NBA Off Season 2022

[nickagneta]

So for MIA to be able to trade Herro, Lowry & Bam for Durant & Kyrie, a 3rd team would need to be included into the deal with Bam heading elsewhere and a comparable young star heading to BKN.

Then you could have a workable deal.

Or Brooklyn could more Simmons in a deal before completing the trade with Miami

[Who]

The West is looking strong.

(1) Golden State will be back to defend their title.

(2) LAC and DEN are set to be healthy next year and resume being legit title threats.

(3) Now we have MEM and MIN as very good but not quite title contenders behind them.

(4) Then you have DAL as the 6th best team in the West. That is an impressive 6th best team in your conference. With a bit more ball-handling and passing, they could easily put themselves on a par with MEM and MIN.

So fills out the play-in spots?

Phoenix could still be solid with CP3, Booker and Mikal Bridges. They need a center to fill in for Ayton. Without Ayton, I do not see them as better than any of the 6 teams I have talked about above.

New Orleans look a quality team with Zion, Ingram, McCollum and Valanciunas.

Pretty big drop-off after them. Lakers? I don't really see the Jazz making a push or the Kings. Blazers? Houston still suck. San Antonio took a step back. OKC suck. I guess Blazers and Lakers for the two final play-in spots likely losing to NOP and PHO who are clearly superior to both of them.

I wouldn't hold your breath on Denver being a legit title contender.  They are a regular season team like Utah.

I feel like DEN get slept on because we haven't really seen what they are capable of in the postseason yet:

(1) DEN were phenomenal with the trio of Jokic, Murray and Porter Jr on the court together two years ago before Murray got shortly before the postseason. I don't have the numbers on hand but they were fantastic. They were a thoroughly dominant team with the three of them healthy and playing alongside one another. A fearsome foe.

(2) Last year, no Murray or Porter Jr. Both injured.

(3) Three years ago when they made the WCF it was prior to Porter Jr's emergence. So only Murray & Jokic.


In all, we just haven't seen this trio healthy yet. Not in the postseason. We have seen some of the regular season two years ago and they were darn impressive.

They have added some solid defenders to put alongside those three as well with Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown. This supporting cast has more defensive balance to it than their last two seasons. Bigger strong defensive wings. Versatile big forward in A.Gordon to replace an aging Millsap.

[Moranis]

So for MIA to be able to trade Herro, Lowry & Bam for Durant & Kyrie, a 3rd team would need to be included into the deal with Bam heading elsewhere and a comparable young star heading to BKN.

Then you could have a workable deal.

Or Brooklyn could more Simmons in a deal before completing the trade with Miami

I'd probably do Bam for Brown straight up.  Brown can go to Brooklyn in that trade and Boston gets Bam.  I'd probably try to move Rob ina separate deal, but I think Bam elevates the team more than Brown

[Csfan1984]

So for MIA to be able to trade Herro, Lowry & Bam for Durant & Kyrie, a 3rd team would need to be included into the deal with Bam heading elsewhere and a comparable young star heading to BKN.

Then you could have a workable deal.

Or Brooklyn could more Simmons in a deal before completing the trade with Miami

I'd probably do Bam for Brown straight up.  Brown can go to Brooklyn in that trade and Boston gets Bam.  I'd probably try to move Rob ina separate deal, but I think Bam elevates the team more than Brown

I would need Herro and Bam for Brown. Just feel Brown as a number one for Nets is more valuable than just Bam here.

[celticsclay]

So for MIA to be able to trade Herro, Lowry & Bam for Durant & Kyrie, a 3rd team would need to be included into the deal with Bam heading elsewhere and a comparable young star heading to BKN.

Then you could have a workable deal.

Or Brooklyn could more Simmons in a deal before completing the trade with Miami

Don’t think anyone take simmons at his contract right now.

[SparzWizard]

So for MIA to be able to trade Herro, Lowry & Bam for Durant & Kyrie, a 3rd team would need to be included into the deal with Bam heading elsewhere and a comparable young star heading to BKN.

Then you could have a workable deal.

Or Brooklyn could more Simmons in a deal before completing the trade with Miami

I'd probably do Bam for Brown straight up.  Brown can go to Brooklyn in that trade and Boston gets Bam.  I'd probably try to move Rob ina separate deal, but I think Bam elevates the team more than Brown

I thought Bam was overrated when dealing against true centers like Embiid, Jokic, or against stronger post duos like Giannis/Lopez or Horford/Timelord? Though he'd be an upgrade over Horford in terms of age tho.

[celticsclay]

The West is looking strong.

(1) Golden State will be back to defend their title.

(2) LAC and DEN are set to be healthy next year and resume being legit title threats.

(3) Now we have MEM and MIN as very good but not quite title contenders behind them.

(4) Then you have DAL as the 6th best team in the West. That is an impressive 6th best team in your conference. With a bit more ball-handling and passing, they could easily put themselves on a par with MEM and MIN.

So fills out the play-in spots?

Phoenix could still be solid with CP3, Booker and Mikal Bridges. They need a center to fill in for Ayton. Without Ayton, I do not see them as better than any of the 6 teams I have talked about above.

New Orleans look a quality team with Zion, Ingram, McCollum and Valanciunas.

Pretty big drop-off after them. Lakers? I don't really see the Jazz making a push or the Kings. Blazers? Houston still suck. San Antonio took a step back. OKC suck. I guess Blazers and Lakers for the two final play-in spots likely losing to NOP and PHO who are clearly superior to both of them.

Yeah west from really ugly last year and was clearly the worse conference for the first time in a while top to bottom. I am think it may return yo being the tougher conference this year, especially if Brooklyn takes a major step back.

[celticsclay]

How do the T'Wolves look

G: D'Angelo Russell, John McLaughlin
G: Anthony Edwards, Bryn Forbes
F: Jaden McDaniels, Taureen Prince
C: Karl Anthony Towns, Kyle Anderson
C: Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid


That bench looks seriously weak to me. Not a single above average bench player. At best a couple of average ones and then a couple of well below average ones (the guards).

Looks like a team that will be a so-so on offense but dominant on defense largely due to Gobert. Athletic wings next to Gobert on D helps also. Edwards, Towns and D-Russell should be good enough offensively to make the T'Wolves competitive on offense while running defense-orientated lineups that allow their D to be key for winning games.

I'm thinking low to mid 50s. Maybe more 50s than low 50s.

Gobert is a truly dominant regular season player.

Lack if bench gotta be their weakness unless they can add couple more vets.. borderline playoff team

Wait they were a borderline playoff team last year. You think improvement from edwards and adding gobert (and Kyle Anderson is solid) creates no improvement?

[Big333223]

The Kyrie for Westbrook deal seems to be gaining traction. Say what you want about Kyrie but a big 3 of LBJ, AD, and Kyrie could be a dark horse for the crown? Assuming of course that Kyrie is in his best behavior.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-lakers-nets-discussing-kyrie-irving-russell-westbrook-trade-233348495.html

Until AD gets hurts and Kyrie decides to go on another sabbatical.

Yeah, that Lakers team wouldn't be a dark horse, they'd be a media darling.

But I agree with PAO. Kyrie is a loose canon, who knows what injury AD might come down with next, and Lebron is going to turn 38 next season. It would look great on paper, though.

About Minnesota, though. They definitely overpaid for Gobert but I'm excited about that team. I love that they're doing something different. Hopefully they go all in on playing big and just really try to punish teams on the glass and see if they can find their advantage there.

The LAL Nets trade would need to be:

Westbrook + Davis
for
Durant + Irving

The Lakers would need to add a few pieces around this likely but isn't this a fair deal?  Davis and Simmons could be a formidable duo for some years to come, maybe Westbrook too on a more favorable deal and of course the Lakers would have a hall of fame vet team to make a run at a couple of titles before LeBron fully breaks down.

My original prediction was for Irving to pick up his option (which happened), not get traded (we'll see), and start the season sulking at home while Durant at least plays.  Look how long it took to find a deal for Simmons.  I can see the same thing happening with Irving and/or Durant.  I don't see how BKN can get fair value for players who may demand yet another trade at any point.

The trade rumors are just for Irving going to the Lakers not Irving and KD.  So it would be Lebron, AD and Kyrie.  Which assuming AD stays healthy is a better fit than Lebron, KD and Kyrie.

Yeah and that's my concern.

If the Lakers give up AD to get Kyrie and KD then I'm happy as a clam. That Lakers team gets shredded on defense and I get to laugh at them all year.

But if the Lakers somehow swing a Westbrook+picks for Kyrie I'll be kind of p---ed. As we know, that first year with Kyrie can be really good before he blows things up and if AD can get healthy and Lebron can squeeze out one more Lebron-caliber year... that would be frustrating.

[footey]

Marc Spears reported that the Warriors are interested in reacquiring KD. Oh boy.

[Csfan1984]

Marc Spears reported that the Warriors are interested in reacquiring KD. Oh boy.

If I was Warriors I would do it. Just say, we got the “Guarantee“ back and the dynasty continues.

They need to campaign on second chances in making him feel at home. He is the “guarantee" that makes them the undisputed favorite and he was core to the dynasty run.

Get Draymond hyping up KD on his pod and social media in hypothetical discussions.

[Sketch5]

I bet it would be around Wiggins and Wiesman. Even if Wiggins bolts after next year they still have Wiesman. Not bad, good start to a rebuild.

But I dont think think this would make the Warriors better, KD could defend Tatum, not like Wiggins did. I'd love to see a Celts Warriors rematch and be the underdogs.

[Silas]

Marc Spears reported that the Warriors are interested in reacquiring KD. Oh boy.

I really don't care as long as he is out of the east. 

[SparzWizard]

Marc Spears reported that the Warriors are interested in reacquiring KD. Oh boy.

League should like ban or veto this trade lol

[Ed Monix]

Marc Spears reported that the Warriors are interested in reacquiring KD. Oh boy.

League should like ban or veto this trade lol

They may be interested, but I can’t see Brooklyn wanting anything Golden State would offer.

Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody, Poole…they are all nice prospects, but none are guaranteed all-star level production.

Brooklyn are without their own upcoming draft picks, so they have zero incentive to go into a full rebuild.