2021 NBA Offseason Thread

[CavsFaninNJ]

I think a healthy Clippers team is the strongest candidate, but it's not like it has been the last few yearswith one clear favourite.

About Luka, i said that would be a historically bad trade for the Hawks and i still stand by it. Trae is good and will be solid for long probably, but Luka is just on a whole other level.

I too was beside myself when they made that trade, as I expected Luka to be pretty damn good...and 6'8" > 6'2". All things being equal (not that they were), get yourself a SF.

 

[mhi]

I don't get it. All the NBA media pundets are talking about low national TV ratings to start the year, but when you look the lottery bound Warriors, Zion-less Pelicans and the hapless Spurs have all been in like half the games. What did they expect?

 

[cavsfever]

Close win for the Lakers. Now they are 13-2, best record in basketball. But I think people are overestimating them a little. They have had a super easy schedule so far. Lots of home games, and only 6 of their 15 games have been against likely playoff teams. They are 4-2 against those likely playoff teams, with losses to the Raptors and Clippers and a near-run OT win against the Mavericks. They had close wins against the Kings and Bulls too. When you add in how fragile AD is, and the likelihood that Lebron will lose some steam as the season goes on, I am not yet convinced they are world-beaters.

OTOH it is certainly a good sign for them that they are taking care of business in the easy part of their schedule, gives them margin for error later in the season.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

NBA refs are a fucking joke. James Harden initiates the contact on like 2/3 of his shots, and the defender gets called for the foul. I hate his game so much. So glad to see that Clips come back and win that game.

 

[Joe Charboneau]

Is it me or are the Lakers playing Lebron and Davis, especially Lebron alot of minutes in games that really dont matter? I mean Lebron played 40 minutes tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies on the 2nd night of a back to back. All to eeek out a hard fought 1 point win. I understand Bron is on some revenge tour( whats he mad about again?) but i mean what are they going for here? An all time great record? Homecourt?( is it really even homecourt if they play the Clippers?). I dont like load management but i think if im the Lakers brass i start being a little smarter with old Brons minutes. Its November 23rd. These guys will be gassed by February.

 

[cavsfever]

Is it me or are the Lakers playing Lebron and Davis, especially Lebron alot of minutes in games that really dont matter? I mean Lebron played 40 minutes tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies on the 2nd night of a back to back. All to eeek out a hard fought 1 point win. I understand Bron is on some revenge tour( whats he mad about again?) but i mean what are they going for here? An all time great record? Homecourt?( is it really even homecourt if they play the Clippers?). I dont like load management but i think if im the Lakers brass i start being a little smarter with old Brons minutes. Its November 23rd. These guys will be gassed by February.

Agree with this. They are an extremely fragile team, if either AD or Lebron is anything less than 100% for the playoffs they are toast. If they are smart their reason to stack up wins now would be to do heavy load management after the all star break. Otherwise I can’t see the point.

 

[ACisKING]

Is it me or are the Lakers playing Lebron and Davis, especially Lebron alot of minutes in games that really dont matter? I mean Lebron played 40 minutes tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies on the 2nd night of a back to back. All to eeek out a hard fought 1 point win. I understand Bron is on some revenge tour( whats he mad about again?) but i mean what are they going for here? An all time great record? Homecourt?( is it really even homecourt if they play the Clippers?). I dont like load management but i think if im the Lakers brass i start being a little smarter with old Brons minutes. Its November 23rd. These guys will be gassed by February.

I think LeBron is still playing a career low in minutes. But to your point these minutes seem harder than the minutes he played the last few years. He’s handling the ball a ton since he’s basically their starting point guard. And the intensity he’s playing at on both ends seems unsustainable.

 

[Pioneer10]

Lakers have hit a bit an injury bug (Bradley, Caruso out, and Kuzma with an eye issue). Probably waiting to get more healthy before going with load management.

 

[NIkeL]

I think that they're trying to get as many wins as possible now so that they can manage the advantage later on the season.

 

[Jstock12]

Doncic vs Harden starting soon. Should be interesting.

 

[Nathan S]

Doncic vs Harden starting soon. Should be interesting.

Harden is a poor man's Doncic

 

[cavsfever]

Mavs looking like they are for real, and Doncic looking like he is a real MVP candidate...30-10-10 average and leading his lottery team into the thick of the playoff race.

 

[Jstock12]

 

[SK808]

I think LeBron is still playing a career low in minutes. But to your point these minutes seem harder than the minutes he played the last few years. He’s handling the ball a ton since he’s basically their starting point guard. And the intensity he’s playing at on both ends seems unsustainable.

Yea LBJ seems to have some kind of hard-on for playing up this "washed king" idea and shutting up the "haters". Dudes been bragging on social media nonstop about his performance this year. Funny thing is, the media has mostly been worshipping him all year and talking about how hes the runaway mvp, so it's not as if hes getting all this "hate". If anything, what I see from national media is the opposite - an overload of Lebron worship and much less attention paid to guys who are playing just as well such as Giannis, Luka, Harden etc. Hell even AD isnt getting as much credit as he probably should be. How is LeBron a lock for MVP when he plays with freaking AD?

But I also wonder if it's going to come back to bite the Lakers. They seem awfully interested in doing a lot of talking and chest puffing right now after talking all preseason about not talking and just playing. Buts it's a longgggg season. Bron is definitely ballin right now but can he do this all the way into June?

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

The Lakers are gonna regret not putting Davis on the shelf for 3 weeks to rest that shoulder. Dudes are just gonna start smacking it everytime they foul him.