2018 NBA Offseason Thread: The Decision Episode III: Revenge of the Lakers

[kisada]

Good question, something i've been pondering a lot.

Listing off the best assets kinda (and guys i think most useful to spurs) - Picks 12/13 + virtually any combination of the young guys on the bench + harrell. Most here aren't gonna know who sindarius thornwell, cj williams, or ty wallace are but they really gave the team some solid playtime when everyone went down, and they strike me as legit pop type players. As far as the rest: dekker sucks, austin rivers is a good player now but he will want $$, and both jordan/bradley are essentially free agents to be. Just not a lot of wealth stored for the clippers. Lou's good but if the spurs trade kawhi are they going full rebuild? Or retool? Because lou is only good if you go the latter.

And of course tobias harris is the best asset they have but he's the guy you want to put next to kawhi, not take away from him. Moving him puts the team even more at risk that leonard will peace because you want him to have as many good players around him as possible. You want the core to be kawhi/harris/bev/lou/jordan/gallo because that core has some serious synergy and spacing.

But if you trade harris + 12 or 13, or all 3 then you're in some deep shit if kawhi leaves. Or if he's just not the same player. Like man I love this guy but this really feels like a deal that will set your team back many years if you overpay. The much safer option is to just not make any trade at all and see if you can get two potential stars in a deep draft. Then when the time comes re-sign harris and set your core as harris + last year's and this year's rookie crop. West really changed how this team operates and i have 100% faith he'll not only continue finding good, young talent, but also force doc rivers to play them. So if we don't pursue kawhi, i think we're just as well off, if not better off, because at some point the team will be overflowing with assets.

BTW the other reason i'm not too thrilled with a kawhi trade is because doncic seems to be up for grabs and trading up to get him is something i definitely think the team should pursue. This draft is critical in so many ways because it's so deep and burning picks in a trade will look monumentally stupid. Especially as of very recently when the guys in the 12-13 range are getting some serious hype and teams are getting really antsy about trying to get them.

[Buffy]

I desperately want this to be an elaborate ploy where the Spurs and Kawhi saw the Spurs didn't have enough to reload, so they agreed in secret to trade Kawhi to get assets for the team, the Kawhi re-signs there when his contract is up. Would be epic.

[Moss]

Good question, something i've been pondering a lot.

Listing off the best assets kinda (and guys i think most useful to spurs) - Picks 12/13 + virtually any combination of the young guys on the bench + harrell. Most here aren't gonna know who sindarius thornwell, cj williams, or ty wallace are but they really gave the team some solid playtime when everyone went down, and they strike me as legit pop type players. As far as the rest: dekker sucks, austin rivers is a good player now but he will want $$, and both jordan/bradley are essentially free agents to be. Just not a lot of wealth stored for the clippers. Lou's good but if the spurs trade kawhi are they going full rebuild? Or retool? Because lou is only good if you go the latter.

And of course tobias harris is the best asset they have but he's the guy you want to put next to kawhi, not take away from him. Moving him puts the team even more at risk that leonard will peace because you want him to have as many good players around him as possible. You want the core to be kawhi/harris/bev/lou/jordan/gallo because that core has some serious synergy and spacing.

But if you trade harris + 12 or 13, or all 3 then you're in some deep shit if kawhi leaves. Or if he's just not the same player. Like man I love this guy but this really feels like a deal that will set your team back many years if you overpay. The much safer option is to just not make any trade at all and see if you can get two potential stars in a deep draft. Then when the time comes re-sign harris and set your core as harris + last year's and this year's rookie crop. West really changed how this team operates and i have 100% faith he'll not only continue finding good, young talent, but also force doc rivers to play them. So if we don't pursue kawhi, i think we're just as well off, if not better off, because at some point the team will be overflowing with assets.

BTW the other reason i'm not too thrilled with a kawhi trade is because doncic seems to be up for grabs and trading up to get him is something i definitely think the team should pursue. This draft is critical in so many ways because it's so deep and burning picks in a trade will look monumentally stupid. Especially as of very recently when the guys in the 12-13 range are getting some serious hype and teams are getting really antsy about trying to get them.

Yeah I agree. Maybe if he was healthy, it's worth the risk of convincing him to re-sign and having a superstar in his prime for 4-5 years in a star-friendly market.

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[kisada]

yeah

if he were 2 years younger, it's automatic. if it was a broken leg, sure, whatever. if he had an extra year on his deal, etc.

but it's just so risky when the guy went through all this stuff publicly over the last year, and oh so coincidentally, he wants to go to the lakers. really tough to justify giving up your best assets for him.

[Gredival]

It's just so hard to construct a team competitive with GS right now because they dodged so many of the rules meant to prevent the assemblage of super teams due to the wonky contracts that Steph, Klay and Draymond were on. And now as long as they are willing to pay the luxury, they can just use the Bird rights to keep the core together.

[Moss]

It's just so hard to construct a team competitive with GS right now because they dodged so many of the rules meant to prevent the assemblage of super teams due to the wonky contracts that Steph, Klay and Draymond were on. And now as long as they are willing to pay the luxury, they can just use the Bird rights to keep the core together.

Blame the NBAPA for refusing the cap smoothing and having the huge cap increase hit all in one off-season, allowing them to sign Durant

Otherwise, GS deserves credit for drafting and developing Steph, Klay, and Draymond.

In any case, the repeater tax is going to start hitting them hard. Draymond or Klay should be the first loss and there's also a chance KD pulls a Bron and goes somewhere to be the alpha after winning championships on a super team

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[Andalusian girls]

I mean yes but the whole GS is an omnipotent superteam business is kind of silly when they were a game away from being eliminated by a higher seed before a very fortuitous injury salvaged their season. they're thin, their roleplayers are old, they're capped to hell, and they probably should have lost this year. stacked as heck but not invulnerable.

[Andalusian girls]

postscript I'm starting to come around to Doncic is the #1 prospect in this draft notion. cannot believe he is going to (supposedly) drop so far. still like Ayton but fucking hell he's the prototypical big interchangable do-everything wing the league is tending towards and (unlike every other blue chipper) he's proven himself against NBA talent.

[kisada]

i can't believe bamba is going to go past the 3rd pick.

[Moss]

postscript I'm starting to come around to Doncic is the #1 prospect in this draft notion. cannot believe he is going to (supposedly) drop so far. still like Ayton but fucking hell he's the prototypical big interchangable do-everything wing the league is tending towards and (unlike every other blue chipper) he's proven himself against NBA talent.

He's kind of a euro LBJ. Not the same strength and athleticism but no slouch in those departments either. Good size, great feel and skill

Can't wait to watch the Hawks pass on him!

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[Gredival]

I mean this draft is funny in the respect that there's so many players in the "elite" tier that you can hit a home run even with the 5th or 6th pick, but at the same time so many of them are Centers in a meta that increasingly devalues the 5 position in favor of playing small with a PF sizing up.

[Moss]

i can't believe bamba is going to go past the 3rd pick.

Eh. His downside is real. His outside shot is still theoretical and so is his motor.

I like him but I'd probably slot him 4-6 range after Doncic, Ayton, JJJ

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[Andalusian girls]

yeh my top 3 is Luka Ayton Bamba. the Bagley noise is insane to me, the exact type of old school player that can't find a place in the league anymore.

[Moss]

I mean this draft is funny in the respect that there's so many players in the "elite" tier that you can hit a home run even with the 5th or 6th pick, but at the same time so many of them are Centers in a meta that increasingly devalues the 5 position in favor of playing small with a PF sizing up.

It's possible the league zigs back the other way with all of these skilled bigs coming into the league every year now. Hard to play small against guys like Embiid, KAT, AD, etc.

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[Moss]

yeh my top 3 is Luka Ayton Bamba. the Bagley noise is insane to me, the exact type of old school player that can't find a place in the league anymore.

Bagley is basically non-headcase Michael Beasley. Useful player but not so high.

What's funny is even the places that rank him highly list a downside as "unclear how much his stats will contribute to winning." HELLO! What could be more important?! Who gives a shit about his stats if he's killing you defensively and can't lead a contender. Same reason I don't care for Trae Young where he's projected

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[Andalusian girls]

He's kind of a euro LBJ. Not the same strength and athleticism but no slouch in those departments either. Good size, great feel and skill

Can't wait to watch the Hawks pass on him!

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he reminds me a hell of a lot of James Harden, in both strengths and weaknesses (just because you can shoot a stepback 3 doesn't mean you should Luka. but you can only expect so much from a Genji main).

[kisada]

Eh. His downside is real. His outside shot is still theoretical and so is his motor.

I like him but I'd probably slot him 4-6 range after Doncic, Ayton, JJJ

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I just don't see the downside as things that he can't work out. He's thin but listening to him talk you can tell he's extremely intelligent and understands, in great detail, the things he needs to do to get better.

https://youtu.be/rFZ_CkG0E78?t=34

Yeah his outside shot is theoretical but I think in this clip he talks about how he's adjusted it and just looking at his mechanics, he looks like he's going to be a super good shooter on top of a monster defender.

[kisada]

I don't think it's a devaluing of centers, it's more like a devaluing of one-dimensional players who ruin a team's spacing.

Ayton, bamba, and jjj will have no problems being modern day C's.


and i'm also pretty iffy on the value of guys like bagley/young. gonna kinda cry if young falls to the clips cause you kinda have to take him there.

[Dimmauk]

postscript I'm starting to come around to Doncic is the #1 prospect in this draft notion. cannot believe he is going to (supposedly) drop so far. still like Ayton but fucking hell he's the prototypical big interchangable do-everything wing the league is tending towards and (unlike every other blue chipper) he's proven himself against NBA talent.

If the Spurs trade Kawhi for top 3 pick, they'll take him.

[Deejay]

I was high on Trae Young until I saw The Ringer's article breaking down his shoddy defense. tldr; Young makes Curry look like a lock down defender. I don't see his offensive upside being worth the major hole on the other end.

Sad part is NY will consider him a steal if he's available