All things Offseason of Champions Thread

[Kizz Fastfists]

btw it looks like CP3 wants to stay in LA so Denver probably won't sign him. I'm also not sure how much he has left in the tank at his age.

Given what CP3 did last season I'm going to assume that he has enough left in the tank to be a very good backup PG next year. He started 82 games for the first time since '14-'15. He's not CP3 of 6 years ago, but Denver, or another contender, doesn't need that. He can give you a solid 20-24 MPG, he's still shooting 37% from 3, on good volume, but he's not getting to the rim like he used to. His game has evolved, but he is still performing at a high level. If LAL signs him then it won't matter as he can't elevate them and they'll run him into the ground. LAC could be interesting, GSW could be interesting and Sacramento would be puzzling, but Sacramento could try to make it work with a lot of small ball.

It really depends on the priorities. If CP3 wants to try to finish off his career with a ring I think Denver makes the most sense. You can make a case for LAC giving him a chance. If he just wants to play ball and stay close to him then LAL might be the answer as they are desperate for competent bodies. If we assume Ayton is motivated and reverts to 2021 form where he helped lead the Suns to the Finals and their top of 3 of LeBron, Luka and Ayton are all great next year they still have no depth and will be trying to run all three of them 40+ MPG in the playoffs. LAL had 5 players that played 34+ MPG in the playoffs last year. For comparison, OKC only had SGA and JDub playing 34+ MPG in the playoffs.

[Dadouv47]

btw it looks like CP3 wants to stay in LA so Denver probably won't sign him. I'm also not sure how much he has left in the tank at his age.

Given what CP3 did last season I'm going to assume that he has enough left in the tank to be a very good backup PG next year. He started 82 games for the first time since '14-'15. He's not CP3 of 6 years ago, but Denver, or another contender, doesn't need that. He can give you a solid 20-24 MPG, he's still shooting 37% from 3, on good volume, but he's not getting to the rim like he used to. His game has evolved, but he is still performing at a high level. If LAL signs him then it won't matter as he can't elevate them and they'll run him into the ground. LAC could be interesting, GSW could be interesting and Sacramento would be puzzling, but Sacramento could try to make it work with a lot of small ball.

It really depends on the priorities. If CP3 wants to try to finish off his career with a ring I think Denver makes the most sense. You can make a case for LAC giving him a chance. If he just wants to play ball and stay close to him then LAL might be the answer as they are desperate for competent bodies. If we assume Ayton is motivated and reverts to 2021 form where he helped lead the Suns to the Finals and their top of 3 of LeBron, Luka and Ayton are all great next year they still have no depth and will be trying to run all three of them 40+ MPG in the playoffs. LAL had 5 players that played 34+ MPG in the playoffs last year. For comparison, OKC only had SGA and JDub playing 34+ MPG in the playoffs.

He was playing for a lottery team...e can't play 20 min per game with prime CP3 defense like he used to. He's was a great defender but he's gonna be a liability on that end if he plays that much. That being said he can be very helpful for a 10-12 stretch helping a bench unit and impose his pace and would help the Nuggets given their lack of depth and playmaker with their second unit. Still think and hope he will stay in LA.

[Dadouv47]

Free agency and trades are not over but overall I think the West depth at the top got worse despite the two main OKC rivals getting better (Houston and Denver). Minny lost NAW, Lakers hoping a miracle from skinny Doncic and Ayton; I don't buy Kyrie coming back healthy enough from ACL for the Mavs to contend and even if the Clippers still have a great roster they need a miracle for Kawhi to stay healthy.

Feel the same about the East...only the Cavs could beat an healthy Thunder squad. That being said nobody thought the Pacers would go to game 7 in the finals so who knows what can happen.

[Dadouv47]

boring day. Can we get a JDub extension?

Need It today

And then we all eat cupcakes.

Read on Twitter

/photo/1

this year I can finally look at this and smile.

[Devilanche]

btw it looks like CP3 wants to stay in LA so Denver probably won't sign him. I'm also not sure how much he has left in the tank at his age.

Given what CP3 did last season I'm going to assume that he has enough left in the tank to be a very good backup PG next year. He started 82 games for the first time since '14-'15. He's not CP3 of 6 years ago, but Denver, or another contender, doesn't need that. He can give you a solid 20-24 MPG, he's still shooting 37% from 3, on good volume, but he's not getting to the rim like he used to. His game has evolved, but he is still performing at a high level. If LAL signs him then it won't matter as he can't elevate them and they'll run him into the ground. LAC could be interesting, GSW could be interesting and Sacramento would be puzzling, but Sacramento could try to make it work with a lot of small ball.

It really depends on the priorities. If CP3 wants to try to finish off his career with a ring I think Denver makes the most sense. You can make a case for LAC giving him a chance. If he just wants to play ball and stay close to him then LAL might be the answer as they are desperate for competent bodies. If we assume Ayton is motivated and reverts to 2021 form where he helped lead the Suns to the Finals and their top of 3 of LeBron, Luka and Ayton are all great next year they still have no depth and will be trying to run all three of them 40+ MPG in the playoffs. LAL had 5 players that played 34+ MPG in the playoffs last year. For comparison, OKC only had SGA and JDub playing 34+ MPG in the playoffs.

He was playing for a lottery team...e can't play 20 min per game with prime CP3 defense like he used to. He's was a great defender but he's gonna be a liability on that end if he plays that much. That being said he can be very helpful for a 10-12 stretch helping a bench unit and impose his pace and would help the Nuggets given their lack of depth and playmaker with their second unit. Still think and hope he will stay in LA.

He’s probably staying home and signing up at trade deadline with OKC .

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

it's so good to be a Thunder fan right now

[Devilanche]

Read on Twitter

it's so good to be a Thunder fan right now

Didn’t watch it , but how is topic playing ? Scared and tentative or just seems like getting back to stuff

[Dadouv47]

Read on Twitter

it's so good to be a Thunder fan right now

Didn’t watch it , but how is topic playing ? Scared and tentative or just seems like getting back to stuff

getting back to stuff. I like Topic but my concern is the lack of minutes for him to develop and he already lost a year on his rookie contract. I think drafting him was a great idea because we needed another ball handler but somehow we found Ajay too so now that's one too many guy that won't have enough minutes to develop. We have Topic for 3 more seasons under rookie contract so when will he be able to help us in the playoffs? Next year at best and still might not be playing if Ajay stays healthy and is playing well.

My point is that if we could trade Topic for a decent shooting wing prospect drafted in the 2025 draft we should do it even if it's a lower ceiling kind of player. The extra year of rookie contract + shooting would be much needed.

[1bigfan13]

Didn’t watch it , but how is topic playing ? Scared and tentative or just seems like getting back to stuff

I thought he looked pretty good. He showed a nice handle and was able to get to his spots in order to create for himself and others.

I also like his shot form. Very quick release which means he doesn't need a ton of space to get his shot off. Three point accuracy should improve with more reps as he gets older and continues to work with Chip Engelland.

I tried to pay attention to his defense to get an idea of how much work he needs on that end. Nothing really stood out good or bad. But I think that could be mainly due to the disjointed style of play that is Summer League b-ball.

Admittedly I don't know much about him but my initial reaction is we may have found ourselves another Giddey but with a better shot.

[Dadouv47]

Didn’t watch it , but how is topic playing ? Scared and tentative or just seems like getting back to stuff

I thought he looked pretty good. He showed a nice handle and was able to get to his spots in order to create for himself and others.

I also like his shot form. Very quick release which means he doesn't need a ton of space to get his shot off. Three point accuracy should improve with more reps as he gets older and continues to work with Chip Engelland.

I tried to pay attention to his defense to get an idea of how much work he needs on that end. Nothing really stood out good or bad. But I think that could be mainly due to the disjointed style of play that is Summer League b-ball.

Admittedly I don't know much about him but my initial reaction is we may have found ourselves another Giddey but with a better shot.

fine with that if Topic can defend a bit better than Giddey (won't be as good as Josh in the passing game but just need a guy that can do a bit of everything)

[spearsy23]

Watching summer league is for fun, you can't actually learn anything about guys in that environment.

[Dadouv47]

Watching summer league is for fun, you can't actually learn anything about guys in that environment.

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

[spearsy23]

Watching summer league is for fun, you can't actually learn anything about guys in that environment.

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

[Dadouv47]

Watching summer league is for fun, you can't actually learn anything about guys in that environment.

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

Topic isn't Luka either. He was a consensus top 5 pick in a draft with Sarr and Risacher. Super talented but super young guy that is gonna need some decent time to develop IMO.

[spearsy23]

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

Topic isn't Luka either. He was a consensus top 5 pick in a draft with Sarr and Risacher. Super talented but super young guy that is gonna need some decent time to develop IMO.

Sure, but we're talking about rookie Cam Payne counting stats from Ajay last year. He was fantastic for a Rookie 2nd round pick, he wasn't actually a remarkable player. If topic was worth his hype he'll show enough in practices to force himself into minutes.

[Dadouv47]

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

Topic isn't Luka either. He was a consensus top 5 pick in a draft with Sarr and Risacher. Super talented but super young guy that is gonna need some decent time to develop IMO.

Sure, but we're talking about rookie Cam Payne counting stats from Ajay last year. He was fantastic for a Rookie 2nd round pick, he wasn't actually a remarkable player. If topic was worth his hype he'll show enough in practices to force himself into minutes.

Ajay was so much better than Cam Payne. I probably need to check defensive stats but I think he was way better than what you pretend and Cam Payne was a huge defensive liability. I was the first one to have some doubt and I thought he was having a fluke start of season (I'm belgian and never heard of him before he got drafted so it looked odd to me) but it looks like he's legit.
I know that Topic ceiling is higher than Ajay but I want a good back up PG for the next 2 seasons or so and I think it's more likely it's gonna be Ajay than Topic. I would obviously take Topic long term in a vacuum of course but OKC goal is to have players that can perform well under rookie contracts (or cheap contracts like the one Ajay signed).

I get Wiggins vibes from Ajay in the sense that he's decent/good at pretty much everything but not elite either. I hope Topic can develop faster than I think. Bright side is that the odds of one of them becoming a good back up PG are pretty good.

[Xatticus]

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

Topic isn't Luka either. He was a consensus top 5 pick in a draft with Sarr and Risacher. Super talented but super young guy that is gonna need some decent time to develop IMO.

Development isn't restricted to NBA floor time. He has a lot to work on if he is going to become a good NBA player and he is in a good environment for development.

You can't plan for a season with the assumption that everyone will be healthy. There will be more minutes for almost everyone than one can anticipate at this point in the season because the unforeseen occurs regularly.

His job is to work hard and to improve. If he demonstrates his talent and ability to contribute, the minutes will be there.

[Devilanche]

Watching summer league is for fun, you can't actually learn anything about guys in that environment.

of course but don't think we needed a summer league game to understand that it's gonna be tricky for Topic to have enough playing time in OKC if Ajay gets back to his pre injury shape.

I don't know, it topic is what was advertised then I think he easily beats out a solid backup pg, even if that guy was a rookie last year. If topic can't beat him out or force rotation minutes over Joe then it's not a developmental issue but an issue with where he was in the process to begin with.

Summer league might not mean anything for their nba chances but if a ballhandler is bad there , it’s not looking good for their immediate nba chance.

Topic is coming back from a full season back so not sure it should be a reflection of him or Ajay if he doesn’t immediately beat Ajay out of the backup spot. No clue how he will perform immediately on the defensive side of the game .

[Dadouv47]

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not concerned about Beal to the Clippers but CP3 + John Colins would fit tremendously well into their team. Feels like Kizz is the new Clippers GM.

[Dadouv47]

Presti better not wait until JDub/Chet days to announce their extensions because it's in July 27h and July 28th if I'm not mistaken.