ATL - Offseason - 72 Game Season Begins 12/22

[Ron Swanson]

True, but it's hard to put into words just how bad Dennis Smith Jr. was last season. Nowhere to go but up, I guess?

Rashad Vaughn with a green light and irrational confidence.

He's got way more talent than Vaughn ever had but this seems accurate.

[raysbookclub]

Any real threats to LA next season? I’m down on the Bucks, Denver needs another solid piece, as do the Heat. That leaves the Clips as their only major threat for now and who the hells knows how that will turn out.

Maybe the warriors if they can trade that pick for a solid piece.

The Lakers are really really good but I don't think they're some juggernaut. Miami took them to 6 with Dragic out basically the whole series, Bam missing 2 games and being clearly less than 100% in the games he did play. And their other opponents outside of Denver frankly weren't that good. A healthy GSW trio + what they can get for #2, Clippers with a better coach, and the Bucks with some smart roster tweaks can absolutely beat them. If Boston can beef up their big man rotation they have a shot too.

I would add that perhaps no one benefited more from the long break between March and the bubble than LeBron did. Next year may be a shortened season again, so again that benefits him. We'll see how the season look, but it's hard to see the Lakers as a juggernaut with LeBron a year older.

[DingleJerry]

Agree. And they don't really have an easy route to adding a 3rd 'star' type player. As long as they're 2 mega stars then blah after that they're not an unbeatable juggernaut. Especially when one is 35 and the other is constantly laying on the floor with some kind of injury.

Granted, they're the Lakers so somehow by next deadline they'll have Bradley Beal too and not had to give anyone up.

[JayMKE]

I think if next years playoffs are played normally as in with fans in home arenas or at least in home arenas, I think the results this year would have been a lot different under normal circumstances as HCA and how composed of a road team you are on the road is so incredibly important in the playoffs.

[coolhandluke121]

I said this once before but I think it got overlooked with all the complaints about various players, coaches, refs, executives: the lack of travel hurt the Bucks in the bubble. The reason is because they are a pretty deep team. When everyone can easily shorten their rotation to 8 guys, it's a bigger advantage for other teams than it is for the Bucks, whose 9th or 10th or even 11th man could easily be as good as their 6th man on any given night - especially considering how poorly DDV and Hill played. Having to travel, with the well-documented issues of fatigue, would make it harder for other teams to play such short rotations. This is always an issue in the playoffs and is part of the reason the Bucks are better in the regular season, but it was magnified by the lack of travel.

This is not a huge factor, but when you combine it with losing homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs, I think it matters. That is not to discount other issues that have been rehashed countless times either.

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

Would miss him in the booth.

[emunney]

Read on Twitter

Would miss him in the booth.

I don't think he's a bad coach but he's THE BEST announcer.

[Prez]

Chris Finch in Indy would be really interesting, it’s a bummer Oladipo is a shell of himself and both he and Turner want out. A fully healthy Pacers squad with Finch could’ve been really dangerous.

[JayMKE]

All the coaching hires are retread city, I don't get it at all.

[coolhandluke121]

Chris Finch in Indy would be really interesting, it’s a bummer Oladipo is a shell of himself and both he and Turner want out. A fully healthy Pacers squad with Finch could’ve been really dangerous.

Turner wants out? I didn't know that. I think he's kind of overrated but that's intriguing with Oladipo too. I think if you watched workouts, you'd think Turner is twice the player Brook is, but if you actually watch them play, Brook is just so much smarter or something. It wouldn't be a significant drop-off by any means though, and I really don't want to see Brook in the last year of his new contract.

[freewhitemoon]

All the coaching hires are retread city, I don't get it at all.

GMs know that if they hire some established coach and it dosen't turn out well, they won't get as much blame

[DrWood]

Chris Finch in Indy would be really interesting, it’s a bummer Oladipo is a shell of himself and both he and Turner want out. A fully healthy Pacers squad with Finch could’ve been really dangerous.

Turner wants out? I didn't know that. I think he's kind of overrated but that's intriguing with Oladipo too. I think if you watched workouts, you'd think Turner is twice the player Brook is, but if you actually watch them play, Brook is just so much smarter or something. It wouldn't be a significant drop-off by any means though, and I really don't want to see Brook in the last year of his new contract.

He's 24 and he's better than brook.

[Ron Swanson]

I've always been a card-carrying member of the Myles Turner bandwagon, but he's absolutely never been a better player than BroLo.

[Chuck Diesel]

I've always been a card-carrying member of the Myles Turner bandwagon, but he's absolutely never been a better player than BroLo.

*Except on Team USA.

[DingleJerry]

I've always been a card-carrying member of the Myles Turner bandwagon, but he's absolutely never been a better player than BroLo.

Probably true as Turner is so young. But their lines are about to cross as Brook ages and Turner theoretically improves. I'd be all for adding Turner as a solid big man fit with Giannis in that he can shoot ok from 3, is the correct age, signed on a reasonable contract, more athletic than Brook so the switching/drop issues aren't as bad, might have a big level of improvement in him when put into an environment like this pushed by Giannis.

[CharityStripe34]

A motivated Turner playing next to Gianni can be intriguing. Especially defensively. Maybe this will allow him to actually take the challenge and guard primary scorers as opposed to playing free-safety.

[Bucksfan28]

Where would Minny rank if they could flip #1 for Beal? On paper that seems like a top 4 team but the West is stacked.

[DingleJerry]

Where would Minny rank if they could flip #1 for Beal? On paper that seems like a top 4 team but the West is stacked.

No franchise should want expansion more than MN so they can moved to the East. I know other teams might technically be more East but with them isolated by themselves up there as the only West team I think they'd be the first one to move over if teams were added in Seattle and Vegas.

[Ron Swanson]

He's still only 24 but I don't exactly see Turner as a guy who has this sort of next-level upside waiting to be untapped. He's a slightly longer, slightly less athletic version of prime Serge Ibaka. If you're counting on him to be anything more than your 4th-5th best player then you're in trouble.

[LuessiT]

He's still only 24 but I don't exactly see Turner as a guy who has this sort of next-level upside waiting to be untapped. He's a slightly longer, slightly less athletic version of prime Serge Ibaka. If you're counting on him to be anything more than your 4th-5th best player then you're in trouble.

Also the asking price last year was extremely high. There were reports that New Orleans went hard after him and couldn't land him. He's a high level role player imo.