The NBA Thread

Meanwhile Spurs fans are melting down that all we've done is draft players and add Tobias Harris in free agency... a proven vet who, if we had him in Keldon Johnson's role, would have made us 2026 NBA champions.

PG: Fox | Harper
SG: Castle | Harper
SF: Vassell | Harris | Bryant
PF: Champagnie | Harris
C: Wembanyama | Kornet/ Reed Jr (think there's a real chance Reed Jr is a playoff calibre back up centre as a rookie, advanced analytics love his impact on team rebounding & he does other possessionmaxxing stuff too)

Bryant is the wildcard but even if he's kind of unplayable deep in the playoffs again I think there's a clear 8 player rotation that can win a title. Harris is massively underrated as a team defender & besides Keldon turning into a pumpkin, the biggest issue we had was when Wemby sits it's Kornet trying to stitch together an all guards/small wings lineup with very little rim protection & post defence support. Harris I think can fix the backup centre minutes at PF. He's a good player.
 
Pretty happy about the Lakers....don't really think it's a championship roster, and I don't know that they have the capital to make one, but it will be way more interesting than this season. It's time to move on from the LeBron era...of course, his announcement that he was leaving was about 5 minutes after Bronny's deal ticked over to guaranteed...lol

PS. I know he'll sell t-shirts and still can be an elite attacking player, but watching LBJ not run back in defence during the playoffs makes me wonder who really could use him?
 
Seano said:
Pretty happy about the Lakers....don't really think it's a championship roster, and I don't know that they have the capital to make one, but it will be way more interesting than this season. It's time to move on from the LeBron era...of course, his announcement that he was leaving was about 5 minutes after Bronny's deal ticked over to guaranteed...lol

PS. I know he'll sell t-shirts and still can be an elite attacking player, but watching LBJ not run back in defence during the playoffs makes me wonder who really could use him?
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I think it's a disastrous off-season. I am flabbergasted by the decision-making.

The only thing I can think is that Pelinka reckoned he could repeat the 2019 season where yeah they kind of did magic up a championship level roster out of thin air to surround LeBron/AD with, but it is genuinely rare for role players as good as Danny Green and young KCP to make it to free agency now. An asset that good, a team *always* signs them and moves them in exchange for picks now. Also Rondo was still only 32, overqualified to lead a second unit and content to take a pay cut to ring chase. And even at that age LeBron was still a bit of a walking finals berth, Luka doesn't have the aura yet. LeBron, AD, KCP, Green, Caruso, Rondo was an underrated championship level core that only needed cameo vet min role players to round out... honestly if not for injuries and the Schroeder trade which I kind of never got, I think they repeat in 2021. They moved Jaden McDaniels in that Schroeder trade too. Man. What could have been there.

Honestly I think a lot of the free agents they're losing are better than the ones they added. Mamu, I like him a lot, but he'll be a catastrophe on that team, he would have had some of the easiest defensive matchup difficulty in the league playing with Scottie Barnes and CMB. I am flabbergasted by giving up what they did for Kessler. If they were going to really shell out for an RFA I would have chased Peyton Watson, athletic defenders on the wing who can shoot are way more important for a Luka team than anything else - the centre needs to be able to defend too, yeah, but you trust Luka to elevate average big men rather than overpay for a slightly above average one (I'm not really a Kessler guy, could you have guessed that?). I have no idea why they wanted Sexton. Grimes is the least bad signing but not good enough on D to be the primary POA/wing stopper and I think there's a very good chance that's what his role will be. Yuck.

I really wanted Rui on the Spurs (happy with Tobias though) and maybe they can put some lipstick on the pig and dump Vando in order to retain him. Then maybe it's less of a disaster. Say what you like about him, he sure hits the strings.

But yeah I am flabbergasted by Pelinka's process. He gives up draft picks for guys and lets them walk a few months later in free agency. And their scouts have been good at finding undervalued talent in the second round, too! The one team where maybe they should keep and use those picks. And then once he's interrogating the free agent market he's betting too heavily on... does Sexton help them more than Mahcus Smaht? Mamu better for them than (cheaper) Kelly Oubre? Mamu over (cheaper) Dean Wade? Grimes over (cheaper) Keon Ellis?

Maybe this won't age well but I think they're a better team if they just retain most of their own free agents than chase new ones.
 
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