Around the NBA (2018-19 season)

[skywalker33]

The Clippers are about $9 million short for 2 max deals.

I certainly would be willing to absorb Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet into our TPE's.....just to help out the Clippers, of course

[psimanic1]

I wouldnt mind Barton fot Gallo either

[skywalker33]

I wouldnt mind Barton fot Gallo either

PSI double-dipping....1) rid ourselves of Barton and his future salary and 2) getting Gallo back for 1 season to help tutor MPj

[The Rebel]

Reports are out there that the 3rd pick is being shopped for an all star type, the 4th is being shopped to find a piece the Pelicans find desirable. Both in offers for Davis.

The more interesting thing to me though is that the 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th are all reportedly being shopped as well for various reasons.

That is 10 lottery picks out of 14. Teams do not like this draft, and several of those teams are rumored to be looking for proven veteran talent.

I am still of the opinion that Barton has value, he obviously struggled to fit in the offense, but it was obvious he still had the same talent.

I could see a team like the Hornets trading the 12th and Marvin Williams for Barton. Williams is an overpaid expiring but he would make a good 4th big at PF.

The Pelicans reportedly want players and want to make the playoffs next season instead of picks, there are also reports that they like and will probably get Tatum and Smart. That would set their lineup with Okafor at Center and JRue at PG with Smart. That team is desperately going to need bench scoring though, would they rather have Barton than the 14th pick?

I think there are deals to be done to move Barton, and the pick may be ****, but I trust our front office to find the value.

[skywalker33]

Reports are out there that the 3rd pick is being shopped for an all star type, the 4th is being shopped to find a piece the Pelicans find desirable. Both in offers for Davis.

The more interesting thing to me though is that the 5th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th are all reportedly being shopped as well for various reasons.

That is 10 lottery picks out of 14. Teams do not like this draft, and several of those teams are rumored to be looking for proven veteran talent.

I am still of the opinion that Barton has value, he obviously struggled to fit in the offense, but it was obvious he still had the same talent.

I could see a team like the Hornets trading the 12th and Marvin Williams for Barton. Williams is an overpaid expiring but he would make a good 4th big at PF.

I think there are deals to be done to move Barton, and the pick may be ****, but I trust our front office to find the value.

,I agree Barton still has some trade value, really like that CHA/DEN trade proposal and think it could have legs, perhaps MKG instead of Williams works too.

Hearing a lot of Nuggets fans interested in Brandon Clarke, I am on board with this one but I also like Sekou Doumbouya as a combo forward, he's got some good defensive skills, size, agility but is still learning the game a bit. He's shown to have an decent 3-pt range, better than Craig IMO

[U hova]

The Pelicans really milked that cow... I'm actually not afraid of the Lakers despite the names. It depends on how Frank Vogel starts, and how late in the season LeBron decides to start ignoring him, but even if LeBron decides to try his usual thing, the roster isn't catered to his strengths yet (or ADs to be frank). Even if nobody gets hurt that looks like a team that might not even break .500... said another way, Utah, Portland, GSW (even without Durant and Klay), Houston, and dare I say us, all have stronger rosters that will most likely finish in the top spots in the West.

I can make an injury exception on that last statement, but with LeBron missing a month to a groin injury at 34 and AD's career history, it's much more likely that the injury excuse will be used by the Lakers.

[psimanic1]

Shouldn't we give Vanderbilt that 4th big position instead of getting overpriced and old PF?

[skywalker33]

Shouldn't we give Vanderbilt that 4th big position instead of getting overpriced and old PF?

Guess Summer League will be very telling for us this year

[THE J0KER]

New Orleans is going to be a big threat in the near future after Zion comes, and when all young assets they get from the Lakers (Ingram, Ball, 2019#4p) steps into their prime. But if they really going to trade 2019#4 for Bradley Beal, they are some kind of the threat already next season. I think last time when some rookie-star makes an instant impact making of a lottery team overnight playoff 2nd rounder was 15 years ago with Dwyane Wade. Jrue-Beal (+Lonzo) would be one of the best backcourt rotations in the league, Ingram-Zion one of league most talented forward line, and they can buy on FA market center which they want (Vucevic or D.Jordan for example). But if Pelicans decide just to "enjoy the process" of their young players' development, they going to be a non-competitive lottery team, but very relevant already since 2020-21.

It is too early to open the next version (2019-20) of our popular "Western Conference playoff Race" thread until we see what will happen in next 3 weeks (draft, SL, biggest offseason deals), but my first expectations from our Conference are:

↓↓ Golden State (Durant, Klay - out)
↑ Denver (young team growing)
↓ Portland (Nurkic injured)
↑ Houston (underperformed last season)
↑ Utah (they realize they need improvement from FA market)
↑ Oklahoma (underperformed last season)
↓ San Antonio (Aldridge aging)
↑↑ L.A. Clippers (Kawhi?)
↑ Sacramento (young team growing)
↑↑ L.A. Lakers (superteam in making)
↓ Minnesota (no Butler, no Rose, no Gibson, no cap space for improvement)
↑ Dallas (improved Doncic with KP)
↓ New Orleans (rebuilding team, able to compete if they chose that as a priority)
↓ Memphis (I expecting they going to trade for assets Conley too)
↑ Phoenix (young team growing)

So I'm expecting to see only 5 teams declining in the new season compared to the start of the last season, with 10 to improve, which can't be the case all season long, so some of them will gave-up from the season after first big injury or franchise player trade request, like we see last season with Houston and Lakers, and with Pelicans and Minnesota trade drama.

[NuggetsWY]

Shouldn't we give Vanderbilt that 4th big position instead of getting overpriced and old PF?

Guess Summer League will be very telling for us this year

Maybe, but it depends on how they coach the team. If the coaches don't play Vanderbilt much because they feel they already know what he brings and they want to look at some other players ... stuff like that.

We'll see what happens and then we'll know what we saw.

[NuggetsWY]

New Orleans is going to be a big threat in the near future after Zion comes, and when all young assets they get from the Lakers (Ingram, Ball, 2019#4p) steps into their prime. But if they really going to trade 2019#4 for Bradley Beal, they are some kind of the threat already next season. I think last time when some rookie-star makes an instant impact making of a lottery team overnight playoff 2nd rounder was 15 years ago with Dwyane Wade. Jrue-Beal (+Lonzo) would be one of the best backcourt rotations in the league, Ingram-Zion one of league most talented forward line, and they can buy on FA market center which they want (Vucevic or D.Jordan for example). But if Pelicans decide just to "enjoy the process" of their young players' development, they going to be a non-competitive lottery team, but very relevant already since 2020-21.

Spoiler:

It is too early to open the next version (2019-20) of our popular "Western Conference playoff Race" thread until we see what will happen in next 3 weeks (draft, SL, biggest offseason deals), but my first expectations from our Conference are:

↓↓ Golden State (Durant, Klay - out)
↑ Denver (young team growing)
↓ Portland (Nurkic injured)
↑ Houston (underperformed last season)
↑ Utah (they realize they need improvement from FA market)
↑ Oklahoma (underperformed last season)
↓ San Antonio (Aldridge aging)
↑↑ L.A. Clippers (Kawhi?)
↑ Sacramento (young team growing)
↑↑ L.A. Lakers (superteam in making)
↓ Minnesota (no Butler, no Rose, no Gibson, no cap space for improvement)
↑ Dallas (improved Doncic with KP)
↓ New Orleans (rebuilding team, able to compete if they chose that as a priority)
↓ Memphis (I expecting they going to trade for assets Conley too)
↑ Phoenix (young team growing)

So I'm expecting to see only 5 teams declining in the new season compared to the start of the last season, with 10 to improve, which can't be the case all season long, so some of them will gave-up from the season after first big injury or franchise player trade request, like we see last season with Houston and Lakers, and with Pelicans and Minnesota trade drama.

New Orleans - too early to guess - young talent is always a gamble (lots of examples of high picks that didn't make it) plus they have to pull it all together and develop a bench too - plus, just ask the Nuggets, it takes time for young talent to learn how to win.

Race for 1st in the West will be interesting for sure. I don't count Golden State in there but if they have everyone healthy by playoff time, that's when they'll be dangerous. I give Golden State a shot at 1st but not at the top of the list.

I'm not ready to add the Lakers into the race for 1st in the West is because two superstars and one young high potential star can't win without some serious help - not in the modern NBA. We need to see who their 4th & 5th starters will be in who their first 3-4 bench players are. Add to that, if they just have eight solid players and they take a couple of injuries (especially to the big 2); they'll be in trouble.

It's too early to call the rest but without major off-season changes, I'll rank everyone into groups that are roughly equal in my opinion and it's not in any specific sequence within each group.

1st place contenders
Denver
Portland
Houston - with huge questions about what they are going to do
Utah
Play-off contenders
Golden State
LAL
OKC
San Antonio
LAC
Sacramento - thinking they are ready
Looking for 2020-2021
Minnesota
Dallas
New Orleans
Memphis
Phoenix (young team growing)

[U hova]

Utah just got really good... they really could have done this last season though.

[NuggetsWY]

Utah just got really good... they really could have done this last season though.

I still love their game on offense and defense but I still think they are beatable - a tough win for Denver.

[skywalker33]

With Rubio on his way out, Conley will be an upgrade but he'll turn 32yo when this season starts. I though Rubio was pretty good for the Jazz last season. An upgrade for sure but how significant and for how much longer, considering what they gave up .

[THE J0KER]

With so many teams trying to improve, and with big GSW trouble, next season West is going to be one of bloodiest NBA battlefields ever! Look at RealGM site news titles just in the last two days:

Jazz Acquire Mike Conley From Grizzlies
Mavericks Emerge As Favorites To Sign Al Horford
Rockets Intend To Pursue Jimmy Butler
Karl-Anthony Towns Says He's 'Yelling From A Microphone' For D'Angelo Russell
Nuggets Front Office aggressively trying to not change anything until 2026
Warriors Regained Hope Of Kevin Durant Re-Signing After Months Of Expecting Knicks
Lakers Trying To Expand Anthony Davis Trade To Create July 6th Max Contract Slot

If Lakers add a star to two superstars, and Rockets add Butler to Harden, no matter who will go (CP3 or Gordon+Capela), and we not going to change anything - no matter how good regular season we have, in playoff Western Conference final will be harder to reach than last season, despite we are going to improve mostly thanks to Murray improvement, Jokic playing time rising, and MPJ presence. And we still didn't see the final roster of Clippers, and who else will be available to join Curry and Dray in the playoff (Klay? Durant?).

Spoiler:

New Orleans is going to be a big threat in the near future after Zion comes, and when all young assets they get from the Lakers (Ingram, Ball, 2019#4p) steps into their prime. But if they really going to trade 2019#4 for Bradley Beal, they are some kind of the threat already next season. I think last time when some rookie-star makes an instant impact making of a lottery team overnight playoff 2nd rounder was 15 years ago with Dwyane Wade. Jrue-Beal (+Lonzo) would be one of the best backcourt rotations in the league, Ingram-Zion one of league most talented forward line, and they can buy on FA market center which they want (Vucevic or D.Jordan for example). But if Pelicans decide just to "enjoy the process" of their young players' development, they going to be a non-competitive lottery team, but very relevant already since 2020-21.
It is too early to open the next version (2019-20) of our popular "Western Conference playoff Race" thread until we see what will happen in next 3 weeks (draft, SL, biggest offseason deals), but my first expectations from our Conference are:

↓↓ Golden State (Durant, Klay - out)
↑ Denver (young team growing)
↓ Portland (Nurkic injured)
↑ Houston (underperformed last season)
↑ Utah (they realize they need improvement from FA market)
↑ Oklahoma (underperformed last season)
↓ San Antonio (Aldridge aging)
↑↑ L.A. Clippers (Kawhi?)
↑ Sacramento (young team growing)
↑↑ L.A. Lakers (superteam in making)
↓ Minnesota (no Butler, no Rose, no Gibson, no cap space for improvement)
↑ Dallas (improved Doncic with KP)
↓ New Orleans (rebuilding team, able to compete if they chose that as a priority)
↓ Memphis (I expecting they going to trade for assets Conley too)
↑ Phoenix (young team growing)

So I'm expecting to see only 5 teams declining in the new season compared to the start of the last season, with 10 to improve, which can't be the case all season long, so some of them will gave-up from the season after first big injury or franchise player trade request, like we see last season with Houston and Lakers, and with Pelicans and Minnesota trade drama.

New Orleans - too early to guess - young talent is always a gamble (lots of examples of high picks that didn't make it) plus they have to pull it all together and develop a bench too - plus, just ask the Nuggets, it takes time for young talent to learn how to win.

Race for 1st in the West will be interesting for sure. I don't count Golden State in there but if they have everyone healthy by playoff time, that's when they'll be dangerous. I give Golden State a shot at 1st but not at the top of the list.

I'm not ready to add the Lakers into the race for 1st in the West is because two superstars and one young high potential star can't win without some serious help - not in the modern NBA. We need to see who their 4th & 5th starters will be in who their first 3-4 bench players are. Add to that, if they just have eight solid players and they take a couple of injuries (especially to the big 2); they'll be in trouble.

It's too early to call the rest but without major off-season changes, I'll rank everyone into groups that are roughly equal in my opinion and it's not in any specific sequence within each group.

1st place contenders
Denver
Portland
Houston - with huge questions about what they are going to do
Utah
Play-off contenders
Golden State
LAL
OKC
San Antonio
LAC
Sacramento - thinking they are ready
Looking for 2020-2021
Minnesota
Dallas
New Orleans
Memphis
Phoenix (young team growing)

Portland is out of playoff spot in early 2017 when we made that Nurkic+1st for Plumlee dumb deal, and they suddenly started to winning with great W-L record in last part of that 2016-17 season and finished TOP3 of regular seasons of next two seasons. But without Nurkic playing in full-force most of the next season after so hard injury, and with no cap space to re-sign three role players which saved them in 2019 playoff (Aminu, Kanter, Hood), I don't see Portland into TOP4 in the regular season this time. So I will swap them with the Lakers which team will not be deep, which is always bad for regular season efforts, but they will be too good to not miss top4 spot unless some too long LBJ or AD injury.

Clippers are still a big mystery, but if they take Kawhi, it would change everything. Also, OKC can be easy TOP5 WC too. George has the bad finish of the season but played on TOP5 level before the all-star break, while Westbrook has a bad start but was TOP10 after ASG. If they will play their prime game together (around TOP10 both) they are elite team too.

[skywalker33]

With so many teams trying to improve, and with big GSW trouble, next season West is going to be one of bloodiest NBA battlefields ever! Look at RealGM site news titles just in the last two days:

Jazz Acquire Mike Conley From Grizzlies
Mavericks Emerge As Favorites To Sign Al Horford
Rockets Intend To Pursue Jimmy Butler
Karl-Anthony Towns Says He's 'Yelling From A Microphone' For D'Angelo Russell


Nuggets Front Office aggressively trying to not change anything until 2026

Can't say I saw that one on RealGM/Wiretap......Add that one yourself ???


Warriors Regained Hope Of Kevin Durant Re-Signing After Months Of Expecting Knicks
Lakers Trying To Expand Anthony Davis Trade To Create July 6th Max Contract Slot

If Lakers add a star to two superstars, and Rockets add Butler to Harden, no matter who will go (CP3 or Gordon+Capela), and we not going to change anything - no matter how good regular season we have, in playoff Western Conference final will be harder to reach than last season, despite we are going to improve mostly thanks to Murray improvement, Jokic playing time rising, and MPJ presence. And we still didn't see the final roster of Clippers, and who else will be available to join Curry and Dray in the playoff (Klay? Durant?).

[NuggetsWY]

The more I think about the Conley trade, the less I like it. It isn't about Conley; I think he'll be a great running mate to Mitchell. It's about the depth they gave up. Conley will be their best PG - by far. Mitchell will be their only true SG - they'll be looking for one. Three decent SFs but only one quality PF and only one quality center. I count seven players that they can count on. They'll need 2-4 more (since injuries happen).

Jae Crowder was easily their best backup PF and he was in this trade. He also averaged 27 mpg (5th on the team) and fifth on the team in ppg and third on the team in FGA and second in 3PA. He was third for rebounds - in other words, he was a significant contributor.

Their two backup SGs in Kyle Korver & Grayson Allen were included. Granted they are still deep at SF but not with guys that can play SG.

Two 1st round picks - that hurts their future but they appear to be trying to compete now.

[THE J0KER]

...Look at RealGM site news titles just in the last two days:

Jazz Acquire Mike Conley From Grizzlies
Mavericks Emerge As Favorites To Sign Al Horford
Rockets Intend To Pursue Jimmy Butler
Karl-Anthony Towns Says He's 'Yelling From A Microphone' For D'Angelo Russell
Nuggets Front Office aggressively trying to not change anything until 2026
Warriors Regained Hope Of Kevin Durant Re-Signing After Months Of Expecting Knicks
Lakers Trying To Expand Anthony Davis Trade To Create July 6th Max Contract Slot

Can't say I saw that one on RealGM/Wiretap......Add that one yourself ???

Of course, I put it intentionally there, to be in contrast with all other real RealGM news from past 48 hours related to Western Conference. What happens with your sense of humor? Isn't the ironic phrase "aggressively trying to not do anything" too obvious sarcasm? I even put a ridiculous date (2026) if someone still has some doubts. But my point with this joke is deadly serious. Silence from our FO which is not involved even in any FA or trade rumor is painful, and maybe suggest that they ignore our current forward problem, and also ignore the fact that now is the latest moment to trade Barton without notable assets lose (with limited minutes next season, his value will disappear like in Faried case previously), and which is worse, their zero activity in trying to find an extra at least TOP40 player to add Jokic and Murray maybe suggest they don't care too much about big goals.

The more I think about the Conley trade, the less I like it. It isn't about Conley; I think he'll be a great running mate to Mitchell. It's about the depth they gave up. Conley will be their best PG - by far.

Spoiler:

Mitchell will be their only true SG - they'll be looking for one. Three decent SFs but only one quality PF and only one quality center. I count seven players that they can count on. They'll need 2-4 more (since injuries happen).

Jae Crowder was easily their best backup PF and he was in this trade. He also averaged 27 mpg (5th on the team) and fifth on the team in ppg and third on the team in FGA and second in 3PA. He was third for rebounds - in other words, he was a significant contributor.

Their two backup SGs in Kyle Korver & Grayson Allen were included. Granted they are still deep at SF but not with guys that can play SG.

Two 1st round picks - that hurts their future but they appear to be trying to compete now.

All depending on what is Utah priority. If they want the better regular season record this is a step back for Utah, because they will lose bench depth without Crowder and Korver, with starter Rubio leaving. But in terms of playoff potential, this new Utah is a clearly better team if Gobert, Mitchell, Conley (+Ingles) be healthy during April and May. Utah has the wrong strategy last summer wasting offseason on re-signing own players Favours and Exum instead trying to add some proven name to Gobert and Mitchell. They learn their lesson from that, but I'm afraid that we didn't learn anything from the same Plumlee/Barton mistake, and we going to repeat it once again this summer, focusing only to re-sign Paul Millsap.

[U hova]

Conley is a huge upgrade over Rubio. Much like us, Utah's short comings in the post season came from their inability to hit a shot from behind the arc. Replacing Rubio with Conley not only gives them a bump in perimeter shooting, but also let's Mitchell not be the prime focus of the defense. It's a subtle but huge move they made but I think it really puts them over the top.

As far as his age and the implications on their window... Gobert, Ingles and Favors are in their primes right now. Especially with the Durant and Klay Thompson injuries, Houston's stars imploding into a supernova, without a doubt this is going to be their 1 and only 1 opportunity to get deep and possibly win it all.

And quite frankly I don't like our match-up with them. The season series is 1-3, with the 1 win being that game where Mitchell got hurt and Plumlee hit a 3 and did a little bobblehead shake. The other 3 were pretty brutal beatdowns as I recall...

They only won 50 games last season, but based on their offense/defense, they were expected to win at least 4 more games - situational misses tanked their overall record, but they were basically the 2nd best team in the West going by net rating. We were actually the exact opposite and won 3 more games than we were expected to going by team offensive/defensive rating. (I can think of 2 Jokic game-winners that helped flipped the numbers).

Utah might seriously be my pick for the top 1 spot this season. They have everything except for a "star" but their defensive consistency should allow them to grind possessions out so that they don't need to rely on situational brilliance for games. Also their coach is actually worth his words.

[skywalker33]

UTH's acquisition of Conley really made their backcourt talented but very short, Conley only 6'1 and Donovan at 6'3, wonder how they'll compensate ?? Exum is their only guard over 6'5 and not so sure I'd count on him with all his injuries.

Time to Post Up !!