OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA THREAD - August 2021

What? You’re going to have to find those posts bro. I believe I posted a picture of ages…..never said they were at that level. I’m simply saying, people on here are destroying the Lakers moves, yet praising ours. Just trying to keep it real around here though all the pinwheel fog.

 

So the Jinx must think the Lakers will have the same injury situation, but not his Blazers? And did he say they will finish 5th?

 

Amen to this brother.

 

What's the point of the picture if not a comparison. Own it, bro. Don't backpedal.

First of all, most people are dragging the hell out of Olshey and his "moves." Second of all, you were replying to me and I sure as hell haven't praised the Blazers' moves. I think the Blazers and Lakers had pretty poor offseasons.

Just for the future, if I say "That's a bad move by the Lakers," responding "But is he better than <random player on the Blazers>?" isn't very compelling. I don't have a high opinion of most of the Blazers' roster.

 

I posted that picture because people were blasting the Lakers for being so old, which they are, but I was just saying that you’d be surprised what old teams can accomplish. I don’t think they will win 70 games…..I’m thinking they will float at some times…..deal with some injuries….. get 55 wins or so and home court advantage and wait for the playoffs. Will they win it all, I think they can get to the finals. It’s just funny to me because people hate the team, they can’t give any props on the moves.

 

Being a fan of a team that hasn't won one in 44 years will do that to people. Jealousy kicks in.

Rightfully so when the Lakers fans treat us like a nothing team, players repeatedly take less to go there and we can't really entice decent free agents even if we offer more money.

But, still. Lakers are a historic franchise. They have to be considered potential contenders next year. We can't.

But still. Laker

 

Lakers already won this season. This picture looks like bag with dollars. It looks like "ocean's eleven". You just watch it. Watch it. Dollars.

 

I can give props for moves I think are good. I think signing James was incredible. I think the trade for Davis was great. I think Caruso was a tremendous under-the-radar find. They clearly built a great team, since they won a championship.

I simply feel that, in their desire for star power, they lost sight of both what made them special in their title year (defense) and what they're weak at (shooting/spacing). Their offseason moves reduced their defense and didn't address their greatest weakness and the star they got, I believe does not fit well with the stars they have. It's not a question of "not enough basketballs for everyone," it's that Westbrook's strengths and weaknesses don't harmonize with the strengths of the James/Davis pairing.

But we'll see! That's the beauty of reality--it can prove me right or wrong.

 

Subtraction by addition.

 

You said they needed defense and Russ hasn't lost a step and has during his career been one of the best lockdown defensive guards in the league. The guy can move the ball on offense, get to the hole and he isn't a Ben Simmons bad jump shooter if he'd stop taking wild pull up Js, I think he'd be around 34% from three. That being said, he definitely can bring them much better defense than they had. Then after Russ, they just added the shooting/spacing you said they were weak at, some of whom are plus defenders. Going off of last season's 3pt %: Ariza 35%, Nunn 38%, Bazemore 40% (all 3 and D guys), Melo 41%, Ellington 42% and Monk 43%. So it seems to me that adding Russ, Nunn, Bazemore, Ariza and Dwight Howard shows that they're still committed to defense and adding 6 sharpshooters would be them addressing shooting and floor spacing.

 

We're going to have to very, very much agree to disagree. Almost no one has the opinion you do. A few fans of Westbrook claim he could lock down guys if he wanted to and put in the effort, because he was good in college, but I've never seen anyone other than you that thinks he's actually been a great defensive guard in the NBA.

And very few of the "sharpshooters" you mentioned (as well as Dwight Howard) are going to see major playoff minutes, IMO. I think trading for Buddy Hield would have been a much better move for LA than Westbrook. Still a defensive minus, but adds off-ball shooting which Westbrook does not.

 

Yeah I’ve seen Westbrook get torched by opposing guards quite a bit. He’s definitely not lock down, but he’s not a complete sieve. I think he and Lillard are comparable defensively

 

Piggybacking on this ... Bazemore has shot better than 40% from 3 once in his career, and that was with Golden State. Melo's shot 40% from 3 three times. Both those guys are 35% 3-point shooters for careers that are on the decline. Last year was the first time in nine years Ellington's shot 40% from 3; he's been pretty consistently around 37% for the last decade. Monk shot 40% last year but never even shot 35% before that. Nunn's 36% for his career, although his FT% indicates he could improve.

That's a lot of guys to be relying on playing above their mean, though. A lot of old guys.

 

We are best friends though. But you're a dog, not a man.

 

LOL...Green & Durant blame Kerr & GM for Durant leaving GS.

 

Why?

 

Always someone else's fault.

 

If true hopefully that moves the Dray to Portland, CJ to Philly and Simmons to GS talks along.

 

I guess they felt that if they had let the two of them iron things out and calm down, things could have been different. Instead the suspended Green a game and social media made a huge deal of it which didn't help. Then Durant gets injured against Toronto and we know the rest of the story.