2019 NBA off-season

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

Post by 33anda3rd »

The NBA is wild, man.

Something like 12 of the best 30 players in the league changed teams in the last 3 weeks.

Rumor was there was a deal on the table that would have sent Russ and PG13 to TOR to play with Kawhi, if Kawhi had stayed, and TOR would have sent Siakam and every possible draft pick allowed by the league rules away. But Kawhi wanted to be in LA, so Presti moved PG13 to LA for a silly amount of draft picks.

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BottenFieldofDreams
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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Do the Clippers go to the top of the West?

At least until Klay gets back I think it's

Utah
LAC
Denver
Portland

and then the pack. I may have the first two backwards. But Utah with Bogdanovich and Conley and the league's best defender looks pretty good.


I had a pipe dream of trading Whiteside+ for a disgruntled Paul George in February. Maybe Kevin Love now, but that's not nearly as good.

Socnorb11
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

Post by Socnorb11 »

I tend to agree with your top 4 (I think Clippers are at the top though, with the other 3 in no particular order).

Vegas strongly disagrees though.

Los Angeles Clippers 7/2
Los Angeles Lakers 4/1
Golden State Warriors 15/1
Houston Rockets 20/1
Utah Jazz 20/1
Denver Nuggets 30/1
Portland Blazers 40/1

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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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The Knicks trading for Westbrook would be epic.

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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BottenFieldofDreams wrote:Do the Clippers go to the top of the West?

At least until Klay gets back I think it's

Utah
LAC
Denver
Portland

and then the pack. I may have the first two backwards. But Utah with Bogdanovich and Conley and the league's best defender looks pretty good.


I had a pipe dream of trading Whiteside+ for a disgruntled Paul George in February. Maybe Kevin Love now, but that's not nearly as good.
I like those four in whatever order. Portland low key had a great offseason IMO by adding pieces they needed.

I thought there were a couple reasons they fizzled vs the Dubs in the playoffs.

One big one: Lillard was just flat-out gassed in the series, looked like the tank hit empty about the time he was waving Russ off the court. I think bringing back Hood and having him for more than a partial season, and getting Bazemore means two shooters in the playoffs who can take a little pressure off Dame and CJ, as well as a couple guys who can play good minutes in the regular season for load management. Last year Dame played more games and more minutes than he's played since 2015, and including the playoffs played the most minutes of his career by like 400. He racked up 650 playoffs minutes, which is basically 1/4 of a regular season. The depth is great.

Two is Whiteside: he's not as good a player as his stats but he's a better player than Enes Kanter. If Terry can get him off the wing and at the top of the key laying down picks for Dame and CJ and crashing the rim, he's the physically ideal player for that. Could be a great rim-runner. He was a malcontent in MIA and didn't want to play in Spoelstra's system and ended up benched a bunch but I like what he could give. He's an every night 15-and-13 guy who will have nights where he gives you 20 and 20. He loves to show up for big C-on-C matchups: 23 and 20 against Gobert last year, 29 and 20 against LMA, 21 and 23 against Jarrett Allen. Motivated Whiteside in the right system is a valuable player.

Three is Hezonja who is only 24 and who has averaged 15.3 pts and 7.1 rebounds per 36 minutes in his career but has never been given any runway. I'm not saying Hezonja should play 38 minutes, I'm saying that he gives them everything Aminu gave them at 4 years younger with some upside still remaining and for 14 minutes/night if that he should be very productive and might flash a bit more. Also: this.

Four is the upside in the really young guys. Little came to UNC a presumed high-lottery pick and he faded behind Coby White last year. He showed flashes in college but it was Coby's team, kind of out of nowhere. Little has as much ceiling as all but probably Zion, RJ, Ja and Garland in this draft. Anfernee Simons is a guy the Blazers like a LOT, was a top-10 blue chip recruit who ended up bypassing college after committing to Louisville then de-committing over that weird scandal that came back to haunt them. Little and Simons were both late first round steals who add a lot of ceiling and a lot of potential future value to the Blazers. Simons is also a guy who can start a few Tuesday night road games vs PHO or the Kings to give CJ or Dame a night off and give him some valuable experience.

I really like their roster right now and think they might be my favorites in the West. I know they'll get a lot of play on my LeaguePass this year.

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BottenFieldofDreams
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

Post by BottenFieldofDreams »

Replacing Aminu and Harkless with Bazemore and Hood will help the offense quite a bit. Collins is going to get his shot. As of now Simons is too. Hell maybe even Skal. But I think we need a vet PG and another big.

I don't see a lot of downside with Whiteside. If he doesn't get moving, even in a contract year, you cut bait and call it cap space... if you can't deal him for a longer-term contract that someone wants out of.

stormspencer
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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Socnorb11 wrote:The Knicks trading for Westbrook would be epic.
The trade isn't possible until December because of an NBA stipulation (the Kincks can't offer any new players that they've signed this year for 3 months).

But as an OKC fan, since the Thunder are in total rebuild mode and if they could get an RJ Barrett for him (and the Knicks have certainly proven to be less than prudent), I would be all for it.

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33anda3rd
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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The Russ/Knicks thing is a great example of why to not blow all your cap space in the first few days of free agency. They signed a bunch of dead weight to one- and two-year deals (not Randle, love Randle) in hopes they'd get Giannis in 2021. They won't because they won't have anyone Giannis wants to play with in 2021 except maybe RJ, and now they're in prime position to add Russ, the best way for NYK to acquire talent outside the draft, but they can't make the move. Russ and the Knicks would be perfect for one another too. Russ would get to go to the fashion capital of the US and the Knicks would get a prototypical Knicks player: in his 30s and on a toxic contract that wrecks the franchise for a half dozen years.

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InvincibleCakeEater
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

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BottenFieldofDreams
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Re: 2019 NBA off-season

Post by BottenFieldofDreams »

Russ is a bonehead, but I find him wildly entertaining. What Harden does can hardly be called basketball, and is a labor to watch. He also may be downright portly by opening night. Interesting mix. I could see conflict between those two.

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