Wow, I never knew this. I just watched his college highlights and he looked like a completely different player. Even his highlights didn't look impressive.

I seem to be in the wrong thread.

Is there some thread with NFL/football in the title where basketball is now being discussed?

Morey out. Him and MDA gone in the last month.

The Russell Westbrook effect

That Dudley/Simmons podcast was pretty great. Dudley sounds like he is hopped home on 10 cups of coffee and is just letting fly with actual answers to stuff instead of generic PR junk. Like:

-Lakers all thought Heat couldn’t beat them and were mad they lost any games
-Feels they blew them out once they switched strats from staying home on the shooters to attacking Butler on defense.
-Rondo does stuff like track how many times Harden dribbles before he takes the step back.
-Everyone knows stars don’t try on defense most of the time.

prescient

OH SNAP!

I love me some RONDO, especially the PLAYOFF variety of RONDO.

lol that's so awesome.

Where art thou where Morey will go!!?!??!?

Also sup Morey, how's ya chess game? I know you be reading this yo.

Interesting.



Like seriously.. WTF IS GOING ON???

With Morey leaving, and Fertita being about as broke as you can be and still own an NBA team, I'm guessing we see cost-cutting trades on the horizon.

Harden for Simmons + 2 mill of salary filler?

I don't know if they want Simmons as a tank commander. What about SGA, Steven "not enough help" Adams, and a bunch of those clippers picks?

Presti gonna be the guy who turned a paperclip into a house. Russell Westbrook is the paperclip

I've been thinking about basketball's evolution over the past few years and this made me more pessimistic about the Warriors' chances than I had been. The Warriors before KD - 14-15 and 15-16 - were dominant offensively. ORtg of 111.6 vs the league average of 105.6 in 15 and 114.5 vs the league average of 106.4. They were also 7th in 3PAr in 15 (.316 vs .268) and 2nd in 16 (0.362 vs .285). Now, in 2020, the league as a whole averaged an ORtg of 110.6 and a 3PAr of .384. The Warriors were ahead of their time and broke the league, but the league has mostly caught up. They won 73 games in 2016, but the league changed enough over the years that without KD, they probably wouldn't have been that special by 2018.

Now let's talk about defense. The Warriors in 2015 were as dominant on defense as they were on offense - per 100 possessions, they were 5.0 points better than average on offense and 4.2 points better than average on defense. This makes sense if you consider their personnel - Klay/Barnes/Green/Iguodala/Bogut is a ridiculous amount of defensive talent. And they remained a top defensive team into the 16-17 season.

Going into the next season, their offense, even if it reaches its previous heights, won't be anywhere near as good relative to the league, simply as a result of the rest of the league having caught up. Even on an absolute efficiency basis, it may get worse just from most teams defending better against them. On defense, they have nowhere near the same amount of talent. Curry is a lot older and will be even more of a weak link, especially given the way the game is going. They don't have much rim protection. Big athletic wings like Barnes/Iggy/KD have been replaced by Andrew Wiggins. Draymond Green doesn't look like the same player.

I guess their collective playoff experience is important and Kerr is a very good coach, but I don't see this team as better than the Nuggets, for instance. They seem closer to the Mavericks from a basketball perspective, but without as much upside.

The Knicks are truly the gift that just keeps on giving lmao

I’m glad someone else finally said it about GSW. 2021 warriors are much closer to a 51 4 seed who loses in 6 in round 2 than a real title contender

I agree wrt the Warriors, and I have been waiting for the offseason thread to talk to it. I feel the same way about the Nets.

Also I'm struggling to see how the Lakers improve next year over tbh.

Lakers can def improve. Can maybe ship all their assets for Victor Oladipo's positive spirit, and then sign every ring chaser.

It won't take much to get Vic. He is out of Indy and didn't have a great year.

I'm not seeing the assets. They have Danny Green, Kuzma just before RFA, and Rondo if he opts in, which he wont imo.

They can't trade a first until 2025 either. I'm struggling to see how basically Kuzma nets them someone like Oladipo.

I could see them getting a really bad contract though, or someone like CP3 for Green/Kuz/etc and picks after 2025 because Presti is trying to corner the draft market.

i thought they had a first they could move after the draft. if not, then they prolly don't have enough. i still think they're gonna get every ring chaser for the next 2 years. prolly won't be as big as battier, ray allen, but those guys were huge

You do realize that you're talking about a team that probably wins a title even without KD as long as Klay was healthy vs Toronto, right? Draymond Green is a player like Rondo or Bam where without a good team around them wouldn't be as effective so you can basically discount his terrible season last year. Lastly, they have Twolves top 3 protected pick for next year and the #2 pick this year which are huge assets to trade to get better + have Steph & Klay coming back next year, you're kinda ******ed to think that the Mavs or Nuggets are in their tier.

GSW imo are the favorites to win the title next year unless 76ers get rid of Elton Brand and actually puts pieces that fit around Simmons + Embid because in reality the 76ers are the most talented team on paper in the NBA currently.

Also agree on the Warriors.

Lakers won't be able to improve much, and have some downside risk if KCP goes somewhere else.

They have a 9 million MLE to use. Does that get Serge Ibaka? Other than the Raptors who is spending more than that on Ibaka? Not a lot of contenders have cap space more than the MLE.

Kevin LOL Connor is out being a young, broke man's Zach Lowe replacement at the ringer saying Tristan Thompson and his 39% from 3 (half an attempt per game so shouldn't count) as an upgrade option on Dwight/JaVale. He's a Klutch guy so maybe he goes there but I don't think it moves the needle.

The Lakers had Markieff Morris and Dwight Howard playing significant playoff minutes on minimum deals last year. Do they run that back? Is it really a loss if they don't? There really aren't many guys who you can be sure won't be unplayable in the playoffs on the market. Mo Harkless?

What does Malik Beasley get? He's restricted so likely ungettable, but repped by Rich Paul / Klutch so who knows.

What do the Lakers owe KCP? Would be hard to replace him on the free agent market if he chases a payday elsewhere. They've paid him 3/37 the last 3 years on separate one year deals. I wouldn't be surprised to see a totally not cheating 1/15 deal this year when there are no free agents to chase and bringing him back at 1/10 or 1/8 after that when the Lakers need cap space to chase the top of the 2021 free agent class.

Kryie took a massive shot at Lebron a few days prior so good for LEbron to respond

https://www.si.com/nba/lakers/news/k...mmate%20Durant.

Lue to the Clippers....

Clippers stay the Clippers

Lue is Doc Junior.

Look out for an Embiid trade to the Warriors. Wiggins + 2 + Twolves pick + future 1st going to 3rd team and a perimeter player going to the Sixers. Someone like Bradley Beal or Harden.