He will have decently high usage if hes replacing Deron for 15mpg when LeBron and Kyrie are out

i would assume he shares little time with irving. doesn't seem likely he'll be on the floor very often without lebron. going off 82 games, based on mp 11 of the top 20 lineups that included deron also included lebron. in the top 10 of those lineups only two did not include lebron, but one of those two included irving. deron wasn't out there on his own much, but maybe they will trust rose more to do that. would be bad imo, but maybe they do it.

rose does have some value as a scorer but it's pretty low on the cavs when they are already stacking a lot of usg

Vegas has Clev >>> Bos >> Was > Tor = Mil > Phi > Mia. Semantics, but I'd say those teams "could"

Id flip Miami and Philly. Don't trust youngs in the playoffs. Embiid would basically have to goat. Rest seems objectively fair. Might put Was with Tor and Mil.

Let's say LeBron is going to leave Cleveland next year.

What are the odds:
He goes to the Lakers?
He goes to the 76ers?
Etc

aint no one going to philly

LBJ wins 5 percent exit (20%)
LBJ loses finals 65 percent exit (50%)
LBJ loses before 95 percent exit (30%)

This is 62% exit.

Lakers 32%
Spurs/Sixers 10% each
Field 10%

Woyas 100%

People do say it's like Brooklyn without the Manhattan.

Strongly disagree that Shaq would be better in today's game. Him being the GOAT Center doesn't mean his skillset is impervious to factors in today's game that have hurt those with similar(but lesser) skillsets.

-Shaq routinely came to camp out of shape. This would be way more of an issue in today's game, as he would have to be way more active on D. Defense, overall, could be much more of an issue for Shaq in today's game. Draymond is the obvious example of a modern center in today's game- seems like he would be able to do to Shaq what Rodman did(play him as well as anyone else could), while also tiring him out on the other end of the court way more than Rodman ever could hope to.

-Teams have a much more advanced understanding of proper hack-a-Shaq strategy, whereas back then it seemed to be something along the lines of "lets randomly try it every now and then and be overly results oriented regarding his first few FTs in regards to whether we keep it up."

-As teams better implement and understand the 3 point shot, everyone who can't shoot 3s loses value. Nobody is immune to this.

-People are way overstating the "there just aren't any good Centers these days" angle, as guys like Enes Kanter would've been considered superstars 20 years ago. Those guys still exist today; Its just that modern strategy has diminished their value. Guys like Rudy Gobert or Draymond Green would be as good, if not better, Shaq-defenders as anyone in his era. Also people always want to look at the superstars when making this point- go look at some of the worst starting Centers from 20 years ago and compare that to the fact that guys like Kanter are backups in today's game.

-People tend to underestimate the jumps in athleticism that occur in just 20 years. Take a look at dunk contests from Shaq's rookie year vs those of today. Or just look at the measurables taken at the combine. Everyone is faster and stronger today. Shaq would still be an elite physical freak, but it wouldn't be quite as pronounced in today's game.

will gladly take a 1:1 bet right now on a toronto / boston series.

Noone, barring a few corner case 3 point specialists, would be better in today's game. People today are better. Lololds

Shaq retired 6 years ago

Where can I find division odds for next season? google isn't helping

I don't make bets that people can hedge and take free $. Raptors would beat the Celtics in 5 games or less

You really need to stop thinking the Raptors are good. It's been going on for years and irs bad for your health. Their two best players are massive playoff frauds.

Lowry had 2 bad playoffs and 2 good ones

His "good" playoffs were still a pretty big downgrade from regular season Lowry.

Rose is still bad enough that some of the external drama and/or lack of professionalism, is likely to be a concern for some organizations

Williams certainly has not had the same amount of negative media attention the last few years

Wow, seems a bit early to pull the trigger on this. How bad could it be to wait 20-30 regular season games with the new roster to validate the money is being well spent?

Also - does matching RFA offers make players much more difficult to move because of trade kickers / other (poisonous?) provisions?

Wolves basically have no choice though right? Are they really going to let the guy they traded their franchise player leave? He's staying and they probably want to show a commitment to him so that he doesn't think about leaving. While I don't think he's great at all, I also can't see the team letting him leave. The team is too good now to expect to get more high picks so keeping your young talent is definitely the play.

They could do worse than him being their 3rd best player at the same time, compared to Warriors/Cavs their third best players >>> Wiggins.

Wiggins is not a positive player on rookie scale and he will be paid 3 times more. Nothing might be better than Wiggins on this contract

Good future 1st and decent role player on affoedable contract is enough of a return to improve team Ws and team future when KAT extension kick in

Of course you need Hinkie sized balls to do that, Wolves and casual fans think he was already great last season and OMAGAD HE'S 22

Jimmy Butler is out in 2 years if he realize his team is cap crippled with a 30m/year sucker. Wiggins developing after Butler decision is useless

Hadn't thought about this, but it makes sense.

I also don't understand worrying about AW hitting restricted free agency next year because they will still have first dibs. It's not like AW will purposely go after a contract that pays less if he improves and they didn't extend him--Wolves will still have the leverage anyway until they tell him to go out and get a contract.

Drumming up interest for a new draft, link is here for those who want to participate.

I understand. I'm not a huge Wiggins fan but they are in a weird place where trading him puts them behind. Other advanced stats aren't as bad for Wiggins--his Rollins Ranking is positive and maybe Butler can help him out. I'm not sure he's going to be much more of a ****ty Allan Houston type but like I mentioned earlier, they're now too good to get high picks so they're pretty much forced to at least keep him and even though their not building around him like they are with KAT; they need to build with him. I feel Memphis was in a similar spot with Rudy Gay a few years ago and cut bait pretty quickly. I figure Minnesota may have to do that in a few years if Wiggins can't improve in a number of areas.

Why not wait for another season of data though? What do they stand to lose by waiting? That's my issue.