2018 NBA Offseason Thread -- News, Free Agency, Trades, Etc

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

2 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

You guys are missing age and conditioning when it comes to Melo.  If Houston signs him, he'll have to play major minutes throughout the season because, if for no other reason, they don't have any other forwards.  He'll be 35 years old before the playoffs and he's never been in great shape to begin with.  He was shot down the stretch with OKC and it's only be worse a year later.

James Ennis?  PJ Tucker?  Gerald Green?  I tend to agree with you about his conditioning, but the Rockets have other options.  Now, expectations may be set that he'll get so many minutes a night before signing.  

Edited July 20, 2018 by Patrick Bateman

[kopp0e 1135]

2 hours ago, Surlybastard said:

Maybe Melo will be decent. I just don't see him as one of those old vets who will thrive on 20-25mpg like Ray Allen or some other guys. He has such an overblown view of his abilities even after he is clearly half washed up.

I think Melo still has more gas in the tank, what matters is if he is starting, but playing reserve minutes... That would keep him fresher, and allow a staggering of Harden & Melo in rotations on nights defense is a must (like against the Warriors)...

[BurntOrangeBlooded15 1564]

OKC traded Dakari Johnson to Orlando for Rodney Purvis. 

[Mack Tripper 696]

Splash!

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Lakers come to town.... Circus come to town.  Awesome.  

 

[BigOrange1 6422]

my god what a fucking strange ass offseason for the lakers.

[BigOrange1 6422]

 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18523]

On 7/2/2018 at 5:21 PM, Mitch Cumsteen said:

I just perused the remaining free agents list and the whole offseason will be a huge disappointment unless the Lakers sign Michael Beasley and re-sign Swaggy P.

Called this one almost three weeks ago.

Swaggy P, please pick up the white courtesy phone. It's time to come home.

[Sbbruin 21704]

3 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

Maybe the Lakers are trying to pitch a reality show?  Or they get grant money if they qualify as a halfway house?

LeBron is going to show up for practice and a bunch of these dudes are gonna be throwing dice and dolla bills.

[Radical Larry 28528]

LeBron is gonna have to play 45 minutes per game. 

[ChickenSandwich 9798]

2 minutes ago, Radical Larry said:

LeBron is gonna have to play 45 minutes per game. 

He’s Going to fake a season ending injury and let next year blow over. Come back after next offseason. Save his legacy. 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Welp, now we know why he went back on his agreement with Philly.  Damn..... Gotta get that money.

 

[Mack Tripper 696]

Wow didn’t see that coming.

[Dutchrudder 11113]

Well, that means the Kings have no money to offer Capella. RFA is tough this year.

[Goo Punch 4275]

Gary Payton still getting in guys' heads:

 

 

[Dutchrudder 11113]

8 hours ago, BurntOrangeBlooded15 said:

OKC traded Dakari Johnson to Orlando for Rodney Purvis. 

It's a salary dump of 1.3m because Purvis has no guaranteed money this year. Saves OKC about 6 million if they cut him. Not a bad deal, but they only have 13 guys under contract, so they may end up paying more in vet min for guys to fill that spot, but it gives them some flexibility. I imagine they sign Corey Brewer and a 2way to finish the roster. 

[kopp0e 1135]

8 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

Maybe the Lakers are trying to pitch a reality show?  Or they get grant money if they qualify as a halfway house?

With Magic Johnson and LaVar Ball as the pitchmen to the networks: "It's the Magic Ball's reality show"...

Magic Johnson trolls LaVar Ball over LeBron James on 'Jimmy Kimmel ...

▶ 10:17

https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/.../magic-johnson-trolls-lavar-ball-ov...

2 days ago - Uploaded by Jimmy Kimmel Live

Magic Johnson had plenty to celebrate during his most recent appearance on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live ...

[Dutchrudder 11113]

You really posted a link to a site called "LonzoWire"?

[kopp0e 1135]

4 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

It's a salary dump of 1.3m because Purvis has no guaranteed money this year. Saves OKC about 6 million if they cut him. Not a bad deal, but they only have 13 guys under contract, so they may end up paying more in vet min for guys to fill that spot, but it gives them some flexibility. I imagine they sign Corey Brewer and a 2way to finish the roster. 

I think that Corey Brewer will get a final spot, he is a former player for Donnie while he was head coach at Florida, before he came to the Thunder, and Brewer is a good fit:

2 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

You really posted a link to a site called "LonzoWire"?

 

Yeah, I noticed that after I already posted it...

 

[texasstrong12 4668]

Best way to sum up the Lakers. 

[BigOrange1 6422]

corey brewer fucking suuuuuuuuuuuucks

[BurntOrangeBlooded15 1564]

6 hours ago, Dutchrudder said:

It's a salary dump of 1.3m because Purvis has no guaranteed money this year. Saves OKC about 6 million if they cut him. Not a bad deal, but they only have 13 guys under contract, so they may end up paying more in vet min for guys to fill that spot, but it gives them some flexibility. I imagine they sign Corey Brewer and a 2way to finish the roster. 

Idk (I doubt it) if they’ve freed up for the MLE, but I wouldn’t hate them throwing that at Crawford.  

[BigOrange1 6422]

glad for montrezl.  wish he was still on the rockets:

 

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

Interesting player..... brittle and somewhat soft, but young and has some talent.  He should put up some empty stats in the ATL.

 

[Michael Knight 12878]

Looking like Magic is as good a GM as he was a coach

[Orca of Peace 109]

14 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

Looking like Magic is as good a GM as he was a coach

or talk show host

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

I'm fascinated to see what happens if the Lakers struggle through the first half of the season.  Nothing awful but let's say 15-24 or something.  What will they do?  They're all aligned and parroting the patient, 2 year plan right now.   However, I think most know they're being patient because they struck out with PG and despite Klutch trying to put pressure on the Spurs in the press, they couldn't engineer a Kawhi trade so they really didn't have a lot of options.  But Lebron is turning 34 in December and he's never been patient in the past.  What will he and Klutch do if Rondo and he are having issues with who leads on the court, Lonzo's knee is still barking, Lance is going rogue, , Beasley is waking and baking too much, Javale can't handle being a starting C,  they can't find consistent outside shooting, and Ingram and Kuzma don't develop as quickly as needed?  Will Lebron continue to be patient?  Will he ask Magic to start getting more help?  Will he fake an injury and "let the guys figure it out"?  Will he just go make movies?

Lakers are definitely the most intriguing team this year.... only because you have no idea which way they'll go.

[kopp0e 1135]

1 hour ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I'm fascinated to see what happens if the Lakers struggle through the first half of the season.  Nothing awful but let's say 15-24 or something.  What will they do?  They're all aligned and parroting the patient, 2 year plan right now.   However, I think most know they're being patient because they struck out with PG and despite Klutch trying to put pressure on the Spurs in the press, they couldn't engineer a Kawhi trade so they really didn't have a lot of options.  But Lebron is turning 34 in December and he's never been patient in the past.  What will he and Klutch do if Rondo and he are having issues with who leads on the court, Lonzo's knee is still barking, Lance is going rogue, , Beasley is waking and baking too much, Javale can't handle being a starting C,  they can't find consistent outside shooting, and Ingram and Kuzma don't develop as quickly as needed?  Will Lebron continue to be patient?  Will he ask Magic to start getting more help?  Will he fake an injury and "let the guys figure it out"?  Will he just go make movies?

Lakers are definitely the most intriguing team this year.... only because you have no idea which way they'll go.

If Lebron knew he wanted to go to the Lakers during the season, why would he push for the Cavs to engineer a trade that took parts that Los Angeles could have used once 'Bron arrived, like Clarkson & Nance..? Those options had to be better than what Magic is assembling, either that or the team figured thw PG was a lock to come home/ wear purple & gold...

[Orca of Peace 109]

1 hour ago, kopp0e said:

If Lebron knew he wanted to go to the Lakers during the season, why would he push for the Cavs to engineer a trade that took parts that Los Angeles could have used once 'Bron arrived, like Clarkson & Nance..? Those options had to be better than what Magic is assembling, either that or the team figured thw PG was a lock to come home/ wear purple & gold...

maybe he wanted to get more athletic , get to the Finals, and have an tiny change for the upset of the century - which was not entirely impossible had they won game 1. 

At Lakers, maybe he thought PG13 would join him, or some other star such as KL - but sadly for him that did not materialize. 

Yeah, all eyes on Lebron as usual and magnified by being on the F'n Lakers.  The LAL-GS regular season game will be some of the highest regular season game ratings of all time. I can't wait for that. 

[SilasCoade 2620]

For all the people bearish on the Lakers, forget the value of the Lakers in a vacuum. Do you think the Lakers team around Lebron is worse than the Cavs team he just drug to the finals? I'm not saying the Lakers are going to the Finals, or even the WCF, but they are going to be pretty good and would be in contention in the East.

[texasstrong12 4668]

1 hour ago, Llogg said:

For all the people bearish on the Lakers, forget the value of the Lakers in a vacuum. Do you think the Lakers team around Lebron is worse than the Cavs team he just drug to the finals? I'm not saying the Lakers are going to the Finals, or even the WCF, but they are going to be pretty good and would be in contention in the East.

1) The West is tougher 

2) For the majority of his years in Cleveland Lebron had Kyrie and Love. In Miami he had Wade and Bosh. The Lakers roster is a bunch of role players. A lot of people for whatever reason don't like to mention that Lebron had 2 All-Star caliber players for most of his years in Miami and his second stint in Cleveland. Who is going to be the All-Star caliber player next to Lebron in LA?

This roster isn't even comparable to most of the Cleveland rosters. It's a "star" league and the Cavs built around Lebron with Love and Kyrie. 

Do the Lakers even have another top 50 player on their roster? Ingram is all potential at this point and certainly isn't a top 50 player. That's probably the closest option.

 

Edited July 22, 2018 by texasstrong12

[SilasCoade 2620]

10 minutes ago, texasstrong12 said:

1) The West is tougher 

2) For the majority of his years in Cleveland Lebron had Kyrie and Love. In Miami he had Wade and Bosh. The Lakers roster is a bunch of role players. A lot of people for whatever reason don't like to mention that Lebron had 2 All-Star caliber players for most of his years in Miami and his second stint in Cleveland. Who is going to be the All-Star caliber player next to Lebron in LA?

This roster isn't even comparable to most of the Cleveland rosters. It's a "star" league and the Cavs built around Lebron with Love and Kyrie. 

Do the Lakers even have another top 50 player on their roster? Ingram is all potential at this point and certainly isn't a top 50 player. That's probably the closest option.

 

Why bring in "most of the Cleveland rosters" let alone Miami? I specifically asked how next year's Lakers roster would compare to this past year's dogshit Cavs team that Lebron sherpad up the NBA mountain. Your entire post is utterly irrelevant to that proposition and devoid of insight.

[texasstrong12 4668]

13 minutes ago, Llogg said:

Why bring in "most of the Cleveland rosters" let alone Miami? I specifically asked how next year's Lakers roster would compare to this past year's dogshit Cavs team that Lebron sherpad up the NBA mountain. Your entire post is utterly irrelevant to that proposition and devoid of insight.

I don't think it's any better than the Cleveland roster last year. Matter of fact, I think it's worse and in the West. 

Who is going to be the 2nd best player on the Lakers roster next year? I don't think the Lakers have anybody as good as Love was last year. People like to shit on Love but show me stats from anybody last year on the Lakers that matches up with Love. 

The Cavs roster last year was Lebron, another All-Star in Love, and a bunch of meh role players. 

The Lakers roster is Lebron and a bunch of meh role players. I might have a different opinion of the Lakers roster once the young guys (Kuzma, Hart, Ingram, Ball) actually show they are better than mid to low tier type players. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by texasstrong12

[SilasCoade 2620]

1 hour ago, texasstrong12 said:

I don't think it's any better than the Cleveland roster last year. Matter of fact, I think it's worse and in the West. 

Who is going to be the 2nd best player on the Lakers roster next year? I don't think the Lakers have anybody as good as Love was last year. People like to shit on Love but show me stats from anybody last year on the Lakers that matches up with Love. 

The Cavs roster last year was Lebron, another All-Star in Love, and a bunch of meh role players. 

The Lakers roster is Lebron and a bunch of meh role players. I might have a different opinion of the Lakers roster once the young guys (Kuzma, Hart, Ingram, Ball) actually show they are better than mid to low tier type players. 

Collectively the "meh role players" in LA are going to be superior to the "meh role players" (MRPs) in Cleveland this year. Given how absolute SHIT Love was on defense last year, not even trying >80% of the time, I have no problem suggesting that his presence or absence is not enough to sway the argument. Sure no single guy will pick up his scoring load, but 3-4 guys share the burden instead.

[texasstrong12 4668]

2 hours ago, Llogg said:

Collectively the "meh role players" in LA are going to be superior to the "meh role players" (MRPs) in Cleveland this year. Given how absolute SHIT Love was on defense last year, not even trying >80% of the time, I have no problem suggesting that his presence or absence is not enough to sway the argument. Sure no single guy will pick up his scoring load, but 3-4 guys share the burden instead.

1) If you think Love and the Cavs were bad defensively just wait until you watch this Lakers roster. 

Ingram 221st in DRPM, Hart 411th in DRPM, and Kuzma 411th in DRPM. Lonzo Ball is about the only plus defender the Lakers have on their roster. Ingram made a lot of improvements on the defensive end last year but he still has a long ways to go. Also, people don't realize that Lebron is  a bad perimeter defender at this point in his career. 

The Lakers are going to be a hot mess on the defensive end. Especially in the West. Love wasn't a great defender but he wasn't nearly this bad and has more offensive game at this point in his career than the young guys on the Lakers roster. 

2) I still think people are drastically overvaluing the Lakers young core. They have potential but are nowhere close to being good players. 

The Lakers are putting a lot of faith in a 20 year old (Ingram), 22 year old (Kuzma), 20 year old (Ball), and 23 year old (Hart). Good luck with that. Young guys take time. Which is why I never understood this decision from Lebron. I don't know why he wanted to play with a bunch of young and developing players when there were better options from a roster perspective. Maybe the Lakers land some big FA next offseason but Lebron's window is shrinking. 

Edited July 22, 2018 by texasstrong12

[texasstrong12 4668]

Per Real GM: 

Average age of the Lakers roster is 25.3.

In the last 5 yr only these teams that are the same age or younger made the playoffs.

Blazers '17-18 (24.6)

Blazers '16-17 (24.7)

Blazers '15-16 (24.9)

Celtics '15-16 (24.6)

Bucks '14-15 (24.2)

Celtics '14-15 (25.0)

Rockets '13-14 (25.2)

.............................................................

Blazers '18: Lost in the first round

Blazers '17: Lost in the first round

Blazers '16: Lost in the 2nd round

Celtics '16: Lost in the 1st round

Bucks '15: Lost in the 1st round

Celtics '15: Lost in the 1st round

Rockets '14: Lost in the 1st round

[d2o 1602]

9 hours ago, kopp0e said:

If Lebron knew he wanted to go to the Lakers during the season, why would he push for the Cavs to engineer a trade that took parts that Los Angeles could have used once 'Bron arrived, like Clarkson & Nance..? Those options had to be better than what Magic is assembling, either that or the team figured thw PG was a lock to come home/ wear purple & gold...

Clarkson being traded created the room to sign two max players.   They missed out on the 2nd but it had to be done.  Additionally he proved that he can do nothing but put up numbers on a bad team.    Nance is a nice piece but you can find a guy like him all over the league so its not a huge loss.

[kopp0e 1135]

1 hour ago, d2o said:

Clarkson being traded created the room to sign two max players.   They missed out on the 2nd but it had to be done.  Additionally he proved that he can do nothing but put up numbers on a bad team.    Nance is a nice piece but you can find a guy like him all over the league so its not a huge loss.

Ok, that makes sense, and I strongly think that the team assumed that getting Paul George or Kawhi Leonard as the 2nd piece would work out this off season...

[d2o 1602]

1 minute ago, kopp0e said:

Ok, that makes sense, and I strongly think that the team assumed that getting Paul George or Kawhi Leonard as the 2nd piece would work out this off season...

They absolutely believed PG was a done deal.

[Mitch Cumsteen 18523]

1 hour ago, texasstrong12 said:

Per Real GM: 

Average age of the Lakers roster is 25.3.

In the last 5 yr only these teams that are the same age or younger made the playoffs.

Blazers '17-18 (24.6)

Blazers '16-17 (24.7)

Blazers '15-16 (24.9)

Celtics '15-16 (24.6)

Bucks '14-15 (24.2)

Celtics '14-15 (25.0)

Rockets '13-14 (25.2)

.............................................................

Blazers '18: Lost in the first round

Blazers '17: Lost in the first round

Blazers '16: Lost in the 2nd round

Celtics '16: Lost in the 1st round

Bucks '15: Lost in the 1st round

Celtics '15: Lost in the 1st round

Rockets '14: Lost in the 1st round

None of those teams had the best player in the world on them. 

The Lakers played .500 ball the last half of the season. Their young talent is very good and LeBron is the poster child for the "make your teammates better" all stars. All those knuckleheads they signed are on one year deals and the free agent crop is much, much better next year. Even with all those clowns, I think they are the third best team in the west. This is a throw away season for them essentially. LeBron put Miami and Cleveland behind the eight ball with his win now insistence and running off young talent. Perhaps he's actually learned from his mistakes. Good young talent on rookie deals with one more max player might be the mix he needs to compete with the Warriors and extend his career. 

[Vic Mackey 46927]

maybe he wanted to get more athletic , get to the Finals, and have an tiny change for the upset of the century - which was not entirely impossible had they won game 1. 
At Lakers, maybe he thought PG13 would join him, or some other star such as KL - but sadly for him that did not materialize. 
Yeah, all eyes on Lebron as usual and magnified by being on the F'n Lakers.  The LAL-GS regular season game will be some of the highest regular season game ratings of all time. I can't wait for that. 

Kawhi will be there next season.

Also, people need to realize this was more of a family and life decision than it was a basketball decision. He's realistic. He knows the odds of beating GSW are pretty much zero. And getting to another Finals from the East in Cleveland or if he joined Philly and then losing to GSW again in 4 or 5 does nothing to his legacy.

So might as well join one of the 2 most prominent franchises in the game and move where his family already has ties.

[Brothahorn 10085]

Kawhi will be there next season.

Also, people need to realize this was more of a family and life decision than it was a basketball decision. He's realistic. He knows the odds of beating GSW are pretty much zero. And getting to another Finals from the East in Cleveland or if he joined Philly and then losing to GSW again in 4 or 5 does nothing to his legacy.

So might as well join one of the 2 most prominent franchises in the game and move where his family already has ties.

I go with family decision. Gary Payton announced the decision about a month before, when he said Lil Bron was enrolled at some LA school.

Don't underestimate the wife's pressure, especially, especially if there are some marital skeletons in the closet.

[aggie08 21414]

Family decision or not, LeBron knows damn well that the only thing that matters to the Lakers is titles. If he doesn't win one, it doesn't matter how many movies he stars in; his tenure there will be considered a failure.

[d2o 1602]

10 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Family decision or not, LeBron knows damn well that the only thing that matters to the Lakers is titles. If he doesn't win one, it doesn't matter how many movies he stars in; his tenure there will be considered a failure.

That's why thinking he went there basically giving up on winning and/or to appease his family/business interests is stupid.    If that was the case he could have gone to the Clips and accomplished that with little pressure to win.     He absolutely EXPECTS to win there.

[SilasCoade 2620]

8 hours ago, texasstrong12 said:

1) If you think Love and the Cavs were bad defensively just wait until you watch this Lakers roster. 

Ingram 221st in DRPM, Hart 411th in DRPM, and Kuzma 411th in DRPM. Lonzo Ball is about the only plus defender the Lakers have on their roster. Ingram made a lot of improvements on the defensive end last year but he still has a long ways to go. Also, people don't realize that Lebron is  a bad perimeter defender at this point in his career. 

The Lakers are going to be a hot mess on the defensive end. Especially in the West. Love wasn't a great defender but he wasn't nearly this bad and has more offensive game at this point in his career than the young guys on the Lakers roster. 

2) I still think people are drastically overvaluing the Lakers young core. They have potential but are nowhere close to being good players. 

The Lakers are putting a lot of faith in a 20 year old (Ingram), 22 year old (Kuzma), 20 year old (Ball), and 23 year old (Hart). Good luck with that. Young guys take time. Which is why I never understood this decision from Lebron. I don't know why he wanted to play with a bunch of young and developing players when there were better options from a roster perspective. Maybe the Lakers land some big FA next offseason but Lebron's window is shrinking. 

The bold statement tells me you didn't watch the Cavs much last year. Love was fucking awful on defense. Not even trying to make rotations and regularly fucking up switches. He honestly looked like he wasn't trying on that end of the court most of the time.

 

The Lakers underperformed relative to an average team against their SOS by 1.44 (league rank 21), while the Cavs overperformed relative to an average team against their SOS by 0.59 pts (league rank 14). Lebron's BPM was 9.6 pts last year (league rank 2nd). Again, no one is arguing the Lakers are  going to the Finals, but they are going to be better than the Cavs were last year by an obvious margin. Cavs - Lebron = Mavs.

Edited July 22, 2018 by Llogg
stats from basketball-reference.com

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

14 hours ago, kopp0e said:

If Lebron knew he wanted to go to the Lakers during the season, why would he push for the Cavs to engineer a trade that took parts that Los Angeles could have used once 'Bron arrived, like Clarkson & Nance..? Those options had to be better than what Magic is assembling, either that or the team figured thw PG was a lock to come home/ wear purple & gold...

LOL.  He still wanted to compete in his final year in Cleveland and although I really like Nance, neither of those pieces are future star pieces.  Additionally, shedding Clarkson's guaranteed 25 million over 2 years was supposed to the help the Lakers have the requisite cap space to acquire 1 and probably 2 other stars to play with Lebron.  That specific trade didn't really have any big effect.

[immortal13 4059]

18 hours ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I'm fascinated to see what happens if the Lakers struggle through the first half of the season.  Nothing awful but let's say 15-24 or something.  What will they do?  They're all aligned and parroting the patient, 2 year plan right now.   However, I think most know they're being patient because they struck out with PG and despite Klutch trying to put pressure on the Spurs in the press, they couldn't engineer a Kawhi trade so they really didn't have a lot of options.  But Lebron is turning 34 in December and he's never been patient in the past.  What will he and Klutch do if Rondo and he are having issues with who leads on the court, Lonzo's knee is still barking, Lance is going rogue, , Beasley is waking and baking too much, Javale can't handle being a starting C,  they can't find consistent outside shooting, and Ingram and Kuzma don't develop as quickly as needed?  Will Lebron continue to be patient?  Will he ask Magic to start getting more help?  Will he fake an injury and "let the guys figure it out"?  Will he just go make movies?

Lakers are definitely the most intriguing team this year.... only because you have no idea which way they'll go.

Who the fuck is Klutch?

[Patrick Bateman 3903]

3 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

Who the fuck is Klutch?

Klutch Sports, Lebron's outfit (sports agency).....

 

[immortal13 4059]

16 hours ago, Llogg said:

For all the people bearish on the Lakers, forget the value of the Lakers in a vacuum. Do you think the Lakers team around Lebron is worse than the Cavs team he just drug to the finals? I'm not saying the Lakers are going to the Finals, or even the WCF, but they are going to be pretty good and would be in contention in the East.

Except that they're not in the East 

Edited July 22, 2018 by immortal13
derp derp

[immortal13 4059]

29 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

Klutch Sports, Lebron's outfit (sports agency).....

 

Gotcha