NBA Free Agency
- Thread starter Gladstone
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HorrifyinglyAlluring
New Fish
please get cousins to join the GOAT
stephenson joining lebron = rodman joining jordan after the bad boys died
this is glorious
stephenson joining lebron = rodman joining jordan after the bad boys died
this is glorious
backthepack
New Fish
Kyrie Irving + Lebron> Kawhi + Lebron
Also, GSW didn't have Durant.
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Kaepsknee
New Fish
Or even sniffing the Finals ever again without being traded. He’s setting himself up for life after B-ball. Can’t blame him for that. He certainly is not chasing a championship anymore. No Paul. No George. The only way they get Leonard is to get rid of Kuzma and Randle/Ingram and offer a few first rounders. Buford and Pop aren’t bringing Big baller to the river walk. So that would leave them looking to Boogie as the 3rd piece if they can get Leonard.
The Lakers are now the 3rd best team in the conference doing nothing else. With another piece they can challenge Houston. There’s nothing that can be done to challenge GS though.
allpurpleallgold
New Fish
This would be a decent troll if I wasn’t the biggest Kyrie stan on the board. Search his name and you’ll find me arguing about how great he is. He’s not close to Kawhi.
backthepack
New Fish
Kyrie's style of play compliments Lebron's much better. Kawhi's a little redundant. He's better than Kyire but I think Kyrie brings a whole different element to defend.
dnc
New Fish
Totally disagree, Kyrie's style is way more redundant alongside LeBron. Kyrie needs the ball in his hands, just like LeBron does. Kawhi is much more comfortable playing off the ball. And Kawhi is way more versatile defensively than Kyrie is.
Kawhi (assuming he's a Laker, and healthy) will be by far the best player LeBron has ever played with and the best match for LeBron.
I still don't think it's enough to get by GS, but that's a different discussion.
Kaepsknee
New Fish
Kawhi doesn’t need to bring the ball up nor really have a play set for him to get his. But He can bring the ball up when needed AND be the dagger at the end of games if needed. He was the best 2-way player in the league before getting hurt and no one else was close. Kyrie is a good defender. Kawhi may be the best ever guarding the 1-3 spots though. Better than Mike, Scottie, GP or any of them.
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allpurpleallgold
New Fish
Javale McGee to the Lakers. Don’t like that move.
Tequilla
Active poster
I don't think the Kawhi deal is going to happen to the Lakers this offseason.
What I think you're going to see happen is that Leonard isn't going anywhere but the Lakers once his contract is up. So for the Spurs to get ANYTHING for him, they are going to have to massively drop their demands. They may get a bit of a poo poo platter from the Sixers of future assets for a year of Kawhi. But the Lakers have basically given a bunch of filler contracts for 1 year to be somewhat competitive this year but keep some money available for next year. If the Spurs eventually break down and take on Deng's contract back along with some piece they'll obvious make the deal for Leonard. But they have basically zero leverage at this point and everybody knows it.
What I think you're going to see happen is that Leonard isn't going anywhere but the Lakers once his contract is up. So for the Spurs to get ANYTHING for him, they are going to have to massively drop their demands. They may get a bit of a poo poo platter from the Sixers of future assets for a year of Kawhi. But the Lakers have basically given a bunch of filler contracts for 1 year to be somewhat competitive this year but keep some money available for next year. If the Spurs eventually break down and take on Deng's contract back along with some piece they'll obvious make the deal for Leonard. But they have basically zero leverage at this point and everybody knows it.
Tequilla
Active poster
I don't think it's a given that the Lakers are the 3rd best team in the West right now as it currently stands.
Let's assume that they get the 3 seed and they don't sign another big name this offseason. The Lakers are going to walk into the Playoffs almost assured of having to face one of New Orleans, OKC, Utah, Denver, or Minnesota in the 1st round. I'm not confident that the Lakers beat New Orleans (assuming Boogie goes back there and is healthy by playoff time) in a 7 game series. I think Utah desperately needs to potentially find a wing upgrade to help both LBJ but their overall defense will provide a challenge. I'm not sold on OKC but if there is a type of series where Westbrook would thrive in, this would be that type of series. Both Denver and Minnesota have pieces that will at least make the series interesting.
Point being, LeBron's not in the East anymore where he can coast through the regular season and at least 1 round of the Playoffs. Who knows what other moves are out there, but I also didn't mention Portland, Memphis, or Dallas … each of those teams would tell you right now that they expect to be contenders for the Playoffs. And the Clippers are a complete Wild Card team. The only teams in the West that I expect to be fully worthless will be Sacramento because they are Sacramento and Phoenix because they are super young … although I expect they will be a lot better next year.
Let's assume that they get the 3 seed and they don't sign another big name this offseason. The Lakers are going to walk into the Playoffs almost assured of having to face one of New Orleans, OKC, Utah, Denver, or Minnesota in the 1st round. I'm not confident that the Lakers beat New Orleans (assuming Boogie goes back there and is healthy by playoff time) in a 7 game series. I think Utah desperately needs to potentially find a wing upgrade to help both LBJ but their overall defense will provide a challenge. I'm not sold on OKC but if there is a type of series where Westbrook would thrive in, this would be that type of series. Both Denver and Minnesota have pieces that will at least make the series interesting.
Point being, LeBron's not in the East anymore where he can coast through the regular season and at least 1 round of the Playoffs. Who knows what other moves are out there, but I also didn't mention Portland, Memphis, or Dallas … each of those teams would tell you right now that they expect to be contenders for the Playoffs. And the Clippers are a complete Wild Card team. The only teams in the West that I expect to be fully worthless will be Sacramento because they are Sacramento and Phoenix because they are super young … although I expect they will be a lot better next year.