2018 NBA OFFSEASON

there's a passage from a zach lowe podcast that's burned into my mind where he forcefully argued that all those portland contracts from '16 were good because they would be tradeable as the cap increased. i think about it every time i am looking at free agent stuff. i love zach but that was extremely wrong.

and the funniest part is that the cycle is going to repeat itself next summer even without the cap spike because so many teams are on the same space/no space schedule. i've heard a few arguments for locking in multiyear deals this summer where it makes sense for the team and player but it doesn't seem like anyone is up for that.

there's a passage from a zach lowe podcast that's burned into my mind where he forcefully argued that all those portland contracts from '16 were good because they would be tradeable as the cap increased. i think about it every time i am looking at free agent stuff. i love zach but that was extremely wrong.

anytime you can sign meyers leonard and evan turner and allan crabbe to 8-figure salaries you have to do it

many xps

kawhi is perfect for the clippers bc he can still be in la and kinda be lowkey bc lebrakers will suck up all the oxygen

i wonder if crabbe is going to opt into his $18.5m player option next summer

he'll only be 27, could he take the 18.5 mil and try to get a nice contract in 2020? there's supposedly a meaningful cap increase then!

A source close to #LeBron tells me that Bron had zero contact w/#Lakers head coach Luke Walton throughout the Lakers’ entire recruitment process. “LeBron never met Luke at all,” source says — and they still have not met. Walton will be James’ seventh full-time NBA head coach.

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) July 4, 2018

was just thinking that the other day

gotta be weird for luke. went from raising the young pups to lebron/rondo/lance/mcgee

i really and truly cannot wait for that insanely toxic mix of dudes to be mixing it up together on national tv 78 games a year

They’re gonna be interesting for sure. And what, maybe a 6 seed as currently constructed?

i think as presently constructed it's...
gsw
hou
sas (this with kawhi, obv going to be different when he's gone)
lal
okc
uta
nop
por
den

3-9 will still be close.

uhh lol http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24003187/lakers-signings-part-magic-plan-nba

kevin pelton’s projections have the lakers as currently constructed as a 50 win team and around the 4 seed i believe. i would take the under on that.

thats about what i was figuring. old lakers 35 wins plus lebron and vets are good for another 15

fwiw they were playing better than a 35 win team by the end of the season

still its just a weird roster idk

weird roster + young coach with been-there vets that he won't be able to tell what to do + LA expectations + Kobe probably secretly sabotaging things + Magic being new to the job + fuck the lakers = nah

Kobe probably secretly sabotaging things i get the hate but come on this some fan fiction

u get the hate but u dont get the jokes, not my problem

you know you believe that shit it wasnt a joke don't be disingenuous

*puts left hand on the Bible, rasies right hand*

i solemnly swear that i dont think kobe is secretly sabotaging the labrakers in this or any other season

i take that back, like the last two years of his playing career he was sabotaging them

meh whatever low effort kobe zings aren't something i should even care about

no u have lebron playing for your team and probably kawhi in due time, u have a good team, enjoy

lebron james

kobe in his musecage sending out psychic daggers

just imagining the lakers struggling and kobe breaking down their problems in the most passive aggressive faux constructive manner on his details show lmao its a movie

"lebron needs to discover his mamba color, go on a basketball visionquest"

this will happen i have seen it

you all
know it
to be true

Bron's fatal flaw is that he thinks he is a great GM but is actually a terrible GM

and now hes in collaboration with magic who prob has the same issue

its interesting great players almost never make even decent gms/coaches/owners only exception i cn think of is bird

its funny cause bron and magic are two of the great basketball understanders ever from an on court perspective, i think they just get overconfident or something, those non playing roles are better suit to the grinders out there who had to find every lil edge just to stay in the rotation

jerry west is the other exception I guess

o true good one

maybe bron and magic just see the best in everyone, and bcz they can maximize a player's on-court potential they overestimate how valuable any player is

also on court play rewards daring and decisiveness where staff roles it pays to be more methodical

this was where Jordan was maybe a bit better to an extent, he definitely had his drama w/the Jerrys but he trusted them personnel-wise afaict, at least enough to let them do their thing. I'm sure he had some opinions he shared but i never sensed that he was the guiding hand. And those teams were pretty drama-free aside from a Pippen moment here and there and the three years w/Rodman which tbh felt more like waiting for the other shoe to drop as opposed to actual shoe-dropping. Also unlike the Cavs squads everyone was either exceptionally good-to-great or supremely competent at their small role. Maybe it was a zen thing too.

Report: Markelle Fultz (76ers), Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown (Celtics) among players ‘off limits’ in Kawhi Leonard trade https://t.co/PkrbaQJGLT

— Dan Feldman (@DanFeldmanNBA) July 5, 2018

from that windy article:

What Johnson pitched to James was a team stocked with tough-minded playmakers like Stephenson and Rondo who could free up James to finish in the lanes and from the post, rather than having to create the lion's share of the offense himself. Rondo and Stephenson are also defensively versatile, as their length enables them to be effective defenders in switches. That also follows with the talents of the 6-foot-6 Ball, who showed the ability to be an elite rebounder and defender for a guard in his rookie year.

"I know some people are rolling their eyes, but I like what the Lakers have done," a rival Western Conference executive said. "You can find shooters. They've taken some in the last few drafts. Playmakers matter and are harder to find."

got a hearty lol at rondo being a 'versatile defender'.

this sounds good in theory but these players aint it. there's also plenty of playmakers and good shooters out there, but not many that do both.

the problem is that they didn’t sign good players imo.

exactly

a rival Western Conference executive

Vlade Divac?

ingram needs the ball to be effective, can lebron play off the ball? i mean he can of course but is he willing at this point.

markelle fultz off limits for kawhi is hilarious to me (tho not quite as funny as terry rozier) but maybe it means the sixers doc who treated him privately knows the injury is a longterm issue

Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42

Top 10 in projected team salary (not including FA cap holds) through July 5:

1. OKC $159.7M
2. GSW $143.1M
3. TOR $136.7M
4. DEN $132.6M
5. WAS $128.1M
6. DET $123.4M
7. UTH $121.9M
8. POR $121.2M
9. MIA $120.7M
10. HOU $119M

didn't realize nuggets were in that deep, not ideal for their position