2018-19 NBA Thread

Well, as a thunder fan, i know we are playing against houston tonight, westbrook taking wilts triple double record tonight.
 
While I agree that it sucks these players don't get paid for being the national spotlight, I have a hard time convincing myself that student athletes should be paid for what they do. Should they all make the same amount of money? Should schools get to decide how much to pay each player, a free agency of sorts for high schoolers? Do we then need a CBA for the NCAA too? How much should school get to spend on their roster?

The NCAA can get away with not paying the kids because this is their best option: showcase their talent on the national stage for a year before making the jump to the NBA and earn their millions. To most of the kids, this beats going to Europe or China for a year to make money, where they get less focused on by the American media, have to live abroad (which is a bad excuse to me), might not even get many minutes in a foreign pro league etc. In the NCAA, the top prospects can look amazing dominating their competition even though they might not be that good in the NBA (read: Andrew Wiggins) because the gap is that wide.

Should the NBA lower the age requirement to 18 so top prospects can jump straight to the league? I don't have an issue with this idea, but I would want the kids to seriously consider the cons of doing this and only decide to do so once they're ready to accept any possible consequences. Like I mentioned above, some of the top-rated college prospects we've seen just haven't been great, and they had a year of playing in college before making the leap. Going straight from high school would be an even bigger jump, and only few have had success. Physically, the NBA is a lot more demanding than the NCAA, and again, only a handful of players are likely to have the physicality and body ready for the jump. One major injury is all it takes for their careers to end (or at least take a huge detour) before it even started. It looks like Adam Silver is prepared for any backlash though, even if they may be unfairly attributed to him.

The G League option is one I think could work. They won't be making a ridiculous amount of money, but it's still something and gives them a nice taste of what's to come. It could help expand the G League, too. That said, I can't see too many prospects taking this option because playing against tougher competition than in the G League could hurt their draft stock.

At the end of the day, I think the NCAA is still the best option for the top prospects just because of the coverage they get and they'd look a lot better dominating competition like Zion has been doing, rather than playing in a serious pro league which could hurt their stock.
 
Most of the blame should go on Magic Johnson and the front office in my opinion. Terrible roster construction that doesn't fit Lebron's play style at all. That's not even mentioning their bad drafting and free agent management. I would probably just sit LeBron for the rest of the season if I was the Lakers. Even if you make the playoffs by some miracle you're likely looking at a first round exit at the hands of Golden State. Make no mistake though, if LeBron doesn't make the playoffs his legacy is going to take a hit.
 
Bad drafting where? Lonzo's been out and had been good until his injury, Ingram's been beasting lately. Kuz has struggled a bit and Hart has been battling knee tendinitis, but who were we going to take instead in that draft: Tony Bradley, Derrick White, Frank Jackson, Davon Reed, Wes Iwundu? Is there even a single player drafted after them with more potential or has been as good as they have?

I'll give you the terrible roster construction part, and that was with the consent of LeBron anyway. He'd been talking about playing off-ball more and doesn't want to carry the team night in night out, hence Rondo. Lance started off pretty good for us in the season and just went downhill. McGee has lapses on defense but re-signing Brook Lopez wasn't the better option on that end, anyway. The big question mark I have is KCP, who's garbage anyway and shouldn't be re-signed this summer at any cost.

Free agent management? The only other major one we were after last summer was Paul George, who didn't give anyone a meeting and just re-signed in OKC.

That's not to say there aren't any issues with the team, but your argument there is weak. Our offense is stagnant, bunch of ISOs with zero off-ball movement, and Luke's rotations are questionable at best.

But anyway, who said anything about trying to make playoffs?

 
Arguably better players picked after Lonzo: Jayson Tatum, De'Aaron Fox, Donovan Mitchell, Lauri Markkanen, OG Anunoby, Dennis Smith Jr.

Arguably better players picked after Ingram: Jaylen Brown, Jamal Murray, Malcolm Brogdon, Buddy Hield, Pascal Siakam, Domantas Sabonis

And look at the guys like D’Angelo Russell, Brook Lopez, and Julius Randle they let go off who are balling right now.

In terms of free agency management, I meant that Lakers apparently didn’t go all in on guys like Kawhi, Butler, and other trades for this season because they expected them to come in free agency anyway.
 
> Poor construction of roster around LeBron by not putting shooters around him
> Suggest Lakers should've drafted a bunch of non-shooters, except Buddy Hield

Also, must I remind you that players develop in different stages? Early picks tend to be drafted based on potential because they come out earlier than the later picks, who have typically played more years in college and therefore have a more NBA-ready game, though with a lower ceiling.

As for D'Angelo, without giving him up we wouldn't have LeBron. How many general managers in the league would have said "yeah no thanks LeBron, but I'd rather have D'Angelo Russell"? Brook Lopez? Yeah that one bites for sure, considering how much he ended up signing for. Randle asked to be released because he knew his role would be diminished with the arrival of LeBron. If any other team had granted his wish they would've been labeled "classy".

EDIT:

mfw Kuzma rolled his ankle in the same shoes that Kobe advertised with ankle insurance

 
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Toronto and idc what anyone says. As Dan Gilbert once said

Dan Gilbert said:
I cannot remember ever seeing a trade where a team got by far the best player in the trade and saved over $40 million in the process.
Toronto may not have saved $40m (I'll double check the numbers later), but the sentiment is the same: if a team can get by far the best player in a deal and save a ton of money, they win that trade. And yes, even if Kawhi walks in summer.
 

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