Around the NBA, 2018-19 Season thread

[MrDollarBills]

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Umm I feel pretty good about the Billy King trade ATM

Wow. Talk about an ass **** ing.

I would have just given up Kyle Kuzma as opposed to all of that. The Lakers are being run by morons

LA can still sign anothe max free agent if timed right plus who's to say we can't sign another all star when Lebron's deal runs out having Davis on board already?

I've read your posts full with animosity towards the Lakers but whatever keeps you cool

Even if everything goes wrong as you wish and new orleans ends with all of those future picks if it gives LA a 3-4 years championship window and win 2 rings I don't give a flying F!

I don't wish for anything bad for the Lakers. I'm not sure how my post hurt you.

Either way, good luck...I have a feeling you guys may not like how this ends in the long run.

[MGrand15]

Billy King's stupid trade isn't close to this one. We traded for a fading Pierce and KG. They were 36 and 37. Joe Johnson was already 32. Deron falling off a cliff was the icing on the cake but there was a real possibility we'd only get 1-2 years of those guys.

Davis is a superstar. Only 26. And willing to sign a 5 year contract with the Lakers in his absolute prime. Right off the bat, that significantly raises your floor. Injuries are always possible but that's not nearly as bad as what happened to us. We were left with nothing.

[DeRoma]

Billy King's stupid trade isn't close to this one. We traded for a fading Pierce and KG. They were 36 and 37. Joe Johnson was already 32. Deron falling off a cliff was the icing on the cake but there was a real possibility we'd only get 1-2 years of those guys.

Davis is a superstar. Only 26. And willing to sign a 5 year contract with the Lakers in his absolute prime. Right off the bat, that significantly raises your floor. Injuries are always possible but that's not nearly as bad as what happened to us. We were left with nothing.

But all the information we have now were so subtle views at that moment in time. You can also say it's very similar with the Lakers their opportunity might be better just cuz Lebron and AD are better but they are literally one injury away from ruining their whole entire team.

[bud29]

FWIW that original report from Bontemps is a bit off. The Pels' actual compensation goes like this, per New Orleans beat writers:

*Lakers 2019 1st rounder (pick 4)
*Lakers 2021 1st round pick with reverse top 8 protection; pick only conveys if it falls in the top 8
*Lakers 2022 1st round pick, unprotected, if 2021 pick did not convey (this is probably going to be the double draft with high schoolers)
*Swap rights with Lakers in 2023
*Lakers 2024 1st round pick, unprotected; Pelicans have the option to defer and receive the Lakers' unprotected 2025 pick instead

So all in all, that's 3 first rounders and 1 pick swap, not two.

[gigantes]

Billy King's stupid trade isn't close to this one. We traded for a fading Pierce and KG. They were 36 and 37. Joe Johnson was already 32. Deron falling off a cliff was the icing on the cake but there was a real possibility we'd only get 1-2 years of those guys.

Davis is a superstar. Only 26. And willing to sign a 5 year contract with the Lakers in his absolute prime. Right off the bat, that significantly raises your floor. Injuries are always possible but that's not nearly as bad as what happened to us. We were left with nothing.

But all the information we have now were so subtle views at that moment in time. You can also say it's very similar with the Lakers their opportunity might be better just cuz Lebron and AD are better but they are literally one injury away from ruining their whole entire team.

Yeah, that has to be a serious concern. That if one of those two go down, the one who's left is stuck playing with an awful roster, far worse than what either of them had last season.

It's true Pelinka still has money to spend on a major talent and some complimentary players, but it's still going to be a shallow roster. It seems to me he's also under significant pressure to find some good shooters to get the most out of 'Bron & AD. That success or failure could make or break the season.

LeBron will also turn 35 three months in to the season, and despite him having a workout / health regimen par excellence, it seems a little scary to be leaning on him as hard as they're going to need to.

I'll agree that at best they they have everything they need to win a championship, assuming good signings this summer, but at worst they probably have the potential to implode on a major stage.

[Prokorov]

The lakers dealing 5 picks is nothing like when the Nets dealt 5 picks:

1) the lakers are banking on Lebron/AD, two top 5 players + a third near max/max being good. not deron/brook lopez being good. The floor of either of those guys is higher then that of what we had with the trio of brook, deron, and JJ

2) the lakers dont need picks. they are the lakers. free agents will ALWAYS line up to play of the lakers. even if they are awful. case in point: lebron signing with an awful laker team. PG wanting to sign with the lakers before being dealt to OKC. Kawhi asking to be dealt to the lakers or clippers and considering the lakers now in Fa per reports. The nets needed picks after the deron era, because they cant rely on free agency the way the lakers can

3) the upside of lebron + AD is multiple titles. the upside of the deron/brook/KG/pierce nets was ECF run

[gigantes]

Just because the Lakers have FA appeal, etc, I think there's still a chance they could crash & burn.

Big-name signings tie up big money, and don't always work out. And unlike some leagues, the NBA cap is a delicate, complex thing to manage for any team, no matter how deep their pockets.

There's also the fact that a quality GM can make an enormous difference in extracting value across a range of exec decisions, day to day and year to year, and IMO Pelinka hasn't demonstrated that he's even a mediocre GM at this point. That shizzle, and that body of work, tends to add up over time, making the difference between finals teams and non-finals teams. That's just precedent and reality IMO.

I don't discount the Lakers potential to make it all work out, but at the same time, I don't have much confidence in the way any of Jerry's Kids has run the franchise. I do think they would have been so much better off getting a legit exec to run the show years ago, and just letting them do their thing, without interference. Instead, the Busses have made a series of weird / questionable decisions (if not outright terrible decisions) across the years, not exactly inspiring confidence and faith, going forward.

Maybe it all 'works out' for the Lakers in the end, but there's any number of things to shake your head at along the way, credited to people still running the show.

[TheNetsFan]

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[MrDollarBills]

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!!!!

Look at the comments. The sodium is through the roof!! !!!!!!!!!