NBA Off-Season News

[Roy H.]

Free agent F/C Christian Wood has agreed on a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Deal includes a player option

High risk high reward signing. Kind of says a lot he couldn’t land a bigger deal or even a clear-cut starting role.

I do think the silence around him this offseason has been a bit telling - wasn't he supposed to be on the cusp of a breakout pretty recently?

That was, like, 3 teams ago

Well as a certified master of space and time I suppose I must reject your chronology and substitute my own. But didn't he have some great games for the Mavericks? Or was it with Houston.

My recollection was his cusp-of-breakout was in Detroit. Finished his final season there averaging 25/9/2 over 7 games as a starter, which led to him moving on to Houston.

Yeah, his breakout came in Detroit, which led to him getting a decent deal to sign in Houston.  He then still had value, getting traded for a first rounder.  Between that trade and now, he's gone from being valued to signing for the minimum.

He's a flawed player, but he's certainly worth more than a minimum contract for his ability to stretch the floor alone.

[Roy H.]

A couple of minor moves by Philly:  they signed Danny Green (good for their locker room) and they inked David Duke to an Exhibit 10 contract.

[Birdman]

Ugh I wanted Wood

[Vermont Green]

Hard to say how this all went down with Wood.  I suspect he was never all that interested in a reserve role in Boston.  I am somewhat surprised that no one offered him more than a min contract, maybe someone did and he just wanted LAL all along.  Who knows.

It is interesting that I thought Bryant was going to be a good signing by LAL last season, but it didn't turn out that way.  I think this is a good signing for LAL, but we'll see.  There is definitely something up with Wood or why wouldn't DAL keep him?  They could have offered more money and it appears they would have a role for him.  There has to be something going on.  His stats can't be that hollow.

[Neurotic Guy]

Free agent F/C Christian Wood has agreed on a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell ESPN. Deal includes a player option

High risk high reward signing. Kind of says a lot he couldn’t land a bigger deal or even a clear-cut starting role.

I do think the silence around him this offseason has been a bit telling - wasn't he supposed to be on the cusp of a breakout pretty recently?

That was, like, 3 teams ago

Well as a certified master of space and time I suppose I must reject your chronology and substitute my own. But didn't he have some great games for the Mavericks? Or was it with Houston.

My recollection was his cusp-of-breakout was in Detroit. Finished his final season there averaging 25/9/2 over 7 games as a starter, which led to him moving on to Houston.

Yeah, his breakout came in Detroit, which led to him getting a decent deal to sign in Houston.  He then still had value, getting traded for a first rounder.  Between that trade and now, he's gone from being valued to signing for the minimum.

He's a flawed player, but he's certainly worth more than a minimum contract for his ability to stretch the floor alone.

Are there any specifics about his detriments?  I hear that his defensive effort is poor, but players (especially bigs) with primarily offensive skills manage to get decent deals - far above minimum.  What do we know about his locker room impact?  Of course my hope is that he's a locker room menace for the Lakers, but what is the likelihood that he'll be more harmful than helpful to LAL?

[Roy H.]

Separated at birth?  Davis Bertans and Oliver Anthony (the conservative singer who has been in the news):



No?

[Donoghus]

Separated at birth?  Davis Bertans and Oliver Anthony (the conservative singer who has been in the news):



No?

I match them with the ginger beard.  Sadly, I can't say the same for the head of hair these days.   

[Roy H.]

Separated at birth?  Davis Bertans and Oliver Anthony (the conservative singer who has been in the news):



No?

I match them with the ginger beard.  Sadly, I can't say the same for the head of hair these days.   

My ginger beard is gradually moving from "speckled" to "mixed" with white.  It skipped the grey stage entirely.

[Donoghus]

Found this interesting.

Frank Michael Smith
@frankmikesmith
Longest Playoff Streaks In NBA History:

1. Stockton (19)
2. Malone (19)
3. Duncan (18)
4. Parker (17)
5. Kidd (17)
6. Horry (16)
7. Pippen (16)
8. Ginobili (16)
9. Shaq (15)
10. Drexler (15)

James Harden is currently at 14 seasons, will he break into the top 10, or does it end this year?

[Roy H.]

Found this interesting.

Frank Michael Smith
@frankmikesmith
Longest Playoff Streaks In NBA History:

1. Stockton (19)
2. Malone (19)
3. Duncan (18)
4. Parker (17)
5. Kidd (17)
6. Horry (16)
7. Pippen (16)
8. Ginobili (16)
9. Shaq (15)
10. Drexler (15)

James Harden is currently at 14 seasons, will he break into the top 10, or does it end this year?

I think he'll make it.  I can't imagine he sits out the entire season, and he'll either play in Philly or get picked up by some playoff team.

Robert Horry is sort of the "one of these things is not like the others" guy here.  Good for him for picking his spots.

[Moranis]

Lots of the all timers hit 13 straight but not 14 i.e. Lebron, Jordan, Kareem, Bill, Ewing. Magic and Bird were both 12.

[SparzWizard]

Found this interesting.

Frank Michael Smith
@frankmikesmith
Longest Playoff Streaks In NBA History:

1. Stockton (19)
2. Malone (19)
3. Duncan (18)
4. Parker (17)
5. Kidd (17)
6. Horry (16)
7. Pippen (16)
8. Ginobili (16)
9. Shaq (15)
10. Drexler (15)

James Harden is currently at 14 seasons, will he break into the top 10, or does it end this year?

Philly will make playoffs as long as Embiid is healthy and playing.

[Celtic Fan Forever]

Found this interesting.

Frank Michael Smith
@frankmikesmith
Longest Playoff Streaks In NBA History:

1. Stockton (19)
2. Malone (19)
3. Duncan (18)
4. Parker (17)
5. Kidd (17)
6. Horry (16)
7. Pippen (16)
8. Ginobili (16)
9. Shaq (15)
10. Drexler (15)

James Harden is currently at 14 seasons, will he break into the top 10, or does it end this year?

I think he'll make it.  I can't imagine he sits out the entire season, and he'll either play in Philly or get picked up by some playoff team.

Robert Horry is sort of the "one of these things is not like the others" guy here.  Good for him for picking his spots.

Horry is also the only non Celtic with more than 6 rings

[Celtics4ever]

How many does Jordan have?  6.  But you said more

[Moranis]

Found this interesting.

Frank Michael Smith
@frankmikesmith
Longest Playoff Streaks In NBA History:

1. Stockton (19)
2. Malone (19)
3. Duncan (18)
4. Parker (17)
5. Kidd (17)
6. Horry (16)
7. Pippen (16)
8. Ginobili (16)
9. Shaq (15)
10. Drexler (15)

James Harden is currently at 14 seasons, will he break into the top 10, or does it end this year?

I think he'll make it.  I can't imagine he sits out the entire season, and he'll either play in Philly or get picked up by some playoff team.

Robert Horry is sort of the "one of these things is not like the others" guy here.  Good for him for picking his spots.

Horry is also the only non Celtic with more than 6 rings

well there are only 9 men that have at least 7 and Horry is the only one that didn't play with Russell. Bill has the most and is the only one with 11, Sam Jones is the only player with 10, and no one has 9 (Tommy, KC, Sanders and Hondo have 8 - Loscy, Ramsey, and Horry have 7).  Only 4 guys have 6 - Jordan, Pippen, Kareem, and Cousy (another Russell guy).  Only 13 guys have 5 and they are a pretty wide mix of ability and includes 2 more guys with Russell (Siegfried and Nelson - 3 with, 2 without).  So of the remaining 11, there is Mikan and his teammates Pollard and Martin (he has 4 with Mikan, 1 after).  Then you have the Showtime Lakers producing Magic and Cooper (along with Kareem, who obviously had the Bucks title so has 6), then you have 3 guys that were on a Bulls 3-peat and picked up 2 other titles in Rodman, Harper, and Kerr.  the final 3 are Kobe and Fisher from the same Laker teams and of course Duncan.