He's betting against Fultz AND Ball fwiw.

Fair point

Ainge is possibly maximizing his probability of drafting multiple stars at the cost of decreasing his probability of drafting at least one star. This makes sense if you believe that a team needs to draft a multi-star core to be a legitimate title contender. With Embiid, perhaps Philly is more likely to have a legitimate star in hand, so they may prefer increasing their probability of getting at least one additional star even if it means they are less likely to end up with three young stars. It is possible that this ends up as a win-win trade.

I see the trade more as betting against the Lakers and Kings than betting against Fultz and Ball.

I see it as Danny not grasping the evaluation of young talent, losing out on ball in favor of Isaiah is going to look absolutely terrible when Ball becomes the offensive version of Draymond Green in a couple years.

Maybe Brad didn't want to cater his system to him.

Describing Ball in that way is apt tho, I've come around and see him as a 2 with great floor vision and passing. I really think he needs to play with another real guard and not someone like a McLemore or Nick Young in the backcourt.

It doesn't have to be a point, just someone who has legit ball control.

Like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Ya I think KCP is a great fit with him. Can guard the other teams best guard, can shoot decent, comes from a solid system that valued ball movement so he won't be a ball stopper.

Ball
KCP
Ingram
Randle
Lopez

with Clarkson/Ennis/Kuzma/Nance/Zubac off the bench is sneakily a deep, nice fitting team. Especially with a coach like LUKE who'll get the most out of them. Hell even beyond that they have guys like Deng, Brewer, and Thomas Robinson who at least play hard and will help build the culture. Not gonna win a ton of games, but I expect them to grow a lot together this year and be fun to watch.

Coach Luke lol

trob isnt on the team, 14 spots have been filled after thomas bryant's signing (unless that is who you were referring too?) its the 12 guys you named, plus bryant and josh hart.

backup pg is a massive hole on the roster. ennis was so awful after coming over from houston and only began looking semi decent when it came down to the final games against teams trying to lose. i suppose clarkson could end up being the backup pg.

magic saying he wants clarkson to be the 6moy winner is a scary thought. the kid was already allergic to passing to open teammates (esp out of the pnr) sounds like he has an incentive to gun now.

I actually meant Thomas Robinson (was looking at what I thought was an updated roster) but w/e that actually helps my point. Bryant is a similar player type except 6 years younger and isn't already a known product. He showed flashes in SL too. As for Clarkson call me crazy but I think it could be a good thing Magic did that. I don't think he was ever gonna be a good enough passer to play PG full time in a starting role even if they didn't have Lonzo. I think figuring out what you want from him now gives him a better chance of getting there. A lot of basketball is about expectations and comfort. He absolutely can contribute as an instant offense off the bench guy knowing that's what they want from him could benefit him & the team imo.

FWIW you're generally right with the bolded logic but this was a unique situation where they had a certain amount of money they wanted to spend on a limited number of roster spots, and wanted to leave that money open for next year.

Additionally, it's pretty likely that they're going to use that extra money they gave Redick this year as good will for a less expensive contract in subsequent years, but couldn't legally give him a multi-year contract like that under the CBA rules. Redick has already stated he intends to be here for the next 3-4 years to finish out his career. I guess we'll find out next offseason.

Lakers making the playoffs.

It's so sweet being able to be a Lakers fan now

Who are the Lakers going to stop though? That Front court D. Yikes.

I'm high on the Lakers' future, but


Just ain't no way man.

So by these projections, if all of the East teams were in the West, they would only be able to get the 6 & 7 seeds, and none of the 13 other teams would even make the playoffs. And that's with inflated win totals for the weaker Eastern schedules. Drop them by 2.5 wins, and only 1 of Bos or Cle even make the playoffs, and then get swept in the 1st round. Real nice conference ya got there, East.

It really is amazing how the East manages to get worse every single year.

Thomas robinson will be hustling his ass off in China

Upside is they need to get to the cap minimum and still want maintain freedom going forward. It's that simple. Not sure if they can get anyone next year but if their guys look good, maybe a top tier fa would be interested and they can build around their core + one to two stud fas. Not sure what they could have done this year and still maintained flexibility going forward. Let's not forget they still have a number of draft picks going forward just in case they suck or get injured. Not that it's likely but I think being able to get Lebron on the squad would be sick, obviously he and Simmons bring some redundancy but having 3 potential star guys with an all time but aging superstar would be sick.

Man, people sleeping on Portland watt too much imo.

Meh. Projections are just that. Bottom of the east and west were pretty equivalent this year. In fact the heat/pistons were better than the nuggets/pelicans. Not sure, but heat likely the best post all star team to not make the playoffs all time. They were on fire to end the season. West definitely won the fa/trade markets but I'm not sure who other than the cavs should have been gunning for stars in the east for next year.

My friend who works for the sixers says redick is really interested in broadcasting in his post NBA career and sixers are really good at setting that up for players. They're maybe other opportunities with the sixers that he's interested in as well that go beyond just being on the court.

Lol keep keeping on bro. Shouldn't this be in the other thread with all your other pathetic anti Lebron crap?

If people are going to ask me why LeBron is pathetic im gonna tell them.

Speaking of redick, watched this yesterday which was great. Just really rare to see nba players open up like this with no bull**** and expressing themselves clearly. Redick has always been a great podcast guest and I hope he finds a spot on tv coverage after he retires

Some tidbits from the blurbs:

He projects Minnesota to have the best offense in the entire league, besides the Warriors.
PatPat > Ibaka?
Youth schmouth. The best teams in the league are the 2 oldest.