2018-19 NBA Thread

[EL Kross]

The only person happier than Laker fans after Loul Deng's buyout; is this man right here.

 

[Kanburi]

Deng had zero desire to be back with the Lakers and was very confident last season would be his final year here. He was deeply frustrated at the impression he took the money at the expense of his career.

No, Luol, you 100% chose money. You chose the Lakers because Mitch and Jim gave you $72m over 4 years. You chose money from day one. You didn't pick the Lakers because you thought we were contenders. You chose the money. You were complete and utter ass that first season, starting in 49 of your 56 games played, putting up 7.6 points in 26.5 minutes played on 44/31/73 shooting. You were benched for being ass. You played 13 minutes the next season and was still ass.

Let's do some math here, because you have to stop acting like you're some fucking saint who gave up money because you just want to play.

You were owed $18,000,000 this season and $18,810,000 next season, totalling $36,810,000. Because the Lakers stretched you on September 1st, your money for the 2018-19 season is locked in and so the stretchable money is just the $18,810,000 next season. You "gave up" $7,500,000 of the money, and the cap hit of that money is applied differently per Article VII, Section 7(d)(5) of the CBA. 48.9% of that, or $3,667,500, is applied to the $18,000,000 this season so the cap hit becomes $14,332,500. The remaining 51.1%, or $3,832,500, is applied to the stretchable $18,810,000 next season, so the stretchable amount becomes $14,977,500. Stretched over three years, you're owed $4,992,500 per year.

But I digress. Giving up $7,500,000 of that deal means you're owed a total of $29,310,000. Even if you sign a minimum deal this year and next year, which totals around $4,900,000 (I don't have the number for next year, which isn't set anyway), you're really only giving up around $2,600,000 over two years. For someone who has made $136,713,597 in his career up until this year with another $29,310,000 guaranteed rolling in the next two years to total $166,023,597 career earnings, that's a mere 1.6%. So stop acting like you're a saint for giving up money for playing time, it's 100% fine to tell the truth and say that you would've rather sit another full year and not play if you had to give up anything more than $2,600,000 net. And no, I don't believe your agent didn't do that math for you. If he didn't, fire him and hire me. All I ask for is 50% of that money you're owed the next two years, y'know, because you just want to play and it's not about the money.

 

[Kanburi]

Peep this.

Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who represents LeBron James, among others, is a leading contender to represent Davis, sources said.

ANTHONY DAVIS IS COMING HOME!!!!

PG: Lonzo Ball
SG: Brandon Ingram
SF: Kawhi Leonard (signing in 2019)
PF: LeBron James
C: Anthony Davis (signing in 2020)
Bench: Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Moritz Wagner

Not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7... I mean, we ain't ever losing another game, let alone a series.

 

[Kanburi]

Okay I know I'm triple posting but it's been a while since the last post and this is a completely new story.

Jimmy Butler has requested a trade from the Timberwolves and prefers the Nets, Knicks, and Clippers. KAT reportedly has put off all extension talks until Butler is moved. Personally I think the Nets would be the best trade partner for all parties involved, hear me out.

The Nets can offer a package of D'Angelo Russell and DeMarre Carroll for Jimmy Butler, which I think is a good deal for all sides. Hell, they even have all their first rounders from now on plus Denver's first in 2019 and a ton of second rounders.

From the Wolves point of view: Butler threatening to not even show up to training camp has his trade value as low as it can get, so the return isn't going to be anything amazing. D'Angelo and KAT are great friends so there likely won't be any chemistry issues or butting heads between them, and if things work out (i.e. DLo stays out of injury issues), they are both likely to stay. DLo would also keep Wiggins happy because he's more of a pass-first point guard that doesn't need to shoot a ton of shots like Butler. Wiggins goes to 2nd option and won't have his shots taken away by anyone but KAT. Take on DeMarre Carroll for a year and let him walk next summer. If they can squeeze a pick or two out of the Nets, even better.

From the Nets point of view: D'Angelo Russell is up for his own extension after this season and has struggled with injuries. Instead of worrying about that themselves, let the Timberbullswolves worry about giving someone like that an extension. He still has a lot of potential and can be really good, but if the rumors are true that Butler and Kyrie want to play together next season, the Nets won't have a need for DLo since they'll just sign Kyrie. Even with Butler's cap hold, they should have enough room to sign Kyrie and then re-sign Butler. At most they just need to move a few small pieces, they have a ton of partially/non-guaranteed deals. DeMarre Carroll is an expiring deal that is only there for salary purposes. If Butler walks in summer, well, you gave up D'Angelo Russell but it's a gamble I'd be willing to take. Sean Marks has done a fantastic job with the mess he inherited IMO.

From Butler's point of view: You get one of the three teams on your wishlist that can sign Kyrie in summer.

 

[Coronis]

Okay I know I'm triple posting but it's been a while since the last post and this is a completely new story.

Jimmy Butler has requested a trade from the Timberwolves and prefers the Nets, Knicks, and Clippers. KAT reportedly has put off all extension talks until Butler is moved. Personally I think the Nets would be the best trade partner for all parties involved, hear me out.

The Nets can offer a package of D'Angelo Russell and DeMarre Carroll for Jimmy Butler, which I think is a good deal for all sides. Hell, they even have all their first rounders from now on plus Denver's first in 2019 and a ton of second rounders.

From the Wolves point of view: Butler threatening to not even show up to training camp has his trade value as low as it can get, so the return isn't going to be anything amazing. D'Angelo and KAT are great friends so there likely won't be any chemistry issues or butting heads between them, and if things work out (i.e. DLo stays out of injury issues), they are both likely to stay. DLo would also keep Wiggins happy because he's more of a pass-first point guard that doesn't need to shoot a ton of shots like Butler. Wiggins goes to 2nd option and won't have his shots taken away by anyone but KAT. Take on DeMarre Carroll for a year and let him walk next summer. If they can squeeze a pick or two out of the Nets, even better.

From the Nets point of view: D'Angelo Russell is up for his own extension after this season and has struggled with injuries. Instead of worrying about that themselves, let the Timberbullswolves worry about giving someone like that an extension. He still has a lot of potential and can be really good, but if the rumors are true that Butler and Kyrie want to play together next season, the Nets won't have a need for DLo since they'll just sign Kyrie. Even with Butler's cap hold, they should have enough room to sign Kyrie and then re-sign Butler. At most they just need to move a few small pieces, they have a ton of partially/non-guaranteed deals. DeMarre Carroll is an expiring deal that is only there for salary purposes. If Butler walks in summer, well, you gave up D'Angelo Russell but it's a gamble I'd be willing to take. Sean Marks has done a fantastic job with the mess he inherited IMO.

From Butler's point of view: You get one of the three teams on your wishlist that can sign Kyrie in summer.

Clippers gonna get him and then sign Kawhi and Lakers fans gonna cri.

 

[Kanburi]

Clippers gonna get him and then sign Kawhi and Lakers fans gonna cri.

Bron will block him in all 4 regular season meetings and hit 4 gamewinners over him. Jks we'll be up by 50 after 3 and LeBron won't be playing in the 4th.

Pretty damning stuff on Andrew #MAXPLAYER Wiggins from Zach Lowe here:

Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves

The Jimmy Butler drama masks another festering stench: What if Wiggins is just, like, not good? I was a cautious Wiggins optimist when analytics folks buried him as a teenaged rookie, but he has shown zero meaningful improvement over four seasons. If anything, he has gotten worse.

Some of that regression -- the drop-off in free throws, for instance -- stemmed from predictable fit issues with Butler, Jamal Crawford and even Derrick Rose. All three superseded Wiggins in the ball-handling hierarchy, shoving him into spot-up duty he approached with the enthusiasm of a teenager asked to rake the leaves:

Motion-tracking cameras recorded Wiggins "running fast" during only 4.8 percent of his time on the floor, one of the 10 lowest such figures in the league, per Second Spectrum. (Almost everyone in his slowpoke vicinity is a plodding 7-footer.) He has shown no aptitude on pull-up 3s, or on any sort of 3-pointer outside the corners -- and he doesn't shoot enough from the corners. Nobody guards him away from the ball.

His pick-and-roll work is rote. He still doesn't know how to run his defender into screens. He'll peek around a pick, only to moonwalk uselessly into a long jumper. Even when he has an advantage, he'll stop short:

That is a fine shot for Chris Paul. Wiggins hit 32 percent of his long 2-pointers last season. He has never drained better than 38 percent in any season. There may be no more treasonous combination among midrange aficionados of frequency and inaccuracy.

He prefers to drive right or spin back that way, and everyone in the league knows it. (Ditto for his baseline spin on the left block -- a move Houston sat on to an almost absurd degree in their first-round series last season.) He understands all the basic passing reads -- roll man, weak-side corner -- but his passing is paint by numbers. He makes the pass the defense expects, when they expect it.

Minnesota's choreographed, old-school offense doesn't help. Even as a secondary ball-handler, Wiggins doesn't get the head starts Rubio enjoys in Utah. Minnesota's offense is jagged, with no flow or timing. Defenses just ignore the first action and lay in wait for Wiggins.

You see glimpses of something more. Wiggins is a ridiculous athlete. He will occasionally fake toward a pick, tip his defender that direction, and zoom in for a dunk. He peppered Crawford with questions about threading pocket passes and lasers to the opposite corner, Crawford says.

He can bully smaller players in the post after switches (making him a useful screener for Jeff Teague), and hit the open man when help comes. But even down there, he too often settles:

You have to be prime Kobe Bryant for the math on those shots to work.

He has never had the impact he should on defense. He doesn't rebound, force turnovers, or contest shots. He is a bystander.

He could be more on a team that played faster, with more shooting and fewer ball-handlers. But unless Wiggins improves, that team would be bad.

At some point, the tools and the highlights have to translate into something better than "smaller Rudy Gay." If Minnesota moves Butler or Tyus Jones -- and Phoenix has asked about Jones, sources say -- that would at least place Wiggins into some lineups with only one other primary ball-handler.

Regardless: Wiggins is almost 24. It's time.

 

[Bruxa Baratuxa]

Off Topic: It was confirmed last week that we will have Space Jam 2 with LeBron James as star, Ryan Coogler as producer, Terence Nance as director and Andrew Dodge as scriptwriter. Apparently, it will be a kind of "remake" of the film released 22 years ago.

I personally didn't like the idea, but both films will have an obvious difference. In the late movie Jordan asks Tune Squad to invade his house to get his lucky shorts, which was the secret of his victories. LeBron will ask them to get Kyrie Irving.

 

[Kanburi]

MY BODY IS READY

Those Melo Ball 1s on Lonzo are clean, and I'm loving the Kobe 1 Protro on Kuz.

 

[Randombobman]

MY BODY IS READY

Those Melo Ball 1s on Lonzo are clean, and I'm loving the Kobe 1 Protro on Kuz.

Is it just me or does Zo look like he skipped all the leg days?

 

[Kanburi]

Is it just me or does Zo look like he skipped all the leg days?

Might be because he was restricted from that after his left knee surgery. Which is all good because it means all he could do was work on that upper body ("built like a wall", as Kuz said) and his shot.

 

[Coronis]

DeMarcus continues to defy expectations, might be back very early December, or earlier.

 

[Randombobman]

He won't defy my expectations until I see him run back on defense

 

[Kanburi]

Tyus Jones and Gorgui Dieng to Phoenix for Tyson Chandler and Dragan Bender, who says no?

 

[Stallion]

Going to release our blog's consensus NBA power rankings soon.

The offseason is way too long and I'm way too excited for the season to start again (despite Rondo being named starting PG to begin the season).

 

[Kanburi]

PREDICTIONS TIME

Eastern Conference Playoffs
1. Boston Celtics
2. Toronto Raptors
3. Philadelphia 76ers
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Washington Wizards
7. Miami Heat
8. Detroit Pistons

Western Conference Playoffs
1. Golden State Warriors
2. Houston Rockets
3. Utah Jazz
4. Los Angeles Big Ballers
5. Oklahoma City Small Ballers
6. Denver Nuggets
7. San Antonio Spurs
8. New Orleans Pelicans

Most Valuable Player: LeBron James
This is the year he reclaims his MVP award. Yes, the Lakers are already expected to improve and add more wins to last year's total, but I feel like a lot of the credit will go to LeBron (and probably rightfully so.) James Harden will be his main competition, and while AD will fill the stat sheet, his team just won't get enough wins.

6th Man of the Year: Terry Rozier
With Mike D'Antoni leaning towards starting Eric Gordon, this award is pretty much wide open. Iguodala, Kuzma, Melol all have a shot at it, but ultimately I think Rozier will get it, just a hunch.

Most Improved Player: Brandon Ingram
He made a huge jump from his rookie year to sophomore year, and there's no reason to believe he won't continue getting better. His game is starting to get more and more polished: learning how to read the floor, making the right passes, picking his spots, and not forcing anything. These things don't necessarily show up in the box score, but if you watch him play you'll know what I mean.

Defensive Player of the Year: Rudy Gobert
Draymond will coast.

Coach of the Year: Luke Walton
Traditionally given to the team of the coach that exceeds expectations, it's either Luke or Nurse, I suppose.

Rookie of the Year: Luka Doncic
Random guess, to be completely honest. It'll probably help that he's had pro basketball experience and will be playing for Rick Carlisle.

Executive of the Year: Rob Pelinka
We added LeBron and a bunch of Misunderstood, Underappreciated, Determined players. Aside from McGee, Lonzo, and Rondo, our guys are more or less positionless. He's done such a great job since taking over, from acquiring a pick (Josh Hart) for Lou Williams, to trading D'Angelo with Mozgov for essentially Lonzo and Kuzma, then shedding Clarkson/Nance to pave the way to LeBron... Very few GMs can match his resume thus far, and it's even more impressive considering it's his first stint as one.

Biggest name to be traded by the deadline: Bradley Beal
I'm excluding Jimmy Butler from this because he's definitely getting traded and it'd just be lazy on my behalf to name him. I think the Wizards underperform and Grunfeld finally has to make some changes. McCollum is my other choice for similar reasons (lmao if they get traded for each other), but I think Beal's name is bigger idk.

Best Acquisition/Signing: LeBron James
I know Warriors added DeMarcus, but they won't really improve much in terms of number of wins.

Worst Acquisition/Signing: Zach LaVine
Dude plays no defense and just recovered from an ACL injury. To be fair to him, there weren't many huge deals signed this summer. Chris Paul's deal will look bad in two years, but for this season I think LaVine's is worse.

Biggest Draft Steal: Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
Learn to spell his name now. I already did back in July.

Biggest Draft Bust: Trae Young
Playing on the Hawks doesn't help.

First Coach to be Fired: Fred Hoiberg
I'm going to exclude Thibs from this list, but yeah Hoiberg's probably already on the hot seat.

 

[BigBallerBrand]

My man Lavar has been real quiet

 

[Randombobman]

Didn't Hoiberg just take over in Chicago two years ago? Seems a little early to be pressing for wins, considering they just tanked last season

 

[Kanburi]

I thought about that, but it's a tough choice tbh. Here's the list:

Atlanta Hawks: Lloyd Pierce - hired this offseason
Boston Celtics: Brad Stevens - nope
Brooklyn Nets: Kenny Atkinson - hired in 2016, but he's done well
Charlotte Hornets: James Borrego - hired this offseason
Chicago Bulls: Fred Hoiberg
Cleveland Cavaliers: Tyronn Lue - Cavs be tanking and Dan Gilbert is too cheap to fire him
Dallas Mavericks: Rick Carlisle - this one is hard to tell, if they do really badly I can see it happening but idk
Denver Nuggets: Mike Malone - this one is also a maybe but only if they do really badly
Detroit Pistons: Dwane Casey - hired this offseason
Golden State Warriors: Steve Kerr - lol nope
Houston Rockets; Mike D'Antoni - lol nope
Indiana Pacers: Nate McMillan - nope
LA Clippers: Doc Rivers - I don't think West will fire him now, he'll at least wait until the summer to match a head coach with his FA targets
LA Big Ballers: Luke Walton - lol nope
Memphis Grizzlies: JB Bickerstaff - hired after Fizdale was fired, made full-time this offseason
Miami Heat: Erik Spoelstra - nope
Milwaukee Bucks: Mike Budenholzer - hired this offseason
Minnesota Timberwolves: Tom Thibodeau - I omitted him or else it'd be boring
New Orleans Pelicans: Alvin Gentry - nope
New York Knicks: David Fizdale - hired this offseason
Oklahoma City Small Ballers: Billy Donovan - Presti has patience I think
Orlando Magic: Steve Clifford - hired this offseason
Philadephia 76ers: Brett Brown - nope
Phoenix Suns: Igor Kokoskov - hired this offseason
Portland Trail Blazers: Terry Stotts - didn't they just extend him?
Sacramento Kings: Dave Joerger - hired in 2016, but expectations are so low it'd be hard to underperform
San Antonio Spurs: Gregg Popovich - nope
Toronto Raptors: Nick Nurse - hired this offseason
Utah Jazz: Quin Snyder - nope
Washington Wizards: Scott Brooks - he was my second choice tbh

So ignoring all the recent hires (2017 or 2018) and extensions, plus the definitely safe guys, we're left with Fred Hoiberg (CHI), Tyronn Lue (CLE), Rick Carlisle (DAL), Michael Malone (DEN), Doc Rivers (LAC), Billy Donovan (OKC), Dave Joerger (SAC), Scott Brooks (WAS). Some of them would really have to underperform to be fired, since I'm not aware of any good replacements available at the moment.

 

[Randombobman]

I'm still getting used to seeing Lebron in a Lakers Jersey. I just keep muttering "this is so bizarre" every time he scores or makes a typical Lebron play. Gonna be a while before this surreal feeling goes away

 

[gsninja]

The only person happier than Laker fans after Loul Deng's buyout; is this man right here.
View attachment 134451

Holy shit my sides

Let's get this season started already.

 

[Del Rio]

Uhh what the hell are the Suns doing?

 

[Kanburi]

Suns are underrated as the worst managed franchise. Star player jammed his hand in March? Make him play through it even though the team's season ended after the first five games, sign him to a max extension in July, then make him have surgery in September to miss the beginning of the season. GM's been making bad decision after bad decision? Let him draft 4 players and trade one of them, then let him trade for Ryan Anderson, and fire him a week before the season while he's in the market for a point guard.

Oh, did I mention that the draft night trade that landed them Mikal Bridges was drafted using the pick that they acquired in the Nash S&T to the Lakers, which they then traded to Philadelphia in the deal that landed them Brandon Knight, whom they then traded for Ryan Anderson?

 

[Randombobman]

Yeah Robert Sarver has been lowkey one of the worst NBA owners for years now. Remember when he signed Channing Frye, Hakim Warrick and Josh freaking Childress in free agency in 2010 after the Lakers beat his teams ass the previous post season? Dude is a control freak and thinks he's a genius when it comes to running the team. It's no wonder the gms can't get shit done

 

[Stallion]

Yeah Rober Sarver has been lowkey one of the worst NBA owners for years now. Remember when he signed Channing Frye, Hakim Warrick and Josh freaking Childress in free agency in 2010 after the Lakers best his teams ass the previous post season? Dude a control freak and thinks he's a genius when it comes to running the team. It's no wonder the gems can't get shit done

I haven't heard the name Hakim Warrick for so long now

 

[Kanburi]

Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler showed up to practice with #MambaMentality lmaoooooo. Kept calling out Towns, Wiggins, and Layden.

Everyone is talking about how Thibs should trade him, but honestly the offers they've gotten so far have reportedly been terrible.

Oh, and I can get used to LeBronzo Kuzgram.