nba playoffs aka the 'offs (which includes the 'ins) 2021

lakers should prob prioritize keeping their guys healthy over playoff seeding especially now since 10 teams make it, they kinda did that this year except it turned out bron and brow were actually just badly injured

also feel like the lakers didn’t need to give kuzma an extension at the beginning of the season, they could’ve just waited until after the season maybe they’d feel differently now that it’s clear they need to remake their roster in a pretty real way. classic case of a team overvaluing someone they drafted and developed into a reasonably decent player. this tweet is funny

Player option on a non-max rookie extension is a first in league, a creative wrinkle that allows Kuzma into unrestricted free agency in his prime at 28. Smart move and great benefit for Kuzma should he out-perform this deal headed into summer of 2023.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 20, 2020

ah nevertheless

Crazy that like not one single rotation player played well.

Lakers shooters this playoffs

Schroder:
14 PPG
40 FG%
31 3P%

Kuzma:
6 PPG
29 FG%
17 3P%

KCP:
6 PPG
38 FG%
21 3P%

Caruso:
6 PPG
37 FG%
29 3P%

Matthews:
6 PPG
30 FG%
28 3P%

Morris:
2 PPG
22 FG%
25 3P%

McLemore:
2 PPG
22 FG%
33 3P%

Literally no one even shot 35% from three. pic.twitter.com/gtorfkMddF

— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 4, 2021

just checked, lakers owe nola their 2022 1RP no matter where it lands, swaps in 23 and 24, so i guess the lakers have 2025-28 1RPs to play with

i mean at this rate u just say fuck it and trade those too to maximize your AD+bron window, right?

Lebron was having fun just a couple of games ago

LeBron was showboating in Game 3 and proceeded to lose 3 straight games and get eliminated 😭 pic.twitter.com/MtqUOoqgvK

— Guru (@DrGuru_) June 4, 2021

those swaps could turn out pretty nice for the pelicans

Don’t blame crowder for Salsa dancing on his grave

crowder is one of those guys who's a Gamer

i loved crowder on the celtics

Do they want to go even further down the hole and sell away those picks? Do they even have salaries to swap?pelinkas got his work cut out

KCP+kuz is $26M next year. it's a start.

they could toss in marc gasol or alfonzo mckinnie to get closer to $30M

if they dont trade those picks are they really the lakers

exactly

sign and trade for kyle lowry

i love that crowder can't stand lebron. it's funny.

re: kuzma he desperately needs a change of scenery, i think there is a player in there somewhere but they kept jerking around his role and minutes and it sure seems like he lost confidence.

i mentioned demar as a possible free agency signing. he’s from LA, he idolizes kobe, this is probably his last big payday, and after years of getting curbstomped by lebron he can join up with him instead.

sign and trade for demar

he would relieve bron of having to shoulder so much of the offensive load. I guess you would just trust the rest of the lakers to remain a good defensive team to cover for his deficiencies there.

i love that crowder can't stand lebron. it's funny.

idk who else the lakers could reasonably get at this pt. theyre not getting beal with that offer. its 2 role players and probably a late 1st rounder at best?

I can imagine lebron being very excruciating to play with, saddles his teammates with super high expectations, complains a lot, has the front office by the balls, and is a sore loser who on multiple occasions has quit on his teams in a playoff game

on the one hand he’s the single most valuable player in the league and your chances of winning are really good just by being on his team, otoh if you don’t win it’s always your fault and the drama is maxed

yeah championship or bust is not a fun set up

whoa lots to catch up on here

I think getting to play with Bronny for a season could be the carrot that keeps him going. Just a question of what the hell he does until that can happen (if he's actually good enough to hold a roster spot, I haven't been following)

DeMar is actually a great idea for them and a lot more gettable than most options, as you all have said

Kuzma ceiling, if he is given a defined role that isn't asking too much of him, is probably like a poor man's Rashard Lewis, but he needs to get a lot more consistent in basically all aspects of his game. upthread comments otm about how his immediately exceeding expectations for his draft position (+ being a laker obv) really skewed his reputation in the league. he's been coasting off that for too long now

last I checked brony wasn’t a real NBA prospect but that would be cool for sure

Jae Crowder’s latest IG post

“Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun.” pic.twitter.com/YrhFf6u7Vz

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 4, 2021

i kinda wish jae didn't have a green light to shoot whatever he wants all the time but that is a funny post

I'm not rooting for LeBron to retire, but it will be nice to have an NBA with a post LeBron vs MJ discourse

interesting to think about who else could enter that GOAT conversation. I don't think Durant gets there as anything other than a challop, his legacy is too complicated playing with so many other stars. Giannis maaaybe, if the Bucks win some titles.

(not saying Giannis will ever be better than LeBron/MJ, just thinking about what's gonna suck up oxygen in the decade to come)

Luka is the first player since Lebron who seems to be in a course to be in the GOAT conversation

KD will never be mentioned seriously in those discussions. giannis, luka

giannis' game is probably too flawed, i'm not sure ppl will ever consider him better than lebron at basketball let alone MJ. but if he wins another MVP it's already putting him in the category of larry and magic, if he wins 2 more he'd be tied w/ lebron. of course he needs to win some titles

he probably needs to win a title before he can win MVP again, but if the bucks win this year all bets are off bcuz their team is set and ppl (the press) won't feel any qualms about lavishing giannis w/ awards and accolades. it's not out of the question for him to be sitting on a title and 3 MVPs heading into next year's playoffs which begins to put him in rarified air

well he won't have won next year's MVP officially by next year's playoffs but you know what i mean

unrelated to my assertion, This Is Not a Good Article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/magazine/kevin-durant-brooklyn-nets.html

yes realistically it's just Luka. but many years to go before/if we get there. which is probably why talking heads will be litigating LBJ/MJ for our pleasure for the next decade

goat conversations and incessant player rankings is my least fav sports discourse but... luka is the only current player that has a shot imo

unrelated to my assertion, This Is Not a Good Article
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/magazine/kevin-durant-brooklyn-nets.html

― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Friday, June 4, 2021 2:25 PM (two minutes ago)

haha. i saw a lot of ppl praising this on twitter, i tried to read it and thought it was one of the worst things i'd read in a while. the unedited version of it must have been so horrible bcuz the version they ran read like it wasn't edited at all. it's never a good sign when like the second quote from your subject appears 2500 words into the article

yea I agree for Giannis to be in the conversation he needs to win this year, the Bucks teams of the last few years haven't been amazing but superstars have won with less. last 2 years you could argue that playoff Bledsoe took them out of it, replacing him with Jrue is a huge upgrade and they should be able to win the title. of course they probably won't cuz of the Nets superteam

If Durant keeps winning titles they're going to add up to a lot of titles, despite the various caveats

yeah I think it’s too soon to rule durant out, I mean if he wins 2-3 more titles he’s going to be in the coversation for top 5 ever

giannis just way too soon, people are too tough on him imo, almost like they forget neither lebron or jordan won until their 9th years in the league too, with the same silly conversations dominating their perceptions. that said he really does need to learn to shoot, because he’s one back or leg injury away from being a very different and less effective player

luka also way too early but it’s looking positive

Durant healthy and operating at peak form is (was?) pretty special

thinking about it... luka is really bad at defense and imo you have to be an all defensive team level defender to be considered

durant could win 4 titles and still not be close to the GOAT discussion. part of it would be that his 4 titles would have been won on super teams but also his individual accolades pale in comparison to lebron

lebron: 4 MVPs, 13 time first team all NBA, 5 time first team all defense
KD: 1 MVP, 6 time first team all NBA, zero first or second team all defense

KD has four scoring titles, ppl would put him in the discussion for greatest scorer of all time. but as an overall player, no. pretty much his entire career will overlap w/ lebron and there's only like 1 or 2 years where KD could reasonably be considered better than lebron. the team success will only matter so much esp given the teams KD has chosen to play for

i kinda think none of the post-bron players are gonna be dominant enough to be in the top 5 discussion, at least none of the names mentioned

I guess it's hard to consider Giannis given his bad shooting, his career FT% is 71 and he has a penchant for missing big FTs late in playoff games

like hibidtae is theres the top 3 singular era-defining talents (mj, kareem, bron), there's a handful of spotlight sharing centers of gravity (russell/wilt, magic/bird, tim/shaq) and theres a bunch of really excellent players.