Phoenix is getting the benefit of the doubt. They kept O'Neale and Okogie and then brought in Tyus Jones, Monte Morris and Mason Plumlee. The Tyus Jones signing was great at that price, but I don't think they did anything to address the #1 issue with that team which is that they're completely incapable of playing with any force, physicality or toughness. If the idea is that you need a more traditional PG to unlock the Beal/Booker/KD triumvirate, you better hope that results in the clear-cut, #1 offense in the league because anything short of that won't be enough to overcome the lack of size and defense.

I want to write off the Pelicans every year, but they probably will be right back in the mid-40s in wins. When Zion plays they're pretty good. Sacramento will win regular season games and threaten no one in the playoffs.

I'm generally optimistic about next season but have to acknowledge the downside. Specifically, I think LeBron put in a ton of work on his body and with his jumper last offseason because he thought we had a legitimate shot at a ring. He looked better physically last season than he had at any time since the Solomon Hill injury IMO. Between age, the Olympics and probably some letdown after a disappointing season, I'm not sure we get the same LeBron. He was one of the 5 best players in the league after the All-Star break. I'm not as worried about AD because I think the Olympics will actually help him. I think long stretches of uninterrupted play help him get in the right shape and toughen up a bit, he gets in trouble when he has those nagging, stop-and-start flurry of injuries like in 2022.

 

Ja is going to get injured again.He is playing like D Rose used to,but more careless.He is injury prone more than Davis and LeBron are combined . Without him they even worse than Spurs or Utah
I don't believe they will get better record than Lakers

 

my predictions will be funky because they involve assuming certain things that could end up not happening:


1. okc-they're young, talented, and their star is very durable. they can now play any style with hartenstein in the fold. they should win a lot.
2. dal-they're pretty deep and luka is luka. i think thompson has something to prove and more time with washington and gafford will help them.
3. phx-i think having jones and morris at pg will do wonders for them, even with beal missing time like always. hell, i could see beal taking a bench role and things really taking off there. i'm annoyed at how lucky they got with jones becoming available at that price. they won't defend well, but regular season...they'll win a bunch, imo.
4. minny-i think conley misses time and without him, they're not that great. when he's available, they'll win more.
5. denver-they keep getting weaker, imo. at some point, even jokic and continuity starts to fail you.
6. memphis-i think jenkins is a good coach, and morant is itching to prove something.

7-10 is harder as i basically view them all similarly:

7. houston-i don't see why they can't win now, tbh. sengun returns, jalen green will have a LOT of money to play for, fvv's also going to be looking to cash in (again). i like their young two-way wings (smith, eason, thompson), and i think sheppard should be a very capable backup pg right out of the gate. depth and balance and athleticism and talent. they could surprise, imo.
8. lakers-lebron and AD are still them. reaves and russell are still quality nba starters. even with injuries to lebron and AD--assuming they're standard, non-season enders--we should be close enough. rui, gabe, vando are also legit rotation players.
9. clippers-they have a lot of practice playing .500 ball without one of their stars, and harden is somehow still fairly durable at his age. he can carry a regular season offense, and they have the wings to cover for him defensively. can't see leonard playing enough to get them into the top 6, though.
10. new orleans. you think center's an issue for us? don't trust zion and ingram to play much more than lebron and AD, and mccollum has to age at some point.

11. sacramento-i feel like their schtick has to run out some time, but i keep being wrong lol. they'll beat us 4 times, in any case!
12. golden state-yeah i know they have curry. but they had him last year, too. i know thompson wasn't that good, but i also know that neither are hield or anderson. kuminga could take a step, but he's a weird fit on that roster, imo.
13. san antonio-when chris paul plays, they'll win a high percentage of their games. but he won't play a lot.
14. utah-they'll weirdly win early season games again, much to danny's chagrin. he's waving that white flagg hard.
15. portland-c'mon.

anyway, the teams i have 6-13 could switch dramatically, imo. i feel pretty good that the top 5 will be the ones i named, barring injury, with phx being my "surprise" pick.

 

C Bags,Oklahoma and Philadelphia – in the top three candidates for the NBA champion title according to the ESPN forecast
ESPN made a forecast for the NBA champion of the 2024/25 season.

Experts consider Boston C Bags and Oklahoma Thinder the most likely winners of their conferences. In the top three favorites, the title was joined by them, following the voting results, Philadelphia

Top 7:

1. Boston C Bags (82 points based on voting results);

2. Oklahoma (37)

3. Philadelphia (18);

4. Denver (13);

5-6. «Milwaukee» (9);

5-6. New York(9);

7. Dallas (6)

 

why does everyone hate dallas's chances? they have the league's best player (imo--even if you disagree, he's in your top 3), pretty good roster continuity, and they went to the finals last year. denver lost a key player and didn't get out of the second round anyway. they think jokic is that much better than doncic? disagree.

 

Knecht can very well end up as the starting shooting guard by the end of the season. The reason I say that is because if Russell gets traded, who would replace him in the starting line up as a legitimate high volume and accurate three point shooter that the opponent trues their beat not the leave open? I mean, the problem could be solved if Russell is simply traded for such a player, but it might be unlikely at this juncture, given his trade value is low and our reluctance to include first round picks. Max Christie is likely going to make a huge leap this season, and he is a nice accurate three point shooter, but he has shown a limited sample size thus far in college and the nba, especially in terms of volume. Rui is decent, buy not sure he is enough, and I don't know how feasible it is him playing opposite wing with Vanderbilt, unless you want to replace Vandy with Max as defensive stopper in the starting unit. Knecht has certainly shown the aggression and willingness to let the threes fly, and accuracy which creates a high degree of gravity for the offense. Also, even though he is currently regarded as a sub par defensive player, he still may have some upside there, and is still probably better than Dlo, so he would be a slight upgrade defensively in teh back court, pairing with Reaves.

 

But Copper said he’s a scrub…

still hard to count those guys out.

 

that's been my long-term plan, too. need to be flush with assets as this extension winds down.