2024-2025 NBA season

[Chris2K]

I've always liked Ingles so that's fine by me, not sure how much court time he'll get but he feels like a good mentor to Ant if nothing else.

[Twist]

I know I'll never be in the position but when some is as rich as LeBron James why insist on a max contract when you could accept the league minimum, suffer no consequence to your lifestyle, and vastly improve your chances of another ring?

[Szumi]

53 minutes ago, Twist said:

I know I'll never be in the position but when some is as rich as LeBron James why insist on a max contract when you could accept the league minimum, suffer no consequence to your lifestyle, and vastly improve your chances of another ring?

Ego. Arrogance and ego.

[Pooker]

It's pretty well known that LeBron wants to own a team one day, most likely an expansion team in Vegas. He's currently worth $1.2 billion. The lowest valuation in the NBA is currently the Grizzlies at $2.4 billion. He's won his championships, gotten his records, and now gets to play with his son. It's all about the money and getting as much as he can.

[Your Mom]

I think it would be different for like a Chris Paul type who has never won a ring but Lebron is winding down. Why does he care about sacrificing so much for another title? He wants to get his money and ready himself for what comes after

[gunnar hendershow]

It's also frowned upon by unions for marquee players to take paycuts. For I would hope obvious reasons.

[Chris2K]

Not the California team I was expecting DMDR to go to, but it certainly gives the Kings another weapon to go with Fox and Sabonis.

[VerbalPuke]

On 01/07/2024 at 13:22, gunnar hendershow said:

Tobias Harris sucks as a starter but in a 2 year deal on a bad team that eventually turns into some level of future draft capital. Good signing by Detroit.

Yea, dare I say I've liked our approach this offseason. 

I know Tobias isn't exciting and probably fans in Philly were happy he left, but remember that this was a 14 win team. Harris would have been our second best player last season. The important thing is that he is a competent offensive player that can knock down shots when Cade passes him the ball. 

It's an overpay but only two years so its not crippling either. 

I liked the trade for Hardaway. Basically same thoughts as I have about Harris. He's on an expiring deal as well. We got a few second round picks and gave up Quentin Grimes. I've seen hand wringing over losing Grimes because he's a young 3 and d guy with potential. But we have that with Ausar and Holland now. Can't keep everyone. 

Then we signed Malik Beasely on a little one year deal, again another guy that can shoot. 

Re-signed Fontechio, acquired during the year. Another shooter who played well down the stretch. 

The roster balance looks so much better. 

I figure today you could run a starting 5 of Duren, Harris, Fontechio, Hardaway (maybe Ivey, not sure how this shakes out), and Cade. 

Then the bench could be Ivey running the second unit, with Isiah Stewart backing up 4 and 5, Beasely, and Ausar Thompson. Second unit now has defensive players and shooters. 

Could be another trade though so I dont know this is a final roster. Maybe not the most exciting but fuck man, 25 wins would be a huge improvement. 

[Pooker]

In shocking news, Kawhi Leonard has withdrawn from the USA basketball team.

[LL!]

2 hours ago, Pooker said:

In shocking news, Kawhi Leonard has withdrawn from the USA basketball team.

It's sad that it happened as I'm not sure he's still around for the next Olympics given his injury history, but I understand that that's exactly why the Clippers pulled him. Apparently same thing happened with Andrew Wiggins. 

 

That Derrick White is replacing him over Jaylen Brown is a bit weird. 

[Chris2K]

Even more baffling when NAZ REID is still an option.

[Pooker]

Even if Kawhi is still around in 4 years, he would be worthless for the Olympic team.

Brown definitely would have been the better option. I wonder if he turned them down? White will do just fine. I doubt he gets much playing time, but can fill in when needed and play good defense and knock down some shots.

[gunnar hendershow]

Brown is not a Nike athlete and he seems to think this is why he was passed over.

[Pooker]

Joe Bryant, Kobe's dad, had passed away at the age of 69.

[Krabby]

Jontay Porter put a petition in to be allowed to go to Greece and play there but it sounds like that just got denied, so no overseas play for him it seems

[Chris2K]

I know it's only Summer League, but Alex Sarr's statline of 0 pts 0/15 FG 0/7 3PT 0/2 FT is not a great sign for the Wizards.

Some of the selfish shots he has been taking would make Jordan Poole embarrassed.

[gunnar hendershow]

Sarr was not good in Australia and it was a headscratcher why he was always "their guy". It's a long rebuild there and maybe they think the physical gifts are worth the risk but he appears to just kinda suck at basketball.

The draft class was terrible anyway so it's not entirely a matter of them bypassing sure things for him, but if their general history is any sign you'll see at least one player drafted shortly after him become a star.

[Chris2K]

Russell Westbrook has now been a member of the Utah Jazz twice without playing a minute, as he's been traded to the Jazz, waived, and is expected to join the Nuggets.

@Pooker is this sufficient for retiring his jersey at this point?

[Pooker]

I'll reserve my judgment when we find out how good/bad the Lakers first round pick is in 2027. If it's good, he's a legend. If not, he's a bum.

Freaking hilarious it's happened twice now.

[Chris2K]

I'm trying to understand what the TV rights issue is, but from my limited knowledge, TNT had an option to match any bid, and they chose to match Amazon's bid for their part of the package, but the NBA decided to just ignore that and signed with Amazon anyway.

That doesn't feel very legal.