OFFICIAL Around The NBA Thread- December 2020

It's only a BAD thing if you believe there should be a level playing ground.

This has nothing to do with how good the Lakers front office, which is kind of the point. They've sucked, and still were able to get great players. Certainly, LBJ and Davis are prime examples of this.

 

But you know this going in right? It’s nothing new. It won’t change.
Like moving to Portland and then complaining about the rain. It be what it be.

 

I lived in the Bay Area when the Warriors drafted Chris Washburn.
It certainly helped me watch him play, but it didn't help his career.
During the mid 80's you could still be up close and personal during warm-ups, the dude could barely keep his eyes open.

 

Absolutely agreed, just pointing out that Laker front offices don't deserve to be praised - yes, including Jerry West.

 

The former Hornets immediately traded Kobe for Vlade on draft day. There wasn't any delay to training camp.

So you give the former Hornets credit for drafting a disgruntled Kobe for a few minutes who never signed a contract let alone spent an hour with the team?

I consider your reasoning stupid. Whatever team unofficially will have the draft rights to a player at the end of the day of the draft is most certainly considered the team who drafted him.

 

The Lakers and West certainly deserve praise. Its not like Kobe and Magic were surrounded with shit talent as LBJ in Cleveland, KG in Minny, Anthony Davis in NOP

 

I consider YOUR reasoning stupid, too, so I guess you're even.

Who was the last drafted player that immediately forced their way onto the Blazers? It's never happened, and even if they did, it wouldn't be because "Portland was smart".

 

lol, proving my point. Small markets have a much harder time accumulating talent.

 

That isn't really true.
First off Bryant was a number #13 pick. He didn't have that kind of clout. The question was about Divac. Vlade didn't want to be traded and threatened to retire if he was traded. Kobe has many times said the Hornets blew it and cast him off in that draft.
Here is the story if you would like to read about it.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/charlotte-hornets/article239760573.html

 

The thing is a dynasty is a dynasty. If Portland wins a Championship this year and finds a way to bring players back and maybe even improve next year? Then wins another Championship in the next couple years and then gets some mojo going and FA's start thinking "Hey Portland is a winning culture i'm gonna go there and work with Lillard" that would not be a bad thing.
Lets say Lillard plays in Portland for 6-8 more years and brings a total of 3-4 chips in that span? How many HS or even Grade School players are going to think Portland is a winning place to be? I think a bunch of people would be real happy to be in Portland playing. It's already happened to the Warriors. Golden State was and always were cellar dwellers. Nobody thinks New York is going to be really good. Utah stays on the outskirts. Charlotte is Charlotte even with Jordan. The Wizards were the Wizzards again with Jordan or not.
Portland needs to win it all and then get on a roll and if that actually happens they will be able to stake their claim just like the Spurs organization has done. But then again all good things come to an end. Even for a dynasty.

 

lol, proving my point. Small markets have a much harder time accumulating talent.

interesting link, I'll look into it. My recollection was that Kobe forced his way onto LAL. Another article does say that he and his agent "engineered" it so that he wouldn't be drafted at 8 specifically because he wanted to go to the Lakers.

 

Exactly how I look at me posting here on S2!

 

Hall of Famer

 

FIXED!

 

Neil really thought Zach Collins was the better big smh

 

Nope, you already did this 347 times.

 

Big bro it’s frustrating

 

How many motherfucking times do we have to talk about the way the draft is a huge gamble and that everyone misses and you just can't let this shit go? Talk about shaking my head... shit!