Discussing Other Teams' Moves

[Rafael122]

Lakers had two first round picks this year but traded them away. Too bad, they probably could have gotten a couple of solid rotational players and gotten younger in the process.

[closg00]

Lakers had two first round picks this year but traded them away. Too bad, they probably could have gotten a couple of solid rotational players and gotten younger in the process.

[tontoz]

Rico: I thought we were trying to fix Orlando.

Dude, that's so 20 minutes ago! On to the Lakers!

I just lost interest. Laker fans in general, and Kobe butt sniffers specifically, have gotten on my nerves to the point that I don't mind seeing them fall apart.

What the Lakers oughta do is trade Kobe. They should be able to get a lot for him since he's the best player in the league...oh wait...he's 33. MAYBE Lebron is a little better now. Maybe. Or MAYBE Durant. But Kobe's still 2 or 3.

I think the Kobe fanboys and sports radio guys have teamed up to make you a little bitter lol. Not that i have a problem with that but it seemed like you made it through a season of horrible Wizards basketball relatively unfazed.

[willbcocks]

The lakers aren't overflowing with talent, but they've still got a lot. Sessions and Barnes should be useful players. Gasol should be better than he is. Even Bynum should be better than he is.

What I saw in the series was a team that did not have a clear system, and a bunch of guys who couldn't play their games because they had to defer to Kobe's 1 on 5 basketball at the end of games. His numbers for the series look amazing, and he's still a very good player, but he was not making any of his teammates better, and was probably making some of them worse.

[Nivek]

Now that the Lakers are out of the series I can stop mocking the Kobe acolytes and give him credit for having some really good playoff games. By my measure, he was better overall in the playoffs than he was during the regular season. His usage was extremely high, but he was efficient overall despite struggling in some 4th quarters.

Looking game by game, he had some really bad performances -- game 3 against Denver and game 1 against OKC he had net negative scores in my system. In addition, he rated below average in games 4 and 7 against Denver, and game 2 against OKC. But he also had 5 terrific games in the playoffs where his rating was right around Lebron's average for the full season -- games 2 and 5 against Denver, and 3-5 against OKC.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

http://www.nerdnumbers.com/splits?team= ... F22%2F2012

The guy who hurt the Lakers the most according to nerd numbers was Ramon Sessions. Matt Barnes was next. Believe it or not, Kobe had the next most negative overall 12 games of the Laker playoff run. Bynum had a strong playoffs, according to nerd numbers. Jordan Hill and even Pau had slightly positive numbers.

Moving forward, Pau's play was not good relative to what he gets paid and I am pretty sure he is as good as traded. The Lakers probably need to upgrade at PG the most. Sessions didn't get it done in the playoffs. Kobe needs to pass the ball inside much more to Bynum.

Troy Murphy, Josh McRoberts, Devin Ebanks should all be replaced. Barnes should go, too, IMO.

[Nivek]

There are a few things I don't like about Wins Produced. One of them is that I think efficiency is actually overvalued in that metric. Which I know sounds weird coming from me, but...that's what my analysis says. In WP, a player gets no credit for any scoring from the floor when he shoots less than 50% from the field. League average efg this season was .487.

PER goes too far the other way. A player can increase his PER merely by shooting more so long as he shoots better than .298 from the floor.

In my own research, a player starts contributing with his scoring from the field at about 42% (the number varies from year to year, but that's where the line fell this year). To illustrate, consider the example of Dirk Nowitzki. This season had an efg of .495 -- better than the league average. For the season, Wins Produced would say that Dirk's shooting was a slight net NEGATIVE for the Mavericks this season. Dirk would get "credits" back for his free throws, as well as "credits" for his non-scoring activity. But WP sets the efficiency bar too high.

If you're doing the Goldilocks tour of rating metrics, PER doesn't value efficiency enough, Wins Produced overvalues it, mine is just right.

[verbal8]

It is interesting the Magic are interviewing Shaq for the GM opening.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... GM_Vacancy

[dangermouse]

Gasol + something to the Hawks for Josh Smith and Marv makes sense for both teams. I dont know what that something could be. On the surface it seems skewed in the Lakers favor, but I think Gasol comes in for the Hawks at C with Hordford playing PF and really does some damage to an eastern confrence that is really lacking in quality centres.

Then of course Lakers should try Bynum for Dwight again. Dwight probably re-ups to stay with his friend Josh.

As a huge Laker hater i hope none of this happens though.

[fishercob]

Gasol + something to the Hawks for Josh Smith and Marv makes sense for both teams. I dont know what that something could be. On the surface it seems skewed in the Lakers favor, but I think Gasol comes in for the Hawks at C with Hordford playing PF and really does some damage to an eastern confrence that is really lacking in quality centres.

Then of course Lakers should try Bynum for Dwight again. Dwight probably re-ups to stay with his friend Josh.

As a huge Laker hater i hope none of this happens though.

it actually doesnt make sense for Atlanta. Instead of having 4 players tie up most of their cap space, they would have 3 players tie up most of their cap space. That model might work with superstars (might) but not with joe Johnson, gasol and Horford.

[closg00]

A discussion of the NBA's top executives and the moves that they made.
http://www.hoopsworld.com/breaking-down ... executives

[LyricalRico]

How about this idea for the Pacers:

Indy trades: George and Collison
Sacto trades: Evans

Maybe the Pacers need to include more, but I think it's interesting. Indy gets a guy who can get his own shot, and Sacto re-balances their team.

[verbal8]

I haven't done much research to back this up, but it seems to me in general that successful teams tend to draft talent and trade for fit. The Spurs are what brought this to mind. Stephen Jackson and Diaw are guys who definitely fit with the Spurs, but would be less valuable with other teams.

[Ruzious]

How about this idea for the Pacers:

Indy trades: George and Collison
Sacto trades: Evans

Maybe the Pacers need to include more, but I think it's interesting. Indy gets a guy who can get his own shot, and Sacto re-balances their team.

Interesting idea - though I think Indy has no intention of trading George - and Evans' trade value has dropped. If Indy can get Evans cheaper - maybe.

[Ruzious]

I haven't done much research to back this up, but it seems to me in general that successful teams tend to draft talent and trade for fit. The Spurs are what brought this to mind. Stephen Jackson and Diaw are guys who definitely fit with the Spurs, but would be less valuable with other teams.

True - though all their success starts with having their big 3 and being so smart over the years in limiting their minutes. Diaw gives them the Tony Kukoc type glue player, and Jackson is someone you probably don't want on your team except for this situation - so yeah - really smart short-term pickups by a great organization.

[Rafael122]

Wouldn't be surprised if the Hornets make the playoffs in the next 2 years. They got Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis, they need a point so they have their pickings of Damien Lillard or Kendall Marshall. Money to spend.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

^yep. The Hornets are going to get good, fast.

Makes me pretty jealous to tell the truth

[closg00]

Pritchard is the Pacers new GM *Sniffle*

[fishercob]

Underrated tidbit in terms of offseason dominos: Jameer Nelson is opting out of the final year of his deal in Orlando (at $8M+) so as to avoid being traded. This could shake out in a couple of different directions for the Magic. On the one hand, they now really have no point guard. On the other, this opens up a nice chunk of cap room for them; they'd only be at about $52M and Anderson's RFA tender is only $3M. If I was them I would go hard after Nash, hire D'antoni and at least make basketball fun again in Orlando. I think they'd be really good.

If they don't get Nash or (and I'm assuming they have no shot at Deron or Lin) they're really screwed. That franchise is in enough disarray, but with no competent point guard everything would surely crumble to pieces.

[Ruzious]

Underrated tidbit in terms of offseason dominos: Jameer Nelson is opting out of the final year of his deal in Orlando (at $8M+) so as to avoid being traded. This could shake out in a couple of different directions for the Magic. On the one hand, they now really have no point guard. On the other, this opens up a nice chunk of cap room for them; they'd only be at about $52M and Anderson's RFA tender is only $3M. If I was them I would go hard after Nash, hire D'antoni and at least make basketball fun again in Orlando. I think they'd be really good.

If they don't get Nash or (and I'm assuming they have no shot at Deron or Lin) they're really screwed. That franchise is in enough disarray, but with no competent point guard everything would surely crumble to pieces.

If I were in Orlando and a fan (a Magician?), I'd be saying "Thank you Jameer. (And it's a nice day to go to Disney.)" Maybe Nash gets Howard excited about staying - though ya gotta wonder how long Nash can stay near the top of his game.