Cavs summer league team

[avs2000]

I agree on the defensive end. Curious how their individual production is when playing with Lebron.

I get the defense part but LBJ drives and kicks out to who...ball, rondo ? We could help them out and send them Korver and TT for Hart and a pick

 

[Randolphkeys]

I get the defense part but LBJ drives and kicks out to who...ball, rondo ? We could help them out and send them Korver and TT for Hart and a pick

From what I've been hearing, the Lakers front office is prioritizing man defense and playmaking on offense with lots of motion, which is why they sought out the players they have signed. However, can I please stop reading about the dirt bag Southern California team in this thread? I lack the fucks to give about the Lakers.

 

[kookoo]

LeBron's not joining last year's Lakers, though. They've lost Nance (their best player by RPM last year), and Randle (their third best player by RPM last year) and replaced them with JaVale McGee and Moritz Wagner. Their only real hope, IMO, is that all of their young guys simultaneously take the leap and become average or good NBA players right away, which is possible but unlikely.

I agree with Randle, but Wagner seems pretty good. We'll have to see. And if LeBron ends up playing the way we've all wanted him to (as a 4 who posts up), having guys like Ball and Rondo definitely help his game. I expect Ingram to be better as well since there are 3 guys who can get him going. I still don't think he's going to be an amazing ISO player, but honestly I don't think LeBron needs another ISO player if they can play good team ball (we didn't last year). It just all depends on the role he ends up taking. If he plays the ball hog basketball from last season, they won't have a great time. Walton will get criticized as well.

If I really think back at our regular season, it was extremely painful after the first month and a bit. JR got heavy minutes all season long, Tristan was featured after he came back from injury, Love had a rough go after the first few months of the season and then got injured. We were so heavily reliant on LeBron. If they find a way to play with him as opposed to play around him, the team could actually surprise us (unfortunately, as I find Lakers fans to be gigantic turds, even when they're bad). I also expect LeBron to be as good next year, or even better. Which hurts me because there are things he was criticized for, that we defended knowingly. If he all of a sudden starts playing defense even when the team is struggling and he has to shoulder the load offensively, I will be extremely pissed.

I see at least Ingram, Kuzma and Ball being above average. Rondo, Stevenson and McGee to be serviceable. It's not going to get them out of the West by any means though...

 

[Dr. Claw]

I hope none of these supporting cast guys occupy an actual spot on the 15 man roster. Cedi, Zizic, and Sexton were the NBA talent, everyone else was in competition for the other two way contract. I'd hope they liked the success they enjoyed with the coaching staff and they choose to remain with the Charge, but a few could get some great offers from the Euroleague. Can't stand in the way of a team like Maccabi Tel Aviv or Fenerbaçe in Turkey throwing multi-millions at a guy who may never see more than 10 mop up duty NBA games.

I think Mathias is going to stay with the Charge because he is a local. I could see Scoochie staying around and leading that Charge team because Dayton is so close by, but he may want a two way deal. Its hard to imagine a team with a rookie point guard using a two way deal on another point guard. I have Artis in the lead for that last spot but they might raid another team's cuts. I don't believe Marcus Lee showed enough polish for his age to edge Artis, but the raw athleticism can't be taught.

I'm thinking Lee or Artis myself. I would love it to be Scoochie but they have 5011 guards. Maybe after the Cavs have shed some of their expected salary in the near future. Somewhere I saw the Alonzo Gee comparison and I almost agree. That dude was the definition of "a guy" that I mostly associate with the bricked would-be Kyrie dimes. I'm actually higher on Lee than Gee, though.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

What about Colson?

From the reports (I think I saw $50K thrown around for Colson) it sounds like an Exhibit 10 deal. That's also what Mathias signed. Means they have to stay with Canton for 60 days to get the bonus. So taking a 10 day contract for another team does not make sense - and 10 day deals with Cavs count towards the service I think.

They an have up to six Exhibit 10 players and their money does not count on the cap. So they could sign other players to those type of deals. Any Exhibit 10 is convertible to a two-way or an NBA contract.

They may leave their second two-way open and use Canton to determine who gets the deal. I guy like Colson or Mathias can get the bonus for staying in Canton and then get the two-way deal.

 

[NMCav]

I agree with Randle, but Wagner seems pretty good. We'll have to see. And if LeBron ends up playing the way we've all wanted him to (as a 4 who posts up), having guys like Ball and Rondo definitely help his game. I expect Ingram to be better as well since there are 3 guys who can get him going. I still don't think he's going to be an amazing ISO player, but honestly I don't think LeBron needs another ISO player if they can play good team ball (we didn't last year). It just all depends on the role he ends up taking. If he plays the ball hog basketball from last season, they won't have a great time. Walton will get criticized as well.

If I really think back at our regular season, it was extremely painful after the first month and a bit. JR got heavy minutes all season long, Tristan was featured after he came back from injury, Love had a rough go after the first few months of the season and then got injured. We were so heavily reliant on LeBron. If they find a way to play with him as opposed to play around him, the team could actually surprise us (unfortunately, as I find Lakers fans to be gigantic turds, even when they're bad). I also expect LeBron to be as good next year, or even better. Which hurts me because there are things he was criticized for, that we defended knowingly. If he all of a sudden starts playing defense even when the team is struggling and he has to shoulder the load offensively, I will be extremely pissed.

I see at least Ingram, Kuzma and Ball being above average. Rondo, Stevenson and McGee to be serviceable. It's not going to get them out of the West by any means though...

Wagner is not good. He can shoot but he sucks at rebounding and defending. Ingram and Kuzma have a shot to be above average sure. Lonzo is not gonna be above average unless his shot magically improves massively. Rondo and Stephenson are terrible fits next to Bron. McRae is trash.

 

[wremy]

Other than the big 3 of summer league and Preston I don't care what the Cavs do with any of these other guys.. none stood out...I'd rather they go after Graham if anything ...loved what the BIG 4 of summer league showed though

 

[Nathan S]

I agree with Randle, but Wagner seems pretty good. We'll have to see. And if LeBron ends up playing the way we've all wanted him to (as a 4 who posts up), having guys like Ball and Rondo definitely help his game. I expect Ingram to be better as well since there are 3 guys who can get him going. I still don't think he's going to be an amazing ISO player, but honestly I don't think LeBron needs another ISO player if they can play good team ball (we didn't last year). It just all depends on the role he ends up taking. If he plays the ball hog basketball from last season, they won't have a great time. Walton will get criticized as well.

If I really think back at our regular season, it was extremely painful after the first month and a bit. JR got heavy minutes all season long, Tristan was featured after he came back from injury, Love had a rough go after the first few months of the season and then got injured. We were so heavily reliant on LeBron. If they find a way to play with him as opposed to play around him, the team could actually surprise us (unfortunately, as I find Lakers fans to be gigantic turds, even when they're bad). I also expect LeBron to be as good next year, or even better. Which hurts me because there are things he was criticized for, that we defended knowingly. If he all of a sudden starts playing defense even when the team is struggling and he has to shoulder the load offensively, I will be extremely pissed.

I see at least Ingram, Kuzma and Ball being above average. Rondo, Stevenson and McGee to be serviceable. It's not going to get them out of the West by any means though...

You can make the case that any of Ingram, Kuzma, Ball, Rondo, etc, etc will thrive next to LeBron. But in reality, most of the players who are "supposed" to thrive next to LeBron don't really thrive. Other than LeBron, no one on the Lakers' current roster was a clear top-100 player in the NBA last year, IMO, and I don't think you can take for granted that any of them are going to take that leap.

As for LeBron himself, I think it's really, really unlikely that he's better than he was last year. Here's a plot of his total minutes played in each season with a linear trend line:

After clearly trending down since his sophomore season, his minutes spiked above 3000 again last season. Realistically, around 2700 minutes seems likely for next season.

Then, here's a plot of his box plus/minus (a measure of productivity per minute) by season, with a quadratic trend line:

Again, last season was an anomaly, as his regular season productivity clearly peaked in his mid-late 20's as is the case for most players, and then began to decline. Even with potentially more favorable refereeing, I think he's very likely to resume his decline next season.

Combine those two factors, and I think he produces maybe 2/3 or 3/4 of the regular season impact he gave the Cavs last season. That's a massive difference considering how dependent the Lakers will be on him.

 

[priceFTW]

Lakers phasing their rookie PG out of the summer league rotation to focus on winning is all-time meme status IMO. They're building a summer league dynasty!

They might also be focusing on showcasing Hart to up his trade value. He was actually one of the best young players in the NBA after January 1st last year.

In the last 35 games he played last season, he shot 50%/42% from the field and from three, 63% TS and had a 120 ORating while playing 27 mpg. 108 players last year played 30+games and 28+ mpg and took at least 7 shots per game after January 1st. Hart’s 63.2% TS would rank 7th in the entire NBA over that time. He’s also a good competitor and good defender. Kuzma was 92nd at 52.2% TS. I’d much rather have Hart than Kuzma—better player, more upside.

 

[Nathan S]

They might also be focusing on showcasing Hart to up his trade value. He was actually one of the best young players in the NBA after January 1st last year.

In the last 35 games he played last season, he shot 50%/42% from the field and from three, 63% TS and had a 120 ORating while playing 27 mpg. 108 players last year played 30+games and 28+ mpg and took at least 7 shots per game after January 1st. Hart’s 63.2% TS would rank 7th in the entire NBA over that time. He’s also a good competitor and good defender. Kuzma was 92nd at 52.2% TS. I’d much rather have Hart than Kuzma—better player, more upside.

I'm not disagreeing with that; they easily could've played Hart and Bonga. The only reason they didn't play Bonga was because they prioritized winning over player development, which is a hilarious thing to do in summer league.

 

[Cavatt]

I'm not disagreeing with that; they easily could've played Hart and Bonga. The only reason they didn't play Bonga was because they prioritized winning over player development, which is a hilarious thing to do in summer league.

Yeah just trying to show how smart at drafting they have been to up their guys value

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

I'm not disagreeing with that; they easily could've played Hart and Bonga. The only reason they didn't play Bonga was because they prioritized winning over player development, which is a hilarious thing to do in summer league.

Bonga sucks to be honest.

 

[Nathan S]

Bonga sucks to be honest.

Regardless of whether or not he sucks, how was he basically a healthy scratch in a summer league game? I mean, that's just ridiculous.

I've obviously cooled on him over the last several months, but I do think it's too soon to say he sucks. He was the youngest guy at summer league after all, playing in a foreign country on a team where he was clearly an afterthought. Odd pick for the Lakers though since he has basically no chance of being a useful NBA player in the next couple of years.

 

[Sir'Dom Pointer]

Regardless of whether or not he sucks, how was he basically a healthy scratch in a summer league game? I mean, that's just ridiculous.

I've obviously cooled on him over the last several months, but I do think it's too soon to say he sucks. He was the youngest guy at summer league after all, playing in a foreign country on a team where he was clearly an afterthought. Odd pick for the Lakers though since he has basically no chance of being a useful NBA player in the next couple of years.

His gait is terrible and he is not a PG. I don't see the appeal. Not to mention that he looks 70.

 

[Randolphkeys]

First team:

LA Lakers G Josh Hart (MVP)
Bulls forward Wendell Carter Jr.
Knicks forward Kevin Knox
Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton
Bucks center Christian Wood - who is currently without a contract.

Second team:

Suns center Deandre Ayton
Trail Blazers guard Wade Baldwin IV
Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr.
Lakers forward Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
Hawks guard Trae Young