Eboue
nasty little twerp with crazy bitter-man opinions
Lakers are trading Russell and Mozgov for Lopez and no. 27.
Wow that is a not great deal for Los Angeles
Lakers are trading Russell and Mozgov for Lopez and no. 27.
This should've been the last move not the first. Now Indy will want to demand more from Magic when they have no leverage.
Howard on his way to Charlotte being reported by ESPN.
Not sure you can blame Magic for this. They had to get Mozgov off their books for the shitty deal the FO made last season.
Trade away your best young guard for capspace? I get the Mozgov part but doing this move with nothing in place makes Indiana wonder why they should give up anything less for George.
And Feck Dwight. The 31st pick is more valuable than he is. He can practice all the 3s he wants in Charlotte.
And risk him going to Cleveland? Get him now.Brook Lopez is not exactly a name to get excited about but we got the Mozgov money off our books now, which opens up cap space of course. I'm still torn between trading for George now or getting him for free after next season - I think I'd rather get him as a FA and not give up any valuable assets.
Sacramento should not do that. They can have Fox at no. 5, probably and if not then Smith, and another good talent at no. 10. No point moving up for Ball, he is not worth that.
Lakers would be right to move no. 2 to another team for a top 10 pick plus another asset though. Swapping no. 2 straight for George would be overkill.
Because in the latter case "getting" it doesn't depend on you but on other factors. Right now they're in favor of Lakers but a year can change a lot. It's been discussed above. It's not unimaginable that George changes his mind if he really likes his "interim" team and what it could give him.
It's a risk. I'd take it as well, if it was up to me, but still.
This was all before the Pacers started shopping PG13 around with Cavs as their favored trade partner. Once Cleveland fired DG and they turned their atttention to Butler, the writing was on the wall that PG13 would only entertain the thought of playing in p&g. Now looking more like JC & #28, is as far as Lakers are willing to go.
Ball is in my opinion the best player in the draft. NBA drafts are top heavy. The idea that you can easily get good players at 5 and 10 is not borne out by the data.
I get that he COULD sign elsewhere, but my money is strongly on him not signing wherever he might land. The trade now has kind of thrown a spanner in a lot of what I thought we might do. My gut feeling though is take the 3 1st round talents (Lakers recent track record in the late 1st range has been good) and wait for PG. He wants the Lakers and vice versa, if we can demonstrate to him that we tried without mortgaging our future to do so then that will still be the case come FA next year. With the added DeMarcus Cousins factor.
If Deng can be moved before FA then you could look at a starting 5 of:
Ball
George
Ingram
Cousins
Lopez
With Clarkson, Randle, Nance, Nwaba, Zublocka and 2 other 1st rounders coming off the bench. It'd be a great mix of "can be good now and in the future" the more I think about it, I love the trade if we can just stay patient.
Of course, Lopez could also be moved and a certain superstar in Cleveland could be in contention ...
I think the first 5-6 positions are awfully close, except I think Fultz is a bit above everyone else and clear no. 1. After that, Ball, Jackson, Fox, Tatum and maybe Isaac are all very good players. Then you have Smith and Monk who also look like very good prospects (Smith could even belong to the first tier) but after no. 8 it becomes a steep decline IMO, so in principle you are right because that no. 10 pick could turn out to be not so valuable.
As for Russell trade it becomes a viable strategy for teams to accumulate good assets for just taking on bad contracts. Let's face it, Lakers did not move Russell to acquire Lopez or to get no. 27 pick, they did it mainly to get rid of Mozgov contract. If you can get #2 overall pick from 2015 for that, then I imagine that there will be a lot more bad contracts to be compensated with good assets. I'd be looking at Noah, Bazemore, Biyombo and maybe Crabbe next.
It's strange 76ers did not get involved here. They could have easily taken Mozgov's deal, and give Lakers two second rounders and Okafor instead of Lopez and no. 27. That's a better deal for Lakers as Okafor has a low contract and still some fairly decent potential.
how long have you been following the nba
Closely (like every single day when the season is on and for most offseason, probably more than football) for the past 3 years, on and off before. Why?
I agree. I think Fultz and Ball are clear cut above the rest and all the talk about deep draft has been a bit overhyped. There are certain potential new Butler's or Leonard's in the depth of this draft but there won't be 9 all stars out of the top 10 picks.Ball is in my opinion the best player in the draft. NBA drafts are top heavy. The idea that you can easily get good players at 5 and 10 is not borne out by the data.
the entire 2009 draft has 6 players who ever made an all star team. 2010 has 4. 2011 6 (including isaiah thomas with the last pick) 2012 has 4. 2013 has just giannis so far but only mccollum and gobert even have a chance to add to that.
i went all the way back to 2003 to find one more with more than 6. 2003 had 9 but only 5 were top 10 picks and 1 of those 5 was chris kaman. its just extremely unlikely for there to be 8 players that are really good
That's why I am not convinced moving up to get no. 2 is a good idea at this point
im not convinced it is either. im just saying if a front office is convinced a player is the real deal then moving up like that is worth it
Someone is going to reach for Collins, and be very disappointed.So lads, necks on the line..
Who do you think will be the biggest bust in the Top 10?
I'm going to go for Isaac
So lads, necks on the line..
Who do you think will be the biggest bust in the Top 10?
I'm going to go for Isaac
I think as a player Russell could've worked next to Ball. Russell as the SG out of the 2, but as an ego it wouldn't work.
Still not a good deal for us, felt like we could get more. Although I'm glad Mozgov is gone.
What's Brook's contract status? How much and how long?
Christ, the off season is more interesting than the regular one.
There was a story that the Knicks are willing to take the Celtics' no.3 pick this year for KP. That's it. The no.3.
*Cough* LeBron *cough*Only until 2018. He's a one-year rental and then frees up over $20M of cap space.
Christ, the off season is more interesting than the regular one.
*Cough* LeBron *cough*
So for 2018 season we could potentially be looking at Ingram in his third year, Ball in his second, PG and another star?
Drummond is not really a great defender. He got all the physical assets but he doesn't read the game well enough and is too undisciplined. After his first couple years most Pistons fans were hoping SVG could turn him into the next Dwight. He seems have done that successfully on offense by giving him wasted possession after wasted possession to let him pretend to be a back to the basket post at low efficiency but the defensive improvements never got close to Howard.
As a player he probably could have carved out a nice role for himself in Boston, but he's a headcase that Stevens/Ainge wouldn't want to deal with.Kinda think Howard would have fit nicely in Boston and gave them a bonafide defensive big man presence down low. Surprised they didn't make a run for him last summer or this summer. Guess most GMs have a negative image of the player, and possibly rightly so.
Celtics should jump on that.
Are you a Mavs fan? They aren't my team but I have a ton of respect for them. Love Dirk and Carlisle.Would be nice to see the Mavs make a move that works. KP with Barnes and make a run for Cousins next summer...
Instead, they'll draft someone like Collins and he'll bomb out.
What a completely retarded franchise that is.Christ, the off season is more interesting than the regular one.
There was a story that the Knicks are willing to take the Celtics' no.3 pick this year for KP. That's it. The no.3.