NBA Season 2019/20

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greggsand
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by greggsand »

Rodster wrote:Funny how no one wants to play with LeBron anymore.
Didn't AD demand a trade to play with LeBron? I don't think Leonard's decision was a "LeBron-thing" (he stuck it to Toronto, too). Leonard just wanted his own team & PG to join him. Clips was the only team who could pull it off (Toronto didn't have the assets to get PG and make it happen).
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by wco81 »

greggsand wrote:
Rodster wrote:Funny how no one wants to play with LeBron anymore.
Didn't AD demand a trade to play with LeBron? I don't think Leonard's decision was a "LeBron-thing" (he stuck it to Toronto, too). Leonard just wanted his own team & PG to join him. Clips was the only team who could pull it off (Toronto didn't have the assets to get PG and make it happen).

NO there is definitely something there. PG13 could have signed with the Lakers last year.

And Lebron asked KD to sign there as well last year.

Some reporter told an anecdote. There were so many reporters around Lebron's locker that Javale McGee, who gets out of the shower, couldn't reach his adjacent locker.

Then there's the thing that if the team is successful, he gets all the credit and if it isn't, then he doesn't have enough help.

He also plays the clique games, like the first season back at Cavs, he controlled whether Kevin Love could sit with him and his entourage at the cool kids table. Kyrie Irving is a diva himself but there is a reason he forced his way out of Cleveland.


Similar dynamic with Kobe Bryant. There's a recording of this woman saying if free agents don't want to play under Kobe Bryant's shadow, the Lakers don't want them. I don't think it was Jeannie Buss. But the Lakers, after Kobe chased off Shaq, struggled until they fleeced Memphis for Pau Gasol. Otherwise, they don't win those other titles.

But Lakers have been a big draw for superstars, for as long as they've been in LA. That is how they ended up with Wilt and then Kareem. Small market clubs couldn't pay them more so they got traded to LA.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

greggsand wrote:
Rodster wrote:Funny how no one wants to play with LeBron anymore.
Didn't AD demand a trade to play with LeBron? I don't think Leonard's decision was a "LeBron-thing" (he stuck it to Toronto, too). Leonard just wanted his own team & PG to join him. Clips was the only team who could pull it off (Toronto didn't have the assets to get PG and make it happen).
Aren't LeBron and Davis good friends? If so there's that connection but that doesn't explain why Paul George who said he wanted to play for the Lakers resigned with OKC when word got out that LeBron was headed to LA. There was also another rumor that at one point Leonard wanted to play for the Lakers before LBJ showed and decided to choose the other LA team. Kyrie Irving was also linked to head to LA after he and LBJ supposedly patched things up but chose Brooklyn. But going by what the media has been saying for close to a year, it's a LeBron thing where other star players don't want to play alongside LBJ and get to watch him get all the credit if they were to win an NBA Championship so they go and become "the guy" on another club.

Don't get me wrong, I like LeBron, he's a good guy, and supposedly a good teammate albeit demanding at times which is to be expected but star players are not looking to pad his legend status.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by pk500 »

wco81 wrote:Beard didn’t want to leave until OKC tried to save some money on his contract.

Toronto lost Kawhi, got nothing.

They could have traded for PG and Westbrook and then KL would have stayed there.
Doubt Toronto could have fit PG, Kawhi and Westbrook under the cap without a big luxury tax hit.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by wco81 »

pk500 wrote:
wco81 wrote:Beard didn’t want to leave until OKC tried to save some money on his contract.

Toronto lost Kawhi, got nothing.

They could have traded for PG and Westbrook and then KL would have stayed there.
Doubt Toronto could have fit PG, Kawhi and Westbrook under the cap without a big luxury tax hit.
If Kawhi stayed, they would have faced a big payroll next season, as a lot of their guys would be hitting free agency.

So they were going to hit it eventually.

They got an avid fanbase so maybe they don't need to try to build a championship contender any more. At least their fans might keep buying tickets as long as they're a playoffs team.


Because it's looking like several playoffs teams will end up with 2 or more players earning over $30 million a year in order just to compete for the top 4 seeds.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Diablo25 »

Toronto took their shot and it paid off. Good for them. They should enjoy it because its not out of the question they are not a playoff team next season.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by fanatic »

From a Toronto fan's perspective, we knew this was a one time shot at a title. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, as Kawhi found great success here, it was realistic to think that just maybe, we had a chance to re-sign him - but fans are obviously satisfied with the outcome of Masai's plan in the end.

If we included Lowry, Ibaka, Powell, Siakam and picks in the OKC deal, I think we would have been ok for salaries. It would have been a fascinating deal, but not sure it was anything more than leverage to get the Clippers deal done.

Looking forward, they could actually still be a pretty good team in the East - top 4-6 even. They were 17-5 without KL in the lineup last year and still have some emerging assets. Fans will stick around no matter what - they've always sold out or close to it since their inception, and there have been some pretty lean years!

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

fanatic wrote:From a Toronto fan's perspective, we knew this was a one time shot at a title. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, as Kawhi found great success here, it was realistic to think that just maybe, we had a chance to re-sign him - but fans are obviously satisfied with the outcome of Masai's plan in the end.

If we included Lowry, Ibaka, Powell, Siakam and picks in the OKC deal, I think we would have been ok for salaries. It would have been a fascinating deal, but not sure it was anything more than leverage to get the Clippers deal done.

Looking forward, they could actually still be a pretty good team in the East - top 4-6 even. They were 17-5 without KL in the lineup last year and still have some emerging assets. Fans will stick around no matter what - they've always sold out or close to it since their inception, and there have been some pretty lean years!
Even with Leonard on the team if the miracle bounce didn't go in, they would not have been in the Finals and that's why having a superstar on a team is so important for those types of plays. Even without Leonard, Toronto is still a damn good team. Much better than my Miami Heat.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by pk500 »

Salve for any aching fan base: You could be a Knicks' fan. :)
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

pk500 wrote:Salve for any aching fan base: You could be a Knicks' fan. :)
I used to be a Knicks fan back in the Frazier, Monroe, Bradley, Reed days. How did they go from a wishful lock on the #1 pick along with 2 max contracts to getting neither and Dolan cancelling their meeting with Kawhi Leonard and decided not to meet with KD? You just have to shake your head at the ineptness.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

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Rodster wrote:
fanatic wrote:From a Toronto fan's perspective, we knew this was a one time shot at a title. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, as Kawhi found great success here, it was realistic to think that just maybe, we had a chance to re-sign him - but fans are obviously satisfied with the outcome of Masai's plan in the end.

If we included Lowry, Ibaka, Powell, Siakam and picks in the OKC deal, I think we would have been ok for salaries. It would have been a fascinating deal, but not sure it was anything more than leverage to get the Clippers deal done.

Looking forward, they could actually still be a pretty good team in the East - top 4-6 even. They were 17-5 without KL in the lineup last year and still have some emerging assets. Fans will stick around no matter what - they've always sold out or close to it since their inception, and there have been some pretty lean years!
Even with Leonard on the team if the miracle bounce didn't go in, they would not have been in the Finals and that's why having a superstar on a team is so important for those types of plays. Even without Leonard, Toronto is still a damn good team. Much better than my Miami Heat.
Very true. Pre-Kawhi, it was always painful watching Lowry/DeRozan down the stretch in 4th quarters. You really do need someone with that star power to act as the "closer".

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Diablo25 »

Rodster wrote:
fanatic wrote:From a Toronto fan's perspective, we knew this was a one time shot at a title. Nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, as Kawhi found great success here, it was realistic to think that just maybe, we had a chance to re-sign him - but fans are obviously satisfied with the outcome of Masai's plan in the end.

If we included Lowry, Ibaka, Powell, Siakam and picks in the OKC deal, I think we would have been ok for salaries. It would have been a fascinating deal, but not sure it was anything more than leverage to get the Clippers deal done.

Looking forward, they could actually still be a pretty good team in the East - top 4-6 even. They were 17-5 without KL in the lineup last year and still have some emerging assets. Fans will stick around no matter what - they've always sold out or close to it since their inception, and there have been some pretty lean years!
Even with Leonard on the team if the miracle bounce didn't go in, they would not have been in the Finals and that's why having a superstar on a team is so important for those types of plays. Even without Leonard, Toronto is still a damn good team. Much better than my Miami Heat.
If the ‘miracle bounce’ doesn’t go in then game 7 goes to OT and they still may have won. I would like to think my Sixers would’ve won in OT but we will never know.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

So it looks like Miami is actually pursuing Westbrook and he's made it clear he wants to be traded to Miami. I hope it doesn't happen. A 30 yr old who's owed $170 m over 4 years and his game is based on speed and athleticism. Both he and Butler are not good 3 point shooters and both players can be human vacuum cleaners.

So Miami was 2 yrs away from clearing all their bad contracts and now Pat Riley or maybe he should be called George Allen 2.0 is considering putting the team in budget cap hell for the next 4 yrs with 2 aging players. With both Butler and Westbrook I still don't see them beating Philly or Toronto because they'll have to unload a lot of contracts and the teams best defender Justice Winslow is being mentioned as a trade chip.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by pk500 »

Come on, Rod: I would want a live video stream from the Heat practice facility to show the verbal and fist fights every day between Westbrook and Butler and teammates in practice. :)

Although to be fair, Butler and Westbrook reportedly have BIG problems with teammates who don't muster similar effort as them. But they also are prone to question coaches early and often. And there's no way the ball will be big enough for both of them, especially during crunch time. So let the fireworks begin. :)
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

pk500 wrote:Come on, Rod: I would want a live video stream from the Heat practice facility to show the verbal and fist fights every day between Westbrook and Butler and teammates in practice. :)

Although to be fair, Butler and Westbrook reportedly have BIG problems with teammates who don't muster similar effort as them. But they also are prone to question coaches early and often. And there's no way the ball will be big enough for both of them, especially during crunch time. So let the fireworks begin. :)
There may not be too many of those. One thing about the Miami Heat is their culture. They are coached to play hard or they are on the bench and NO tanking for a lottery pick is allowed. The Heat culture is the big reason JB signed up with the Heat.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by pk500 »

Rodster wrote:
pk500 wrote:Come on, Rod: I would want a live video stream from the Heat practice facility to show the verbal and fist fights every day between Westbrook and Butler and teammates in practice. :)

Although to be fair, Butler and Westbrook reportedly have BIG problems with teammates who don't muster similar effort as them. But they also are prone to question coaches early and often. And there's no way the ball will be big enough for both of them, especially during crunch time. So let the fireworks begin. :)
There may not be too many of those. One thing about the Miami Heat is their culture. They are coached to play hard or they are on the bench and NO tanking for a lottery pick is allowed. The Heat culture is the big reason JB signed up with the Heat.
True. So Russ and Jimmy won't snipe at teammates because everyone works. But they will snipe at each other for lack of touches, especially in close stretches at the end of the game. And they'll both question Spo early and often despite the jewelry on his fingers.

And good luck with cap flexibility when you're paying a broken-down Westbrook $47 million in 2022-23. :)

Seriously, why spend that money now? Even with Jimmy and Russ, Miami isn't beating Philly or Boston, and probably not Milwaukee, in the East.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

Oh, I wish they had never signed Butler. It would have been better to just load up on youth and let all those bad contracts expire. Miami has a nice young core minus Josh Richardson who I hated to see him leave. I think signing players like Butler (30) and Westbrook (31) this season is a BIG mistake. But Riley hates draft picks because he sucks picking the right players so he no longer even tries.

Case in point, Miami drafted Michael Beasley but could have selected Russell Westbrook in the same draft. And from what i've read he impressed the Heat coaching staff and front office but they still took Beasley.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

Who wants to see Floyd Mayweather get his ankles broken on a basketball court by street ball legend "Bone Collector"? :)

https://twitter.com/therealpremey/statu ... 68/video/1

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

Westbrook doesn't get his wish and got traded to Houston. :)

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Diablo25 »

My knee jerk reaction is that Houston will be a dumpster fire. Westbrook is super talented...no doubt. The big question is can he co exist with Harden. Of course my view could be totally off and they click. I just cant see it.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

The Houston Rockets next year.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by wco81 »

I think the deal was mainly made to get rid of Paul's salary.

Of course they just took Westbrook's huge salary.

WB is younger and fills up the stat sheet but his shooting is declining.

Really don't see Houston's style of play changing much. They will stagger Harden and WB's minutes.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by pk500 »

That screen grab is funny as hell, Rod.

This deal makes no sense for Houston. No way Harden and Westbrook -- the two most ball-dominant players in the league -- can be on the court together. No way D'Antoni -- who couldn't manage the clashing egos of Stoudemire and Carmelo in New York -- will manage two of the biggest alpha dogs in the league on the same team. No way Eric Gordon will happy with his diminished role, either in a three-guard offense or coming off the bench.

Houston gave up a LOT of draft capital and added more salary to its cap limit to essentially tread water. An uncharacteristically dumb move by GM Daryl Morey.
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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by Rodster »

It looks like Boggie is out for the year after tearing his ACL in offseason workouts. Tough break for Cousins who's had multiple injuries the last couple of years.

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Re: NBA Season 2019/20

Post by wco81 »

It's tough but he's getting paid millions to be injured, last year and now this upcoming year.

He was on a HoF trajectory before his injuries.

But he'll still have earned $100 million or more so it's not a tragedy.

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