2022/23 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "TANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

but this way we get to see Russ throw hissy fits about getting traded to Utah, so everyone wins

xp Those guys are highly tradeable now or in coming years, no?

think they didnt trade him to la out of spite

yes true

i think we keep forgetting and re-learning that to get deep into the playoffs depth is really important.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:20 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah you really need it for lineup flexibility which is a little different than the regular season where the emphasis is more on giving starters rest

also worth remembering the nets got an unprotected first from the mavs. you could make the argument that an unprotected or lightly protected first from the lakers is worth more than dinwiddie and dorian finney smith, but you could also make the opposite argument. you could also argue there’s more downside to the mavs future than the lakers, tho i wouldn’t agree with that

lakers are almost guaranteed to be bad soon, mavs is 50/50

what seems obv to me is that as lagoon says the nets knew the KD trade market very well & had no intention of trading him after the kyrie deal for whatever they had been offered, which is why they wanted some real players back. but then the suns new owner took over the team and made the nets an offer they couldn’t refuse. i mean i think if the suns had made this offer in the summer the nets would’ve done the deal, so we have to presume this wasn’t on the table until very recently, prob like an hour before the trade was announced by woj

yep that seems otm

xp lineup flexibility and not having to play guys who suck or are true one-way players big minutes, those are the minutes that kill you in a close series.

the fact that this didn’t leak at all and dropped as a woj bomb as a fully completed trade makes me think it came together very quickly

Nets still $17M in tax with no reason to stay in it. Can they drop off the contracts of Crowder and Seth Curry by 3pm to get under tax line?

(Also, once more with feeling: Why didn't they stretch Jevon Carter's money?)

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) February 9, 2023

the post front office hollinger is funny

xp lineup flexibility and not having to play guys who suck or are true one-way players big minutes, those are the minutes that kill you in a close series.

― call all destroyer, Thursday, February 9, 2023 9:42 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

true

won't someone think of joe tsai's wallet???

i appreciate the perspective but you can tell that this stuff is hardwired into his brain now and guaranteed to drive him crazy lol

the west is crazy now no truly sound teams but a ton of talent playoffs should be wild

i’m laughing at the idea of jae crowder showing up to this weird placeholder nets team full of guys who thought they’d be playing meaningful playoff games all energized like “sup guys?” getting up 150 shots before practice while everyone else just jogs around aimlessly

on paper the griz are strongest due to their ability to play both offense and defense but idk theyve been inconsistent so far, nugs are rolling but the defense is suspect, dubs still have their guys, bunch of other teams have guys too

the nets still have a pretty good shot at the playoffs - they're 32-22 lol

lol oh you were mad about the logjam behind cam johnson? now you can enjoy the logjam behind these 7 other better wings

(plus still cam johnson)

yeah nets gotta have some more trades coming

yeah blowing up a .600 team is pretty wild but im glad they did it

It’s fun

i respect it

seems pretty clear tsai was just done with those guys will be interesting to see if they try to home grow a team this time

tbh I thought the Nets post-Kyrie still looked pretty good. at least good enough to make the 2nd round. idk what they're doing now but somehow I think being on this total dumpster fire of a team may be good for Simmons. no one's gonna expect shit outta him now

bunch of shameless laker water carrying short on details coming out now, athletic article form yesterday said the situation was untenable and thats all its said what was untenable about the situation who knows it was something tho

"I would almost say that if Russell Westbrook was not traded yesterday, that there was a decent chance that the Lakers would have sent him home... I think you will see a bounce from this team once Westbrook is gone."

🗣️ Brian Windhorstpic.twitter.com/jAqQ7LLFSw

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) February 9, 2023

he's still gonna somehow not live up to those expectations

xp

they got a mega haul for a 34 year old i think they had little choice but to say yes to that trade

lakers trying to cover up the fact that they knifed a star the most unlaker thing you can do

westbrooks fall is kinda sad but mostly lol

he was russ he did russ stuff the end

they got a mega haul for a 34 year old i think they had little choice but to say yes to that trade

― J0rdan S., Thursday, February 9, 2023 10:36 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

sure but also they were ready the superteam was a bad experience

Go get her champ https://t.co/5Nic9SgNYM

— Wilson Chandler (@wilsonchandler) February 9, 2023

lol

between him booker and paul there might not be enough middies to go around

The most ridiculous midrange numbers I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/1FzrZhXC7l

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) February 9, 2023

yeah they REALLY have no one to get to the rim, even worse than the dubs in that fashion

they will be very boring to watch just elbow jumpers and fall-away baseline jumpers into oblivion

we need more trades cmon

Talks had progressed and stalled, and the Suns appeared to be pivoting toward a three-way deal that might've landed them Atlanta's John Collins sometime Thursday morning, sources said. On the direction of his new owner, Mat Ishbia, general manager James Jones texted Nets GM Sean Marks sometime after 11 p.m. ET -- and it wouldn't be long until Ishbia and Nets owner Joe Tsai had cobbled together the final elements of the blockbuster trade, sources said.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35620592/phoenix-suns-acquiring-kevin-durant-blockbuster-deal-brooklyn-nets

haha exactly what we thought

technically kd just joined a team that had the best record in the nba the year before again

— aaron. (@ayroned) February 9, 2023

new guy got rolled

Ishbia's initial hope was to keep Bridges out of the trade, but that was a nonstarter for the Nets. The Suns' offers weren't close to the Nets' asking price on Monday and Tuesday, and Marks kept working on possible trades to bolster the roster around Durant. The Nets pursued OG Anunoby in Toronto, and they discussed possible deals for Collins and Cleveland's Caris LeVert, but Durant's mood was unsettled and Brooklyn knew it had to push Phoenix to make the kind of offer it couldn't refuse.

the nets drove a hard bargain on KD and kyrie and ended up w/ two great looking trades on paper, i will tip my cap to sean marks even tho he orchestrated one of the greatest organizational disasters of our time. this is kinda like if after the deepwater horizon spill BP had actually done a good job of cleaning up all the oil

yeah great recovery only flaw in the situation is having traded away all their picks they dont benefit from being bad

mb they can trade to get their picks back from philly

can’t blame tsai for wanting to get back to being scrappy underdogs, that’s their destiny

wonder if steve nash ever coaches again. might have too much ptsd about it now