2021 NBA Offseason Thread

[BigZ94]

Lue grades out well in terms of coaching optimization data that sites have started keeping track of like bball index: I think he's a good coach.

Blatt fetishization I find hilarious: the dude couldn't keep track of timeouts at the end of a playoff game and his star player overrode him to hit a game winning shot in the same series.

I watch European basketball along with the NBA. Blatts title with Tel Aviv in 2014 was one of the greatest underdog wins in basketball history. Huge comeback in the semi finals against CSKA and an OT win against the MUCH favoured Real Madrid. He also won the European championship with Russia in 2007, beating a highly favoured Spain. That same Spanish team gave the USA redeem team a run for thier money in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He helped us take two games against the GSW with two undrafted players in the starting lineup and a bunch of new pieces. Lue gets swept that series IMO.

The reason he didnt work out here is because Lebron didnt like him. Lebron didnt want to be coached, he wanted a yes man.

Lebron was also playing the lowest minutes of his career with Blatt. We were winning games while he was getting rest. With Lue our record with Lebron sitting was terrible.

He is indeed a great coach, I think if he came into the league in a different situation he would have thrived.

 

[cavsfever]

Re Blatt, we also played really well against the Warriors in 2015. Incredible to win two games with Lebron plus crap

Hey, just thinking -- isn't it incredible that OKC had Harden and Durant and basically gave them both away? In order to prioritize Westbrook? That doesn't get talked about enough, maybe if NJ wins it all this year it will get more attention as one of the greatest team fuckups in NBA history.

 

[KevinLoveFan]

Trade deadline day. As already discussed in the Cavs section, McGee is gone in exchange for Hartenstein. Here are some of the more notable moves so far around the rest of the league:

NBA trade deadline: Aldridge joins loaded Nets squad

Miami added an All-Star while Toronto and New Orleans held on to their point guards. What's next? Get all the latest buzz from the NBA trade deadline.

www.espn.com

Victor Oladipo to the Heat for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and 2022 1st rd pick swap rights
Rajon Rondo to the Clippers for Lou Williams and two future 2nd rd picks
3 team trade with Thunder, Knicks, 76ers (OKC dealt George Hill, which wasn't a surprise; they now have a load of future picks -- 34 picks, 17 and 17 in both rounds, over next seven yrs -- building through the draft, as they always do; as an aside, SGA is now sidelined for quite awhile with plantar fasciitis, so the tank has officially arrived for them)
Aaron Gordon etc to the Nuggets for Gary Harris etc (Magic also dealt away Vucevic and Fournier in separate deals as part of an expected complete rebuild; Gordon said he wanted out, and indicated the team as a whole was quite frustrated, so no surprises here)

 

[KevinLoveFan]

Re Blatt, we also played really well against the Warriors in 2015. Incredible to win two games with Lebron plus crap

Hey, just thinking -- isn't it incredible that OKC had Harden and Durant and basically gave them both away? In order to prioritize Westbrook? That doesn't get talked about enough, maybe if NJ wins it all this year it will get more attention as one of the greatest team fuckups in NBA history.

Durant left OKC of his own accord in a very similar fashion to how LeBron first left Cleveland; the difference is LeBron felt loyalty to Ohio as a result of growing up in Akron, so he eventually came back. Harden was a no-show for OKC in the Finals and no one predicted he would dominate the league back then. OKC has done quite well over the years in terms of culture, building through the draft, etc. If you want to talk team screw-ups, and examine things more contextually and objectively, look at the history of the Minnesota Timberwolves -- now there's a team with some monumental screw-ups over the years.

 

[Rich]

So I like:

Portland's move to get Powell.

Trent was good, but Powell is better. Powell is older and about to get paid, but so is Trent. This is a win now move that required zero valuable draft capital being given up. I like it for a team with a player of Lillard's caliber. He's been loyal to them and they're being loyal to him.


Denver's move to get McGee.

He gives them something they really needed. And seeing how he played here, on a bad team, I think he's gonna SHOCK people at what he can do in 15 minutes on a good team. He's gonna make a difference.

I'm less sold on Aaron Gordon. I think they needed some bench scoring. Their starters are good. Their bench is not. Gordon is a toolsy wing, but a scorer he is not.

Orlando trading Vucevic.

I thought he was gettable. I had a couple of posts about him two or so months ago in the trade thread. Orlando needs to hit reset and that was a good haul for a good player.

That said, there's no reason to have any faith that in 5 years they won't be doing the same thing. They totally wasted a really good offensive player by handing out contracts to players who weren't good and/or didn't fit with him at all. So while the trade, by itself, is good, you're relying on this organization to now actually make good decisions. They've failed to do that for some time.

Don't like:

The Bulls. No clue what they're trying to accomplish here. I think they need an elite point guard to go next to LaVine and handle the ball. An offensively gifted center, while nice, isn't who I'd be pairing with LaVine. And especially not at that price. THey're probably losing their 1st rounder this year for him, but on top of that, they gave away another. To me, Vucevic is worth 1 lottery pick and 1 prospect. Adding another seems like an overpay. Especially to a team that is blowing it up.

The Heat trade for Oladipo.

The trade, by itself, is fine. They gave up little to get a guy who still can fill it up on a good night. My problem with this is that it signals they're thinking about giving him a big deal this off-season and that, to me, is an awful move. He's not what he once was, and paying him like he is won't work out.

 

[DeeThree]

Vucevic is only 1 of 5 players in NBA History to avg 20+ppg 10+rpg while making 2.5 3pt per game.

 

[BigZ94]

Is Kyrie actually sitting out games again? Says “family matters” but his birthday was a couple days ago so suspect that’s the reason.. jeeze

 

[2 For The Brew]

Is Kyrie actually sitting out games again? Says “family matters” but his birthday was a couple days ago so suspect that’s the reason.. jeeze

His family threw him a birthday party.

Mel Turpin missed games because his grandmother-in-law died.

Some ballers would miss a dozen games a year if they had to attend their kids birthday parties.

People with tens of millions can do what they want. Sucks to be poor.

 

[DeeThree]

How are the Suns so good?

 

[foucault87]

How are the Suns so good?

cp3

 

[Cassity14]

Re Blatt, we also played really well against the Warriors in 2015. Incredible to win two games with Lebron plus crap

Hey, just thinking -- isn't it incredible that OKC had Harden and Durant and basically gave them both away? In order to prioritize Westbrook? That doesn't get talked about enough, maybe if NJ wins it all this year it will get more attention as one of the greatest team fuckups in NBA history.

I have no idea what you're talking about regarding Durant. He chose to leave as a free agent, and the Thunder had no say. They had no interest in losing him, and certainly didn't choose Westbrook over Durant.

 

[macbdog]

Lue w/o LBJ. 0-6 to start the season, fired.

Lue in 1st season w/ another team: drastically underachieving Clippers team.

Must be good!

The Clippers are 30-16, am I missing something? The way Lue is bring talked about- and I'm not a big fan of his, he rolled over here after LBJ left- I was expecting them to be 500 or something.

 

[macbdog]

The Heat trade for Oladipo.

The trade, by itself, is fine. They gave up little to get a guy who still can fill it up on a good night. My problem with this is that it signals they're thinking about giving him a big deal this off-season and that, to me, is an awful move. He's not what he once was, and paying him like he is won't work out.

Those is supposed to be a reason to like the trade imo.

 

["MVP"]

How are the Suns so good?

Because they have a really good roster. CP3 & Book is maybe the best backcourt in the league with Klay injured. Mikal Bridges is much improved, and just a menace defensively and perfect glue guy. Ayton, while maybe not a star, is a very good starting center who has been buying into winning basketball. Cam Johnson has been slumping, but is a long wing that can shoot. Jae Crowder has been a winning piece everywhere except Cleveland. Saric has given them good minutes off the bench.

That team just makes a lot of sense to me. I don't think they're playing over their heads at all. They're just a good team.

 

[Pioneer10]

I like Gordon on the Nuggets. He's a guy who should be an elite roleplayer playing off other playmakers not trying to be a go to scorer.
He's a versatile defender who can guard multiple positions so they don't lose what Harris brought to the table but also add more size and athleticism. he's basically covers for them losing Grant over the offseason. Jokic/Murray/Porter/Gordon and whoever is going to be tough 4th quarter lineup to deal with