Tuned in because of the reminder from this post (thanks gaby!). Was a great ceremony, the Raptors deserve it!
NBA 2018-2019 Season
- Thread starter EagerBeaver
- Start date
Tuned in because of the reminder from this post (thanks gaby!). Was a great ceremony, the Raptors deserve it!
Great news to see Leonard back home in LA where he belongs...it was the worst kept secret...and those guys in Toronto thought they were going to resign him!...lol!
However, he signed with the wrong LA team!...lol!...the Clippers!!!...or should I say the "Slippers"!
However, he signed with the wrong LA team!...lol!...the Clippers!!!...or should I say the "Slippers"!
ESPN is reporting that the OKC Thunder GM was in serious discussions with the Raptors to trade George (and possibly Russell Westbrook) to the Raptors, but the Raptors were unwilling to return the same amount of assets as LA. Had the Raptors matched, Leonard would have stayed in Toronto to play with George (and possibly Westbrook), but Toronto cheaped out:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27131637/sources-fear-lakers-dynasty-drove-clips-deal
"In a wild night of negotiations, Presti leveraged the Clippers and Raptors off each other, preying on the uncertainties of what the other might be willing to give Oklahoma City for the chance to secure Leonard and George -- and perhaps the inside track on a championship."
In fairness to Toronto, what LA gave up in this deal in terms of draft picks in unprecedented in NBA history. It's now becoming common for one team in professional sports looking to trade another player to play multiple other teams off against each other so as to let the "best wolf win the carcass". In MLB, the Seattle Mariners recently put Eddy Encarnacion on the trade market and when the Yankees heard that the Rays had made a serious offer for him, they made a better one to block the Rays from getting EE. The result is that Eddy is now "walking the parrot" in NYC and Tampa Bay is 2-9 against the Yankees this year, having been completely outslugged in those games.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27131637/sources-fear-lakers-dynasty-drove-clips-deal
"In a wild night of negotiations, Presti leveraged the Clippers and Raptors off each other, preying on the uncertainties of what the other might be willing to give Oklahoma City for the chance to secure Leonard and George -- and perhaps the inside track on a championship."
In fairness to Toronto, what LA gave up in this deal in terms of draft picks in unprecedented in NBA history. It's now becoming common for one team in professional sports looking to trade another player to play multiple other teams off against each other so as to let the "best wolf win the carcass". In MLB, the Seattle Mariners recently put Eddy Encarnacion on the trade market and when the Yankees heard that the Rays had made a serious offer for him, they made a better one to block the Rays from getting EE. The result is that Eddy is now "walking the parrot" in NYC and Tampa Bay is 2-9 against the Yankees this year, having been completely outslugged in those games.
Vegas has installed the LA Clippers as 11-4 favorites to win the NBA title in 2019-20, just ahead of the LA Lakers. I see the Clippers as a much deeper team than the Lakers. Brooklyn could be a factor if Durant is healthy by the time of the playoffs, which looks iffy, but cannot be ruled out.
DeMarcus Cousins and Rondo also to the Lakers which may reinstall them as favorites.
LA will have some good basketball next season.
LA will have some good basketball next season.
So, you want to talk Lakers - here's how I see it, and if there are serious NBA observers here, hopefully it can spark some good discussion...
The Lakers are going to have issues, not in talent, but in personalities. If i run the issues down in order it would be...
1) They do not have a point guard - and/or - will most likely not let Cook be the #1 point guard, when they really should (I'll get to this in a bit)
2) AD, unless he really grows a pair and really wants to make LA his team, his home, will not be able to counter...
3) 'Bron's woosy-ass prima-dona attitude
4) Let's ignore Dwight Howard for the moment please.
If I was Vogel, I would configure it this way...
Cook
Green
Bron
AD
Javale
At 8min, I'd be subbing out Green for Bradley, Javale for Kuz (slide AD to 5) for the remainder of the quarter.
2nd qt would start
Rondo
Pope
Kuz
Dudly
Howard (for as long as he lasts)
And then start mixing and matching.
---
I would run a motion offense/modded triangle where Cooke and Bron are the ball handlers, pass it off, then Green and Cook are spot ups.
Having AD anchor a triangle'ish config with Bron in motion (or the same thing in reverse), McGee at the rim, and Green and Cooke on the perimeter - almost a Spur/GS type system SHOULD work with this lineup.
The main issue as I said is if the ball ends up dying in 'brons' ego-inflated head. If he is willing to let Cook initially set it up and run it, and he and AD make the right passes, it could be very, very serious. Having followed GS for many years I know what Cook is capable of, he can easily run a team, if they let him - he's a very quick thinking guard and even for the stretch of about 20 games when Curry was injured, he rarely made mistakes. He keeps the ball moving.
Same thing defensively - that line should work as long as 'bron decides to play defense. If he does, along with Green and AD, they should be effective enough to "cover for" Cook and McGee.
We'll see how this goes. Like I said, there is enough talent, but
The Lakers are going to have issues, not in talent, but in personalities. If i run the issues down in order it would be...
1) They do not have a point guard - and/or - will most likely not let Cook be the #1 point guard, when they really should (I'll get to this in a bit)
2) AD, unless he really grows a pair and really wants to make LA his team, his home, will not be able to counter...
3) 'Bron's woosy-ass prima-dona attitude
4) Let's ignore Dwight Howard for the moment please.
If I was Vogel, I would configure it this way...
Cook
Green
Bron
AD
Javale
At 8min, I'd be subbing out Green for Bradley, Javale for Kuz (slide AD to 5) for the remainder of the quarter.
2nd qt would start
Rondo
Pope
Kuz
Dudly
Howard (for as long as he lasts)
And then start mixing and matching.
---
I would run a motion offense/modded triangle where Cooke and Bron are the ball handlers, pass it off, then Green and Cook are spot ups.
Having AD anchor a triangle'ish config with Bron in motion (or the same thing in reverse), McGee at the rim, and Green and Cooke on the perimeter - almost a Spur/GS type system SHOULD work with this lineup.
The main issue as I said is if the ball ends up dying in 'brons' ego-inflated head. If he is willing to let Cook initially set it up and run it, and he and AD make the right passes, it could be very, very serious. Having followed GS for many years I know what Cook is capable of, he can easily run a team, if they let him - he's a very quick thinking guard and even for the stretch of about 20 games when Curry was injured, he rarely made mistakes. He keeps the ball moving.
Same thing defensively - that line should work as long as 'bron decides to play defense. If he does, along with Green and AD, they should be effective enough to "cover for" Cook and McGee.
We'll see how this goes. Like I said, there is enough talent, but
I am a huge huge Lakers fan...however,
I must admit
that if the players don't fit
Lakers must quit
Lakers are a team in total shambles...they're a real joke!...from management, to coaching, to scouting via all those horrible wasted draft choices!
I must admit
that if the players don't fit
Lakers must quit
Lakers are a team in total shambles...they're a real joke!...from management, to coaching, to scouting via all those horrible wasted draft choices!
I am not sold on the Lakers as favorites for the NBA title. They are just one of a number of contenders. The Nuggets, Clippers, Warriors, Blazers, Jazz and Rockets all have very good teams. I see a lot of parity there and all these teams will be good. In the East, Toronto will fall and Philadelphia and Boston and possibly the New Jersey Nets will rise. I don’t see any one team as a leading contender.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the Lakers miss the playoffs again. My money's on Golden State to repeat as Western Conference champs.
In the East my money's on the Milwaukee Bucks to win the Eastern Conference. Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and New Jersey will contend. People shouldn't count out the Raptors to at least make it to the Eastern final. Sure they lost Kawaii Leonard. But people are forgetting that he missed a lot of playing time last season. The Raptors were able to regular win without having him in the lineup.
In the East my money's on the Milwaukee Bucks to win the Eastern Conference. Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and New Jersey will contend. People shouldn't count out the Raptors to at least make it to the Eastern final. Sure they lost Kawaii Leonard. But people are forgetting that he missed a lot of playing time last season. The Raptors were able to regular win without having him in the lineup.
I don’t see Toronto making the Eastern conference finals, and you guys are underestimating the impact loss of defensive game planning for Leonard. Leonard will do for the Clippers what he did for the Raptors, with Paul George’s help. Best pair of forwards in the NBA.
That being said I think Nick Nurse is an excellent coach. Remember that Leonard is a 2 way player and losing him on the defensive end hurts because he is a premiere frontcourt defender. The rest of the Raptors team is a good supporting cast but in the NBA, Stars win championships, not good collections of supporting players. The Raptors weren’t sniffing the NBA title without Kawhi last year. That’s why Boston and Philly and New Jersey loom as threats now. Milwaukee was a disappointment in the playoffs year, but they have a very good coach. I don’t feel like they’re that deep in really good players and I believe they lost Brogdon, whom they should have tried to keep, as he is an excellent all around player. Brogdon should improve the Pacers who are a good below the radar team. They could be as good as Toronto.
That being said I think Nick Nurse is an excellent coach. Remember that Leonard is a 2 way player and losing him on the defensive end hurts because he is a premiere frontcourt defender. The rest of the Raptors team is a good supporting cast but in the NBA, Stars win championships, not good collections of supporting players. The Raptors weren’t sniffing the NBA title without Kawhi last year. That’s why Boston and Philly and New Jersey loom as threats now. Milwaukee was a disappointment in the playoffs year, but they have a very good coach. I don’t feel like they’re that deep in really good players and I believe they lost Brogdon, whom they should have tried to keep, as he is an excellent all around player. Brogdon should improve the Pacers who are a good below the radar team. They could be as good as Toronto.
Anybody can win it this year ,,, there is a lot of parity in the league.... and that’s the way I like it .
I think that's being overly optimistic, and very little chance of that happening without Kawhi.
Golden State's got a good chance. But it's the Clippers that's the real wild card. I'm really curious in seeing how much of a difference Kawhi and Paul George together will be.
I agree that it’s more wide open now than at any time since Dallas won in 2011 or maybe since longer. There are no teams that look head and shoulders above the pack.
Kawhi missed half the regular season last year and the Raptors kept on winning. And they did it without Marc Gasol in the lineup. Now they've got Gasol for an entire season and Pascal Siakam will have another season under his belt. They still have Van Vleet and Lowry. And the highly-regarded GM will add and move players if needed be in order to keep the team at the top.
As for Golden State they'll be without their superstar player in Kevin Durant, who signed elsewhere. Sure they still have Stephen Curry but he seems to start getting injured more & more as his grows older. He's still a superstar player but without Durant in the lineup the Warriors will have a tough road ahead if they want to repeat as Conference champs.
p.s. I'm not afraid of the Clippers even with Kawai and George in their lineup. They're still the Clippers, after all.
Doc,
Kawhi Leonard started 60 of the Raptors 82 games last year and averaged over 30 points and 9 rebounds in the playoffs, which are serious main man statistics. I thought his performances in the critical moments of key playoff games both offensively and defensively with serious “grown man” dunks were game changers. Guys like this are very hard to replace in basketball not just because of the statistical impact but the game planning impact on opponents. You are really underestimating his loss. I think the Raptors may have had a good shot at repeating with him, but will be hard pressed to win 58 games without him. They are more like a best case scenario 50 win team.
Kawhi Leonard started 60 of the Raptors 82 games last year and averaged over 30 points and 9 rebounds in the playoffs, which are serious main man statistics. I thought his performances in the critical moments of key playoff games both offensively and defensively with serious “grown man” dunks were game changers. Guys like this are very hard to replace in basketball not just because of the statistical impact but the game planning impact on opponents. You are really underestimating his loss. I think the Raptors may have had a good shot at repeating with him, but will be hard pressed to win 58 games without him. They are more like a best case scenario 50 win team.
Doc Rivers Explains How LA Clippers Got Kawhi
What’s most interesting here is Kawhi’s bald statement to Steve Ballmer that he didn’t think the Clips were good enough without another upgrade besides him:
Rivers: Clips knew OKC wanted to break team up https://es.pn/3095wbw
LA did give up a ton of picks in that trade, but they rolled the dice on high end talent winning a championship and this could be the year such a dice roll comes up snake eyes, but there are a lot of other contenders to the throne.
What’s most interesting here is Kawhi’s bald statement to Steve Ballmer that he didn’t think the Clips were good enough without another upgrade besides him:
Rivers: Clips knew OKC wanted to break team up https://es.pn/3095wbw
LA did give up a ton of picks in that trade, but they rolled the dice on high end talent winning a championship and this could be the year such a dice roll comes up snake eyes, but there are a lot of other contenders to the throne.
