2021 NBA Offseason Thread

LBJ looked so damn good tonight going to the rack. Part of it was the fact that Houston wanted nothing to do with stopping it, but he looked about 90% as explosive as he did in his physical prime. Ridiculous.

One has to wonder what Houston can do to win , if LeBron and unibrow are on it.. they simply cannot defend.

Rich said:

Jimmy Butler is w/o a doubt in my mind a top 5 player.

His stats don't back that up. But his impact on winning and losing is absolutely right at the top with the very best.

He goes to Minnesota, they win 50. He leaves Minnesota, they're right back in the lottery.

Goes to Philly, and they're one awful bounce away from beating the Raptors in round 2. Leaves, and the Sixers get swept in round 1.

And now he goes to Miami and they look like legit Finals contenders.

Which brings me to this: Does AD at least THINK about leaving LA this year if the Lakers get bounced in round 2 and go to Miami?

Younger roster. Younger star player. Better shooting. Better coaching. Better front office. Less pressure to win.

Click to expand...

This is what I meant by force of will. Talent-wise Butler really has no business being in the top 5 conversation. But he has a tremendous will to win and manages to impose himself on the game in a winning fashion, without becoming too much of an individual player and blowing things for his teammates. (Like for example Russell Westbrook, who obviously has tremendous willpower but makes his teams extremely inefficient when he tries to take over games as an individual).

Re AD, I've been saying for a long time (many previous posts on this), that AD could easily leave if the Lakers don't win the championship this year. He already refused to sign a max extension, after all. And the Lakers have basically no up and coming young talent on his same time schedule as he is. I mean, Kyle Kuzma is about it. AD will be 32 when Lebron turns 40! The Lakers have nowhere to go but down and if they don't win a championship this year it shows they will have a very hard time ever winning one. And AD leaves who knows what Lebron does...

With that said, the Lakers championship odds are higher than they were a few weeks ago with the Bucks likely headed for an early exit and the Clippers looking inconsistent.

R.e. us still being championship contenders...I think too many of y'all are overlooking how washed most of our team was outside the Big 3 and maybe TT. JR, Shumpert, Frye, RJ, Korver, Mozgov...these guys are either out of the league or just on the cusp of it. We had no means of improving the team and the asset cupboard was bare.

I don't think we were contending in a post-Kyrie trade world; there was no way we were ever going to get 3 of Brogdon, Middleton AND Jordan.

I have a hard time seeing us getting by Toronto last year, and the Clippers would probably be heavily favored this year. The sad reality is that our squad had a short shelf life because of how recklessly we managed assets. We accomplished the main goal though of winning a title, with the bleak knowledge that the fall-out would be severe.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

R.e. us still being championship contenders...I think too many of y'all are overlooking how washed most of our team was outside the Big 3 and maybe TT. JR, Shumpert, Frye, RJ, Korver, Mozgov...these guys are either out of the league or just on the cusp of it. We had no means of improving the team and the asset cupboard was bare.

I don't think we were contending in a post-Kyrie trade world; there was no way we were ever going to get 3 of Brogdon, Middleton AND Jordan.

I have a hard time seeing us getting by Toronto last year, and the Clippers would probably be heavily favored this year. The sad reality is that our squad had a short shelf life because of how recklessly we managed assets. We accomplished the main goal though of winning a title though, with the bleak knowledge that the fall-out would be severe.

Click to expand...

Brogdan
Middleton
LBJ
Love
TT

With Cedi and Porter Jr off the Bench? Lol that would be a contender. Could have still gotten Drummond. Interesting. I really thought LBJ would be showing more signs of decline by now.

One funny thing is that LBJ would love to have a guy like Sexton on his team right now. Guy to bring up the ball and never get tired, shoot the open shot with ice water in his veins. He would be getting to the basket at will. I knew he was gone, but I would have loved to see that.

Cavatt said:

Brogdan
Middleton
LBJ
Love
TT

Click to expand...

This is assuming of course that Brogdon and Middleton were even available, and that our inept coaching staff would know how to use them competently.

Cavatt said:

With Cedi

Click to expand...

Cedi sucks.

Cavatt said:

Porter Jr off the Bench

Click to expand...

Butterfly effect...there's a very good chance we don't acquire Porter Jr. if we had try to revamp the team vs. trade for picks.

Cavatt said:

Could have still gotten Drummond.

Click to expand...

Who'd be played off the floor by any caliber playoff opponent, just like we did him in '16.

I just think that any further championship hopes were vanquished when we traded Kyrie, and they would have gradually gotten dimmer even if we held on to him and he changed his mind about being here.

JMoneyYourHoney said:

This is assuming of course that Brogdon and Middleton were even available, and that our inept coaching staff would know how to use them competently.


Cedi sucks.


Butterfly effect...there's a very good chance we don't acquire Porter Jr. if we had try to revamp the team vs. trade for picks.


Who'd be played off the floor by any caliber playoff opponent, just like we did him in '16.

I just think that any further championship hopes were vanquished when we traded Kyrie, and they would have gradually gotten dimmer even if we held on to him and he changed his mind about being here.

Click to expand...

You don't think Cedi is even bench player? I understand some people here got too high on him including me, but he is an NBA quality player. I think he was hurt by bad coaching more than anyone else.

The premise of the post was that Brogdan and Middleton would not have made us a contender, but I think they would have. They defended better than the guys they would have replaced for one thing and that was sorely lacking from that core. I don't know if they were really available like that, but it was reported they were.

Not surprising for this offseason. But let’s see what happens if they don’t make the ECF again next year and have poor roster composition.

Right now, I see the coach being the first to go. Budenholzer on the Bucks has the same type of resume as Mike Brown did on the Cavs (first stint). At least, that's how it normally goes (stars before coaches). Giannis probably will avoid getting any real blame since the injury happened while he was putting in real effort to boost the Bucks from a 3-0 hole. But I haven't seen much in terms of clutch time (in comparison to LeBron's 3rd and 4th seasons/1st and 2nd years of playoffs with the Cavs).

Speaking of LeBron, how the hell does he do it? And getting Rondo back has really given them an edge (shooting form aside). But that injury that Davis had in the fourth probably had the whole fanbase holding their collective breath, ironic that it was Covington that left the game instead. And I guess I'd rather see the Lakers advance than the Rockets, but that's a whole 'nother story for another day.

rabman_gold said:

Right now, I see the coach being the first to go. Budenholzer on the Bucks has the same type of resume as Mike Brown did on the Cavs (first stint). At least, that's how it normally goes (stars before coaches). Giannis probably will avoid getting any real blame since the injury happened while he was putting in real effort to boost the Bucks from a 3-0 hole. But I haven't seen much in terms of clutch time (in comparison to LeBron's 3rd and 4th seasons/1st and 2nd years of playoffs with the Cavs).

Speaking of LeBron, how the hell does he do it? And getting Rondo back has really given them an edge (shooting form aside). But that injury that Davis had in the fourth probably had the whole fanbase holding their collective breath, ironic that it was Covington that left the game instead. And I guess I'd rather see the Lakers advance than the Rockets, but that's a whole 'nother story for another day.

Click to expand...

Good question if Dan had axed Brown after Orlando in 2009. Similar energy here. Unstoppable team with a particularly bad matchup and a coach who can't adjust.

If they don't fire Bud, I think they are crazy. That's 2 years in a row. I think Bud can get you into that contender tier, but you need someone else to get you over. If they don't try to hire Lue, I think they are out of their minds.

Toronto pulls out the win vs boston, good game, double OT.

Jake said:

Toronto pulls out the win vs boston, good game, double OT.

Click to expand...

Reminded me of Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon vs Boston's big 3. I think that one went to 4 overtimes tho? Just big shot after big shot

Jake said:

Toronto pulls out the win vs boston, good game, double OT.

Click to expand...

Fun series

Man, watching Murray labor his way to an inefficient 18 ppg really makes you appreciate what Doncic did against the Clippers. 31 ppg on 60% true shooting against that defense is unreal.

Nathan S said:

Man, watching Murray labor his way to an inefficient 18 ppg really makes you appreciate what Doncic did against the Clippers. 31 ppg on 60% true shooting against that defense is unreal.

Click to expand...

With much, much weaker supporting cast.