Around the NBA (4.0) *Non-Celtics Talk*

[000078ude54]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

[The Corey's]

Curious: was OKC forced to make this trade? Or were they pinching themselves at opportunity to get out of luxury tax hell for a team that can’t get out of first round? That a player can demand a trade “right now” with 2-3 yrs left on contract must be scary to GMs but usually they would just ignore the request. I think OKC is secretly very happy about this.

Considering what they got for Paul George of all people, I think it was just okc taking full advantage of the barrel the clippers were being held over by Leonard.

Look at what they got for George and compare it to what they gave up for him.

You do this trade every time.

[Shak_Celts]

Curious: was OKC forced to make this trade? Or were they pinching themselves at opportunity to get out of luxury tax hell for a team that can’t get out of first round? That a player can demand a trade “right now” with 2-3 yrs left on contract must be scary to GMs but usually they would just ignore the request. I think OKC is secretly very happy about this.

added bonus, make the west a bloodbath while they tank! they made it so that their team has to face a tough night every game, making other teams take okc serious to gain seeding position, a game they should win. no team will be able to sleep-walk games in the west! Hahahaha beautiful! OKC can fight tooth and nail and still miss the playoffs by a mile unlike a team in the east could, like the nets from last season. IMO that was a smart move by OKC because they weren't going anywhere as constructed.

[threrf23]

Curious: was OKC forced to make this trade? Or were they pinching themselves at opportunity to get out of luxury tax hell for a team that can’t get out of first round? That a player can demand a trade “right now” with 2-3 yrs left on contract must be scary to GMs but usually they would just ignore the request. I think OKC is secretly very happy about this.

Rumors have had OKC trying to dump salary all offseason - even decent salary like Steven Adams. That never made sense unless they had given up on PG/Westbrook (either because they lost faith, or because one had requested a trade).

[sam_I_am]

Curious: was OKC forced to make this trade? Or were they pinching themselves at opportunity to get out of luxury tax hell for a team that can’t get out of first round? That a player can demand a trade “right now” with 2-3 yrs left on contract must be scary to GMs but usually they would just ignore the request. I think OKC is secretly very happy about this.

added bonus, make the west a bloodbath while they tank! they made it so that their team has to face a tough night every game, making other teams take okc serious to gain seeding position, a game they should win. no team will be able to sleep-walk games in the west! Hahahaha beautiful! OKC can fight tooth and nail and still miss the playoffs by a mile unlike a team in the east could, like the nets from last season. IMO that was a smart move by OKC because they weren't going anywhere as constructed.

Interesting points. As a rebuilding team they don’t care about freeing up cap space and can patiently trade Gallinari, Adams and Westbrook for a mint or let them expire. Westbrook gives them a star to still sell tickets.

[soxfan2003]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

Clippers deserve to be favorite in the west but the west probably ends up getting decided by injuries/trades that contenders can or cannot pull off before the deadline.

I dislike the Lakers probably more than 99% of Celtics fans but unfortunately Danny Green is a really good get/fit for them and Vogel has already proven himself as a coach with Indiana -- when the guy has decent players to coach he does well. Green has been an RPM monster for most of his career at SG and is a nice fit with Lebron/AD. I am not a fan of Cousins but he is a better gamble for LA than he was for the Warriors.

[000078ude54]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

Clippers deserve to be favorite in the west but the west probably ends up getting decided by injuries/trades that contenders can or cannot pull off before the deadline.

I dislike the Lakers probably more than 99% of Celtics fans but unfortunately Danny Green is a really good get/fit for them and Vogel has already proven himself as a coach with Indiana -- when the guy has decent players to coach he does well. Green has been an RPM monster for most of his career at SG and is a nice fit with Lebron/AD. I am not a fan of Cousins but he is a better gamble for LA than he was for the Warriors.

I agree in theory. I'd just say that Vogel has never coached true diva level talent, so he risks LeBron, Cousins, Rondo tuning him out.

And Green is feast or famine. He was either clutch or invisible for Toronto with no in between.

[Fencer reregistered]

How dysfunctional are the Knicks? Well, there are now three kinds of NBA franchises:

1. The Magnet Franchises. These are the teams that, mostly due to location, history or both, have a built-in advantage over most of the league. The Lakers are of course No. 1 on this list. I’d also put the Heat, the Celtics and a few others in this group; we can argue about the exact teams, but the point is that some teams are seen as destinations even if the roster does not scream “contender.”

2. The Play Your Cards Right Franchises. These teams can all win a title, but they have to do it through smart management, great ownership and some luck. And it can be done. The Spurs are the most successful of this group, but recent champions in Cleveland and Toronto fall into it, too. The Warriors were one of these teams, but have become a magnet franchise. Some franchises can hope to move up like the Warriors did.

3. The Knicks. Yes, these guys get their own tier. The Knicks think they’re a magnet franchise, but there is no justification for this in the last, oh, 20 years.

https://www.si.com/nba/2019/07/01/knicks-nba-free-agency-rumors-signings-kevin-durant-kyrie-irving

[Jakeopp]

[KevinGamble34]

Russell Westbrook is going to be a big test for the Knicks and whether they have turned over a new leaf. The classic Knicks move would be to go all in and leverage the entire franchise to get him all to put people in seats at MSG for two or three years of first round exits and an inevitable collapse.

Smart thing to do is to keep on doing the rebuild and build up assets while keeping an eye out to see if someone like Giannis has second thoughts on their current franchise. But Dolan has historically never had the patience for that. Will he let the current management who are not doing that bad of a job have the time to build or does he got for the quick fix that the marketing department will love?

Westbrook and NYK is destiny. They shouldn't fight it.

They should get Adams as well - and then their failure will be complete.

[KevinGamble34]

Edit double post

[Slartibartfast]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

Clippers deserve to be favorite in the west but the west probably ends up getting decided by injuries/trades that contenders can or cannot pull off before the deadline.

I dislike the Lakers probably more than 99% of Celtics fans but unfortunately Danny Green is a really good get/fit for them and Vogel has already proven himself as a coach with Indiana -- when the guy has decent players to coach he does well. Green has been an RPM monster for most of his career at SG and is a nice fit with Lebron/AD. I am not a fan of Cousins but he is a better gamble for LA than he was for the Warriors.

I agree in theory. I'd just say that Vogel has never coached true diva level talent, so he risks LeBron, Cousins, Rondo tuning him out.

And Green is feast or famine. He was either clutch or invisible for Toronto with no in between.

Green's scoring is feast or famine but not his floor spacing or D. Can pass and handle a bit too.

One of the best 3D roleplayers in the league.

[Triple7]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

Clippers deserve to be favorite in the west but the west probably ends up getting decided by injuries/trades that contenders can or cannot pull off before the deadline.

I dislike the Lakers probably more than 99% of Celtics fans but unfortunately Danny Green is a really good get/fit for them and Vogel has already proven himself as a coach with Indiana -- when the guy has decent players to coach he does well. Green has been an RPM monster for most of his career at SG and is a nice fit with Lebron/AD. I am not a fan of Cousins but he is a better gamble for LA than he was for the Warriors.

I just think that 15M a year for Green is a bit high. 10-12 would have been enough. He also disappeared at last years playoffs and finals. He missed a lot of shots and had a lot of boneheaded plays. They paid him too much.

[kblo247]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

Clippers deserve to be favorite in the west but the west probably ends up getting decided by injuries/trades that contenders can or cannot pull off before the deadline.

I dislike the Lakers probably more than 99% of Celtics fans but unfortunately Danny Green is a really good get/fit for them and Vogel has already proven himself as a coach with Indiana -- when the guy has decent players to coach he does well. Green has been an RPM monster for most of his career at SG and is a nice fit with Lebron/AD. I am not a fan of Cousins but he is a better gamble for LA than he was for the Warriors.

I just think that 15M a year for Green is a bit high. 10-12 would have been enough. He also disappeared at last years playoffs and finals. He missed a lot of shots and had a lot of boneheaded plays. They paid him too much.

I agree the team overpaid, but they compromised. He had a 3 for 36 from Dallas so they paid more to take off a year. Every deal but Boogies is 2 years. And Boogie was told according to the radio, they would look at him with their 9mil exemption next summer, if he wants to stay and it goes well. They aren't Kawhi, but they got everything did with the cap and left their room exemption and spots for a buyout candidate.

[Roddy]

Read on Twitter

[ParticleMan]

now they got caruso too? superteam, confirmed.

ps who the hell is alex caruso???

[Iguodaladon]

Is it just me or does Boogie get slack for his post injury performance that Hayward didn’t get?

Cousins injury was worse to recover from and he at least showed some heart in the playoffs

[Iguodaladon]

Everyone knew Cousins was heading to the Lakers. He's the third "star" to make up for missing Kawhi. Just a name.

If I can be as objective as possible about the 2019-20 Lakers squad so far... that team sucks.

You have past-his-prime LeBron, AD, a washed Cousins, overrated Kuzma, and a bunch of journeyman bums. And Frank Vogel as coach.

I'd rather run with Kawhi, PG, Lou Williams, Zubac, Beverley, Harrell, Shamet and whoever else Jerry West gets for them.

I think both teams have glaring holes on their roster, which is great for the competition next year

[Roddy]

now they got caruso too? superteam, confirmed.

ps who the hell is alex caruso???

Watch on YouTube

[RB34]

Is it just me or does Boogie get slack for his post injury performance that Hayward didn’t get?

Cousins injury was worse to recover from and he at least showed some heart in the playoffs

I disagree, seeing your foot snapped backwards would definitely be a bigger hurdle to overcome than the achilles.