OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: JULY 2024

Philly has got to have what, 65-70% of their cap space tied up on 3 players?

 

Reynolds high school is in Gresham yes.

 

No it is not. It is in Troutdale.

 

So sure. You can figure 5 a year is half yes. Still more than what I think he should get. Or Jonas got way less.

 

That's the Daryl Morey way.

Morey is basically a malign influence on the NBA. He's great at ripping away another team's player, but his teams never actually make it to the Finals. And then two years later he does it again. He's a homewrecker!

Everyone's now calling the Clips' trade with OKC the worst mistake ever. But I think it was a gamble worth taking. And people forget: Kawhi was supposed to be a dead lock for going to the Lakers, but he called the Clips and said get Paul George and I'm yours. So the Clips basically had to get George to get Kawhi (who, at the time, was the best player on a team that just won the championship).

 

I saw something like $24m over the cap.

The Clippers are actually in horrible shape. Imagine if that were us? That would be miserable as a fan.

 

EXCEPT they're NOT like us because they can always sign free agents (when they have cap space). So yes, they look fucked because they have no picks for the next decade, but they also have a spanking new arena and a ton of players round the league who want to be in LA. And if you were a Clippers fan in the Sterling era, this is NOTHING.

I would swap places with the Clippers RIGHT NOW simply because of their owner vs. our owner.

 

Okay. I can agree with that.

 

If we were in championship contention I’d be fine with it

 

I went to Reynolds. We hated Gresham High. They were snooty buttholes.

 

I guess KJ hasn’t heard of the Shaq of Troutdale lol

 

I'd still say Freddie Jones is the Greatest from Gresham (Barlow) even if Drew did go to a Gresham school. He definitely was more popular and a "sure thing" coming out of high school than Drew was.

 

I can understand why you differentiate the two then. I went to Madison so anything east of Rocky Butte was pretty much Gresham from my perspective. Now I know better.

 

Doesn't Jones coach now?

 

Calling Reynolds High Gresham is similar to someone calling Oregon State University something like Oregon University, those Ducks in Corvallis lol.

 

Hahaha

 

Now someone will do it on purpose just to mess with you.

 

Not sure. He coached the Ducks as an assistant one year. Last I heard he put on a lot of weight but I have no idea the truth to that. @THE HCP do you ever run into Freddie Jones?

 

You sure?

Going just based off of the LA appeal? Yeah they are probably a more attractive destination to some players. But I still feel like a lot of the times those aren't entirely the players you want. Sometimes it's big name all-stars and then of course you do, but when you have talent, you can attract players that want to win. At that point it doesn't matter where your team is located. I know they were irrelevant for decades before Balmer took over and they were able to attract FA's with BG, CP3, and DJ.

I think we are better off than the Clippers. At least we have some decently promising youth on rookie contracts which can continue to further develop, along with a positive draft position for the next few years. I was actually thinking the Clippers might be low key one of the worst off franchises in the NBA right now. Some other teams could be argued. But you've got to think that looking back they are going to wish that they had some first round picks in some of those drafts. Especially if they end up being bad... I don't even know what/if any protections there are on those picks from the OKC PG13 trade.

On the flipside OKC future is looking really solid. OKC are huge winners in PG13 walking.