They aren't a lottery team without him for gosh sake. Him being this great makes them totally dependent on him, but remove him for a season, and the other players will find their ways. They have two future hall of famers and a very good roaster. With East being shit, I think that they would reach semi finals of the conference without him.
NBA 2016-17
- Thread starter ArmchairCritic
- Start date
Shumpert annoys me the most. Very average player who acts like he is a superstar, when we all know he is anything but. Even us Knicks fans were sick of him towards the end of him being in NY.
Off night for the Cavs but hey, didn't shock me. Still hope the Cavs beat the Warriors as i'd love to see the faces of Draymond, KD and that little twerp Curry if they lost again. KD's statement he made over the weekend made me dislike them even more, Just pure arrogance. Worst thing is, KD was one I always had time for, even after the OKC thing.
What did he say? He really needs to zip his mouth until he wins a title. He left his team cause he was unabe to win, so no need to act all big now.
Love was on Minnesota team for 6 years before, made All-Star team in 3 of those seasons and he did not even make playoffs with them once. Irving is a a top 10 point guard in the league but still put him in a team which does not have LeBron and he'd struggle to make such impact as no. 1.
They could make playoffs but they would not be competitive.
I think it's about him telling people they should admire them (and Cavs) blowing out the opposition or something, as a response to somebody suggesting postseason has been boring so far.
Yeah and the reason why they are blowing Spurs out is that they got Kawhi injured. It'd be very close series otherwise, Spurs would have gone 1-0 up in the first game and I don't think it's that clear cut that Warriors would find it easy in the following games seeing as it would have been the second time they got destroyed by Spurs.
"If you don't like the blowouts, don't watch"
Shit happens. Aldridge did the same thing (in fact, it was even worse) to Durant but luckily Durant didn't got injured. Aldridge also went quite hard in Curry in the first match.
But yeah, KD should not talk until he wins. He left his team cause he was unable to win, so he should be respectful until people forget it.
Irving is a top 5 if not top 3 player in the East. Minnesota didn't make playoffs with Love but he didn't have a player of Kyrie's quality there,neither the roaster Cavs have.
Cavs without LeBron are easily a playoff team IMO, but yep, they wouldn't win the conference. Still think that they would have reached semis.
I was about to say that he isn't a top 5 player but he probably really is
Only Giannis, LeBron and maybe Butler who I can say are better than him. Oh, and Paul George (hopefuly Portland bound).I don't think that Giannis and Butler are better than Irving. They definitely performed better in the regular season, but they aren't better players.I was about to say that he isn't a top 5 player but he probably really is
Paul George probably is better though. But still, you can make a case for him to be the second best player in the conference.
I'd take Wall over Irving. The latter is on the level of Lowry, DeRozan, Thomas. PG, Butler and Giannis are all better for me.
Agree with everything in this post.
Also, Irving has proven himself as the second piece on a winning team. As a first option he only had the chance to play on a terrible team which never went close to a 0.500 record. Thomas, despite being a worse player IMO, has led his team to a very good record these past couple of seasons, even before they acquired Horford and he only got to play with Bradley (who I rate very highly) and Crowder (who's just a good player, not really top quality). The rest of that team is ordinary players like Johnson, Jerebko and Olynyk. It also largely happened with Giannis this season too.
Every day of the week. When Kyrie was the main man for the Cavs they were rubbish. No where near a playoff team even.
100% this.
He's going home.I was about to say that he isn't a top 5 player but he probably really is
I mean in a trade this season. I don't think Lakers will give up Ingram or pick for him, they will wait until his contract expires. Portland might give up all three picks they own plus a player or two, which might be the most Indiana will be getting because everyone will be worried that he won't re-sign next year. He's said numerous times that he wants to win, with Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic he might have a shot at winning more than he did at Indiana (not sure about championships). At Lakers he'd basically condemn himself to maybe making playoffs but not coming close to winning titles IMO, don't think their success window will be the same as his.
If Lakers get him and Lonzo they will probably be the second best team in the West.
Portland would be a bit crazy to give all those assets for potentially a year of George. If he signs a long contract sure, but otherwise it would be stupid to get him now, when he could leave next year.
Yeah I agree. The only way we will sign him this season is if we are convinced there's more than 10% chance of him re-signing. He's friends with Lillard and has been on the record saying that he rates him. I think a core of Lillard, CJ, George and Nurkic would definitely be top 3 in the West.
I don't think Lakers with PG and Lonzo are the second best team at all. I don't think Lonzo Ball coming off his first year of NCAA warrants this kind of hype, I think Fultz is a considerably bigger talent. Unless Ball turns out to be similar level to Towns, having both him and George will not make them that great. I'd say Lakers will be happy if Lonzo turns out to be as good as Lillard, or even CJ.
I definitely agree with that. Question I have is can you make the dollars work?
The Western Conference is much better, that Love-led Timberwolves team would probably make the playoffs at least once if they played in the East.
Unless Celtics fecked up their draft, Fultz ain't going to make it for the Lakers to pick them.
We can't.
Next season Nurkic still makes just $3M and we can match George's money by sending them Crabbe, or any combination of two/three from Harkless, Aminu, Davis, Leonard. Problem is at the end of 2017-18 we will need to re-sign George at $30M a year or so, and also give Nurkic a new contract at ca. $22M (he will almost certainly get a max offer). We are already committing $50M+ to Lillard and McCollum, and have Turner and Crabbe making $35M together. Even if you release Crabbe and Turner, and re-sign George and Nurkic, you are committing ca. $105M to four players.Still, we could match George and Nurkic $50M with sending out Turner, Crabbe, Leonard and Harkless. That leaves us extremely short though, and not sure it will be easy to find a buyer for them (well not for Harkless, his $10M contract is actually good in this NBA). We fecked up massively by matching Nets offer sheet for Crabbe.
The only reason Warriors managed to make big 4 scheme work is that they had their previous big 3 at low contracts. Curry, Thompson and Green are all players who could be earning $25M under normal circumstances but because of the timing of their extensions and the fact that they were drafted (Green took a discount to re-sign I think), they had the opportunity to land Durant at a max deal.
Of course he isn't. I just said he's a significantly bigger talent in my view. To be completely honest, I don't see Ball as being massively better than Fox or Smith. Either of them could develop into a better player in the NBA.
Know very little about Basketball but PG is my favourite player and hope he moves to Clippers and they let go the basketbell Ross Barkley (Griffin).
Zero chance of him moving to Clippers. No way to make that work.
Not even when they let Blake and DeAndre go?
If it's a trade this season then Celtics are the favourites to land him.
If they are willing to give up one of Brooklyn's pick and 100% they are not going to give up no. 1 this season. Moreover, they seem really interested in Hayward and have a chance to land him. They'll also have doubts about the possibility of resigning George next season, as he apparently wants to be closer to West coast too.
They have more interesting assets than Portland but will not part with them. They won't even give them the 2018 Brooklyn pick IMO, and whatever they will offer beside that is probably less interesting to a rebuilding team than 3 or 4 first round picks.
Yeah that's what they will do if they want Paul George. With Hayward being a very likely addition as well, that place is more attractive than Portland, given the competition in both conferences as well.
Hayward and George play the same position though. I think you could move George to 4 but I don't think this works with Horford at 5.
Of course it's a more attractive destination but I very much doubt they will go for him, knowing he might bolt next year. Also, Celtics will not part with no. 1 pick that is Fultz for a player with 1 year on his deal, that would be monumentally stupid. They weren't even willing to offer that pick to Indiana or Chicago earlier when it wasn't clear it'd be no. 1, now that it has been confirmed it's basically a completely dead conversation.
Erm, a rookie on one side and a top 3 conference player on the other?
What will they do with Thomas if/when they get Fultz?
A top 3 conference player on a 1-year contract, and he's unlikely to make you a contender during that 1 year anyway because of how far you are behind the best team in conference.
I think they might be looking to trade Thomas. He apparently was in the conversation when they were trying to obtain another top 10 pick last year. If Minnesota or another team that owns a top 10 pick this year are interested in him, they will let him go. As good as he is, with his lack of defense they are not going to build a genuine contender around him unless they surround him with about 3 All-Star level players. They can, however, have three amazing pieces for future in Fultz, Brown and a top 5 pick from Boston next season. They will not give up on any of that.
Regarding Fultz, you need to also factor in that he'll be on a rookie deal for 4 years, and then they will be able to re-sign him too. If he turns out to be as big a talent as Towns, and scouts seem to think that he is, then that's going to be big for Boston. Even if there's a 10% chance of him being this good, it'd be dumb as hell to let him go for 1 year of Paul George.
Which goes for anyone else trying to trade him as well, hence I said IF it's a trade, Celtics will be in pole position, which it wouldn't be and he will go to Lakers after 1 year, simple.
Or someone can offer less than no. 1 pick with a view of maybe having a chance to resign him next year. I don't think it's that straightforward that he will go to a sub-.500 Lakers team next year but I also feel that he wants to move West, hence Portland suggestion (who might actually offer picks that are less valuable than no. 1 but still decent for Indiana).
But Portland don't have the money to re-sign him anyway?
They could make it work if they are willing to have a little shorter team or consider not resigning Nurkic. It'd be a huge gamble but noises are that Olshey wants compete now. IMO not necessarily the best view but I can understand this.
What would be the financial situation at Celtics in comparison if they wish to re-sign him?
Completely fecked if they wanted to resign Thomas, Bradley and George in the same year (all are expiring in 2018). Also even worse if they signed Hayward too (they can't if they get PG).
You cannot really have 4 max players. That's why having rookies like Fultz is so important. You can have a great player AND not pay him through the roof. If they can flip Thomas for Minnesota pick this year and get Isaac there, they will be golden. It makes sense for both teams. Wolves do not need another rookie, will have cap space to resign him and need a point guard who shoots the ball badly.